Spirit Reaper - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Transforming into a Fierce Wraith—”Let’s go to Hell together!”

As her voice fell, Xu Li abruptly lowered her hands, revealing a deathly pale face with pitch-black circles around her eyes behind her red sleeves. Her tongue was no longer human; it lolled out, as black as her eyes, dragging long across the floor.

She looked exactly like the White Impermanence Wuyi had seen in the Underworld. Xu Li had died by hanging.

“Mom… I—I see a ghost!” Xu Yaozu, who had been boasting just a moment ago, turned white. His legs shook, and as Xu Li glared at him, his eyes squeezed shut, his knees buckled, and a distinct patter-patter of liquid hitting the floor echoed through the room.

“Yaozu! Yaozu!” Mother Xu frantically supported her nearly fainting “precious root.” Seeing her darling son so terrified, she found a burst of courage, turning to glare at Xu Li. “You filthy girl! You can’t even stay quiet in death, you have to harm your brother!”

“Jie-jie-jie… Hahahaha—!”

“You love this son so much? Then I’ll let your whole family go to Hell together, nice and organized, okay?” Xu Li vanished and reappeared instantly in front of Mother Xu, her long, razor-sharp blood-red nails grazing the older woman’s cheek.

“Let’s go to Hell together!”

“Xu Li! No!” Wuyi tried to intervene, but out of nowhere, a bolt of red cloth descended from the ceiling, wrapping her tightly. The more she struggled, the tighter it coiled, like the suckers on an octopus’s tentacle, pinning her in place.

“No! No! Mmmph—!” Four different screams were abruptly muffled, turning into dull thuds that gradually faded into the distance.

Only when the house fell into a deathly silence did the red cloth finally lose its strength.

“Xu Li! Xu Li!” Crawling out from the fabric, Wuyi looked disheveled, but she didn’t care about her image. She called out with the last shred of hope. One second, two seconds… silence.

“Song Miao? Song Miao!” Wuyi suddenly remembered her friend. If she had been caught in the crossfire, things would be truly disastrous.

“I’m over here!” A muffled voice came from the corner. Wuyi saw a red “ball” wriggling and struggling against the wall. She rushed over to unravel it. Song Miao tumbled out, rolling a few times before stopping.

“Waaaaah! What happened to this place?!” Song Miao shrieked, covering her eyes.

Wuyi looked around. The formerly clean black-and-white walls were now splattered with something that looked like blood spray. The orderly room was a wreck; the wardrobe doors were torn open, and clothes were scattered everywhere.

Faded white shirts, old jeans with holes, and the most “expensive” item—a knock-off “Niu Niu” shirt. These weren’t the clothes of a top-tier star. Among the debris, Wuyi found the photo of Xu Li and Xiao Tuan. The glass had shattered. She carefully tucked the photo into her bag and kicked the “playing dead” Song Miao.

“Get up. We have work to do.”

“Wuyi, I want to quit. That’s the first time I’ve seen a ghost like that,” Song Miao sobbed. “Did you see her eyes? And that tongue? It went werppp all the way to the floor!”

“Are you going to be a deserter now? Think of your academic credits…”

“Fine! I’m going!” Song Miao grumbled, slowly standing up. “But Xu Li took those four people. Do you know where she went?”

“I do.” Wuyi held up the diary. “She went to her ‘home’.”

…

Night had fallen completely, turning the world outside the villa into an ink-black void. The silence was heavy, broken only by the faint, rhythmic chirping of cicadas.

Wuyi looked up. There were no stars, no moon. An ill omen. She pricked her finger and drew a protection sigil on Song Miao. “Repeat after me: Brilliant and bright, the sun rises in the East… I command the Great Supreme Elder to banish all misfortune!“

“Remember, when we go up the mountain, stay close. You’ve used the cow tears; don’t let the things up there know you can see them. Never make eye contact!”

At the foot of the mountain, Wuyi took out a small compass. The needle spun wildly before locking onto a direction. “Let’s go.”

As they climbed higher, the forest grew unnaturally quiet. The cicadas stopped. The only sounds were their breathing and the crunch of dead leaves.

“Wuyi… is this compass reliable? We’ve been walking for ages,” Song Miao whispered, clutching Wuyi’s arm.

“If you don’t trust the compass, do you trust your own sense of direction?” Wuyi snapped back, trying to mask her own growing unease. She suspected they were walking in circles. Ghost-Wall-Hitting GHOST WALL?

To test it, she tied a yellow cloth to a tree. Sure enough, ten minutes later, they were back at the same yellow marker. Xu Li was trying to trap them until dawn.

“I can’t let her commit murder,” Wuyi muttered. If Xu Li killed them, she would be thrown into the River of Forgetfulness to be gnawed by spirits forever. It wasn’t worth it.

Suddenly, a 360-degree “surround sound” of footsteps echoed around them. A thick fog began to rise, and the temperature plummeted. Wuyi’s hair stood on end. This isn’t Xu Li’s doing!

The fog grew so thick it felt like the oxygen was being squeezed out. Wuyi pulled out a small paper effigy, smeared it with her blood, and commanded it to fly into the depths of the forest.

One second… two… three…

A blood-curdling scream erupted from the darkness. The trees shook violently. A sudden explosion of firelight flickered in the distance and vanished.

“Pfft—!” A sharp pain bloomed in Wuyi’s chest. She sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Her paper double had been destroyed; she was suffering the backlash!

“Wuyi! You’re bleeding!” Song Miao panicked.

“Stay calm! Don’t mess up the magnetic field!” Wuyi pinned Song Miao in place. “I’m teaching you the Hiding Spell. The things in this mountain won’t be able to see you. My double couldn’t beat whatever is back there; you’re just a ‘small potato’ to them. Hide the body, hide the soul… I command the Southern and Northern Stars!“

Once Song Miao was safe under the spell, Wuyi stepped into the center of the mist and summoned her Soul-Snaring Whip. Since the fog was so thick, she didn’t have to worry about Song Miao seeing her true Emissary tools.

“Don’t think you can hide in the mist forever,” Wuyi growled. “I have business to attend to. Get out of my way!”

A branch snapped behind her. The leaves roared. Whatever was there was furious.

“You want to do this the hard way?” Wuyi lashed out with her whip. The crack of the whip was swallowed by the wind, but she felt it strike something solid.

“You dare strike me?!” a shrill voice shrieked from the depths. “You’re dead!”

Before Wuyi could react, something icy coiled around her ankle. A massive force jerked her off her feet, dragging her into the darkness at high speed.

Everything went black.