Nightmare Apostle

Sure enough, there was no ghost outside the door, and the warrior ghost in the corridor had completely disappeared. This opportunity was rare, Yang Xiao quickened his pace, and the exit was already close.

10 steps.

20 steps.

Yang Xiao was holding the ghost whisk, with wet blood still remaining in the corners of his eyes. His face was grim, and he looked crazy. He was always alert to the movement behind the doors on both sides. Who dared to come out and feel uncomfortable at this moment? A whisk would appear on his head. .

"Bah."

It seemed like he had stepped on something dirty under his feet. It was sticky and a little slippery. Yang Xiao lowered his head and saw a pool of milky white mucus appearing on the originally bare ground. He endured his nausea and continued to move forward. After all, it was so far away. The exit was not far away, but after taking a few steps, he realized that the area of ​​mucus was much larger than he thought. Looking forward, it seemed as if the entire corridor was covered with mucus.

He slowly lifted his foot. The force required this time was even more exaggerated than last time. With each step he took, the force required to pull out his foot was nearly twice as strong. If he continued on this trend, he would not be able to reach the exit at all. Three more steps,

Your feet will be stuck to the mucus and you will be trapped to death.

To give a very appropriate example, he is now like a mouse that accidentally entered a sticky mouse board, but here he does not have to worry about being trapped to death, because he will be killed by a certain ghost before he is trapped to death.

There is no doubt that this mucus was also caused by a certain ghost, but Yang Xiao has not found any trace of that ghost yet.

But he didn't have time. He could already feel the stirring breath coming from several nearby rooms.

Although the old patriarch repeatedly warned him not to use the soul-capturing mirror here, at the moment of life and death, he didn't care so much. He decisively took out the soul-capturing mirror and wanted to use the ability of the soul-capturing mirror to open the mirror world. When he got there , he had a chance to breathe.

But after injecting mental power into the soul-capturing mirror, a strange scene appeared. His body was restricted by a strange force, and the teleportation failed. This strange force came from under his feet, which was this pool that could not be seen at a glance. Slime to the end.

Yang Xiao immediately understood that this pool of slime was similar to the existence of the mirror world. It was not a real thing, but the ghost's domain. But now, after he mistakenly entered the other party's domain first, he was suppressed by the ghost. Deadly.

The soul-capturing mirror was ineffective. Yang Xiao held a ghost whisk in his right hand, and the soul-capturing mirror in his left hand was replaced with a ghost lantern again. As the flames inside the ghost lantern lit up, he lowered the ghost lantern close to the mucus on the ground, and the green light of the ghost lantern There was some weird reaction with the mucus. The mucus seemed to have evaporated and became thinner at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, Yang Xiao used a little force to pull out his originally bound feet.

But at this moment, through the reflection of the mucus, Yang Xiao suddenly saw something hanging on the ceiling above his head.

Yang Xiao suddenly raised his head and raised the lantern in his hand. At this moment, Yang Xiao saw a horrifying picture. He saw a naked, skinny "guy" with strangely long limbs hanging from the ceiling like a big spider, with his head Turned 180 degrees, a pair of bloody eyes stared down at him.

The skin was covered with a rash of deathly gray, and a pair of small eyes hidden in the flesh slits shot out a cold and malicious light. Yang Xiao was shocked by the sudden appearance of the spider ghost. This ghost was invisible to the naked eye, and it was the ghost lantern that made it visible.

The next second, sensing the exposure, the spider ghost opened its arms and legs and jumped down from above his head, as if a big net was about to cover Yang Xiao. Yang Xiao subconsciously swung out a fly whisk, breaking a section of the spider ghost's skinny arm and hitting it. Fly out.

But the spider ghost turned its body in mid-air and tilted its head back. The next second, it threw its head towards Yang Xiao at an extremely tricky angle. Its neck was broken, and there was only a spiderweb-shaped mucus phase between the body and the head. Goulian, this scene was completely unexpected by Yang Xiao, leaving him no time to react.

His feet were still bound, and he didn't even have a chance to dodge sideways. He watched the dry head open his mouth wide, with the corners of the mouth torn, the lower jaw detached, and there were several rows of densely intertwined sharp teeth in the mouth.

If he was bitten, half of his head would be chewed to pieces. At the critical moment, the space beside Yang Xiao shook, and a gap instantly opened. A green sword was handed out first, and the tip of the sword touched the spider ghost's forehead lightly. .

"cut."

With a soft drink, the spider ghost's cheek split. The next second, the heart-stopping ability was activated. Yang Xiao didn't think it was anything, but the spider ghost's body twisted strangely, and the split head reset. The spider ghost quickly approached Yang Xiao in a weird posture, and then flew back to the ceiling above his head. Time went back, and finally the spider ghost climbed back into a door not far away on all fours and disappeared.

At the same time, the slime under his feet disappeared, and there was silence in the corridor. Everything in the past seemed like an illusion.

"How are you?" The one who saved Yang Xiao was naturally the old patriarch. At this moment, the old patriarch was holding the sword in his right hand and the lantern in his left hand. This familiar scene made Yang Xiao instantly recall the immortal he saw when he first entered the Confucian Academy. The treasure statue also holds a sword in its right hand, looking domineering and majestic.

"I...I'm fine." Yang Xiao's heart finally fell to the ground. When the old patriarch came, he would be saved. When the old patriarch came, he would be at peace!

But then, the old patriarch’s slightly harsh words made Yang Xiao stand on the spot, “What happened?

Why did it take so long? "

"It's less than ten hours. You agreed with me before but for 24 hours." Yang Xiao asked in confusion,

No matter how much he procrastinates, it will never take more than 12 hours from the moment he enters the ghost gate.

Hearing this, the old patriarch couldn't help but frown, and there was a hint of weirdness in his eyes as he stared at Yang Xiao, "You have been here for two full days."

"What?!" Yang Xiao's eyes widened.

"This is not the place to talk. Let's go first." The old patriarch held a lantern and turned around to clear the way for Yang Xiao. Although Yang Xiao was confused, he could only remain silent for now and wait until he left here.

Perhaps it was the old patriarch who led the way, but the guys hiding in the rooms on both sides were much more honest this time, and there were no obstacles along the way. Soon, they saw the exit in front of them, which was an area shrouded in gray mist. And Yang Xiao clearly remembered that when they first approached Guihui, they entered through such an entrance.

But unlike Yang Xiao's feeling, the old patriarch became more and more nervous as he reached the exit. When he was only a dozen steps away from the fog, the accident happened after all. Yang Xiao first heard the sound of wooden shoes, which was what he heard from before. It came from a certain room, and the old man The leader acted more nervous than him and immediately quickened his pace. It seemed that he planned to escape before the owner of the wooden shoes came out. But just a second before they were about to break out, a door curtain on the right side of the gray mist was blocked. After knocking it open, a figure walked out stiffly.

"despair."

"despair."

His pupils suddenly narrowed, and this time Yang Xiao could see clearly. The person was short in stature, but he was wearing a set of white mourning clothes that seriously did not match his body shape. He had a thick linen belt tied around his waist, and he was wearing a pair of wooden clogs under his dirty bare feet. , the exposed part of the body was extremely skinny, as if it were all skin and bones, and the surface showed a strange gray color with a jade-like texture. The face could not be seen clearly because it was wearing a wooden grimace mask.

Yang Xiao recognized it. This mask was the big black face in the Japanese Noh drama. It was also the highest level among the masks, symbolizing a very high status.

The figure lowered its head, and its two arms were unable to hang down. In its right hand, which was as dry as a chicken's claw, there was an iron hook shaped like a crowbar.

But unlike the crowbar, this weapon is obviously much thicker at the end held in the hand, as if it is used for chopping or smashing.

Through this weapon and what the visitor was wearing, Yang Xiao recalled a rumor. It was said that wars occurred frequently in ancient times and countless people died unjustly. This also led to the accumulation of resentment. There were often corpses of people who died unjustly and pretended to be corpses, so A type of person has emerged who specializes in this kind of work of dealing with dead people, also called a master, commonly known as a household collector.

Corpse collectors belong to a side sect. Because they often deal with ghosts and gods, there are many rules and taboos. The most basic requirements for entering the industry are to be brave and have a strong character. It is best to have no relatives and be poor. If the appearance is more ugly, then More perfect.

This lineage is divided into several levels based on the master's inheritance and the complexity and danger of handling corpses. The lowest level is ordinary household collectors, and those who converge are ordinary households.

The next step is to enter the Eight Sutras, which requires some practice in the body. Next is the corpse-carrying craftsman. If you have a way, you will not carry a headless corpse, a pregnant woman's corpse, a corpse struck by lightning, or a hanging corpse. Dead corpses are not carried, nor are buried corpses. This last category, which is also the highest level among corpse collectors, is called corpse killers.

In ancient times, there was a saying about blood feuds and killing corpses by opening coffins. However, because it was too unconscionable and bad luck for oneself,

Therefore, there are not many recorded cases in the past, but this job that others talk about is one of the jobs of the corpse killer.

Some buried bodies have evil spirits inside their coffins due to various reasons such as feng shui and luck. If allowed to develop, sooner or later the coffin will burst out, causing disaster. At this time, ordinary corpse collectors would not dare to take on such a life-threatening job. It can only be reported to the Yushi people.

After the corpse killer arrives and confirms that there is indeed something wrong with the body in the coffin, they will smash the tombstone to break the evil spirit, dig out the coffin, and split it open with special weapons.

The next step is the highlight, hooking the chin of the corpse with the end of the iron hook and dragging the corpse along the way. When the head of the corpse is severed and the body is separated, the matter is over.

It is said that when a corpse transforms, a mouthful of resentment accumulates in the throat and refuses to be swallowed. A broken neck means that the resentment has dissipated. In other words, it means that the corpse is about to transform into a body suit. .

At this time, the corpse killer would simply perform rituals at the broken part of the corpse, then dig a deep hole and bury the corpse.

The person in front of me is the highest level corpse killer. There is no mistake. No, it should be said that he was a corpse killer in life.

Now it... is a ghost!

It is this corpse ghost that is suppressing the other ghosts in this ghost house!

These things only appeared in Yang Xiao's mind for a moment, and then flashed by. When the old patriarch faced this corpse, his first reaction was not to rush through, but to retreat and immediately turn around. It looked like... Want to escape.

It was this simple action that made Yang Xiao instantly understand the horror of this ghost, but it was too late. The ghost still discovered them, and turned its body stiffly to face the two of them. The next second, The zombie killer didn't even raise his head, he just calmly raised the iron hook in his hand and weakly waved it at them.

Before Yang Xiao could react, he felt a hand grab his arm and violently threw him towards the house-killing ghost. At the critical moment, the old patriarch used him to block the gun. This made him feel despair. Facing him The iron hook that was getting closer and closer had already started running in Yang Xiao's mind. He had just recovered the savings stolen by the ghost in the mirror, and he was not willing to die now.

However, the iron hook did not hit his chin as accurately as expected, because a figure suddenly appeared and blocked him.

At this moment, the old patriarch seemed like a god descending from heaven, holding a Qingming sword in his hand to block the iron hook that hooked corpses and ghosts, but the corpse-killing ghost was not hurt, but the old patriarch's chest was inexplicably cut open, and a twist scar appeared, extending from bottom to top, almost ripping the old patriarch's intestines and stomach, extending all the way to the chin before it was stopped.

"Run!" The old patriarch roared.

Yang Xiao didn't care about anything else, and immediately rushed out, and as he broke through the fog, the scene in front of him suddenly became clear, and it was a cliff in the dark.

He finally rushed out, and when he turned around, the old patriarch also rushed out of the fog on his knees, and the lantern in his hand was mostly extinguished, with only a little flame left, and it was obvious that he couldn't hold on for much longer.

Yang Xiao took a step forward, trying to help the old patriarch, but was pushed away by him. He lifted the lantern to his eyes and blew hard, and the last flame went out with a "puff".

At the same time, the three-story building behind him, which was originally erratic, also completely disappeared at this moment and disappeared into the night again. The cliff became empty for a while. Except for the seriously injured old patriarch and Yang Xiao who was still in shock,

it seemed that nothing had happened.

"Old patriarch, are you okay?" Yang Xiao stepped forward again and supported the old patriarch. At this moment, the other party's face was very bad, with blood stains on his chest, and blood was constantly flowing out and dripping on the ground.

Putting away the lantern, the old patriarch shook his head slowly. As the ability to go back in time was activated again, the fierce wound in front of him gradually recovered. It disappeared completely in just a few breaths, but the price was that the old patriarch's face became worse, and there was almost no trace of blood.

"Go along this road, there's a car waiting for you at the turn." After healing, the old patriarch didn't waste any words. He raised his hand to point the way to Yang Xiao, and then used his ability to create a space crack. The next second, he disappeared in front of Yang Xiao.

Looking at the empty cliff behind him, Yang Xiao knew that it was not suitable to stay here for a long time, so he immediately set off and ran along the road pointed by the old patriarch.