The actual situation seemed to differ from what Master had said.
The female ghost hadn't completely lost her abilities after being hit with a handful of incense ash.
After a few painful howls, she stood up again, becoming even more enraged.
I called out several times, but Master didn't appear.
At that moment, I had a bad feeling.
Had the old guy gotten addicted to playing Snake?
Was he still in the shop and hadn't come out at all?
Thinking of this, I felt a little scared.
With my hand, I grasped the last bit of incense ash in my pocket and faced the female ghost on the stone bridge.
The female ghost was thoroughly enraged.
Her body trembled, and she raised her head.
Her face was incredibly ferocious, as if corroded by the incense ash.
Large areas of rot and bloody holes appeared, and blood dripped down her cheeks.
"Drip, drip..."
The female ghost's pitch-black eyes stared at me, and she spoke in extreme anger:
"I want to reincarnate, I'm going to eat your life..."
After speaking, she raised a pair of sharp ghost claws and pounced at me.
Seeing the female ghost lunge, I was terrified.
But my reason told me I couldn't escape, and I definitely wouldn't be able to.
Master was probably no longer a reliable option.
If I wanted to live, I had to fight this foul thing...
The moment this thought entered my mind, I wasn't as afraid anymore.
Clenching the last handful of incense ash, I saw the female ghost pounce and immediately threw it out.
Having suffered once, the female ghost saw me throw incense ash again and inexplicably dodged it.
She suddenly appeared at my side and tackled me to the ground.
The feeling was like being hit by a bulldozer; there was an absolute gap in strength.
At this moment, I was pinned to the ground by the female ghost.
She gave me no chance, opening her mouth and extending her long tongue, trying to get into my mouth and devour my last bit of vitality.
Seeing my life hanging by a thread, I hurriedly recited the Buddhist scriptures my grandmother often recited:
"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when practicing the profound Prajnaparamita..."
As soon as the Buddhist scripture came out, the female ghost's extended tongue stiffened abruptly.
It had already touched my chin.
Immediately after, she covered her head with her hands, looking extremely pained.
"Ah! Don't recite, don't recite. Ah..."
You're trying to kill me, how could I stop reciting?
Not only did I continue reciting, but I also recited even louder.
"Behold the five aggregates are all empty, and so are all sufferings.
Shariputra, form is no different from emptiness, emptiness no different from form.
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
The same applies to sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness..."
The female ghost trembled all over, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
She ferociously raised her ghost claws, wanting to slap me to death and silence me.
But my movements were faster than hers.
In a hurry, I fumbled in my pocket for the half-fox claw Old Lady Hu gave me and raised my hand to block.
Her palm strike landed directly on the half-claw.
Piercing her palm directly...
"Ah!"
The female ghost let out another scream, quickly retracting her hand, with black-red blood constantly oozing out.
In my fright, I shoved the female ghost away.
Gripping the half-claw, while reciting Buddhist scriptures, I thrust it fiercely into her chest.
The female ghost had first been sprinkled with Patriarch's incense ash, then had her palm pierced by the half-fox claw, and now I was constantly reciting Buddhist scriptures.
For a moment, she lost her ability to resist.
I stabbed repeatedly into her.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."
With every stab, the female ghost's body convulsed violently.
Where she was stabbed, wisps of black energy emerged.
I continued until I noticed the female ghost's movements becoming weaker and weaker.
Finally, she lay on the ground with hardly any movement, so I stopped and retreated a couple of steps...
Tightly gripping the half-fox claw, I gasped for air.
Looking at the twitching female ghost, my mood was a mix of apprehension and elation.
But for a moment, I didn't know what to do next.
The female ghost, however, still tilted her head, staring at me with those pitch-black eyes.
She still spoke intermittently, in a very weak voice:
"Rein, reincarnate, I, I want to eat, eat you..."
As she spoke, she still trembled.
Powerlessly raising a ghost claw, she reached out towards me.
Seeing her action, enraged, I gripped the fox claw and wanted to deliver the final blow.
But before I could act, her body suddenly exploded like a balloon.
With a "bang," she exploded directly, turning into wisps of mist.
She simply vanished before my eyes...
And at the instant she disappeared, I noticed a wisp of white energy seep into the ghost longevity coin on my left hand.
The ghost longevity coin also changed from a dark blue-black to an even more pitch-black hue.
Looking at the vanished female ghost, I felt a sense of burden.
Then I glanced at the changes in the ghost longevity coin bracelet on my left hand, and my entire body felt as if it had collapsed.
I sat down on the stone bridge with a plop.
I never would have imagined that I had personally killed a foul entity.
Looking at the spot where the female ghost had disappeared, I let out a "Hahaha" laugh again. As I laughed, a hint of sourness welled up in my heart.
Surviving a near-death experience was truly not easy.
At the same time, the previously silent surroundings regained their sounds.
The evening breeze blew, rustling the branches.
The sound of water "whooshing" reappeared, and everything returned to its original state.
It was as if the female ghost had never appeared.
Concurrently, from a distance, the sound of footsteps "thump, thump, thump" could be heard.
Alertly, I raised my head.
I saw a figure walking towards the bridge.
Upon closer inspection, it was my Master, Gu Hui.
He, with his pipe in his mouth, walked onto the bridge.
Seeing me sitting on the ground and staring at the spot where the female ghost had vanished.
He took the pipe out of his mouth and said with some surprise:
"Xiao Qin, you dealt with that foul thing?"