Chapter 212: Demanding the Ghost Infant

A golden light flashed in my hand. The Five Directions Divine Generals manifested their power, and the Suppression Talisman struck the Little Ghost squarely on the head!

A piercing shriek echoed through the empty room. It didn't sound human, tearing right through our eardrums.

"Get back!" I threw my arm out to block Jiang Fei. The Little Ghost still hadn't completely lost its ability to fight back. With the talisman stuck to its head, it reached up with hands stained in black dog blood to claw it off. But the moment its pale fingers brushed the glowing golden Talisman Paper, black smoke erupted. It recoiled as if electrocuted, shrieking in agonizing pain.

"It can actually withstand that?" During the livestream in Huang Xue's Dream Realm, a single Suppression Talisman had been enough to obliterate the ghost of the female nurse. Yet now, I couldn't even handle a Ghost Infant that hadn't fully grown.

"I can't leave this disaster waiting to happen. I have to scatter its soul tonight!" Once this Little Ghost fully matured, it would become even harder to deal with, so I made up my mind to destroy it here and now.

The Little Ghost's screams echoed through the room. Its voice was exceptionally shrill as the Suppression Talisman scorched its pale skin, sending up billowing clouds of black fog. Yet, under the constant erosion of that black fog, the golden light gradually began to dim.

At first, the Little Ghost was pinned to the ground. Its chest pressed firmly against the floorboards, leaving only its arms free to flail. But a moment later, its legs slowly began to move. Pushing against the floor, it was actually trying to stand up.

"Five Directions Divine Generals, by this divine might, suppress all things, as swift as the law commands!" Seeing the situation taking a bad turn, I slapped another Suppression Talisman directly onto the Little Ghost's back.

Searing pain wracked its body. The specter shot me a look of pure, venomous hatred and opened its mouth to bare a mouthful of razor-sharp fangs.

"What is it doing?" I noticed the Little Ghost's mouth opening and closing as if chanting a spell. As the seconds ticked by, the ambient yin energy of the midnight hour was actually being drawn into its body, repairing its wounds and fighting back against the Suppression Talismans.

"It actually knows spells?!" I was completely stunned. Ordinary ghosts acted on pure instinct; only a small handful with deep obsessions retained parts of their memories. But even among the most vicious, resentment-fueled specters, I had never seen one capable of practicing spellcraft.

"This Ghost Infant has some serious backing. It's definitely not something ordinary." I quickly forced myself to calm down. At this point, the Ghost Infant and I were locked in a fight to the death. If I didn't destroy it tonight, the moment it recovered, it would relentlessly haunt me every single night.

"What should I do?" I still had a few talismans on me, but the Suppression Talismans were the most powerful. The rest were just minor charms for attracting wealth or warding off bad luck.

"I'll help you!" Jiang Fei rushed into the room, holding glutinous rice and black dog blood. However, those items couldn't hurt the Ghost Infant at all—they would only make it more frantic.

"Those things are completely useless! I need something stronger than a Suppression Talisman!" It was an absolute emergency. Watching the golden light of the two Suppression Talismans on the Ghost Infant flicker and fade, teetering on the verge of collapse, I suddenly remembered an item I had redeemed from the Underworld Live Show just today. "The Fate Ghost Monument!"

I had originally redeemed that stone monument as a failsafe just in case my Fate Ghost ever betrayed me. Thinking about it now, if that monument could suppress a Fate Ghost, it should be more than enough to handle another Little Ghost.

"Jiang Fei, hurry and get the black cloth bundle from the living room sofa!"

I stayed on guard in the room while Jiang Fei sprinted downstairs to grab the black cloth bundle. I first tucked the jade box into my shirt, then whipped away the black cloth, hefting the heavy stone monument with one hand.

"This is what you took out of the bank?" Jiang Fei looked a bit surprised, but given the critical situation, she didn't ask further questions. Supporting Ye Bing, she retreated to the doorway.

The moment I brought out the Fate Ghost Monument, the Ghost Infant on the floor revealed a look of absolute terror. It was the first time I had seen such an expression on its face.

"So you know how to be afraid too?" Those eyes, previously brimming with venomous malice, were now entirely consumed by dread. It desperately wanted to escape, but the Suppression Talismans kept it firmly nailed in place.

Holding the stone monument, I stepped closer. Resting in my hand, the Fate Ghost Monument felt like a Celestial Master Dao seal. Its front was inscribed with "call the wind and summon the rain," while the back read, "dispatch troops and command generals." The monument had been carved a very long time ago; the characters were blurred, and some edges were chipped. But that didn't detract from the monument's innate Dao resonance. If anything, it added an imposing sense of ancient weight.

By the time I stopped in front of the Little Ghost, it was putting up a final, desperate struggle. Frigid yin wind whipped up from all sides, rustling the talismans. The golden light of the Suppression Talismans flickered wildly as their power plummeted. It actually looked on the verge of breaking free.

"Your origins definitely aren't simple, but to save myself the trouble, I'm not going to waste any more words on you." Who was the mastermind instructing Jiang Chen to raise a Little Ghost? And what was their ultimate goal in raising this Ghost Infant? I was immensely curious about all of it. But right now, I was far more worried about the Little Ghost breaking loose.

"Hurry up and reincarnate. This is a kind of release for you anyway." Raising the monument with both hands, I used every ounce of strength in my body to smash it down onto the spectral creature.

As the monument plunged into the yin energy, the ancient characters for "call the wind and summon the rain" and "dispatch troops and command generals" seemed to come alive, rippling like water. The eight characters formed an array, tearing straight through the yin energy to smash directly onto the top of the Little Ghost's head.

"Bang!"

It sounded like a phantom bubble bursting. Yin energy roiled violently through the room, and in a split second, the horrifying wails of ghosts and wolves echoed out.

"Did its soul scatter?" I looked down. Beneath the stone monument, there were only two dulled talismans. The Little Ghost itself had vanished without a trace.

It was only when I pulled out the Underworld Live Show Phone to check that I noticed something. A new etching had appeared on the bottom of the stone monument: a ghost child with three eyes and four arms. It was carved with lifelike detail, its ferocious face frozen in an unwilling, resentful roar.

"The Little Ghost was absorbed into the Fate Ghost Monument?" I brushed my fingers over the bottom of the stone monument. It was bone-chillingly cold, and the yin energy had yet to fully dissipate. "This Little Ghost looks bizarre. Once I get back, I need to ask Blind Liu about it. It might just be an entity capable of rivaling a Fate Ghost."

Wrapping the stone monument back up in the black cloth, I turned to look at Ye Bing and Jiang Fei, who were still standing by the door. "I've dealt with the Little Ghost. Don't let anyone sleep in this room for a while. Let the sunlight bake it for a few days, and invite some friends over to gather some human vitality."

With my instructions delivered, I headed for the door. The commission was finished, so there was no reason for me to stick around any longer.

"It's almost two in the morning. Why don't you just rest here for the night?" Jiang Fei hurried after me. "Was that Little Ghost really eliminated? I still feel this lingering sense of panic."

"The one raising the Little Ghost was your brother. Even if something goes wrong, you won't be the first one hurt." Holding the wrapped bundle to my chest, I reached the front door, pausing just before stepping outside. I figured it was better to lay some things out in the open. "Jiang Fei, the Red Cord of Marriage might be severed, but the lingering karma won't vanish overnight. It might still be affecting your judgment. Some of the feelings you have toward me might not actually be your own."

"Are you saying the Red Cord of Marriage is still taking effect?"

"Who knows? I just hope you can take a step back and think things over calmly. At the end of the day, some people are destined to just be passing through your life." I pulled the front door open and strolled out into the night. As for what Jiang Fei was thinking as she stood frozen in the villa, I had no way of knowing.

I caught a cab back to Ting Tang Road. Stepping into my slightly cramped little shop, I unwrapped the Fate Ghost Monument and set it down on the desk on the second floor.

It was a completely casual action on my part, but who could have guessed that the moment the Fate Ghost Monument touched the desk, a heavy thudding would echo from the Lacquered Wooden Coffin? It sounded like someone was knocking against the inner walls.

A coffin making noises in the dead of night—if it woke up the neighbors, I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

I shoved the heavy coffin lid open with both hands. A foul stench of yin energy and raw blood billowed up into my face. Leaning over to look inside, I saw the Black Eyeball sitting completely alone in the center of the red soil.

I picked up the eyeball and peered into it. Deep within the pitch-black pupil, there was now only a single, scrawny silhouette left. It looked like it had devoured the other two shadows entirely.

I rested the Black Eyeball in the palm of my hand. The Fate Ghost trapped inside had grown significantly. It reached out its little hands toward me, yet it clearly looked terrified of me.

It was probably because I had killed its first master; the little guy held a specific, deep-seated fear of me.

Hiding inside the eyeball, the Fate Ghost kept shooting glances at the Fate Ghost Monument. But the moment I brought the monument closer, it shrieked in sheer terror.

After testing it a few times, I finally realized what was going on. What the Fate Ghost actually wanted was the Ghost Infant suppressed inside the stone monument.

"Well, this is a problem. I have no idea how to let the Ghost Infant out either. If you can manage to drag it out yourself, you can do whatever you want with it." I set the Black Eyeball back into the Lacquered Wooden Coffin and casually tossed the stone monument right next to it. Then, I collapsed onto my bed and fell into a deep, heavy sleep.

Deep in my slumber, I vaguely sensed a withered, shadowy figure kneeling beside my bed. It kowtowed to me three times. After that, I didn't know anything at all.

I slept until I woke up naturally. Blinking my eyes open, I was suddenly taken aback to see the Fate Ghost Monument pressing firmly down on top of the Lacquered Wooden Coffin.

I picked up the stone monument and checked the bottom. The etching of the three-eyed, four-armed Little Ghost was completely gone.