Jiang Meng was uneasy about letting Chu Mingjia go in alone. He followed behind her with the camera, and Han Fengchen, unwilling to be left by himself, stuck close to Chu Mingjia’s heels.
Only the little Jar Ghost trembled with fear and dared not approach. It hid far away in the grass, poking half its head out of the jar to peek. If anything went wrong, it planned to duck back inside and roll away.
When the three reached the golden archway, Han Fengchen looked up at the two big red lanterns hanging from it, then at the glittering, golden structure.
If this archway were made of real gold, it would be absolutely mind-blowing. How much money would that be?
How much was gold per gram again?
As Han Fengchen was thinking this, he couldn’t help reaching out and touching the archway.
Then, in the silent mountain wilderness, a very sharp ripping sound echoed. Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Han Fengchen.
Han Fengchen: “…”
He looked at his hand, then at the archway he had just touched. Where his fingers had made contact, there was now a hole. The torn paper fluttered in the wind.
Han Fengchen: “…”
“I… this…”
Han Fengchen was so frightened he stammered, “I really didn’t mean to!”
Come on, no matter how rich his family was, compensating for a golden archway like this might still be a bit difficult.
Chu Mingjia said in a low voice, “Don’t move around recklessly. This is all made of paper. It’s very fragile.”
Han Fengchen: “…”
Han Fengchen was speechless. “So that means the villa is also made of paper? Can we even go over there?”
And what about Chen Li earlier? How did he end up here?
Before Chu Mingjia could answer, the sound of musical instruments suddenly rang out. Looking up, they saw the villa’s doors open. Two rows of young men in black suits filed out. They walked politely up to Chu Mingjia, lined up in two rows, and bowed. “Welcome, Divine Lord.”
Chu Mingjia raised an eyebrow as she looked at these stiff-faced “people.”
Han Fengchen was scared out of his wits.
Because these dozens of men in suits all looked exactly the same!
From their hairstyles to their facial features, and then to their figures and clothing, everything was identical!
Han Fengchen took two steps back, too terrified to speak.
Chu Mingjia turned to Jiang Meng and said, “You and Fengchen wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”
Jiang Meng frowned deeply. “Mountain—”
Chu Mingjia: “Be good.”
Jiang Meng: “…”
Jiang Meng didn’t dare disobey. He could only watch helplessly as Chu Mingjia walked toward the villa’s entrance.
From the perspective of the livestream viewers, all they could see was Chu Mingjia walking alone into the massive black shadow.
【Damn, Sister Chu really has no fear of death! The mountain fog is so thick, and we don’t even know what that behemoth is, yet she’s walking right into it alone!】
【And she won’t let anyone follow her, she’s going by herself! Sister Chu is truly too brave!】
【The production team should have arranged for a few more masters to go with this group. The other two groups aren’t nearly as dangerous as this.】
【Right, the other two groups are just dealing with minor scares. The masters can just move their fingers a bit or stick on a talisman, and it’s fine. How come Sister Chu’s group always runs into such danger every time!】
……
Han Fengchen was also a little worried. He asked Jiang Meng in a low voice, “Is it really okay to let her go alone? Maybe we should still follow her to be safe?”
Jiang Meng very much wanted to go, but Chu Mingjia had said no, and he didn’t dare make her angry again.
Escorted by the men in suits, Chu Mingjia arrived at the villa’s entrance. The large door was wide open, and a red carpet was laid out inside.
Loud voices and chatter came from within, as if a dance party was being held.
Chu Mingjia looked down at the carpet. Without the slightest hesitation, she stepped inside.
As her foot came down, a ripping sound immediately followed.
She appeared to be walking through a magnificent, high-end villa, but in reality, every step she took left a hole, crushing the floor beneath her feet.
The sound of her footsteps alarmed the “people” inside. They shrieked in panic: “It’s a living person! A living person is here!”
“Mountain Lord! Where is the Mountain Lord!”
“A living person has come! Who let them in?”
“Never mind all that! They might be a Taoist priest! Run!”
……
In an instant, the once lively and cheerful villa descended into noisy chaos.
Yet the suited men following Chu Mingjia remained expressionless, trailing behind her with perfect composure, showing no reaction at all.
Just then, a woman in a red dress with heavy, striking makeup walked out. She wore high heels, had long black hair cascading to her waist, narrow elongated eyes, and deep red lipstick.
Her features were exquisitely delicate, and her presence was commanding, clearly, she possessed considerable power.
Moreover, her face bore an eighty or ninety percent resemblance to the former Mountain God of Qishan.
If Chu Mingjia weren’t the Mountain God herself, she might have been fooled by the woman’s appearance.
The woman in the red dress strode over and said to the two suited men leading the way, “Didn’t I tell you to welcome the Divine Lord? You didn’t bring that worthless drunkard in here, did you?”
The suited men’s faces remained blank, their voices flat. “Master, the one we welcomed is indeed the Divine Lord.”
The woman in red held a pair of small golden scissors in her hand. Frowning, she pushed aside the suited men in front of her and immediately laid eyes on Chu Mingjia.
Chu Mingjia smiled. “Hello.”
In that instant, Chu Mingjia’s divine power suddenly erupted, surging toward the woman in red.
The woman’s pupils dilated sharply, and her expression turned to one of terror. “You, who… who are you?!”
Chu Mingjia stared at her. “Didn’t they tell you? I am your Divine Lord.”
The woman in red froze for a second. Then, with a flash of the golden scissors in her hand, countless paper figures came hurtling toward Chu Mingjia.
Meanwhile, the woman in the red dress turned and tried to flee.
“Trying to run?”
Chu Mingjia strode after her, tearing those paper figures to shreds with one hand.
The greatest advantage of her current body was that she didn’t have to worry about their attacks, paper figures couldn’t hurt her.
The woman in red ran fast, her figure darting swiftly toward the window. Chu Mingjia ran fast too, and with her movements, even this enormous villa was being torn apart by her bare hands.
Just as the red-dressed female ghost was about to leap out the window, Chu Mingjia suddenly caught her by the hand.
Chu Mingjia sneered. “Aren’t you the Mountain God? Why are you running?”
The woman in red struggled. “We have no grievances! Why are you coming after me?!”
Using brute force, Chu Mingjia yanked her down from mid-air and slammed her hard onto the ground. She sneered, “How many people have you harmed? How much fortune have you borrowed? How dare you say we have no grievances?!”
The expression on the woman in red’s face turned ferocious, her delicate makeup even starting to crack. “You, you came for that?”
Chu Mingjia stomped her foot hard onto the woman’s face and sneered, “Why else? Do you think it’s because you’re impersonating the Mountain God?”
Half of the woman in red’s face was flattened directly under Chu Mingjia’s foot, making her look like a deflated human-skin balloon.
The remaining half of her face stared at Chu Mingjia in terror. “How, how do you know…”
How did she know about the Mountain God?
But before she could finish, the other side of her face was flattened by Chu Mingjia as well.
Chu Mingjia said coldly, “Talking to you while you’re wearing that face makes me very uncomfortable.”
Woman in red: “…”
With her entire face ground into the dirt, she could no longer speak. The little scissors in her hand flashed again, and countless more suited men appeared around them. All of them looked exactly the same. They closed in continuously, trying to rescue their master from Chu Mingjia.
Chu Mingjia looked around at these men, then glanced down at the woman in red with understanding. She sneered, “So it’s paper-man manipulation? Not bad cutting.”
With that, she stomped heavily onto the hand of the woman in red that was holding the scissors. A crack sounded as she directly broke the woman’s hand, and the golden scissors shattered.
Just then, the woman in red suddenly ripped off her own arm, let out a shriek, and darted out through the nearby window.
Chu Mingjia moved quickly, grabbing the woman in red by the hair. But with a sudden ripping sound, Chu Mingjia paused and looked down at her hand.
What she was holding was nothing more than a shriveled piece of human skin.
The skin still bore delicate makeup and even thick, luxuriant hair.
Chu Mingjia: “…”
Chu Mingjia threw the piece of skin to the ground in disgust. The next moment, the skin spontaneously ignited with green ghost fire, burning completely clean in just a few seconds.
Outside the villa, Han Fengchen watched the crumbling golden villa, his face pale with fear. The moment he saw Chu Mingjia come out, he immediately ran up to her. “Sis, you’re finally out!”
Inside the villa just now, he had heard very shrill, terrifying sounds. And then Jiang Meng had suddenly run off, chasing after who knew what, leaving Han Fengchen all alone. He had been scared out of his wits.
Chu Mingjia asked, “Where’s Jiang Meng?”
Han Fengchen, still holding the camera, said dejectedly, “He suddenly ran off just now. I don’t know what he saw.”
Chu Mingjia guessed that Jiang Meng had gone after the escaping woman in red.
The little Jar Ghost then scurried over with its cremation urn on its head, looking at Chu Mingjia excitedly. “Mountain Lord, you’re so amazing! You chased away the Vengeful Beauty Ghost! She’s been throwing her weight around here for so long. We were all very scared of her.”
Han Fengchen asked in a low voice, “So it really is a Vengeful Beauty Ghost?”
Previously, the police had been unable to find the culprit behind the baby abductions. Jiang Meng had suspected it was the work of a Vengeful Beauty Ghost, because such ghosts are skilled at painting skins and can disguise themselves as different people.
And now, it really was a Vengeful Beauty Ghost?
Chu Mingjia didn’t speak. She thought back to what the Vengeful Beauty Ghost had said when she first entered the villa, how the ghost had questioned the suited paper figures. Chu Mingjia suspected that behind the Vengeful Beauty Ghost, there was likely another “Divine Lord.” The Vengeful Beauty Ghost might very well be nothing more than a stand-in for this “Divine Lord.”
Jiang Meng soon returned, empty-handed. He looked at Chu Mingjia with a grave expression. “I didn’t catch her.”
The other party had severed her own arm and even shed her human skin to escape. It seemed she had already sensed Chu Mingjia’s true identity.
Chu Mingjia said, “Don’t worry. She won’t be able to hide for long.”
Jiang Meng’s expression, however, was not at all relaxed.
This Vengeful Beauty Ghost had been able to reside in such a grand palace villa on Qishan, which meant she had likely occupied this place for a long time. Who knew how many years she had been cultivating using Qishan Mountain’s spiritual vein?
The three turned and walked back toward the ghost shrine. Chu Mingjia said, “Let’s go back. She won’t return.”
Han Fengchen asked, “The police still haven’t arrived. What about that Chen Li?”
Jiang Meng said with a stern face, “Why are the police so slow?”
Han Fengchen replied, “It’s too dark out. They probably have difficulty getting up the mountain.”
With solemn expressions, the three turned back to the divine shrine, planning to rest there for a while before descending the mountain together with the police.
But when they reached the shrine, they suddenly saw a small, thin girl standing at its entrance.
Everyone: “…”
Hearing the noise, the girl looked up and stared at them expressionlessly under the moonlight.
Han Fengchen was stunned for a moment, then tentatively spoke: “Xiao Yun?”