The cracked walls flaked as black hair poured out in torrents, flooding the hallway like a river of darkness, rushing toward the four trapped inside.
The sight was horrifying beyond words.
Who would have thought the walls were hiding such horrors?
No, this wasn't ordinary hair—it resembled roots, densely packed and seemingly growing directly out of the walls.
"What in the world is this abomination?"
Tianyuan and Kudeng, trembling from their depleted spiritual power, were terrified. In their years of cultivation, they had encountered many ghosts, but never anything as grotesque as this.
"Run!"
Lu Fei shouted, bolting down the stairs.
Tiger followed close behind.
There was no time to think—survival came first.
After battling all night, their spiritual power was nearly drained, and the sheer volume of the black hair, combined with the overwhelming yin energy, was far beyond what they could handle.
"Wait for us!"
Tianyuan and Kudeng stumbled after them, panic-stricken.
Dust and debris filled the air as the hair-like roots cascaded from the walls like waterfalls.
The hair spread rapidly across the floor, racing after them relentlessly.
The flashlight beams jerked and swayed as the four sprinted down the stairwell.
Tianyuan and Kudeng, weakened and injured, lagged further and further behind Lu Fei and Tiger.
"Shopkeeper Lu, wait for us!"
Kudeng, his body jiggling with every desperate step, gasped for air as he cried out for help.
Tianyuan gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with desperate hope as they fixed on Lu Fei's retreating figure.
Lu Fei didn't look back but tossed two ghost-suppressing talismans behind him.
The talismans ignited upon contact with the hair, creating small flames that burned away the strands chasing the two stragglers.
For a brief moment, they were safe.
But more hair surged forward almost immediately.
Lu Fei continued to throw talismans at intervals, slowing the relentless advance.
Stumbling and scrambling, the four finally made it to the ground floor.
Around the corner lay the exit—their chance at salvation.
But just as hope flared, Lu Fei and Tiger froze, their expressions darkening.
Tianyuan and Kudeng followed their gaze and felt despair grip their hearts.
The once-open door was now tightly shut, and the long-haired ghost floated down from above.
Her hair, once severed, had regrown and now trailed to the ground. Even her previously shattered body had mended itself.
The yin energy radiating from her was suffocating. Her hollow eyes gazed coldly at the group, with a faint trace of pity—the kind reserved for the dead.
"This ghost has become a malevolent spirit!" Kudeng's heart sank.
In mere minutes, the ghost hadn't just recovered but had grown even stronger.
If he had known she was this powerful, he would have been far more cautious from the start.
It was all Tianyuan's fault. His arrogance had landed everyone in this nightmare.
"This doesn't make sense! She wasn't this strong before. How did she become like this?" Tianyuan's eyes widened in disbelief.
With the malevolent ghost blocking their escape and the flood of black hair closing in from behind, they were trapped.
Could they really die in this cursed building?
"You two handle the hair; I'll take on the ghost!" Lu Fei commanded decisively, tossing three more talismans behind them.
"What are you waiting for? Use any artifacts you have left!"
"I already used my life-saving talisman! I have nothing left!" Tianyuan shouted, shoving Kudeng forward. "Kudeng, do something!"
"This... this..."
Realizing the urgency, Kudeng gritted his teeth and removed the prayer beads from his neck. With a reluctant flick, he hurled them into the oncoming tide of black hair.
The beads scattered upon hitting the ground, forming a glowing golden line that temporarily held the hair at bay.
"Shopkeeper Lu, I can hold it off for three minutes at most!" Kudeng yelled, his face drenched in sweat.
"Got it!"
With no time to lose, Lu Fei and Tiger gripped their weapons and charged at the ghost.
The ghost's face twisted into a grotesque snarl as her hair lashed out like whips, carried by a chilling wind straight toward the pair.
"Take this!" Tiger shouted, leaping forward. His years of martial training showed as he swung his ghost-head blade, slicing through the approaching hair.
A bundle of hair was severed instantly, but new strands immediately surged to take its place.
Lu Fei, standing beside Tiger, stepped in with a swift strike of his thunderstruck jujube wood stick.
Blue lightning crackled, surging along the hair toward the ghost.
The ghost recoiled instinctively—the thunder-infused wood was a nemesis to all malevolent entities, including her.
"Tiger, don't let her retreat!" Lu Fei shouted.
"Got it!"
Tiger shifted his stance and spun his blade, daringly wrapping the ghost's hair around it to anchor her in place.
The strands went taut like steel cables.
Lu Fei poured his remaining spiritual power into his stick and delivered a crushing blow.
*Boom!*
Electricity surged like tiny dragons along the hair, reaching the ghost's body in an instant.
"Ahhh!"
The ghost shrieked, severing her own hair to escape the attack. With a furious swipe of her hand, she sent a blast of icy wind hurtling toward the two.
The wind was sharp as blades, capable of flaying flesh in moments.
"Tiger, dodge!"
Both men leapt to the sides, narrowly avoiding the onslaught.
Their clothes were sliced open, and thin cuts appeared on their shoulders, blood beginning to seep out.
Before they could recover, the hair, like venomous snakes, attacked again.
"Boss, watch out!"
Tiger swung his blade, severing the strands that had coiled around Lu Fei's ankle.
But as one bundle of hair fell, another ensnared Lu Fei, wrapping tightly around his body and lifting him off the ground.
"Tiger!" Lu Fei roared, summoning his remaining strength.
He rolled forward and grabbed Tiger's legs, channeling his last reserves of spiritual power into his stick. With a final, desperate strike, he swung at the hair.
*Boom!*
Blue lightning erupted, burning the hair to ash and sending both men crashing to the floor.
Kudeng and Tianyuan stared intently at the ghost's location.
But as the dust settled and the thick yin energy swirled, their faces turned ashen.
Amidst the thin mist, the ghost still floated above the doorway.
Her body, though battered, was regenerating rapidly. New strands of jet-black hair grew at an alarming rate.
"She's still alive? That's impossible!"
Despair gripped them all.
Outside the building.
"Grandpa, where's all this fog coming from?" Duan Lingyue asked, pointing toward the ominous dormitory.
At some point, a thin layer of mist had risen around the building, obscuring the windows and doors.
No sound came from within; whatever was happening inside was a mystery.
"This is yin fog! It only forms when yin energy reaches an extreme concentration," Duan Tiankui said, his brows furrowing deeply.
"I set up a formation to weaken the yin energy here. How could it have increased instead of decreasing? Where is all this yin energy coming from?"