Chapter 378: Relentless

“It’s too late,” Corpse Child said in a low, emotionless tone. “This is the Fruit of Death’s poison[1]. It is poisonous enough that it could rot the body and contaminate the mind. It is especially effective against ghosts like us as we don’t have a physical form to split the damage. There is no ordinary ghost that could survive it.”

“Our yin soldiers may be powerful veterans, but even they cannot withstand the corrosion. Since their minds are gone, of course there’s no saving them.”

Earth Ghost was silent for a moment. His body was shaking and the ghastly orbs in his eyes were flickering erratically. Suddenly, it let out a full-throated roar full of rage and sorrow.

When he was still alive, he was the general of a small country. These yin soldiers were the very same soldiers who served him back then. Forged from countless battles, and one might say that their bond was deeper than blood. Unfortunately, they were so good at their jobs that their emperor became wary of them. As a result, they were killed by a conspiracy concocted by their very own sovereign[2].

Their resentment was such that their souls turned into ghosts after they died. Together, he and his soldiers wandered Fengdu for over a century before the Ghost Tower finally recruited them.

Although most of the yin soldiers didn’t possess any sapience whatsoever—all that remained in their ghastly self was their resentment—they had still accompanied Earth Ghost for countless years. But because of the thief’s trap, over half of them were wiped out before his eyes. How could he not be saddened by this?

“We must kill the thief, young master. We must take revenge for my comrades!” Earth Ghost looked at Corpse Child and roared.

“He won’t escape. He angered me too,” Corpse Child said indifferently. He sounded perfectly calm, but the bluish purple spots on his face kept increasing in size. Anyone who was familiar with Corpse Child would know that he was truly angry.

It was at this moment the one-horned giant interrupted, “What are you guys talking about, big brother? I don’t understand what you’re saying.” It didn’t seem to be interrupted by the Fruit of Death’s poison in the slightest.

“You don’t need to understand. You only need to know that I am very angry right now,” Corpse Child said slowly. “So angry that I need to kill something as soon as possible.”

Corpse Child produced the jar holding the Heartless Brain and a living human. Then, he pressed the Heartless Brain against the human’s skull until it had taken over the body.

“Hahaha! You sure took your time, Corpse Child!” The Heartless Brain cackled. “Oh my, this fresh air... It’s been too long since I returned to the yang world!”

“So? Did you find the thief yet?”

“What do you think?” Corpse Child retorted.

“Your face says obviously not, hahahaha! Let me see...” The Heartless Brain swayed back and forth for a bit before bursting out in laughter again. “The thief actually tricked you? They killed so many of your yin soldiers before you even caught a glimpse of their face? Ahahahaha! I can’t, I can’t! You never thought this would happen to you, did you? Hahahaha...”

The Heartless Brain laughed so hard that he was rolling on the floor.

“I’m not feeling good right now. If you’re done, then let’s get serious!” Corpse Child said emotionlessly.

“But I am being serious! I’m seriously laughing right now! Ahahahaha!” The Heartless Brain continued to laugh.

“Argh!”

The next second, the one-horned giant abruptly ripped off the Heartless Brain’s arm and began chewing ravenously. The pain was so sudden and overwhelming that the Stranger couldn’t help but writhe in pain.

The Heartless Brain was a unique Stranger who could take over any body and use it like its own, but at the same time, it also inherited all of the body’s senses such as pain, fatigue, hunger and more.

“Are you done laughing now?” Corpse Child asked.

“I’m done, I’m done. I swear, youngsters these days are so rude.” The Heartless Brain staggered to his feet while holding his bleeding stump. “Well? What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to locate the thief,” Corpse Child answered.

“You could’ve just said that from the beginning!” The Heartless Brain harrumphed and closed his eyes. A few breaths later, he opened them again.

“How did it go? Did you find them?” Earth Ghost asked in a hurry.

“Of course I did! Who do you think I am?” The Heartless Brain puffed up his chest with pride.

“Cut the bullshit and tell us where they are already,” Corpse Child said with displeasure.

“They went this way.” The Heartless Brain pointed in a certain direction while letting out a strange cackle. “In fact, they just left a while ago. Had you let me out sooner, you might have caught they already. Youngsters these days are too clever for their own good.”

“This is a bold one,” said Corpse Child while narrowing his eyes. He never thought that the thief would be bold enough to hide in the area.

“Heartless Brain, I can give you this body, but you’ll have to help us catch the thief as soon as possible.”

“Hahaha, you finally wised up, Corpse Child! No problem!” The Heartless Brain exclaimed with delight. “However, you need to get me some food first. I don’t ask for too much, I just want a steamed lamb, steamed bear claw, braised duck, sauced chicken, cured meat, braised pork with pine nut, deep-fried dried pork, sausages, meat plate, smoked chicken, steamed babao pork and marinated duck with glutinous rice... Just get me one of everything, and I’ll be satisfied.”

In response, Corpse Child said coldly, “One Horn, eat his arm if he breathes another word of nonsense. If he tries to run away, you may eat him whole.”

“Okay!” The one-horned giant licked its lips hungrily until it recalled something. “But he only has one arm left. What should I do if he breathes more nonsense after I eat his arm?”

Corpse Child answered, “No problem. You can just move onto his legs, his ears, his eyes, his nose...”

“Okay! Okay!” The one-horned giant chirped excitedly before staring at the Heartless Brain, salivating.

For the first time, the Heartless Brain’s grin turned into a frown. He swore mentally:

Stupid giant. It’s your own fault Corpse Child made you into his slave!

On that note, who’s the bastard who screwed Corpse Child over? If you’re going to set up a trap, at least make one that’s powerful enough to kill them all! Seriously, what’s the point of taking out the small fries only?

Unreliable. Youngsters these days are just unreliable.

......

“Ridiculous. These ghosts are fucking ridiculous. I used five Thunder Flame Bombs and a whole pack of poison made from the Fruits of Death, and it barely scratched the big bosses? Come on!”

Meanwhile, Ye Qing was swearing under his breath while galloping away on a paper horse created from a Horse Talisman. The Thunder Flame Bombs he used to set up the trap had been looted from the

jianghu

warriors he killed back in Luo Shui. It was a powerful explosive created by the Thunderclap Hall using a specific combination of black powder, secret art and restrictions.

The Thunder Flame Bomb was a restricted weapon because just one could destroy a small hill. Even its creators, the Thunderclap Hall, were forced to cooperate with the imperial court. But of course, a small supply of Thunder Flame Bombs still circulated within the

jianghu,

and those warriors who got their hands on it normally used it as a trump card.

Ye Qing had looted a total of five Thunder Flame Bombs from his kills, and he had saved them until now. He wasn’t willing to spend them when he was fighting against the

jianghu

warriors or even struggling to survive in the Demon’s Tomb.

Today, he used it all and even added the poison Feng Qingyou had made for him into the mix. It was because he was hoping to kill all of his pursuers in one fell swoop. His plan was very simple. He just placed the bombs and the poison underneath the wooden board. The bombs would explode if a small amount of pressure was applied to it, which was why he wrote those words on the wooden board.

He was certain that anyone who wasn’t a Bodhisattva or a saint would fly off their handle and destroy the wooden board. That would cause the Thunder Flame Bombs to explode at the same time. Combined with the poison made from the Fruits of Death, and anyone below the Spirit Master stage should be dead.

Even if they weren’t, he imagined that they would take severe damage. That was why he stayed behind. He wanted to deal the last hit.

His imagination was pretty, and his plan went perfectly. The only problem was that he had grossly underestimated the Ghost Tower’s strength.

The one-horned giant, the child sitting on his shoulder and the ghost general were one hundred percent Phenomenon-class Strangers. In fact, they were so strong that five Thunder Flame Bombs plus the poison of the Fruits of Death barely tickled them.

What could he do in this situation? Why, he could only run, of course?

The moment he confirmed that the three Strangers were far beyond his ability to defeat, Ye Qing had run away without a second thought. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to escape at all if he was too slow.

The silver lining was that it wasn’t a fruitless endeavor. For one, he more or less figured out how strong his pursuers were. Second, the yin soldiers who died provided him a heft number of dragon-serpent runes.

The yin soldiers were quite strong, and even the weakest among them was a Malice-class Stranger. The explosion and the poison had killed at least a hundred yin soldiers, and he had earned just as many silver runes.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

It was still a loss in his opinion though. More importantly, how on earth was he going to save himself? There was no way the Ghost Tower would accept a surrender now even if he was willing. What if he hid himself for five to six years and came out of hiding after he was much stronger? Yeah, that wasn’t going to work either.

His enemy had already found him once. It was entirely possible for them to find him twice. Short of hiding in the Pacification Bureau and never setting foot outside the headquarters, they would come after him by hook or by crook.

More importantly, hiding in the Pacification Bureau wouldn’t work not because the Ghost Tower had the balls to challenge the Pacification Bureau, but because they would find out his identity eventually and target his acquaintances, friends and family. This was the last thing he wished to happen.

In the end, there was only one way. He must kill all of his pursuers somehow.

But how am I going to do that?

The yin soldiers were one thing, but he couldn’t defeat even one of the Phenomenon-class Strangers, much less the three of them together.

In the end, Ye Qing let out a sigh.

Oh well. I’ll decide when the time comes.

That time came sooner than he hoped. Ye Qing’s paper horse had galloped about tens of kilometers when suddenly, the sky above his head began darkening at a visible rate. Yin wind howled like a rainstorm might happen at any moment.

“That fast? I didn’t even get to sip my wine yet. This confirms that someone among them has the ability to track me down.” Ye Qing scrunched his eyebrows together.

How could he shake off his pursuers if they could track him down this quickly?

Just because he had expected this didn’t mean that he wasn’t troubled by it.

Ye Qing massaged his forehead and produced a paper doll. Then, he blew at it.

The next moment, the paper doll quickly grew bigger and turned into Ye Qing. It saluted him before running off in a certain direction.

After the paper doll was gone, Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath and withdrew his energies completely. Then, he took off in the opposite direction of the paper doll, moving so quickly that he left behind several afterimages. By the time the afterimages disappeared, he was already gone.

1. Fruit of Death from Chapter 157 says hello, I bet y’all had all forgotten about me. ?

2. This is EXTREMELY common in old Asia, so common they say that if you’re an accomplished general, you will never have a good ending. You either die because you’re too good at your job (which makes you a threat to the throne), or you become a conqueror who couldn’t make head and tails about how to rule a country and die anyway. ?