Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
"Hehehe… hehehe…"
Not long after the two people from Liefeng Hall left, an evil ghost possessing a decaying corpse, wearing a cloak and riding a demonic wolf, arrived at the gate of Xu Taiping's courtyard.
"Do you think those useless people dare to come and catch me?"
The evil ghost sneered at Xu Taiping, who was standing on the roof.
"As long as I stay inside, what can you do to me?"
Xu Taiping retorted, then he loosened his fingers and a True Qi-infused arrow wrapped in residual glow shot out with a "swoosh".
"Bang!"
However, what Xu Taiping didn't expect was that the evil ghost in the black robe suddenly drew a long sword from his robe and accurately cut off the arrow he had shot.
"If it weren't for your sneak attack yesterday, how could a brat like you, who hasn't even reached the Opening Realm , hurt me!"
The evil ghost sneered, pointing his sword directly at Xu Taiping on the roof.
Xu Taiping's face became serious when he saw this.
Just from the evil ghost's sword strike, he could tell that the opponent's strength far surpassed his own. Yesterday, he was able to force him to leave Liu Qingmei's body only because of the unexpected sneak attack.
"There is only one chance for a sneak attack. It will be very difficult to force him out of his body again and kill him with alcohol."
While Xu Taiping was thinking, he prepared another arrow and pondered in his mind.
"Little guy, don't think that I can't do anything just because you're hiding in the courtyard. In another ten days, I will be able to dig up the secret passage that leads to your backyard medicinal garden. Once I block it, your garden will have no water, and all the spiritual herbs will wither into dry grass!"
The evil ghost said with a cunning smile, threatening Xu Taiping.
Hearing this, Xu Taiping couldn't help but feel a tightness in his heart.
The water source of his backyard medicinal garden was indeed a hidden underground passage. There would usually be a continuous flow of water from the garden's ditch, making watering very convenient.
If the evil ghost really managed to break the secret passage, he would have to go out to fetch water. Otherwise, it wouldn't take long for all the newly planted perilla in the garden to die.
"If I store water in advance and the water is cut off in ten days, I can still hold on for four or five days. In other words, I only have fifteen days left to prepare."
Xu Taiping's mind was spinning rapidly.
"Little guy, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I see that you're clever. I want to show you a way out. If you surrender and you can become my ghost servant, or I'll treat you like Liu Qingmei, using your soul as a wick for a lamp. I'll let you taste what it's like to be worse off than dead!"
After a series of threats, the evil ghost finally revealed his true purpose for coming today.
After yesterday's incident, he saw Xu Taiping's cleverness and wanted to take his physical body for the Tiger King, and then take his soul as his ghost servant.
In this day and age, even ghosts are short of manpower.
"I am a righteous cultivator of the Qingxuan Sect. How can I become an accomplice to a tiger like you?"
Xu Taiping sneered and then released his fingers with a "swoosh", shooting another arrow.
"Swish!"
As expected, his arrow was once again cut down by the evil ghost.
"Righteous cultivator?"
After cutting down Xu Taiping's arrow, the evil ghost seemed to hear a funny joke and burst into laughter.
"In the Daoist teachings, it is said that one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. In the end, all things return to one. Therefore, the various paths of cultivation in this world are just different ways to the same goal. How can there be a distinction between good and evil? If you follow me, I will teach you the path of ghost cultivation. Given time, you can still achieve success!"
Unable to coerce Xu Taiping, the evil ghost began to change his strategy and tried to entice him instead.
"The Dao may not distinguish between good and evil, but people do. The Book Saint said, 'Born as a human, cultivate yourself, help others, be like water, and be good while dwelling in the Evil Abyss!'"
At this point, Xu Taiping prepared another arrow, raised his head proudly, and looked directly at the evil ghost, continuing, "You were born as a human, but instead of doing good deeds, you became an accomplice to a tiger, harming your own kind and bullying the weak. This is a great evil and must be punished!"
At this moment, Xu Taiping was less than five feet tall, but when he spoke these words, he seemed much taller than the eight-foot-tall evil ghost.
"Since you're looking for death, I will grant your wish!"
The angry evil ghost snorted. While commanding the demonic wolf beneath him to change direction, he turned his head and continued to threaten Xu Taiping fiercely, "When the water source is cut off, I'm not just going to let your garden's spiritual herbs wither. Let me tell you, the ditches in this garden are the source of the spiritual power for the barrier around your residence. Once the water source is cut off, the barrier around the courtyard will break on its own!"
Perhaps because he was too angry or because he underestimated Xu Taiping, the evil ghost actually revealed such an important matter.
"Just you wait, within half a month, I will take your life!"
After saying this, the evil ghost rode the demonic wolf and disappeared into the nearby mountains and forests beside the courtyard in a flash.
"Half a month… that's enough!"Xu Taiping glanced at the forest where the Evil Ghost had disappeared, then clenched his fist tightly.
The arrows he had shot were not random, but intentional probes of the Evil Ghost's strength.
"Three arrows in a row, the Evil Ghost chose to block each time, which proves that when the body he possesses is injured, his soul is also damaged."
"Moreover, the force of each of my three arrows was actually different, and he was noticeably slower when blocking the last two arrows. From this, it seems that if my cultivation could advance further, he might not be able to block my arrows so effortlessly."
"If I can make him a little more careless, it's possible to hurt him."
With this thought, Xu Taiping leaped down from the roof, then glanced at the small courtyard and murmured:
"According to my true cultivation level, I can only fight him if I break through the Opening Realm . Within half a month, even if I can upgrade my Fading Sunset Scripture to the Frozen stage, to kill that Evil Ghost, I can only set a trap and catch him off guard."
"There's only one chance, I have to be fully prepared."
Xu Taiping could choose to run away, for example, dousing himself with a few bottles of strong liquor to keep the Evil Ghost at bay.
But the problem was, the surrounding hundreds of miles were all wilderness, how long could he escape?
"Instead of thinking about how to escape, it's better to fight with my back to the wall."
Xu Taiping turned and strode towards his bedroom.
His time was extremely precious now, not a moment could be wasted.
However, what Xu Taiping didn't know was that the scene of his standoff with the Evil Ghost today was seen and heard by a figure in the forest a few miles away.
It was an old man lying on a tree branch, with white hair and ragged clothes.
The old man had a bronze long sword hanging from his waist and held a wine gourd in his hand.