Chapter 61: Group Battle Against the Hanged Ghost

The hanged ghost had its head wrapped in white silk, dangling suspended in mid-air.

Seeing Xia Tianqiong pull out a red bridal veil, it suddenly looked surprised, pursed its lips, and smiled, "Little brother, are you planning to marry me?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xia Tianqiong felt the power of the rules enveloping his body vanish.

Yet, less than a second after it disappeared, it reappeared.

This meant that the hanged ghost's words were also a rule of death, and they had replaced the previous rule of "hanging together."

How could the rule of death possibly change?

This script was completely wrong!

Xia Tianqiong wore a bewildered expression; he had never heard of such a situation in his previous life.

Holding the red veil, he shook it twice and muttered under his breath, "Hey, it's about to bump me off, aren't you going to help me finish it off?"

It had been so proactive last time, completely unstoppable, so why was there zero reaction this time?

After waiting for a moment, still there was no movement.

The atmosphere at the scene grew slightly awkward.

The hanged ghost wore an enchanting smile, making no move to urge him, but Xia Tianqiong had no intention of waiting any longer.

Now he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands by force, first using the bronze mirror to pull the opponent into the mirror space, and letting the mirror ghost and the tavern waiter give it a try.

If that failed, he would use the gold note to have Manager Hu dispatch a malicious ghost to act as his brawler.

Lost in these thoughts, just as he was about to strike, five or six people suddenly burst into the warehouse.

One middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and large eyes demanded upon entering, "Where is my nephew? What have you done to him?"

This person was Liu Zhongjun's third uncle, Liu Qian, who had rushed over upon receiving the distress call.

The five people beside him were from another ghost-hunting squad belonging to the Administration.

The main influence of the Liu family was not in Lin'an City, and Liu Qian alone could not guarantee he could save Liu Zhongjun, so he had turned to the Lin'an Branch of the Supernatural Affairs Administration, asking them to send people to help.

Coincidentally, an official squad had lost contact here and plans were already underway to dispatch investigators, so a senior ghost-hunting team was sent along with Liu Qian to this location.

The team leader was none other than Zhou Boyu, who had previously tracked Xia Tianqiong's whereabouts and even wanted to recruit him.

"Whose nephew are you talking about? Never seen him."

Xia Tianqiong muttered casually, stashing the red veil into the mirror space, before reaching out to grab the chess-board cursed artifact nearby and putting it away as well.

"Stop right there! The Sealing Ghost Chessboard is an heirloom of the Liu family, hand it over."

"So it's called the Sealing Ghost Chessboard!"

Xia Tianqiong mumbled to himself, showing not the slightest intention of handing it over.

Zhou Boyu and the others, however, kept their eyes locked on the hanged ghost with grave expressions. "Personal disputes can be settled later. Deal with the hanged ghost first."

By this time, the hanged ghost was brimming with excitement, drifting toward the group with a full face of smiles.

"Uncles, brothers, and sisters, would you care to join me in hanging yourselves?"

It was certainly very polite and spoke very sweetly, but it flatly refused to allow anyone to decline.

"Attack!"

Zhou Boyu issued the order instantly without a moment's hesitation. His four team members—three men and a woman—moved with tacit coordination, simultaneously unleashing their respective ghostly arts against the hanged ghost.

Liu Qian paused for a fraction of a second before joining the fray as well.

"Since none of you are willing to hang yourselves with me, then go die! And you, refusing to marry me, you die too!"

The hanged ghost said with a grievance-laden tone, and several strips of white silk suddenly descended from the void above, tracking each and every person.

One end of this white silk originated from the void above, while the other end was tied into a loop.

It would track its targets automatically; no matter where you ran, it would pursue you until it slipped over your head and hanged you to death.

Xia Tianqiong immediately executed Shadow Teleportation in an attempt to shake off the white silk.

Row upon row of shelves filled the warehouse, casting plenty of shadows. Yet every time he teleported to a new spot, the white silk would immediately materialize out of thin air right in front of him, with a delay of no more than two seconds.

Such terrifying speed meant this hanged ghost was, nine times out of ten, at the malicious ghost tier.

Xia Tianqiong could not afford to stay still for even a single second, needing to teleport continuously to avoid being overtaken by the white silk.

While he was darting around frantically, the battle on the other side was intense.

Liu Qian produced a rusted sickle that emanated a dim green fire; every sweep he made managed to sever the white silk.

Yet for every strand he cut, another would immediately appear in its place, endless and inexhaustible.

He had no opportunity whatsoever to attack the hanged ghost.

Every member of the ghost-hunting squad possessed contracted ghosts, mastered ghostly arts, and cooperated seamlessly.

Even so, coping with the continuous onslaught of white silk proved extraordinarily difficult; they were entirely preoccupied with self-preservation and lacked the bandwidth to mount an offense against the hanged ghost.

Only Zhou Boyu was able to manifest massive ghostly eagle talons out of thin air to strike at the hanged ghost occasionally, though it was hard to inflict any effective damage.

As Xia Tianqiong teleported back and forth around the perimeter, he gradually grasped the situation.

If things continued this way, everyone here would die.

In truth, he could have summoned a malicious ghost via Manager Hu at this moment to resolve the hanged ghost.

However, he was reluctant to do so; that privilege could only be used three times a month. Unless absolutely necessary, it was not to be wasted lightly.

The best approach was to figure out a way to utilize these people to take down the hanged ghost.

At that moment, Liu Qian suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey kid, what are you running around for? Come out and help deal with the hanged ghost together, or once we're dead, you won't escape either."

Indeed, Xia Tianqiong could not escape; the rule had already been triggered. Even if he teleported out of the warehouse, the white silk would pursue him to the ends of the earth until death claimed him.

Right now, he didn't even dare enter the mirror space, fearing the white silk might destroy the bronze mirror.

"Quit your yelling! With so many of you, are you all just useless trash?"

These words instantly infuriated the members of the ghost-hunting team.

Liu Qian was equally incensed and on the verge of hurling curses when another voice echoed from a corner of the warehouse.

"I will create an opening for you. Make sure you seize the chance to attack its true ghostly body."

"What kind of opening could you possibly create?"

Not only did Liu Qian disbelieve him, but the others were equally skeptical.

This white silk was simply too aggravating, like mosquitoes buzzing around one's head late at night—impossible to chase away and impossible to exterminate. No sooner had you swatted one dead than another took its place.

That was precisely the current predicament; everyone was struggling merely to survive and keep their heads out of the loops of white silk.

Suddenly, from every corner of the warehouse, numerous figures emerged.

One after another, densely packed.

With the appearance of each person, a corresponding strip of white silk dropped from the air, slipped around the figure's neck, and hoisted them high into the air.

In the blink of an eye, countless people were hanging from the ceiling of the warehouse, creating a horrifying spectacle.

These figures were, naturally, the mirror clones Xia Tianqiong had conjured using his cloning mirror.

Every time he teleported to a new location, he would wave his hand and scatter a dozen or so mirror clones.

Gradually, the warehouse was flooded with them—starting with a dozen or two, then swelling to hundreds, and finally thousands.

Although each clone was fragile and would have its neck snapped and body blown apart by the white silk within seconds of being hoisted up, they successfully distracted the hanged ghost's attention to a massive degree.

At the same time, they rapidly depleted its nether energy.

Zhou Boyu, observing this, assumed Xia Tianqiong was attempting to wear the hanged ghost down through sheer exhaustion little by little.

In his view, this was clearly unfeasible, and he quickly called out a warning, "It's at the malicious ghost tier! We'll run out of the underworld currency we're carrying long before it gets worn to death."

"I'm not trying to wear it to death."

Xia Tianqiong's voice suddenly rang out from directly beneath the hanged ghost, surprising not only the creature itself but everyone present as well.

He had deployed his clones merely to misdirect the hanged ghost, then utilized the shadow of one of the clones to materialize right beneath it.

Accompanying his words, the Skysplicing Rope had already shot outward.

The distance was far too close for the hanged ghost to evade, and it was bound tightly around the waist.

Having succeeded with his opening strike, Xia Tianqiong immediately pulled the rope taut and lunged violently toward Zhou Boyu's group.

Then, with a mighty heave, he yanked the hanged ghost down, crashing it heavily right at their feet.

"Finish it off!"

Xia Tianqiong shouted, teleporting away just as a strip of white silk threatened to slip over his head.

"Abandon defense, go all out with full offense!"

Zhou Boyu was exceptionally decisive. Seeing the hanged ghost tossed right to their feet, he issued the command instantly.

His directive meant that regardless of whether the white silk constricted their throats, they were to unleash attacks with everything they had.

This strategy was extremely risky, yet remarkably effective.

Every team member desperately unleashed their ghostly arts, pounding them into the hanged ghost's body. Even as the white silk choked their necks and dangled them two or three meters off the ground, the attacks from their hands never ceased.

It was in moments like this that the ruthless nature of the official squad truly showed itself.

Cruel to others, and equally cruel to themselves.

A human would die from asphyxiation within four to six minutes; they were gambling on finishing off the hanged ghost before that time ran out.

Otherwise, they would be the ones to die.

Three minutes later.

The hanged ghost had been beaten until its ghostly form was nearly transparent, on the verge of disintegration and dissolution.

It could no longer muster any ghostly arts, and the white silk that hunted for lives finally vanished.

Zhou Boyu and his four team members dropped down from the air, their faces flushed bright red as they gasped for heavy breaths of air.

It had been a close shave; had it lasted even another minute, casualties among them would have been likely.

Fortunately, it hadn't come to that.

Liu Qian was completely unscathed; he had relied on his ghostly fire sickle solely for self-preservation, holding back his offensive until the hanged ghost was beaten into critical condition and lost control of the white silk, at which point he finally attacked.

At this moment, the hanged ghost lay flat on the ground, stripped of all threat.

He pressed the ghostly fire sickle against the hanged ghost's neck and demanded, "Form a contract with me, and I'll spare your life."

Zhou Boyu's face darkened, and the team members beside him brimmed with indignation.

They had contributed the lion's share of the effort; without them risking their lives in frantic attacks, beating the hanged ghost to this state would have been impossible.

Yet Liu Qian, who had idled on the sidelines the entire time, stepped forward to harvest the final fruits of victory.

Fang Muyuan's pretty face turned frosty, and she was about to voice her objection when she saw Zhou Boyu shake his head, signaling her to remain silent.

According to convention, anyone who participated in hunting a supernatural entity was qualified to contract it, though the final choice of who would forge the contract was subject to negotiation.

Since Liu Qian had ultimately contributed during the latter stages, he possessed the qualification to contract the entity.

Yet for him to leap straight to claiming the contract without a single word of discussion was thoroughly ungentlemanly.

The hanged ghost looked at Liu Qian with a numb expression, giving no response whatsoever, as if simply waiting for death.

Liu Qian casually produced stack after stack of underworld currency, piling them beside the hanged ghost.

"As long as you contract with me, I'll reward you with one million nether notes right now. Every month from here on, you'll receive a stipend of one hundred thousand nether notes, with additional compensation whenever you deploy your ghostly arts. How's that? Contract with me! The benefits are numerous, and it's certainly better than dying."

The hanged ghost's icy expression slowly shifted, its eyes fixing rigidly on the underworld currency in Liu Qian's hand.

It appeared to be tempted.

Just as it was about to voice its consent, a voice rang out from nearby.

"Thinking you can contract a malicious ghost-tier entity with such a paltry sum? You're looking down on it far too much!"

Xia Tianqiong suddenly stepped out from the shadow directly behind Liu Qian.