Chapter 26: A Moment of Life and Death

At the sight of this, I was struck with sudden terror!

The Soul-Breaking Talisman was the only method I had to subdue or deal with the entity. With him swinging that shovel down like that, how was I supposed to handle him? As the talisman was on the verge of being destroyed, I frantically scanned my surroundings and quickly spotted the chicken bones left over from the legs Er-Pang and I had just eaten.

An idea struck me.

I immediately bent down, grabbed a chicken bone, and without a moment's hesitation, hurled it straight at his head!

At that critical, hair-breadth moment, a faint "clink" sounded. The chicken bone struck Er-Pang squarely in the face. He froze, looking at the bone that had fallen to the ground.

The next second, his face twisted with rage! Veins bulged from his temples!

"Audacious! How dare you steal this official's offerings! Die!!!"

He bellowed with an affected, bureaucratic air, raised his shovel, and charged at me. This time, his speed was clearly more than twice as fast as before.

I had successfully drawn his full ire. Seeing this, I turned tail and ran. "Dammit, why did he get faster?" I cursed as I sprinted toward the graveyard below. I didn't dare look back, hearing only the rhythmic *thud-thud-thud* of him pursuing me closely, right on my heels. I had no time to check behind me; one careless move and I would be met with a shovel to the skull.

My stamina was rapidly fading. I thought quickly: the only way out was to loop around the tree ahead. If he kept chasing me, I could circle back to retrieve the Soul-Breaking Talisman.

That was the plan. I picked up my pace, listening to the sound behind me. I couldn't afford to let him get too far away, or he might stop following me around the tree and cut me off instead, leaving me to walk right into his trap.

*Thud, thud, thud...* The sound was very close now. The tree was drawing near. Turning a corner would force me to slow down to control my momentum; my speed would inevitably drop.

"Damn it! It all comes down to this!" I shouted, grabbing the trunk to use its leverage to swing around. Fearing he hadn't followed, I snapped my head back.

The sight made my hair stand on end. The bastard hadn't slowed down at all—he was coming straight for me with the shovel raised high! In that instant, I felt sure I was finished. I was going to die, and a gruesome death at that—the kind where your head is split in two.

Just then, a familiar sound rang out.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

The big white rat?!

In my momentary distraction, a flash of white fur leaped up and blocked the space above me.

*CRACK!*

"Squeeeeeak—"

The shovel didn't land on my head; it struck the big white rat that had sprung into the air! It let out a piteous, sharp cry—so piercing that even though I couldn't understand it, I could feel the agonizing pain behind it.

The next second, I completed my turn. The white weasel had been struck in the waist, its entrails spilling out as it crashed heavily to the ground, its body trembling uncontrollably...

I froze in shock. This big white rat—it was a complete stranger to me, so why had it saved me time and again?

"How dare a mere weasel interfere in this official's business! All of you shall die!!!" Er-Pang roared again, charging toward me once more!

I scrambled to my feet and bolted toward the ancestral graves above. "Big white rat, hang in there! I'll come back to save you once I get the item!"

I shouted this over my shoulder and poured all my focus and remaining strength into the sprint. I pushed so hard that my feet dug shallow pits into the soil. Hearing that I was going for the Soul-Breaking Talisman, Er-Pang seemed to grow even more frantic, chasing after me with renewed madness.

I ran so fast that the world became a blur, with nothing but the whistling wind in my ears. But ahead, the place glowing with a faint green light was the Liu family ancestral grave!

Finally, I reached the perimeter and skidded to a halt. My eyes locked onto the Soul-Breaking Talisman lying on the ground, and I snatched it up!

I could clearly feel the heavy shovel bearing down on me again! I threw myself into a roll and shouted at the top of my lungs:

"Heaven and Earth, root of all spirits, cultivated through billions of eons, prove my divine power! Command the thunder, make ghosts and demons tremble, cause monsters to lose their form! Golden light, appear now! Swiftly, by the law of the decree!!!!"

The moment I landed, a brilliant yellow light erupted! The Soul-Breaking Talisman shot straight at Er-Pang's face!

*BOOM!*

The man who had been acting like a butcher was sent flying two meters backward!

*CRASH!*

With another loud thud, Er-Pang collapsed to the ground, letting out a roar that sounded like the old man's voice. "Ugh—"

The next second, Er-Pang lay still on the ground. The surrounding area fell silent instantly.

I was left gasping for air. The candles beside me flickered back to a normal yellow flame. My stamina was completely depleted; if not for that chicken leg, I never would have made it this far.

After recovering slightly, I stood up and went over to Er-Pang, tapping his face a few times. "Er-Pang! Er-Pang?"

"Why isn't he waking up? Did I not drive it off?" I muttered to myself.

Just then, a thin, shrill male voice came from behind me, sounding just like a palace eunuch.

"His vitality is severely damaged. If you want him to wake up immediately, he needs this herb."

The voice made me jump out of my skin, and I landed hard on my backside. Turning around, I saw an old man with a head of white hair, a sharp, monkey-like face, and a cane in his hand.

The old man was bizarre. Not only was his hair white, but his eyebrows and beard were white as well, and his face was covered in thick hair that also had a faint, ghostly white sheen.

I stared, stunned, before asking suspiciously, "Could it be... are you that big white rat?"

Hearing this, the old man burst into laughter. It was that same piercing, shrill cackle that made my eardrums ache.

"Indeed. Feed this to the chubby lad quickly, or you won't be able to dig up this grave for a while yet..."

It really was him? I blankly took the plant from his hand. It looked like a wild weed, yet somehow different. I didn't know what it was, but recalling how he had risked his life to save me, he surely wouldn't harm Er-Pang.

I asked, "Weren't you... weren't you slashed earlier? How do you look fine?" As I spoke, my eyes dropped to his abdomen. Beneath his clothes, it seemed as if blood was about to seep through.

He shook his head and said, "It is no matter. Little one, I shall wait for you at the mountain peak!"

With that, he turned, and a white blur dashed off into the distance.

I stood there in a daze. Has this weasel become a spirit, capable of taking human form? I shook my head. This Qingqiu Mountain was too strange, too mysterious. I couldn't afford to dwell on such things now. I had to wake Er-Pang and dig the grave.

I stuffed the herb into his mouth, pried his jaw open, and after some effort, finally got him to swallow it.

Two minutes later, Er-Pang opened his eyes, looking dazed. "Did you finish all the chicken legs?"