Li Chengxian had invoked a divine presence, merely boosted by the power of the spell talisman.
But when Si Jiangchen brutally snapped his arm, the searing pain instantly deflated him like a punctured balloon. He let out a shrill scream and reverted to his original self... looking even more decrepit. The hideous greenish - black demonic statue behind him suddenly vanished into the darkness.
"Who... who on earth are you?!"
Li Chengxian's voice was hoarse. Clutching his arm, he desperately retreated, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at Si Jiangchen. "How can you not even be afraid of the One - Eyed Buddha Mother?!"
"Oh..."
Si Jiangchen raised an eyebrow, his disdain even more palpable. "So it's just a woman who married a demon. Does she really think she can act high and mighty in front of me?!"
He couldn't see the ghostly statue, but the One - Eyed Buddha Mother was a heretic evil deity whose origin even I knew.
Legend had it that in ancient times, humans and demons coexisted. A beautiful woman, driven by her own desires, married a man - eating demon. Every day, she used her beauty to lure passers - by back to the demon's lair. She and her demon husband took pleasure in skinning and devouring humans.
Later, the woman gave birth to two children. Since the children had half - human blood, they had human compassion and tried to persuade their mother not to kill their own kind.
But this woman had only come to satisfy her five desires. Since her children opposed her, she turned on them. She skinned them, ate their flesh, and used their skulls as containers for her food and drink.
When her parents learned of her evil deeds, the old couple, heartbroken over their grandchildren, believed their daughter was deeply sinful. They wept and cursed on the mountaintop every day, hoping that their daughter would turn into a hideous monster and could no longer seduce humans.
Heaven heard the old people's pleas and really transformed the woman into a black - skinned, one - eyed demon. Even her graceful figure became that of a hungry ghost with a single breast and a protruding belly.
She was known as the "One - Eyed Ghost Mother", presiding over lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, and fame. These five desires were the most captivating things in the world. As the "Ghost Mother" who best represented the desire realm, she was worshipped by some humans who were also dominated by the five desires and became their Buddha Mother who ruled the three realms.
I couldn't understand how Li Chengxian, a disciple of the orthodox Taoist Qingwei School, could become a vassal of such an evil deity!
After having his hand broken by Si Jiangchen, Li Chengxian quickly retreated into the room.
"Stop! Don't even think about running away!"
Li Chengxian could capture the living souls of my grandfather and Si Tong, so he must know their birth dates. If this guy escaped, they would still be in danger...
We masters who deal with feng shui and the occult never expose our real birth dates to others.
These combinations of heavenly stems and earthly branches represent a person's fate and fortune. If they are exploited by ill - intentioned people, it may bring unexpected disasters!
Who can guarantee that every fortune - teller who offers to read fortunes online is a decent person?!
I quickly followed Li Chengxian into the glass door.
As soon as I stepped in, I felt the chilling cold in the air as if it were tangible, separating this place from the corridor outside. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary office with desks and chairs, but once inside, I found the office empty, except for a faint candle flickering in the northwest corner.
It was a simple altar. Only a small red - copper statue was enshrined on a high shrine. Four small skulls and a small package wrapped in yellow paper were placed in front of the shrine. The dim candlelight shone on the black eye sockets of the skulls, making the scene both desolate and terrifying.
I immediately recognized it as the eye of the Five - Ghost Fortune - Summoning Altar. Those four small skulls were probably the four little ghosts Li Chengxian had enslaved, and the yellow - cloth package should contain things like Si Tong's hair or fingernails. Only when combined with a child's birth date could one capture the child's living soul.
A surge of anger welled up in my heart.
I had still harbored a glimmer of hope that the other four children, like Si Tong, had only had their souls captured, and I could save Si Tong and them at the same time!
But now, these four small skulls completely shattered all my hopes. Those four poor children, except for those palm - sized skulls, there might be no other traces of their existence in this world!
By now, Li Chengxian had dragged his decrepit body to the altar.
"The Buddha Mother descends to save all sentient beings!!"
He shouted hoarsely, bit his middle finger, and smeared the blood on the copper statue.
The moment the crimson blood touched the surface of the copper statue, it was completely absorbed. The statue immediately let out a "buzz" like a beehive. The high - frequency vibration made my eardrums throb as if they were about to explode. I had to open my mouth to try to adapt to this sudden pressure.
As the statue trembled violently, the red copper skin cracked like a spider's web. A black mist seeped out and immediately enveloped Li Chengxian, who was lying in front of the table.
"Ho... ho..."
This time, there was no need for a statue to appear behind Li Chengxian.
His blood had released the true form of the "One - Eyed Buddha Mother".
Li Chengxian's eyes widened desperately until the corners of his eyes split open, and through the bridge of his nose, they formed a huge single eye. Without the eyelids to hold them back, his two eyeballs hung on his face, connected by nerves.
"Man!!"
The so - called "Buddha Mother" ignored me and instead "looked" at Si Jiangchen behind me, her form expanding.
"I... like you!!"
A lewd smile appeared on Li Chengxian's bloody face as he reached out his hand towards Si Jiangchen.
The distance between him and Si Jiangchen was at least three or four meters, and I was standing in between. But that hand just reached straight over my face. I could clearly see the blood - streaked cuts on the skin of his arm.
He wanted to touch Si Jiangchen's face, looking just like a wealthy woman choosing a male concubine.
Si Jiangchen sneered, reached out and grabbed the arm he had already broken, and shook it violently. Li Chengxian's arm, which had already been torn into "noodles" by the "Buddha Mother", immediately broke into pieces. Bones, flesh, and plasma splashed all over the floor.
"Where... is your soul?!"
The "One - Eyed Buddha Mother" in Li Chengxian's body screeched. "You're human. How can you not have a soul?! Something's wrong!! No, you're not human! You're a demon, just like me! A man - eating kindred spirit, hahaha!!"
"A low - level thing like you can't even begin to compare with me..."
Si Jiangchen first pulled me behind him and then said indifferently, "After all these years, you can't even maintain a physical form. If I were you, I'd have thrown myself into the eighteenth level of hell out of shame!"
"You! How dare you mock me?!"
The "Buddha Mother" had a female voice, but the words were coming out of Li Chengxian's male vocal cords. The androgynous sound was as unpleasant as nails scratching on frosted glass.
"Judging from your appearance, you must have been born to seduce such blind women!" Li Chengxian sized me up as if I were a shoddy product. "To make them willingly sacrifice their lives for you, hahaha! How long have you lived?"
Li Chengxian suddenly leaned his face close to Si Jiangchen. "How many times have you survived the once - in - a - century great catastrophe? And how many fools were willing to die for you?"