The closer they got to the creek, the heavier the foul stench in the air became. It was no longer just a sour, rancid odor—instead, it turned into a sharp, nauseating stink, tinged with a strange, corrosive note—
"Ugh—this... this is the stench of a Ghoul!" Shawn Young was shocked. "How could a Ghoul suddenly show up here? This is just—"
"Huh? Shawn, what are you talking about? What’s a Ghoul, anyway? It sounds super creepy—" Yvette Liu looked nervous, but with Shawn Young by her side, she didn’t feel too scared.
Shawn didn’t answer her. Instead, he glanced up at the golden full moon in the sky, and suddenly it all made sense to him—according to the Codex of Ascension, on a night when the moon is full and tinged with yellow, with fuzzy edges, it’s usually a sign that the energy from a nearby "dark place" is mixing with the outside air and the earth’s energy is surging. At times like this, freshly dead bodies—those not yet decayed—are most likely to undergo corpse transformation. Dogs, cats, foxes, and wolves are especially likely to trigger this change. The aura of these animals is easily absorbed by corpses, with black cats being the most suitable, and dogs, who love to sniff around, are quick to spot Ghouls. But while dogs can recognize Ghouls, when they encounter one, most will bark twice—never a third time. After that, they just bare their teeth and whimper quietly, too scared to make a fuss.
"But why would a Ghoul suddenly show up in a place like this? It’s way too weird—" Shawn was baffled, but he picked up his pace. Soon, he grabbed Yvette Liu’s hand and hurried to the creek.
Suddenly, there was the sound of running ahead. Shawn focused and saw, under the moonlight, a slender figure at the creek, panicked and running straight toward him. "Ah—they’re chasing me—help!!"
Shawn rushed forward and finally saw clearly—it was Jenny Choi. But right now, Jenny’s hair was a mess, her face ghostly pale from terror. The moment she saw Shawn, she screamed again, "Run—run! There’s a monster chasing me—it’s right behind—so scary!!"
Before she could finish, Jenny suddenly shuddered, her legs buckled—and she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Shawn quickly darted forward to help her up, but soon noticed something strange—Jenny was wearing athletic shorts tonight, and her exposed long legs had weird black spots starting at her ankles, about the size of green beans. Even stranger, the spots were moving, spreading swiftly from her ankles up to her knees, and even racing up her thighs!
"Ah! What the heck are those things!?" Yvette Liu had come closer and gasped in shock when she saw Jenny’s legs.
Shawn’s expression changed. Without hesitation, he flipped Jenny Choi over, yanked off her sandals, and lifted her legs apart.
"Ah!? W-what are you doing! I—" Jenny cried out in terror, thinking Shawn was about to do something perverted.
But Shawn didn’t have time to explain. He bit his left middle finger, summoned his celestial energy, and chanted a spell: "Great Star Above, respond without delay. Expel evil, bind spirits, protect life, shield the body. Vermilion Mouth God, purge filth, clear the air. Five organs of the Mystic Abyss, hunt down wicked spirits. Let it be done—Seal!"
"Whoosh—whoosh—" Two drops of blood from his middle finger flashed red and shot into the Yongquan points on Jenny’s feet, vanishing instantly. The black spots on her legs froze in place, her legs trembled violently, and the creepy black dots wriggled out from under her skin, dropping to the ground. After a brief struggle, they stopped moving altogether.
"All right! You’re safe now—your life’s no longer in danger!" Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. He’d used the "Evil-Breaking Spell" because he realized Jenny was being invaded by a strange evil parasite that was spreading fast. If he hadn’t acted right away, she’d have been a goner.
The hands are where yang energy gathers, and the Triple Burner meridian is the main channel for drawing yang from nature. The middle finger is the focal point of that meridian, and the blood there is the body’s purest yang. Combined with a spell, it can dispel evil spirits. That’s why, in the world of mystics, there’s a saying: "Middle finger blood drives out evil, a talisman opens light to battle darkness."
Shawn crouched down for a closer look at the black spots—they turned out to be weird little black bugs, about the size of green beans. They had no legs, a black shell on their backs, and a strange gray pattern. They were round, and it was impossible to tell where the head was.
"Nether Wyrm!!" Shawn exclaimed, remembering a bizarre evil creature described in the Codex of Ascension.
"Huh? Shawn, these nasty little bugs are called Nether Wyrms? How do you know about them? What are they, anyway?" Yvette Liu bent down, curiosity written all over her face.
Shawn didn’t answer her question about how he knew these evil creatures, but he did explain: "Nether Wyrm—these things look a lot like insects, but they’re actually terrifying supernatural parasites, also called Ghost Foxes! They only grow in dark, damp, cursed waters. Each mature Nether Wyrm isn’t a single creature, but a cluster of four or five 'Wyrm segments' stuck together, so they look like one bug. They feed on microbes in underground water and almost never see sunlight, so they rarely surface."
But when the night is thick with yin energy, if a person or animal enters their water source, the Nether Wyrms break apart into tiny segments and invade through the skin or digestive system. Inside the host, they multiply quickly, and each segment can reproduce on its own. They’ll soon reach the brain and nervous system, feeding on blood and brain matter to survive.
The scariest part? They don’t just eat up their hosts and move on. Nether Wyrms secrete a special fluid that controls the host’s nervous system, making them hunt for food. Once parasitized, the host becomes ravenous and will hunt anything with blood—human or animal! That’s the terrifying truth: ‘As evil as ghosts, as wicked as wyrms.’
"Jenny, have these things ever shown up here before? Why did they suddenly—" Yvette Liu asked nervously. Like most girls, she was naturally grossed out and scared of bugs, and this was no exception.
Jenny was still shaken and shook her head. "Never! All these years, our water’s been clean—no monsters like this, ever. It was those things that showed up in the water—they dragged Vivi and Karrie into the river—I only escaped because I ran fast! They chased me, and one of them spat something at my ankle—so I just kept running—then I ran into you guys—"
Just as she was speaking, Jenny’s face suddenly twisted in terror, her voice trembling: "Ah! They—they’re back—"
Shawn and Yvette turned to look where Jenny was staring—by the moonlit creek, three shadowy black figures appeared, slowly moving toward them. Their movements were stiff and mechanical. A gust of wind swept by, carrying an overpowering, putrid stench—the unmistakable smell of Ghouls!
Soon, they could see the figures clearly—three people in shredded camouflage uniforms, hair tangled with weeds, their ghostly pale faces blank and expressionless. Most disturbing of all, their pupils had turned an eerie shade of gray-white, making them look extra creepy in the darkness!
The three had wet, stinking hair dripping foul liquid. The wind picked up, lifting their ragged clothes and revealing bodies so rotten that pus was oozing everywhere!
"Ghouls! So there really are Ghouls here—no wonder the stench is so strong! But why would Ghouls suddenly show up in a place like this?" Shawn recognized the three shadowy figures and was stunned.
The worst part was, as the wind blew, their shredded clothes fluttered, revealing pitch-black, rotting bodies—with wriggling guts and organs visible!
"Ugh—" Yvette Liu couldn’t help but gag, and both Shawn and Jenny felt sick too! But Shawn suddenly realized these three Ghouls looked familiar—they were the Blue Wolf Syndicate thugs who’d ambushed him in the woods earlier! He’d only knocked them out, so how did they end up as Ghouls?
Before he could figure it out, the Ghouls suddenly sped up and charged at them!