Chapter 108 : Crafty Flaming Red Ghos

Chapter 108.1 : Crafty Flaming Red Ghost

The Flaming Red Ghosts were a species with stronger attack power among the Ghost race and one must not let them touch your body at all or one would at the very least suffer a highly stubborn high fever that would not go away with their body turning a bright red, or in a worse case scenario, their life essence would be eaten away, till they wither and expire.

The red clothed malevolent ghosts were already considered to be one of the higher level types but the Flaming Red Ghosts were another notch above them. These ghosts had all suffered extreme agony right before they died, brutally burnt to death.

It was said that many many years ago, there was a kingdom that had a highly cruel and brutal Emperor. Anyone who came to offend him would be thrown into a fiery pit, letting them wail and howl pitifully with the burning flames as he watched to satisfy that twisted sense of pleasure he got from that.

The most appalling incident was when he sentenced a thousand people to death all at once. All those people struggled and cried out in agony, but no one could save them. The longing to be saved in those people’s hearts then turned into despair and hopelessness, finally evolving into rage and aggrievement, which in turn became the source of their immense power.

They were all fiery red from head to toe with burn wounds all over their bodies. A great number of them looked grotesquely unrecognizable and too hideous to look at, having assumed the form as ghosts exactly like they had looked at the point of their horrendous death.

Qing Yu tugged at a corner of the man’s clothes with one hand, to stop him from continuing his way forward.

“What’s wrong?” Lou Jun Yao turned his head around to ask.

“I have a bad feeling.” Qing Yu said slowly with her brows knitted up.

Lou Jun Yao had just wanted to tease her a little for being scared when the dark space behind him suddenly turned bright, the entire place filling up with a blood red light.

Qing Yu stared with her eyes wide, stunned by the sight before her.

It was a incredibly large and wide hole in the ground that seemed like it would be able to hold ten thousand people. It was filled with roaring great flames inside and although the great fire blocked their view from seeing clearly what was inside, the agonized cries and screeching screams were impossible to miss.

At the edge of the deep gorge, countless blood drenched hands were reaching out, helpless with despair.

“It’s burning me….. This is too painful…… I am dying…..”

“Save me….. I do not want to die….. I really do not want to die…..”

Countless faces burnt beyond recognition could be seen within the fire, looking at them pleadingly, almost seemingly hopeful.

Qing Yu subconsciously took a step forward.

“Don’t go there. All these people are already dead.” Lou Jun Yao pulled her back and said, his voice grim and cold.

Qing Yu’s fingers clenched up tightly, her face looking a little pained. “But they are in pain…..”

Lou Jun Yao tightened the grip of his hand a little, causing pain to shoot up Qing Yu’s arm. “Wake up. Don’t let your mind be clouded by them.”

[The lass might be rather capable, but she’s just too soft hearted and not vicious enough. The moment she felt the slightest bit of pity for these Flaming Red Ghosts, she had immediately fallen into their trap. Because Flaming Red Ghosts carried such an intense amount of agonizing pain and aggrievement in them, a person’s heart gets affected by them easily.]

Qing Yu quickly snapped back to her senses from the hard grip on her arm. Her face furrowed up in frustration and she cursed out softly. “Damn it!”

[She had nearly fallen for it.]

The enormous pit before her eyes almost completely blocked off the way forward and they were not able to skirt around the edges as the slightest misstep would cause them to be caught by the stretched out hands of the Flaming Red Ghosts and pulled right into the fiery pit.

They had died in that fiery pit and after they turned into ghosts, the pit had become a cage that held them trapped, unable to escape from but to continue to suffer the torment under the burning flames.

All of them had already lost their flesh bodies and were in fact existing only with their spirit souls, hence, they should not have to fear fire any longer. But as the trauma from the way they had died was really just too great, they were still deeply immersed in that fear, and could not help but continue to cry out for help.

Chapter 108.2 : Crafty Flaming Red Ghost

Lou Jun Yao watched her face that was deep in thought and suddenly said in a soft voice: “It is said that Flaming Red Ghosts are the only species among the ghost race who are able to be reborn.”

Qing Yu was shocked to hear those words and she raised her eyes up to ask quizzically: “Reborn?”

Lou Jun Yao nodded. “Because Flaming Red Ghosts were believed to be kind people when they were alive and did not do anything bad, but as they were made to die such a brutal and painful death, the aggrievement and rage in them just could not disperse, causing them to turn into souls who refused to depart. Hence…..”

His eyes then turned dark as he gazed at the countless hands trying to climb out from the enormous pit but fell back down because of the raging flames and said: “In this mass grave, if ten thousand live humans are sacrificed with all of them dying the same way these ghosts did, the Flaming Red Ghosts would then gain the opportunity to be reborn.”

Qing Yu’s face went slack jawed. “But isn’t that just too cruel! ?”

“This are the rules they play by in order to survive.”

Lou Jun Yao stretched his hand out to point at a particular spot in the pit. It was a youth who looked to be just in his teens.

But he was different from all the other heinously mutilated ghosts around him. Besides the fact that his skin was bright red, his face was still in good shape. He was even rather good looking as his eyes stared fierily at them, his gaze seemingly covetous and filled with longing.

“Do you know why that youth looks so different from the others?”

“Why?”

“He has devoured the life essence of a hundred live humans at least and is just waiting for the opportune moment to make his move, thinking to lure us over to him.” Lou Jun Yao curled up his lips to say. “Although he is unable to come out too far from the fire pit, he will still be able to move freely within a hundred meter radius away from it. Once we go close enough within his target range, he will definitely make his move.”

Qing Yu then remembered that she had very nearly walked over to them and her heart quivered at that thought.

“Qing Yu!”

Just as she was mulling through the options in her mind, a voice suddenly rose up from behind. She turned around to look and saw Mu Lai in a rather wretched looking state, with Bai Zhi Yan and the grey robed man she had seen a few times before standing behind her.

“Lai Lai, are you alright? Did you get hurt?” Qing Yu quickly walked over to hold her hand and surveyed her body from head to toe.

Mu Lai shook her head lightly. “I’m fine. Lucky for me, the two of them appeared just in time to save me.”

Hearing that, Qing Yu turned to the two men and nodded at them. “Thank you very much.”

“It’s nothing.” The grey robed man replied in a lazy voice.

But Bai Zhi Yan put on a devilishly bright smile. “There’s no need for you to stand on ceremony with me at all! You’re almost family already! It’s the least we should do.”

“…..” [Who is almost family with you? Acting so familiar.]

With the horde of Flaming Red Ghosts that came to appear before them, they were unable to even go near, and it was impossible for them to force their way through. They were really caught in quite a pickle.

Bai Zhi Yan arched up an eyebrow and then said: “There are just two choices before us. Either we defeat all these Flaming Red Ghosts till their souls scatter and disperse into nothing, or we dig out the exorcist behind all this and eradicate him. Since the enemy has already made his move, then we should just return the favour and root out all his little babies here.”

“Tsk tsk. Isn’t that just too cruel?” The grey robed man said, his face looking rather sympathetic. “They already died such a pitiful death and you still want their souls to scatter and disperse? You’re worse than a beast!”

Bai Zhi Yan suppressed the strong urge of wanting to kick him inside and he put on a forced smile as he said: “If you’re so kind, why not go sacrifice yourself up to them?”

The grey robed man immediately glared at him and retracted his pretentious demeanor, turning stern and serious.

“Why not this? I have an idea.” Qing Yu who had been silent for quite a while suddenly opened her mouth to say: “Aren’t these Flaming Red Ghosts….. afraid of fire?”

Chapter 108.3 : Crafty Flaming Red Ghost

She stretched out her hand and a torch appeared in her hand, with a golden red flame burning on its tip. From a distance away, the few other people in the group were able to feel the incredibly intense heat from the flame.

It was clear to see that the fire was of a much higher level than the regular fire in the pit.

“This is…..” The grey robed man’s eyes lit up, looking with great interest at the unique colour of the flames.

Qing Yu laugh softly and said: “This is elixir fire from my life essence, its temperature many tens of times hotter than regular fire. Everyone of us can just hold one torch each and we should be able to carefully skirt the perimeter to get across.”

Upon saying that, Qing Yu handed the torch over to the grey robed man who looked both excited and curious first and then pulled out a few more torches that were exactly the same as the first one.

When she finally handed the last one to Lou Jun Yao, his face looked a little baffled and rather confused. Although he accepted the torch in the end, that conflicted look on his face was just too funny to look at, like that was just such a strange and unfamiliar thing to be doing.

That’s right. To a man who knew only to eradicate any obstacle that stood in his way, this was probably his first time being so evasive.

“Dividing up so much of the elixir fire from your body like this, is it really alright?” Lou Jun Yao asked in a low voice.

“It’s fine. The fire has gained its own consciousness and is very intelligent. Moreover, it isn’t really that far a distance and it will all come back on its own once we get across.” Qing Yu said with a smile as she placed a hooked finger lightly over the fire. The flame immediately curled around her finger playfully, almost acting like a little child.

The grey robed man took the lead with Mu Lai following behind him. Bai Zhi Yan walked in the middle and Lou Jun Yao took up the rear.

The grey robed man went safely across. As the Flaming Red Ghosts were afraid of the intense heat of the elixir fire, they had all gathered over to the other side of the pit, keeping a distance away. They did not come to attack the group, and although they were rueful, there was nothing they could do.

As Qing Yu walked, Lou Jun Yao followed right behind her. Just as she was about to cross, she suddenly heard a young voice call out, filled with sadness and sorrow. “Big Sister, please take me away from here.”

It was that good looking youth. He was just looking pleadingly at her like she was his saviour. Qing Yu’s eyes narrowed but did not pay him any attention and was about to walk away to reach the other side already.

“Big Sister. It’s just so painful….. Don’t leave me here….. Don’t leave me here alone…..”

The young youth pitiful voice and his forlorn demeanor looked so much like her foolish little brother at home, who had begged and pleaded with her with her in very much the same way in the past, seemingly so insecure as he begged for her to not abandon him and leave him alone.

Qing Yu’s footsteps suddenly paused a moment and her hand clenched up into a fist. She just could not ignore that voice.

Lou Jun Yao saw her stop and he raised up an eyebrow in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

Qing Yu hesitated. “Can I…..”

But due to that one instant that her heart softened, she had let down her guard. And it was also at that very moment that the youth in the pit who had his eyes lowered suddenly let out a malevolent laugh and rose up in a leap, his body nimbly shooting straight towards Qing Yu, seeking to take a big bite upon the exposed smooth white skin on her neck.

The lifeblood of this human was really just too tempting. It moved his heart more than any other person he had ever seen which made it impossible for him to control himself from wanting to taste and devour it.

That scene had unfolded so fast which caught them off guard.

Although Qing Yu had reacted very quickly but it was not as fast as the Flaming Red Ghost’s lust for her blood. Things happened faster than anyone could even say a thing. Lou Jun Yao’s eyes glinted and he lashed out with a palm strike, which caused the Flaming Red Ghost to let out a howl before its spirit soul scattered and dispersed in an instant.