Chapter 49: About Some Real Fairy Tales
In ancient times, Jiang Taigong fished, and those willing were caught.
Now Jiang Ce fishes for ghosts, with a straight hook and salty bait.
Jiang Ce sat on a stone stool, hugging his legs, watching every move beneath the murky water.
Although his vision was obstructed, he could roughly judge the situation below by the degree of churning on the water’s surface and the intensity of the malevolence.
By covering his eyes with spiritual energy, Jiang Ce’s vision was filled with dense points of light, each representing an active vengeful spirit.
This corpse-raising ground, several times larger than Red Terrace Manor, even had abnormally ferocious low-level spirits.
In Jiang Ce’s perception, there were not even ordinary ghosts.
Or perhaps there were, but they had already been devoured by other vengeful spirits.
The quantity and quality were both astonishing.
Fortunately, with the Soul Soothing Technique as his trump card, Jiang Ce sat steadily like a fisherman benefiting from the conflict between the snipe and the clam.
However, having learned from past experience, Jiang Ce also worried that besides these vengeful spirits, whose power levels were too high to discern, there might be other, even more terrifying existences. Thus, his attention remained taut, and he dared not slacken in the slightest.
He was not sure if the demise of the male homosexual ghost at that time was caused by him.
The sample size was too small to guarantee that he could reproduce the result of an underdog victory.
The worst-case scenario was to reap some benefits and then flee, calling for backup later via White Talisman and leaving it to those capable to handle.
While considering, Jiang Ce glanced out of the corner of his eye at the water ghost pinned to the ground by the Peach Wood Sword.
It was charred black, emaciated, no more than 1.4 meters tall, like a mummified corpse after being roasted by fire. If it wore a green hat, it would bear some resemblance to a Kappa.
However, its appearance of having a human body and a fish head was somewhat mentally polluting.
Swollen eyeballs, no nose or ears, and a lipless mouth that split to its earlobes, filled with fine, sharp teeth, reminded Jiang Ce of the story of the nun and the fish.
“So perverted,” Jiang Ce shook his head, extended his leg, and kicked the water ghost’s corpse, along with the Peach Wood Sword, into the water, waiting for it to be devoured by Aatrox.
As time passed, the water surface gradually became calm.
In the enemy-seeking vision that Jiang Ce used to perceive malevolence, which he called the “bad-guy radar,” the originally dense points of light had converged into a single, massive light source.
The light source grew increasingly dazzling and expanded at an extremely fast speed, but at the moment it reached its peak, it suddenly collapsed inward, like a fleeting flash, disappearing into darkness before it could bloom with immense radiance.
Jiang Ce showed a happy expression, just like the vengeful spirit from before, it had died again!
These ghosts and monsters this time were different from the last; Jiang Ce couldn’t even discern their strength. Conservatively, they were all Sixth Rank or above. The power Aatrox collected was enough for him to reach Sixth Rank.
Furthermore, in a few more days, he would be able to reset his cooldown and begin Visualization again, at which point he might have a chance at Fifth Rank!
Fifth Rank represented a qualitative leap for a Jianghu Magician, but unfortunately, the author of Great Shamatha was also a Riddler, only saying, “The profound mysteries within cannot be told to outsiders.” Thus, he could only comprehend it himself upon reaching that Realm.
I’ve gained so much! So much! I thought it was a small treasure, but it turned out to be a freebie!
But just as Jiang Ce was rejoicing, from the darkness, a cold edge flashed—
A wisp of cold light arrived first, then the blade emerged like a dragon!
A silver-white killing intent appeared behind Jiang Ce’s head. By the time he sensed the icy chill like a mid-winter wind, it was already too late to dodge.
Ding—!
Like the clash of fine steel, after a piercing hum, Jiang Ce, who was sitting upright, was violently thrown forward by the inertia, his upper body inclining sharply. His lower body remained on the stool, and he fell face-first into the dirt, his entire face buried in the soil.
He was not doing well at this moment. Not only was he ambushed, but the attacker had also used lethal force, aiming to kill him.
The Golden Bell Shield protected against impact but not against shock. The resounding roar of the immense force continuously vibrated Jiang Ce’s eardrums. His head was dazed, and his hearing was temporarily impaired, leaving him unable to hear anything but a “buzzing” sound in both ears.
The attacker did not expect that Jiang Ce would not have his head lopped off in one blow, and a flicker of shock appeared in their eyes.
As an elite cadre of the Gluttonous Ghost’s assassination department, although their direct combat strength was mediocre, when it came to assassination, the principle was: within the same tier, I am invincible. Above the same tier, if I dare to make a move, I can trade one for one!
But time waits for no one. Failing the attack, the assailant did not linger. They sheathed their short blade, firmly gripped their right hand, which had gone numb from the shock, and then dived into the water. When Jiang Ce dazedly got up and looked ahead, he saw only scattered splashes of water.
Jiang Ce grinned and touched the back of his head, his expression suddenly changing drastically.
“Who? Who the hell ambushed me? You almost scraped the skin off the back of my head!”
While touching the slight, burning indentation on his scalp, Jiang Ce glared at the water surface.
“Did a big black rat sneak in? Damn villain!”
Jiang Ce wanted to chase in, but he was a little hesitant. This level of sneak attack clearly showed it was premeditated, meaning they had been lurking nearby for quite some time without him noticing at all, which indicated their strength was definitely superior to his.
The fact that he managed to escape this ordeal was mainly due to the Golden Bell Shield. If he were to face them head-on, while he might not be slaughtered like a pig, he also wouldn’t be able to effectively counter them. Moreover, if such an attack happened a few more times, although he wouldn’t sustain severe injuries, it would be incredibly uncomfortable.
What’s more, the most important point was that the water was too dirty, and he couldn’t overcome the psychological burden.
“I’ll just wait for you here. It’d be best if I catch you. I’ll rip off your hood, you son of a bitch!”
Jiang Ce sat back down on the stone stump, rubbing the back of his head, which was starting to feel sore and swollen as his senses returned, and uttered vicious threats.
In his entire career, he had never suffered such a significant loss!
But after waiting for a long time, Jiang Ce saw no ripple on the water’s surface and began to suspect, “Could they have drowned in there?”
Jiang Ce, with his jumping thoughts, suddenly remembered the middle-aged woman who fell into a cesspool and was “full” after two minutes as if she were slurping porridge. He let out an untimely laugh.
And just at this moment, the water level in the foundation pit suddenly dropped.
A whirlpool inexplicably appeared in the center of the water’s surface, and the muddy water was rapidly sucked in. As the water was gradually drained, the entire foundation pit was revealed to Jiang Ce.
At the bottom of the four-to-five-meter deep foundation pit, another large hole appeared, resembling a funnel, about ten meters deep. Below that was a cave, the full extent of which couldn’t be seen at a glance, but countless white bones were vaguely visible, piled haphazardly, exuding a sinister and eerie resentment.
Jiang Ce had never witnessed such a scene and couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine, gasping in a cold breath.
Before he could react, a massive dark shadow shot out from below.
It was an unnameable monster.
It resembled a flood dragon, but even more so a centipede.
It was entirely black, measuring eight to nine meters in length. Nine human heads were crammed together at the front, like swollen tumors. A dense arrangement of human limbs lined both sides of its body. The body was equally thick from front to back, as if a human torso had been stretched infinitely long. Just looking at it made Jiang Ce’s scalp tingle.
If a human torso with a fish head was considered mental pollution, then this human centipede was an artwork that transcended the human realm.
Above the human centipede, the person who had sneak-attacked Jiang Ce was performing hand seals, seated atop it, looking down at Jiang Ce with indifference.
Jiang Ce, who had been waiting to settle the score, couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated upon seeing this.
Riding this thing out felt a bit like cheating, didn’t it?
But that person seemed unwilling to waste time. After merely glancing at Jiang Ce, they steered the human centipede and disappeared into the night sky.
Seeing that the other party was leaving just like that, Jiang Ce felt a mixture of relief and a slight disappointment, his emotions complex.
He gazed in the direction the man and the monster had disappeared, lost in thought, and murmured:
“Fairy tales are real. Christmas… no, the Old Man of the Farm gave me a stab and then flew away in his Ni Tou Car.”
