I tried my best to hold back my rapid breathing and swallowed hard.
Now He Bi was injured. As his elder sister, I had to stay calm and protect him.
I held the dagger in front of my chest. Just as the old woman's hand slowly reached towards my back, I knew the time had come.
Taking advantage of her underestimation of me, I suddenly turned around, aimed at the right position, and with all my strength, plunged the dagger straight into the old woman's chest.
This dagger was the one Bai Qi had given me. It was imbued with magical power. The whole dagger, including the hilt, sank into her chest. The old woman's blood - red eyes widened in shock. She let out a shrill scream that echoed in the winter cemetery and scared away a flock of crows on the withered tree.
After the old woman "thumped" to the ground, her body began to shrink rapidly. She became completely emaciated and curled up on the ground, looking more like a huge rat.
Only when I was sure she was completely dead did I pick up the scissors, cut off a lock of the old woman's hair, and put it into my backpack.
He Bi was sitting in the snow, rubbing his arm that almost got hurt when he fell. He gave me a thumbs - up and said, "Sis, you're amazing! You're really a tough girl."
"That's all because of you. If it were Gu Yuan, I could just hide behind him. Please go back and exercise. Don't just sit in front of the computer and play games all day. If you can't protect others, at least you should be able to protect yourself."
"Okay, okay, okay... Sis, I'll definitely exercise this time. Next time, it'll be my turn to protect you."
After we subdued the old woman's body, the ghostly maze disappeared.
Although this old woman wasn't very kind - hearted, we still repaid evil with kindness. We put her body into the coffin and closed the lid, so at least she wouldn't be left exposed in the wilderness.
He Bi was tidying up the coffin when he accidentally found a photo. It was a picture of a young mother holding a little boy.
"No wonder she was calling for her son just now. It turns out she really had a son."
"Seems like her obsession is about her son. Take a photo. We'll help find him later to fulfill her wish."
He Bi followed my order, took a photo, closed the coffin, and then we left the cemetery.
I followed Gu Yuan's arrangement and picked seven shriveled dates from an old jujube tree at the outermost part of the cemetery.
At the same time, He Bi stopped in his tracks and looked at a lonely tomb. The tombstone of this tomb was tilted. It seemed to be the tomb of a young girl.
I don't know what was going through his mind. Suddenly, out of great pity, he walked over, righted the tombstone, lit three incense sticks in front of it, and even happily read out the girl's nice - sounding name.
He didn't leave until I walked over.
...
When we got home, Gu Yuan was already back. Seeing the two of us coming back looking dirty and disheveled, he frowned slightly.
Ji Xiang burst into laughter when he saw our embarrassed looks.
"Did the two of you go tomb - raiding? Hahaha..."
He Bi glared at Ji Xiang and said, "Still laughing? I almost lost my life. That corpse actually came back to life. Thanks to my sister, or I would have died there."
"Little bro, you're really something! You don't even need to invite the immortals. You can handle things on your own."
"Sure, I've got my own ways now." I said proudly with a smile.
But Gu Yuan said seriously, "Good at showing off."
"Third Master, don't blame my sister. It's my fault. I broke all the incense sticks."
Gu Yuan didn't scold us any more. I gave the hair and dates I'd retrieved to Gu Yuan and asked, "Was the White Immortal caught?"
Before Gu Yuan could answer, Ji Xiang took over and said, "Needless to say. When the Third Master takes action, there's nothing he can't handle. Wu Qingyun is watching over it. We're just waiting for the victim to come later."
When Ji Xiang said this, he looked extremely proud, as if he had achieved something great himself.
Gu Yuan ignored him and continued to say to me, "When the victim comes, I'll handle it."
As if on cue, Liu Wenjia knocked on the door and walked in.
She was wrapped up like a mummy. It was impossible to see what she looked like. I guessed it was because she looked too scary, so she covered herself up like this.
When Liu Wenjia came, Gu Yuan was about to take her away when I suddenly grabbed his hand.
"I'll go with you."
Although Gu Yuan was extremely powerful, I was still very worried about him. I just wanted to be with him all the time and feel at ease when I saw that he was safe.
Gu Yuan didn't refuse. He said softly, "Go wash your face. We'll leave right away."
I responded and quickly ran into the room to wash my face. I changed my clothes and then followed Gu Yuan to the home of the person who had borrowed someone else's lifespan.
This person who had borrowed someone else's lifespan must be a person of high - class status. The house was so big that you could drive a car inside.
At this moment, Wu Qingyun was in the room. For some reason, after what happened last time, I just couldn't like him. But I had no choice. For Gu Yuan's sake, I had recruited him into our group.
He was now Gu Yuan's right - hand man and only took orders from Gu Yuan.
Going further inside, we saw the altar for borrowing someone else's lifespan. The person who had borrowed the lifespan was lying in a pit. There were three incense sticks on his head and an oil lamp at his feet.
His whole body was painted with cinnabar, and the important parts were covered with yellow cloth.
Without saying a word, Gu Yuan entered my body directly. He took out the old woman's hair and put it into a wine cup. With a flick of his finger, the wine ignited, turning the hair into ashes. He poured the ashes into the mouth of the person who had borrowed the lifespan, cutting off the yin energy in his mouth.
Then he asked Liu Wenjia to lie in the pit at the same time. Their little fingers were tied with a thread from an ink - fountain, which was the so - called act of returning the lifespan.
After everything was taken care of, Gu Yuan walked up to the altar, picked up the weight - loss pill, broke the capsule, and took a look. There was a strong look of disgust in his eyes.
"What's inside?" I asked.
"Incense ash mixed with rooster blood. It was this thing that satisfied Liu Wenjia's selfish desire and cost her her lifespan." Gu Yuan had always hated such evil arts.
He threw the pill in his hand at the White Immortal's face. The White Immortal was so scared when he saw the angry look on Gu Yuan's face that he almost lost his wits. He trembled all over.
"Little immortal knows his mistake. Please spare my life, Third Master. Have mercy on me."
"What exactly happened? If you don't tell the truth, don't blame me for being merciless with this whip." Wu Qingyun showed the shiny silver snake - bone whip in his hand.
The White Immortal turned pale with fear and told the truth.
His name was Bai Fugui. He was a minor earth - immortal who had practiced for five hundred years. He had been expelled from his original group for making a mistake and had become a homeless immortal.
The man lying on the ground was Liang Donglong, a well - known wealthy businessman in Gangliao City.
Not long ago, he had been in a car accident and had become a vegetable. The hospital had issued a critical illness notice and told his family to prepare for the worst.
But Liang Donglong was extremely stubborn and just wouldn't give up.
Liang Donglong's mother used to be a female immortal. She knew it was impossible to ask an immortal with a master for help, so she found Bai Fugui to save her son.
Bai Fugui secretly used a forbidden technique to transfer the remaining lifespan of Liang's mother to Liang Donglong.
But two years of lifespan was just a brief recovery for Liang Donglong.
Instead of being grateful to his mother for giving him two more years of life, he blamed her for not finding someone with a longer lifespan for him to borrow from. He didn't even bury his mother. He just threw her body into a desolate cemetery.
Bai Fugui thought Liang Donglong was crazy and didn't want to help him anymore. But Liang Donglong threatened him. If he didn't continue to help, he would expose the matter of the lifespan - transfer to the world. Once the higher - level immortals found out, Bai Fugui would probably lose his life.
Helplessly, Bai Fugui had to continue to abet the evildoer against his will.
Businessmen were really different. Liang Donglong came up with the idea of using weight - loss advertisements to attract women. The gimmick was that taking the incense ash would make them lose weight, which attracted a large number of women to inquire.
At that time, Bai Fugui's idea was to let each of them try one pill for free, so that he could borrow a few minutes of lifespan from each person, and the lifespan would add up.
But Bai Fugui underestimated Liang Donglong's greed. After getting ten years of lifespan, he still wanted another ten years.
Finally, things got out of control.
But as the old saying goes: Greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. When he borrowed Liu Wenjia's lifespan, he didn't check her birth date carefully and just gave her the incense ash.
We all knew what happened later.
Now Liang Donglong had absorbed Liu Wenjia's yin - attribute lifespan. At this moment, his lifespan was gradually turning into yin - lifespan, and he was about to become a yin - corpse. But the White Immortal's cultivation was too shallow to control him.
He could only draw talismans to temporarily maintain the situation and trap him.
Just as the White Immortal was telling the story, a sudden gust of cold wind blew through the room. The lights in the room short - circuited, making a crackling sound. As the candles went out, the two people lying in the deep pit suddenly opened their eyes and looked at Gu Yuan with venomous looks.
My heart tightened, and I quickly asked, "Have they turned into yin - corpses?"