LIGHTNOVELONLINE
Chapter 73: Ghostly Trickery
It was nightfall. Quiet settled over the Li Family Estate, with the occasional barks of dogs and birdsong of the birds in the mountain forest ringing out in the distance.
Some rooms in the estate were still illuminated with candles. Many of the estate's residents were afraid of sleeping in complete darkness due to the recent incidents involving monsters.
Several groups of ordinary guards were currently patrolling the estate. A few martial artists worked as live-in guards for the estate, but there weren't many of them, so the estate still relied on ordinary but robust men to be its main patrol force.
As the night wind blew a chill over them, they couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Old Four, Old Four!" a guard called out softly from behind Old Four, another guard. "I'm going to go pee over there. Come with me."
"What? Just go," Old Four replied.
He had no desire at all to fulfill the other guard's request.
"I don't dare to go alone. Please accompany me," the guard behind Old Four pleaded.
"Fine, fine."
Old Four yielded in the end and asked the other guards ahead of them to wait. Then he turned around to go with the fearful guard.
The two men walked to the edge of the forest.
Then the guard unfastened his belt and aimed at the pitch-black forest as he relieved himself.
He rambled, "Who knows when we'll see better days... We got hired to be this estate's guards, so it'd be expected that we're here to guard the estate from burglars and robbers. But why do we have to subdue demons and catch monsters too?? I heard that the family has already invited skilled esteemed cultivators to deal with the monsters, but who knows how powerful they are... Will they be a match for the monsters? Hm? Hey, Old Four, why aren't you saying anything?"
As the guard was speaking, he felt something was off. He turned back to look and found that Old Four, who had been standing behind him, was nowhere to be seen.
Where did he go?
Filled with fright, he turned back to face the front and thought he should hurry back to his group.
However, when he shifted his gaze back to the front, he found the huge face of a ferocious-looking ghost right before him!
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!!"
Both the guard and the ghost screamed. It was unclear whose voice was louder.
After screaming at the top of his lungs, the guard finally remembered to pull up his pants, and the malicious ghost raised its claws!
The guard then turned around...
He ran! And the ghost gave chase!
"There's a ghooost!!!" the guard yelled while fleeing.
Before the guard finished yelling, a reprimanding shout rang out in midair, "Which evil spirit dares to cause trouble when there are disciples of the Mount Shu Sect here?!"
After that, swordlight as bright and white as snow appeared with a flash like a shooting star in the dark night sky.
When the malicious ghost saw the swordlight come toward it in a swift and powerful strike, it immediately raised its claws to block the attack with a loud clang. The impact from the strike sent the ghost flying several zhang away.
The malicious ghost had no intention of fighting; it quickly turned and swiftly fled!
Meanwhile, two figures were running behind the ghost, leaping to catch up to it.
The ghost ran! And they gave chase!
There was no escape for the ghost!
"Trying to escape?!" Chu Liang shouted.
An item burst emerged from his sleeve with a red light like a streak of lightning. He had predicted the ghost's route and shot the item out a little in advance. The item landed right in front of the malicious ghost and tied it up!
It was the Demon-Binding Rope!
Thud.
The malicious ghost fell onto the ground and couldn't get back up.
It immediately implored, "Have mercy, young hero! Please spare my life!"
The ghost's plea was unnecessary. Chu Liang and Lin Bei had already noticed something was off. Despite looking like a ghost, they hadn't sensed even the slightest aura of death in the ghost's actions. It was clearly a human pretending to be a ghost.
When Lin Bei landed and saw the ghost tightly bound in the tortoise-shell bondage method, he asked loudly, "Is it big? Does it feel good?"
Chu Liang and the malicious ghost looked at Lin Bei bewilderedly. "Huh?" [1]
"Ah... When I saw him bound in that position, I couldn't help blurting that out..." Lin Bei explained. He quickly apologized, "Sorry. Please, carry on with your questions."
Chu Liang ignored him and asked, "Are you a human or a ghost?"
"I'm a human! I'm a human!" the malicious ghost exclaimed.
He struggled with the rope in an attempt to reach out his hand. However, he couldn't untie the binding, so he could only roll about helplessly.
Chu Liang figured out what the ghost's intention was. He stepped forward and pulled off the ghost mask.
As expected, underneath that mask was the face of a man. It seemed that this man was a cultivator too. However, his cultivation level wasn't high; he was likely only at the start of the middle stage of the second realm. He likely didn't have any powerful divine abilities.
"Who are you? Why are you pretending to be a ghost and playing tricks on people at the Li Family Estate?" Chu Liang questioned.
"I just thought it was fun..." the fake ghost said softly.
"Heh, don't even think about lying," Lin Bei sneered. "I believe you can tell that my bro and I—we're a little perverted. If you lie, who knows what we'll do."
The fake ghost's expression turned grim. He looked down at the red rope binding him and thought that what Lin Bei said wasn't just an empty threat. If he lied, the consequences might be unimaginable.
So, he raised his head in fear and said, "Perv—young heroes, please don't get angry. I'll confess!
"It was the shopkeeper of Jingyue Pavilion, situated by the Qinnan River. He was the one that sent me here. He told me... to go to the Li Family Estate and pretend to be a ghost and play some tricks on the people there. And that it would be best if I injured a few people in the process to create a bigger fuss."
"Jingyue Pavilion?" Chu Liang uttered.
He wasn't particularly surprised when he heard that name. He had already thought of this possibility when Manager Cui informed him about what had been happening in the estate. Naturally, Jingyue Pavilion would benefit the most from evil spirits causing disturbances in the Li Family Estate at this time.
"That's right. I was just acting on someone else's orders. Young heroes, how about letting me go? I promise to cut ties with Jingyue Pavilion!" the fake ghost beseeched.
"Let you go? Dream on," Lin Bei said with a glare. He then asked Chu Liang, "How should we deal with him?"
"Tie him up for the night," Chu Liang answered. "Tomorrow, hand him over to Manager Cui to deal with. The supposed presence of monsters in the Li Family Estate has had quite a negative impact on the estate. He needs the culprit so that he can get the news out there and make it known to all that it's fake."
"No! Young heroes, please spare me! It's my first time here!" the fake ghost begged loudly.
"Oh, drop the act. Everyone who gets caught always claims it's their first time," Lin Bei said disdainfully. "Just confess truthfully, and it will all be over. How many times have you done this, with whom, where, who introduced you... Give us more details. If your information is useful, maybe we won't tell your family and friends about this."
The fake ghost had a dazed expression as he listened to Lin Bei's words. Then he quickly replied desperately, "I'm not lying! I truly am here for the first time. The shopkeeper at Jingyue Pavilion thought the previous monster incidents at the Li Family Estate weren't vicious enough, as no one got injured or died. So, he asked me to make some trouble."
"That's not right," Chu Liang muttered to himself. "Earlier, Manager Cui mentioned that the monster only went after women, not men. However, the person whom this guy frightened just now was a guard. Additionally, Manager Cui said that the previous monster moved extremely quickly, so no one got a good look at its appearance. Indeed, this guy doesn't seem to be that monster..."
Right then, a woman's scream rang out from inside the estate, "Aaaahhhh!!!"
"As I expected, there's another monster," Chu Liang said. He turned to Lin Bei and told him, "Keep an eye on this one. I'll head over there."
"All right!"
Lin Bei no longer had any objections about playing the role of Chu Liang's assistant. After all, it was a fact that his cultivation level was lower than Chu Liang's.
Lin Bei turned and looked at the fake ghost who lay on the ground, tightly bound.
With a fascinated expression that revealed his desire to learn, Lin Bei remarked, "This binding truly looks like it was the technique of a professional. Ugh... What's that smell coming from you?"
"Hehe..." the fake ghost laughed embarrassedly. "When I frightened that guard earlier, he just happened to be urinating, and I was standing in front of him..."
"..." Lin Bei frowned deeply and shook his head. "I don't think I want this enchanted artifact anymore."
1. Huh? Indeed. Oh, Lin Bei. What should we do about you? ☜
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆b