"Junior Brother!!" Seeing the ghost tear a chunk of flesh from me, Xu Nuo dashed toward me without a second thought. Whether from fear or some other force, my legs went limp and I could barely remain standing. As she reached me, I collapsed into her arms.
Cradled against her chest, I saw the Maoshan Taoist named Zhong Xuanliang sweep his talisman-stuck wooden sword across the twelve rotting corpses. Wherever the blade passed, black smoke billowed as if the flesh had been scorched. The crimson threads of blood binding the corpses snapped and dissipated.
If looks could kill, Zhong Xuanliang would have died a thousand deaths by now—for both Xu Nuo and I glared at him with venomous intensity.
A shrill, eerie laughter echoed behind me. The places on Zhang Kun's body that had been entangled by blood threads had already begun to rot, raw flesh twisting grotesquely—an utterly repulsive sight.
"Blood Corpse Ghost-Locking Formation! I nearly fell to your petty tricks. This time, I'll take your lives!" Zhang Kun broke free from the formation's shackles and floated toward us with murderous intent.
"Senior Sister, watch out!" Aside from the searing pain from my wound, I felt no other abnormalities. I shoved Xu Nuo behind me, locking eyes with Zhang Kun.
"You're in this state and still trying to protect me? I should be the one looking out for you." Xu Nuo's tone suddenly softened. She pulled a vial from her pouch, poured out a clear liquid, and began to apply it to my wound.
"Ah!" The moment the liquid touched my injury, it felt as if it were being torn open anew. A sizzle followed, and black smoke rose from the wound, filling the air with the acrid stench of charred decay.
"Don't move. This is Heavenly Spring Water—it purifies the wound," Xu Nuo said firmly, gripping my shoulder.
"Tsk tsk… such a handsome man and lovely girl… your flesh must taste divine…" Zhang Kun reached for us with both hands.
Overconfident fool.
Xu Nuo let out a cold snort. With one hand supporting me, she used the other to take a stalk of balloon flower from her bosom and crushed it with force.
A faint fragrance of balloon flower wafted once again through the air. This time, I could see it with my own eyes—white tendrils of mist twined around Zhang Kun's limbs like thick cords, binding him tightly.
Just as I was about to cheer for Xu Nuo, a harrowing wail burst from Zhang Kun's throat. Dark clouds suddenly engulfed the sky above Zhangjia Village. The wind howled, and the balloon flower mist was scattered in an instant. Freed from his restraints, Zhang Kun lunged at us.
"Dao begets infinity—face your death!" The Maoshan Taoist raised his wooden sword and charged like a tempest. The blade pierced straight through Zhang Kun's heart.
"ARGHH!!" Another ghastly howl erupted from Zhang Kun as his body convulsed violently, something within his corpse struggling desperately to break free.
"Take this—Soul-Severing Herb!" Seizing the moment, I flung the herb clenched in my palm into Zhang Kun's mouth. A shriek more ear-splitting than any before echoed through the village.
As he swallowed the Soul-Severing Herb, his ghostly form began to emit torrents of black mist. At the same time, strange sounds arose from Zhong Xuanliang's body.
"You stinking priest… what's wrong with you?" Xu Nuo turned to Zhong Xuanliang, confusion clouding her delicate features.
I too noticed the sound and glanced at him. Zhong Xuanliang's face had gone deathly pale. Black blood streamed from his nostrils, eyes, and ears. As Zhang Kun dissolved into smoke, deprived of his tether, Zhong Xuanliang collapsed to the ground with a muffled thud—lifeless.
Xu Nuo supported me and knelt beside him. After checking his breath, her brows furrowed slightly. "He's dead."
"Dead?" I stared at Zhong Xuanliang in disbelief. Just a moment ago, he'd been cleaving through ghosts with righteous fury—how could he suddenly be gone?
I pulled a packet of medical cotton swabs from my pocket—an old habit from working in healthcare. Dabbing one in the black blood around Zhong Xuanliang's mouth, I brought it to my nose, then pried open his eyelids to inspect him. Finally, I turned to Xu Nuo and said, "He's dead… and not just now. He must've died several hours ago."
Even as I said it, I found it hard to believe. Moments earlier, Zhong Xuanliang had looked as alive as any man. But my medical instincts told me otherwise—he had indeed been dead for hours.
At that moment, I remembered Zhong Xuanliang's junior brother. When I'd first climbed out of the coffin, the very first thing I saw was that brother's corpse.
If I was right, both Zhong Xuanliang and his brother had perished together.
"The Half-Soul Song! It must be the Half-Soul Song!" Xu Nuo clenched her fists, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
"What's the Half-Soul Song?" I asked, bewildered.
Xu Nuo explained that the Half-Soul Song was a forbidden incantation lost for over a thousand years. After death, it could extract a person's three souls and six spirits, implanting the souls into a ghostly vessel while leaving the spirits within the corpse. This allowed the dead to awaken with the aid of ghostly power. Once revived, the deceased would be indistinguishable from the living—just like Zhong Xuanliang.
"This is bad! We've been set up again!" Xu Nuo's face turned pale. "Though Zhong Xuanliang died hours ago, from an outsider's view, it will appear he was killed by our Soul-Severing Herb…"
I had the same thought earlier. His symptoms mirrored those caused by the herb, though I hadn't seen him take it. But after Xu Nuo's explanation, I realized: his three souls were inside Zhang Kun. When Zhang Kun's soul was annihilated by the herb, Zhong Xuanliang perished as well.
I didn't know how powerful the Maoshan Sect truly was, but from the grim look on Xu Nuo's face, I could tell—we were in serious trouble.
After a long silence, Xu Nuo said, "Someone orchestrated all of this to pit us against the Maoshan Sect. Zhang Kun was just a pawn. Now that both Maoshan disciples are dead, the sect won't let this go—they'll hunt us down."
"Is the Maoshan Sect really that fearsome?" I scoffed. "They're ghost hunters—I'm not a ghost. What can they do to me?"
"Fearsome? Of course. If you trace the lineage back far enough, our Apothecary Fragrance House actually shares a common origin with the Maoshan Sect. But because of a certain incident… our founding master broke away. After generations of effort, we became renowned in Miaojiang as the 'Apothecary Fragrance Lineage.'" Xu Nuo paused, seeing that I was listening intently, then continued, "Even after two hundred years, Maoshan still holds a grudge. Only after the founding of the nation did relations begin to thaw slightly. Now that two of their disciples have died at our hands, they'll never let it go!"
"What incident? What exactly happened?" I asked, thoroughly confused, staring at her traditional Miao attire.
Xu Nuo shook her head, her longevity lock and silver ornaments tinkling softly. "It's a taboo between Maoshan and the Apothecary Fragrance. Only the Maoshan Sect Leader and our House's Grand Master—my master—know the truth. But she has always been evasive about it and warned me to never engage with Maoshan disciples outside."
"What time is it now?" Xu Nuo suddenly asked, as if recalling something urgent.
Her question jolted my memory—I needed to return to the Apothecary Fragrance House before midnight. There was no time to dwell on Maoshan and its grudges.
I pulled out my phone. It was already 11:30 p.m.
"Half an hour until midnight!" I said.
"What!? Only thirty minutes left! Get a vehicle, quick! I need to prepare. Once you've got it, come back for me!" Xu Nuo ordered.
"What about the bodies?" I pointed to the corpses of Zhong Xuanliang and his brother.
"That's not your concern—someone will take care of it. Your job is to find a vehicle and save your life!" she snapped.
"Oh—right!" Seeing how anxious she was, I turned and sprinted toward the village entrance. But at this hour, with Zhangjia Village infamous for being haunted, what vehicle would dare venture here? With no luck outside, I had no choice but to circle back into the village. After some searching, I finally found a motorcycle in front of someone's house—key still in the ignition.
Perfect.
Overjoyed, I mounted the bike, straightened the handlebars, revved it up, and sped off toward the ancestral hall.
When I arrived, Xu Nuo stood beneath the night sky, holding a white spirit banner, her gaze locked upward as if calculating something.
"I'm back!" I called out as I pulled up. Only then did I notice the corpses had vanished.
"That's the ride you found?" she frowned in disdain.
"This is the best I could get—hop on!" I offered her my hand. Xu Nuo swung onto the bike, casually wrapping her arms around my waist.
With a roar of the engine, we took off into the night. Along the way, I asked her where the bodies had gone.
Xu Nuo replied, "Forget about that for now. I need to tell you something important. Listen closely—if you forget even a word, you may not survive what's coming…"