Chapter 49: Drenched in Blood

The inscribed great sword has this function as well?

A wave of pleasant surprise washed over me in my heart.

Old Qin had mentioned last time that this inscribed great sword possessed numerous functions waiting for me to discover. Could this be one of them?

Before long, the inscribed great sword had firmly bound the corpse of the Ghost Mother.

"Die!"

A heart-wrenching howl pierced the air. Not far away, the Ghost Mother sent Li Sanshui and Xu Wei flying with a single strike, then came hurtling toward me.

The remaining people threw themselves into my path, all attempting to hold the Ghost Mother back.

"I want all of you to die!"

Consumed by terrifying evil, the Ghost Mother unleashed a massive wave of force that swept across the crowd.

They were utterly powerless to defend themselves, knocked flat onto the ground one after another by the overwhelming power.

Once the Ghost Mother charged right up to me, I would find myself trapped and besieged from both front and rear!

What the hell kind of situation was this?

Controlling the sword with one hand, I drew a Demon-Suppressing Talisman with the other and hurled it at the Ghost Mother.

"Sizzle!"

Before the talisman could even get close to the Ghost Mother, it burst into spontaneous flames.

Its strength was simply too formidable. It was charging straight at me, yet I could not afford to retreat; the moment I withdrew the inscribed great sword, all the effort I had put in previously would go entirely to waste.

The Ghost Mother reached out a hand, and a palm formed from concentrated nether qi came hurtling toward me.

"Break!"

Just as I was preparing to take the Ghost Mother's blow head-on, a figure suddenly materialized before me—it was Xu Wei.

He intercepted the Ghost Mother's attack in my place.

Was this the art of escapism?

Xu Wei knew it too?

The Ghost Mother closed in aggressively. At that moment, Li Sanshui rushed over as well, and the two of them joined forces to keep the Ghost Mother contained.

The inscriptions on the great sword continuously eroded the Ghost Mother's corpse, causing it to shriek incessantly as it fought Xu Wei and Li Sanshui, its combat effectiveness seemingly impaired to a certain extent.

Wielding the inscribed great sword, I drove it deeper and deeper into the Ghost Mother's corpse.

Swish!

With a soft sound, I stabbed a massive hole right into the Ghost Mother's abdomen.

Nether qi surged within it, rapidly leaking out into the surroundings.

The immense ghost power whipped up a violent gale that swept toward everyone present.

"Fall back!"

Before the words could even leave my mouth, that gale blasted the group dozens of meters away, causing them to crash heavily onto the ground.

"Ah..."

Another bone-chilling shriek escaped the Ghost Mother's lips.

Beneath the cover of those agonizing screams, I could faintly hear the crying of an infant.

At that moment, fighting with reckless desperation, the Ghost Mother engaged Li Sanshui and Xu Wei in a brutal melee.

The two men and the single ghost locked into a chaotic, ferocious battle.

Fortunately, however, the Ghost Mother's combat prowess appeared to be growing weaker by the minute.

Its physical body had been destroyed, causing a severe backlash that dramatically plummeted its strength.

After spending roughly half an hour, Xu Wei and Li Sanshui managed to seal the Ghost Mother away through their combined efforts.

This fight had been bloody exhausting!

I was in a relatively better state, but Xu Wei's entire body was drenched in blood.

Li Sanshui had passed out cold, temporarily losing consciousness.

This ordeal was finally over.

In the east, a pale fish-belly white was beginning to show on the horizon, signaling that a brand-new day was about to dawn!

...

When we returned to the ancient capital, the old man and I immediately went to catch up on our sleep.

Counting the fierce battle from the previous night, I hadn't had a proper rest in nearly two or three days.

When I woke up in the afternoon, I was nudged awake by something.

Opening my eyes, I saw that large black dog constantly rubbing against my leg.

We hadn't returned the dog; instead, we had symbolically left five thousand yuan for Zhou Shunzi's widow.

To their family, this dog was just a common mongrel of virtually no monetary value, so five thousand yuan was already quite a generous sum.

The dog kept rubbing back and forth, probably because it was hungry.

I crawled out of bed, rummaged through the refrigerator for some leftover food, and tossed it into a makeshift bowl for the canine to eat first.

Common dogs weren't picky and were easy to raise.

The most crucial point was that mongrels were smart!

Taking advantage of the time the large black dog spent eating, I turned on my phone.

Li Yiran had sent me a message stating that the people from the 749 Bureau were treating everyone to a meal that evening to get together and settle my service fee into the bargain.

The moment I heard about settling the service fee, I perked right up.

Whether there was food or not didn't really matter; what couldn't you eat anywhere?

The message said we were supposed to arrive at seven in the evening. With two hours still left until then, I decided to head over a bit early since staying in the room was pretty boring anyway.

After waking the old man up, the two of us washed up and got ready to set off for our destination.

By then, it was around five o'clock in the afternoon. The 749 Bureau had booked a fairly decent hotel, and tonight's gathering was to be held right there.

When the old man and I arrived, Xu Wei from the 749 Bureau was sitting in the flowerbed outside the hotel, soaking up the sun.

In the late autumn season, the sunlight felt warm and pleasant against the skin.

"Kid, you're here?"

Xu Wei stood up, holding a somewhat favorable impression of me. "Seeing that your skills are quite good, have you ever considered joining our 749 Bureau?"

Was he extending an invitation to me?

I shook my head. "I'm used to being free and easy; I don't like being tied down."

That was the truth, and besides, I was still a student. If I went to work for the 749 Bureau, what would happen to my education?

Actually, when it came to going to university, it wasn't strictly mandatory.

Everyone had their own path. For others, attending college, finding a romantic partner, and landing a decent job after graduation was the norm.

But for me, university was pretty much optional; after all, I wouldn't be making a living based on my college major after graduation.

Still, my grandfather really wanted me to get a university diploma.

The old man had once said that our Jiang family hadn't produced any scholars for generations, with most of us being essentially illiterate. Getting more education could only be a good thing.

Therefore, even though I frequently had to ask for leave, I hadn't abandoned my studies, nor did I harbor any thoughts of dropping out—consider it fulfilling my grandfather's dying wish, of sorts.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're even being picky now. Let me tell you, our 749 Bureau rarely recruits newcomers from the outside. Countless people try to send their descendants into our 749 Bureau for training, only to be rejected by us. Don't go regretting this, kid."

A trace of embarrassment flickered across Xu Wei's face.

Who was he? His personal invitation had actually been turned down.

"Team Leader Xu, I wanted to ask—that escapism technique you used back then, could you teach it to me?" I hurriedly shifted the topic. If we kept talking about that, I'd probably end up offending him.

"You're overthinking it. What I used wasn't standard escapism, but blood-escapism," Xu Wei replied.

Blood-escapism?

Was there any real difference?

What a pain, why did he have to be so pedantic about the details?

Noticing my confusion, Xu Wei continued to explain, "True escapism arts have long been lost. Only a handful of people still know them, and far from teaching us, they wouldn't even deign to glance in our direction. As for the blood-escapism I use, it exacts a price in blood."

"That trick is terribly harmful to the body. Why do you think I was covered in blood yesterday? That was the price paid for using blood-escapism, and it almost made me vomit blood and die. If you insist on learning it, you'd better consider the consequences."

Xu Wei looked at me with a serious expression as he spoke.