Gu Jiu found herself face-to-face with a grotesque ghostly visage hanging upside down from a tree.
The eerie face bore a sinister grin, seemingly delighted to have startled her. Gu Jiu’s response was swift and brutal—she threw a punch, forcefully knocking the ghost’s face askew.
Hearing the commotion, the others turned to look and saw a ghost hanging upside down from the tree.
It was a hanged ghost.
The moment the ghost appeared, Chai Yingying noticed the pointer on the Nine Yin Compass, which had been rotating lazily, suddenly spinning wildly.
In the stillness of the woods, a sharp crack broke the silence—the sound of wood splitting. A nearby tree, nearly ten meters tall, snapped in half at its trunk and began to topple toward them.
But it wasn’t just one tree. Centered around them, the surrounding trees began breaking and falling, crashing toward all the players, as if intent on burying them alive.
The hanged ghost dangled from a tree, its face twisted in a wicked smile as it watched the chaos of people scrambling to escape below.
The sheer density of the forest made it seem impossible to escape; no matter which way they ran, a falling tree would block their path.
“Ahhh!”
Pei Yongyong and Ji Linfan’s partner were struck by a falling tree, sprawling them face-first into the dirt.
Seeing this, their partners rushed over to push the tree off them while fending off other falling trees. The situation turned frantic, but even with their combined efforts, the sheer number of trees made it impossible to keep up. The four were nearly buried beneath the collapsing forest.
Lu Ji grabbed Gu Jiu and helped her dodge the falling trees, all while throwing out a series of paper talismans.
A horde of paper figures and objects sprang to life, holding up the crashing trees to protect them.
Chai Yingying glared fiercely at the hanged ghost hidden in the trees and flung a handful of thumbtacks toward it.
The thumbtacks shot out like exploding bullets, carried by the wind. Just as they were about to reach the ghost, a falling tree blocked their path. The sound of the tacks embedding themselves into the wood echoed, leaving them deeply lodged in the tree trunk.
The hanged ghost watched their struggle with glee, its eyes filled with undisguised malice, determined to bury them alive.
Suddenly, the ghost’s sinister grin froze.
A dark red whip had wrapped tightly around its neck, yanking it forcefully from the tree.
“Nice one, Lu Ji!” Chai Yingying exclaimed in delight.
The hanged ghost clawed at the blood-red whip around its neck, struggling to tear it off. However, before it could free itself, a storm of punches rained down on its face.
Gu Jiu’s red-painted nails gleamed as she delivered blow after blow with brutal precision.
Her expression was grim as she pinned the ghost down, each punch landing with resounding force.
Pei Yongyong and the other three, who had narrowly escaped being buried under the trees, crawled out of the wreckage just in time to see Gu Jiu mercilessly pummeling the hanged ghost. Lu Ji stood nearby, holding the whip, while Chai Yingying clapped and cheered.
The four stared, speechless.
“That sister is fierce,” one of them muttered.
By the time Gu Jiu was done, the hanged ghost’s face was grotesquely swollen, its eyes askew, nose broken, and mouth crooked. It curled up behind a tree, trembling in fear as it peeked at them with a look of pure terror.
Pei Yongyong and the others had no words.
They weren’t sure if it was because Gu Jiu’s beating was too brutal or if the ghost had simply given up too easily.
“Miss, time to wash your hands,” Chai Yingying said enthusiastically, presenting a basin of water, soap, and a towel to help Gu Jiu clean up.
Not everyone can beat a ghost into submission, but clearly, Miss Gu Jiu has awakened a physical talent skill.
After washing her hands, Gu Jiu beckoned to the hanged ghost. “Come here.”
The ghost trembled as it floated from behind the tree to stand before her.
Gu Jiu asked, “Have you always been in the woods behind the mountain?”
The ghost nodded.
“Then why haven’t I seen you before?”
The ghost replied honestly, “Usually, I stay hidden in a cave. That’s my territory.”
“A cave?” Ji Linfan asked suspiciously. “Where’s there a cave around here?”
“There is,” the ghost answered, pointing toward the mountaintop. “It’s at the peak.”
The group followed the ghost’s finger and noticed the area he indicated was near the edge of Shengying High School’s boundaries. Dense shrubbery grew there, easily overlooked. Indeed, it seemed plausible that there could be a hidden cave.
Gu Jiu pressed further. “Why did you show up today? Don’t tell me you were just waiting here to mess with us?”
Although her smile was gentle, for some reason, it made the ghost even more nervous, to the point that he couldn’t muster a word.
“Speak!”
The ghost blurted out, “You trespassed on our territory. We were trying to drive you out—and kill you!”
“Nonsense! How could we?” Gu Jiu retorted, completely shameless. “We’re students, and this is our school. Isn’t it normal for students to move around on campus?”
Chai Yingying and the others nodded in agreement, playing along perfectly.
The ghost was at a loss for words, completely cornered by their argument.
Gu Jiu wasn’t finished with him yet. “Your territory is on the mountain, so why did you come down here? Who told you we’d be here?”
The ghost hesitated before responding, “I sensed it myself.”
“Oh, really?” Gu Jiu raised an eyebrow.
The ghost fell silent.
After extracting as much information as she could, Gu Jiu generously let the ghost go. She didn’t bother killing him—it wasn’t worth it since he’d just respawn tomorrow night anyway.
The group began heading back down the mountain.
Suddenly, Ji Linfan spoke up. “He’s lying!”
“Old Ji, how do you know he’s lying?” his partner asked cooperatively.
Ji Linfan adjusted his glasses, deep in thought. “We’ve been here before, and that ghost never showed up. Plus, Chai Yingying’s Nine Yin Compass confirmed there were no ghosts in this area. He must have come from somewhere else.”
As for whether the ghost’s territory was truly in the cave, they only needed to search to confirm it. It wasn’t likely the ghost would lie about that.
The cave, located at the mountaintop, was still quite a distance from their current location.
“The ghosts in this school all have their own territories, including that hanged ghost just now. Every ghost can only operate within its own domain. That seems to be an unspoken rule among them. But why would the hanged ghost leave its territory and come over here?”
“Obviously, it came specifically to kill us!” Pei Yongyong asserted.
“Then, what do you think drove it to do so?”
The group exchanged glances before coming to a shared conclusion: “The Reincarnators!”
A collective headache descended upon them.
Pei Yongyong tugged at her hair. “But who exactly is the Reincarnator? Are they a person, a ghost, or some kind of strange object?”
Ji Linfan adjusted his glasses, a fleeting thought brushing his mind. However, it was so fast that he couldn’t grasp it in time. He had the nagging feeling he was overlooking something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
As he reached for the map of the school he’d drawn, Gu Jiu’s voice suddenly rang out.
“The dean is coming—move!”
Everyone’s expressions froze in alarm, and they quickened their pace.
As they rounded the faux rock formation at the base of the mountain, the dean appeared on a narrow path. Despite wearing high heels, her steps were unnervingly light, moving like a cat in the dark of night.
The dean was out patrolling, hunting for rule-breaking students.
Hunched low, the group tried to take an alternate route to avoid a direct encounter with her.
The gravel path beneath their feet made stealth difficult. Someone accidentally kicked a pebble, sending it skittering forward. In the silent night, the sound seemed amplified to an unbearable degree.
The dean stopped abruptly, snapping her head toward the teaching district path.
Then, with astonishing speed, she dashed toward the sound.
“Run!” Gu Jiu barked, grabbing Lu Ji and sprinting ahead.
The others’ faces turned pale as they followed, occasionally glancing back. From the shadows of the trees, the dean’s monstrous form began to emerge. She looked like a towering reed-like giant—her proportions distorted. Her upper body remained eerily human, which only heightened her grotesque appearance.
Ji Linfan shouted, “Everyone, split up!”
Splitting up would force the dean to choose a single target, giving the rest a chance to escape.
It was a gamble, relying entirely on luck.
The group scattered in three directions.
Hearing the commotion behind her, Chai Yingying turned her head and saw the dean chasing their group.
It seemed luck wasn’t on their side this time.
Recalling last night’s harrowing encounter when the dean nearly ran them to exhaustion, Chai Yingying had no desire to face this terrifying woman again. She yelled to Gu Jiu, “Miss! Find a place to shake her off!”
Gu Jiu responded decisively, “The back mountain?”
The back mountain had a dense forest—and the hanged ghost. Since they had already taught the ghost a lesson earlier, it might still be intimidated by them. Perhaps they could use that to their advantage.
“Good idea!”
The three of them quickly circled back to the back mountain.
The dean was closing in on them rapidly. Lu Ji tossed out several paper talismans in an attempt to block her, but the dean tore through them savagely, reducing them to shreds.
Seeing this, Chai Yingying’s scalp tingled. She shouted, “Normal tools are useless against her! Don’t let her catch you, or you’ll really be ripped in half!”
Gu Jiu, however, was unwilling to concede. As the dean’s hand reached for her shoulder, she spun nimbly and slashed at it with the Lingyuan Blade.
Clang! The sound was like a knife scraping against unyielding metal. The Lingyuan Blade, which had never failed her against other ghosts, left no mark on the dean’s hand. It was as if the blade had merely tickled her.
This was the most troublesome thing about the dean—tools didn’t work on her.
Gu Jiu dodged left and right, agilely avoiding the dean’s relentless grasping hands. She pulled out two of her cursed dolls and asked them, “Do you two want to eat the big monster behind us?”
The cursed dolls clung tightly to her shoulders, shaking their heads in refusal as they looked at the so-called “big monster.”
This thing was absolutely beyond their ability to chew through.
Understanding their reluctance, Gu Jiu didn’t push them further.
The three finally dashed into the back mountain forest, weaving skillfully through the disorderly trees. When they looked back, they saw the dean following them, her expression one of unrelenting fury, as though she wouldn’t rest until she tore them apart.
Fortunately, the dean’s distorted proportions, combined with the trees in her path, made it much harder for her to catch them with her long arms and legs.
“This was a good idea, Miss!” Chai Yingying exclaimed in relief.
Gu Jiu pressed her lips into a slight smile. Despite having run for so long, she showed no signs of exhaustion—her breathing steady, her movements composed. It was evident that her training in Boundless City over the past few months had paid off.
The three led the dean all the way up to the mountaintop, where they found the cave hidden behind a thick covering of shrubs.
The hanged ghost, curled up in the cave, was startled when it saw Gu Jiu and the others approaching. Mistaking them for another round of beatings, it was just about to surrender when Gu Jiu dragged it out.
“Here’s your chance to prove yourself. Can you handle her?”
Handle who?
The hanged ghost was just about to ask when it caught sight of the dean charging out of the forest. Its instinctive reaction was to retreat back into the cave.
But Gu Jiu wasn’t having it. She extended her Nine Yin Bone Claw, grabbed the ghost, and flung it forward. “Go stop her!”
The hanged ghost clung desperately to her, wailing, “She’s too terrifying! I can’t stop her!”
The three of them: “…” They were wrong to think this ghost might actually be useful.
With no other options, they eventually resorted to using a Fog Pill. Coupled with some reluctant assistance from the hanged ghost, they finally managed to shake off the relentless pursuit of the dean.