Chapter 83: Close-quarters Combat

Why did I stagger back two steps in fear? It was because, at the moment Guo Er turned his head, I saw his face twist violently. In that blur, I caught a completely unfamiliar face.

That face was extremely gaunt, almost no flesh at all, just a layer of bluish gray skin stretched tightly over bone. The skull itself was grotesquely deformed, unusually large and long, with two protruding brow ridges that made the upper part of the head look almost square.

At the moment it looked toward me, it suddenly let out a roar at me. Only then did I clearly see its features. No eyebrows, but deeply protruding brow bones. Its eyes were not human eyes with distinct whites and pupils, but entirely blood red. Its nose was sharply hooked and huge. Inside its wide mouth were snow white teeth, and most terrifying of all were the four fangs, extremely long and even sharper than canine teeth. As it roared at me, its mouth opened so wide that, in a daze, I seemed to see a mass of blazing fire burning deep inside its throat.

That roar rang in my ears, deafening and filled with an indescribable terror, as if it were threatening me, and yet also warning me.

“San Wa Er, what’s wrong?” Su Rou grabbed me, because I had nearly fallen just now.

I snapped back to my senses and looked at Guo Er again. Strangely, his face had returned to normal. He was now struggling violently, almost throwing off the three people sitting on him.

I wiped away cold sweat and turned to Su Rou. “Did you hear that roar just now? Did you see Guo Er’s face?”

Because that face felt strangely familiar to me, I needed Su Rou to help me recall it.

“What roar? What face? San Wa Er, don’t scare me like that.” The fat on Su Rou’s face trembled. Clearly he had not seen anything and was instead frightened by my words.

“Oh, nothing then.” Had I accidentally activated the heavenly eye again? No, definitely not. Although I could not fully control my heavenly eye yet, I was very clear about the sensation of it activating. Since it was not that, I suddenly thought of another possibility.

There was something inside Guo Er, and that thing was targeting me. It seemed to have realized I was a Daoist and saw me as a threat.

That thought made my spine turn cold, and I felt a kind of helpless dread. In the past, watching my master deal with ghosts and monsters seemed easy, but now that it was my turn, I was at a complete loss. I desperately searched through everything I had learned, hoping to find a workable method.

“Get lost, get out, get out…” In the moment I was distracted, a voice suddenly rang out in the room.

It was clearly Guo Er’s voice, but the feeling of it made everyone in the room change expression. How should I put it? It sounded like an animal that could not speak, desperately trying to imitate human speech.

Su Rou felt uneasy and turned to me. “San Wa Er, is he telling you to get out, or me? Maybe we should all get out?”

I knew that in such a bizarre situation, Su Rou did not want to stay even a second longer. But I could not bear to leave like this. I had a feeling that if we left now, something very cruel would happen, and I had never doubted my instincts.

“Get out, get away, get away…” Guo Er’s struggling grew more intense. He looked like he wanted to rush over and bite us. Even Guo Dongliang had rushed forward to help hold him down.

“Big brothers, you should leave,” the Guo family girl said, pulling at my sleeve, her eyes full of tears.

I sighed inwardly, still hesitating, still desperately thinking of what I could do. Su Rou tugged at me. “I know what you are thinking, but if you do not have the ability, what can you do? Go find Master Jiang. Let’s go.”

Fine, it seemed that was the only choice. I could not bear to look at the Guo family anymore, so I turned and left with Su Rou.

But we had barely taken a few steps when a heartbreaking scream came from inside the room. I recognized Guo Er’s father’s voice. Su Rou and I exchanged a glance, and I immediately turned back and rushed in. Su Rou hesitated for a moment, then followed.

At the doorway, I froze.

I saw Guo Er half kneeling on the ground. The ropes at his feet had already snapped. He wore a sinister smile, a trace of fresh blood at the corner of his mouth.

Guo Er’s father was curled up in a corner of the room, clutching his left hand in pain. Even while holding it, blood was still flowing through his fingers. Guo Er’s mother was supporting him.

Meanwhile, Guo Er’s wife was holding Guo Dongliang and the Guo family girl, hiding in another corner and trembling in fear.

Guo Er was still struggling. His hands were bound behind his back, and he was trying hard to break free.

“You damned thing, are you trying to eat people? Have you lost all sense of family?” Guo Er’s father cursed in pain. In his mind, Guo Er was still the same Guo Er, just strangely gluttonous.

The words “eat people” suddenly sparked something in my mind. I realized it. I finally understood what Guo Er had become.

Before I could speak, Su Rou shouted, “He broke free!”

I snapped back to attention and saw that Guo Er had indeed broken the ropes. He was now staring at me with a sinister smile.

“Heh… heh…” he laughed.

That sound gave everyone present goosebumps.

I pulled Su Rou back slowly. The corridor outside led directly to the hall. If a fight broke out here, there would be no room to move. If we could lure him into the yard, maybe I could think of a way.

Guo Er stared at me, his gaze nothing like a human’s. He followed step by step.

Then suddenly, his eyes shifted to Su Rou. My heart sank. I was about to warn him, but in the next instant Guo Er lunged at Su Rou with unbelievable speed.

A gust of wind brushed past my face. Then I felt a heavy impact and was slammed into the corridor wall, nearly falling over.

Luckily, years of training had not been wasted. While I was not a master of martial arts, I still had strength. I braced myself with one hand and managed to steady my body.

But when I looked up again, Su Rou was already pinned to the ground. Guo Er had both hands around his throat and was opening his mouth to bite down.

If he tore off a piece of Su Rou’s flesh, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I was the one who brought him here. Su Rou’s face was already red, barely able to breathe. I could not reach him in time. The Guo family stood frozen in panic.

Then I suddenly shouted, “Talisman, Su Rou, the talisman!”

Su Rou still had some courage left. At least he had not completely frozen. With one hand blocking Guo Er’s mouth, he reached into his pocket with the other and pulled out the warding talisman I had given him.

Without hesitation, he shoved it straight into Guo Er’s mouth.

“Ah…” Guo Er suddenly screamed. Smoke rose immediately from his mouth as the talisman ignited inside him.

This was not some strange phenomenon. Just like thunder and lightning are collisions of opposing energies, this could also be understood as a clash of yin and yang. A warding talisman filled with yang energy colliding with the sinister yin energy inside Guo Er naturally produced such a reaction. This was the true reason why powerful Daoist talismans sometimes ignite without wind.

Guo Er recoiled as if burned, his movements slowing. But in the next moment, he spat the talisman out.

I could not let him harm Su Rou again. I rushed forward, planted my stance, gathered all my strength into my arms, focused my inner breath, and lifted Guo Er off Su Rou, slamming him hard to the side.

“Damn it, Su Rou, run!” I shouted.

At the same time, I noticed Su Rou’s arm that had blocked Guo Er’s bite was torn and bleeding badly.

Su Rou reacted quickly and ran downstairs. I pressed my back against Guo Er, pinning him to the wall and locking his arms, then shouted at the Guo family, “Your Guo Er has been possessed by a hungry ghost. Go hide at a neighbor’s house, quickly! I will call my master to save him!”

The Guo family hesitated for a moment. Guo Er’s wife grabbed the two children and ran, and Guo Er’s father also helped Guo Er’s mother leave.