Chapter 411 - Mo Chou (49) <2-in-1>

Gu Mochou was searching around with her eyes and fumbling with her hands for a ghost defensive item when Jiang Li materialized in front of Zhan Rong. He reverted to his actual appearance and for a split second, he looked very cold and frightening as he cut the rope and carefully removed the tape on Zhan Rong's mouth.

"I'm sorry. I came late." 

The voice that came out of his mouth was not loud nor soft, just enough to be heard in that small room, yet it strangely did not alert the villainess. Zhan Rong could not help but give a quick glance to the other woman before wobbly standing up. There was worry in the girl's face when she looked at her pet ghost.

"How did you find me?" she asked softly as she studied this ghost's unusually sullen expression. He did not immediately reply.

There were a few things that did not match what Gu Mochou saw a while ago. 

Jiang Li did not truly pass through the door but through a section of the wall which happened to be not painted with any part of the array. 

On the other hand, while Zhan Rong looked like a proper hostage whose hands and feet had been tied up, when the thousands of charms floated up, she did not really crawl and wriggle forward in a panic. In reality, the girl was just laying in the corner, leaning on the bedpost, looking like even at her disadvantageous situation, she knew how to make herself comfortable and at home. 

Her expression was calm, her breathing pattern normal. If she had even panicked after being abducted, she was long past it and had now regained her cool. Also, because ghosts were long part of her life, the initial fear she felt upon laying her eyes on the female ghost king was no more. If anything, there was doubt in her heart. 

It had been seven hours since she got forcibly brought to this place. 

The protective amulet gotten from Fan Zheng broke upon contact with the Red Lady thus ghosts of all kinds flocked onto her, keeping only some distance because of the kingly presence near her. She was quite startled at first. 

But after she recovered from her daze and shock, specifically when Gu Mochou went out to eat and ran into Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, Zhan Rong killed boredom by observing the ghosts that popped up nearby. That was also when she managed to take a look at each ghost's spiritual aura.

She began comparing not only their scary looks, but the air of gloom, malice, and everything negative around them. Somehow, the Red Lady's always eclipsed everyone else, which made her notice that the other spirits seemed reluctant to approach her due to the Red Lady. She then understood that the female ghost was actually very strong. Yet such a scary being was but a lapdog of a spirit hunter. Yes. This Gu Mochou should be a spirit hunter like Fan Zheng as she had some quirky items for sorcery. 

Hours passed and Jiang Li came phasing through the wall easily bypassing all the traps set for him. His arrival alerted Zhan Rong because she was now aware of Gu Mochou's identity. But not long after, she realized… The aura given off by her real kidnapper was almost the same with Jiang Li, albeit her pet ghost's was gentle and harmless to her while the female ghost king's was very intense like it was badly craving for destruction. 

Why was that so? She pondered. There were several hypotheses in her mind, but only one seemed plausible. 

Jiang Li's appearance was misleading.

Although Jiang Li looked like a handsome mascot ghost, he must be as strong as the female ghost king, the Red Lady. 

As this thought flashed by, another realization dawned onto her now. Her hands would always pass through his body every time she tried to touch him, but he actually had no such problem and could easily lift physical items. The Red Lady could do the same and had even dragged her, a living person, out of her own room without looking like she was struggling or in pain. 

Zhan Rong pursed her lips.

'Fan Zheng said, a ghost's strength depends on their obsession… Some want to kill the ones who caused their death or harm their loved ones. Some merely obsessed with continuing their daily lives. They would not rest until they resolve their obsessions. What is making him stay in this material world?' she wondered to herself. 

"You're hurt." The ghost conveniently dodged her question about how he found her.

Zhan Rong looked up and met his concerned eyes. Even though he was still wearing what she bought and burned for him last week, he was still good-looking as ever. One would easily mistake him for a genie or angel than a spirit. She batted her eyelashes. Afterward, she looked down at her arms which now had deep red traces and bruises. A frown appeared on her face. 

"Just to bait you out and ask me who that Zhao Bolin is, she kidnapped me." Her gaze went to Jiang Li again, measuring his reaction which did not really change. Doubt once again flickered in her eyes before they vanished a second after. A couple of moments later, she continued speaking, "I must say, this Gu Mochou is pretty nuts." 

When Gu Mochou began laughing and staging her monologue, Zhan Rong only raised an eyebrow as she understood that her kidnapper was seeing something she couldn't. 

She could not help but give Jiang Li another glance before saying, 'Look, I was right.' before she let out a laugh. She bent down to massage her ankles and calves that had grown numb from keeping the same posture for hours.

'System… you did not tell me about this…' Jiang Li's eyes were pinned on the bruises and red markings on her skin, bursting out with sharp brilliance.

The ghost hated seeing the markings left by the bindings on her, so he extended his hands and unhesitantly used a few points to heal them. Once done, he walked towards the villainess who had just finished chanting some mystical texts. 

However, before he knew it, Zhan Rong had already jumped on the villainess and landed a punch on her face.

He chose to standby. Because he sensed that the female ghost king had already escaped from the paralysis and was rapidly heading over here. 

On one side, Gu Mochou seemed to have escaped from the illusion due to the abrupt pain. Her face warped and her eyes widened. Zhan Rong took a long breath and hurriedly pinned the other woman down on the floor by sitting on her stomach.

"Jiang Li. Quick, leave." Without facing him, she said, her tone not leaving any room for objection. 

Zhan Rong decided to attack because no matter what level Jiang Li was as a ghost, the other party was a ghost hunter and would be a threat to him. It was apparent that she had not forgotten yet the menacing words Gu Mochou uttered when she was caught in the illusion. 

She wanted, and had the capability, to harm Jiang Li. There was no way Zhan Rong would let her be. Also, don't look at her looking so composed. In fact, she felt insulted for being a victim of kidnapping when it was usually her ordering people to be abducted. Even if she could say that they caught her unprepared, it was still unacceptable.

"Leave now." Zhan Rong fiercely repeated. To which Jiang Li did not reply at.

The girl raised her fist and aimed it at Gu Mochou's mouth which she quite hated for spouting nonsense and threats against her and her pet ghost. 

"Go back. I know you can hold a cellphone. It's left at home. Message Fan Zheng and order him to come here."

"Agggh, cough, b*tch! Get off of me!" Gu Mochou coughed and m.o.a.ned in pain, but she still did not forget to push the other. The punch landed on her shoulder instead, so her face was saved from another wound.

The villainess was quite the rabid attacks but immediately came to her senses and struck back. Her red long nails reached for the opponent's eyes. She was also trying to prop her upper body up.

But Zhan Rong did not let herself be overpowered! She swatted away the hand that flew towards her face. 

She was helpless and bound earlier, so she acted like a good and obedient girl. Now that she was given the chance, naturally, she would fight back.

Likewise, Gu Mochou who escaped from the weird mental state did not want to stay under and wriggle herself away.

One had her physical built and brute strength empowered by her cultivation, the other trained in some useful combat moves by Jiang Li as her rewarded skill since four months ago. The catfight naturally escalated. 

There was no hair pulling, nail scratching, or anything like that. The two girls entangled themselves in free combat. Sometimes there would be an exchange of kicks and judo throws accompanied by sounds of items and furniture breaking. If some people saw them, none would find it easy to believe that these two girls were from rich families, trained in etiquette since they were kids.

The ghost? Of course, he was on Zhan Rong's side. Needless to say, the villainess' sneaky acts of kidnapping Zhan Rong when she was not prepared and mistreating her just to force him out quite angered him.

The female ghost king was reluctant to enter due to the deadly traps inside. On the other hand, Jiang Li could bypass them with some system points. He took advantage of this and even though he got repeatedly asked to leave, he stayed to strengthen the spiritual traps and lay down some on the vacant spaces. After letting Zhan Rong land some more punches by momentarily freezing Gu Mochou every time she was about to counterattack, he pulled her away.

"Jiang Li. Wait, we can't let her catch her breath. She will definitely target you with her spells!" Zhan Rong protested when the wind suddenly carried her away. The girl thought the man decided to heed her words, but not without bringing her away first. 

"It's all right. Leave the rest to me now that you have vented the dissatisfaction in your heart," he slowly said.

Gu Mochou staggered to stand back on her feet, but her eyes were as piercing as hell. She did not see Jiang Li when she roamed her eyes around since the guy went back to his immaterial state. Nonetheless, she did not fail Zhan Rong's expectations of her. Instead of wasting her breath on profanities or rebuttals, she immediately chanted something. 

She was weak? And no weapon or spell of her worked against the opponent? Plus, she couldn't even beat the shhh out of this woman because the ghost king always intervened?

The insane Gu Mochou seemed to have forgotten that an ally of hers was still outside. She used her exclusive knowledge of her former sect to release a summoning signal that only Maoshan disciples knew. 

In a few minutes or even seconds, all the spirit hunters living nearby or stationed in the city would rush over! 

The female ghost king did not know why Gu Mochou released so much spiritual energy. She only knew that the girl shouted for help. Yes, even at the last moment, the girl wanted to use her ally, and wring every drop of benefits she could squeeze out from her. Perhaps, if Jiang Li would be given the chance, he would want to laugh at the female ghost king for her terrible choice of siding with the vicious woman.

The villainess' threw down a bottle of special ink to erase some parts of the formation by the door. 

The Red Lady, named as such by Zhan Rong, did not miss out on the broken link and burst into the room after that. 

Or so she thought. At the last second, the female ghost king suddenly hissed from being stuck and a second after that, she was forcibly kicked out. 

"Sorry. Stay out of this, miss." 

Gu Mochou stared blankly at the spot where the angry face of her ally ghost king vanished. When she realized it was that meddlesome spirit's doing again, she turned fiercely to Zhan Rong. Yet when the image of the ghost holding the latter in his arms registered on sight, her fierce eyes widened and instantly lost their malicious glint.

The change in the villainess' expression did not escape Zhan Rong's notice, so she raised her head to inspect her pet ghost, wanting to check what was wrong to clear her confusion. Shortly, shock, alarm, and horror crossed her face one after another and goosebumps appeared on her skin.

"W-who are---"

"It's still me."

The girl swallowed the last word about to leave her tremblings lips as Jiang Li gave her his usual reassuring smile before casting his cold eyes at the equally shocked Gu Mochou.