Chapter 273: 273: Trap
Then, things didn’t just stop there; even more danger awaited.
A layer of black mist suddenly rose around the underground plaza, and soon, standing just a meter away, one could only vaguely make out a faint human figure.
Mu Cheng quickly realized that he had lost contact with his allies. Every time he saw a figure he thought might be an ally and approached it, the figure would suddenly turn around and stab him.
For the first time, Mu Cheng was caught off guard and took a stab in the chest.
"Ugh!"
With a muffled grunt, he swiftly countered with a stab of his own and rolled aside to evade.
Mu Cheng quickly realized that the dagger seemed to be poisoned because his blood had turned green.
"Damn it!"
Mu Cheng cursed under his breath, unable to deal with it in time, as another figure appeared behind him and attacked.
Blood dripped onto Mu Cheng’s dagger, and suddenly, the dagger emitted a burst of white light, and a semi-transparent beast appeared.
"Roar..."
It let out a long roar and swiftly charged out, instantly making the attacking figure vanish in front of Mu Cheng.
Mu Cheng was shocked: The dagger actually had such a function?!
However, after attacking that figure, the Light Beast vanished.
When the next figure appeared, Mu Cheng tried swinging the dagger again. Sure enough, another Light Beast appeared, eliminated that figure, and disappeared into the black mist with it.
After several attempts, Mu Cheng gradually figured out how to use the dagger.
The dagger indeed possessed magical abilities, but it only showed its miraculous effects when his life was in danger. Although these Light Beasts were one-time use, they were very effective at vanquishing these evil entities, seemingly designed to counter them.
Mu Cheng felt a lot more at ease, but he remained vigilant.
Suddenly, he stumbled over something and fell down. Expecting to hit the ground or something, he found instead that he had fallen into a long, coffin-like box.
The coffin immediately closed, leaving no light except for the faint white glow from the dagger.
Mu Cheng heard his own heartbeat, "thump, thump, thump," resonating loudly in this enclosed space, echoing as if there was an echo.
No doubt! There really was an echo, coming from behind him.
Unable to stand, Mu Cheng could only crawl to turn around. As soon as he did, a ghostly face lunged at him. Mu Cheng reacted quickly, bringing the dagger to meet it.
"Ah..." The female ghost was repelled by the Light Beast and vanished into the night with a shriek.
Before he could turn around, he felt a chill on his neck, quickly reaching up to grab it. He pulled out a Ghost Hand. Without a second thought, Mu Cheng swung the dagger to sever it, making it disappear instantly.
As the ghosts appeared one after another, Mu Cheng relied on the dagger’s advantage without much trouble at first. But the issue was that the coffin was only so big, and with such limited space for a big man like him to move, it started to work against him over time.
The number of ghosts suddenly increased, all crippled and limbless, swarming towards Mu Cheng. He quickly realized his dagger couldn’t dispel them fast enough, and his limbs were soon bound by the ghosts, greatly reducing the dagger’s power.
"Chief, you’re finally having a taste of this day!"
A mocking voice echoed.
Mu Cheng looked up, finding that the coffin lid had somehow opened without him noticing. Zhao Hu, with a painted ghost face, was laughing smugly. He held a bell painted with talismans in one hand and a bag similarly adorned with talismans in the other.
With each ring of the bell, a ghost would crawl out of the bag and surge towards him, continuously.
"Zhao Hu, is that you? You won’t escape!"
"Who’s not escaping is uncertain. Look at you, dear chief, you’re close to losing your life. Do you think you have any chance left to catch us? Hahaha..."
"Just wait, I won’t let you get away!" Mu Cheng struggled, trying to crawl out.
However, Zhu Hu had used all his tricks to separate this pesky guy from his allies and lock him up. How could he easily let him escape?
"Go on, my darlings, go feast on your delectable meal. Once you’ve devoured him, you’ll grow larger and heavier..." He ended with an evil glance at Mu Cheng, "Chief, do you know what these are? It’s hard to believe, huh? Hahahaha... These were all made using the lives of your poor citizens! We set up the Heavenly Pot and had a Master use spells to forge these little ghosts. These little ghosts are so obedient; when I tell them to go east, they go east. When I say west, they go west..."
Mu Cheng’s face suddenly changed dramatically. So many ghosts, how many lives did that take?!
"You heartless maniac, you used lives to create such horrifying things?!"
"Oh, don’t rush; soon you will become one of them, too. I believe you’ll be even more exceptional than them..."
Exceptional my ass, right now he only wishes to destroy this guy!
The ghosts actually began to bite Mu Cheng, tearing off a chunk of flesh, causing him to draw a sharp breath from the pain. Were they planning to eat him alive?
"Zhao Hu, I’ll never forgive you!" Mu Cheng gritted his teeth.
"Tsk tsk tsk... Even now, you have the spirit to talk! Wait a moment; I’ll give you some more spice." Zhao Hu turned around, bringing out an iron pillar covered with copper runes.
Only then did Mu Cheng notice that they were no longer in the previous underground plaza but in a room resembling a chamber. The room was filled with all sorts of bizarre things: heads of the five poisons, streamers, bells, bloodstained cow horns, etc., coupled with the walls and ceiling covered completely in talismans, giving a truly hair-raising vibe.
"This is a good thing! I spent a ton of money to buy it from the Master. Do you know what this is? As long as I stab this into your heart, you can only become a wandering ghost, never to reincarnate or rebirth for all eternity... Hahahaha... You righteous folks, aren’t you the ones who love cursing others to Hell the most? Now I’ll let you taste what Hell is like!"
Zhao Hu’s eyes were filled with malice.
"What do you intend to do?" Seeing the iron pillar, Mu Cheng got a bad feeling, especially after Zhu Hu said that heap of words. He felt utterly doomed!
Zhao Hu, holding the iron pillar, suddenly thrust it into his chest.
"Ah..." This time, Mu Cheng couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain.
"Captain?!" Just at that moment, Cang Ying and others descended from the skies with reinforcements.
It turned out that the captain’s disappearance had alarmed them greatly, and they had already been searching outside for quite some time. Eventually, the Amulet that Mu Cheng had given to Cang Ying took effect, emitting a faint glow that formed a light ball, shielding him from evil harm.
Every time Cang Ying encountered someone, if it was an ally, he only needed to pull them into the light shield to protect them. If it were an evil entity, it couldn’t be pulled in and would be destroyed by the light shield instead.
Therefore, relying on the Amulet, he completely ignored the harm from evil and found a group of allies.