CHAPTER 22: CHAPTER 15: WATER GHOST (PART 2)

Covered in wetness, Sang Que wiped her face with her hand, feeling the Corpse Mud dissolve on her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat, and as she looked up, the sight before her sent a chill through her bones.

Under the hazy moonlight, a giant, pale arm formed of countless decaying corpses and water plants reached out from the lake, slapping onto the earth by the shore.

Dark red water plants danced provocatively as the swollen, greasy corpses pressed together, struggling fiercely, a raspy sound emanating from their throats.

He Shou’an’s soul was spared thanks to Sang Que, but his playmate’s soul was dragged by one of the corpses on the enormous hand, crying and struggling futilely, being slowly pulled back into the lake.

Sang Que swallowed with difficulty. The previously seen Evil Spirits paled compared to this sight; this wasn’t even the full form of the lake’s inhabitant.

Is this the Water Ghost?

A presence called ’ghost’ truly is terrifying.

Just one look made her feel on the verge of a mental breakdown. Luckily, she had been conditioned by modern horror films and could still resist such frightful scenes.

Sang Que shifted her gaze and climbed to her feet, calling out again to He Shou’an as she fled the lakeside, drawing her knife to cut her finger as she ran.

The earlier deluge had left many puddles on the ground. Just as Sang Que was about to step into one, the water’s surface rippled. Her eyes narrowed sharply, and she twisted her body to step beside it.

A pale, swollen arm reached out from the puddle, grabbing a hold of Sang Que’s dress.

Rip!

The glint of the knife—Sang Que decisively cut away her dress, avoiding the surrounding puddles without a second’s delay.

Kou Yushan had said to avoid watery places, and the Ming Zhang Notes once mentioned the Zhao Family’s young child disappearing on a rainy day, possibly from stepping into water.

Stepping into a puddle triggers the Water Ghost’s deadly call.

Wait, wasn’t the child playing with He Shou’an just now the Zhao Family’s child?

Sang Que’s pupils quivered; now wasn’t the time for sympathy. She turned her head to check if He Shou’an’s soul had followed, only to see his soul being dragged by an arm from a puddle, the talismanic fire within growing dimmer.

Sang Que reached into her bosom, pulling out the Exorcism Talisman found in Ming Zhang’s room, ready to ignite it but hesitated.

He Shou’an is a soul, logically an Evil Spirit. Wouldn’t using the Exorcism Talisman kill both the Water Ghost’s arm and He Shou’an’s soul?

The cold feeling on her forehead was gone, with the once absent Wandering Souls suddenly appearing in the wilderness, all their horrific faces turning towards her.

The Corpse Mud had lost its effect!

At this moment, the best course for Sang Que was to abandon Summoning Soul and run all the way to Yan Daozi’s residence with the three Exorcism Talismans on her, which would assure her survival.

But she was of the Sang Family—stubborn to the end, she couldn’t accept failure without giving her all.

Giving up and running back, Yan Daozi might not keep a useless wretch like her alive.

Try one more time, if it fails, then leave!

Sang Que quickly dropped her blood onto the red candle inside the soul lamp. The candle ignited with a ’poof,’ emitting a blood-red glow, encircling Sang Que in a two-meter radius.

She burned a lock of He Shou’an’s hair, releasing a strange stench, and shouted into the distance.

"He Shou’an!"

An alluring force emitted from the soul lamp, and the soul of He Shou’an, held by the giant arm, started to struggle fiercely, the talismanic fire flickering within.

The surrounding Wandering Souls began closing in on Sang Que, their numbers overwhelming, the situation dire.

"He Shou’an!"

"He Shou’an!"

Sang Que called out loudly while retreating, holding the soul lamp with her left hand and the Exorcism Talisman with her right. The blood on her right forefinger hadn’t dried; in case of an emergency, she could ignite the talisman with her blood at any time.

Under immense pressure, a cold, chilling aura uncontrollably arose within Sang Que.

The Yin Child suddenly appeared beside He Shou’an’s soul, its hollow eye sockets silently watching the struggling He Shou’an, slowly lifting its only remaining left arm to seize the swollen hand from the puddle.

He Shou’an’s soul instantly broke free, crashing into Sang Que’s soul lamp like a moth to a flame.

Whistling wind arose, surrounding them with dense gray mist, hazy, cold, and filled with an eerie presence.

The soul lamp’s glow illuminated a range a little less than two meters around Sang Que; the Wandering Souls outside were repelled by an invisible force, unable to approach her in the center of the glow while waving their arms.

Foregoing a care for the Yin Child, Sang Que held the soul lamp with her left hand, smearing blood on the Exorcism Talisman with her right forefinger. The talisman paper began to burn slowly from the edges, casting a warm yellow glow.

Sang Que turned and ran; from this moment, the Summoning Soul was at its most critical stage—no looking back!

With the Exorcism Talisman holding them off, if the Yin Child could detach from her body... even better.

In the fog came the continuous, cold wailing. Sang Que dared not stop, rushing through the forest, noticing signs of the soul in the soul lamp trying to leave; she called out ’He Shou’an,’ keeping the soul bound within the lamp.

After running a great distance, the fog churned ahead, and the blood-colored water of the lake appeared before Sang Que’s eyes.

Sang Que’s breath caught—she had run in one direction and still returned to the lakeside? Ghost Wall?

Couldn’t the Exorcism Talisman take her out of the Yin Child’s Evil Mist?

Seeing a talisman burn itself almost out, Sang Que immediately prepared to ignite the second in her right hand. Suddenly, a blue, shriveled hand reached through the mist, gripping Sang Que’s right wrist.

Rip!

Blood sprayed, and Sang Que’s eyes widened with horror; before her brain could register the searing pain, her entire right arm had been torn off, twitching in the grass.

The glow of the talisman faded, and in the soul lamp’s blood-red light, the Yin Child sat expressionless on Sang Que’s shoulder, multiple shriveled hands emerging from its abdomen to climb up Sang Que’s face.

Rough, cold fingers rubbed against her skin, sending shivers through Sang Que, nearly consumed by fear.

The Yin Child’s sharp, blue fingernails hovered before her eyes as Sang Que resisted the assault of terror and turned immediately.

Return to the soul, don’t look back.

At this life-and-death intersection, it was the only way she could think of to deal with the Yin Child.

Poof!

The soul lamp went out, and the lakeside plunged into darkness. The cries and insect chirps vanished, an underwater shadow sank, and tranquility reigned over the land.

At the same time, deep in the forest in the ruined temple.

Hair a mess, face covered in soot, Xia Chan sat by the fire nibbling on a hard bun when suddenly, a crack sounded.

Countless insects swarmed from a crack in a toppled statue, rustling away swiftly into the shadows.

In the Deserted Forest, birds took flight, a hundred ghosts fled.

The bun fell from Xia Chan’s hand, eyes full of surprise, "The Witch Lady, she has awakened..."