Chapter 665: Chapter 528: Prisoner No. 3_3
Although the Lingchi Ghost was quick to react, Xiao’s blade still struck the black-robed Monk’s body, carving a wound across his abdomen. The cut wasn’t deep, and the Monk acted as if he were dead, showing no response whatsoever, appearing now more like an accessory attached to the Lingchi Ghost.
The injury Yang Xiao suffered this time could not be described as anything less than severe. His left arm was left with only the upper arm remaining, the forearm grotesquely shaved down to white bone. Intense pain nearly caused him to lose consciousness; he was only maintaining his senses through sheer willpower as copious blood loss turned his complexion paper-white.
After sticking all the flesh and skin back onto his body, the Lingchi Ghost moved again. The clanging of iron chains filled the air incessantly. The black chains binding its feet were rough in make but markedly thick and aged, leading Yang Xiao to speculate that this Lingchi Ghost might well be an ancient person from a century ago, executed by lingchi for committing heinous crimes.
And these chains were the Monk’s Resentful Eye, which required binding the Monk to the Ghost during use.
Lu Wencheng, who was observing the battle, also began to discern some of the mechanics at play. Although he could not see the Lingchi Ghost or the Monk, he could see Yang Xiao; observing his movements and attacks, he quickly deduced that the problem lay with the Ghost.
"That guy is hiding behind the Ghost; I’ll flush him out right now!" Yang Xiao roared in fury, his eyes bloodshot. He raised the kitchen knife and with one stroke severed his left arm at the elbow, the bone, connected by just a sliver of flesh, crashed to the ground. The pain nearly knocked him out, but the result was immediately clear. In Lu Wencheng’s view, an arm fell from the sky, and at the same time, copious amounts of blood poured out of thin air near Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao had inflicted serious injury on the black-robed Monk through self-mutilation, marking his location for Lu Wencheng. Seizing the opportunity, Lu Wencheng used his Heavy Ruler to teleport beside the bloodstains, swinging it in a sweeping arc. Indeed, he struck something mid-air, sending it flying.
"We did it!"
In Yang Xiao’s view, Lu Wencheng’s ruler hit the black-robed Monk’s right arm, smashing the entire limb. Strangely, even then, the Monk showed no reaction, his masked face still hanging down as if he were asleep.
At that moment, Yang Xiao seemed to understand: rather than saying the black-robed Monk controlled the Ghost, it seemed more accurate to say the Ghost was manipulating the Monk. As the bearer of the Magic Artifact, once the Monk decided to use the Ghost to kill, he would be restricted, consumed by the Ghost’s backlash, losing initiative, and even most of his consciousness, until the Ghost killed its target or was killed in turn.
Though the surprise attack was successful, the situation remained dire. The Lingchi Ghost’s movements were erratic and incredibly swift, vanishing before Lu Wencheng could reach it time and again, its target always Yang Xiao.
After narrowly dodging another onslaught from the Lingchi Ghost, Xiao suddenly noticed something wrong with its right arm, which hung limply at its side, no longer attacking.
With the Monk’s left arm smashed by Lu Wencheng, the Lingchi Ghost’s left arm had also become useless. It seemed as though they shared one body, and damage to the Monk affected the Ghost!
Realizing this... Yang Xiao, gritting his teeth, once more lifted the kitchen knife and this time chopped at his own left leg. The blade cut into the bone, and he stumbled, collapsing to the ground. The effect was immediate: the Lingchi Ghost, also unstable on its left leg, lurched forward oddly and fell, exposing its back.
"Now’s the chance!" Yang Xiao bellowed with bloodshot eyes.
Lu Wencheng, however, had already sprung into action before Yang Xiao even shouted. With all his might, he leapt up, brought the ruler down heavily upon the Monk’s upper body. The chest violently caved in. This strike nearly cost the Monk his life, more importantly, it roused him from torpor, causing him to jolt upright and vomit blood.
As the Monk awoke, the tide of battle turned. Lu Wencheng’s eyes widened as both the black-robed Monk and the Lingchi Ghost beneath him manifested, visible to both him and Xiao—meaning that the attack on Xiao had ceased.
But the Monk had not finished. He woke screaming and howling inhumanly high-pitched sounds, as if sensing an extreme terror.
In the next second, the Lingchi Ghost behind him trembled all over, the scant flesh remaining falling off in droves, quickly turning into a ghastly white skeleton.
What happened next deeply shocked both Yang Xiao and Lu Wencheng. They saw the pale skeleton contort its body, pulling the Monk down from behind, ripping open his chest, and beginning to burrow into the Monk’s body inch by inch. Accompanied by minutes of agonizing screams, the skeleton ultimately forced its way into the Monk’s body, pushing out the original skeleton, scattering flesh and internal organs all around—creating a scene too ghastly to withstand.
