As the woman in white opened her mouth, a sharp, mournful wail unleashed an invisible shockwave toward Sky and his two companions. The assault was brutal, not just battering their eardrums but launching a ferocious psychic attack that struck directly at their souls.
Lumiya stumbled back two steps, while Sky felt a dizzying sensation and collapsed onto the ground.
Fortunately, Lilianna seemed almost unaffected. Her bat wings unfurled with a rustle, and as she slightly parted her full, red lips, a force accompanied by a faint buzzing sound blasted out, instantly overwhelming the ghost's piercing scream.
The buzzing, though subtle, caused high-frequency vibrations in the air, swiftly moving toward the ghost. It shook all the spiderwebs made of cursed hair in its path, breaking many into countless small strands that scattered into the air.
Lilianna's buzzing force quickly reached the ghost's large bed, and in the next moment, the ghost's figure dissipated like smoke blown away by a strong wind.
"Is that it?" Lumiya, feeling a sudden relief from the soul-crushing force, joyfully asked Lilianna, "Did you just kill that ghost?"
But Sky was already sprawled on the ground, his eyes unfocused, silently staring at the ceiling where hair strands began to spread wildly. Soon, the entire ceiling was covered with dancing black strands, quickly intertwining and forming one spiderweb after another.
"She's not gone; I just dispersed her for now. She'll reappear soon," Lilianna said urgently. "Pick up Sky and follow me. We need to get out of here quickly."
"Is the landlord okay?" Lumiya, hoisting Sky onto her back, summoned her Qi to create a protective barrier of floating ice crystals around them, shielding both herself and Sky within the icy defense.
Lilianna summoned a small flock of bats, directing them to fly in front of her. Lumiya then said, "He's probably been hit by that ghost's psychic attack, his soul wounded. This ghost, in her white garb, seems to have recently awakened to full consciousness, roughly equivalent to a third-level cultivator. She's manageable if we're careful of her psychic attacks and curses. But if we encounter a ghost in red, that's when we really need to be cautious."
Saying this, Lilianna directed one of the bats toward the hair-web blocking the corridor exit. After breaking through several layers of web, the bat was finally caught in the dense webbing behind and stopped moving.
"Hmm, what a powerful curse, to directly kill my blood-summoned bat," Lilianna remarked coldly as the bat dissolved into a mist of blood and vanished. She then warned Lumiya, "Be alert; the ghost's main body might appear soon. My sonic attack didn't seem to do much damage to her."
As soon as she finished speaking, a white figure slowly emerged at the spot where the bat had broken through the web.
"Ah...! The ghost! She's back!" Lumiya's alarmed cry echoed through the castle's third-floor corridor in the dead of night.
Lumiya was not afraid of ordinary ghosts and specters; it was this particular female ghost that instilled in her a deep-seated fear, akin to the overwhelming aura a high-level cultivator exerts over a lower-level one, magnified several times over.
Most of the female ghost's face remained obscured by her long, black hair. She slightly turned her body, extending a pale, slender right hand from the wide sleeves of her white, gauzy long dress to gently touch the strands of a spiderweb torn by Lilianna's little bat.
Lifting her right hand, the white gauze of her sleeve slid down, revealing her entire forearm. Upon closer inspection, her arm and hand were exceedingly beautiful, sculpted as if from soft jade, except for their pallor.
Then, the skin exposed beyond her long, white dress began to show numerous fine wounds from which blood quickly seeped out. The blood flowed over her skin, rapidly staining her white dress in patches of blood red. One could imagine the numerous wounds opening under the dress, with copious amounts of blood seeping out.
In just a few seconds, all of the female ghost's white dress, save for a small area around her heart, was dyed red.
Lumiya's voice trembled, "Her dress... it's turned red."
Lilianna's expression grew solemn, "A top-tier Half-Red Gown, almost fourth level, peak of the Innate Phase, akin to a seasoned Viscount in the vampire hierarchy. Just one step away from becoming fully red, thankfully the heart area is still missing a piece."
"You mentioned you're some sort of vampire count, equivalent to a fifth-level External Scenery Phase cultivator in combat prowess. Together, we should be able to defeat her, right?" Lumiya asked, not quite confident.
Lilianna nodded, "We should be able to, but this is her domain, filled with curses and barriers. We might not have much of an advantage."
As they spoke, the wounds on the female ghost's right arm began to rapidly close and heal, returning to its flawless state. She touched the area around her heart, pondered for a moment, then slightly opened her lips to reveal neat, white teeth and calmly bit her tongue tip.
The blood from her tongue quickly flowed down from the corner of her mouth. Raising her right hand, she dabbed a bit of blood on her lips and began rapidly drawing over the heart area.
Like painting, she swiftly turned that small area red, and this patch, created with the blood from her tongue, was more vivid than the rest.
"Now... it's all red," Lumiya's voice shook even more.
The surroundings began to change; the narrow hallway slowly widened as if the scene on a smartphone screen was being stretched out, the entire space expanding proportionally.
Only the space expanded; the people, doors, and wall decorations remained their original size, but the distances between them grew increasingly larger. The entrance of the hallway they had come through moved farther and farther away.
The ceiling rose higher, yet the black hair and spiderwebs made of strands grew wildly, spreading across the ceiling. The countless strands grew like tentacles, swiftly pressing down from above, increasing the oppressive feeling for Lilianna and Lumiya.
The black hair also continued to spread down the walls like black waves, quickly covering the expanding walls, leaving only the doors.
From the open door of room 310, large amounts of black hair debris spewed out, quickly dispersing into the expanded, eerie space. Each strand was a curse formed from various texts, filling the space around Sky and the others.
Lumiya felt her throat itch and dry, her nose clogged with mucus, a wave of fatigue washing over her, and her eyes swelling.
"Achoo!" Lumiya sneezed heavily, incredulously saying, "Am I catching a cold?"
As a werewolf and a cultivator specializing in ice, Lumiya had never experienced a cold in her life, only roughly understanding the symptoms of a common cold from media and books.
"It's the disease and plague effects of the curse," Lilianna said indifferently, "This space has already been influenced by the female ghost."
Manifesting one's inner realm externally to influence the surrounding environment, thereby creating a battleground to one's advantage, is a hallmark of External Scenery, the ability characteristic of fifth-level cultivators.
Similarly, for the vampire hierarchy, a Count possesses analogous capabilities.
Lilianna's expression turned exceedingly solemn, yet her aura gradually intensified. Behind her, a crescent moon slowly rose, climbing higher and casting a cold moonlight over the entire space.
The spread and weaving of the hair strands noticeably slowed, and around the new moon, the strands even started to retreat. Centered on Lilianna, a chill air laced with the scent of blood expanded outward, combining with the moonlight to create a cold, eerie space tinged with a faint smell of blood.
In such a battle, the first contest is over the influence on the surrounding environment.
And in this struggle for control over the battle environment, the female ghost seemed to have the upper hand.
Lilianna glanced worriedly at Sky on Lumiya's back, relieved to find that, aside from his vacant, dazed state, his body seemed to have suffered no significant curse damage. The layer of blood-red flames on his skin was still vigorously pulsing, incinerating any curse-laden strands that floated near, disintegrating them.
With her worries somewhat alleviated, Lilianna vibrated her bat wings and, with a whoosh, vanished from her spot.
In the next moment, Lilianna passed by the female ghost, her hands now holding two balls of blood-red, mist-like energy torn from the ghost.
The female ghost's form dimmed momentarily before returning to its original state.
After circling back, Lilianna wobbled in the air, nearly falling, but she forcefully flapped her wings again to stabilize her flight posture and returned to Lumiya and Sky's side.
Upon landing, Lumiya could see several fine cuts on Lilianna's bat wings, as if sliced by some sharp instrument. Most eerie were the wounds, from which cursed texts slowly spread outwards.