Beginning with the Ubume Bird - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Follow Me
Editor: Larbre Studio

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Many have said that drawing ghosts away with the blood from the tip of one’s tongue is incredibly effective, but such matters are always difficult to discern between truth and fiction. However, today Li Yan could responsibly say that using the tip of his tongue’s blood to drive away ghosts really hurt…

Immune to piercing through the heart, moving objects through the air, teleportation—if these were things that Li Yan and Zhang Mingyuan could handle together, Li Yan couldn’t think of a better method.

A shrill scream pierced Li Yan’s ears, causing him pain. The ghostly corpse screamed in agony as it retreated, with plumes of white smoke steaming from its body. Without hesitation, the man stepped forward and fiercely hacked at its skull with the sharp knife in his hand.

Then, a cry of alarm erupted.

“Mom!”

Li Yan’s heart trembled, and he kicked the ghostly corpse in the chest, sending it flying away, as he looked somewhat conflicted towards the source of the sound.

Barefoot, Xiu was pale-faced, with her skirt and hands smeared with blood, and to Li Yan’s surprise, the girl was tremblingly holding a handgun, her eyes reddened as she aimed it at him.

Xiu’s voice was hoarse, “Don’t hit my mom.”

“A Fleeting Glimpse, activate!”

Name: Zhang Changxiu

Status: Shade Erosion (Loss of vital energy and lifespan due to prolonged contact with yin objects.)

Threat Level: White

“Where did you get the gun?”

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Li Yan’s face was expressionless as he walked toward Xiu.

“Don’t come closer, I will shoot.”

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

Suddenly, Li Yan felt a gust of wind at his left ear and, without a second thought, ducked down and threw a high kick, sweeping across the face of the ghostly corpse and sending it flying to one side.

With that kick, Li Yan could clearly feel that his opponent had weakened considerably.

Xiu closed her eyes in despair, her pale fingers pressing on the trigger, only to find that the trigger seemed welded in place; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pull it.

“Your safety is on.”

Li Yan grabbed the girl’s wrist, took the handgun, slid off the safety, and fired a shot into the empty space, the loud bang startling Xiu into a jolt.

“Let go of my girl!”

The grotesque ghostly corpse screamed hoarsely but dared not make any more rash moves.

Li Yan’s expression was complex. After a moment of silence, he let go of the girl’s wrist and said, “Xiu, go inside for a while, I want to talk to your mother.”

The girl bit her lower lip but didn’t move an inch.

“Good girl, go inside.”

The woman was hideous and ferocious, yet her tone was exceptionally gentle.

The girl’s throat seemed to be stuck with something, and with a swallow and a tearful plea, she begged, “Brother Yan, please, I’m begging you, don’t kill my mom.”

“Xiu, go inside!”

The woman’s tone sharpened somewhat.

Li Yan pulled the girl’s arm, dragging her back into the room, facing the woman while his back was against the door, fumbling to slide the bolt. The sound of Xiu banging against the door caused dust to shake off and fall.

“Why do you all have to disturb me? I just don’t want my girl to be left alone and pitiful without anyone to care for her.”

Li Yan met the woman’s interrogation with silence, his expression, however, was resolute.

“Madam, I must see you off today, and I will entrust someone to take care of Xiu, believe it or not, it’s up to you.”

“How will you take care of her? Send my girl to Poleung Kuk?”

The woman asked sharply.

“Don’t you worry about that, even if Xiu enters Poleung Kuk, it’s better than waiting to die with you!”

Li Yan answered coldly.

“But…” his voice dropped, “I am only here to save my own life, and have no right to preach to you…”

He took out the scalding Remaining Pages of the Gu Huo Bird from his chest and gently exhaled, “In the end, we’ll let our actions speak.”

The woman’s swollen, fearsome eyes stared at the gold-embossed rice paper depicting the nine-headed, eighteen-winged Gu Huo Bird; initially confused, her gaze gradually shifted to acceptance.

“You want my soul?”

“Not me, it.”

The woman cackled eerily.

“It’s all the same… I can agree to your request, but I have a condition.”

“Ha, if we continue this fight, it seems I have a better chance of winning.”

Li Yan’s smile did not reach his eyes.

“Indeed.”

The woman fell silent for a moment.

“You said you would take care of Xiu. I want you to swear it.”

“I won’t swear. And for the last time, no matter what, I will find a way to take care of Xiu, believe it or not, that’s up to you.”

The man still refused. Rather than make a promise he might not be able to keep, Li Yan would prefer to risk his life to carve out a path.

The choices humans make are related to their circumstances and character. Li Yan, knowing he might encounter ghosts, chose to take the Han Sword that he could wield as an extension of his arm, instead of seeking help from Wong Taisin — and it was for that exact reason.

The woman watched Li Yan with a cold stare, and the situation suddenly became tense.

After a long time, the wound on Li Yan’s waist had stopped bleeding. He stepped forward, his blade aimed directly at the woman.

“Remember your words!”

The woman looked at Li Yan deeply and unexpectedly collapsed to the ground with a thud, as the Remaining Pages of the Gu Huo Bird suddenly emitted a fierce golden-red light.

With a shrill cry like a sobbing song, a light red blood spot seeped from the woman’s forehead, twirling into the air and into the pages, followed by a blood-red flame that enveloped the pages as well as Li Yan’s right arm!

Li Yan remained calm, the blood-red flame burned for about seven or eight seconds before it naturally extinguished. Li Yan was unharmed. He opened his palm and the pages lay there quietly; the originally pale golden patterns had turned into a sinister blood-red, especially the eight pairs of eyes, which seemed alive, slowly streaming with light.

“You have awakened the remnant soul of the Gu Huo Bird!”

“You have completed the most critical part of this Yan Fu event.”

“You have earned the right to end this Yan Fu event! Please decide whether to end it within ten minutes. If you refuse to end it, you can only return to the real world after completing all the requirements of the Yan Fu event.”

“Your current incomplete requirement is: Fight to the seventh round at the Kowloon Boxing Ring. Failing to complete this task will affect your settlement reward.”

Now was not the time to end it.

Li Yan thought silently.

“Refuse to end!”

“Good luck, Esteemed Walker.”

Meanwhile, in a KTV on Temple Street.

“The target has completed the most critical part of the Yan Fu event and has obtained the right to end this Yan Fu event. If they choose to end it, your event is deemed a failure, and you will be returned instantly!”

“The target has refused to end this Yan Fu event.”

“Leaving your fate in another’s hands is the most foolish thing, Esteemed Walker.”

In the pink light, the man’s face looked awful, and he violently threw the glass in his hand.

Li Yan approached the fallen woman step by step. Her body, now devoid of a certain obsession, was rotting and stinking, the odor nauseating.

Li Yan took off his clothing and covered the upper half of the woman’s body. He then turned and opened the door to the inner room, where Xiu was curled up in a corner, her hands wrapped around her knees, her eyes hollow.

What shocked Li Yan was that the room was filled with five or six dismembered corpses, lying scattered about. The blood wasn’t dry yet, and there were signs of it being washed away.

Li Yan bent down to examine the drag marks on the floor. These people must have broken in during the night and then been killed by Xiu’s mother; and without a doubt, the one who dragged the bodies into the inner room, her clothes and hands stained with blood, was Xiu.

The damp, foul-smelling apartment, the mother turned fierce ghost lying motionless in a chair, the girl struggling to drag the corpses and meticulously cleaning the blood…

How could she not be aware of the strangeness of her mother, with whom she lived day and night?

“Are the guns from their bodies?” Li Yan walked over to the girl.

Xiu’s gaze was dull; she seemed not to hear Li Yan’s words.

Li Yan reached out to help the girl up, but she pushed him away violently.

Xiu was like an angry young beast, her eyes red and swollen, glaring fiercely at Li Yan.

Li Yan, not the least bit discouraged, extended his hand again. Xiu pounced, biting Li Yan’s hand viciously.

Li Yan knelt down, as Xiu’s bite drew blood from his hand. His face was expressionless, his right hand resting on the girl’s cold back.

“Come with me…”