Chapter Sixty-Two: A Thousand Corpses

Master Wang and Old Lady Li’s faces changed dramatically. The two of them rushed toward the direction of the fiendish ghost!

But they collided headlong with the black mist that White Liu had transformed into, and the vapor burst forth, enveloping them both.

Piercing ghostly laughter exploded in the air.

The mist roiled violently, yet I could see with frightening clarity: a face, identical to the one from Auntie Hui’s malevolent aura earlier, was repeatedly ramming into Master Wang and Old Lady Li.

That face was White Liu’s!

Master Wang and Old Lady Li could barely hold their ground.

The soul ward was already shattered, and Auntie Hui’s weakened spirit appeared before the fiendish ghost’s head.

The ghost’s mouth moved, and a voice as cold as death echoed, “My dear sister, I waited so many years for you to bear a child. Now, bring it back! Let your brother live again!”

Auntie Hui’s face was twisted in agony.

That black mist was like countless invisible hands, binding her body tight.

“A mother’s heart is linked to her child! Even if you won’t call him, I have my ways!”

The ghost’s voice turned suddenly mad and hideous.

It was as if every moment of waiting drove him deeper into a rage.

Beside the ghost’s head, amidst coiling black energy, a bone appeared from thin air—a ghastly white, snapped clean in the middle. One end was a jagged spike, the other a rounded joint.

That broken bone stabbed without warning at Auntie Hui’s heart!

She jerked her head up and let out a scream that tore through the entire village.

It was a cry of unspeakable pain.

All this happened in an instant. My eyes burned red as I roared, “No!”

I couldn’t care about anything else. I snatched the pig-sticker from Wang Erjun’s hand and charged toward the fiendish ghost! I had made up my mind—whatever the cost, I would kill this evil spirit!

Even if it meant exposing my ability to devour souls in front of Old Lady Li, I could not allow any harm to come to Auntie Hui!

As I rushed the ghost,

Suddenly, the earth in front of me cracked open, and a corpse, mottled with cadaveric blotches and reeking of rot, clawed its way out.

Expressionless, it lunged to embrace me.

The corpse’s sudden, uncanny appearance caught me completely off guard.

I swung the pig-sticker with all my strength, and its arm, as easily severed as a radish, flew off.

I recognized it—this corpse was one of the villagers!

Even after losing its hand, it showed no pain. Its other arm reached for me, and it opened its mouth to spew a wave of black corpse miasma at my face.

A chill of horror gripped my heart, but this time I steeled myself.

I swung the blade at its head!

With a dull thud, its head flew, the corpse toppled.

Panting heavily, I pressed on toward the fiendish ghost.

But then, all around me, the ground burst open.

Not just around me—

Beside Wang Erjun,

Within the black mist where Old Lady Li and Master Wang were trapped by White Liu,

The entire village road, near and far, split open with holes, and I lost count of how many corpses emerged.

It seemed as if the whole village had come to this place.

White Liu’s sinister laughter rang in my ears. “This is the grand spectacle I’ve spent so long preparing!”

“A Thousand Corpses Yin Gathering Array!”

“You cannot imagine the Yin energy in this Hundred House Village! I used the corpses of every villager who grew up here as the foundation of this array. Bathed in deathly energy, they’ve all become Yin corpses!”

“You who fear even a handful of little ghosts—can you possibly handle the corpses of an entire village?”

I suddenly felt, as all these corpses emerged, an indescribable oppression press down on my body.

Every movement was weighed down by a growing weakness.

Wang Erjun fared even worse; with a clatter, he collapsed to the ground.

My expression grew grim. The corpses between me and the fiendish ghost numbered in the hundreds—how could I possibly break through in time?

As I watched the newly risen corpses lunge for Wang Erjun, I spun around and dashed to his side, hacking down the nearest corpse’s head with vicious blows.

Wang Erjun was so terrified he nearly wet himself. He fumbled a small bottle from his chest, his voice shaking, “Little Black’s blood! Use it—let these damned short-lived ghosts see what’s coming to them.”

Every nerve in my body was taut. Taking the dog’s blood, I splashed it directly onto the pig-sticker.

Now the blade radiated a murderous aura. Just being near a corpse was enough—no need to strike the head; the bodies began to smoke with black vapor and rot away rapidly.

But there were simply too many corpses, and the black dog’s blood on the blade was already evaporating.

“Kill a chicken, bleed it! Fat boy, remember what Granny taught you!”

From the other side, where Old Lady Li fought White Liu, she shouted to us.

Wang Erjun shivered, then sprang to his feet.

He pulled a rooster from his backpack.

The bird, once so proud, now tried to bury its head beneath its wing, quaking with terror.

I raised my knife to help Wang Erjun.

But another corpse lunged at us.

I brought the blade down on its chest, foul blood splattering me.

Wang Erjun’s face turned savage; he bit down hard on the rooster’s neck!

The rooster shrieked. Wang Erjun’s mouth filled with blood and feathers as he staggered forward, splashing the blood in a circle around us.

Suddenly, the corpses halted, stopped at the edge of the blood circle, staring at us with blank faces.

The pig-sticker grew heavy in my hand—I lost count of how many times I’d swung it. With this brief moment to catch my breath, my arms throbbed with unbearable pain, and the blade clattered to the ground.

I gulped down air.

Master Wang and Old Lady Li were also losing ground.

Not only was White Liu harrying them relentlessly, but the villagers’ corpses were hurling themselves into the black mist without pause. Wang Erjun’s face was ashen, his voice hoarse with despair, “Too late. We’re finished.”

I stared fixedly at the fiendish ghost—Auntie Hui had been stabbed through the heart several times, and her spirit was nearly dispersed.

In fact, the moment the Thousand Corpses Yin Gathering Array appeared was also when the ghost first pierced Auntie Hui’s heart.

From the distant back hills, a similarly shrill, agonized scream echoed out.

By the time it reached us, it had grown faint.

As I fought the Yin corpses and Wang Erjun slaughtered the rooster, that scream sounded again and again.

It was as if every time the ghost drove the bone through Auntie Hui’s heart, the child born of her ghostly pregnancy suffered as well.

“A mother’s heart is linked to her child!”

I gritted my teeth, my mouth filled with the taste of blood—whether my own or the filthy spray, I couldn’t tell. “Dear sister, does your heart ache? That little bastard you gave birth to hurts just as much! Do you hear his voice? He’s coming! Don’t worry, when I return to life, I’ll make sure to honor your corpse—and I’ll chain your husband’s soul to your grave, so he can keep you company forever!”

The ghost’s voice was wild with excitement and malice.

Another shriek from the ghostly child came, drawing nearer—I could feel he was almost here!

Auntie Hui’s spirit drooped, on the verge of vanishing.

Suddenly, the ghost spat out a pitch-black object, which landed atop Auntie Hui’s head.

“Corpse Curse!”

A chilling voice rang out.

All at once, Auntie Hui’s spirit was covered in dense, crawling runes.

The next moment, a shrill scream pierced the air.

Before the ghost, Yin energy surged!

A boy of three or four appeared from thin air, his face contorted with pain and hatred, clawing at the fiendish ghost’s head! The ghost grinned wickedly, making no move to dodge. On the boy’s forehead, the same runes as those on Auntie Hui flared into being.

The runes spread over his body almost instantaneously.

The ghost lunged forward, jaws clamping savagely onto the boy’s neck!

The child seized the ghost’s head, yanking fiercely!

With a sickening rip, the ghost tore off a chunk of bloody flesh.

But the boy ripped off the ghost’s head and bit down hard on the other ear.

It was a scene of ghastly carnage. The ghost shrieked, then shattered and reformed a dozen meters away.

The boy trembled, standing in the courtyard.

This boy was the ghostly child!

His eyes were red, the wound on his neck hideous.

But he gazed at Auntie Hui, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

Auntie Hui’s spirit shuddered, her voice wracked with pain, “Mother… I’m sorry…”

“It was a mistake for me to bear you.”

“It was a mistake for me to come here.”

“Die, I beg you.”

Her voice, quivering, grew louder. Her weakened spirit suddenly seemed to ignite, a faint blue flame burning within. I could almost see her spirit turning into countless blue lights, about to disperse.

Then she stretched out her arms and embraced the boy.

The ghost opened his mouth and shrieked, “What are you doing!”

My heart clenched with dread. Was Auntie Hui lucid again? She had said before that White Liu had taught her many things—she meant to die together with the ghostly child!

The runes binding her body shattered instantly.

The runes on the boy vanished as well.

But the blue flame burning on Auntie Hui now spread to the boy, engulfing him in fire.

He screamed in agony.

Auntie Hui held him tightly, and no matter how he struggled, he could not break free!

“Sister! How cruel you are! You would destroy your own son along with yourself!”

The ghost’s voice grew more shrill and despairing, yet he dared not rush toward Auntie Hui.

At last, White Liu and Old Lady Li could hold on no longer and collapsed.

Corpses of villagers littered the ground.

The black mist that was White Liu’s form had thinned considerably, and as it rolled, his spirit flashed into view.

“Trying to die together with the ghostly child? Not so easy!”

He suddenly pressed both hands to the ground, his voice sinister, “Corpse Sacrifice!”

From the hundreds of villager corpses left around us, great waves of Yin energy poured forth, their bodies shriveling instantly to bone.

All that Yin energy surged toward the ghostly child!

Auntie Hui wailed, “You’re not fit to be my father! Even if my soul is scattered, I won’t let you win!”

The boy collapsed, screaming, most of his body consumed by the flames. Only his upper body was less damaged; his lower half was already stripped to bare bone.

Auntie Hui’s fire burned not just his body, but his soul as well…

At that moment, another spirit appeared beside the ghostly child.

My father’s face was twisted with desperation as he seized the boy, his voice bitter with hate as he turned to Auntie Hui, “You’ve already destroyed our whole family—now you want to destroy our son too?”

Auntie Hui’s form shuddered, her spirit crumbling away by half.