Chapter 26: When the Ostrich is Trapped

Ji Yuan did not cover his entire head, leaving a small gap. Through it, he watched as strands of hair seeped through the door crack, gradually accumulating more and more inside the room.

His heart turned cold, and sweat drenched his body. The new bedding was already damp from his perspiration.

Ji Yuan dared not move, his mind racing for a countermeasure. Several times, he wanted to bolt and escape.

"Hoooo..."

A sound unlike anything human echoed in the room, stiffening Ji Yuan's already terrified body.

Through the gap, he saw the pile of hair slowly rising, forming a dark humanoid silhouette. While everything else around him was blurry, this figure was frighteningly clear, though he wished he couldn't see it so well.

An icy chill permeated the air, and even under the covers, he felt no warmth.

'What should I do? What should I do? This is completely different from a regular ghost! If this isn't a vengeful spirit, I don't know what is!'

Ji Yuan clutched the corner of the quilt tightly. Intense fear and a pounding heart made his entire body tremble uncontrollably.

This time, there was no traveling merchant or young martial artist around, and the entity was not like Lu Shan-jun, with whom he could communicate.

A strong, ominous aura of death permeated the entire Ju'an Pavilion.

"Click-clack... Click-clack..."

A chilling, eerie sound of bones rubbing together grew closer, now right beside him, as if only a thin blanket separated them.

The malice, the desire to end his life, and the greedy craving for his vitality were so palpable. Hiding under the covers, Ji Yuan's pale pupils had constricted to pinpricks.

He would die! He couldn't escape!

This wasn't like watching a horror movie or a Hong Kong ghost film on a screen. This sense of terror and despair was suffocating and debilitating.

Then, Ji Yuan realized that this feeling of powerlessness wasn't just due to excessive hormone secretion; it was because wisps of white energy were leaving his body.

'It's draining my vital energy!'

"Hoooo..."

A tremendous pressure settled on him, gradually paralyzing his body and making it difficult to breathe.

If Ji Yuan hadn't been covered by the quilt, he might have seen a dark, filthy shadow, with pale, twisted limbs, clinging to him.

The terrifying hiss and his body's uncontrollable state reminded Ji Yuan of when he first transmigrated.

At this moment, a sudden surge of anger flared within Ji Yuan.

'I survived that death trap in the mountain god's temple in front of the tiger demon, and now I'm going to die here for no reason? I'm not reconciled! I'm not reconciled!'

He clenched his jaw tightly, his pale eyes slightly bloodshot, eyelids twitching violently. His right hand, clutched into a fist, struggled to unfurl its fingers.

'I just arrived in this world, I just discovered my unique abilities, I have so much left to do, so many things I want to do, and I still want to see the wonders of this world!'

Regardless of whether it would work, Ji Yuan continuously visualized the 'Rotten Chess Game' and imagined the chess piece. It was the only method he could think of at that moment.

Ji Yuan hardened his resolve, ignoring the pain to open his eyes completely. Within the quilt, a certain aura briefly vibrated, and his body instantly regained control.

'I!'

"I won't give up!"

Three words roared from his mouth. At the same moment, Ji Yuan suddenly rose, flinging off the quilt. His arm, shaped into a 'sword-finger' gesture, fiercely thrust towards what was behind the quilt in a desperate struggle. An arcane energy flowed through his arm, transforming into an illusory chess piece at his fingertips.

"Get out!"

Ji Yuan's arm seemed to glow with a faint white light. The next instant, the chess piece and his fingertip touched the vengeful spirit.

"Aaaahhhhhh!"

As the 'sword-finger' and the chess piece penetrated the vengeful spirit's ethereal body, a piercing shriek, agonizing to Ji Yuan's ears, erupted from the other side.

Whoosh... whoosh...

Swirling gusts of ominous wind, like clothes in a washing machine, revolved around Ji Yuan's right arm, dark and horrifying.

Ji Yuan felt as if his entire right hand had been completely frozen, an bone-chilling cold like steel needles constantly piercing the flesh of his right arm. The stinging pain and cold were unbearable.

And then, in the next moment.

"Bang!"

A black shadow was violently flung back, crashing through the room door and swiftly escaping into the well in the courtyard.

Ji Yuan stood there, right arm outstretched, eyes wide, maintaining that posture for about ten seconds. Then he swayed twice on the bed, his body went limp, and he fell backward.

"Thud..." Ji Yuan collapsed onto the bed, unconscious.

This eerie, chilling shriek was so terrifying that countless residents in that corner of Tianniu Lane were startled awake in the middle of the night by the genderless scream, only to hide under their covers, frozen with fear.

Some households that still had lights on hastily blew out their candles, afraid of attracting something sinister.

At this very moment, in Miaosi Ward, located northwest of Ning'an County, where the Ning'an County City God Temple stood.

The temple's golden statue vibrated.

Beneath the visible surface, hidden from ordinary eyes, the City God of Ning'an County stood tall in the main hall.

"Where are the Night Patrols? Go quickly to the Soul-Locking Well in Tianniu Lane, south of the city, and investigate!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Two underworld messengers, dressed in black official robes, one carrying a long-handled hook, the other with a saber at his waist, transformed into two fleeting black shadows and left the City God Temple, heading towards Tianniu Lane.

***

At Ju'an Pavilion, Ji Yuan rubbed his head as he sat up in bed. When he collapsed earlier, he had hit the back of his head on the bed frame again. It was fortunate his head was quite sturdy, or he would have had a concussion.

Ji Yuan still remembered the last moments: the vengeful spirit-like entity was struck and sent flying by his finger, then it fled. Judging by its reaction, it was definitely not unharmed; at the very least, it must have been terrified.

After that incident, Ji Yuan felt much braver. He put on his outer clothes and got out of bed.

His right arm still felt cold and numb, and his whole body was somewhat weak and listless, but generally, he felt no major issues.

He pulled back the wooden bolt and "creak," the door to the main room opened.

Overhead, the stars twinkled brightly. The large jujube tree in the courtyard swayed its branches, and the well beneath its shade was completely shrouded in darkness.

Whoosh... whoosh...

Gusts of wind—whether just cool air or ominous—made Ji Yuan shiver slightly.

Standing at the main room's doorway, Ji Yuan felt uneasy, his expression shifting. Several times he considered whether he should just escape now, as he might not be so lucky next time.

"Ju'an Pavilion has a mortal residing in it again?"

Suddenly, a slightly surprised voice drifted from outside the courtyard. Then, two figures in black official robes, holding weapons, strangely phased through the courtyard gate and entered.

Ji Yuan's heart stirred, then his pupils contracted, realizing he could clearly see them.

'Seeing ghosts again!'

The two black-robed figures clearly had all their attention on the well in the courtyard, merely glancing at Ji Yuan standing at the main room's doorway before dismissing him.

"Strange, the malevolent aura emanating from the Soul-Locking Well has dissipated by more than half? What happened here?"

"Lord City God must have sensed the anomaly!"

"The feng shui arrangement of Ju'an Pavilion remains unbroken, so that malevolent spirit shouldn't have been able to escape. I can still sense it in the well!"

"Yes, and its aura is unstable!"

"If so, this is a heaven-sent opportunity to slay this fiend! We must report to Lord City God immediately!"

After a brief exchange, the one holding the long-handled hook remained by the well, while the one with the saber transformed into a blurry humanoid mist, drifted through the gate, and floated away.

Ji Yuan, standing at the doorway, had almost bolted earlier.

'They thought I couldn't see them? Malevolent spirit? Feng shui arrangement? Lord City God?'

As a young man who had access to the vast information explosion of the 21st-century internet, a few simple sentences allowed Ji Yuan to deduce and imagine many things.

The well in Ju'an Pavilion's courtyard might be locking up some powerful ghostly entity, the Ning'an County City God wasn't just a clay statue in a temple, and the two who came were likely underworld messengers under the City God's jurisdiction.

He had already encountered demons and ghosts before, and now he had even met the underworld messengers under the local City God.

Ji Yuan's mind raced.

'So, does this world have mountain spirits, river deities, immortals, and Buddhas? Should I still run now? Thirty-six taels... That thing in the well was injured because of my finger, right?'

Thinking this, Ji Yuan felt he had a bit of confidence to remain an observer.

Moreover, deep down, Ji Yuan was also a big boy who secretly harbored a sense of wonder and adventure. Not everyone had the chance to witness things like temple City Gods.