“Where is he?”
When Kou Tuo asked his soul-searching question, Zhou Qi’an was caught in a whirlwind, experiencing a topsy-turvy, reverse flight.
He felt like he had become a propeller.
Fortunately, his mind hadn’t been churned into mush during the rotation. The moment he could open his eyes again, he stared intently at the crack in mid-air.
This crack was wider than he had imagined; at least, the Liangye Manor could easily smuggle through it, with the surrounding black spots isolated outside the manor’s yin energy.
Zhou Qi’an remembered that at the end of the first instance, the system prompt had announced that the Liangye Manor would become a mobile ghost manor, and the mistress would hunt down wife-killers everywhere.
But he truly hadn’t expected the manor to float here.
The sensation of weightlessness finally disappeared. The moment his feet touched the ground, there was still an unreal feeling.
“I wonder what’s happening down below…”
He was swept up too suddenly; he estimated the players’ situation wouldn’t be too good. After the coffin-opening mist disappeared, the corpse-raising ground was as damp as the plum rain season, which catered to the Saintess’s need to manipulate water vapor, making it quite troublesome to deal with.
Whether it was physical items or magical attacks, as long as the Saintess erected an invisible protective wall around herself, the players would be acting in vain.
After a certain amount of time, once all the living corpses regained their mobility, the players would undoubtedly die.
Moreover, they were now missing a teammate.
Seeing no one around, Zhou Qi’an tried to quickly leave the area.
“Hungry, fragrant.” A spine-chilling voice suddenly drifted over.
Half a meter away, a child with terrifying teeth was crawling on the ground, drooling towards Zhou Qi’an. After the death of Old Man Xun, the little ghost’s activity range had expanded to the entire manor.
Zhou Qi’an’s throat moved, and he said in a low voice, “My mom is behind you.”
Zhou’s mother was clearly the child’s childhood trauma. The child suddenly looked back, and upon finding nothing, cursed, “Liar!” Its voice was sharp: “Behind me is clearly my mother!”
This time, it was Zhou Qi’an who was traumatized.
His eyelids twitched, and he looked intently, finally discovering a “person” under a willow tree.
The female ghost stood in the shadows, with drooping willow branches falling from her shoulders. The zero favorability only maintained the grace of not immediately killing him upon meeting. Zhou Qi’an immediately put on a happy smile: “Sister, is that you?”
Beautiful, kind, and tragic beautiful sister, I’m glad to see you again.
The mistress’s instinctive killing intent invisibly increased, completely ignoring his flattery. The little ghost, seeing that the mistress did not stop it, crawled towards Zhou Qi’an even more recklessly.
“Eat, eat…”
Zhou Qi’an lowered his eyes, concealing the murderous intent within them.
Should he use the holy artifact and hold this child hostage?
No. It would be easy to use the little ghost to force the mistress to let him go, but what then? The other party could simply cause trouble again, unless he held the little ghost hostage the whole time.
Zhou Qi’an’s head started to ache. Wouldn’t that create an enemy for no reason?
One Saintess was already difficult enough to deal with, and adding the mistress of Liangye Manor, the players could probably perform a live funeral.
His trouser leg had already been grabbed by the little ghost. Zhou Qi’an stared intently at the little ghost’s bruised body, wavering between taking it hostage and not.
“Little friend…”
“Hungry, eat fish, peeled fish…”
Strange bird cries came on the wind, and the familiar lake in the distance emitted a greasy, putrid smell of corpses. What good fish and shrimp could possibly be raised in such foul water?
Breathing the foul air, Zhou Qi’an’s gaze shifted, and he suddenly thought of something. He opened his mouth and said, “Sister, how about a South-to-North Water Diversion Project?”
Your family’s lake needs its water changed.
“?”
Below.
The moment the strong wind appeared, Shen Zhiyi had already grabbed Zhou Qi’an, but after seeing the tangible black shadow in the void, he changed his mind for some reason, released his hand, and instead released a wisp of black mist from his fingertip, which floated up with the wind.
The arrival of the manor naturally also attracted the Saintess’s momentary attention.
Kou Tuo gave up thinking about where Zhou Qi’an had gone. Seizing the Saintess’s moment of distraction, he and Xu Gui made their move first.
A white lantern appeared in his hand, and he charged forward with the lantern. As for Xu Gui, he summoned a halberd larger than himself and thrust it out.
Closely following was the young girl, who was always the most timid yet the most ruthless in her attacks.
Without using any props, a thin layer of scales covered the young girl’s eyes, and the soft flesh in her throat became somewhat distorted, squeezing out a terrifying musical sound that no normal human could possibly produce.
Ethereal, stirring.
Deep-sea fear spread with her singing.
In just a few scattered notes, the Saintess’s body beneath her white robe actually showed signs of cracking.
For a moment, she had a strong desire for self-destruction.
“Die…” The Saintess was enraged, repeating only one word: “Die.”
The repetitions increased, the speed of her words quickened, and the surrounding water mist enveloped the players’ bodies, almost suffocating them.
“Watch out for the living corpses!”
There was no need for Kou Tuo to remind them; everyone could see it.
They had already shaken off their initial state of rigor mortis, almost forming an army of corpses, slowly approaching the players and forming a tight blockade.
The Saintess stared coldly at the players’ terrified expressions, her eyes overflowing with decades of unresolvable resentment.
Only fresh blood and death could quell her anger.
Unfortunately, her cold and aloof persona didn’t last for more than two seconds.
A bizarre, ominous wind swept through.
She suddenly turned her slender, pale neck. Behind her, a mysterious cube had appeared at some point. The cube automatically rotated to its red face, and instantly, lasers all shot towards the coffin.
Previously, all the players had decided to attack the Saintess together. This was an open strategy, and also their last resort.
The Saintess was also aware of this.
So when those attacks all focused on her, she was somewhat prepared, stubbornly guarding the coffin and not leaving it. Even when the hurricane appeared later, she still didn’t leave the coffin.
“Who is it…” The Saintess’s blood-red lips finally made a different sound.
Who was smashing her coffin lid?!
Bang!
The cube was violently pulled by the terrifying water mist and smashed onto the ground.
With a cracking sound from the fall, Ying Yu frowned: “Whose thing is this?”
Kou Tuo looked strange: “Whose thing is it, don’t you know in your heart?”
Only his hand had been moving in the air earlier, clearly manipulating the cube.
Ying Yu said nothing.
The next second, he suddenly bound an acceleration item and charged, the Rubik’s Cube was retrieved, and a terrifyingly potent chisel appeared in Ying Yu’s left hand, which he aimed at the crack for another heavy blow.
Of course, he didn’t get away unscathed either.
Ying Yu’s shoulder area was directly pierced by a slender hand. If he hadn’t dodged quickly, it would have been his throat that was punctured.
“What, what should we do?”
The female teacher looked at the constantly flowing blood from Ying Yu’s side, struggling with whether to go forward and rescue him.
A wisp of black mist, which had previously floated up to the sky with Zhou Qi’an, leisurely drilled back into his palm.
After confirming that Zhou Qi’an was fine, Shen Zhiyi glanced at both sides: “I’ll block these living corpses for five seconds, then you all concentrate your strength and attack one more time.”
Attack again?
The young girl turned her face, pale, clearly suffering from some physical exhaustion from the previous moment.
If she used this skill one more time, she would very likely faint. Given the current situation, even three more times wouldn’t be enough for them.
The Saintess’s ability was too unique; she could not only freely manipulate water vapor in the air to form a protective barrier, but also briefly transform parts of her limbs into water mist, striking later.
“It will succeed.” Shen Zhiyi’s tone was surprisingly calm. “Qi’an, he will protect us from above.”
“…”
Whether it was a hallucination or not, the young girl felt that the massive black shadow in mid-air seemed to draw closer to them.
“Alright, let’s do it.” There were no other means of survival anyway.
She gritted her teeth, and a few seconds later, the second attack was launched.
Although Shen Zhiyi’s words sounded ridiculous, no one would joke with their lives. Since he dared to say it, he must have some degree of certainty.
Compared to the previous time, the second burst of power was much weaker.
Ying Yu was injured, and the girl’s singing was a bit hoarser. The other two were also in poor condition.
The Saintess looked at these self-righteous people and slowly raised an arm.
The water mist continued to increase, and the players’ skin even began to wrinkle from being immersed in the air.
“Ah!” Water mist continuously surged into the female teacher’s severed palm, actually devouring her blood.
The Saintess only cherished complete female bodies. Of those present, except for the young girl who felt less pressure, everyone else’s bodies were suffering indescribable corrosion.
It was a player who screamed, but only a few seconds later, the Saintess’s face suddenly changed dramatically.
Her originally delicate hand began to visibly shrivel, and her skin also suffered irreversible decay. The Saintess abruptly got down from the coffin, confirming that she hadn’t misperceived. A significant amount of the water vapor lingering around her had disappeared.
At the same time, the living corpses that were about to reach the players also shrunk significantly.
The young girl was stunned, looking incredulously at Shen Zhiyi: “Is he really spiritually watching over us from above?!”
The vanished water vapor was all seized into the hands of a certain female ghost high in the sky.
“It’s too tiring just extracting moisture from the air.” In Liangye Manor, Zhou Qi’an kept coaxing: “There are still many wonderful canals in the village, just perfect for raising fish.”
He even specifically looked at the child drooling at him: “The fish raised are guaranteed to be even tastier than me.”
Perhaps it was the first time someone used themselves as a delicious reference point; the little ghost was stunned by his example.
Zhou Qi’an continued to stare at the mistress: “I can take you there.”
Ghosts are prone to rebellious psychology when spoken to by humans. He timely added: “Anyway, it’s all free.”
The mistress didn’t respond, but she unusually praised the water quality here: “Very good.”
Zhou Qi’an stood by, smiling shyly in agreement.
Of course, it was good.
After Old Man Xun’s death, Liangye Manor began to undergo strange changes, even trees evolved to the point of being able to kill people. Only this lake was an exception, after all, the real killing machines, piranhas, were in the lake, so it was impossible for the water to mutate to a point where it could kill the fish.
Fengshui Village’s water perfectly solved this problem.
It wouldn’t cause death, but it would cause creatures to mutate, like those multi-headed, ferocious rats. With such excellent water resources, it would be strange if the mistress wasn’t tempted.
Zhou Qi’an’s purpose was clear: to destroy and weaken the water cycle here.
Once the Saintess and those corpses lacked the nourishment of water… he thought of the corpses that flowed into the real world, from being vivid and fresh at first, to already starting to evaporate when he went to check them.
He said with a sincere expression: “Please allow me, as an emissary of water and a transporter of nature, to take you to further develop it.”
The mistress’s gloomy eyes stared at Zhou Qi’an.
The latter couldn’t help but swallow, and the perfectly timed fear in his expression pleased her.
This fear made the mistress feel that the other party was asking her to do something.
The groundwork was almost laid, and Zhou Qi’an uttered words that no living creature could refuse, “Since you’re already here…”
A storm instantly surged again.
Just as he was swept in by the strong winds, his last word remained unspoken. He was again enveloped by the howling wind, plummeting vertically from the sky.
“Cold…”
Zhou Qi’an’s mouth was slightly agape, feeling like his throat was freezing into ice shards.
This time, the buff to resist extreme temperatures didn’t work; it was the biting cold brought by the surge of Yin energy. The world was pitch black, but Zhou Qi’an could feel it—the female ghost was around him!
A familiar sense of weightlessness came. Zhou Qi’an stumbled upon landing, but luckily a sturdy arm quickly supported him, preventing him from falling.
Finally back with the team, the surrounding players and living corpses collectively retreated when they saw him.
Only Shen Zhiyi beside him and Ying Yu not far away remained relatively calm, barely moving.
No wonder the others reacted that way. Leaving aside why Zhou Qi’an appeared, the disheveled woman standing next to him was frightening enough.
Especially since this woman was accompanied by a child, whose face was obscured as it looked down.
Kou Tuo took another look at the mistress of the manor, and immediately gasped.
Her bloodless skin was standard, but beneath the pale thin layer of skin, where ordinary people had blood vessels, she seemed to have… teeth.
This was clearly a vengeful spirit!
Zhou Qi’an said very earnestly: “This beautiful sister is my beautiful sister.”
Originally, everyone was suspicious of whether Zhou Qi’an was a disguised ghost, but after he said that, Kou Tuo and the others felt he wasn’t.
If a ghost could mimic that tone and style of speech, then they wouldn’t feel wronged even if they died.
After introducing the mistress, Zhou Qi’an looked around and asked, “Oh, by the way, how far have you gotten in the fight?”
The two sides didn’t seem to have entered the final desperate stage yet.
Turn-based?
The mouths of the few who had just been fighting desperately twitched.
Are you speaking human language?
Zhou Qi’an glanced around. The young girl was almost completely exhausted, and Kou Tuo and Ying Yu also had injuries. The Saintess’s situation was not good either; the water had evaporated too much, and she couldn’t adapt to such an environment.
Let alone the Saintess, Zhou Qi’an had only been there for a while, and he was already feeling dry mouth and bleeding nasal membranes.
After a brief observation, Zhou Qi’an smiled at the female ghost and said, “The water is outside. Please come this way, sister.”
At these words, the Saintess’s expression subtly relaxed, and the surrounding players’ faces immediately changed.
They thought Zhou Qi’an had brought the female ghost to create a mutually destructive fight, but he was leaving?
The female teacher subconsciously tried to grab him with her intact hand.
Zhou Qi’an’s steps didn’t falter. As he brushed past, he whispered, “The air moisture has sharply decreased… many things have become more flammable, like coffins…”
Just a tiny spark could have an unexpected effect.
He didn’t finish the rest of his sentence. Anyway, as long as the corpses evaporated faster, it was a way out.
Ignoring whether the female teacher understood or not, someone surely would. Zhou Qi’an continued to walk forward.
The mistress was clearly very satisfied with Zhou Qi’an’s thoughtfulness.
She liked to hunt down wife-killers, but for the vengeful spirits formed from victims after death, she would neither help nor devour them.
This was a hard-won balance between reason and emotion, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to disrupt it. Also, if anyone tried to use her to kill ghosts, she would not hesitate to twist off their head.
She, the mistress of Liangye Manor, would absolutely not be a tool ghost.
Walking back along the hollow, the child, probably curious about this world, kept looking around, falling a distance behind.
Zhou Qi’an, relying on the ghost’s power, no one dared to stop him from leaving.
His steps always lagged half a beat behind the mistress, and he was very well-behaved all the way: “Sister, please go first.”
But in the moment he humbly lowered his head, his lips curved into a slight smile.
The players weren’t the only threat.
The priest didn’t come in with them, certainly not out of benevolence, but because there was no other way.
The other party’s ability was to control candle ghosts. Unfortunately, the element of fire would be detrimental to those living corpses, and there was also the death rule of not being able to make eye contact with the priest, which could also affect the Saintess.
Zhou Qi’an strongly suspected that even if the curse was removed, the mission wouldn’t end immediately; there should still be a time lag in between.
The time difference to achieve [Clear Waters, Blue Skies].
The entire land and water of Fengshui Village had been polluted by resentment, and it was impossible to eliminate it instantly. In this short time lag, they would likely have to face encirclement by villagers and the priest.
Only this could explain why the villagers, with dozens of strong men, remained at the entrance and exit.
“But it doesn’t matter now.”
Neither the priest, the village chief, nor the villagers would allow their most precious water to be drawn away.
Zhou Qi’an gazed directly at the mistress’s back, his eyes so gentle they seemed to drip with water.
A perfect tool-ghost would help eliminate worries.
Once the woman and the priest started fighting, the Saintess couldn’t remain indifferent, and a wonderful cycle would be formed.
The villagers guarding the hollow clearly also felt the change in water vapor. The dry weather made them instinctively scratch their skin, and large transparent flakes of skin fell off.
Just as the villagers nervously looked at the village chief, wanting to speak, footsteps suddenly came from ahead.
The footsteps drew closer and closer, becoming increasingly clear.
“Village chief, it seems there are only two people.”
The villagers, who were panicking a second ago, immediately showed ferocious smiles.
The outsiders who had caused so much trouble since entering the village were finally almost all dead.
“That’s right, only two.” The village chief’s eyes were even redder, filled with immense pleasure.
Miss Shen hummed softly.
As if prompted by something, the village chief clapped his hand, and the chosen villagers improvised. They were very strong, directly breaking off tree branches as weapons, then gathered together with fierce and menacing expressions.
The end of the corpse-raising ground was a dead end.
To get out, they could only go through the cave tunnel, otherwise they would be submerged by those terrifying black dots.
They guarded here, now just waiting for their prey to be delivered.
The distance between the two sides rapidly closed. From a distance, Zhou Qi’an saw dozens of figures ahead.
That ominous aura could be felt even from a distance.
He immediately felt relieved. But he said aloud, “Sister, we’re just going to find water. We don’t need to conflict with them. Let’s show weakness first, then rush out when they’re off guard.”
What humans said, the female ghost let in one ear and out the other. The teeth in her blood vessels had already begun to squirm wildly, showing a strong desire to feed.
“So many… fish.”
The sudden surge of yin energy made Zhou Qi’an shiver. He belatedly realized the female ghost was likening the villagers to fish.
His pupils slightly widened.
These monsters, nourished by water, neither human nor ghost, were equivalent to excellent food in the eyes of the female ghost.
Miss Shen was the first to notice something was wrong.
Due to the space rift, when looking from here, the hollow above was always misty, and no one could notice the Liangye Manor hidden deep within the mist.
But the incredibly strong yin energy that came as the female ghost approached could not be hidden from Miss Shen.
“Retreat…”
She had only said one word. Apart from the village chief, who was carrying a tumor and still observing, the other villagers had already rushed out!
“Kill them!”
The villagers could not perceive the threat of the female ghost at all.
Her disheveled hair covered her face, making her seem like a severely injured player.
That eerily pale skin. Ha, whose skin was as pale as Fengshui Village’s? In fact, to the villagers, this woman’s skin looked quite dark, even swarthy! And the coldness emanating from the woman was not as heavy as the humidity of Fengshui Village.
The villagers specially selected by the village chief, young and strong and moving swiftly, were almost by the mistress’s side in a few breaths.
“Avenge our fallen friends—” The leader raised his stick high: “This is punishment for those who disrespect the Saintess!”
Zhou Qi’an staggered backward. He was truly frightened by the villagers of Fengshui Village.
He had never seen such brave ones.
Author’s Note:
Zhou Qi’an: Your village can truly achieve great things!
