Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Chapter 89: The Old Ghost of Tianshan

The wandering spirit shouted while lowering his head, hugging it as if that alone could protect him from the blades falling upon him.

Of course, such hope was impossible. Within mere seconds, the green-clothed ghost’s figure grew thinner by another layer.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan even saw the hatred in his eyes. If anyone asked them what the green-clothed wandering spirit wanted most at this moment, both would answer without hesitation: “He wants our lives.”

Yet in front of them lay an unmistakable overt scheme.

—You want to save people, right? Fine, I’ll tell you—someone is in the hands of the Old Ghost of Tianshan. If you go early enough, he might survive. But if you’re late, all you’ll have left are corpses!

Faced with such a challenge, brave heroes who detest evil and have been harmed so deeply—will you go or not?

Bai Zhengliu took a deep breath, refraining from venting on the green-clothed wandering spirit, and instead turned to the swordsman beside him.

Mei Yinghan furrowed his brow, his expression colder than before, and asked, “Explain in detail.”

These simple four words carried much meaning to Bai Zhengliu.

If such a person truly existed, it would indeed be difficult for them. But if not?

Bai Zhengliu understood. His expression darkened slightly as he stared at the green-clothed wandering spirit. He did not raise his sword, but his hand remained on the hilt.

The gesture clearly carried a threat. The green-clothed wandering spirit shivered at the sight, his speech quickening: “Otherwise, how could I not count clearly whether there were five or six people before? Naturally, it’s because one of them was just taken by us.” Saying this, he popped his half-body out from under the blade and said to Bai and Mei, “If you two heroes go earlier, that person might still have a chance…”

Neither Bai nor Mei reacted.

The green-clothed wandering spirit added for emphasis: “I’m not speaking nonsense! You can ask any of the brothers, they’ll tell you. Our Master likes to eat the brain and heart last. The first things to go are hands and legs.”

He spoke vividly, showing not a shred of pity for those who had fallen into the Old Ghost of Tianshan’s hands. Only a keen, eager anticipation for Bai and Mei to act, and a faint greedy craving for human flesh, shone in his eyes.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan saw it clearly. Even though the Old Ghost of Tianshan might have deliberately retained some evildoers among his followers, they would not have acted this way in life… Even if one or two enjoyed cannibalism, it would be impossible for all such people to gather in Tianshan under the Old Ghost’s control.

A large number of wandering spirits must have been trained after death to develop such “pleasure.”

Just thinking this made Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan feel their stomachs churn. Meeting the green-clothed wandering spirit’s gaze made them feel like vomiting.

Yet they could not.

Showing nausea in front of the enemy would be showing weakness. Neither of them were impulsive; thinking back to facing the Blood Demon Ancestor, what had they not seen or heard before?

Mei Yinghan asked again, “Oh? Then tell me—who is ‘that person’?”Bai Zhengliu added, “Is it a man or a woman, what age, what clothes?”

Mei Yinghan said, “After all, our going up the mountain was under someone’s commission…”

Bai Zhengliu: “We all know how dangerous your master is. If the one taken to be eaten is the person who commissioned us, that’s one thing. If not, Mei brother, I think it’s better we don’t go.”

Mei Yinghan nodded in agreement: “Exactly. Having reached this place, we’ve done all we could. The bigger plan now is to convey what has happened here.”

Every word they spoke was serious and earnest. The green-clothed wandering spirit under their control was stunned, eyes wide, thinking clearly: “What heroes of Jianghu! In reality, they’re just cowards who fear the strong and cling to life…”

But he could only think it; he dared not speak it.

After a moment of hesitation, the green-clothed wandering spirit said, “It’s a middle-aged man. His clothes… well, all the lotus pickers wear similar clothes. Age, maybe in his thirties or forties. Ah yes, I also heard others call his name—Zhao Da, yes, that’s it!”

As he finished speaking, he looked at the two men expectantly.

Bai and Mei looked at each other and fell silent.

Bai Zhengliu scanned Mei Yinghan with his eyes: “Mei brother? Seems like it’s really true.”

Mei Yinghan: “If that’s the case, we…”

Bai Zhengliu: “Go check?”

Mei Yinghan exhaled: “Let’s go check.”

If at this very moment Zhao Da were truly being devoured by the Old Ghost of Tianshan, and they hesitated, failing to appear…

Bai and Mei refused to even consider that possibility.

…

…

“Master! Master!”

From far away, the voice of the green-clothed wandering spirit carried out.

He had shouted at the top of his lungs, then lowered his voice to explain to Bai and Mei: “It’s not that I wanted to make a noise. It’s just that our master dislikes being disturbed. If we anger him, we’ll all be in trouble.”

Bai and Mei said nothing, not even looking at him.Both of them were carefully surveying the surroundings.

Almost the moment the green-clothed wandering spirit led them here, they believed every word they had heard from him before.

The scene around them was simply too grim and horrific. First came the overwhelming stench of blood, then the human bones scattered everywhere, visible to the naked eye. Among those bones, at the convergence of all the gathered yin energy, was the slightly moving “thing” whose actions were impossible to discern.

It could only be called a “thing.” From such a distance, Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan could not make out any specific features. They could only tell it was a mass crouched in the darkness, with black fragments around it that seemed like hair. Farther away, it seemed as if a long object passed through it, extending straight down to the stone surface below.

The green-clothed wandering spirit held his breath, wanting to leave while Bai and Mei observed the surroundings.

He was already moving lightly, but both Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan were top-tier masters of the current generation. He took just one step back and was immediately noticed by both.

The spirit’s face instantly darkened. Facing Bai and Mei, he forced a grim smile, more unpleasant than crying, mumbling: “I brought you here to find our master. Haven’t I already led you to the place?… Our master is indeed eating that person now; I haven’t lied to you. And at this point, you won’t even let me leave?”

Bai and Mei stared coldly at him. Just as they were about to speak, a sudden movement emerged from the darkness ahead.

They both turned their heads toward the stone surface.

Of the two, Bai Zhengliu’s eyes were sharper, able to make out the scene more clearly. He immediately noticed the long chain extending from the shadow ahead. Upon closer inspection, that was no ordinary “chain”—it was made segment by segment from human bones!

“Two of them…”

The shadow emitted a hissing laugh.

“Then let them both come! Just as I thought—”

Before the sentence could finish, the chain of bones had already reached Bai and Mei!

Mei Yinghan instinctively raised his sword to block. The chain collided with the Zhenxing Sword, producing a faint metallic sound.

The shadow was clearly surprised. It made a soft “huh” sound and wriggled forward. Among the messy tangle of hair, something brightly glinted—

An eye!

Bai Zhengliu noticed this, his pupils narrowing slightly. At the same time, the shadow on the stone surface revealed a gleeful, excited expression, laughing loudly: “Ah, so you’ve brought me two Jianghu people! Good, very good!”

He spoke without anger at Mei Yinghan’s earlier movement. Instead, he swung the chain again, striking toward Mei Yinghan’s position!

At the same time, another chain—already wrapped around Bai Zhengliu somehow—began pulling forward, attempting to drag the swordsman before it.

Mei Yinghan realized the movement a step later. A worried expression appeared on his face as he looked at Bai Zhengliu. Then, he was reassured by the lip movement of Bai, silently saying: “Don’t worry.”

Watching Bai Zhengliu gradually move away from him, Mei Yinghan paused for a moment, realizing: Bai brother was doing this on purpose.The approaching chains didn’t directly harm anyone. In fact, it provided a perfect path to get closer to the old ghost.

Mei Yinghan realized this. However, he did not relax his resistance. On the contrary, he adopted an even more serious, cautious stance.

Since Bai brother had already gone ahead, his mission now was to distract the old ghost, giving Bai brother a chance to get close to that thing and strike a decisive blow!

With this thought, Mei Yinghan watched the chains ahead with the utmost vigilance.

Meanwhile, the sound of the Zhenxing Sword colliding with the human bone chains constantly reached Bai Zhengliu’s ears, and the distance between him and the Tianshan Old Ghost was steadily closing.

As he neared the old ghost, Bai Zhengliu could clearly smell an even stronger scent of blood in the air.

The surrounding temperature grew colder and colder. Unconsciously, frost had already formed on his eyebrows.

And the Tianshan Old Ghost was now right before his eyes!

Bai Zhengliu gripped the hilt of his sword—

Author’s note:

See you tomorrow (morning).