Chapter 63 A Choice Between Life and Death

In the real world, not much time had passed.

Liu Ziming still maintained his posture of turning back to rescue Chen Mu, watching as the Ghostly Creature's sharp claws were about to pierce his chest.

Yet, he saw the Ghostly Creature suddenly freeze, its head hanging low, motionless.

Meanwhile, Chen Mu, who had previously been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes, spat out a large mouthful of blood with a "wah," and his face instantly turned as pale as paper.

It turned out that the Ghostly Creature's final strike had broken his Dream Domain and injured his foundation.

"Chen Mu! Are you alright?"

Liu Ziming rushed over to help him up, but Chen Mu shook his head with difficulty and looked ahead.

He saw that the Ghostly Creature was still standing stiffly in place, clearly not yet fully awakened from the dream.

There wasn't much time left for them.

"Fire, burn it!"

Chen Mu roared hoarsely, filled with unquestionable urgency.

Liu Ziming was jolted awake by this roar; although he didn't know exactly what had happened, seeing Chen Mu wake up spitting blood and the Ghostly Creature standing motionless, he immediately realized this was a good opportunity.

He scrambled to pull a fire starter from his bosom, blew it to life, picked up some withered branches scattered by the roadside, hurriedly bundled them into a torch, lit it, and rushed toward the Ghostly Creature.

However.

When the flames touched the Paper Person's skin, they didn't burn fiercely as imagined, but only made a slight sizzling sound; the faint golden light on the surface of the Paper Person actually blocked most of the flame's heat.

Only the small area directly pressed by the torch charred and curled slightly, emitting wisps of blue smoke.

"It... it won't burn! Chen Mu, this Paper Person is demonic!"

Liu Ziming was anxious and angry, desperately pushing the torch forward, but the effect was negligible.

Seeing this, Chen Mu's heart sank abruptly.

As expected, this Ghostly Creature had refined its Paper Person body to be extremely bizarre, and ordinary flames were completely ineffective!

Just at this moment, the Ghostly Creature's spiritual consciousness returned, and it gradually awakened; its face turned toward Liu Ziming, and a ghost claw slowly raised.

Although its movements were much slower than in the dream, carrying the sluggishness of just returning, the killing intent was already apparent!

"Ordinary fire... you think you can harm this seat's dharma body? Simply ridiculous!"

Its figure moved, and the sharp claws were about to fall.

Chen Mu's pupils constricted sharply; he gritted his teeth, pulled up Liu Ziming, who was still trying to light the fire, and with his other hand, exerted all his strength to hoist the severely injured and unconscious Qi Huan onto his shoulder.

"Go!"

With a hoarse roar, Chen Mu forcibly activated Divine Void Step, not caring about creating afterimages to confuse the Ghostly Creature, and just ran for his life toward the street they had come from at the fastest speed possible.

Liu Ziming was yanked by him and stumbled, but quickly gritted his teeth to keep up, ignoring the piercing pain in his legs.

The Ghostly Creature seemed not to have expected that Chen Mu could burst out with such speed despite being injured; it was slightly stunned, then let out a roar.

Its figure took flight into the air, pursuing them urgently.

The three of them had not even run ten zhang.

"Want to leave?"

A cold, pale ghost claw suddenly reached out from the shadows behind them, its speed so fast it was almost impossible to catch.

It did not grab at Chen Mu, nor at Liu Ziming, but instead snatched Qi Huan, who was being carried on Chen Mu's shoulder.

It was bone-chillingly cold and possessed immense strength.

Chen Mu was already exhausted, and carrying Qi Huan was already barely manageable; being yanked like this, he immediately lost his balance and fell forward.

Seeing this, Liu Ziming roared and turned back to slash his Dao at the ghost claw.

"Clang!"

The ghost claw didn't move at all; instead, it shook Liu Ziming so hard that his tiger's mouth split open, and his Dao flew out of his hand.

Veins bulged on Chen Mu's forehead as he instantly weighed the pros and cons.

Qi Huan was heavily injured and had become a burden; the Ghostly Creature's strength far exceeded their estimates, and the Paper Person body did not fear ordinary fire; staying here would only lead to certain death.

If they were dragged back, all three of them would lose their lives here!

In a flash, a look of determination flashed in Chen Mu's eyes.

He grabbed Liu Ziming, who was about to rush back, let out a low roar, and violently pushed Qi Huan, who was on his shoulder, toward the Ghostly Creature.

At the same time, using the recoil, he took Liu Ziming and rushed out like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Qi Huan's body was immediately dragged into the depths of the Great Zhao Mansion's gate, disappearing into the darkness.

Leaving only a trail of blood on the ground.

"Chief Qi!"

Liu Ziming's eyes were splitting with rage, but Chen Mu didn't even look back, shouting sternly, "We can't save him, go!"

Liu Ziming was jolted awake by Chen Mu's shout, his reason finally overcoming his impulse; he let out a roar of grief and indignation, then followed Chen Mu, continuing to run wildly.

The two had pushed their speed to the limit, racing through the late-night streets.

Not until they had crossed three streets and alleys and the cold, Death Qi-filled gaze behind them disappeared did they dare to stop, leaning against a wall and gasping violently.

Cold sweat had long since soaked their clothes, and when the night wind blew, it felt bone-chillingly cold.

Liu Ziming's leg injury flared up, and combined with excessive fear, he almost collapsed to the ground.

Chen Mu's face was also pale; he closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a full quarter of an hour before he could barely suppress the churning Qi and blood.

"Chen... Chen Mu... Chief Qi, he..."

Liu Ziming's voice trembled slightly.

Chen Mu shook his head, his face looking exceptionally grim.

Abandoning a colleague in a dangerous place was not what he wanted, but given the situation at the time, there was no other choice.

Qi Huan was likely in grave danger.

"That Ghostly Creature... it's too terrifying. We thought things were too simple."

Recalling everything that had just happened, Liu Ziming couldn't help but tremble all over.

"This place... is not suitable for staying long."

"That Ghostly Creature... although it hasn't chased us yet, it absolutely... will not give up."

Chen Mu took a deep breath and managed to stand up.

"Then what do we do now? The City God has been bought off. Is this Yunmeng City... really finished?"

Liu Ziming was already at his wit's end.

Chen Mu's eyes were deep and profound as he forced himself to calm down.

The City God had been bought off, and the Underworld was silent, which meant that official channels for seeking help had already failed.

But Qi Huan was a Banner Officer sent by the Prefecture. His disappearance would definitely not go unnoticed by the Prefecture Demon Suppression Division.

Having figured this out, Chen Mu pulled Liu Ziming up, speaking decisively.

"Go find Xu Changze. Qi Huan is a superior officer; since this happened in his jurisdiction, he must immediately report it to the Prefecture."

"This should be the fastest, and also the only, way to bring in higher-level forces to intervene at the moment."

Liu Ziming also realized this and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, report it. Go find Lord Xu."

"Let's go to the county office now—no, go directly to Lord Xu's residence. The situation is urgent, we can't care about so much anymore."

The two adjusted their breathing slightly, then forced their battered bodies to hurry toward the direction of Xu Changze's residence.

It was just that the night was deep, and the street leading to the county office seemed exceptionally long.