Chapter 2: Eighth Rank Ghost Object

  As I raised my head and made a run for it, a chilling wail suddenly came from in front of me. I abruptly lifted my head to take a closer look, oh my god!

  A monster shrouded in bloody gauze appeared before my eyes, its eyes like two blood holes, with tattered and torn gray gauze draped over its head. It raised its arm and swung the gray, Taoist-robe-like garment, its face twisted into a grotesque grimace as it stared at me, a wave of nauseating, pungent odor wafting towards me like swirling smoke.

  "What... what kind of monster are you?"

  "Ah! Get out!"

  The next moment, I shouted loudly, feeling as if my jumping heart could burst out at any time.

  "Wooo——"

  "Hehe——Hehe——"

  The dreadful monster, on hearing my voice, instead wailed even more mournfully. His bloodless and withered hand stretched out to me from afar, and suddenly a chill ran through my entire body.

  In a state of panic, I don't know why, but after seeing this ghostly thing, I somehow gave birth to a kind of familiar yet strange illusion. However, it's not the time to consider these illusions now.

  "Ahh! A ghost!!!"

  When I saw such a monster, my first reaction was that he must be an evil spirit. Every day I see the old man practicing Taoism and listening to his lectures on the Tao. Now it's my turn to encounter the real thing, and my original stance of not believing in ghosts and gods has collapsed instantly. At this moment, I really regret not bringing some ghost-catching tools with me, even if I could bring some of the ugly talismans I often draw, that would be good too. But now I have nothing with me, and those superficial ghost-catching techniques I learned are also forgotten in the shock of this moment, how can I use them? For now, there is only one way to go - run!

  No sooner said than done, I turned around and ran away. At this moment, I really wished I had two more legs to run with.

  One side was desperately fleeing, while the other turned around from time to time to glance at the situation behind. And this ghost thing, it floated in mid-air, seemingly very calm and unhurriedly chasing me, no matter how fast I ran, it always kept a distance of over ten steps from me. Especially when I heard its miserable wailing sound, I was so scared that my liver and gallbladder were splitting apart. What wailing sound is this? This is clearly a death curse!

  At this moment, I really regret my blind self-confidence and arrogance. In my heart, I secretly vowed that if I had the chance to return, I would definitely study and learn from the old man's ghost-catching methods. This time, I admit defeat, I lost with humility.

  I didn't know how long I had been running, until I was so exhausted that my legs couldn't move anymore. It wasn't until I turned around and couldn't see that terrifying ghostly thing that I finally collapsed to the ground, like a dying goldfish, panting heavily.

  "Damn old man! I thought he was just joking with me, but it turns out that there are indeed unclean things in the middle of the night! Mother egg, what should I do now?" In this strange environment, I feel like a small wooden boat drifting in the stormy sea, so helpless and fragile.

  I look around, trying to find a barrier that I can rely on in this unfamiliar environment. But what disappoints me is that apart from those eerie-looking mounds of earth, there's nothing but grass and trees...

  "Damn it!" With no hope left, I felt extremely sorrowful and desperate. My empty eyes stared at a distant grave with a standing stone monument.

  It's strange to say, in this dark night without moonlight, I shouldn't have seen such a stele. But for some reason, perhaps the stele was too eye-catching, or perhaps my eyes were really good, I saw it clearly.

  "It's really funny, I didn't expect this unowned empty tomb would also have a stone monument erected..."

  "Huh?"

  "No way!" I suddenly realized something.

  "Didn't the old man tell me to copy the names on the stone tablet? Could it be that the stone tablet he mentioned is actually here?"

  "It can't be wrong! The old man said that there is only one tomb with a stone monument here."

  Thinking of this, although I was exhausted and had no strength left, I was also afraid that the ghost would come after me again. However, staying here wasn't a solution either, so I got up and walked over to take a look.

  As I walked closer, I found that this mound was indeed unique. Within a radius of 50 meters around the mound, there were no other mounds nearby, making it a solitary grave. In front of this solitary grave, a huge stone monument stood upright, looking extremely unusual.

  Strange, isn't it said that the tombs on the mountain are all empty? Why is this tomb mound erected with a stone tablet? Is there really someone buried here?

  I suddenly thought of another question, how did the old man know that there was a tomb with a stone monument here? Could it be that this old guy had also been here before?

  Thinking and thinking, I feel my brain is in a mess. Shaking my head, I try not to think about these messy things anymore. Since I've come to the stone monument, didn't that old man tell me to use this "Yinbing Ce" to record the names on the monument? Now that I'm here, I might as well do it, anyway, it won't take much time. Who knows, if I can make it out alive, then I won't have lost to him.

  No choice, who made me develop this strong mentality since I was young, even at this time, I still care about the trivial matter of winning or losing.

  I bent down and carefully observed the names engraved on the tombstone. But when I made out the words on the tombstone, I felt that my entire face had already turned deathly pale at this moment...

  "What's going on here? What is Grandpa up to?"

  On the huge stone monument, only three big characters were engraved. These three neat and tidy characters are a person's name, and this name is actually - Tu Bu Fan!

  The man is not dead, yet he's building his own tomb! What on earth is this old codger thinking? For some reason, I, who couldn't grasp the situation, suddenly sensed a hint of unease. This unease was even stronger than what I felt when I encountered that ghostly creature earlier.

  At this moment, I really want to rush back home and ask the old man in person what this is all about.

  To be honest, after seeing these three words clearly, I didn't plan to write them in the Yinbing Book. However, a hint of competitiveness in my heart made me take out the Yinbing Book and pen from my pocket, and neatly wrote the three big characters "Tu Bu Fan" on the first blank page of the Yinbing Book.

  What made me incredulous was that just as I finished writing these three big characters, the blank paper suddenly emitted a dead gray light. This sudden burst of light appeared like a beam of light illuminating the dark night sky. Looking up at the sky, the three gray characters "屠不凡" were so eye-catching.

  "This..."

  I was completely stunned. At this moment, I was like a fool, staring at the three gray big characters in mid-air, and my brain was in a state of complete blankness.

  Before I could even react, the gray text in mid-air began to fade away, and on top of that empty space, an old man's face with brown spots appeared. After the old man's face took shape, on the dark soldier register that emitted the glowing text, below the three characters "Tu Bu Fan", some eerie information suddenly appeared...

  Butcher Fan

  Rank: 8th Rank of the Demon King's Ghost Objects

  Type: (Unknown)

  Ability (Unknown......)

  Status (in self-protection mode) cannot be summoned

  ……

  "What the heck is going on? How did Grandpa, who was perfectly fine, become an eighth-level ghost king in this book? And what's with not being able to summon him? What kind of nonsense is this?"

  What happened tonight was a bit too sudden, in other words, it seemed a bit off! After some thought, I suddenly remembered that when I encountered that terrifying ghost earlier, the ghost's demeanor, its eerie behavior, especially the gray Taoist robe it wore, had a few surprising similarities with the old man!

  "Grandpa?!"

  I suddenly felt that something terrible was about to happen! Without thinking much, I quickly closed the Yinbing book and put it back in my pocket, then rushed towards the place where the old man and I lived...