Chapter 86: Hungry Ghost Insect

I stopped struggling, my right hand gripping the tiger claw amulet, my left hand secretly gathering strength. In that moment, my focus was razor sharp, and my willpower was strong enough that I was confident I could do what I needed to do.

Gradually, Guo Er opened his mouth wide. I saw a scene I would never forget in my entire life. A white mass emerged from his throat, and a section of its body slowly poked out from his mouth.

Fuck, I cursed inwardly. I had imagined the appearance of the hungry ghost many times today, and I had even seen it once on Guo Er’s stomach, but I never expected its true form to be like a roundworm. It was too damn disgusting.

Yes, it really looked like a roundworm. White, soft and wriggling, but its head was far more ferocious. At that moment, because my focus was so intense, my heavenly eye opened on its own.

In my eyes, the struggling white worm changed. It turned into a very small bluish gray human figure, its face exactly like the carving I had seen not long ago on the hungry ghost tomb. Now its head had already crawled out of Guo Er’s mouth and was rushing toward me.

Now.

I pulled hard with my left hand, yanking away Guo Er’s grip on my chin, then closed my mouth, pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth, and performed charm inscription.

This was a special way of drawing talismans, using the tongue to form patterns on the palate. The patterns were relatively simple, but the difficulty was extremely high. It was usually used to increase the power of incantations, or, in situations like mine, to prepare for using tongue tip blood.

Saliva was originally a useful substance, with a slight ability to ward off evil. According to Old Man Jiang, it carried a person’s natural spiritual energy.

But its effect was relatively weak. The strongest and most effective things for exorcism were middle finger blood and tongue tip blood.

In this situation, I was not confident I could bite my finger open, and that action would also disrupt my visualization contemplation, which required extreme concentration. So I could only use tongue tip blood.

My tongue quickly traced the pattern on the roof of my mouth. This was the only one I knew, a pattern that could infuse power into objects and spells. At that moment, my entire mind was fully concentrated. There was no fear, no panic, and I was not even aware of what Guo Er was doing anymore.

This pattern, combined with a mental incantation, was relatively simple. I was not even sure if I had succeeded. The moment I finished the inscription, I bit down hard on the tip of my tongue. A strong metallic taste immediately filled my mouth, followed by sharp pain.

Done.

At that moment, I felt Guo Er’s hand break free from mine again and clamp onto my chin. My heavenly eye, which had opened by accident, disappeared again, so I could no longer see it clearly. But I could see that the worm had already crawled out of Guo Er’s mouth by nearly three inches, less than a foot away from me.

There was no time to think.

I spat a mouthful of tongue blood mixed with saliva straight at the worm.

Then I heard a sharp scream, not loud but extremely piercing, like something between a rooster’s crow and an insect’s cry. The worm’s body was covered in my tongue blood, and it twisted in extreme pain, retreating backward, but not fast enough.

I had intended to save him, so how could I just watch that hungry ghost crawl back into Guo Er’s body? Taking advantage of the moment, I grabbed the tiger claw amulet and stabbed it into the worm. The tiger claw easily pierced its soft, fleshy body, and I pinned it into a nearby flowerpot.

Something strange happened. The moment the tiger claw pierced it, the worm stiffened and stopped moving. Guo Er’s body also went limp, as if all strength had drained out of him.

How could I let him fall on top of me? Especially with part of that worm still inside his mouth.

I shoved Guo Er aside, then sat up. What came next was disgusting, but it had to be done. I forced myself to stand, tore off a piece of Guo Er’s ragged clothing, wrapped it around my hand, and pulled the worm completely out of his body.

It was long, over half a meter. Looking closely, the upper part of its body had two hooked appendages like hands, while the tail had split into two, resembling legs.

I did not know why it had become like this, nor did I understand its origin or nature, but I was certain that the thing causing trouble in Guo Er’s body was this creature.

There was a thin blood line on its body, faint and intermittent. I stared at it for a while, then lost interest due to exhaustion and sat down to catch my breath. At that moment, Guo Er, lying nearby, began coughing violently and spat out several mouthfuls of blood foam.

Although the metaphysical arts include a medical branch, my usual training was already extremely heavy, and I had no time to study it, not even basic knowledge. So I had no idea how to help him. I could only say, “Hold on. My master will be here soon and he will save you.”

Guo Er looked at me with gratitude, but he was far too weak to speak. After coughing a few more times, he actually fainted.

This was understandable. After being drained by that hungry ghost insect, it would have been strange if he were still active and healthy. As for what the hungry ghost insect had done inside his body, probably only it knew.

I also felt waves of dizziness. This was not physical exhaustion, but the consequence of repeatedly pushing my spiritual energy, mental force, and willpower beyond their limits. In Daoist terms, it was a combination of spirit, intent, and focus. I had gone beyond what I could endure.

And I had also forced myself to perform charm inscription.

But I could not pass out yet. I did not know whether the tiger claw could fully suppress the hungry ghost insect, and I could not simply crush it. My master had once said that the world was full of strange things. Destroying something you thought you saw might not actually destroy it. Sometimes it even made things worse.

Like leeches. You might nail one to the ground, but if you stepped on it and broke it into pieces, it might escape instead.

And things like this, no one knew what tricks they had.

So I had to watch it.

Su Rou once said that cigarettes could help with alertness. Feeling exhausted, I reached into Guo Er’s pocket, found a pack of Hongmei cigarettes, and lit one with a match.

It was my first cigarette in my life.

As the smoke rose, I coughed violently. A strange bitterness spread through my mouth, and I felt even more dizzy, but I could also feel my mind becoming slightly clearer.

Leaning against the wall, I slowly smoked, recovering from my heavily drained body. I thought that exorcising demons was truly difficult. Just that one insect had almost killed me. If it had crawled into my stomach, I would have been done for. It showed how powerful my master truly was.

Time passed second by second. I did not know how long it had been, but by the time I reached my fifth cigarette, I heard violent knocking at the gate.

“San Wa Er, San Wa Er…”

It was Su Rou’s voice.

My master had finally arrived. A wave of joy rose from deep inside me. I forced myself up, stumbled toward the gate, and pulled it open with a crash.

Three people stood outside.

Su Rou, my master, and Hui Jue the old monk.

“San Wa Er, you’re still alive? I’ve been gone for over three hours. I was afraid you were dead,” Su Rou said, throwing himself at me and hugging me. I was already weak and nearly suffocated from his grip. If he did not let go, I might have collapsed.

I looked at my master. The moment I saw his expression, I immediately felt steady. Hui Jue the old monk also put away his worried look and returned to his usual sly old-man demeanor.

But the next moment, my master erupted in anger. He grabbed Su Rou and slapped me on the head, shouting, “How capable do you think you are? Do you think you are Zhang Tianshi or Zhong Kui? You are just a kid with barely any hair on your body, and you dare fight a hungry ghost?”

The slap left me dizzy. The old monk Hui Jue added fuel to the fire from the side, hands behind his back, saying, “Where did this genius come from? A little kid fighting a hungry ghost.”