I felt the peach wood sword strike something, and immediately turned around.
To my horror, I saw the female ghost, whose joints had twisted like a spider, crawling behind me. The peach wood sword had, by sheer luck, stabbed right into her mouth.
Without hesitation, I decided to perform a "swallowing the great sword" act for her. However, despite the 20+ cm long peach wood sword being completely lodged in her mouth, it didn't seem to harm her at all. Instead, smoke began to rise from her mouth, and she appeared unaffected.
Huang Jiu hissed, "This girl's probably trained!"
I didn't quite understand what Huang Jiu meant by that until later, when the female ghost made her way into the city, and only then did I realize. At that moment, I simply thought she was good at sword swallowing and didn't dare to push the sword any further. I hurriedly withdrew the peach wood sword.
But as soon as I pulled it out, it became as limp as a wet noodle, instantly softening and melting.
Before I could react, I felt a sharp pain in my arm.
Looking down, I saw that the woman had grabbed my left arm, her long nails embedded deep into my flesh.
In an instant, it felt like two ice picks had been driven into my arm, and my entire limb went numb.
Tang Quan also shouted in pain, as the zombie's claws scraped across his shoulder, leaving a dark, ugly wound.
He cursed while retreating, then yelled to me, "Kid, strength is wasted on the young, let's switch opponents!"
After speaking, Tang Quan grabbed a handful of glutinous rice from his pocket and pressed it onto his wound. The rice immediately sizzled and turned black as if it had been heated by a branding iron.
Having quickly dealt with his wound, Tang Quan moved closer to me, then yelled at the spider-like female ghost.
He used Taoist Qi, similar to an exorcism spell, which stunned the female ghost for two seconds.
During those two precious seconds, I exchanged opponents with him.
However, facing a zombie with just one functional arm, I felt like I was at a disadvantage. Thankfully, Huang Jiu came to my aid, giving me a moment to recover.
I checked my arm—there were no external wounds, but five black fingertip marks, two of which were as dark as ink.
Huang Jiu, gripping the zombie's head, attempted to gouge its eyes out. Instead, it grabbed a handful of rotten flesh, and it quickly jumped back to my shoulder, disgusted. "This is serious Yin energy, you've got to use tongue-tip blood."
The last time I bit my tongue, it still hurt when eating, and the thought of biting into a scar made me feel cold all over. I quickly asked Huang Jiu if there was any other way.
"Hold your breath!" Huang Jiu shouted.
I immediately held my breath, dodging the zombie's sweeping hand and rolling into a corner.
Losing my scent, the zombie turned and lunged at Tang Quan instead.
Huang Jiu then said, "Using Taoist Qi, your little breath isn't enough; you'll have to use child's urine."
Between the pain and the disgust, I opted for the latter, quickly pulling down my pants and peeing against the wall.
True to Huang Jiu's words, as soon as my urine touched my arm, some feeling returned.
My arm grew warm, but I couldn't tell if the Yin energy was dissipating or if I was simply overheating.
Ever since I had checked the female ghost's heartbeat, I had been having strange dreams every night. Each time I woke up, it felt like there was an uncontrollable fire inside me.
I had no time to wonder if this was just my internal heat, as my arm regained feeling. I didn't hesitate any longer.
Looking up, I saw Tang Quan's face flushed with embarrassment as he fought with the female ghost. The zombie, having lost its target, was jumping around aimlessly.
I exhaled in one breath, which made the zombie immediately shift its focus toward me.
Tang Quan followed suit, exhaling forcefully, and with his Taoist Qi, his true essence exploded into the air like countless stars, bombarding the female ghost.
I quickly pulled out the chalk string and led the zombie to a narrow spot. I wrapped one end around the railing and pulled the other end across the corridor.
As the zombie approached, Huang Jiu immediately used the same technique to launch it away.
But having learned its lesson, the zombie didn't dare approach again, instead leaping toward Tang Quan.
If it weren't for the real master still being upstairs, I would have probably abandoned Tang Quan by now.
Seeing the zombie jump away, I quickly unwrapped the chalk string and tossed one end to Huang Jiu. It grabbed the string and jumped onto the railing, positioning itself behind the zombie.
I focused all my strength on injuring the zombie, but I neglected Huang Jiu's weight. As I pulled the string, I accidentally yanked it off the railing, sending it crashing into the zombie.
Realizing the mistake, I immediately stopped, but Huang Jiu didn't have time to complain. It quickly circled around the zombie, jumping onto its shoulder and wrapping the string around its neck.
Once Huang Jiu had secured the string, I pulled with all my might.
The zombie's body tilted back under the strain, but it braced itself with its legs, and the string was pulled taut.
Without the added force, the chalk string couldn't do much damage.
Huang Jiu yelled at me, "Cut the line!"
In a panic, I drew the bloodstained knife and tried to sever the string.
As expected of something made by a master, the string was incredibly tough. I slashed four times, but it wouldn't break.
In desperation, I pulled the string with all my strength and released it.
The string, stretched to its limit, snapped back like an elastic band and slammed the chalk box into the zombie's back.
The zombie's body flew like a sack of potatoes, crashing heavily to the ground.
I rushed up, stabbing the bloodstained knife into the back of its head, but the zombie's weak spot wasn't the brain.
This only provoked it more, and it struggled with greater force. I quickly withdrew the knife, using my spiritual eye to pinpoint where its evil energy was located, and thrust the blade in again.
When I pulled the knife out, the zombie's body deflated, expelling dark, blackish-gray energy.
The evil energy dissipated, and the zombie twitched a few times before collapsing.
I gripped the bloodstained knife, shaking off the residue, and aimed it at the female ghost who was attacking Tang Quan.
The bloodstained knife, now charged with Yin energy, turned red-hot upon contact and easily pierced the female ghost's abdomen, pinning her to the wooden door behind Tang Quan with a loud thud.
The female ghost had already been injured by Tang Quan. My surprise attack was successful, and she disintegrated into a red mist, which was quickly absorbed by the knife.
Tang Quan turned to look at the knife as it passed by, his face pale.
I quickly retrieved the knife, not bothering to check how the absorption of the ghost's energy had changed it, and turned to face the staircase leading up to the 16th floor.
The first time I saw the spider-like female ghost, I thought she was the dominant force in the building, but after fighting her, I realized she was nothing compared to the true master upstairs.
The real master's aura was already descending from the higher floors.
Within seconds, the area near the stairs was filled with the sound of cracking, and the trash, windows, and walls quickly became covered in a layer of ghostly frost.
Even though I had the Buddha bone relic and the bloodstained knife, I still felt the chill in my bones.
Huang Jiu's voice trembled, "We may have misjudged. This thing is even more terrifying than my two wives combined!"
And indeed, it was.
But at this point, it was too late to regret.