Chapter 69 Empty Shell

Chen Pi Ah Si originally thought that Jiwei’s so-called “sight” was just her using her ears in place of her eyes, but her expression at this time really did make it seem like she was using those blind eyes to see.

It was like she could see something on the other side of the bridge through the stone slabs.

“There’s something on the bridge.”

“No shit. Isn’t Ah Xi’s lower body on top of the bridge?”

“That’s not it,” Jiwei said. “This thing is very vicious. It’s not human. It wants us all to die.”

Chen Pi Ah Si couldn’t help but look up as well, but the bridge naturally blocked his view. He then glanced back at the approaching Ah Xi and asked, “What is it? What’s the difference between you saying that and not seeing? Or better yet, tell me what happened to Ah Xi first.”

“Ah Xi is trying to force us to go up. But when we do, the thing on the bridge will attack us and make us like Ah Xi.”

Jiwei looked at the bridge and began to tremble, as if she could see all the details of that thing.

“What’s wrong?”

“It noticed that I could see it and was looking down at me,” Jiwei said.

“If this thing is so powerful, why hasn’t it come down and tried to kill us itself?”

“It can only stay on top of the bridge,” Jiwei said.

Chen Pi Ah Si continued to retreat. Ah Xi was very close to them, but it seemed that his waist couldn’t stretch any further, so he couldn’t get any closer. But then he began to move his lower body, changing his position so that he could continue to move towards Chen Pi Ah Si.

Chen Pi Ah Si knew that he couldn’t take the initiative to attack this kind of thing so easily. They didn’t know what it was, so they had to figure it out first.

He turned to look at one of his apprentices. The other man was so scared that he was already covered in a cold sweat, but the look in Chen Pi Ah Si’s eyes made him reflexively turn around and move to get behind Ah Xi’s back.

Ah Xi completely ignored the apprentice and continued to stare at Chen Pi Ah Si. When the apprentice arrived behind Ah Xi, Chen Pi Ah Si signaled to him with his eyes, and the apprentice rushed over and cut Ah Xi’s neck with a machete.

As soon as the machete sunk into the back of Ah Xi’s neck, the apprentice pulled it back out and frantically retreated a safe distance away.

Ah Xi’s neck now had a large wound.

Everyone observed it carefully, only to find that the wound wasn’t bleeding, and the inside actually appeared to be empty. Chen Pi Ah Si frowned. Could Ah Xi have turned into the empty shell of a walking corpse? Using a clever technique, Chen Pi Ah Si bounced the fire stick so that it landed in the wound on the back of Ah Xi’s neck.

This wasn’t something that could be directly thrown in; Chen Pi Ah Si had to throw it at the bottom of the bridge first so that it bounced off and landed in the wound on the back of Ah Xi’s neck.

As soon as it landed, Ah Xi’s body suddenly lit up like a lantern.

Chen Pi Ah Si looked carefully, his forehead covered in a cold sweat.

As soon as he saw the light in Ah Xi’s body, he knew right away that the other man’s flesh was gone. Ah Xi’s body was completely empty, but there appeared to be a black thing inside of it. Chen Pi Ah Si didn’t know if it was a snake or some kind of worm, but it was clearly entrenched in Ah Xi’s body and controlling his movements.

When the light from the fire stick revealed the shadow of the thing inside, Chen Pi Ah Si frowned. He felt that it wasn’t a snake, but something similar to a millipede or horsehair worm because the thing had long hairs on its body, which were supporting the shell of Ah Xi’s body.

Once he had a general idea of what this thing was, Chen Pi Ah Si’s killing intent immediately surged up. He pulled the hip flask from his waist, drank half of it in one gulp, and then took out three fire sticks. After lighting them all, he stuck them between his fingers, and then sprayed the mouthful of wine right at Ah Xi’s face.

The wine, which had a very high alcohol content, ended up all over Ah Xi’s face. Surprisingly enough, Ah Xi’s body still retained its conditioned reflexes, and his whole face scrunched up. In that brief moment, Chen Pi Ah Si had already swung past Ah Xi’s face and flicked the fire stick at him, immediately burning Ah Xi’s head.

Before anyone else could see clearly, the three fire sticks had set Ah Xi’s whole body on fire. “Bring out the torches,” Chen Pi Ah Si said to his subordinates.

<Chapter 68><Table of Contents><Chapter 70>

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Might not be an update tomorrow but want to give you all a heads up that I am trying to find a good place to pause Ghost Banquet and start Heavenly Palace. As of right now, we are 3 chapters behind NPSS and frankly, it’s a hassle having to copy/paste the raws in little spurts like I’ve been doing (and I’m sure Seph wants a break as well lol). I’d rather build up a backlog of chapters and truck through them at my own pace than have to wait for NPSS to write. He’s good at leaving us on cliffhangers each chapter though so I’m trying to find a good spot that isn’t too much of a cliffhanger. I’ll let you all know when I transition to Heavenly Palace if you want to drop out for a while and check back later for updates. Toodles~~