Chapter 9: Senior Brother, Quickly Slay the Ghost

A short while later.

Lin Buyu stood alone by the door; behind her, Xu Ye was nowhere to be seen.

She exhaled deeply, steadying her nerves, then called out to those waiting outside, "Senior Brother, I have suppressed the ghostly aura on Wuchang, but his condition is unstable. Only you may come in."

"Miss Buyu, let me come in too. We won't rest easy unless we see our Wuchang with our own eyes," interjected Liu Laosan anxiously before Lin Buyu's senior brother could respond.

"Or has something happened inside, Miss Lin?" Liu Laosan's voice sounded again.

The question seemed innocuous on its surface, but to Lin Buyu, who already harbored suspicions towards Liu Laosan, it was laced with distrust and coldness.

"If you are uneasy, Brother Liu, you may enter as well—but aside from you and my senior brother, no one else may come in. Matters of life and death are not to be trifled with," Lin Buyu declared sternly.

If she refused Liu Laosan entry, he would surely grow suspicious; he might flee or attempt to seize the Yan Fish Lantern from her senior brother outside. It was not a wise move.

"Very well, I'll come in alone!" Liu Laosan replied cheerfully from outside.

"Sister, open the door. With me here, nothing will go wrong," came her senior brother's voice.

"Yes, Senior Brother," Lin Buyu answered. Hearing his voice, her heart settled. She took a moment to compose herself, then drew back the bolt.

"Miss Buyu, how is Wuchang's injury?" Liu Laosan rushed in as soon as the door opened.

Lin Buyu felt a surge of relief for having followed Xu Ye's advice—Liu Laosan was clearly intent on preventing her from conferring with her senior brother beforehand.

"His wounds are stable, but I've discovered something strange on him. I need you to confirm it with me," Lin Buyu said, nodding to her senior brother behind Liu Laosan, then quickly led Liu Laosan toward the bedside.

"Official Song, bring out the Yan Fish Lantern quickly. Don't waste any more time," Liu Laosan reminded Lin Buyu's senior brother as he reached the bed.

"Understood," replied Lin Buyu's senior brother. He was as refined as his voice, a handsome, slender young man with a gentle bearing. He showed no annoyance at the urgency, merely nodded calmly.

"Be careful when you lift the blanket. Wuchang's mind has been invaded by ghostly energy—he'll go mad at the sight of sunlight," Lin Buyu warned Liu Laosan as they reached the bedside.

Hearing that Wuchang might go mad, Liu Laosan's lips curled ever so slightly in a fleeting smile. But he quickly donned a look of deep concern. "It's all my fault for letting Wuchang suffer so much," he said, reaching out to yank the blanket back.

But to his surprise, he saw only a pair of legs beneath the covers.

The next second, he felt a sharp, agonizing pain at the root of his thigh. Turning, he saw a stranger emerging from the blanket, plunging an awl etched with ancient seal script deep into his thigh.

Who else could it be but Xu Ye?

"So you saw through me!" Liu Laosan roared.

As he spoke, his eyes turned hollow, black mists billowed around him, and rows of sharp teeth sprouted from his mouth. His body twisted in unnatural ways as he lunged to bite Xu Ye's neck.

Luckily, the awl that stabbed Liu Laosan—known as the Calm Spirit Awl—though a fourth-grade sacred artifact, was commonly used by medical officials. When plunged into someone possessed by a ghost, it could calm them down.

As the awl struck, Liu Laosan hesitated just before his teeth reached Xu Ye's neck, as if something held him back.

"Senior Brother, quickly—slay the ghost!" Lin Buyu cried, seeking aid from her senior brother.

"Step and exchange," came a cold, cutting chant from behind.

With a howl of wind, Lin Buyu's senior brother and Liu Laosan abruptly swapped places.

"If that's so, you shall all become filth with me!" Liu Laosan, possessed by the Bone-Eating Ghost, suddenly shouted, stomping the floor. A wave of rot surged through the room.

The ground beneath, along with the bed, tables, and chairs, began decaying at a speed visible to the eye.

As the rot encroached upon them, Lin Buyu's senior brother lifted his foot and stomped down, declaring, "Draw a circle for a prison."

A thin golden line circled him, Lin Buyu, and Xu Ye, forming a ring. The ground outside continued to rot, but inside the circle, all was untouched.

"No wonder you're the newly minted top scholar. If I can't kill you today, you won't be able to stop me either!" Liu Laosan, his body twisted and decaying, burst into wild laughter and darted to the window, seemingly ready to flee.

But just as he was about to dissolve into a puddle of muck, a feather landed lightly on his shoulder.

Lin Buyu's senior brother spoke: "It weighs a thousand pounds."

The ground shook as invisible gravity radiated from the feather, pinning Liu Laosan in place.

A piercing scream rattled Xu Ye's eardrums.

"So this is how the scholars of this world fight?" Xu Ye marveled, his eyes opened to a new reality.

With a thunderous crack, Liu Laosan's body exploded into a heap of blood and flesh. A mass of black mist, shrieking and shifting form, struggled desperately, trying to escape the crushing weight of the feather.

At last, two bloody hands emerged from the writhing mist, clutching the feather. The top of the black mist tore open, exposing rows of blood-stained sharp teeth, which lunged to bite down on the feather.

"It weighs ten thousand pounds," Lin Buyu's senior brother intoned just as the ghost was about to swallow the feather.

A resounding slap, heavy as ten thousand pounds, struck the black mist, disintegrating its newly formed arms and mouth.

With a final howl, the black mist split apart, morphing into a giant mouth several meters wide. From within, a tongue bristling with spikes lashed out at the feather.

"As fierce as fire," Lin Buyu's senior brother recited, expressionless.

At his words, the pure white feather blazed crimson and burst into flames, engulfing the mass of black mist.