Chapter 105: Transformation of the Hungry Ghost

In the midst of the chaos, Hu Xueman pulled out a gun and shouted, “Everyone get back.”

I looked at Hu Xueman in surprise. Could bullets even deal with this worm? But everyone else seemed to understand what was going on and quickly scattered. I did not move, and before I knew what was happening, someone grabbed me and pulled me away.

“Those bullets are special rounds. Extremely expensive. Looks like Captain Hu is really angry,” someone said in my ear.

I glanced at my master. He seemed to be at a critical moment. His face had taken on an abnormal red color, and his body was faintly trembling. I looked again at the center of the formation. The worm was still coiled around that boy. Now that everyone had pulled back, it once again tried desperately to burrow into the boy’s mouth. Hu Xueman grabbed a section of its body, aimed the gun tightly at it, and without hesitation pulled the trigger.

Bang. A crisp gunshot echoed through the small courtyard, startling some nearby dog, which set off a wave of barking.

The worm’s body stiffened for a moment, then went still. Hu Xueman shouted, “What are you standing around for? Get him out.”

The boy ripped the worm off his body. Just as he stood up, Hu Xueman pulled him out of the circular formation and into a relatively safe spot among the crowd.

Once he steadied himself, the boy kept spitting on the ground nonstop. Anyone would feel disgusted after something like that.

Is it over just like that? I stared blankly at the worm lying motionless in the center of the courtyard, only now realizing how large it was. It was as thick as an arm and about a meter long.

“Captain Hu, we only have a few of those bullets left, right?” someone asked nearby.

Hu Xueman said indifferently, “I already reported it to headquarters. We were authorized to use two bullets this time. Think about the consequences. This thing can wipe out an entire village. And this is a market town, villages are all around us. What are two bullets compared to that?”

At that moment, Hui Jue suddenly stopped chanting scripture. With a loud whoosh, he stood up, his expression extremely serious.

“Am I going to have to act personally?”

Everyone was confused. The worm had clearly already been dealt with. But then the worm in the center of the courtyard moved. More precisely, it began shrinking rapidly, compressing until it became an oval shaped sphere.

A clear ding echoed through the courtyard. Hu Xueman’s expression changed instantly. That was the bullet tip he had just fired.

“Damn it!” Hu Xueman darkened his face, pulled out another bullet from his pocket, and prepared to reload.

At that moment, Hui Jue stepped forward, glanced at my master, and sighed.

“Forget it. Matters of killing and life should still be left to Old Jiang. You do not need to reload your gun. It will not work. It is about to transform.”

As he spoke, I witnessed the strangest scene I had ever seen in over ten years.

That oval object began to swell. A clear face appeared within it, struggling in pain, while the skin surrounding it had become almost translucent.

With a dull bang, a thin, bony arm pierced through the skin. Then another bang, and a second arm broke out.

A hungry ghost. The hungry ghost was finally taking form. I could hear my own heartbeat pounding violently, as if it were about to jump out of my throat. If even the juvenile hungry ghost worm was this terrifying, then what about a fully formed hungry ghost?

This was the most vicious kind of hungry ghost.

Master, what is Master doing? Five minutes had already passed since the beginning, and he still had not made a move. He had never maintained a spell for this long before.

I turned back to look at him and saw that he had stopped chanting. Suddenly, he stomped his foot heavily on the ground, as if the entire courtyard was shaking.

Then I saw his cheeks puff out, as if he were about to spit blood. I was about to shout in concern when a cold hand grabbed me. The hand was still trembling.

I jumped in shock and turned around. It was Su Rou standing beside me. His teeth were chattering.

“San Wa Er, its head is out. Its head is out.”

I looked again and saw it clearly. A gray green head had already broken through the skin. It looked exactly like the hungry ghost carved on the stone gate of the hungry ghost tomb, with a vicious gaze, a prominent hooked nose, and a mouth slightly open like a crack, revealing four faintly visible fangs.

Strangely, it even had thin and sparse hair, forming a quiet ring around the top of its head.

“What are you standing there for? Use every method you have. Buy Old Jiang time.”

Hui Jue rushed to the edge of the small circular formation and sat down cross legged. This time, I saw him take out a strangely colored wooden fish.

After sitting down, he struck it once.

The sound was not loud, but it carried a strange sensation, as if visible waves of sound were spreading outward like water ripples, causing everyone’s hearts to tremble.

“Su Rou, go inside and close the door. Everyone else, recite your sect’s Mind-Calming Mantra and assist me,” Hui Jue said.

Then he closed his eyes and began chanting scriptures I could not understand. Every few lines, he struck the wooden fish once. Each strike made my entire heart tremble, as if a mountain was pressing down on me.

I dared not delay and began silently reciting the Mind-Calming Mantra my master had taught me. Only then did my mind begin to clear. Embarrassingly, I realized that everyone around me, including that boy, had already calmed down. Even more shocking, they had all taken out their tools.

Hu Xueman held a bell and shouted, “Everyone use your sect’s suppression methods to stabilize the Yang Extreme Locking Yin Formation.”

Then I saw them each forming hand seals, activating magical artifacts, or stepping through ritual patterns. Every method was different, but all were fully engaged.

Even that boy was forming hand seals and forcing his energy into motion.

This was a group of Daoists.

I felt a sense of discouragement. Why was I so useless?

I touched the tiger claw pendant hanging around my neck and thought, should I risk corrupting it and rush in to strike again?

At that moment, the hungry ghost had fully broken out of its thin shell. Its body was wet and dripping, only about seventy to eighty centimeters tall. It glared at everyone present with extreme ferocity and suddenly let out a string of strange sounds.

Heaven knows what it was saying.

Its legs trembled slightly as its eyes searched the surroundings. Then it suddenly charged toward Hui Jue’s seated position. Hui Jue did not change his expression at all. He formed a strange hand seal at chest level, then increased the volume of his chanting.

The hungry ghost was forced back repeatedly.

With nothing else to do, I activated my heavenly eye. I saw Hui Jue’s chanting transform into golden swastika symbols that struck the hungry ghost one after another.

Hu Xueman, who had been standing beside me, suddenly looked at me in shock and shouted, “Heavenly eye? You can open the heavenly eye so easily?”

Is that really so strange? His shout snapped me out of that state.

Before I could respond, someone shouted, “Help me. It is trying to escape from my position.”

Hu Xueman said nothing more, only muttered, “No wonder,” and rushed to another position.

The hungry ghost had already abandoned its attack on Hui Jue and was trying to break out from another direction.

It wanted to escape.

I turned to look at my master. He still had his eyes closed, his body trembling as if enduring immense pressure.

At that moment, Hu Xueman cursed, “How can we compare to Master Hui Jue? It is about to break out. We cannot hold it.”

The hungry ghost was indeed circling toward that direction like a headless fly, clearly struggling to move, yet its gaze remained sharp and focused.

Its eyes suddenly met mine.

I nearly lost my balance. A violent urge surged within me, as if I wanted to pull out the tiger fang and fight it head on. My body even began to take an uncontrolled step forward toward the formation.

“Back off.”

A loud voice exploded in my ear. I snapped back to clarity and realized I was already at the edge of the formation, only five steps away from the hungry ghost.

The hungry ghost was staring at me with a ferocious expression, its row of white teeth twisted and menacing.