Chapter 00164: A Sinister Wind Blows
# A Sinister Wind Blows
Chapter 164
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 164: A Sinister Wind Blows
The sudden scream startled all three of them.
Even Yang Yiyi, who had just been scaring others, shivered.
Not to mention Zheng Yinping, who felt her legs go weak.
The calmest, surprisingly, was Li Yingluo, who looked the most like a gentle maiden.
She stood up excitedly and said:
“There's a ghost! Let's go see!”
“W-wait for me!”
For some reason, this young lady was incredibly interested in ghosts.
She dragged Zheng Yinping along, and Yang Yiyi quickly followed.
The three of them quickly walked out of the side room, passed through a short corridor, and entered the main hall.
The escorts in the main hall were on high alert, as if facing a great enemy.
They had all drawn their weapons and immediately cast wary glances over when they heard the three girls' voices.
Li Yingluo quickly asked:
“What happened?”
Her tone didn't sound fearful at all; in fact, there was a hint of excitement, but no one answered her.
Including Escort Leader Wang Zhen, there were six of them in total.
One of them, a young man not yet twenty, was half-kneeling on the ground, soaked and shivering.
“A ghost! I saw it! There's a ghost!”
Seeing this, Escort Leader Wang Zhen shouted at him:
“Get a hold of yourself!”
This escort leader possessed considerable internal energy.
His voice was sonorous and his breath was long and steady, like the tolling of a great bronze bell.
Jolted by his shout, the young man's eyes finally regained their focus, and he seemed to have sobered up a little.
“Erzi, what did you see? Speak clearly, and quickly.”
“Escort Leader Wang, I just went to relieve myself and saw a ghost fire in the courtyard!”
At these words, everyone was startled.
“Describe it in detail. Where exactly was it, and what did this ghost fire look like.”
“It was blue, and the rain didn't affect it. It was just burning away. It must be the dead from this Daoist temple coming to claim lives!”
“It's true that many people have died in this temple, but let me tell you, Erzi, it's not strange to see a ghost fire in a place where people have died. There's something called phosphorus. All dead bodies have it. That stuff ignites on its own, and when it burns, it looks like a ghost fire.”
This Escort Leader Wang was an old hand in the martial world, having traveled far and wide.
A mere ghost fire was not enough to scare him.
His knowledge was far greater than that of the other escorts, and the moment he heard "ghost fire," he knew Erzi was just scaring himself.
Hearing this, the other escorts around him began to relax.
But then, Erzi swallowed hard and said:
“Then... then is it also not strange for the ghost fire to float across the middle of the courtyard?”
“What did you say? The ghost fire could float?”
“Uh, yeah. From left to right, it passed by the large incense burner in the middle of the courtyard and just floated past with a whoosh.”
Hearing this, Escort Leader Wang Zhen fell silent.
This was different from the normal ghost fires he knew about.
The other escorts' hearts sank at the sight.
Crap, had they really run into a ghost on this trip?
But some escorts certainly still didn't believe it.
Turning to see Yang Yiyi's group of three standing there and looking around, one of them immediately drew his saber and shouted:
“Are you three behind this! I knew it was strange for three young girls to be traveling alone in the wilderness!”
As soon as he said this, the other escorts all pointed their weapons at Yang Yiyi's group, looking ready to fight at the slightest provocation.
“Don't you dare make baseless accusations!”
Li Yingluo shouted:
“We've been in the inner room the entire time! When would we have had the chance to set anything up!”
“You were here before we arrived. Wasn't that more than enough time?”
“Enough!”
In the end, the escort leader had the most authority.
With his loud shout, all the escorts fell silent.
“Today's events are quite peculiar. We cannot jump to conclusions.”
Escort Leader Wang Zhen cupped his fists towards the three.
“We are all coarse men. Please forgive us if our words have offended you, young ladies.”
Since he had apologized like this, continuing to argue would only make them seem petty.
But both Li Yingluo and Zheng Yinping could tell there was a hidden meaning in Escort Leader Wang Zhen's words.
Only Yang Yiyi was still foolishly craning her neck towards the main gate, trying to see where the ghost fire was.
“We don't know if this matter is real or not, and since you three young ladies happened to not be present, it's inevitable that people would be suspicious. This old one proposes that you young ladies move into the main hall.”
This way, both parties could keep an eye on each other, which would naturally be more reassuring.
This alone wasn't a big deal, but it meant Li Chengxi couldn't speak casually anymore, or the escorts might easily hear him.
The three exchanged a look and nodded.
Li Yingluo cupped her fists and said:
“Alright, but we need to go back and pack our things.”
For example, the folding bed and the summer quilt that Li Chengxi had just taken out would have to be put away.
Seeing the three of them being so reasonable, Escort Leader Wang Zhen also breathed a sigh of relief.
It was indeed unusual for three young women to be traveling alone.
But on the other hand, for three young women to dare to do so, they must have some martial skill.
With Wang Zhen's keen eye, he could naturally tell that the three were not weak in martial arts.
If a conflict truly broke out, it would not be a good outcome.
If by chance they were here to rob the escort, having them under his nose would allow for early detection.
If not, three skilled individuals might be able to help out.
No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't a loss.
Just as the three were about to turn and go back to their room to pack, a sudden gust of wind slammed open the doors of the main hall.
The bonfire the escorts had lit was blown out with two sputtering sounds, and the hall instantly grew dim.
“Ah!”
Almost at the same time, one of the escorts screamed, followed by a chaotic flurry of flashing blades and swords.
“Don't move recklessly!”
Wang Zhen shouted loudly to control the scene and quickly took out a fire starter from his robes to blow it alight.
By this small bit of light, they could see 'Erzi', who had been kneeling and trembling earlier, now leaning against a chest, clutching his neck.
Dark red blood seeped out from between his fingers.
“E-Escort Leader! It's still a ghost! A ghost claw just slashed my neck!”
There was no one around except for the escorts, and no ghostly shadow was seen, but everyone was on high alert, as if facing a great enemy.
“Don't talk nonsense. Let me see the wound.”
Erzi lowered his hand, trembling slightly.
Wang Zhen saw a wound on his neck that looked like it had been made by a sharp weapon.
Fortunately, it hadn't hit a blood vessel and had only scraped the skin.
It just looked scary.
“Escort Leader, is it really a ghost? Am I going to die?”
Erzi was terrified, his face pale as he said with a sob:
“I still have my old mother and younger siblings to support. Am I done for...”
“Cut the nonsense. This wound looks like it was caused by a hidden weapon, definitely not some ghost's hand. You're not going to die, kid.”
An escort next to him gestured with his eyes towards Yang Yiyi's group:
“Could it be...”
“No. Judging from the direction, the hidden weapon came from outside. It couldn't have been those three girls.”
But if it was shot in from outside, it should have landed on the ground.
They looked around but saw no hidden weapon on the floor of the main hall, only a pile of withered yellow weeds growing from the cracks between the stone slabs.
Yang Yiyi was also craning her neck to look towards the escorts.
She asked in a low voice:
“Brother Li, did you see what it was? Is it really a ghost?”
“I didn't see it clearly. It's hard to say.”
Demons have already appeared in this Wuxia script, so it wouldn't be strange for a ghost to show up.
It was just that it happened too quickly just now, and Li Chengxi really hadn't seen anything either.
From his perspective, he only saw the main gate being blown open with a bang, and then the escort was clutching his neck and screaming.
It should be quite normal for something like a ghost to be invisible.
Unless Li Chengxi had pressed the Alt key at that moment to highlight all interactable objects and characters on the screen, it was unlikely he would have seen it.
“In any case, whether it's someone pretending to be a ghost or a real ghost, you all should be extra careful.”
Other than offering these words of caution, there wasn't much Li Chengxi could do.
(End of this chapter)