Chapter 22: The Great War Against the White-Haired Demon

  I didn't sleep well all night, but neither White Hair Monster nor Second Uncle came back.

  The next morning, I was still feeling dizzy and someone suddenly knocked on the door.

  "Second daughter! Xiao Yu! Open the door!" It was Big Uncle's voice. My little sister and I quickly went out to open the door.

  "Uncle, how did you come back again?" Yesterday, Uncle's whole family ran away, I thought he couldn't come back anymore. Looking at his back, there were actually two people dressed like Taoist priests. These two people, one young and one old, had fair skin and piercing eyes, they looked like cultivators.

  "Xiao Yu, I've thought it through. If we can't cure your Second Uncle, where can we escape to and be safe from that evil spirit? We were born here, grew up here, this is our home, our house and land are here, if we leave here, we won't survive..." Second Uncle's expression was very helpless, the two Taoist priests behind him exchanged a glance with each other, without any expression.

  "Doll, aren't you going to tell us what's going on here? How can we help you, right?" The older Taoist priest stared at my eyes intensely.

  "Daozhang, hello... it's like this..." I told them about the experience of driving out evil spirits with Second Uncle at Hong Laoban's house, and the strange phenomena over the past few days, all the way to Daozhang Xuanclear's death, as well as what happened yesterday.

  "Oh? It seems that your Second Uncle is indeed possessed by a ghost, possibly because his own Taoist powers have not completely lost control of his evil nature, so he didn't harm you. But that white-haired demon killed Master Xuancheng with one palm, truly a malevolent being that must be eliminated! Boundless Heavenly Lord!" The two Taoist priests looked at each other and then glanced inside the main hall.

  "I don't know where that white-haired monster went to find it? Doll, do you know its whereabouts? We'll wait for it here, if it doesn't come or sees us and runs away, we still can't catch it!" Dao Chang said a lot of things, if they couldn't catch it and provoked it instead, it would come back to take revenge on them.

  "There is a haunted cave behind our mountain, where two students went missing the other day and only one came back alive. From her description, it's exactly the same as the monster I saw yesterday. And my second aunt also dreamed of that monster, I think that haunted cave must be the lair of the White Haired Monster!" Through these recent events, I am more convinced than ever of my judgment.

  "Alright, let's not delay! Doll, you lead the way again and bring your talisman. The four of us will go now, excluding him. It's noon now, when his powers are at their weakest due to the strong yang energy!" Indeed, yin ghosts usually only come out at night because they fear the daytime yang energy and sunlight.

  "Alright, Daozhang, I'll take you there now!" I said, bringing the second uncle's Bagua mirror and the Town Soul Nail out of the gate.

  "Brother, uncle, be careful!" Little sister went out of the gate and seemed about to cry.

  "Don't worry, little sister! We'll definitely get rid of that monster and come back to perform an exorcism for Second Uncle. With the four of us, you can rest assured. Quickly close the big gate and go back inside!" For Little Sister's and Second Aunt's sake, I'll fight it out with that monster.

  The Ghost Cave is just behind the Second Uncle's house, about ten or twenty miles north. The four of us were walking, and it was still a fine day with gentle breeze and sunshine, but suddenly a strong gust of wind blew in, bringing thick dark clouds that seemed to press down on us. As the dark clouds gradually closed in above our heads, they strangely formed a character for "death"!

  The older Taoist hastily took out his compass and looked at the needle spinning rapidly on it.

  "Not good! Now is the perfect time for yin year, yin month, and yin hour, the ultimate moment of yin energy, my junior brother! Our trip will be fraught with danger and little auspiciousness! Infinite Heavenly Venerable!" The old Daoist gazed at me, seemingly pondering something.

  "Senior brother! That Xuan Qing Dao Zhang is an old acquaintance of mine, let alone us cultivators should be thinking for the sake of all living beings under heaven. If we pass by today and he escapes, where else can we find him?" The older Dao Zhang nodded in agreement.

  "Alright! Since that's the case, let's have a showdown with that white-haired demon, even if we die, it won't be in vain for this life of fame!" Listening to these two Daoist priests talking, I'm getting more and more anxious. It seems that these two Daoist priests don't have much confidence either.

  "Daozhang, what kind of monster is the White Haired Fiend after all? Is it really that formidable?" The elder also became fearful and asked the old Daoist with doubt.

  "This white-haired ghost is originally an evil spirit in the mountains, a half-ghost and half-spirit entity. It was born from the dark and gloomy energy of resentment, with extremely yin properties, feeding on the yang energy of humans, absorbing and refining its magical powers. Some ghosts have even cultivated for thousands of years, mysterious and unpredictable, extremely dangerous!" The Taoist priest said, taking out a spiritual talisman and sticking it onto the compass, only to see the needle pointing directly towards the ghost cave.

  At this time, a line of people had approached the ghost cave. In front of them was a desolate burial ground, with some tombs even exposing coffin corners. This burial ground was said to have been left over from the Qing dynasty and had no descendants to worship for a long time, so it had been deserted for a very long time. The whole place was littered with broken stones and residual tombstones, and in some grass clumps, human skulls were even exposed from the grave pits.

  As we walked further forward for about half a mile, the terrain suddenly changed. From the mountain slope full of graves, there was only one road leading down to a sunken valley, which seemed dark and gloomy with little sunlight. We followed the valley downwards, barely seeing human figures in the distance. As we looked closer, we saw a cave entrance ahead. The entrance was cluttered with all sorts of human skeletons, big and small, including those of adults and children, with some showing signs of claw marks from sharp claws, sending chills down our spines.

  "Everyone be careful! Get your defensive objects ready, the two of us will go first, you follow behind. If we can't handle it, quickly run back and find someone to help!" The older Daoist handed each of us a talisman and stuck it on our bodies.

  Inside the cave, I couldn't see my fingers when I stretched out my hand. I quickly turned on my flashlight, and a faint cool breeze blew against me, making my bones feel chilled. Just then, the compass in Dao Zhang's hand suddenly spun rapidly, almost becoming a blur, with the needle invisible.

  "Be careful here, everyone!" The old Daoist held the peach wood sword in his right hand and the Bagua mirror in his left. The young Daoist held a rope in his left hand and a bell in his right. I was holding the Bagua mirror, while Big Brother was far behind us, shining a flashlight and holding a peach wood stick.

  Just as the four of us were looking around, a black shadow suddenly darted out, and it was that white-haired ghost. The speed of the white-haired ghost was extremely fast, and in a flash, it disappeared again, leaving only the sound of the wind whistling at the entrance of the cave. The hearts of the four people all rose to their throats, and not one of them dared to make a sound.

  Suddenly, the white-haired ghost flashed towards us again, and we four people stood back-to-back ready to meet the enemy.

  "Ah!" A mournful cry escaped me as I turned around to see that one of the three people behind us was missing, leaving only two Taoist priests. My uncle was gone!

  "Uncle!" I was suddenly very scared and worried about Uncle.

  "Don't make a sound, be careful! This white-haired demon is very cunning, he wants to kill us one by one!" The old Daoist raised his peach wood sword, ready to face the enemy, while the young Daoist leaned against my back, I could feel his sweat had already soaked through his clothes.

  At this time, the old Taoist took out a row of talismans, recited an incantation, and the row of talismans actually lined up on the peach wood sword. As he spoke, the talismans emitted dazzling flames, illuminating the entire cave. At this moment, a black shadow flashed in front, and the old Taoist hastily flew after it, disappearing from sight in an instant.

  "Monster! Where are you going!" The Daoist priest seemed to have tracked down the White Haired Demon with a tracking spell. I and the young Daoist priest hurriedly ran over following the sound, and at this time saw that the old Daoist priest's black wood sword was stuck in the White Haired Demon's belly, while the White Haired Demon was tightly choking his neck. The young Daoist priest saw the situation and hastily raised his peach wood sword, just about to stab it, but was kicked in the head by the White Haired Demon and heavily fell onto a big rock beside, spitting out a big mouthful of blood——dead!

  I was shocked and frightened, but I plucked up my courage. I thought of Second Uncle, Second Aunt, and Little Sister's safety, oh no! I didn't care about anything else anymore. I took out the Soul-anchoring Nail from my sleeve and stabbed it towards his head. The White-haired Ghost saw the nail in my hand and seemed to be extremely afraid, hurriedly turning his head to dodge. At this time, Daozhang's mouth had already spat out fresh blood, but he hadn't died yet.

  "Hurry! Stab his temples, stab his temples!" The old Taoist master forced out the words, spitting out fresh blood from the corner of his mouth. He continued to frantically poke at the White Haired Demon's body with his peach wood sword. The demon had one hand grasping the Taoist master's hand and was about to grab me with the other. Just then, the Taoist master suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood that landed squarely on the demon's face. The blood seemed like sulfuric acid as it emitted white smoke from the demon's face, causing him to let out a pained wail. I was shocked by the scene before me and stood there frozen in place.

  "Dolly! What are you waiting for?" The old Taoist priest shouted loudly.

  I came to my senses, picked up the Town Soul Nail and inserted it into the Bai Mao Jiao's temple with all my might. "Puchi!" I used all my strength to insert it, and a green liquid flowed out from inside. At this time, the White Haired Jiao suddenly inflated its body like crazy, its two arms shook violently, and I and the old Taoist were blown away in an instant.

  At this time, the white-haired ghost rushed towards me again, with both hands tightly grasping my neck. I couldn't breathe and my vision went black, about to faint. Suddenly, the jade gourd on my neck emitted a purple glow, and the white-haired ghost saw the gourd on my neck, let out a strange cry, closed its eyes, and loosened its grip.

  The white-haired Taoist flew away like a madman, and I looked into the cave to see that the old Taoist priest had been choked and was motionless, but still breathing. However, my uncle and the young Taoist priest were already dead.

  "Uncle! It's all my fault, I shouldn't have told you these things!" I burst into tears, and to my surprise, Uncle was still staring at me with his eyes open. I quickly closed them for him with my hand.

  "Quickly! That white-haired Taoist priest is seriously injured, we should hurry back to the village to get someone to help him. I'm seriously injured and can't hold on, let's go quickly!" The old Taoist priest turned his head to look at the young Taoist priest and shook his head in distress.

  "Great Heaven! You died for the sake of eradicating evil and protecting the Tao, it was worth it. Let's go!" The old Daoist said, finishing his words, he took off his own Daoist robe and covered the young Daoist's face with it.

  "After a fierce battle, the White Haired Demon didn't die, he's now heavily injured and becoming more frenzied by the minute. I don't have much spiritual energy left, we need to hurry back and take a look, if he runs into the village and hurts people, the consequences will be unthinkable." The old Daoist's words reminded me. I endured the intense pain on my body and hastily followed the Daoist towards the village.