From within the black smoke, the Bull-Nosed Daoist's figure emerged first, and only then did the roaring, furious Vicious Ghost appear.
"How is that possible? It suffered only... a light wound!?" Xu Banxian, wielding the Nine Heavens Demon-Severing Curse, was stunned. The enemy had taken a sudden attack at nearly Ten Revolutions, yet it could still leap about, baring its teeth!
By Xu Banxian's earlier reckoning, this strike, even at its weakest, should have been enough to knock this level ten Hanging Ghost to the ground, wailing in agony... even if only for a few seconds! Yet, judging by its state, it seemed to be doing quite well!
"No. It must have reached level ten only recently. Your strike has knocked its cultivation back down to level nine Peak!"
The gaudy blue on the Hanging Ghost's body dimmed by a shade. Feng Ling saw it clearly, but this conclusion left him utterly stunned as well!
Looking at it this way, this Hanging Ghost's low profile was very likely an attempt to stabilize its level ten realm! If it succeeded, the entire Ancient Well Village, young and old, even himself included, would meet a miserable death beneath its Blue Claws!
As Feng Ling inwardly cursed the dire situation, Zhang Dan and the other person outside, along with the secretly watching crowd, stared in shock at the billowing black smoke within the ten-meter-high wall.
Old Wang trembled violently. His hiding place faced the broken section of wall, giving him an unobstructed view of the terrifying, gaudy blue Hanging Ghost.
A thick layer of white frost covered the courtyard, making that incongruous blue even more shocking to the eyes and mind.
"This is terrifying! How long has it even been staying in my house? And I wasn't eaten by it!" Recalling the strange disturbances in the house over the past few nights, Old Wang's scalp went numb.
"Could it be that I chopped down a yin-tree where someone had hanged themselves!? If so, it has been 'living side by side' with me... for ten years?" Old Wang's eyes twitched as he cursed his rotten luck.
He still remembered that workers had cut and used all the pillars in this house ten years ago.
"Endless trouble to come, it absolutely cannot be allowed to live..." Xu Banxian also knew that winning this Life-and-Death Wager was already an impossibility.
"Crackle!" Before he finished speaking, Lightning exploded, and Feng Ling and Xu Banxian attacked together, shocked and furious.
If this Vicious Ghost had a stable level ten realm, they might have turned and left. But since it had fallen from level ten, subduing it would be dangerous, not impossible.
This was Feng Ling's first encounter with a level ten Vicious Ghost. He had encountered and subdued several level nine ones. One more level nine, and his Clone could advance to the Ninth Transformation!
If this one turned out to be near level ten, that would be even better!
"Boom!" Like a sudden clap of thunder from a clear sky, dust and smoke roiled where the blue figure had been.
Several large trees shattered into fragments and blasted away, while the ground split open into a three-meter-wide crater.
It had dodged!?
The dust cleared, revealing nothing in the massive crater. Feng Ling and Xu Banxian's hearts lurched as they warily scanned the surroundings for movement.
"Cackle, cackle, cackle... fun, this is fun!"
A drifting, bone-chilling ghostly laugh echoed through the area. Its mocking, hollow tone made everyone present, including Feng Ling, shudder.
Wild Lightning flashed. The frost-white tree on the left exploded, and the blue figure vanished from its branches once more.
Amid the rustling tree shadows, no one noticed a faint light flickering on a white-haired elder.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea...
The bone-chilling ghostly laughter continued from within the trees, echoing in every direction. Cold sweat ran down Feng Ling and the other person's backs. When Xu Banxian's gaze swept over the devastated ground, he felt another jolt of terror.
"Heheh, you two old morsels of food — this Ghost Spirit Child has grown bored of playing. So tell me, how would you like to die?"
A gaudy blue figure stood atop the roof, its eerie pupils gleaming with malice.
It looked down at its surroundings with pursed lips. Then its Ghost Eyes lit up, and it seemed excited.
"And there's more delicious food outside the courtyard too. Now that you've seen this Ghost Spirit Child's true form today, not one of you is getting away!"
The villagers hiding nearby felt their hearts lurch. Several fair-skinned, plump children burst into tears. The panicked adults beside them quickly covered their mouths, leaving only muffled sobs behind the clutter blocking the view.
"You demonic creature! You can speak Human Speech!" Feng Ling struggled to contain his shock.
Any Greater Ghost could potentially learn Human Speech, but not all succeeded. Conversely, any Greater Ghost that did was a cunning, treacherous creature.
What did this mean...?
It meant this Hanging Ghost possessed exceptional intelligence—more devious and cunning than the Water Ghost they had encountered before!
Xu Banxian said nothing, quietly gathering his strength. Hearing Feng Ling's remark, he could not help but shoot him a disdainful, scornful glance: "A high-level Greater Ghost's intelligence naturally meets the standard — what's so strange about it speaking?"
"Heheh!" The Hanging Ghost stuck out its tongue, pleased with itself. Then it spoke with even greater satisfaction: "This ghost noticed you two long ago, so I turned the tables and planted a 'Ghost Yin Curse' on both of you. As for how you'll die, it will be just like the little show I performed for you earlier—hanged to death!"
"Ghost Yin Curse!" Xu Banxian was horrified, and Feng Ling's expression turned grim as well.
This "Ghost Yin Curse" formed from the Myriad Nether Ghost Aura within a ghost's body. Once it took hold, it clung like a maggot burrowed into the bone and was nearly impossible to remove. Almost every Vicious Ghost possessed it.
Once the curse took hold, it would erupt at unpredictable times. The conditions depended on the type of ghost, but every victim met a fate corresponding to that ghost's death.
Feng Ling and the other had just witnessed how this Hanging Ghost had died, and now, cursed with the Evil Curse unique to Hanging Ghosts, when the curse eventually triggered, they would personally experience the terror of death by hanging. Surviving the first time wouldn't stop a second, and with the curse striking again and again, the cursed victim would be tormented until they took their own life... only ending in death!
Even those who survived by luck would become neither human nor ghost. Most who endured the Curse Mark were brutally slaughtered by Vicious Ghosts that savored their suffering.
It was... utterly vicious and merciless!
This curse was practically a death sentence!
"Damn you! This poor Daoist will destroy you now! Prepare to die..." Xu Banxian roared. A gilded black palm expanded to three meters as he struck, its force whipping up wind and snow!
"Stone-Shattering Fist!" Feng Ling attacked close behind him. Destroying this Hanging Ghost would dispel the Ghost Yin Curse; otherwise, his External Avatar would be ruined here.
"Ah!" A terrified scream rang out ahead. Feng Ling's charge stopped abruptly, and his contracted pupils reflected the Bull-Nosed Daoist reenacting the Vicious Ghost's earlier scene: "kicking his legs as he hanged aloft."
As he reeled from shock at Xu Banxian's fate, a ring of gaudy red light appeared around Feng Ling's neck. It tightened, trying to hoist him into the air.
"Ah!" Another cry of shock and fury rang out. From outside, Zhang Dan and the others gathered with the villagers watched in horror as two figures hung eerily in midair, struggling desperately.
"Boom, boom!!" The blue Hanging Ghost dodged the massive palm and fist-force again. Their momentum carried them onward, flattening the entire Wang household.
The massive explosion cleared the surroundings, revealing everyone where they stood.