【Cultivator has exited combat】
【Congratulations to the Cultivator for completing the mission “Ghost in the Qiao Family”】
【The Painted Skin Ghost has been a scourge upon the land. After being heavily injured by Daoist Qingniu, it fled into Dingyuan County, disguising itself as a glamorous woman to seduce young men and feed on their hearts.】
【Cultivator Nanzhi is sharp-witted and righteous. Using a mortal body to confront a demon, she successfully slew the ghost and restored peace to Dingyuan County.】
【Mission Rewards: Paper Ingots ×20, Qi Replenishing Pill ×5, 《Little Huanzhen Art》 ×1】
【Congratulations to the Cultivator for slaying the heart-eating demon “Painted Skin Ghost”. Reward: 500 EXP, Combat Power +10, Local Reputation +50】
【Congratulations on achieving: Relying on Daddy (“Reincarnation is a skill”). Reward: Draw tickets ×10】
【Cultivator: Nanzhi】
【Bone Age: 18】
【Cultivation: Mortal】
【Level: 6】
【Constitution: 3 (+1+1) (Congratulations, you might be slightly stronger than a stray dog)】
【Combat Power: 11 (+1+15) (You might have the strength to fight a wild fox)】
【Reputation: 55 (+2) (You have some fame in Dingyuan County)】
【Planting: 1 (You can tell the difference between wheat and chives)】
【Gathering: 1 (A meaningless value)】
【Current Equipment: “Butcher’s Daughter” (Constitution +1, Reputation +2, Deterrence against beasts +1), “Nan Dazhuang’s Butchering Knife” (Combat Power +15, Deterrence against ghosts +2, chance to intimidate enemy units)】
A long string of system prompts bombarded Nanzhi, giving her a headache. She stood up to pour a cup of water, only to find Nan Dazhuang staring at her with a face full of bitterness when she returned.
“Eldest Daughter, Daddy’s good daughter, please don’t turn back into a simpleton again!”
Nanzhi: “...”
Seriously, was this NPC a bit too intelligent?
...
...
The massive commotion at the Nan residence naturally could not be hidden from the neighbors.
Someone saw the Nan family's wooden gate wide open and suspected a thief, but when they held up an oil lamp and stepped inside, they were nearly scared to death by the scene before them!
The Nan family's courtyard was a mess, covered in shattered stones. A giant, blue skinned demon lay prone on the ground, its head severed from its body. That hideous, terrifying head was currently being stepped on by the Nan family's eldest daughter—
They then saw the dark, sturdy girl pick something up from the ground and shake it out by the firelight. It was actually a human skin with all its features intact!
The skin was as thin as a cicada's wing, appearing weightless. Looking closer, it was the skin of a beautiful woman.
“There is a ghost!”
“The Nan family's simpleton killed someone!”
“Hiss!”
“There is a ghost at the Nan house!!!”
“The Nan family killed another ghost!”
The crowd was in a panic, both terrified and desperate to see clearly. They squeezed together, nearly breaking the gate.
Some even found wooden ladders and sat on the top of the wall to peer into the courtyard.
Before long, the entrance to the Nan house was packed to the point that not even a drop of water could trickle through. People were even calling their friends and relatives to come watch the spectacle.
For a time, the area was ablaze with torchlight. The orange-red glow illuminated the entire courtyard, allowing even more people to see the true appearance of the Painted Skin Ghost.
Someone recognized the human skin as the concubine newly wedded into Scholar Wang's house on the east side of town. They realized with a start:
“An evil ghost harming people! It actually ate that woman until only a layer of skin was left!”
“How much that Scholar Wang doted on this little lady, yet who would have thought a beauty would turn into a human skin in the blink of an eye—”
There was much regret in their words.
No, to be more accurate, the one sleeping with Scholar Wang had likely been this Painted Skin Ghost all along.
One could only wonder how massive the psychological trauma would be for Scholar Wang and Qiao Dalang once they found out.
Nanzhi held the human skin and inspected it carefully, not bothering to explain.
Chen Jingui and Nan Ye threw on some clothes and came out of the house. By the moonlight, they saw the demon that had been dead for some time on the ground, and their expressions changed drastically.
“My child!”
Chen Jingui’s face turned pale with fright. She repeatedly pulled at Nanzhi and called her name softly, coaxing her: “Quickly drop that filthy thing, lest you attract some evil spirit!”
On the other hand, the younger Nan Ye poked her head out from behind her mother, taking a few more looks at the corpse of the Painted Skin Ghost on the ground.
“Big Sister, is this the ghost that was harming people at the Qiao house?”
Nanzhi nodded, silently praising the girl’s intelligence.
To prove it to the others, she walked over to the Painted Skin Ghost’s corpse and draped the beauty’s skin over the blue body—
The demon on the ground gradually shrank to the size of an ordinary person, and the original corpse returned to the form of a woman. Only the ghost hands and ghost head on the ground remained unchanged.
“So that beautiful woman was the ghost!”
“Good heavens! So that's how it was!”
“I heard an heart-eating demon appeared in Liangtian County. Many said that demon loved to transform into beautiful women to seduce men...”
“Who doesn't know that Nan the Butcher is fiercer than a ghost? How could a ghost be so foolish as to provoke him?”
“If the Wang family's concubine was a ghost, then hasn't Scholar Wang been sleeping with a ghost every day for the past few days... Hehehehe.”
“The way I see it, this Nan family's eldest daughter is the fierce one. She's kicking that ghost head like a ball, and just now she was using a knife to poke at it like a toy...”
The onlookers chattered away, finally piecing together the truth of the matter.
Nan Dazhuang was unhappy hearing others speak ill of his daughter. He raised the axe in his hand and squinted at them, saying:
“My eldest daughter has immortal destiny! She was chosen by the gods in heaven since she was a child to go and learn skills!
It’s just an evil ghost that takes lives. What is there to fear? Cut off its head, and it dies just the same.”
The person who had spoken earlier curled their lip resentfully, wanting to argue further, but seeing the man’s massive build, they silently retreated into the crowd.
Lingbai Alley was ablaze with light, which naturally could not be hidden from the local yamen. In about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a group of bailiffs wearing brown round-collar robes arrived in a hurry.
“Make way, make way! Official business! Stand aside!”
“What are you all gathered here for! Are you looking for a beating? Disperse at once!”
“Eldest son of the Li family, third son of the Niu family, you hoodlocks and vagabonds, clear out quickly! Don't crowd around here!”
The bailiffs were reeking of alcohol, shouting and cursing as they drove the commoners aside—it did not look like they had come from the direction of the county office.
Despite their crude methods, the effect was excellent. A large empty space was immediately cleared in front of the Nan residence.
The leader wore a cross-footed futou and a brown round-collar robe. He had a red face and a full beard like Zhang Fei, his expression commanding respect without even being angry.
“Someone reported a murder case at the house of Nan the Butcher in Lingbai Alley!
Where is the corpse, and where is the culprit?”
The crowd parted to let the lead bailiff see the situation in the courtyard.
The bailiff took a quick sweep and saw a female corpse with severed hands lying across the ground. Seeing Nan Dazhuang holding a long axe, he made a snap judgment and waved his hand to take Nan Dazhuang into custody:
“Boys! Seize this killer first and take him back for questioning!”
The bailiffs responded in low voices and were about to step forward when they were stopped by a young bailiff.
This young bailiff did not wear a futou, only coarse linen clothes with leg wraps on his calves and linen shoes on his feet.
Under the flickering torchlight, he was seen to have a pair of deer-like eyes that easily garnered favor, and a clean-cut appearance that seemed to naturally wear a smile.
He glanced at Nanzhi and whispered a few words into the red-faced constable's ear.
“Oh? Is that so? Then there must be some misunderstanding.”
The red-faced constable’s eyes widened. He frowned in thought for a moment, then pointed at Nan Dazhuang and asked:
“You tell me, who killed this woman on the ground?”
“My daughter killed it—no, I killed it!
But my girl Zhi didn't kill a person, she killed a ghost! This... this ghost wanted to harm my family, so I chopped it with an axe—”
Nan Dazhuang was somewhat afraid of officials, so his words were inevitably a bit jumbled, and he failed to get to the point after talking for a long time.
Nanzhi couldn't bear to watch any longer and stepped forward proactively. She picked up the Painted Skin Ghost’s head and then pulled the human skin off the ghost’s body.
Thus, under the watchful eyes of the public, with hundreds of eyes staring, she performed the “transformation” once again.
“!!! This, this, this! What the hell is this ghostly thing!!”
The red-faced constable was instantly sobered by the fright. He jumped up from the ground, grabbing the saber at his waist and stammering incoherently:
“You young lady, could it be that you are using some sort of illusion technique!”
The onlookers burst into laughter. Those who knew the constable explained the sequence of events in a chaotic mess of voices.
The bailiffs, who had been standing still, were also startled. They gathered around the Painted Skin Ghost, inspecting it with amazement.
“It really is a ghost!”
“I heard of a man named Song Dingbo in some county who caught a ghost that had turned into a sheep using spit. He sold it at the market for fifteen hundred copper coins!”
“This ghost can actually transform into a beautiful woman?”
“Nan the Butcher is truly formidable, to have killed two ghosts in a row!”
“Bullshit, it was clearly the Nan family's eldest daughter who killed it!”
The red-faced constable mustered his courage and poked the ghost corpse with the back of his saber. Seeing that it was as dead as could be, he finally felt at ease.
He looked at the dark young girl holding the hideous ghost head as if she were a monster herself, then said to the young bailiff:
“Young Yi, is this the gentle and virtuous eldest sister you were talking about?”
That ghost head was hideous and terrifying, looking even heavier than a raw pig's head.
Yet this girl held it with ease, as if she couldn't feel its weight at all.
And that expressionless way she tore off the human skin...
Dammit, how was this young girl even scarier than the ghost?
Nan Yi?
The second child of the Nan family, the eldest son?
Nanzhi finally noticed the young bailiff. Just as she turned her perspective, she saw that when the young man realized she was no longer a simpleton, his eyes were not filled with joy, but with shock and horror.
Before she could look closer, she saw Nan Yi’s expression return to normal. A smile hung on his face again as he said obediently:
“Big Sister.”
...
...
The Painted Skin Ghost’s corpse was carried away overnight by the bailiffs. It was said that both Scholar Wang from the east of the city and Qiao Dalang were called in to identify the body.
As soon as Scholar Wang saw the demon beneath the beauty’s skin, he was scared out of his wits. After returning home, he became delirious, shouting “There’s a ghost” to everyone he met.
Qiao Dalang fared slightly better, but after returning, he lost his appetite and fell seriously ill.
Rate on N.U.
