Night fell.
Li Guanqi was deep within a vast mountain range.
The roars of beasts echoed incessantly through the mountains; this world teemed with far too many demonic beasts.
Running into a Tier 1 demonic beast at a time like this would be manageable enough, but encountering a Tier 2 demonic beast would spell real danger.
A Tier 2 demonic beast was already equivalent to a human cultivator in the Foundation Establishment realm.
Fortunately, he spotted a dilapidated temple atop a distant hill.
Seeing this ruined temple, Li Guanqi finally let out a sigh of relief.
At least he would have a place to stay the night. He checked the map recorded in his jade slip.
It would take until tomorrow evening at the earliest to reach Xingyun Town.
The temple's plaque had long since vanished without a trace, and the decaying sight suggested it had been abandoned for ages.
Creak...
In the quiet night, the sound of the youth pushing open the door sounded particularly grating.
Li Guanqi, however, had long grown accustomed to a world of darkness and felt little unease about the night.
The courtyard was choked with withered leaves and cobwebs.
Sweeping away the cobwebs with his scabbard, Li Guanqi stepped into the temple hall.
Crunch, crunch!
Stepping over dry leaves, Li Guanqi walked inside with a calm expression.
Yet the temple's interior was utterly dilapidated as well. Several Buddhist statues were in ruins, missing half their bodies.
Even so, the gold lacquer on these statues had been scraped completely clean by scavengers.
Though Li Guanqi was no devotee of the Buddhist path, since he was taking shelter here for the night, he still bowed respectfully with clasped hands and chanted a Buddhist greeting.
After gathering some dry branches outside, he returned inside the temple.
He lit a campfire in the courtyard and fetched some dried meat and water from his storage bag.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, Li Guanqi moved a battered incense table over to the doorway and simply lay down on it to sleep.
Within the quiet ruined temple, only the crackle of flames broke the silence.
Li Guanqi had just closed his eyes when he suddenly felt a chill wind blow in from outside the doorway.
He went to open his mind's eye, only to discover that no matter how hard he tried, he could not see the outside world at all!
A jolt went through him. He had closed his eyes less than ten breaths ago.
Crack!
The sound of burning firewood still echoed clearly in his ears.
He tried to get up, only to find that he could not move at all!
Cold sweat instantly soaked his back. The chill wind blew across him, making the hairs all over his body stand on end.
What is happening...
At this moment, a touch of panic inevitably crept into his heart.
He had never encountered such an eerie situation before.
No matter how hard he tried, his eyelids felt as if someone were pressing down hard on them, impossible to pry open.
He was clearly wide awake. He could perceive the chill wind beside him, the sound of the campfire by his ear, and even the smell of the burning blue smoke.
Yet he could not move his body an inch!
Suddenly!
Before Li Guanqi, who was lying on his side, a disheveled woman in white abruptly materialized!
Her sudden appearance made Li Guanqi's hair stand on end, a shudder running through him as goosebumps broke out all over his flesh!
The woman before him moved forward with agonizing slowness.
It felt as though she were pressing against the underside of the incense table, slowly poking her head out.
The horrifying sensation sent shivers down his spine.
Gradually, the woman rose to her feet.
She climbed onto the incense table and pressed her entire body onto him!
Her body seemed as weightless as a feather, yet it felt as if she were pressing directly against Li Guanqi's heart.
He could even smell a strange scent coming from her hair.
His already immobile body felt far heavier now.
Lying on his side, Li Guanqi could not budge in the slightest. He could only helplessly "watch" as the woman crawled on top of him.
Whoosh!
The woman's hair swept across Li Guanqi's neck. The vivid sensation of strands brushing against his face shook him to his core.
This feeling... is too real... What on earth is going on?!
Before Li Guanqi could process it, he suddenly felt something press against his neck.
A—a tongue!
The soft texture carried no warmth whatsoever—it was even icy cold.
The woman's tongue was extraordinarily long, nearly the length of an adult's forearm.
Like a feral cat's tongue, it bore fine little barbs.
The tongue slid along Li Guanqi's neck, licking all the way to the base of his ear!
That vivid, visceral sensation sent a burst of sheer chill exploding through his skull!
"Move! Move!"
"Move, damn it!"
Boom!
Driven by Li Guanqi's formidable willpower, the Nine Revolutions Punishment Thunder Scripture within him surged into motion.
The lightning elemental origin energy in his dantian rushed abruptly through his entire body.
Pop!
A soft pop resonated in Li Guanqi's mind, as if some seal had just been broken.
Li Guanqi's right hand was coated in a layer of violet lightning.
His left hand slammed against the table, and he flipped over in an instant.
His right hand struck like lightning, fiercely seizing the woman's throat and pinning her beneath him!
Bang!
The incense table shattered!
The wandering soul of the female ghost was actually pinned down firmly beneath the youth!
"Ahhh!"
A shrill shriek from the ghost rang through the empty ancient temple.
A yellow talisman abruptly appeared in Li Guanqi's left hand. As origin energy surged, the talisman ignited into a burst of green flame.
Moreover, the flames crackled with traces of lightning power.
"Form-Revealing Talisman! Manifest!"
Whoosh!
The green flame instantly burrowed into the female ghost's body, and her form gradually solidified from ethereal to tangible!
Li Guanqi frowned slightly. With lightning surging in his right hand, he barked, "Where did an itinerant ghost like you come from, daring to drain human yang qi?!"
At that moment, the ghost's disheveled hair parted, revealing an exquisitely beautiful face.
Yet her complexion was far too deathly pale.
Her head tilted to the side, and the glance she cast at the youth was full of shame and indignation.
Li Guanqi was straddling the woman's chest, and under the talisman's effect, she had manifested a physical body no different from a mortal's.
The posture was inevitably rather awkward.
"Ahem..."
Li Guanqi got to his feet, though his right hand showed no sign of loosening its grip.
Whoosh!
"Soul-Binding Talisman!"
Once burned, the talisman transformed into a golden rope that bound the woman tightly, its other end wrapping around Li Guanqi's wrist.
So long as origin energy remained in Li Guanqi's body, the rope would not easily be broken.
Li Guanqi looked at the woman and asked in a low voice, "A number of murders have occurred recently in Xingyun Town. Do they have anything to do with you?"
Kneeling on the ground, the woman looked at the youth with terror in her eyes. Her voice came out remarkably ethereal. "Immortal Master... it was not me. Please, see the truth.
"I... at most, I wait for people to stop in this ruined temple and absorb a little yang qi to keep my soul from dissipating.
"I have never killed anyone! I beg the Immortal Master to spare me.
"For twenty years, I have not stepped beyond this hill!"
Li Guanqi frowned. Observing her through his mind's eye, he detected no emotional fluctuation as she spoke; she did not seem to be lying.
"Why should I believe that you haven't left this hill in twenty years?"
Hearing this, the woman looked conflicted. But when a thread of lightning-laced origin energy surged through the rope, she hesitated for a long moment before whispering, "Because... my remains lie behind this mountain...
"So... I cannot stray more than ten li from my bones. If I leave, I... my soul will be destroyed!"
After a moment's hesitation, Li Guanqi said, "Take me there!"
Chapter 34