Chapter 23: Battling the Ghost

“I’m dead?” Hearing Li Si’s words, Landlord Zhang looked at him in shock, then became angry and scolded, “Worthy nephew Li, I’ve treated you well as a guest, why are you speaking so disrespectfully and cursing me to death?”

“Oh?” Li Si chuckled lightly, then said casually, “Why don’t Uncle think about it carefully?”

“What should I think abou-” Landlord Zhang was about to speak when he suddenly seemed to remember something. A series of memories flashed through his mind, and his face instantly turned ashen. He muttered in a low voice, “I’m dead, how can it be, how is it possible?!!! I’m really dead? I’m dead!!!”

With each sentence, the flesh on his face decayed a bit more. By the end, he was howling, the flesh on his body had fallen off, and his robes had dropped away. At this moment, he looked eight parts similar to the bizarre ghost creature Li Si had seen in the former Madam Zhang’s memories. Only his joints were a bit thicker than that bizarre ghost creature’s.

Finally, Landlord Zhang raised his head and looked fiercely at the still gloomy-faced Madam Zhang Guo, howling, “You bitch, you killed me!”

With that, he pounced towards Madam Zhang Guo.

As he lunged, Madam Zhang Guo, who had been motionless until now, suddenly stood up. One hand shot out like lightning and gripped Landlord Zhang’s neck, immobilizing him. Then her other hand clamped over Landlord Zhang’s face.

Madam Zhang Guo held Landlord Zhang immobile in her hands, her eyes fixed intently on Li Si, squeezing out words through gritted teeth, “I want you to leave… you won’t leave!”

As she spoke, she forcefully yanked off Landlord Zhang’s head, then casually tossed the body and head aside.

“I originally wanted to leave too,” Li Si leisurely poured himself a cup of tea, then raised his head and said nonchalantly, “But you wouldn’t let me, would you?”

“Then leave now, and I won’t kill you,” Madam Zhang Guo said with a gloomy face, her eyes flashing with malice and wariness.

“I don’t plan to leave anymore,” Li Si said with an indifferent expression, then looked seriously at Madam Zhang Guo and said with a laugh, “Now I want to see what you, this thing without face or skin, are going to do.”

“I have skin!!!” Hearing Li Si say she had no face or skin, she howled, somewhat losing control of her emotions.

Seemingly from shouting too forcefully, the skin on her face split open, revealing the flesh-covered bones underneath.

“Tsk tsk…” Li Si clicked his tongue, then pointed at his own face and said with a smile, “Normal people’s skin doesn’t split open like that. Look at my skin.” As he spoke, he lightly scratched the tender white skin on his face.

He wouldn’t pity this Madam Zhang Guo. Regardless of what she had experienced, the fact that she had killed so many people was undeniable.

Madam Zhang Guo looked at Li Si with venomous and envious eyes. Finally unable to endure anymore, the skin on her body slowly peeled off, revealing the terrifying, bizarre monster form that Li Si had seen before.

“Die!!!” The Dismembering Ghost howled, spittle and bodily fluids splattering everywhere. The human skin she had just shed flew towards Li Si as if it were alive.

Li Si’s vision went dark as his body was enveloped by this human skin. The skin slowly rolled, like a python trying to crush him into a pulp.

Just as Li Si began to feel some pressure, the cloth bag on his chest flashed with light, and the human skin burst into flames as if it had caught fire.

“My skin!!!” A miserable scream came from not far from Li Si. The Dismembering Ghost lunged towards Li Si with a terrified expression.

By this time, the human skin had burned to ashes, leaving only a pile of cinders on the ground.

The Dismembering Ghost pounced close to Li Si, incredulously touching the ashes on the ground with her hand.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew by, scattering the ashes into the air.

The Dismembering Ghost raised her head, staring at Li Si with venomous eyes, squeezing out words through gritted teeth, “I’ll peel off your skin!!!”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a deathly green tongue pierced through the Dismembering Ghost’s chest. A boy had appeared beside Li Si at some point, and it was his tongue that had penetrated the Dismembering Ghost’s chest.

The Dismembering Ghost looked at the still-wriggling tongue in her chest in disbelief, seemingly never expecting a tongue to pierce her chest at this moment. She also couldn’t have imagined that Li Si had an ally.

“Ah!!!” The Dismembering Ghost screamed miserably, but decisively pulled out the tongue and quickly fled to one side.

The Beheaded Ghost, following Li Si’s order, swiftly used its tongue to slash at the Dismembering Ghost’s leg, cutting off one of her legs.

However, the Dismembering Ghost still quickly fled in one direction, only her speed was much slower.

“Kill him!” The Dismembering Ghost howled, and immediately the servants of the Zhang mansion ran out, expressionlessly surrounding Li Si.

“Kill them!” Li Si commanded the Beheaded Ghost with an icy expression.

At this point, even if the Zhang family weren’t ghosts but humans, he would still kill them all clean. He had said earlier that he would bury the Zhang family, and naturally, he would do as he said.

Now was the time for the plot to be revealed and the dagger to be drawn.

Hearing Li Si’s command, the Beheaded Ghost chased after the Dismembering Ghost. At the same time, its tongue whirled in the air, and in no time, the more than twenty Human Corpses were cut into small pieces.

Li Si followed the Beheaded Ghost in pursuit. After passing through several courtyards, he finally saw the Dismembering Ghost.

At this moment, the Dismembering Ghost was holding a boy, staring at Li Si with a venomous expression.

“Let go of that…” Li Si was about to stop the Dismembering Ghost from harming the boy when he saw her holding him.

However, when the boy saw him, he looked at Li Si as if seeing a mortal enemy, fiercely staring and howling at him, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

“This is also a ghost,” Li Si was suddenly at a loss for words. He shook his head and instructed the Beheaded Ghost, “Kill them all.”

“Wait…” The Dismembering Ghost’s expression suddenly changed. She knew there was no escape today. If she still had her human skin, she might have had a chance to run away, or even easily kill that little ghost.

But reality has no ifs. Her human skin had been destroyed by Li Si’s protective charm, and with the injury she suffered last night, she was no match for the Beheaded Ghost now.

So her eyes gradually softened. Holding the child, she fell to her knees, kowtowed three times, and pleaded bitterly, “Young Master Li, although I have killed many people, my child is innocent. He has never killed anyone. Please spare him.”

“If he has never killed anyone, I can naturally spare him,” Li Si slowly walked up to the Dismembering Ghost and said coldly, “But you must die!”

As the words fell, a green shadow broke through the air, piercing straight into the Dismembering Ghost’s chest and beginning to writhe inside her body.

The Dismembering Ghost endured the pain of the tongue moving through her internal organs, picked up the boy, gently stroking his head, her eyes full of affection.

“Ah!!!” Before long, the Dismembering Ghost could no longer bear the pain in her body. She howled, frantically beating her own body, bone fragments falling all around.

Seeming to feel her impending death, the Dismembering Ghost stopped her movements, turned to look at Li Si, and said with difficulty, “Beware of the ceiling beam…”

However, before she could say more, the Dismembering Ghost let out a final scream. Her entire body of flesh and bones was finally torn apart by the Beheaded Ghost, turning into a pile of finely minced meat pieces on the ground.

Then the meat pieces and bones began to rot, turning into black ashes. A gust of wind blew, and the sins disappeared cleanly with these ashes.

Only a boy was left standing in the empty space, staring blankly in the direction where the ashes had flown.