Chapter 58: The Truth Beneath the Skin
Moments ago, the room was peaceful.
San Bao sat cross-legged on the bed, her consciousness sinking into her dantian. Her breathing was deep and slow as she sat in meditation, cultivating her energy.
Zhu Chengzhi y quietly on the inside of the bed behind her, soundly asleep. His innocent face, lips slightly parted, seemed to be savoring something delicious in his dreams.
The room was calm, and the sounds of the wind and insects outside seemed to be cut off, leaving only the faint sound of breathing in the air.
What San Bao didn’t know was that the coffin in the courtyard had already been opened, and the "Zhu Ting" inside had sat up in the coffin.
Just at that moment, Zhu Chengzhi suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyeshes fluttered, but his pupils were no longer the clear eyes of a child. Instead, they were tinged with an unnatural blood-red hue, emanating a chilling and eerie aura.
The corners of his lips slowly curled upward, and his mouth uncomfortably stretched wide, grinning in a grotesque manner, revealing rows of sharp white teeth.
He raised his small hand, and from his palm, a rge, blood-red centipede emerged.
The centipede circled around San Bao, its tail raised high and its body arched like a bow. It aimed straight for the back of San Bao’s neck, preparing to bite!
Suddenly, the window shattered, and a figure leapt in through the broken gss!
A fsh of a bde appeared, a curved knife sshing through the air, with the sound of a howling wind as it cut the centipede into several pieces. The severed limbs fell to the floor, twitching for a moment before stilling.
The one holding the knife didn’t stop. She flipped her wrist and swung another ssh, aiming directly for Zhu Chengzhi’s neck.
San Bao opened her eyes and realized that the one who had rushed in to save her was none other than the newly appointed captain of the guards, Chen Weiliang!
Zhu Chengzhi gripped the blood-red curved knife in his small hands, his face twisted into a sinister smile.
"Captain Chen!" Zhu Chengzhi grinned mischievously. "Aren’t you supposed to be protecting me? Why are you attacking me now?"
Before anyone could react, his chubby little hand clenched tightly, and with a *crack*, the curved knife was crushed into two pieces!
Chen Weiliang looked at the broken knife in her hands, a fsh of disbelief crossing her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. With a twist of the broken bde, she advanced again to strike at Zhu Chengzhi!
San Bao wasted no time. She gathered her spiritual energy and, turning quickly, struck a palm toward Zhu Chengzhi, sending him flying from the bed through the broken window. The three of them, one after the other, leapt from the room, nding in the courtyard.
By now, the courtyard had descended into chaos.
Tang Mingli and the guards had surrounded the coffin. "Zhu Ting" had crawled out of the coffin, cackling menacingly. She leapt through the air like a ghost, her figure weaving between the guards, who screamed in terror as they were struck down.
Zhu Chengzhi also fell into the courtyard from another side. His form erupted with energy, attacking several of the guards from behind.
"Ah! Ah!" Several screams echoed as Zhu Chengzhi nded in the center of the courtyard, standing side by side with "Zhu Ting."
Suddenly, strange patterns resembling symbols appeared on Zhu Chengzhi’s face, and with his mouth stretched wide to the ears, he gave off an unsettling aura that sent chills down the spine.
Behind him, "Zhu Ting" began to shed her clothes and skin. A transparent, glowing-eyed monster crawled out from her skin.
"Cackling..." The two of them emitted an overwhelming evil energy, forcing everyone around them to step back.
San Bao’s throat tightened, and her stomach churned, almost causing her to vomit up everything she had eaten that day.
"Welcome to Yingqiu. This will be your burial ground!" A male voice rang out. It turned out that this transparent creature was a male ghost.
Tang Mingli did not give the ghost a chance to speak. He pointed his sword toward the sky, softly chanting a spell. His dragon-shaped sword, Longyuan, shot into the air, surrounded by dark energy, transforming into a bck dragon that charged toward the night sky!
The bck dragon roared in midair, following Tang Mingli’s gestures, and dove toward the transparent male ghost.
"I’ll deal with my brother!" Chen Weiliang’s voice changed to a female tone. With a fierce shout, she swung her broken knife and charged at Zhu Chengzhi.
"Brother?" San Bao looked at Chen Weiliang’s lithe form and suddenly understood everything.
No wonder Tang Mingli had insisted on promoting someone who seemed to only have the skill of fttery to the position of captain. It turned out that Chen Weiliang was truly "Zhu Ting"!
She had been hiding within the group, using disguise techniques to conceal her identity, waiting for the right moment to reveal herself!
"Good sister, I’m your only family now, just you and me left from the Zhu family. How could you bring yourself to harm me?" Zhu Chengzhi’s innocent voice, combined with his horrific, eerie grin, filled the air with an indescribable terror.
As he spoke, his hands moved like the wind, easily blocking Zhu Ting’s attacks.
In the courtyard, the guards had instinctively formed a defensive circle, surrounding the center of the yard as they watched the scene unfold.
The bck dragon swooped down from the sky, tightly wrapping itself around the transparent male ghost. Its tail coiled, and golden symbols appeared, resembling chains that bound the ghost in pce.
The ghost struggled, unable to move, and screamed hoarsely, "Don’t think this will trap me for long! I’m a ghost immortal, not a regur ghost! Nothing in this world can harm me!"
As it struggled, it roared, "Once I break free, you will all die! Die! ... Die!"
"Oh, really?" A soft female voice interrupted the ghost’s cries.
San Bao calmly took out a small, dove-gray porcein bottle from her Seven Treasures Hand Bead. She carefully removed the cork, chanting a spell as she raised her hand.
A dark red liquid flew out of the bottle, guided precisely by her finger, and spshed onto the ghost immortal trapped by the bck dragon.
"Sizzle!!!"
It was like boiling oil being poured into a bowl of cold water. The ghost immortal’s body emitted thick blue smoke as he screamed in agony.
"Ahhh! What is this? What have you done to me?!"
The ghost’s translucent body was enveloped in swirling white mist, like water rapidly vaporizing from the heat of a fire.
A strange, sweet scent mixed with a faint blood odor spread throughout the courtyard, making everyone feel their spirits lift and their heartbeats quicken.
San Bao gently closed the bottle and put it away, smiling at the dissipating ghost immortal. "This is a little gift I’ve been preparing for you since I first saw you in Anping Town. I hope you like it."
