Following that, Li Guanqi learned of a matter that many in the town steered clear of.
As the sun sank, its lingering glow vanished behind the distant mountains.
The two women who had been chatting with Li Guanqi hurriedly headed home as well.
"Li Lanhua, Zhang Cuifen."
"Child traffickers..."
Li Guanqi muttered those words under his breath, his expression calm.
The tangled knot in his mind finally seemed to have found an unraveling thread.
Now he only needed to wait for the malevolent spirit to show herself to solve the entire mystery.
Night fell. The mayor had long since left his residence.
At this moment, Li Guanqi was the only person in the mayor's courtyard.
Yet the brightly lit room was completely deserted—there was only an oil lamp and a hand-torn paper effigy standing before its flame.
Cast against the window was the silhouette of a person sitting upright.
When the hour of the Ox arrived, Xingyun Town, already exceedingly quiet, turned frighteningly still.
Even the stray dogs in the town did not make the slightest sound, making it seem like a dead settlement.
A biting wind, unlike anything typical of the seventh month, howled through, sweeping fallen leaves across the ground in a rustling swirl.
An eerie, spectral figure appeared atop the treetops at the village entrance.
Immediately after, the ghostly shadow darted straight toward a house on the west side of town!
Inside the closed-door room, a rough-faced man lay on the bed, snoring like thunder.
Then the figure of the malevolent spirit materialized out of thin air just three inches above the man's face.
A long, crimson tongue twisted in midair before shooting straight into the space between the man's brows!
The snoring in the room ceased abruptly. The man's body stiffened, and his opened eyes were filled with sheer terror!
Meanwhile.
At Tianzhu Peak of the Great Xia Sword Sect, an elder flew on his sword, hurrying toward the Mission Pavilion.
"Quick! Hurry and raise the mission rank for Xingyun Town to Rank Three!"
"Raise the requirement—no one below Foundation Establishment is permitted to accept it!"
The female disciple behind the counter hurriedly raised the mission's prerequisites.
Only then did she discover that a sect disciple had already accepted the task two days earlier.
The female disciple quickly reported this to the manager.
Hearing this, the manager's face drained of color, and he said anxiously, "Quick, check who took it!"
"I just received word that the malevolent spirit and vengeful ghost in that town is not simple at all!"
The female disciple hurriedly checked, her face turning pale as she murmured, "I... I found it..."
Seeing her hesitation, the manager knitted his brows in fury.
"Speak up! Who took the mission?!"
"Tianlei Peak disciple... Li Guanqi..."
Upon hearing that, the manager turned ashen.
The Great Xia Sword Sect's newly initiated genius disciple, Li Guanqi!
Thinking of Li Nanting's explosive wrath, the manager scrambled up and pulled out a jade slip to transmit a message to Tianlei Peak.
Immediately after, all the disciples on Tianlei Peak felt an overwhelmingly powerful aura violently erupt.
A streak of light shot up from Tianlei Peak, piercing the sky atop a flying sword!
The manager could only pray that the youth came to no harm, if only so he might spare himself some physical suffering.
If anything truly happened to the boy, not only would his days as manager be finished, but he would also face severe punishment for dereliction of duty!
In Xingyun Town.
From the center of the man's forehead, an illusory cyan thread extended, held in the malevolent spirit's hand.
With hollow, vacant eyes, the man walked slowly toward the kitchen. He placed his left hand on the chopping block, and his right hand reached for a sharp kitchen knife.
Looking into his eyes, one could see that while his body moved against his will, his mind was fully conscious.
"Hehehe, are you afraid?"
A bizarre laugh rang in the man's ears like the summons of King Yama.
The man's eyes bulged wide as bronze bells, his lips deathly pale, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.
His trembling body could not hide the terror inside him.
The right hand gripping the knife rose slowly, on the verge of chopping down!
Suddenly!
From the shadows of the room, an eerie voice rang out.
"Should I call you Li Lanhua... or Zhang Cuifen?"
"Who's there?!"
The malevolent spirit shrouded in black smoke snapped her head toward the corner!
A furious shriek followed at once!
"I am not that bitch Zhang Cuifen!"
"Bitch!! Bitch!"
Black energy surged around the malevolent spirit; hearing that name sent her into intense agitation.
Li Guanqi slowly rose and peeled off the Qi-Concealing Talisman from his body.
The moment the ghost saw the youth clearly, the black smoke around her abruptly froze!
And at that very moment, Li Guanqi saw the woman's features clearly through his mind's eye.
It was indeed the woman he had met yesterday in the ruined mountain temple!
Only... her aura now was completely different from yesterday—a difference like night and day.
Her eyes instantly turned frigid, and with a wave of her hand, a pitch-black palm imprint shot toward Li Guanqi.
Li Guanqi's heart leaped, and he bent backward in an instant, dodging the strike.
Seeing the blackened mark left on the wall, Li Guanqi's heart rose to his throat.
Had he taken that blow, he would definitely have been gravely wounded!
Clang!
The sword at his waist sprang from its sheath. As his cultivation technique circulated, origin energy surged through his body.
A thin layer of lightning-attribute origin energy coated the blade.
Arcs of electricity fine as strands of hair were visible even to the naked eye.
Though Li Guanqi felt an intense pressure, he chose to close in nonetheless.
His sword rose nimbly. He had only just grasped the middle stage of the Azure Lotus Heavenly Gang Sword.
Three azure lotuses formed of sword light instantly crashed toward the malevolent spirit!
Those three azure lotuses were the strongest attack Li Guanqi could currently muster.
Boom!
Yet the malevolent spirit charged straight ahead, acting as though she were blind to the three lotuses of sword light.
After all, she was a spirit entity; ordinary origin energy attacks could not harm her in the slightest.
Having unleashed the azure lotuses, Li Guanqi had already cut off his own retreat.
He could only drive the origin energy in his body into the sword in a frenzy.
In an instant, the refined iron sword in Li Guanqi's hand let out an overwhelmed crack, covered in fractures in the blink of an eye.
Just as the malevolent spirit clawed toward Li Guanqi with vicious ferocity in her eyes,
and just as those sharp fingernails were about to touch his eyes,
the three azure lotuses infused with lightning-attribute origin energy struck her body!
Boom!
The immense power directly shattered the wall before Li Guanqi.
The malevolent spirit's figure was flung several dozen paces away!
The thread connected to the man's forehead snapped completely, and of Li Guanqi's sword, only the hilt remained in his hand.
The moment the man regained his senses, he yelled in terror, "Li Lanhua!! Aren't you long dead?!"
"Ghost... is it my turn...?!"
"No... I don't want to die... I don't want to die!"
With that, the man ran outside like a madman.
Frowning, Li Guanqi first took out a Soul-Binding Talisman and ignited it, sending golden ropes whipping out to bind the malevolent spirit tightly.
Then he hurled the sword hilt in his hand hard at the back of the fleeing man's head.
Thud!
The man crashed to the ground. Li Lanhua, having recovered her wits, glared fixedly at Li Guanqi with blood-red eyes.
"You want to protect him?"
Chapter 37