Chapter 817: Chapter 607: Sending Off the Evil Spirit (Requesting Monthly Votes at the End of the Month)_2
In the direct gaze with Nalan Shuo, Yang Xiao saw a trace of urgency, making him realize that tonight was not yet a checkmate, Director Nalan must still have a way, but was bound and thus unable to break free and act.
At this moment, he was completely drained, and Jiang Qingluan, Chang Chuchu were also restrained. After taking a look at Yang Xiao, Nalan Shuo slowly and painfully turned his head to look in another direction.
Yang Xiao immediately understood; it was the room on the far right, Zhang Songde’s room. Zhang Songde was most likely dead, but the remaining two might not be, they urgently needed help now.
"Dead man, come out!" Yang Xiao removed the incense from his mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs toward Fang Zhou’s room, "Fang Zhou! Come out and help!"
He really couldn’t trust Lou Huixiang, who came from the Black Buddha Mother Sect. Even if Lou Huixiang heard him, he might not be willing to help. His best chance was to persuade Fang Zhou.
And indeed, as he had expected, at this moment, Lou Huixiang inside the room was looking tense and trembling slightly. He looked directly at Fang Zhou opposite him with hesitation in his eyes—and fear, "What should...what should we do?"
Initially, he didn’t have much respect for Fang Zhou, since it was easy to see the latter’s naivety. But after what had happened earlier, his view of Fang Zhou had greatly changed. It was Fang Zhou who had first looked outside, and he had been fine. It was Zhang Songde, the second one who looked outside, who had been targeted by a ghost and died horribly.
There had to be a reason. Either Fang Zhou was feigning weakness or...the Divine Turtle Fragment had a role to play. Delving deeper, of the four who went out, why did the old beggar specifically gift the Divine Turtle Shell to him—was that just a coincidence?
After all these incidents, Lou Huixiang could no longer underestimate this young man. At this critical moment of life and death, he decided to listen to this young man’s opinion.
"Fang Zhou, come out and help!!"
Hearing Yang Xiao calling him outside, Fang Zhou no longer hesitated, steeled his heart, opened the door, and rushed out, with Lou Huixiang, clenching his teeth, closely following him.
"Yang, how are you?" Fang Zhou ran to Yang Xiao’s side.
"Never mind me, go help Director Nalan! Hurry!"
Fang Zhou turned and ran, dodging the ghost, running to Nalan Shuo’s side. But he soon realized, like Xiang Fengchen, Nalan Shuo also couldn’t move or speak. Nalan Shuo’s eyes kept glancing downward until Fang Zhou tried to pull out the small bit of the incense stick left in his mouth.
The incense had burned out, scorching a small part of his lips.
As the incense was pulled out, Nalan Shuo seemed to finally breathe normally, his body softened, nearly collapsing to the ground. Fang Zhou instinctively moved to support him but was abruptly grabbed by Nalan Shuo, "Don’t move, don’t...don’t move me!"
Lou Huixiang, following suit, also pulled out the broken incense from Xiang Fengchen’s mouth. Xiang Fengchen looked even worse than Nalan Shuo, his face as pale as paper, eyes blood-red, staring intently at the big celadon bowl on the ground—the well water was about to run out.
"Come here, stand in...stand in my place." Without waiting for Lou Huixiang’s response, Xiang Fengchen pulled him to the spot beneath his feet, and the next second, suddenly, a gust of chilling wind blew from the mouth of the well, freezing him in place.
At the same time, a fear unlike any he had ever known crawled up from the depths of his soul, as if he had been targeted by some terrifying presence.
He was going to die, he was almost certain of it, and soon.
Meanwhile, Nalan Shuo also pulled Fang Zhou over, making him take his place. Freeing his hands, Nalan Shuo, limply, made his way back to his room; this scene made Lou Huixiang’s blood boil. He hadn’t expected that these two old men would just flee.
Now here he was, fooled by some inexperienced kid into facing death for someone else’s sake. How foolish!
"Thud."
"Thud."
"Thud."
The dull sound of footsteps approached from behind, the ghost was coming, and Lou Huixiang’s scalp tingled. He could feel it, the ghost was coming for him.
These two positions tonight were the critical points, and the most dangerous ones. Their priority was higher than all the others.
But the ghost’s movements had also slowed down, it felt as if it was sure of him and wanted to give him the maximum fear and torment before he died.
The sensation of waiting for death drove one to madness, and at that moment, he was like a lamb waiting for slaughter.
Xiang Fengchen stumbled into the room, moving quickly, and soon sounds of objects being smashed echoed from within.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
The sounds were heavy and muffled, casting an ominous premonition over everyone in the courtyard. If Xiang Fengchen were to die in that room, the situation today would likely result in total annihilation.
Only Nalan Shuo seemed oblivious, struggling to reach the "door" drawn with incense, and, under the shocked gazes of everyone, forcefully removed the left Gate God of the Ghost Gate.
Then the right one, one in each hand. At this moment, a bizarre scene unfolded. Nalan Shuo’s originally pale face turned ghastly green, his body trembling slightly, his arms holding the paper effigies seemingly bearing the weight of a thousand jun. The expressions of the two Gate Gods also turned increasingly strange; blue scales hidden under their clothing began to spread, crawling over their bodies and faces.
These two Gate Gods were transforming toward the direction of the ghost, their divine essence fading away, while their ghostly side desperately proliferated.
Just then, the crashing sounds inside stopped and a figure stumbled out, dripping blood sparsely from beneath him.
Xiang Fengchen came directly beside Nalan Shuo, raising his bloodied left hand, missing its middle finger, yet holding that very finger, and ferociously pressed his bloody severed fingertip onto the eye of the Gate God of the Ghost Gate.
The blood from the fingertip, along with the blood from the tip of the tongue, between the eyebrows, and from the heart, are called the four great treasures of Evil Exorcism. Xiang Fengchen breaking his middle finger was clearly a desperate gambit, a scene that profoundly shocked Yang Xiao.
With the blood covering the eyes of the Gate God of the Ghost Gate, the transformation on the Gate God was temporarily interrupted. Xiang Fengchen snatched one Gate God, standing in a row with Nalan Shuo. They resembled Jiang Qingluan and Chang Chuchu, presenting the Gate Gods outward.
However, the actions of Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen were much more straightforward and brutal. Also, the entities they were sending off were different from the legitimate Gate Gods that Qingluan and Chuchu had; they were sending off a ghost.
Their movements were neatly synchronized, flawlessly coordinated. Yang Xiao also realized the bond between these two might be deeper than he had imagined.
As the Gate God of the Ghost Gate was anointed with blood, the female ghost was instantly attracted, abandoning everyone and following after Nalan Shuo.
The thuds of footsteps grew faster, and the path taken by Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen surprised everyone, leading straight to the courtyard door.
Yang Xiao vividly remembered Xiang Fengchen saying that tonight, with the two precious Human Skin Door Gods in place, not even a ghost could leave through the courtyard door, let alone a person.
The Ghost Gate God in their hands seemed to have a fatal attraction for the female ghost, almost stepping closely behind, Fang Zhou watched in horror as the female ghost passed by him, stopping his breath in fear, the feeling like a cold blade grazing his skin. Yet the female ghost didn’t glance at him or Lou Huixiang across from him, just walking stiffly past.
Arriving behind the courtyard door, Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen stood on either side, turned around, backed against the door wall, and lifted the Ghost Gate Gods as if their bodies were the doors themselves.
Blood continuously flowed from the eyes of the Ghost Gate Gods. The female ghost, with her bloated body shaking, step by step approached behind the door, raising her left hand, patting the air.
This seemed more like some sort of ritual, and after seven or eight pats, the female ghost moved again, her stiff legs walking out of the courtyard door.
The moment her body left the courtyard gate, everyone heard a sound, a "snap!" It was a broad, thick knife chopping down.
In Yang Xiao’s mind instantly appeared an image, of a dark, thick-backed gigantic Guillotine Knife, chopping down with full force.
The Guillotine Knife held by the Human Skin Door God.
Simultaneously, a horrifying scene was unfolding outside the courtyard. The female ghost’s shaking amplitude grew larger and more exaggerated as if her upper and lower body were stitched together, until the next second, her upper body broke backwards, crashing heavily to the ground.
Yet her lower body, as if unable to feel it, continued walking forward, its steps cold and stiff, until it disappeared into the night.
Silence fell upon the courtyard. Fang Zhou stared blankly at the empty courtyard door. Only half of a disgusting, rotting corpse remained; beyond that, there was nothing.
The incense stick planted in the ground finally burnt out, emitting its last wisp of smoke, like an elderly person on their deathbed exhaling their last breath, while that large celadon bowl cracked completely in this moment, the Divine Turtle Fragment clattering down to the ground.
