Many claim that blood from the tip of the tongue has a miraculous effect in driving away spirits, but such matters are often indistinguishable between truth and fiction. However, today, Li Yan could assert with responsibility that using blood from the tip of the tongue to drive away ghosts was indeed quite painful...

If piercing the heart without dying, moving objects through space, and teleporting were things that Li Yan and Zhang Mingyuan could handle together, Li Yan couldn't think of a better method.

The shrill scream was so piercing that Li Yan's ears ached. The Ghost Corpse shrieked in pain as it retreated, its body emitting puffs of white smoke. Without hesitation, the man advanced with a stomp, his dagger slashing fiercely towards its skull.

At that moment, a cry of alarm sounded.

"Mom!"

Li Yan's heart skipped a beat. He kicked the Corpse Ghost in the chest, sending it flying away, and looked towards the source of the voice with some turmoil.

Ah Xiu, barefoot and pale, had her skirt and hands smeared with blood. What surprised Li Yan even more was that the girl was shakily holding a handgun, her eyes red as she aimed it at him.

Ah Xiu's voice was hoarse: "Don't hit my mom."

"A Fleeting Glance, activate!"

Name: Zhang Changxiu

Status: Yin Erosion (The loss of vitality and lifespan due to prolonged contact with negative entities.)

Threat Level: White

"Where did you get the gun?"

Li Yan's face was expressionless as he walked towards Ah Xiu.

"Don't come any closer, I can shoot."

Li Yan seemed not to hear the girl's words, his steps unceasing as he approached her.

Suddenly, Li Yan felt a gust of wind by his left ear and, without thinking, he ducked and raised his leg. A High Whip Kick swept across the Corpse Ghost's cheek, kicking it to one side.

With that kick, Li Yan clearly felt the opponent weaken considerably.

Ah Xiu closed her eyes in despair, her pale fingers pressing on the trigger, only to find it immovable as if welded in place, no matter how hard she tried.

"Your safety is on."

Li Yan took the girl's wrist, seized the handgun, slid off the safety, and fired a shot into the air. The loud bang startled Ah Xiu, causing her to shiver.

"Let go of my daughter!"

The ghastly Corpse Ghost roared hoarsely but dared not make any rash moves.

Li Yan's expression was complex. He fell silent for a moment before letting go of the girl's wrist and said, "Ah Xiu, go inside for a while. I want to have a talk with your mother."

The girl bit her lower lip, making no move.

"Good girl, go inside."

The woman's appearance was fierce and ugly, but her tone was unusually gentle.

It was as if the girl's throat was choked by something, her voice swallowing hard with a crying plea, "Brother Yan, I beg you, don't kill my mom."

"Ah Xiu, go inside!"

The woman's tone became more stern.

Li Yan pulled the girl's arm and dragged her back into the house. Facing the woman, he backed up to the door and fumbled to slide the bolt shut. The sound of Ah Xiu banging on the door shook the dust off, falling in flurries.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Why must you all disturb me? I just don't want my daughter to be pitied for having no one to care for her."

Li Yan faced the woman's interrogation with silence, yet his expression was resolute and unwavering.

"Auntie, I must see you off today. As for Ah Xiu, I'll find someone to take care of her. Believe it or not, that's up to you."

"How are you going to take care of her? Send my girl to Po Leung Kuk?" the woman demanded sharply.

"You needn't worry about that. Even if Ah Xiu ends up in Po Leung Kuk, it's better than waiting to die with you!" Li Yan replied coldly.

"But..." His voice softened, "I'm only wading through this mess to save my own skin. I'm not in a position to preach to you..."

He drew a scorching fragment of the Guhuo Bird from his chest and exhaled softly, "In the end, let's let our actions speak the truth."

The woman's swollen, frightful eyes stared at the Gilded Rice Paper sketched with the Nine-headed Eighteen-winged Guhuo Bird. Initially, her gaze held confusion, which after a moment, morphed into acceptance.

"Do you want my soul?"

"Not I, but it," she cackled strangely.

"It's all the same... I can agree to your terms, but I have a condition."

"Heh, if we keep fighting, it seems I have the better chance of winning," Li Yan said with a hollow laugh.

"Indeed," the woman fell silent for a while.

"You said you'd take care of Ah Xiu. I want your oath."

"I won't swear. I'll say it one last time, no matter what, I'll find a way to take care of Ah Xiu. Believe it or not, that's your choice."

The man still refused. Rather than make promises he might not keep, Li Yan would rather stake his life on forging a path of his own.

Human choices are tied to circumstance and character. Li Yan, knowing full well he might be courting disaster, chose to wield his own Han Sword, which he could command as an extension of his arm, rather than seek help from Immortal Huang. It was a matter of principle.

The woman watched Li Yan coldly, and the atmosphere tensed.

After a long while, the wound at Li Yan's waist ceased bleeding. He stepped forward, his blade pointed directly at the woman.

"Remember your words!"

The woman gave Li Yan a profound look and, unexpectedly, collapsed to the ground with a thud. The Fragment of the Guhuo Bird suddenly emitted a fierce golden-red glow.

With a piercing cry, like a sob or a song, a droplet of pale red blood seeped from the woman's forehead, swirling into the Fragmented Manuscript. Then, a mass of blood-red flames enveloped the manuscript along with Li Yan's right arm!

Li Yan remained composed. The crimson flames burned for about seven or eight seconds before extinguishing naturally. Li Yan was unharmed. He opened his palm, and the Fragmented Manuscript lay there quietly, its originally pale golden patterns now a sinister blood-red, especially the eight pairs of eyes that seemed alive, slowly pulsating with light.

"You have awakened the remnant soul of the Guhuo Bird!"

"You have completed the most crucial part of the Yanfu Incident."

"You have earned the right to end the Yanfu Incident! Please decide within ten minutes whether to conclude it. If you choose not to, you can only return to the real world after fulfilling all the requirements of the Yanfu Incident."

"The requirement you have yet to fulfill: to fight up to the Seventh Arena in the Nine Dragons Boxing Ring. Failure to complete this will affect your final reward."

Now is not the time to end it.

Li Yan silently affirmed in his heart.

"Refuse to end!"

"Good luck, Wandering Lord."

Meanwhile, in a Karaoke Television on Temple Street.

"The target has completed the most critical part of the Yanfu Incident and has earned the right to end it. If they choose to conclude, your mission will be deemed a failure, and you will be returned immediately!"

"The target has refused to end the Yanfu Incident."

"Leaving your fate in someone else's hands is the height of folly, Wandering Lord."

In the pink glow of the lights, the person's face turned sour as they violently hurled their glass across the room.

Li Yan slowly approached the fallen woman, whose body, now devoid of certain obsessions, had begun to decay and emit a nauseating stench.

Li Yan removed his clothing and covered the upper half of the corpse. Turning, he opened the door to the inner room where Ah Xiu was curled up in a corner, hugging her knees, her eyes hollow.

To Li Yan's shock, the room was strewn with five or six dismembered corpses, the blood not yet dry, with traces of having been washed.

Li Yan bent down to examine the drag marks on the floor. These people must have broken in at midnight and been killed by Ah Xiu's mother. Without a doubt, it was Ah Xiu, her clothes and hands stained with blood, who had dragged the corpses into the room.

In the damp, foul-smelling apartment, the Mother of the Fierce Ghost lay motionless in a chair, while the girl struggled to drag the bodies and bit by bit, clean the bloodstains...

How could she be unaware of the strangeness in her mother, with whom she lived day and night?

"Did the guns belong to them?" Li Yan walked over to the girl.

Ah Xiu's gaze was dull, as if she couldn't hear Li Yan's words at all.

Li Yan reached out to pull the girl up but was violently pushed away.

Ah Xiu, like an enraged cub, glared at Li Yan with her swollen eyes.

Undeterred, Li Yan reached out again, and Ah Xiu pounced, her teeth viciously tearing at the back of Li Yan's hand.

Li Yan knelt, his hand bleeding profusely from Ah Xiu's bite, yet his face remained expressionless. His right hand rested on the girl's cold back.

"Come with me..."

**********

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