"Charnel Ghost!!"
Lin Heier's furious roar awakened everyone except Wu Pifu.
She stood beside Wu Pifu and loudly declared, "Many of them are Charnel Ghosts, the wandering souls and wild ghosts killed by those paper figures, or the people slain by the bandits who turned into paper figures. They are either illusions or very weak; everyone, do not be deceived."
Charnel Ghost, the one from "For the Tiger to Hunt."
The crowd felt somewhat reassured, but as they looked at the numerous stiff and terrifying figures emerging from the mist, fear still gripped their hearts.
Yamada was focused on constructing the launching device.
The entire device was over eight meters long and divided into four parts.
To send Wu Pifu to a height of fifty meters using these rudimentary materials, Yamada employed a combination propulsion structure.
Since it was made of bamboo, which had great flexibility, combined with vines, it created a spring-like structure.
The four groups of mechanisms would push in sequence, ultimately allowing the object to be launched over great distances and heights, but accuracy was truly unachievable.
Moreover, this set of equipment had a significant drawback: it occupied a vast area, not only taking up most of the courtyard but also requiring vines to connect to the surrounding buildings' walls.
The complexity of this setup was nothing short of miraculous for the people of this era.
At this critical moment of constructing the device, Yamada shouted without looking up, "Give me an hour—no, fifty minutes will do! I will finish it immediately!"
Everyone turned their gaze to Wu Pifu, who merely glanced up at the midair, maintaining his cross-legged posture, his body subtly adjusting at a level imperceptible to the naked eye.
At this point, the situation was clear: neither Yamada nor Wu Pifu would take action; only Lin Heier, Xu Rongyu, and Xu Shilan were the combat power at this moment.
Lin Heier naturally took the lead.
With a step, she activated the Lotus Step Technique, gliding gracefully across half the distance.
She grabbed a torch and stood in front of everyone, surprisingly followed closely by Xu Shilan, who also took a torch and moved to the front of the dam.
Xu Rongyu's face turned ashen; he couldn't afford to lose face at this moment.
Although his hands and feet trembled incessantly, he stood beside the two women.
Fortunately, the layout of the ancestral hall was advantageous for them.
The main building formed a single-open square structure, with buildings to the left and right, and only a dam directly in front facing the woods.
This was precisely why everyone had stayed and defended the ancestral hall.
At this moment, the three held six torches at the entrance of the ancestral hall, facing the dense, stiff figures approaching them.
Lin Heier's expression was resolute as she took the lead, raising her torch and swinging it at the first few figures.
The firelight illuminated and dispelled the mist, and once the mist dissipated, the figures immediately vanished like smoke.
"Indeed an illusion!" Lin Heier exclaimed, her spirit lifted.
The other two were also invigorated, each waving their torches at the figures in a frenzy.
In an instant, countless figures disappeared before the six torches, but the mist did not cease, and the figures continued to surge forward in their terrifying forms.
Gradually, Xu Shilan and Xu Rongyu's speed in waving their torches began to decline; both felt their arms growing weak and powerless.
At that moment, Lin Heier's expression suddenly changed dramatically as she shouted to the two, "Be careful!"
With her shout, the two immediately sensed a chilling aura rushing toward them.
Suddenly, a half-human, half-paper figure flickered in the mist, rolling toward them.
Just as it seemed the two would be caught, Xu Rongyu suddenly lunged at Xu Shilan, and one of his thighs was ensnared by the figure, dragging him halfway into the air.
As Xu Rongyu was about to be pulled into the mist, a furious roar erupted, echoing like thunder, causing everyone to feel a ringing in their ears.
In a daze, it seemed as if a blood-red tiger was roaring toward the heavens within the ancestral hall.
As the sound spread, the mist instantly vanished, along with the thousands of Charnel Ghost figures.
Lin Heier and Xu Shilan then saw a paper figure wrapping around Xu Rongyu's leg, preparing to fly away.
Lin Heier stepped forward and rushed to the paper figure's side, swinging her two torches in succession, causing it to screech and drop Xu Rongyu, who floated away alone.
However, once it escaped the reach of Lin Heier's torches, the flames on it immediately transformed into a bluish-green before vanishing.
At the same time, dozens of paper figures began to drift in from the woods, and a half-paper, half-flesh entity stepped out from the trees.
Lin Heier saw clearly that this half-paper, half-flesh entity bore the likeness of Xu Zhenshan!
Just then, the surrounding mist surged back, and the thousands of Charnel Ghosts reappeared, lunging toward the three once more.
Lin Heier continued to wave her torches to disperse the Charnel Ghosts, while Xu Shilan rushed to Xu Rongyu's side, pulling him up without regard for his life or death, dragging him toward the ancestral hall.
The three fought and retreated, quickly arriving at the dam area of the ancestral hall.
They crossed a line of firewood laid out, which had been sprinkled with a bit of oil.
Lin Heier guarded Xu Shilan from behind, and as soon as Xu Shilan dragged Xu Rongyu into the firewood boundary, she immediately threw her torch onto the pile.
Instantly, a roaring flame ignited on the dam, completely blocking the only entrance to the ancestral hall.
The Charnel Ghost figures dared not cross the fire line, remaining a few meters away, howling and wailing while continuously changing their forms—from human shapes to various grotesque and dismembered corpses, or transforming into the terrifying visage of malevolent spirits.
The area beyond the fire line resembled a hellish purgatory.
Lin Heier did not look at the horrifying scenes outside the fire line.
She hurried to Xu Rongyu's side, turning his face to see that it was ashen, but his eyes were still moving, and his teeth were clenched tightly, indicating he was still alive.
Lin Heier breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Shilan also stood up, panting, and anxiously looked toward the fire line, saying, "In these few days, we could only gather this much firewood, and there isn't enough oil. It can burn for at most twenty minutes; after that, the flames will extinguish..."
The two looked toward Yamada, who was still binding the launching device to the surrounding walls.
It seemed it would take some time to complete, while Wu Pifu remained in his cross-legged position, appearing almost motionless.
Lin Heier's face brightened momentarily, but then worry returned.
Wu Pifu's lower body sank slightly, getting closer to achieving the Sitting Lotus Technique.
This speed was simply unbelievable, but even so, he could not complete it in twenty minutes.
Lin Heier paused for a moment before decisively saying, "If it doesn't work, we should directly ignite this building to buy some time... Do what we can and leave the rest to fate!"
Just as Lin Heier and Xu Shilan were filled with anxiety, Xu Rongyu was in a semi-conscious state, Yamada focused on the final adjustments of the launching device, and Wu Pifu poured all his attention into practicing the Sitting Lotus Technique, the half-paper, half-flesh entity with Xu Zhenshan's face approached the fire line.
"Rongyu, why did you keep your father outside? I have already attained the Dao, and I have come to take you to ascend to the Immortal Realm together!"
The half-paper man's head was flesh, the neck to the chest was paper, the arms were flesh again, and the lower body was paper.
Its appearance was indescribably grotesque and terrifying.
The words it spoke seemed to carry a certain enchantment, causing everyone present to feel goosebumps, as if sharp iron wires were scraping against glass.
Xu Rongyu screamed in agony, covering his ears, blood seeping from them, while Xu Shilan, though in a slightly better condition, also showed pain as she covered her ears.
Everyone saw the half-paper man approach the fire line.
It opened its mouth to inhale, and its thin paper body swelled like a balloon.
Then, with a flick of its hand, it struck at the flames.
With a crisp sound, its palm hit the fire, and the flames immediately turned bluish-green at a visible speed.
"Not good!"
Lin Heier's expression changed drastically.
She quickly drew the Red Soft Spear from her waist, shaking it vigorously to transform it into a spear form.
Then, she pointed it directly at the bluish-green flames, unleashing her hidden energy, which transmitted through the Red Soft Spear into the flames.
Indeed, it was a case of mutual restraint; as the hidden energy erupted, upon encountering the flames, it caused them to surge violently, expelling the bluish-green and restoring the orange-yellow flames.
The half-paper man gazed at Lin Heier with its vacant, dead eyes, and then it surprisingly spoke, "So it is the Yellow Lotus Saint Mother in person. The old mother has been mentioning you, saying she must take you back, and you will surely become her maidservant."
Lin Heier felt a chill in her heart, but her hands did not stop.
With another shake of the Red Soft Spear, she thrust it into the flames again, and the hidden energy erupted once more, causing the orange-yellow flames to surge, making a large number of nearby Charnel Ghosts vanish, leaving only the half-paper man unharmed in place.
At this moment, dozens of other paper figures floated to the fire line, fluttering about, moaning and calling out, while the half-paper man raised its arm again, as if lifting a very heavy stone tablet, and with a casual motion, it slapped down at the Red Soft Spear.
The two clashed in the flames, and Lin Heier immediately unleashed her hidden energy, extending the Red Soft Spear forward.
However, the recoil she felt was not the expected force of the hidden energy but a chilling aura.
In an instant, her arms holding the spear felt as if they were frozen in ice, unable to grip the Red Soft Spear any longer, and her entire body flipped backward, rolling at least seven or eight meters away.
Blood sprayed along the way, and before it hit the ground, it congealed into ice, leaving a trail of bloody ice shards in Lin Heier's wake.
The half-paper man dealt a heavy blow to Lin Heier, then struck the fire line with another palm, causing a large section of the flames to turn bluish-green, which quickly extinguished.
The half-paper man then strode into the dam area, reaching for the fallen Lin Heier.
"My life is over..."
Lin Heier felt her body stiffen; the peculiar coldness had frozen her qi and blood circulation, rendering her unable to move, and she could only close her eyes and await death.
At this critical moment, another roar erupted, echoing like thunder, as a figure crossed over Xu Shilan, Xu Rongyu, and Lin Heier, almost instantly appearing between the half-paper man and Lin Heier.
"Sitting Lotus Technique!"
The figure crossed its legs in a sitting posture, one hand supporting its waist and the other reaching toward the heavens, directly confronting the half-paper man's palm strike!
(End of Chapter)