CHAPTER 151: CHAPTER 130: NAME

The fluctuations of the Mutated Objects... on him?

Li Ang shifted his position slightly. The vertically-aligned Mo Si still pointed towards Huai Rui, tracking him in real-time.

Does that mean the Mutated Objects are inside his body? Or could it be that he himself is a Mutated Object...

Li Ang paused. He had brought the manually-activated Protective Talismans with him when he left home, so he figured he could take a slight risk.

Alright, I’ll follow and see.

The Mo Si extended and spread like a barbed caterpillar, burrowing into the gaps between roof tiles and bracing itself on the beams, carrying Li Ang as he crawled silently across the rooftop.

The burly man known as Brother Wei remained in the courtyard to stand guard. The short dwarf known as Brother Sun waited in the main hall. The other two Abnormal People, the scholar and the hunchbacked elder, were brought by Huai Rui to Mrs. Huai’s bedroom.

Mrs. Huai had already fallen asleep. The scholar approached to check on her condition.

"There are indeed bruises on her arms and legs, and some scratch marks that look like they were made by fingernails..."

The scholar pondered for a moment, then took out several talismans from his robes. He solemnly affixed them under the bed, at its foot, head, and canopy. Beside Mrs. Huai’s quilt, he also placed some jade carvings shaped like beasts.

"Huai Langzhong."

The hunchbacked elder, known as Old Man Zhuang, glanced around the room before asking, "Who taught you to make these arrangements?"

Various items were placed in the corners of Mrs. Huai’s bedroom: peach wood swords, Door God Paintings, tortoise shells, copper mirrors—all objects intended to ward off evil spirits.

"An acquaintance at the garrison taught me," Huai Rui replied. "I heard it’s some kind of Array to expel Evil and bring peace to the household. I don’t really understand it; I just arranged everything as instructed. Sir, will this actually work?"

"Whether it works or not depends on the type of anomaly. Most Arrays in this world are merely symptomatic treatments. If the symptoms don’t match, the Array won’t have much effect."

Old Man Zhuang’s gaze swept around the room and suddenly stopped on a brocaded box.

The box was square, resting quietly in a corner of the room. Its surface was decorated with exquisite jade and silk. The opening of the box was tied with a silk ribbon, from which hung a ’B’-shaped bone.

"Tiger power?"

Old Man Zhuang was slightly surprised. Tiger power referred to certain bones occasionally found in tigers. These bones were shaped like the letter ’B,’ were about an inch long, and were located under the skin beside the ribs and also at the ends of the tail. They were known to ward off evil and command authority, and were considered genuine special materials.

At the Chang’an Ghost Market, such an item could sell for around a thousand strings of coins.

Old Man Zhuang asked, "What’s inside this box?"

"It was a gift from an overseas merchant friend a few years ago. He said it was a Jiao Yao specimen obtained from the Endless Sea, purported to suppress evil spirits."

Huai Rui stepped forward, picked up the brocaded box, untied the tiger power bone from the ribbon, and opened the box. Inside was a specimen of a small, humanoid creature, about a foot long.

Its surface was a waxy yellow, covered in scaly patterns. The skin and flesh were desiccated, clinging tightly to its gaunt skeleton.

"Jiao Yao..."

The scholar’s eyes lit up. "Liezi·Tangwen says that far to the east of Central State, at a distance of forty thousand leagues, lies the Jiao Yao Country, where the people are one foot five inches tall. It’s the legendary Dwarf nation..."

"Fakes."

Old Man Zhuang interjected, "The skin on the surface is from a black porgy fish, and these bones are from some kind of small monkey; some bones at the base of its tail haven’t even been completely severed. I’ve seen this kind of thing in Lingnan. Many Jianghu swindlers use them to bluff and deceive. Some claim it’s a young mountain demon specimen, others say it’s a water monkey specimen, specifically to deceive gullible men and women and take their money. Huai Langzhong, you’ve been tricked by that Sea Merchant friend of yours. Besides, even if it were real, placing a human wax specimen in one’s home would have absolutely no effect in protecting it. You should close the box."

"Oh, oh."

Huai Rui hurriedly tied the tiger power bone back onto the box, whispering to himself, "That Zhong Er! I treated you like a friend, and you cheated me with monkey bones..."

"AHHHH!!"

A bloodcurdling scream interrupted Huai Rui’s muttering.

The scholar and Old Man Zhuang, who were in the bedroom, turned pale—the scream had come from Brother Wei, the burly man among the four.

THUD!

Old Man Zhuang thrust out a palm, remotely blasting open the wooden door. He stamped his cane on the ground and, despite his hunched back, shot out like an arrow towards the courtyard.

Someone was even faster.

Sun the Dwarf, who had remained in the main hall, stayed low to the ground, darting into the courtyard like a flash of lightning.

In the courtyard, the burly man lay prone on the ground, his entire left arm buried deep in the soil, as if something underground had grabbed him.

A shiver ran down Sun the Dwarf’s spine, but he still unfastened the Soft Sword, disguised as a belt, from his waist. With a flick of his wrist, the Soft Sword plunged deep into the soil.

CLANG!

The sound of metal striking metal echoed through the courtyard; the Soft Sword seemed to have hit something solid.

WHOOSH.

The force pulling the burly man from underground suddenly eased. He lurched backward, his entire left forearm gone from the elbow down, as if ripped clean off by whatever was beneath the earth.

"AHHHHHHH—"

The pain from his severed arm was unbearable. Even this burly man, who had weathered many storms, couldn’t endure it. He lay on the ground, clutching his mangled elbow and wailing miserably.

"Don’t just lie there! Get up! Move!" the dwarf and the approaching Old Man Zhuang shouted in unison, but it was too late.

A dark, murky hand suddenly shot out from the ground, grasping the burly man’s ankles and dragging his lower body underground.

"Vile demon, how dare you!"

A sharp glint flashed in Old Man Zhuang’s eyes as he suddenly threw his walking stick.

In mid-air, the walking stick split apart, transforming into several handleless wooden swords that spun rapidly as they stabbed towards the ground.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The wooden swords struck the ground, causing the earth in the courtyard to crack slightly. A sharp, fleeting laughter echoed from deep underground before quickly vanishing near the courtyard corner.

The Evil seemed to have departed, but the burly man... his lower body, from the waist down, had vanished. He was clearly dead.

"..."

Old Man Zhuang clenched his jaw, looking at his companion’s corpse.

The dwarf whispered in disbelief, "Brother Wei was a Martial Artist at Postnatal Peak, just one step away from advancing to the Innate realm, which is equivalent to Cloud Patrol. Just... dead like that?"

"That Evil was too powerful. We can’t handle this job. Let’s go."

Old Man Zhuang made an instant decision. He stomped on the ground and leaped up, only to be abruptly stopped in mid-air.

An invisible, dark-colored wall surrounded Huai’s Mansion. Even when he conjured his wooden swords, he couldn’t penetrate it. This invisible wall even extended deep underground. Escaping by burrowing underground was also impossible.

Seeing that escape was futile, Old Man Zhuang and the dwarf quickly returned to the bedroom, urgently saying to the scholar, "Old Wei is dead. This Evil is at least a Third-level Abnormality and has already formed a Ghost Realm."

"Ghost Realm?" Huai Rui, who had faintly smelled the metallic tang of blood from the courtyard, felt his mind thrown into turmoil and asked instinctively.

"It’s a special ability that only a few Abnormalities possess. It pulls people and objects connected to the Abnormality into a separate dimension. People inside cannot see or communicate with those outside. The Ghost Realm will only dissipate if the Abnormality can no longer sustain it due to energy depletion and voluntarily withdraws it, or if the Abnormality is killed."

Old Man Zhuang quickly explained, "It’s similar to the ’ghost-leading-astray’ phenomenon from rural legends. Once a living person steps into it, it’s very difficult to find a way out before dawn. However, a Ghost Realm is hundreds, even thousands, of times more perilous than being led astray by a ghost."

The dwarf said sharply, "This Ghost Realm has engulfed the eastern side of the mansion, precisely up to the edge of the surrounding wall. The ordinary soldiers patrolling the streets won’t be able to hear any commotion from us. As for the garrison... although they have Arrays to protect Chang’an, it will take some time for them to detect this anomaly."

"What do we do now?" Huai Rui, his face ashen, turned to look at Mrs. Huai on the bed—she was still soundly asleep, undisturbed by the chaos.

"Wait!" Old Man Zhuang stated resolutely. "The garrison will eventually notice the disturbance here. Once they arrive, the Evil will naturally be suppressed. To guarantee the suppression of an Abnormality possessing a Ghost Realm, one would need at least a Cloud Patrol Realm Cultivator. The few of us... our Cultivation is insufficient."

They were all civilian Cultivators. If this dragged on and the garrison discovered them, they would undoubtedly face interrogation. They might even be extorted or forced to work for the garrison for a period without compensation. But compared to being eaten alive by the Abnormality, this was a far better outcome.

TAP.

Footsteps approached from the distance. A human-shaped shadow, topped with a dragon’s head, was cast upon the paper window of the bedroom. It slowly crossed the corridor, heading towards the bedroom door.

The scholar, Old Man Zhuang, and the dwarf tensed, their expressions changing slightly. They instinctively prepared to use their abilities to attack the newcomer.

"I am here to help."

A low, hoarse voice emanated from beneath the dragon-head mask. Li Ang, wearing the mask and night clothes, stepped out from the doorway. He held an old, yellowed paper, displaying it to Old Man Zhuang, who stood at the forefront.

That yellowed paper was precisely the Spirit Summoning Paper, capable of revealing a person’s deepest desires.

Old Man Zhuang’s eyes narrowed. He muttered softly, "A letter of introduction from Kou Zhi’an... Are you also from the Ghost Market?"

Kou Zhi’an?

Beneath the dragon-head mask, Li Ang raised an eyebrow. He had overheard their conversation earlier. These four Abnormal People had been introduced to Gold Department Doctor Huai Rui by this Kou Zhi’an to help him resolve Mrs. Huai’s nightmare affliction.

Old Man Zhuang must be feeling quite desperate right now. Combined with my verbal cue that I’m here to help, it likely prompted the Spirit Summoning Paper to display this information.

"Correct."

Li Ang acknowledged, then put away the Spirit Summoning Paper, tucking it into his night clothes.

"What’s your name? Why haven’t I seen you in the Ghost Market before? Why didn’t Kou Zhi’an notify us in advance? And where were you just now?"

The dwarf gripped his Soft Sword, his tone sharp as he fired off a barrage of questions.

"I was on the roof just now," Li Ang replied calmly. "Given the abilities of the four of you, you couldn’t even detect my presence. Naturally, I saw no reason to reveal myself. As for my name, you may call me ’Among Men, Lu Bu; Among Steeds, Chi Tu.’ I am the paragon of success extolled in idioms, the epitome of wealth spoken of in common sayings. I am the master player in the game of life, the hedonist reveling in worldly pleasures, the noble scion who enjoys nightly festivities, a pillar of an unshakeable noble clan, the creator of all things beautiful in this world."

Huai Rui, the scholar, and the others listened, dumbfounded. Li Ang glanced at their stunned expressions and added, "If that’s too much to remember, you can also call me Bettman. Or Boss."