Chapter Twenty-Nine: Wang Hui's Despair

The little girl's voice was childish yet shrill, echoing like a final call before death. As it fell into Wang Hui's ears, it immediately became unsettling.

"Damn!" Wang Hui exclaimed, instinctively retreating several steps. When he looked again at the little girl, he instantly sensed something was amiss.

First, the little girl hadn't opened her mouth, yet she managed to produce a voice.

Second, why did her smile provoke such an uncanny feeling within him?

Third, how could this little girl approach him so silently and unnoticed? He was a Daoist of rank D—how could he fail to sense her presence?

The more he pondered these three questions, the more frightened he became. His usually carefree expression now betrayed a hint of genuine fear.

"This little girl isn't right. Maybe we should leave for now and let my master check things out tomorrow," he finally suggested, reasoning that the disparity in strength was too great for him to sense her—a suspicion not unfounded, as he had read similar scenarios in novels.

And indeed, he had guessed part of the truth. Strange beings, once powerful enough, could conceal their presence from those much weaker than themselves. However, in this case, Long Mengting was using her skill of invisibility to hide her aura.

The girls, hearing Wang Hui's words and seeing he wasn't joking, grew tense and agreed to follow his plan.

As they reached the doorway, Wang Hui suddenly cried out in pain.

"Ouch!"

"What happened?" Hu Haiyan asked urgently.

"There's... something blocking me. I can't get out," Wang Hui said, staring at the empty doorway, bewildered.

"Something's blocking you?" Hu Haiyan asked suspiciously, then reached out to the door herself.

Upon touching it, she too realized something was wrong. The doorway was empty, yet it felt as though a layer of invisible glass sealed their path.

"What on earth is going on?" Hu Haiyan was stunned. She had never encountered such a phenomenon and couldn't make sense of it.

Wang Hui, a Daoist after all, quickly formed a theory: "Every strange creature has at least one skill. This is probably one of their abilities."

Previously, he had confidently claimed there were two strange beings, but after encountering the little girl, he began to doubt his own senses; now he could only say there were several.

The other two girls tentatively felt around the doorway as well, sensing the same mysterious barrier and growing even more frightened.

"What should we do? Are we going to die here? Boo hoo hoo..." One of the girls, tears welling in her eyes, was already sobbing in terror.

The other remained relatively composed, patting her friend's shoulder. "Don't cry. Let's focus on figuring out how to get out."

Hu Haiyan nodded too. "Crying won't help. Besides, that so-called strange creature hasn't killed anyone before, so we should be fine."

Her words were little more than self-comfort. Faced with such unknown beings, they were helpless—mere lambs awaiting slaughter.

"Damn it! What is this? I'll fight you all!" Wang Hui felt deeply humiliated, believing he was being toyed with by a strange creature—how could he stand for it?

He pulled a yellow talisman from his pocket, bit his finger to draw blood, and smeared it on the talisman. "By the decree of the Supreme One, may the spirits of gloom and shadow obey!"

As soon as he finished, the yellow talisman glowed red, illuminating the entire stairwell. Only then did they see a terrifyingly smiling teddy bear had been staring at them, and who knew for how long.

The girls screamed and fled backward. Wang Hui forced himself to suppress his fear—he had sensed a strange creature nearby, but never imagined it was this close.

"Evil spirit! Take my talisman!" Despite the shock of the teddy bear's appearance, as a D-level Daoist, he thought handling an E-level creature would be easy.

However, as soon as he struck the bear with the talisman, it suddenly shrank in size, flashed him a bizarre smile, then exploded.

The violent blast sent Wang Hui stumbling several steps back until he crashed into the wall, spitting blood. When he looked again, the teddy bear was gone—only a crater remained where it had been.

"What? How could this happen?" He now realized his senses hadn't failed him—the bear wasn't a strange creature, but a bomb. But why would a strange creature use bombs? Was it a skill?

He had underestimated them. Previously, when confronting strange beings alongside his master, they had been as dull as wood, easily dispatched with a single talisman. But these beings were utterly different.

As he pondered this, another scream pierced the air.

"Help! Somebody help!"

Quickly, he turned to see Hu Haiyan crying out, with the other two girls beside her—uncertain whether they were dead or alive.

Without time to think, Wang Hui rushed over and shielded Hu Haiyan behind him. "Are you alright, little sister?"

Before he could finish, he sensed something was wrong behind him. Turning, he saw Hu Haiyan's face begin to distort, slowly transforming into that of a porcelain doll.

"Goddamn!" Wang Hui was petrified, shoving this "Hu Haiyan" away and instinctively dashing forward, only to be blocked by a little girl in red. She let out that eerie laugh and glared at him.

"Big brother, why are you running so fast? Didn't you ask me where I live? I can tell you."

Hearing that chilling voice, Wang Hui was so frightened he didn't know what to do; his psychological defenses were on the verge of collapse.

"I... I don't want to know... I'll fight you!"

His eyes widened, bloodshot, as he drew a miniature peachwood sword from his waist, bit his finger again, and smeared blood on the blade.

"Take my sword!"

He shouted and slashed at the girl, cleaving her head open so cleanly her brain was visible.

Strangely, the girl showed no pain. Instead, she tilted her head, dragging the peachwood sword with it. "What are you doing, big brother?"

Wang Hui dared not hesitate further, frantically plastering talismans onto the girl, but after a long bout, still nothing happened. Then, a childish yet terrifying voice sounded behind him.

"Big brother, why are you sticking talismans on your sister?"

At those words, Wang Hui's heart froze. He looked down—and realized the figure he had just attacked with the peachwood sword wasn't a little girl at all, but Hu Haiyan herself.