Looking at the spirit in front of him, Qiao Yuan fell silent.
Was this something a spirit should say?
He recalled the fairy tale that the tour guide had told him about a female ghost who died of injustice. In order to take revenge on all humans, she had absorbed the Yang energy of the passers-by.
But this was only a legend!
Were spirits related to legends?
Qiao Yuan wasn't sure. He felt that he was still a long way from the truth.
From his first encounter with spirits, Qiao Yuan had met three in total.
The first spirit, Li Xiaoling, had a fetish for women. To be more specific, it was a loli. Although it had always denied it, Qiao Yuan was still confident that it was true. This was one of the reasons he had always wanted to tame it. He could guarantee that it would not have any improper thoughts about him.
The second spirit, Jia Hong's wife, liked to seduce young men with weak will.
The third spirit, the weeping woman, liked to ask for human opinions. If there was no correct answer, it did not matter if the answer was correct or not.
So… what was this female spirit's hobby?
Did it like to tease humans, or did it like the fear that humans showed when facing it, or did it like to hear the truth?
Or... did he like to be kissed?
...
Outside the door, the lantern in the spirit's hand kept flashing. The strange red light shone on its face, giving it an eerie look.
The reflection on the ground continued to twist and change, looking more like an evil spirit baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.
"Bring your face over here, and I'll kiss you."
Qiao Yuan said after a moment of thought.
Weng~
The cold wind outside stopped at this moment. The woman took a step with her left foot and crossed over the threshold.
Qiao Yuan also took a step back, until the spirit's body was completely inside the house.
Then, the woman's head seemed to stretch forward, and then, her pale face was only a few centimeters away from Qiao Yuan. A bone-piercing chill hit him, and Qiao Yuan could even see the hair on the woman's face.
It laughed.
The cold aura gradually spread, forming a cloud of dark mist that completely surrounded Qiao Yuan.
Qiao Yuan's voice slowly rang out.
"The chief said that meeting you meant bad luck, but he didn't say who would be the one to have bad luck."
"Is it you or me?"
"Guess who?"
The woman: "???"
Pa~
Qiao Yuan slapped it.
At this moment, Qiao Yuan's golden light appeared, like the reincarnation of the legendary Buddha. His aura was majestic and vast, majestic yet solemn.
In an instant, five burnt handprints appeared on the right side of the spirit's face.
[Energy +1]
...
Roar!
It let out an unwilling, sharp, ear-piercing cry, and a cloud of black smoke came out of its mouth.
The smoke grew thicker and soon filled the entire living room. Qiao Yuan stood where he was, golden light flowing around his body like a sun god.
The black mist continued to roll and roar, doing its best to invade Qiao Yuan's body. However, the thin film on his body was like a natural nemesis, completely isolating the black mist on the outside.
For a moment, the sound of corrosion could be heard.
Seeing that it couldn't kill Qiao Yuan, the spirit tried to run away.
"You want to run?"
"How can it be that easy!"
Qiao Yuan shouted angrily, and with a flash of his body, he grabbed the spirit's arm.
The woman screamed in pain.
Qiao Yuan held the spirit's fair arm tightly, and no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't break free. Qiao Yuan used his strength and threw the spirit to the ground.
Bang!
The spirit crashed to the ground, and the floor shook.
This spirit was much stronger than Weeping Woman, almost as strong as Jia Hong's wife.
But that was all.
So... it was his turn to ask questions!
Qiao Yuan swallowed four pieces of chocolate to recover the qi and blood he had expended.
...
The moon was dark, and the wind was high. All was silent, and a suffocating pressure and horror filled the air.
In the courtyard, the Red Lantern that had fallen to the ground clearly illuminated the scene. The unknown flame inside flickered, as if it was afraid of everything.
OWW!
A shrill scream mixed with the sound of bones twisting rang out.
Qiao Yuan rode on its back and easily tied the red spirit's limbs into a dead knot.
"Are you going to tell me or not?"
Qiao Yuan roared coldly.
The red spirit did not answer. It turned its neck 180 degrees, glaring hatefully at Qiao Yuan with a venomous look.
"You still dare to glare at me?"
Qiao Yuan ate three pieces of chocolate.
[Vitality +6]
A golden light suddenly appeared, and a few slaps were sent over.
[Energy +1]
"Are you going to say it?"
The red spirit spat out black blood, and her face looked twisted.
"Why don't you ask!"
The red spirit roared, and the black mist around her body continued to gather and dissipate.
Pa~
Qiao Yuan gave her another tight slap.
[Energy +1]
"I didn't ask you, don't you know what to say?"
Qiao Yuan glared at the spirit and ate another five chocolate bars.
[Vitality +10]
"…"
"Despicable human, you just want to hit me!"
The red spirit gritted her teeth and shouted.
Qiao Yuan revealed his teeth that were shining with golden light. "There's a prize for answering correctly. One more."
Pa~
The red spirit's teeth flew out of its mouth, and its body trembled as it screamed.
When it saw that Qiao Yuan's Golden Palm was about to land on it again, it was completely terrified.
Humans would die if they were killed, and it was no exception.
"My name is Nie Xiaoqian. I recovered a month ago..."
"What's your relationship with the story circulating in this village?" Qiao Yuan asked.
The red spirit trembled in fear.
After ten minutes, Qiao Yuan finally understood everything.
According to what it said, it had fallen in love with a scholar and should have disappeared after perishing together. However, because the villagers created the statue and had worshiped it for a long time, its consciousness gradually awakened under the influence of the power of incense. However, that was all. It was only after the recovery of spiritual energy that it was resurrected and left the statue.
After Nie Xiaoqian finished her story, she noticed that Qiao Yuan's eyes didn't relax, so she quickly explained further, "I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, you can use that lantern to test it. If I tell the truth, it will glow red!"
Qiao Yuan ignored it. He didn't even look at the lantern made of an unknown material.
First of all, the lantern was its own. Wasn't it stupid to use its own object to test it?
...
Qiao Yuan didn't care much about the origin of the spirits. He only wanted to bring Li Xiaoling and Wang Jing home.
Therefore, he decided to put the truth aside for now.
"Last question, where is Li Xiaoling? I'll only give you three seconds. Don't tell me you don't know! One... Two..."
After Qiao Yuan finished speaking, he swallowed a few more chocolate bars, and a golden light suddenly appeared on his body.
The red spirit was terrified, and she kept struggling, but she didn't speak.
"Ah!"
At that moment, a call for help came from the bedroom. It was Wang Jing's voice!
Qiao Yuan didn't think much of it. He quickly walked towards the bedroom and kicked the wooden door open.
The moment he entered, Qiao Yuan saw a person standing by the window.
No... That was a spirit!
A male spirit in an ancient scholar's outfit was looking at him with a playful expression. It was waving its pale hand as if it was saying goodbye.
And then... it disappeared into the darkness.
When Qiao Yuan ran out again, the red spirit was gone.
Luring the tiger away from the mountain?
Looking at Wang Jing who was hiding in a corner and trembling, Qiao Yuan fell into deep thought.
Didn't they say spirits in white would bring good luck?
Fake?
Qiao Yuan already had a guess in his heart.
...
The next day, in order to verify his guess, Qiao Yuan went to find all the tourists.
Sure enough, a few more had gone missing!
Originally, there were nine of them. Now, including Qiao Yuan, there were only four.
The three of them were also mesmerized by the little golden man and were discussing staying one more night. Human greed was endless. Once they had a million, they would think about the next one.
Were these two spirits trying to keep him here?
He didn't want everything here to be exposed to the outside world.
Ten minutes later.
Qiao Yuan looked at his hand. He had just used the Golden Film to verify the identity of one of the tourists.
These tourists were not spirits either.
The tourists, the villagers, and Wang Jing were all normal. Only Li Xiaoling had disappeared.
Everything was normal, and that was the biggest abnormality!
His golden light was very effective against spirits.
Therefore, it had always been Qiao Yuan's go-to to verify whether a person was a spirit.
'But... what if I didn't meet these villagers?'
For example, if the tourist he met was actually a rock, the villager he met was a blade of grass, and Wang Jing was just a piece of wood.
Was all of this just an illusion?
Last night, after Qiao Yuan went through all the information he had gathered, he found quite a few useful information points.
Everything could be explained based on this logic.
Why can't we get out of this village?
Why is there no poultry in this village?
Why would there be eight visitors?
How did Wang Jing…? How did she know that he had a secret meeting with Li Xiaoling that night?
He believed in Li Xiaoling's integrity. If she said that she wouldn't tell Wang Jing, then she definitely wouldn't tell Wang Jing.
So ... How did Wang Jing know that li Xiaoling had gone out to look for him that night?
It was all an illusion!
The two spirits could create illusions, and to a certain extent, they could affect his perception.
As for the truth of this matter, if there was anyone who knew the truth, it must be the village head who had a foreign accent.
Money, beauty, illusions...
He wanted to use these three things to tempt him to stay.
Too naive!