35: Chapter 35 Breath Holding

"Wah—!!!"

A piercing shriek.

This was not a sound a human could make; it felt like countless needles stabbing into the brain.

Chen Mo felt a buzzing in his head, his vision went black, and he nearly fell to his knees.

This was a mental attack!

He bit the tip of his tongue, the sharp pain instantly clearing his mind.

Looking ahead again.

Jiang Hongli's sword had stopped mid-air.

The red light enveloping her body, under that shriek, was snuffed out like a flame doused with cold water—*pfft*—gone.

The female ghost's face was less than half a foot from Jiang Hongli.

Those two pitch-black, hollow eye sockets were fixed intently on Jiang Hongli.

Jiang Hongli froze.

Her originally heroic face was now deathly pale. The hand holding the sword began to tremble violently.

A sense of foreboding rose in Chen Mo's heart.

This girl... she couldn't be...

The next second, his premonition came true.

"Mommy!!!"

Jiang Hongli let out a scream even more piercing than the ghost's.

She threw the sword in her hand—the one said to slice through iron like mud—directly at the ghost, then turned and bolted with twice the speed of her earlier charge.

*Whoosh!*

A red flash.

Like a startled rabbit, she darted straight toward Chen Mo... or rather, the large locust tree behind him.

In two or three leaps, she scrambled up to the treetop, huddling on a branch, hugging her head and trembling.

"Chen Mo! Save me! It's too ugly!!!"

Jiang Hongli's tearful cry came from the tree.

In the courtyard, the air froze.

The thrown sword clattered to the ground.

The female ghost also seemed confused by this sudden turn of events. It tilted its head, looked at Jiang Hongli in the tree, then slowly turned to look at Chen Mo standing in the corner by the wall.

Chen Mo remained in his sword-drawing stance, his entire body rigid.

The wind blew, swirling up a withered leaf.

Chen Mo looked at the horrifying, bloated ghost face mere inches away, then listened to the wailing of the "expert" in the tree.

He slowly, slowly, took a deep breath.

Holy... shit.

The female ghost tilted its head, seemingly sizing up this prey that hadn't run. Black blood dripped from its hollow eye sockets, trickling down its cheeks with a *drip* that landed on Chen Mo's shoe.

Chen Mo didn't move.

Not that he didn't want to, but his legs felt like jelly. Yet his mind was still racing, spinning furiously.

Run? Couldn't outrun it. This thing crawled faster than a dog.

Fight? Even Jiang Hongli had thrown away her sword. What use was this broken firewood cleaver in his hand?

"This... elder sister," Chen Mo gulped, his voice a bit dry, "wrongs have their source, debts have their debtor. I wasn't the one who pushed you down the well. Look at how I'm dressed—we're from the same class, both unfortunate souls."

He was gambling. Gambling that this vengeful spirit retained even a shred of humanity or reason.

The female ghost showed no reaction, still staring fixedly at him, emitting a hiss like a leaky bellows: "Cold... so cold..."

"If you're cold, wear more clothes." Chen Mo said, while secretly slipping a hand into his robe, feeling the stack of silver notes that hadn't even warmed up yet. "How about this? I'll burn you some paper money? You can buy a down jacket down there? If that doesn't work, I'll perform a ritual up here to help you cross over, reincarnate into a good life, become a rich second-generation in your next life, how's that?"

"Why..." The female ghost suddenly leaned forward an inch, the stench of rot nearly knocking Chen Mo over. "...didn't you save me..."

Chen Mo's heart sank.

Damn, it's a broken record.

This thing had no mind, only the obsession from its moment of death. Reasoning with a lunatic was pure suicide.

"Wah—!!!"

The female ghost opened its mouth again, split to the ears, and let out another shriek.

This time, closer. Chen Mo felt like steel needles had been shoved into his brain, churning everything up. His vision went black, and two warm streams flowed from his nostrils.

Immediately after, a pale ghostly claw, carrying a chilling wind, shot straight for his throat.

If that claw landed, his windpipe would definitely snap.

Chen Mo instinctively raised his cleaver to block.

*Clang!*

A crisp sound.

The ghostly hand was hard as iron, the impact numbing Chen Mo's tiger's mouth, nearly knocking the cleaver from his grip. The ghostly hand merely paused, its nails scraping a shower of sparks off the blade, then continued its grab.

Physical attacks were useless!

The last shred of hope in Chen Mo's heart vanished. He jerked backward, executing an extremely awkward "iron bridge," barely avoiding the grab.

The ghostly claw swept past the tip of his nose, the wind it carried stinging his face.

Chen Mo fell with the momentum, performing a lazy donkey roll that carried him three meters away.

What to do?

This thing was impervious to blades, could launch mental attacks, and that useless Jiang Hongli was still hanging in the tree.

Just then, a flash of inspiration struck Chen Mo's mind.

In those zombie movies from his previous life, there seemed to be a saying...

If you hold your breath, ghosts can't see you?

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Chen Mo took a deep breath and activated the Turtle Breathing Technique.

This life-preserving Cultivation Technique was the one he practiced most diligently, aiming for longevity. Now, operating it at full force, his heartbeat instantly slowed, all his pores seemed to close, and his entire body became like a lifeless stone.

The female ghost, about to pounce, suddenly froze.

Its hollow eye sockets shifted left and right, as if it had lost its target.

*Sniff... sniff...*

It sniffed the air, its terrifying face hovering half a meter above Chen Mo.

Chen Mo's face flushed, veins bulging on his neck, not daring to move a muscle.

It really worked!

He didn't know if it was due to the Turtle Breathing Technique's wonder or the female ghost being utterly blind, but for now, it was circling aimlessly like a headless fly.

Holding his breath, Chen Mo used his hands and feet, crawling silently toward the base of the large locust tree like a big gecko.

In the tree, Jiang Hongli hugged the branch, burying her head in her knees, trembling like a leaf in a storm.

"Can't see me... can't see me... I'm just passing by..." she muttered under her breath.

Chen Mo reached the base of the tree and looked up.

The height was about three meters.

He picked up the red sword Jiang Hongli had thrown on the ground earlier, hefting it. A good sword, solid and weighty.

Then, instead of using the sword to attack the ghost, he found a dry branch.

Chen Mo took aim at the red figure in the tree, particularly at a certain plump area.

He gave it a hard poke.

"Ah!"

Jiang Hongli yelped in surprise, instinctively letting go.

*Thump!*

A red figure plummeted.

As luck would have it, she landed right on top of the female ghost, which was still circling aimlessly below.

"Oof!"

Jiang Hongli landed in a daze. Looking up, she came face-to-face with the female ghost's visage.

Eyes met.

The air froze again.

"Mommy!!!"

This time, Jiang Hongli was truly scared out of her wits. Scrambling on all fours, she crawled backward, shrieking, "Chen Mo! You bastard! You set me up!!"

The female ghost, jolted by the impact, snapped back to attention.

The Qi of a living person!

And not just any living person—one with vigorous Life Qi!