Chapter Ninety-Two: Unwilling to Yield

After the scream, Zhou Kang fell silent.

Li Yue’s face drained of all color, and she rushed toward the mouth of the well.

My expression changed at once, and I hurriedly seized her arm.

“Don’t go over there. It’s too late. He’s dead.”

Only a person on the verge of death could make a sound like that.

It was broken, warped, and steeped in despair.

The man who had pushed Zhou Kang’s face had grown darker and darker, his hatred and malice deepening with every passing moment.

“Don’t believe them! They’re all worthless. Two crippled men with broken hands—how could they possibly have killed that bitch? If they really had the ability, how could they have ended up hurt like this by that old monster?”

A woman’s shrill voice came out of the man’s mouth, making the scene all the more eerie and horrifying.

The hairs on my body stood on end.

Li Yue’s face was twisted with pain, tears streaming down her cheeks.

I felt nothing but hatred for these townspeople.

No.

Hate for the ghosts that had possessed them and taken control.

Those eyes of mine, that heart of mine, were filled with nothing but fury.

A flash of cold flickered in Uncle Liu’s eyes, but he no longer forced us to kill the ghost in the well. Instead, he suddenly shoved me flat onto the ground.

“Lift him up and take him to the river. Old Wang Dongming is already injured. No one can stop us now!”

Even Uncle Liu’s voice had turned sinister.

A crowd of townspeople surged forward and hoisted Li Yue and me up between them.

They raised us overhead and carried us out of the courtyard.

The pain in my body had gone numb from sheer agony.

Li Yue was only a frail woman; she had even less ability to resist.

Beyond the pain, what numbed me even more was the hatred in my chest.

Those ghosts had gone to who-knows-what lengths to return to the town.

Not only had they used Wang Dongming’s upstream return to the town as cover, they had also tampered with the coffin.

All of it, to ordinary people, was innocent.

The townspeople were innocent. These ghosts had possessed so many of them, and no one could tell what kind of harm that would cause. Zhou Kang was innocent too. He had not even realized there was anything wrong with the townspeople, had not laid a hand on anyone, and had simply been shoved into the well to die.

No matter how much they claimed to hate the ghost in the well,

no matter how much they resented Taoist Priest Zhou,

they had still harmed far too many innocent people.

If I could still move, if I still had the strength, I truly wanted to smash every one of those ghosts into oblivion.

I gasped for breath, yet could not break free.

Lying on my back and staring up at the pitch-black night sky, I widened my eyes, my heart filled with bitter unwillingness.

Why must good people die, while the wicked go on living?

And even when the wicked die, how many good lives must be spent first to make it happen?

That unbearable resentment lodged itself in my chest, making me feel as though I would suffocate from it, wanting nothing more than to vent it all out.

But I could only keep swallowing it down, with no way to release it, no means by which to do so.

The night was still and waterlike. There was no moon, and barely a star to be seen.

A cold wind swept across my face like a blade.

Before long, the temperature dropped.

In my ears, I could hear the faint, steady sound of river water striking the bank.

I was thrown violently to the ground. The impact nearly shattered my bones, and after a muffled groan came a bout of trembling convulsions.

Li Yue was hurled down beside me as well.

She let out a cry of agony and curled up tightly, her body wracked with pain.

Then, all at once, the townspeople crumpled to the ground as though their strings had been cut.

The sight sent a shock through me.

The next instant, my scalp went numb and gooseflesh broke out all over my body.

Black mist was seeping out of the townspeople’s bodies.

Those wisps of smoke gathered together, a dozen strands merging into a single ghost.

A ghost full of hatred, with vengeance blazing in its eyes.

“There are six paths of reincarnation in the underworld, and ghosts are divided into six colors as well. They’re all black-clad vengeful ghosts...”

Li Yue’s voice was weak, trembling with fear.

Even the earlier danger had never driven such terror into her voice.

“They didn’t possess each person individually. One ghost split itself into ten parts and controlled ten townspeople.”

I gritted my teeth and said it in a low voice.

All the townspeople had collapsed.

The ghosts condensed from that black qi were all dressed in black clothes and black trousers, even their shoes made of black cloth.

My heart gave a sudden jolt. The cold twitching on the back of my hand vanished as if whatever it was had been frightened into stillness.

“Use their blood to open the riverway. Invite the old ghosts first!”

A sinister voice rang out from nowhere.

A vengeful ghost appeared before us without the slightest warning.

That was the true horror of ghosts.

They were not fast.

Speed could at least give a person some warning.

No, they simply vanished from where they were and then, without the slightest sound, appeared right in front of you or behind you. With that alone, they could frighten many timid souls to death.

The ghost raised its hand high.

Its fingernails lengthened and sharpened like blades.

Then it stabbed fiercely toward my throat.

I stared wide-eyed, and this time there was no fear in my heart at all.

At last, I knew how to vent the rage choking my chest.

With my unharmed hand, I snatched the talisman brush from my chest and swept it at the ghost’s face in one swift stroke.

My injuries hurt too much for my arm to lift fully, so I did not quite reach its face.

Yet the instant the brush passed through the air, a pitch-black beam formed into a talisman.

That talisman was as sharp as a sword.

The sword pierced straight through the ghost’s brow.

The hatred in its eyes turned hollow.

In the span of a breath, its body scattered like smoke.

My heart surged with delight.

This was the Battle Talisman.

No, it was my Battle Talisman.

That man relied on the fierce, undefeated spirit in his heart.

He had the capital for it, the power for it, so he could fear nothing.

The moment the Battle Talisman succeeded, I finally understood as well.

I was only a minor figure.

I could not compare to his talent, to all that he possessed.

But I would not cower. I would not fear.

I might be powerless to do anything about many things because I was weak, but that hatred and unwillingness were also my own spirit.

The Battle Talisman did not require mere sharpness.

It required resolve. Defiance. The determination to never submit, never beg for death.

I forced my battered body upright, staggered back beside Li Yue, and used my hand, the one with several fingers broken, to grip the brush.

The Battle Talisman needed only a single stroke.

Right now, the fire in my chest was blazing, and I felt a fierce certainty.

So what if one of my hands was crippled?

I could still draw that talisman!

With my other intact hand, I hauled Li Yue up from the ground.

Li Yue’s voice trembled. “You... you can still draw that talisman?”

I did not answer her.

All my attention was fixed on the vengeful ghosts.

After one of them had been sent scattering into ash, the others looked at me with even deeper hatred.

I clutched the brush tightly and retreated backward toward the other side of the riverbank.

From there, it would be possible to leave Qianshui Town, head toward the slope, and draw closer to the City God Temple.

But the vengeful ghosts had no intention of letting us go.

They spread out, encircling us in a ring.

Then the ring slowly tightened.

The wooden clubs, iron shovels, and bamboo poles that had been in the townspeople’s hands all lifted into the air.

My expression changed drastically.

Facing the direction of escape, I drew a Battle Talisman with a fierce sweep.

A flash of black talisman-light flew out, and one vengeful ghost was scattered to nothing.

But another immediately took its place.

At that moment, a bamboo pole came straight at my face. I jerked my body aside, but the right side of my head was still struck.

A searing pain shot through me, followed by a crushing wave of dizziness.

My body lurched.

Then all those wooden poles came flying toward us at once.

If it had only been the poles and bamboo, they would have caused nothing more than bruises and torn flesh. But mixed among them were iron shovels. If one of those landed on us, the wounds would burst open in sprays of blood and meat, and in just a few blows we would be dead.

Li Yue’s face was ashen.

“Run. If you can get away, then leave me. Don’t worry about me!”

She tried to break free of my hand, but I did not let go.

I held on to her with all my strength.

“Stop talking. If we’re going to die, then we die together. I’m not running alone!”

Even my voice had begun to distort.

The bamboo poles fell in waves like rain. Luck was on our side this time, and none of the shovels struck us.

The pain had nearly robbed me of all sensation.

I fixed my gaze on the back of my hand and tore away the cloth covering it.

The skull-like mark had already merged completely into my skin, its color faded much more than before.

“If you still don’t come out and help, I’m really going to die here. I can’t remember what you are right now, but if I die, you won’t come to any good end either.”

My voice was hoarse beyond measure, every word carrying a threat.

Yet the mark on the back of my hand actually faded a little more, and I could clearly sense it sending me a single thought.

Fear.