"Master!" Suddenly sensing something, Zhang Dan's voice choked and trembled, "Senior Brother… is dead!"
Though he loathed that disciple, he still didn't want to watch a fellow disciple die horribly beneath those Ghost Claws.
"Bastard!"
A furious, startled roar sounded from the well's edge again—it was the Bull-Nosed Daoist, who had come out a step too late.
Sweeping his gaze over the unrecognizable, gruesomely killed blood corpse, Xu Banxian's old face darkened.
He thought, "Such an obedient servant, dead just like that—what a waste! Where will I find another one now?"
Thinking this, the selfish, eccentric old daoist felt a surge of anger rise up for no good reason.
The ear he'd just reattached throbbed with a faint, tearing pain, provoking the Bull-Nosed Daoist until he practically quivered.
"Disciple, you died so tragically! This Master shall avenge you at once!"
Yellow talismans burned one after another, cast out in offering.
Xu Banxian unleashed his strength and struck the Water Ghost, which let out a shrill howl beneath the Golden Radiance.
"Aaah!!" Aided by the Sacred Flame, a great surge of black qi billowed up from the blood-red figure, and its shrill, ghostly wail echoed across the entire deep night sky, chilling all who heard it.
The shrill cry seemed to intensify the Yin Energy, startling Feng Ling and Xu Banxian at the same time.
The Vicious Ghost seemed ready to break free of the Golden Radiance's Restraint. If it escaped now, who knew what trouble it might cause after its wounds healed?
"Boom!" Just as they were thinking this, a huge explosion sounded, and the blood-red ghostly shadow began to flee!
"Fellow daoist, lend me one of your yellow talismans!"
Feng Ling shouted, "Fellow daoist, lend me a Yellow Talisman!" Without waiting for Xu Banxian's answer, he snatched one from the ground, used the Thunderbolt Art's lightning fire as a trigger, and flung it at the Water Ghost.
Damn it, still a touch too slow!
"Boom!"
As Feng Ling cursed inwardly, a Sudden Mutation occurred!
That Yellow Talisman was like a spark in a barrel of gunpowder. It set the surroundings ablaze with flame light, forming an impassable wall of bronze and iron that burned the blood-red Ghostly Shadow into a frenzy of howls.
No matter how wildly the Vicious Ghost thrashed, how loudly it howled, or how often it charged the barrier, it could not extinguish the surging Lightning Sacred Flame that burned across its body!
"Aah! My yellow talismans… my entire fortune!" Watching villager after villager frantically flailing their arms, flinging out talismans that suddenly burst into flame, Xu Banxian was so furious smoke practically rose from his head, and he whirled around to shoot a vicious glare at Zhang Dan, who stood with his head bowed, body trembling.
Feng Ling was astonished too. He hadn't expected the villagers hiding all around to carry Yellow Talismans.
Even less had he expected the lightning-charged Talisman he threw to trigger the others.
By sheer accident, Feng Ling used the excuse of "borrowing one" to burn through several dozen of Xu Banxian's life savings in a single stroke!
The Black Token surfaced!
A pulling force emerged first and dragged in the Water Ghost, which was nearly burned to ash.
An Eighth Rank water ghost!
Xu Banxian had lost an Eighth Rank Water Ghost. Grinding his teeth, he glared with bloodshot eyes at the composed Withered Old Man.
His heart was seething with resentment!
He had lost a disciple and several dozen Yellow Talismans, then done all the work for someone else and gained nothing! He had truly lost both the bride and the troops!
While the ancient well remained "lively," a faint, chilling, stiff laugh came from a gloomy house nearby. In its courtyard, a massive pillar spun eerily in midair before slowly sinking into the house.
"Damn it! Thieving Daoist, you burned my entire fortune, you owe me compensation!"
Xu Banxian's old face darkened. His voice turned shrill as he demanded compensation under that pretext.
"Oh? And how exactly would you like to be compensated?" Having come out well ahead, Feng Ling was in excellent spirits, raising an eyebrow as he stared at the Bull-Nosed Daoist, a hint of mockery in his eyes.
Seeing his expression, Xu Banxian's heart skipped a beat, but he still gritted his teeth and named an outrageous sum: "Give this poor daoist twenty thousand taels of silver, and this matter will be settled! Otherwise…"
"Pah, you black-hearted swindler, that's outright robbery!"
"Hmph! What a shameless creature—why don't you go rob someone? Old Bodhisattva, whatever you do, don't give him a single copper coin!"
"That's right, even if you tore down that broken-down Daoist Temple of his, it wouldn't be worth that much!"
The villagers, hearts still not fully settled from their fright, had barely stepped forward when they heard such shameless, rascally words, and each of them immediately burned with anger, rushing to speak up for Feng Ling.
Feng Ling had won the people's hearts far more than the Bull-Nosed Daoist. The fact that he "charged no fee at all" had deeply moved the not-so-wealthy villagers of Ancient Well Village!
Since this man had been so wholeheartedly on their side, how could they not speak up fairly for him now!
"You unruly commoners, shut your mouths! This great immortal hasn't even asked you for Talisman fees, and you dare blame me instead!"
Xu Banxian's old face flushed red as he let out an furious roar, his stern gaze sweeping over the crowd one by one.
Xu Banxian routinely bullied the villagers. Whenever he adopted a fierce, menacing expression, the simple, kind-hearted villagers endured it with great forbearance.
This time, Xu Banxian assumed the villagers would swallow their anger in silence again.
But he hadn't expected that if he'd simply kept his mouth shut about it, it would have been fine—yet the moment he brought it up, the crowd instantly exploded!
"You old fraudulent daoist, you're shameless! How dare you say such a thing!"
"Hmph! Who cares about your worthless Talismans? They burned holes clean through the clothes I just bought!"
"Exactly! We haven't even asked you for compensation for our emotional distress, yet you want money from us?"
The villagers, furious, jeered and cursed while holding up their burned, hole-riddled clothes for the Bull-Nosed Daoist to see.
No matter how "silver-tongued" Xu Banxian normally was, how could one man possibly out-argue so many mouths at once? Before he could even open his mouth, he was drowned out by the crowd's scolding, his old face flushing so red it practically burned, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into—even Zhang Dan, standing beside him, couldn't help but turn his own reddened face away.
Even Feng Ling was stunned. His wrinkled old eyes twitched as he watched the auntie scolding the fiercest. A terrifying phrase surfaced in his mind: a fearsome country wife!
Feng Ling remembered a mission in his past life when he went to the countryside and stumbled upon two village aunties hurling curses at each other.
Those two had been even fiercer than the people of Ancient Well Village! The main difference was that a whole crowd of cheering, die-hard fans had egged them on from the sidelines!
"Pay up!" Once the scolding had mostly run its course, the crowd's mouths dry and tired, they finally roared out those two words in unison.
As for the expression on Xu Banxian's face, there simply wasn't a word left to describe it.
"Bastards!"
The Bull-Nosed Daoist unleashed a burst of flame light, shamelessly preparing to attack ordinary villagers. Everyone's hearts lurched. In the heat of the scolding, they had forgotten that he was a mid-tier Peak Ghost Spirit Master!
Fortunately, Feng Ling's eyes were sharp and his hands quick—
With a single strike, he knocked Xu Banxian back, then flashed in front of the terrified crowd to shield them!
"Fellow daoist, are you unaware of the code among Ghost Spirit Masters?" Feng Ling asked in a low, cold voice. His tone was grim and murderous, and an Assassin's distinctive aura radiated from him.
Thoroughly terrified, Xu Banxian deflated like a small flame doused by a flood.
"Hmph! The Thieving Daoist is shielding you, so this poor daoist will let you off this once today!"
Xu Banxian forced down his shock and fury. He was certain that if he'd dared cross that line by even half a step, this terrifying old undying monster would have annihilated him!
"Whew!" The villagers exhaled in relief. Once calm returned, they worried that the Bull-Nosed Daoist might seek revenge after Feng Ling left.
"However, Thieving Daoist… you did lose our wager, didn't you? This poor daoist found that Millennium Water Ghost one step ahead of you this time!"
Having salvaged some face, Xu Banxian looked smug. He thought, "Once I drive off this old bastard, these villagers will fall back in line!"