Chapter 25: The Cursed Effigy Again
Xiao Nanfeng raised his head. The interior of the hall was dark, and strange gray fog seemed to be omnipresent. He couldn't peer into the depths of the hall.
"Master? I'm Nanfeng. I apologize for the disturbance!" Xiao Nanfeng announced respectfully.
However, no response came from within the fog.
Xiao Nanfeng was stepping forward when he suddenly halted, his eyes wide. He had come into the hall with a huge sack containing two people, but that sack was now gone!
No, that wasn't right. Xiao Nanfeng suddenly discovered two people beside him: Tang and Chen Hai. Hadn't they been in the sack? Now, however, they seemed to have just awakened. They rubbed their eyes as they stood beside him. Even Chen Hai, whom he knew he had crippled, seemed to be uninjured again.
"An illusion?!" Xiao Nanfeng guessed what was going on almost immediately.
Beside him, Tang and Chen Hai suddenly noticed Xiao Nanfeng's presence.
"You!" Tang shouted.
"You brat, I was too careless! I'll definitely defeat you this time around!" Chen Hai shouted fiercely.
"Are you that shameless? Accept your defeat with dignity," Xiao Nanfeng retorted. Neither of the others seemed to have discovered that they were in an illusion.
Xiao Nanfeng's eyes suddenly widened again as he noticed a faint black figure emerging from the mist, growing ever closer. The next moment, its identity became clear: a bleached white skeleton surrounded by black fog.
"What's this doing here again?!" Xiao Nanfeng's face grew taut with fear. Wasn't this the cursed effigy that he had destroyed during the recruitment test?
Had it really revived? What could he do now?
"Master, Master! Where are you? Save me!" Xiao Nanfeng ignored Tang and Chen Hai as he ran into the depths of the fog.
"Haha, you know how frightening we are now, don't you?" Chen Hai roared in laughter. "Tang, let's give chase!"
"Hold on, what's going on? Didn't Nanfeng cripple your arms and legs? How could you have recovered so quickly?" Tang asked in surprise.
"Hmm?" Chen Hai stilled for a moment.
By then, the bleached white skeleton had appeared behind the two men, right by their backs, but neither of them had noticed a thing.
"What's going on? Why does the back of my head suddenly feel cold?" Tang froze.
"You idiots, run! Are you trying to kill yourselves?!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted from afar.
He hadn't wanted to save them; rather, he couldn't find a way out of the illusion, and having some additional support during such a dangerous encounter would only help him.
Tang and Chen Hai, hearing Xiao Nanfeng's shouts, suddenly seemed to sense something. As they turned their heads, they found themselves face to face with a huge skull, almost plastered against them. The two men cried out in shock. "Ghost!"
They stumbled back in fright. The skeleton raked at them with two sharp claws. One missed, but the other tore a chunk of flesh off of Chen Hai's arm.
"Argh!" Chen Hai clutched his arm in pain as he continued to retreat.
"What's this?!" Tang cried out.
The two men ran away furiously, occasionally turning back to glance at the skeleton that was standing still where they had found it.
"I understand now—this is an illusion! There's no other reason for how quickly your bones healed," Tang exclaimed. "And I know what that skeleton is now. It's the cursed effigy that appeared during the recruitment test and killed nine prospective recruits a month ago!"
"That cursed effigy?!" Chen Hai's face blanched.
The effigy had been killing recruits left and right, and even Elder Ku hadn't been able to do anything about it. Is it our turn to die?
"It moved!" Chen Hai shrieked.
The skeleton flashed toward Xiao Nanfeng in the blink of an eye, so fast it almost looked as though it were teleporting.
Tang's face fell. Who could match its speed?
Xiao Nanfeng, sensing the cold air gathering around him, knew that the skeleton was coming. He turned toward it and saw its sharp claws about to hit his back. Instinctively, he manipulated his spiritual power and formed a barrier around himself.
The skeleton's claws knocked Xiao Nanfeng flying, but thanks to the spiritual power protecting his body, he hadn't sustained an injury.
However, Xiao Nanfeng's supply of spiritual power was limited, and he wouldn't be able to hold out for long. Could he run? No, he couldn't beat the skeleton's speed!
Instead, he headed straight toward Tang and Chen Hai.
Tang and Chen Hai: ???
The skeleton slowly turned its head, staring coldly toward Xiao Nanfeng.
"Stay away, you idiot! Scram!" Tang shouted.
"The skeleton can kill all three of us," Xiao Nanfeng shouted. "Rather than let it do so, why don't we work together and get rid of it together? If you don't want to die, listen up!"
"Ha! As if I'd ever listen to the likes of you!" Tang replied, glaring.
Just then, the skeleton flashed behind Chen Hai.
Its claws pierced through his back, and the bloody claw tips emerged out of his chest.
"N-No!" Chen Hai vomited out a mouthful of fresh blood with a flabbergasted expression.
The skeleton sucked at his body, which transformed into a cloud of fog that the skeleton swallowed.
He was dead! Tang was certain that Chen Hai had just perished.
Xiao Nanfeng hesitated, as did Tang. He understood very well that those who were killed by the cursed effigy here would perish in real life, too.
"I was wrong. I'll listen to you. Please help me!" Tang shouted.
"We'll suppress it together!" Xiao Nanfeng pounced forward and grabbed onto the skeleton's neck. Like last time, he expelled spiritual power via his hands and tried to snap the skeleton's neck to end this nightmare.
Tang immediately obeyed Xiao Nanfeng's command without thinking about it, hugging the skeleton tightly with both arms.
However, last time, it had taken twenty recruits working together to barely hold the skeleton down. Tang and Xiao Nanfeng's strength alone would be far from sufficient.
With a huge bang, the skeleton broke free of Xiao Nanfeng and Tang's grips, then sent them flying.
"No, that didn't work! Senior Brother Nanfeng, what do we do now?" Tang cried.
The skeleton's head turned toward the two of them again.
"Senior Brother Nanfeng, you managed to save everyone last time, didn't you? Can't you repeat that feat again? If you save me, I'll confess everything, everything!" Tang grabbed onto Xiao Nanfeng's sleeve as though it were a life preserver.
Xiao Nanfeng pursed his lips. In order to live, Tang had immediately given up on all his pride.
"Good luck, I suppose. I can't do anything myself. We'll both run and see who gets lucky." Xiao Nanfeng shook his head and ran off.
His spiritual power might not be able to hurt the skeleton, but he would be able to protect himself temporarily. As long as he managed to contact his master before he ran out of spiritual energy, he would be fine. Dragging another burden with him would only slow him down.
"No, Senior Brother! Wait for me! I want to go with you!" Tang cried out, chasing madly after him.
"What? I thought you were going to kill yourself after I discovered your deception! If you don't even fear death, how could you fear this skeleton? Hey, what are you doing? I told you not to chase after me!" Xiao Nanfeng glared at Tang, who had caught up to him and was running together alongside him.
Tang cried out, "It's a misunderstanding, Senior Brother! That wasn't a suicide pill, but rather a pill of false death I got from a senior in the demonic sect! If we're caught, as long as we consume this pull, we'll suddenly enter a state of false death. We'd be neglected once it was found that we had 'died', and my seniors would do their best to rescue our 'corpses'. I don't want to die, Senior Brother Nanfeng! Please, save me!"
A pill of false death?" Xiao Nanfeng was shocked that Tang had such a potion on hand.
"I do have a means of getting out of here, but why should I tell you?" Xiao Nanfeng lied.
"I was wrong, Senior Brother! I might not know many of the people who infiltrated the Taiqing sect, but I have a list of names right here! If I give it to you, will you help me escape? Please, Senior Brother!"
Tang cried out. As they talked, the skeleton made its way behind them.
Just as it was about to swipe at the two of them with sharp claws, a black figure suddenly rushed out of the mist and shot toward the skeletal figure.
It smashed into the skeleton, but not only was it unable to cause any injury, the skeleton sent it flying with a raised arm. As it fell, it exposed a bloody face; sawtooth-like teeth; and decomposing claws.
"Hmm?" Xiao Nanfeng was visibly shocked. Wasn't this one of the zombie-like demons that his master had summoned during the trial?
The guqin suddenly rang out from a distance. The dark demon rose up from the ground once more, pouncing toward the skeleton. Even more of its brethren spawned from all around, striking the skeleton from every direction.
These demons were no mere illusions, and they had physical form within the illusion. As they smashed into the skeleton once and again, they finally managed to surround it.
Tang was shocked by the sight.
"Master!" Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
The gray fog slowly faded away as a short, squat table appeared within sight. Elder Ku was playing his beloved guitar, his eyes closed.
As the sound of the guqin grew louder, even more demons appeared. Although the skeleton's sharp claws could tear apart each individual ghost, they flooded him to such an extent that he was rapidly swamped. Hugged tightly by countless demons, the skeleton was rendered immobile within moments.
The guqin continued to play. The skeleton tried to struggle, but to no avail.
"Thank you for saving us, Master!" Xiao Nanfeng wheezed, bowing.
However, Tang didn't feel any relief at all. It might be worse for him to end up in Elder Ku's hands than the sect master's.
Elder Ku ignored Xiao Nanfneng and continued playing the guqin.
"It's been a few decades, but I've finally caught you!" Elder Ku's voice was tinged with excitement.
Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the skeleton that had been bogged down by Elder Ku's summoned demons. Had his master gone into secluded cultivation in order to catch the cursed effigy?
"Nanfeng? Excellent timing. You've managed to lure out the cursed effigy—I don't know how long it would have taken me otherwise. If I hadn't sensed what was going on, I might have missed it entirely." Elder Ku beamed in triumph.
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