Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 421 Dead Man's Thunder

In the eerie corridor of the teaching building, a man wearing a demonic wooden mask exuded a menacing aura and spoke in a chilling tone.

The nine writhing black wisps were frantically tearing and dragging at the hair in the mirror, brutally and ruthlessly.

As the black mist and the red rope figure dragged the mirror, the female ghost's screams continued.

It was howling pitifully.

"...They don't even care about their own sister!"

"Ran Qing! Aren't you afraid you won't be able to sleep at night and will have a guilty conscience for the rest of your life?!"

The female ghost's venomous screams were unbearable.

Ran Qing's ruthless, decisive, and tough attitude completely took it by surprise.

Ran Qing at school is docile, friendly, and indecisive.

Only a month has passed, and that indecisive boy has grown into a ruthless and cold-blooded spirit medium.

Staring at the jet-black hair that had been dragged out in the mirror, Ran Qing said coldly, "Don't threaten me with hostages. I'm not stupid."

"If I compromise, they will all die."

"If you don't compromise, I can at least torture you to the point of oblivion! To avenge everyone!"

Even with her three companions and her pitiful half-sister combined, none of them could shake Ran Qing's cold and hard heart.

Upon seeing Ran Qing's heartless nature, the female ghost in the mirror suddenly began to wail.

"...Waaaaah...it hurts so much...Ran Qing..."

"Please, please let me go...it hurts so much..."

The female ghost wailed in Li Hongye's voice, sounding weak, miserable, and utterly pitiful.

But Ran Qing remained unmoved.

More and more hair was being pulled out of the mirror, and the ghost's pale forehead could even be seen.

The female ghost's cries suddenly changed, becoming sinister, eerie, and grotesque.

"Hehe... Ran Qing... Look where we are now?"

Amidst the eerie, sinister laughter of the female ghost, the mirror still reflected the dark, gloomy wooden house, and the pitiful little girl sitting in the center of the house, surrounded by evil spirits.

But when Ran Qing looked in the mirror, she saw a pale and eerie female ghost slowly drifting towards her from outside the wooden house door.

The female ghost, with her pitch-black eyes and blood-stained uniform from the Third Municipal Middle School, floated stiffly off the ground.

It was none other than Li Hongye.

Li Hongye, who dragged Ran Qing into the depths of her soul, is actually approaching the wooden house in the mirror in reality.
Ran Qing's eyes turned cold—what was it doing bringing her to this wooden house?
Ran Qing had a bad feeling.

The next second, Li Hongye in the mirror floated into the wooden house, and two dark figures immediately darted out from the shadows of the wooden house, grabbing Li Hongye's arms from the left and right.

One was an eerily thin old man, Kawamasu Tōkichi, who was already dead.

The other one was an old fox with white fur all over its body...

After they clung tightly to Li Hongye, they hissed and cried out softly.

"The Ran family boy..."

"Master Ran..."

The two evil figures in the mirror uttered eerie whispers.

The strange, murmuring voice seemed to possess a peculiar penetrating power, causing Ran Qing, who was deep within Li Hongye's soul, to shudder.

He could almost hear the eerie whispers of the two evil creatures.

They seemed to be calling to Ran Qing from all directions, right beside her ears and behind her.

Upon hearing this voice, Ran Qing felt a sudden, inexplicable dizziness, as if her body was no longer her own, and she almost fell to the ground.

"...A demon is calling back the soul!"

Ran Qing grabbed the staff with the human head in her hand and stood up despite the intense dizziness. She felt the world spinning around her and her vision blurred.

This is a harmful sorcery commonly used by mountain monsters and evil spirits.

According to old folks, if you hear someone calling your name from behind when it gets dark, you must never turn around or answer.

If you turn back, something terrible will happen.

If you respond, your soul will be directly taken away.

You never know what might be calling you from the shadows in the dark forests, on the road, or in the darkness of the mountains...

Unexpectedly, Li Hongye used this trick on him.

Kawazaki Danji, who became a living ghost, and the old fox of Laowang Mountain both became Li Hongye's accomplices.

Previously, the ghost-raising man went to capture the living spirit Kawamasu Tankichi, but fell into Li Hongye's ambush. Clearly, Kawamasu Tankichi, who had become a living spirit after death, was now under Li Hongye's control.

Now, both Chuan Zeng Danji and the fox demon from Lao Wang Mountain have jumped out...

Ran Qing calmed herself and tried to fight against the strange, dizzying call.

He bit his lip tightly, and no matter how strange, intimate, or tempting the voice calling in his ear was, he held his lip and dared not open his mouth.

At the same time, the staff with the human head in his hand was firmly planted on the ground, and the yin energy spread out continuously.

The nine wisps of mist and the frantic little red rope figures pulled even harder at the female ghost in the mirror.

Even through Ran Qing's blurry vision, she could vaguely see a pale, human head being dragged out of the mirror.

Amidst the eerie calls in her ear, Li Hongye's soft sobs suddenly broke the silence.

"...Ran Qing, come save me...I don't want to die...I died so tragically..."

The Li Hongye who made this strange sound seemed to be lying in a coffin, desperately pleading for help from her beloved.

At the same time, the faint, low sobs of the little girl Ran Xiaoya could be heard.

"...Brother...I'm so scared..."

"Where are you? Come save me..."

"Brother... Waaah... I'm so scared..."

These chaotic and sorrowful cries for help disturbed Ran Qing's peace of mind.

Coupled with the eerie power of the soul-calling chant, Ran Qing felt dizzy and her thoughts were churning wildly, making it impossible for her to remain calm.

A strong urge to respond to the call to soul rose in Ran Qing's chest.

It was as if an invisible, sweet voice was whispering in his ear—say yes, if you say yes you won't suffer anymore, if you say yes it will all be over.

That invisible voice was so sweet, so alluring.

Even with reason screaming at her and Ran Qing biting her lip so hard, she couldn't suppress it.

"Ran Qing~~~"

"Master Ran~~~"

The eerie cries of the evil spirit still echoed in my ears, carrying a bewitching and sinister power.

Interspersed among them were Li Hongye's sorrowful cries and the little girl's terrified pleas for help.

At that moment, Ran Qing, whose vision was blurred, finally realized the danger.

Dragged into the world of souls, he was unable to stop the evil beings in reality from calling to his soul.

But once he tries to leave the soul world, Li Hongye, who is hiding, will turn around and attack him, and Ran Qing will be caught in a dead end, attacked from both sides.

But trapped in the soul world and unable to leave, while the evil spirits outside were calling for his soul, Ran Qing couldn't hold on until Li Hongye was dragged out of the mirror... Unfortunately, at this moment his mind was fuzzy and his vision was blurred, so he couldn't use the evil arts of the Yin-Yang lineage, and the talismans he had prepared for so long couldn't be brought into this soul world.

The trap set by Li Hongye was indeed meticulous and left Ran Qing with no way out.

Even though Ran Qing's side was at a disadvantage when facing Li Hongye, Li Hongye still did not let her guard down and instead laid a meticulous and insidious trap.

Listening to the eerie whispers in her ear, and watching the pale neck being slowly dragged out of the mirror in her blurred vision, Ran Qing, whose head was spinning, took a deep breath.

The next second, his right hand suddenly released the cane and reached into the canvas bag.

Ran Qing pulled out an unopened kitchen knife.

The slightly rusty handle was unremarkable.

The moment Ran Qing pulled out the kitchen knife, a chilling, bone-piercing force surged up her arm and rushed to her head. Her mind went blank, and it felt like she had fallen into frozen water in the dead of winter. The coldness instantly spread to every pore of her body.

His vision was blurred, but he instantly regained consciousness.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ran Qing raised the kitchen knife in her hand and swung it forward.

puff-

Amidst the strange chopping sounds, the ghastly white head that had been dragged out of the mirror was chopped off by Ran Qing and rolled onto the ground with a gurgling sound.

The pale neck, which had been dragged out halfway in the mirror, suddenly shrank back into the mirror as the head was severed.

The human head on the ground screamed amidst the thicket of black hair that resembled a cheap carpet.

"...Ran Qing!"

The evil spirit never expected that Ran Qing would cut off her head.

Holding a kitchen knife, Ran Qing squatted down and picked up the severed head, coldly saying, "...I didn't have a chance to kill you all, so I can only kill your head first."

The wooden demon mask suddenly opened its blood-red maw and spat out a mouthful of blood at the head in front of it.

Ran Qing quickly dipped her finger in the blood on Li Hongye's face and wrote five strange, blood-red characters on her face.

At the same time, the murmuring incantations of a spirit medium emanated from beneath Ran Qing's wooden mask.

In an instant, the five ghost characters written on the female ghost's face spread rapidly, turning into thin red chains that spread across the entire female ghost's face, cutting her face and even her entire head into small pieces.

Ran Qing said, "Your head is about to explode..."

Before Ran Qing could finish speaking, a powerful impact slammed into him, attempting to push him out of the dark, evil spirit.

Li Hongye, as a vengeful ghost, clearly sensed the danger.

But Ran Qing did not resist the oncoming impact, letting the immense force drag her into the air.

The dark, old school building shrank rapidly in his field of vision.

He seemed to fly into the dark night sky, his body rising rapidly, rising higher and higher...

Ran Qing silently counted for about three seconds, and the surrounding darkness completely dissipated, his feet once again landing on solid ground.

Ahead was a dark wooden cabin, and a little girl with her eyes covered by a black cloth sat nervously and fearfully in place.

In the surrounding shadows, many ghastly green eyes flickered, concealing countless evil creatures.

The emaciated old man, the aged fox... and the two evil spirits that called for souls stood frozen at the doorway.

The moment they met Ran Qing's gaze, Ran Qing saw the fear in their eyes.

A blood-red, shimmering female ghost's head was held aloft in Ran Qing's hands.

The female ghost floating at the doorway was headless. Having lost its head in the spirit world, it suffered the same fate in reality.

The moment Ran Qing returned to the real world, the headless female ghost didn't try to get her head back; instead, she turned and ran without hesitation.

—At this moment, the head in Ran Qing's hand began to flash red.

Seeing this, the two evil creatures also tried to run away.

But as the headless female ghost floated out of the wooden house, she issued a venomous command.

"...Hold him back! Wear him down!"

The head of Li Hongye in Ran Qing's hand was completely engulfed by the red light.

This is an extremely vicious and terrifying evil technique passed down among those who walk the spirit path. It uses the severed limbs and broken bodies of vengeful ghosts to cast spells and detonate them; the more ferocious the vengeful ghost, the greater the power.

In the book of witchcraft and magic, it is called "Ghost Nirvana," while others in the Yin-Yang sect curse it as "Dead Man Thunder."

In the Yin-Yang path, evil cultivators who desecrate corpses, use corpse fragments to forge weapons, or perform magic are already universally condemned.

The Yin-walking lineage cuts and chops up the ghosts of the dead and uses them as palm lightning, a technique so vicious that even many evil cultivators frown upon it.

Inside the wooden house, two evil creatures pounced on Ran Qing in great agony.

They wanted to escape, but were forced to stay and hold Ran Qing back, hoping to drag Ran Qing and the dead man mine together to explode.

The headless female ghost had already drifted out of the wooden house and floated away into the distance.

Three seconds later, a dazzling red light suddenly emanated from the wooden house.

The dazzling red light even extended ten meters outside the open wooden house door.

But that's about it.

The structure of the wooden house was not damaged in any way, and there was no terrible explosion.

That red light could not harm anything tangible.

But the pale green eyes that had been flickering in the wooden house all went out.

Exhausted, Ran Qing stood amidst the ashes of incense and burnt-out talismans, looking at the room before her.

Dozens of foxes of different sizes lay dead on the ground, motionless and lifeless.

The two evil beings that rushed over to try to hold him back were blasted apart by the red light, leaving nothing behind, while the old fox from Laowang Mountain retained his physical body.

But it is only a physical body.

The old fox, lying motionless at Ran Qing's feet, was no different from the other fox corpses in the room.

Once the Death Thunder of the Yin-Yang lineage explodes, all souls within the red light range will be annihilated.

Only Ran Qing and the little girl Ran Xiaoya, whom Ran Qing protected, withstood the red light explosion thanks to the talisman and incense ash from the spirit medium.

Even though she survived, Ran Qing was visibly exhausted and weak.

Even with the demon mask on and the power of the evil lord, Ran Qing sat exhausted on the ground, panting heavily.

If I didn't wear this mask, I'd probably be exhausted by now.

The little girl, whose eyes were covered by a black cloth and who knew nothing about what was happening outside, grabbed Ran Qing's hand anxiously and asked in a panic, "Brother... what's wrong? Why did you suddenly go silent?"

The wooden house was noisy and jarring, filled with the sounds of the fox den from Old Wang Mountain and two evil spirits, which were terrifying and unsettling.

But inside the wooden house, there was a deathly silence, not a sound to be heard...

Ran Qing held the little girl's hand and said, "It's okay, I helped you drive away those monsters."

Without a moment's rest, Ran Qing suddenly pulled the little girl to her feet.

Wearing a demon mask, he ran frantically out of the wooden house, not giving himself any time to rest.

Li Hongye has lost a head and is already injured; she is clearly trying to escape back to the Ghost King's coffin to reunite with the blood corpse.

Facing Ran Qing alone, her chances of winning were definitely not as great as when she was with the Blood Corpse.

But how could Ran Qing let her escape back?

As Ran Qing rushed out of the wooden house, her gaze immediately locked onto the headless female ghost drifting not far away.

Take advantage of her illness and kill her!
(End of this chapter)