Chapter 00166: Playing the Ghost
# Playing the Ghost
Chapter 166
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 166 Playing the Ghost
The wind and rain grew stronger, and the few escorts taking shelter in the Daoist temple became increasingly uneasy.
They had only come in to take shelter from the rain because the sky was dark and the downpour was heavy.
Once the rain stopped or lessened, they would have to continue on their way to reach the designated post station as planned.
Now, the rain was getting heavier, and they couldn't leave at all.
Staying in one place for too long would not only delay their journey, but more importantly, the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.
On top of that, with the strange things that had just occurred, the few escorts gathered around the bonfire appeared very agitated.
This was especially true for Erzi, the one who had just claimed to see a ghost fire; he was looking left and right like a mouse, staring into the dark corners.
The escort leader, however, was calm and composed.
He used his luggage as a cushion beneath him, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber as he closed his eyes to rest.
Yang Yiyi and the other two were on the other side of the main hall, sitting in a circle around a single candle next to the statues of the Three Pure Ones.
"Will this method work?"
"Brother Li said it would, so it definitely will."
Zheng Yinping lacked confidence, or rather, she was simply scared.
The long spear she usually kept disassembled in her bag was now fully assembled and cradled in her arms.
Staring at the flickering candlelight, Zheng Yinping said in a low voice,
"I think I heard something..."
"It's just the wind. Don't scare yourself."
Li Yingluo and Yang Yiyi were very calm.
The former wasn't afraid of ghosts and was even interested in them, while the latter's courage naturally came from Li Chengxi.
Who cared about ghosts? With an Immortal around, what little ghost would dare to act so brazenly?
"But I really did hear something, a rustling sound, like something was wandering around nearby."
Just as Zheng Yinping's voice fell, a loud bang echoed as the doors of the main hall were once again blown open by a fierce gust of wind, the panels clapping together noisily.
The escorts were closer to the doors.
Two of them were just about to go and close them when they heard Erzi let out a blood-curdling scream.
"A ghost! It's right above us! It's a ghost fire!"
Everyone looked up and saw a blue ghost fire lazily floating over their heads, passing straight through the crossbeams of the main hall.
Although it seemed to move slowly, in the blink of an eye, the ghost fire vanished on the other side of the main hall, accompanied by a clap of thunder.
Now everyone had seen it; it was indeed a moving ghost fire.
Yang Yiyi snatched up the candle from the ground and pinched it out.
After waiting for a couple of seconds, she touched the wax with her finger.
"It's hot. It's not a ghost."
Zheng Yinping also quickly touched the wax, and her spirits lifted at once.
Thumping her steel spear on the ground with a loud 'dong', Zheng Yinping shouted:
"Which scoundrel is playing tricks here!"
Knowing it wasn't a ghost, there was no need to be afraid.
Let's see what they're really made of.
At that moment, the crowd saw a black shadow flash past along the rafters and walls.
It didn't look like someone flying with a lightness skill, but more like some dark, humanoid object crawling along the wall like a spider, a sight that made one's scalp tingle.
"I see you! Where do you think you're going!"
It was Yang Yiyi who reacted the fastest.
While the others were still looking up, searching for where the shadow hiding in the darkness had gone, Yang Yiyi took a step, kicked off the pedestal of a nearby statue of the Three Pure Ones, and used the momentum to launch herself into the air with the Fish Leap Technique.
Everyone watched as she leaped to the height of the rafters and directly threw two punches.
Perhaps because it was too dark up in the rafters, Yang Yiyi couldn't see clearly, and both of her punches were blocked by the person hidden in the darkness, who skillfully dispersed the force.
The Fish Leap Technique couldn't keep her suspended in mid-air; once her momentum was gone, Yang Yiyi would begin to fall.
However, as she fell, she reached out to grab.
Although she missed, the other person probably didn't expect someone to jump right up into their face.
Knocked off balance, they both fell from the rafters, one after the other.
Only then did everyone see that the figure was a person.
This person was masked and dressed in black night-crawling clothes, with many black or dark green cloth strips hanging from their body, looking like a crude version of a ghillie suit.
Yang Yiyi didn't care what this person was wearing.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she took another small hopping step and charged forward.
Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.
A group of more than ten men in black, wielding all sorts of weapons, appeared at the entrance.
Seeing the situation in the main hall, they immediately charged in with the wind and rain.
Escort Leader Wang Zhen stood up and immediately drew his saber.
"Form a circle and secure the cargo! This old man would like to see just which scoundrels you are!"
The men in black seemed to know that Wang Zhen was not easy to deal with.
No one dared to engage him head-on; instead, they used their numerical advantage to attack from the flanks.
Of course, those who made a living in the escort business were no weaklings.
Wang Zhen's saber technique was as fast as a shadow, the gleam of his blade sharp and fierce.
He held his own against three or four opponents simultaneously, not at a disadvantage in the slightest.
This Wang Zhen had learned from a great master of the saber.
His Golden Swallow Saber Technique had long reached perfection.
His sharp blade moved like a swallow flitting about in spring.
Though the saber was known as the hegemon of all weapons, he wielded it with a light and graceful air.
A man in black thrust a steel fork at him but couldn't even touch his clothes.
The light of his saber protected all his vital points as he charged into the midst of the men in black as if they weren't even there.
Although the remaining five escorts weren't as eye-catching as Wang Zhen, their skills were solid.
They formed a defensive formation in front of the chests, and not a single man in black could get close.
The target of these men in black was clearly the cargo; the group of more than ten had targeted the escorts the moment they entered.
Seeing this, Li Yingluo and Zheng Yinping had originally planned to help Yang Yiyi first.
After all, the situation was very clear, and it had nothing to do with them.
But the men in black had also noticed the three young women.
Perhaps wanting to prevent them from causing trouble, they immediately sent a few men to deal with them.
It seemed like the escorts were defending with ease, but only after engaging with these men did they realize this group was no ordinary band of robbers.
Not only did each of them possess martial arts, but the weapons they used were also strange and varied, and their martial arts styles were all different from one another.
Yet, these completely unrelated styles were somehow combined with perfect coordination.
There had to be an expert guiding them from behind the scenes; otherwise, they would have long since fallen into chaos, let alone coordinate.
They were even more infuriating to deal with than the Plum Blossom Guard.
The members of the Plum Blossom Guard all came from military households, and everything they used and learned was military martial arts.
They weren't skilled at one-on-one duels in narrow spaces, being far better at forming military formations to annihilate enemies in open areas.
These men in black, however, were the exact opposite.
Their individual martial arts skills far surpassed those of the Plum Blossom Guard, and they excelled in chaotic brawls and melees.
Zheng Yinping felt extremely frustrated wielding her steel spear.
Her specialty of wide, sweeping movements was constantly intercepted halfway through by the enemy's coordinated tactics.
She felt as though she had a full set of skills but was completely unable to use them.
Li Yingluo fared slightly better.
Her sword style was naturally light and graceful, but the enemy's diverse array of weapons was dazzling.
After a few clangs, her blade was forced onto the defensive, unable to push the enemy back.
On the other hand, the opponents didn't seem to have any killing intent.
Several times, when they could have pressed their advantage, they instead chose to fall back and defend.
It looked like they merely wanted to keep the girls pinned down.
This made the identity of this group even more suspicious.
They were robbing an escort but didn't want to kill anyone?
Or to be more precise, they didn't want to harm any innocent people.
The ideal outcome for them was to grab the cargo and run without anyone dying.
As for Yang Yiyi, she didn't even glance at the dozen or so men in black who had charged in.
She was completely focused on the one she had dragged down, chasing and pummeling him.
The latter's lightness skill was extremely strange, one could even call it bizarre.
It wasn't the typical method of leaping with one's legs, but more like he was using his hands to rapidly scale the wall.
However, thanks to Yang Yiyi's repeated interference, his several attempts to escape were all thwarted by her.
After this happened several times in a row, her opponent seemed to get annoyed.
With a flick of his wrist, he shot out several dark shadows.
"Watch out for hidden weapons!"
Hearing Li Chengxi's warning, Yang Yiyi quickly shielded her face with her arms.
Several throwing darts landed on her body with dull thuds, blocked by her Tiger Fur Vest.
But even while protecting her head, Yang Yiyi's feet didn't slow in the slightest.
The man in black hadn't expected Yang Yiyi to be so fierce, taking the hidden weapons head-on without even trying to dodge.
Maintaining her posture of shielding her face with her hands, Yang Yiyi slammed her forehead into him.
That's right, this girl was basically a human bulldozer.