DS 07

Chapter – 07

The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

In Li Yu’s room.

The Yin spirit stood frozen in place.

Li Yu, on the other hand, observed her with interest. She was a female ghost. When Li Yu channeled his magical power to his eyes, he could see her clearly, but when he withdrew the power, she vanished from sight, leaving only a faint sense that something was there.

Seeing a ghost for the first time didn’t seem so frightening after all.

Li Yu had a feeling that with just a single thought, he could make her completely dissipate.

The Yin spirit in the room was also encountering this situation for the first time. After a brief moment of shock, she let out a startled cry and turned to flee out the door.

This time, Li Yu didn’t channel his magical power to his ears. He could only see her mouth moving but heard no sound.

He quickly walked to the door and opened it. Almost simultaneously, the other three doors burst open, and the figures of Jiang Li and the others appeared in Li Yu’s view.

The previously empty courtyard was now in complete chaos.

Somehow, dozens of Yin spirits had gathered here—men and women, young and old. Li Yu and his group had apparently stumbled into a ghost den.

However, these low-level ghosts posed no threat to them. Chen Ming conjured a ball of flame in his palm, causing the spirits in the courtyard to tremble and shriek in terror.

They could sense the power of destruction within that flame.

The ghosts’ reaction pleased Chen Ming. He let out a cold snort and barked sternly, “Audacious ghosts, daring to occupy a living person’s residence! Scram now! If any of you dare come here again, I’ll make your souls scatter!”

The ghosts cowered under Chen Ming’s intimidation, but one little ghost, not knowing its place, complained tearfully, “This was originally our home! They dug up our graves and threw our bones into the lake first…”

“Uh…”

Chen Ming’s expression turned awkward, but only for a moment. He was being paid to solve a problem, and this job would earn him a full fifty spirit coins—he certainly wasn’t going to speak up for the ghosts.

He raised his voice even higher and said, “Enough nonsense! Get lost!”

No ghost dared to speak further, and they all began drifting toward the gate. Li Yu and the other two didn’t make a move, Chen Ming included.

The orthodox path wasn’t about exterminating all demons and ghosts—as long as they didn’t commit evil deeds, disciples of the righteous sects generally wouldn’t resort to slaughter.

The ghosts slowly retreated from the courtyard. A gust of eerie wind swept through, rustling the fallen leaves. In that instant, Li Yu suddenly felt his hair stand on end.

The last old ghost in line suddenly erupted, manifesting two sharp claws and lunging at Chen Ming.

“Hmph!”

Chen Ming merely snorted, and the flame in his hand shot out, striking the old ghost.

The flame, condensed from magical power, was no ordinary fire. The old ghost’s ghostly claws collapsed first. It barely managed a single scream before completely dissipating into thin air. At the same moment, the remaining ghosts in the courtyard turned vicious as well, throwing themselves at Chen Ming like moths to a flame.

“You asked for this! I’ll let you die a second time!”

With the Yin spirits attacking proactively, Chen Ming held nothing back. He waved his hand and released a fireball that split in two, then four, and rapidly multiplied until the single large fireball became a sky-full of smaller ones, flying toward the ghosts.

Among the spirits, aside from the old ghost which was slightly stronger, the rest were ordinary Yin spirits, utterly incapable of withstanding a single strike from the Fireball Technique. The merest touch of a spark caused their spirit bodies to collapse and scatter completely.

Li Yu’s ears were filled with the screams of ghosts. He simply withdrew his magical power, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.

Even so, a trace of doubt lingered in his mind.

The ghosts had already retreated—why did they suddenly attack?

The way they lunged at Chen Ming, they had clearly lost all reason.

*Poof!*

With the last fireball extinguished, the numerous Yin spirits in the courtyard had been utterly annihilated. It had all happened in an instant; Li Yu and the others didn’t need to lift a finger. Chen Ming alone had eliminated every ghost.

However, that “Flowers Scattered by the Goddess” technique had nearly drained all the magical power from Chen Ming’s body. He leaned against a nearby pillar, his chest heaving slightly.

He cultivated a Metal Spirit Vein; using a basic fire-based spell cost him far more magical power than it would a Fire Spirit Vein cultivator.

Zhou Zixuan stepped forward, concerned. “Senior Brother Chen, are you all right?”

Chen Ming straightened up and puffed out his chest. “Rest assured, Junior Sister Zhou. It was just a few clueless Yin spirits—nothing to worry about…”

Li Yu stretched his body. He hadn’t done much in this mission—he was practically just along for the ride.

Zhou Zixuan said, “Since things are settled, everyone should go back to their rooms and rest. We’ll return to the temple together tomorrow morning.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Li Yu sensed something was wrong.

Somehow, the surroundings had grown much darker, pitch black.

Li Yu looked up and saw that the moon had vanished—not just the moon, but the starlight too. He conjured a fireball to illuminate the area.

Only then did he notice that the sky above them was covered by a thick shroud of black miasma.

*Drip.*

*Drip, drip.*

*Drip, drip, drip…*

In the silent night, the sound of water droplets hitting the ground was unmistakable.

Li Yu whipped his head toward the source of the sound and saw black mist churning above a well in the southwest corner of the courtyard. Then, a white figure drifted up from the well.

Vaguely, he could make out a woman in white. Her face was deathly pale, and her yin energy was overwhelmingly dense. Droplets of water fell from her clothes, hitting the stone slabs with crisp, clear sounds.

Li Yu hadn’t channeled magical power to his eyes, yet he could see this ghost with his naked sight.

That made his pupils contract sharply. The white-clothed female ghost before him was no longer a Yin spirit—she was a true ghost!

A ghost that could manifest fully was no weaker than a Qi Refining cultivator, and the aura emanating from her made Li Yu feel immense pressure.

This female ghost was stronger than any of the four of them—even if not at Qi Refining Level Two, she was at least at the peak of Level One.

The female ghost emerged from the well, transformed into a white blur, and flew in a certain direction.

Li Yu immediately shouted a warning: “Junior Sister Zhou, be careful!”

Zhou Zixuan was already on guard. A barrier of flames formed around her body. However, the female ghost’s target didn’t seem to be her; it brushed past her and shot forward rapidly.

Chen Ming saw the white blur rushing at him and was so terrified his soul nearly left his body. He immediately tried to channel his magical power, only to realize—he had just used up every last drop of his energy showing off in front of Junior Sister Zhou. He couldn’t even release a single Fireball Technique now…

That thought had barely crossed his mind when he felt a chill run through his body. He shuddered violently, then lost consciousness.

From Li Yu, Jiang Li, and Zhou Zixuan’s perspective, the female ghost turned into a white streak and entered Chen Ming’s body. His face instantly turned deathly pale, his hair fell loose, and when he opened his eyes again, his gaze was foreign, his body saturated with dense yin energy.

Zhou Zixuan’s expression changed drastically. “It’s possessed Senior Brother Chen!”

Chen Ming, now possessed by the female ghost, raised his hands and examined them, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth. His voice was cold, soft, and feminine, as if echoing from the void.

“What a familiar feeling…”

By now, Li Yu understood why the Yin spirits had suddenly attacked Chen Ming—they had been controlled by a higher existence, used to drain Chen Ming’s magical power in preparation for the female ghost’s possession.

Once she succeeded in taking over, Li Yu and the others would be in a difficult position.

If they used powerful spells, they might or might not destroy the evil ghost, but Chen Ming would certainly die.

And without using spells, a cultivator’s combat effectiveness would drop by more than ninety percent.

And even if they were forced to sacrifice Chen Ming, their own magical power would be nearly depleted, leaving them as easy prey for the evil ghost.

“Chen Ming” shook his loose hair, looked at the three of them, licked his lips, and said grimly, “Four of them, huh? Four cultivator souls—they must be delicious. Worth years of my cultivation…”

*Swish!*

While Zhou Zixuan stood frozen, unsure what to do, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air beside her ear.

Five inch-long, blackish-green fingernails appeared before her eyes, thrusting toward her tender neck. Zhou Zixuan tried to raise her arm to block, but a force struck her waist, pulling her three feet sideways, narrowly avoiding the female ghost’s attack.

*Crack!*

The razor-sharp claws struck a nearby pillar, gouging out a chunk of solid wood. Zhou Zixuan felt a chill run down her spine—if that claw had hit her arm, her entire limb would have been sliced off…

“Chen Ming” sneered. “Playing the hero to save the beauty, huh? Then I’ll send you off first!”

His nails extended another inch as he slashed a blur toward Li Yu’s face.

Facing this sudden attack, Li Yu’s body instinctively pivoted ninety degrees to the left, his left hand grabbing Chen Ming’s left wrist while his right fist drove straight toward the vital spot behind his left ear.

Then he stepped forward, dropping his elbow hard onto the back of Chen Ming’s neck.

He executed these moves without even thinking—pure instinct.

Back when he graduated from the police academy, his hand-to-hand combat scores were ranked first in the entire school. Later, during five years deep undercover in a criminal syndicate, he’d been in countless fights. If not for his exceptional fighting skills, he would have died many times over.

In terms of spells, he might not match Chen Ming or Senior Sister Zhou. But in close-quarters combat? With his physical attributes massively enhanced from his previous life, he could take on ten Chen Mings and win.

*Thud!*

The female-ghost-possessed Chen Ming’s fierce offense met a pitiful end.

Before he could even react, Li Yu had floored him with a smooth, fluid combo. His head was ringing, and the ghost inside was completely dumbfounded.

What just happened?

All it saw was a flash, and then it was on the ground.

If he were an ordinary person, that elbow strike would have left him unable to get up. But Chen Ming was a cultivator with a tough physique, and with the female ghost controlling his body, he slapped the ground and sprang up, his ten fingers like knives stabbing at Li Yu’s abdomen.

Jiang Li and Zhou Zixuan snapped out of their daze and moved to help Li Yu, but before they could even take a single step, they heard *thump* and *thump*—and Chen Ming was on the ground again.

A kick to the groin, a straight punch to the throat, and finally a neck-lock spin throw—Li Yu’s moves were crisp and decisive, leaving Jiang Li and Zhou Zixuan stunned once more.

A moment later, Chen Ming sprang up again.

And in another instant, he was floored again.

He fought on, losing again and again, but since the ghost inside knew nothing of fighting techniques, it was nothing but a punching bag in Li Yu’s hands. The process was so pitiful that Jiang Li and Zhou Zixuan just stood there frozen, completely forgetting to help…