Ghost Infant

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Seeing the vengeful ghost leave, Niu Ding lifted the cloak off himself and once again approached the dried corpse on the ground.

Having been startled by the vengeful ghost, Niu Ding instead became calm, carefully searching the corpse inch by inch with his hands.

When he touched the stomach area, Niu Ding's expression changed.

Applying a bit more pressure with his fingers, he pierced the dried corpse's abdomen, revealing a blood-red stone about the size of a chicken egg.

Niu Ding grabbed the blood stone immediately, his face filled with joy.

Before Niu Ding could put away the blood stone, the abdomen of the dried corpse suddenly exploded, and a ghost the size of a large bowl burst out, rushing towards Niu Ding's face.

Niu Ding had no time to react before the ghost landed on his face.

At this moment, Niu Ding could clearly see the ghost's appearance.

It was a ghost infant, its body seemingly solid, as if it were the corpse of an infant turned into a ghost. The ghost infant was completely naked and entirely red.

With a crazed grin on its face, the ghost infant's mouth split wide open to its ears, filled with countless sharp, tiny teeth.

The ghost infant opened its mouth wide, almost splitting in two, and swallowed Niu Ding's entire head in one bite.

Being a late-stage Qi Refining body cultivator with an exceptionally strong physique, Niu Ding's head couldn't be crushed in one bite by the ghost infant.

Niu Ding felt countless sharp teeth gnawing frantically at his head, and a long, barbed tongue scraping his face. In an instant, most of the flesh on his face was scraped away, exposing his white skull.

"Ah!"

Enduring the excruciating pain, Niu Ding slapped a Evil-Exorcising Talisman onto the ghost infant.

The Evil-Exorcising Talisman suddenly burst out with a blinding light, releasing terrifying spiritual power.

"Ji ji ji..."

Unprepared, the ghost infant bore the full brunt of the talisman's power, emitting a piercing scream. The ghost infant's body melted quickly like butter in boiling water.

In an instant, most of the ghost infant's body disappeared, leaving it looking tattered like a rag doll.

The ghost infant fell from Niu Ding's head, hopping away on one leg with its remaining half-body towards the depths of the nest.

Niu Ding, having escaped death, panted heavily.

In just that brief moment, the ghost infant had devoured most of the flesh on his head. Niu Ding now looked incredibly ghastly.

Half of his face's flesh and an eye had been eaten by the ghost infant, leaving only a stark white skull. The other half of his face was a bloody mess with no intact skin.

In his current state, he looked more terrifying than a ghost.

Without catching his breath, Niu Ding rushed towards the nest's exit.

Just as he reached the entrance of the nest, the ghost infant returned, followed by six vengeful ghosts and dozens of ordinary ghosts.

Niu Ding was terrified, his one remaining eye widening in horror as the premonition of death descended.

He quickened his pace, attempting to leap out of the nest.

Just as Niu Ding was in mid-air, dozens of ghosts grabbed hold of him, dragging him back into the nest despite his desperate struggle.

Several bursts of spiritual power from the Evil-Exorcising Talismans injured many vengeful ghosts and destroyed several ordinary ghosts.

But ultimately, Niu Ding's figure did not make it out of the nest's entrance.

Moments later, the nest fell silent.

Only the sound of the ghost infant gnawing on the corpse remained. With only half its head left, the ghost infant chewed slowly, taking two full quarters of an hour to finish devouring Niu Ding's remains.

At this moment, the wraiths and vengeful ghosts that had been chasing Xuan Ye all returned to the cave.

It was unclear if they had killed Xuan Ye. If Xuan Ye was dead, without him to lead the way, finding the Hollow Cicada Wood would be much more difficult.

Silently observing everything happening in the ghost nest, Song Wen pondered.

When he saw the ghost infant finish eating Niu Ding's corpse and drag its broken body into the depths of the nest, while the other ghosts had long since disappeared, and the entire nest became quiet again.

Song Wen's heart was stirred as he looked at the two storage bags, the concealment cloak, and the blood stone on the ground.

The beetle Gu burrowed through the soil and emerged from the ground.

It first crawled to the side of the concealment cloak, comparing their sizes, then decisively left.

It wasn't that the beetle Gu couldn't move the concealment cloak. Although it was just an ordinary beetle Gu with only first-level Qi Refining cultivation, it could still drag a cloak magic tool.

However, moving the cloak would create a lot of noise. Having just witnessed the power of the ghosts, Song Wen didn't dare risk alerting the ghosts in the depths of the nest.

The beetle Gu then approached the blood stone. Niu Ding had fought to the death for this treasure, but Song Wen couldn't see anything unusual about it.

However, the origin of this blood stone was undoubtedly extraordinary.

The beetle Gu pushed the blood stone with its back, using all six legs to forcefully roll it towards the nest entrance, like a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung.

Soon, the blood stone was pushed to the edge of the nest entrance.

With a final push, the blood stone fell to the ground below with a dull thud.

The beetle Gu didn't move immediately, lying on the ground for a long time. Seeing no reaction from the depths of the nest, it finally spread its wings and flew down.

Landing on the blood stone, the beetle Gu grasped it firmly with its six legs and then took off.

The weight of the blood stone exceeded Song Wen's expectations. The beetle Gu struggled to fly but managed to move the blood stone.

The beetle Gu flew close to the ground, dragging the blood stone. Instead of flying directly towards Song Wen, it headed in the opposite direction, towards where Xuan Ye had gone.

After flying a distance of more than a mile, it found a crevice and dropped the blood stone inside.

Song Wen waited in place for a short while longer. Seeing no further movement from the ghost nest, he emerged from his hiding place and headed in Xuan Ye's direction.

Carefully passing the cave where the ghosts nested, Song Wen used the Blood Escape Technique to advance at full speed.

After retrieving the blood stone, he traveled another dozen miles before finally finding Xuan Ye hiding in a small cave.

Xuan Ye seemed in good condition; Song Wen couldn't see any signs of a tough battle.

It seemed Xuan Ye had easily escaped from the vengeful ghosts, no wonder he dared to implement Niu Ding's plan.

"Brother Guo Tao, it's great to see you again. Did you see Niu Ding?" Xuan Ye asked.

Song Wen shook his head, "I didn't see Niu Ding come out of the ghost nest. I'm afraid the worst has happened."

Xuan Ye sighed softly, "What a pity. I had hoped Niu Ding could help us obtain the Snake Scale Fruit, but now..."

Song Wen said, "What should we do now?"

Xuan Ye looked down, calculated the time, and said.

"It's late now, it should be night outside. Although the underground cave is deep and dark, for some reason, the ghosts and zombies here prefer to rest during the day and are more active at night. We should wait until morning to act."

Song Wen nodded, "Alright, let's do as you say and move in the morning."

Xuan Ye spent the night in his hiding place, while Song Wen found another small cave dozens of meters away to rest.

There wasn't much trust between them, so separating gave them both a sense of security.

(End of the Chapter)