Me and the devil

十

"Y-you..." Xiao-Pengtou dragged himself off the ground. Clearing his throat he tried to regain his reputation. Stepping closer to her, he raised a threatening finger to her. Spit flew from his mouth as he screamed. "You! How dare you! A little wretch like you hitting a man like me?!" Xie Lian stepped in his path, with a serene smile he said. "And yet that 'little wretch' was able to defeat a 'man' like you with a single kick."

Xiao-Pengtou stared at Xie Lian. Xie Lian smiled back. Cowed, he lowered his head in defeat.

Suddenly, Xie Lian sensed something was off, he turned his head and saw a few men heading off into the forest. "Don't go in there!" he shouted. But the men, not really caring and believing themselves to be big, tough men and able to crush anything in their way, paid him no mind. The others who had been in the temple and had witnessed Xiao-Pengtou's beating followed their comrades into the forest. Those who weren't as bold gathered to watch. Before long, they could hear screams, and a few human-shaped shadows came staggering out. When the remaining men saw them, they couldn't help but panic, and were instantly scared out of their wits.

For, their comrades had been living humans when they had entered. How had they come out drenched in mysterious blood?

From their hair to the shoes they wore, the men were stained red. Blood poured everywhere. Normally, if a human was to bleed this much. It would mean death. However, these men still shuffled step by step to the crowd of people outside the forest. Terrified, the crowd stepped back with every step the blood-stained humans took. Cowering behind Xie Lian.

Xie Lian raised a hand to placate them, urging them not to worry. "It's not their blood." One of the blood-soaked men finally piped up. "Yeah! It isn't ours!" His expression dropped. "It's... It's..." He didn't seem to be able to speak about whatever horrors they had encountered in the forest.

Even while drenched in blood. The horror on their faces couldn't be mistaken for anything else. The crowd followed the men's horror-struck gaze and stared into the forest. Unfortunately, the forest was pitch black and nothing could be seen. Some of the men couldn't help but shiver. Xie Lian walked up, picking up a torch, and raised it to get a glimpse of what horrors the men had seen. The torch sizzled, something in the darkness had dripped onto the torch. Composing himself, he tossed the torch into the forest.

The torch's flames illuminated the area for a moment before landing in a puddle of something and fizzling out. Everyone still got a clear view of what was in the forest anyways.

Deathly pale faces stared at them, the corpses of the missing soldiers stared at them. Tattered military uniforms and arms dangled in the air. The bodies numbered in the dozens. Swinging macabrely from the branches. Even though some of these corpses had probably been hanging here for decades, their blood had yet to dry. Their blood dripped and dripped creating a terrifying image of a forest of hanging corpses.

As terrifying as this scene was. Xie Lian could only sigh in annoyance. "Of course Qi Rong is here." He felt the butterfly in his hair twitch in annoyance. "Why is it always him?" He complained in their private communication array. Hua Cheng chuckled. "He just has to be annoying trash everywhere he goes." Xie Lian groaned and focused back on the task at hand.

The group of people gathered outside the forest were all large, burly men. But even they had never seen a sight like this. They were petrified. An uneasy hush fell over the group.

After a while, Feng Xin spoke up. "Green Ghost."

"It has to be him," Mu Qing agreed. "It's his trademark."

Feng Xin turned to face Xie Lian. "Don't go in there. It's a little more troublesome if it really is him.

Xie Lian pretended he didn't know who Qi Rong was. The less he pretended to know about the ghost realm, the better. "Who is this 'Green Ghost'?"