The Sickly Beauty Haunted by a Gloomy Male Ghost - Chapter 8

Bai Weixue’s face instantly drained of color.

How could he know?

His eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, and his expression shifted between storm and shadow. His rosy lips pressed into a thin, tight line. Feeling the damp, cold touch wandering over his abdomen, he suppressed a shiver and gritted his teeth. “First, get your filthy thing off my stomach.”

The malevolent ghost stared at that beautiful face, his tone laced with regret. “I’m afraid I can’t. I haven’t found our child yet.”

Child?

Bai Weixue laughed out of sheer anger. With a cold, expressionless face, he said, “The child is gone. Miscarried.”

The ghost narrowed his dark eyes, appearing puzzled. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” Bai Weixue lifted his eyelids, meeting the ghost’s gaze with a clear, piercing stare. Suddenly, his smile turned wicked and sharp. “Your quality just isn’t up to par.”

“…”

The smile remained on the ghost’s lips, but his eyes, like deep abysses, abruptly darkened. He slowly withdrew the black mist that had been roaming over Bai Weixue’s stomach, coiling it upward to pinch the young man’s face.

Bai Weixue’s eyelid twitched as he felt the damp sensation of moss against the corner of his mouth.

The black mist easily pried his lips apart. The fishy stench of a stagnant well flooded his mouth, accompanied by a bone-chilling temperature that turned his lips numb.

At that moment, alarm bells shrieked in his mind.

The ghost was going to rip out his tongue!

Bai Weixue clenched his jaw shut, his facial muscles aching from the effort. But this small resistance was nothing compared to the black mist. His teeth, white as jade, were forced open inch by inch. Just as the tip of his tongue was about to touch that freezing cold.

Suddenly, Bai Weixue bit down hard.

Blood gushed from the tip of his tongue.

He was gambling.

He bet that the ghost had escaped the coffin through the “Mandarin Duck Covenant.”

Once the covenant was sealed, they became a “married couple.” Since they were spouses, there was no reason to kill the wife. Therefore, the blood of one party acted as a restraint on the other, though the effect was negligible when there was a vast disparity in strength.

However, for a ghost whose power was severely depleted, this bit of restraint was enough. Moreover, a large amount of fresh blood was a great tonic for a ghost. A “full” ghost wouldn’t risk the backlash of targeting that tongue again.

The good news: he won the bet.

The bad news: he really had released the ghost with his own hands.

Bai Weixue thought with lingering fear, Could the original owner’s memory be flawed? Did I remember the activation conditions for the Mandarin Duck Covenant wrong?

The next second, his gaze froze, staring intently in one direction.

It was the side of the ghost’s neck.

On the pale, grayish skin, there was a light, bird-shaped brand.

Bai Weixue remembered that he had an identical brand on his own neck.

Wait, that shape…

Those were mandarin ducks!

Bai Weixue’s face darkened, his expression filled with frustration. It turned out he had misunderstood from the very beginning. The so-called “entwined necks” didn’t mean his neck and the ghost’s neck, but rather the mandarin ducks on their respective necks.

At the time, his focus had been entirely on the Displacement Talisman, and since the light in the coffin was dim, he hadn’t noticed this detail. Looking back now, a chill ran through his entire body, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The ghost had been out for a long time.

He had been hiding in the shadows, watching him all along.

During his moment of daze, the black mist had already swallowed every drop of blood in his mouth. It nimbly withdrew, leaving a bloody trail sliding down his pale cheek, curving past his brow, and hanging over his glass-like eyeball. The irritation caused a layer of physiological mist to cloud his beautiful eyes.

Bai Weixue was forced to close them.

The ghost’s voice was deep and deliberate. “Misspeaking is one thing, but ‘climbing over the wall’ cannot be forgiven.”

With the corners of his eyes red and wet, Bai Weixue laughed in fury. “Is that so? I wasn’t aware I had given you a green hat.”

The ghost-like voice whispered in his ear, ambiguous and husky, “You are my bride, how can you look at other men?”

Bai Weixue suddenly understood. Apparently, watching a villager give birth to a ghost infant and glancing at Wen Yu’s stomach counted as “climbing over the wall.”

With his damp, upturned eyes still closed, a curve suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth, dangerous and charming. “Then that’s truly a pity.”

“Once I get out of this cursed village, I’m going to give you a hundred, no, a thousand, ten thousand green hats.”

In a place Bai Weixue couldn’t see, the last trace of a smile vanished from the ghost’s face. He stared gloomily at Bai Weixue’s soft dimples and exquisite, alluring face, a heavy desire for destruction rising in his heart.

He wanted to kill him.

This body was perfect, every inch of it worth collecting.

He’d start with the eyes. Those eyeballs were a beautiful color; he would gouge them out to admire day and night.

A terrifying pressure descended, and a layer of dripping moisture coated Bai Weixue’s eyelids. An irresistible force pried his eyelids open, causing his light-colored pupils to shrink to the size of pinpricks from the irritation.

Just as his eye sockets throbbed with pain and he felt as if his eyeballs would be plucked out the next second, the sound of splashing water echoed nearby. Simultaneously, the ghost paused.

A drop of vivid red blood slid from Bai Weixue’s eye socket, landing instantly at the corner of his lip.

Bai Weixue struggled to open his eyes. Through his blood-blurred vision, a thin black shadow slowly enlarged, whisking away the bloodstain on his lip.

The ghost’s deep voice lingered in his ear: “Wait for me to find you.”

As the words fell, the voice vanished like the wind.

Bai Weixue raised a hand to cover his eyes, his head throbbing painfully. He leaned against a jujube tree and slowly crouched down, his pale face devoid of any color.

Suddenly, something furry brushed against his arm.

Bai Weixue reached out and grabbed a thick, large black tail.

Even though it was caught, the tail continued to wag happily. A large black dog wiggled into Bai Weixue’s arms, whimpering and acting spoiled.

Bai Weixue gently stroked the dog’s head, but his nose suddenly caught a scent of blood that didn’t belong to him.

His temple throbbed as he realized something, and he grabbed the dog’s leg.

The dog’s leg was soaking wet from the well water. Under the black fur was a bite wound so deep the bone was visible.

Only then did Bai Weixue notice that the dog’s mouth was covered in blood.

It was blood from its own bite.

Bai Weixue’s expression became complicated. He let go of the dog’s leg and, with eyes still filmed with blood, looked searchingly at the black dog.

Ghosts fear black dog blood; he had always known this.

But the creature before him was just a stray dog he’d known for a few days.

Even if it were highly intelligent, it shouldn’t have been able to sense he was in danger, happen to know that black dog blood repels ghosts, and then break its chain and bite itself to save him.

Furthermore, how did it know the ghost’s true form was hidden in the well?

The dog’s bead-like eyes stared back at him. Man and dog locked gazes.

“Forget it.” Bai Weixue led the dog to a water bucket, carefully washed its mouth, and spoke to it. “When I leave this village, do you want to come with me?”

His tone was gentle and his voice soft a complete contrast to the sharp edge he showed the ghost. “I don’t like owing favors, whether to people or dogs. I don’t have much money, but I can certainly afford to raise you.”

The big black dog panted with its tongue out, looking very happy.

Bai Weixue asked, “Can you understand human speech?”

The dog wagged its tail furiously.

They stared at each other in an awkward silence.

Bai Weixue thought for a moment and held out both hands, palms up. “If you’re willing, put your paw in my left hand. If not, put it in my right.”

The black dog didn’t hesitate to place its paw in his left hand.

Bai Weixue’s eyes crinkled. “Then I need to give you a name. Do you like Coal Ball or Snowball? Coal Ball for the left hand, Snowball for the right.”

The dog withdrew its paw and this time placed it in his right hand.

Bai Weixue gave a faint smile. He shook the paw gently. “Hello, Snowball.”

He led Snowball into the house and found Wen Yu dozing at the table. He rapped his knuckles on the tabletop, and Wen Yu startled awake.

The first thing Wen Yu saw was the fierce-looking black dog.

Wen Yu jumped, goosebumps erupting on his skin. “Weixue, why did you bring the dog inside?”

Bai Weixue said lightly, “Let me introduce you. This is my dog, Snowball.”

Wen Yu: “…” It’s so black, why isn’t it called Coal Ball?

He opened his mouth, let out two dry laughs, and decisively looked away from the dog. He looked at Bai Weixue, his eyes widening as he stood up in a panic. “What happened to you?”

Without waiting for an answer, he went to the room to get a bag filled with medicine.

Bai Weixue stopped him. “Snowball is injured too. Get some medicine he can use first.”

Wen Yu paused. After a long moment, he muttered sullenly, “Got it.”

Bai Weixue sat in a chair with the big black dog crouching obediently in front of him. Medicine powder was sprinkled over the deep wound. It looked excruciating, but the dog didn’t even whine. Instead, it wagged its tail happily.

He wrapped the dog’s leg in gauze and tied a neat butterfly bow. “Go play.”

The black dog stood up, wagged its tail, walked to the door of the room where Bai Weixue slept, and began to whimper.

Bai Weixue didn’t quite understand, but he opened the door anyway.

In an instant, the dog bounded in and found a spot to nest.

Wen Yu: “It’s sleeping in your room? That’s not great, dogs have bacteria.”

Bai Weixue shook his head. “Forget it, let him be.”

Wen Yu:  Fine, just spoil him then.

It wasn’t until Bai Weixue applied medicine to himself that he realized how much it hurt. Tears welled in his eyes and his hands shook; he almost lost the courage to continue.

The black dog slowly walked over, tilting its head to look at him.

It reached out a paw and nudged Bai Weixue’s hand.

Shhh—

The entire packet of medicine powder dumped onto his eye socket. Caught off guard, the pain made Bai Weixue feel like his soul was leaving his body. Clutching his streaming eyes, he glared at the dog with a resentful expression.

The dog shifted its gaze, blinking and not daring to look at him.

Bai Weixue wanted to curse, but he had already applied medicine to his tongue as well. He could only hiss in pain, unable to even speak.

The dog clearly knew it messed up. It approached sheepishly and licked his palm to appease him.

Bai Weixue weakly stroked the dog’s head.

Once the pain subsided, Bai Weixue began to draw talismans. While treating Snowball earlier, the wound had been dripping blood. Following the principle of not letting anything go to waste, Bai Weixue had collected some in a small bowl.

Talismans drawn with black dog blood were undoubtedly effective. Bai Weixue drew ten in one go, which exhausted a huge amount of his energy. By the time he finished, he didn’t even have the strength to lift his hand.

He called Wen Yu in and gave him one, telling him to stick it to his headboard when he slept. He placed another on the dog’s bed and his own. This way, even if the ghost came, it couldn’t hurt them.

Thinking of the ghost made Bai Weixue’s teeth itch with hatred.

Once he got out of this village, he would definitely find a way to destroy that ghost. Ideally, he’d scatter its soul so it could never be reincarnated.

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