The Post Sky Tipping Era
Chapter 197 - 156: Ghost Collects Life

Chapter 197: Chapter 156: Ghost Collects Life

Hearing the countless whispers outside, Li Yi felt a shiver run down his spine.

One could only imagine how many vengeful ghosts and fierce ghosts were wandering just beyond the walls. Once outside the room, he felt as though he had plummeted into an endlessly dark world. He was isolated, cut off, and he was the only living person around, which gave rise to a sense of bewilderment.

"Indeed, just as I suspected, on the night of the first day, the Yin energy rises from the ground and fills the entire world. There are especially many ghosts today, and they are far more terrifying than usual."

At this moment, Li Yi took a deep breath; it seemed tonight would be tough to endure.

As an Evolver, like him, who could see ghosts and hear many sounds and movements that ordinary people couldn’t, and could also feel the assault of Yin energy.... All these elements combined made him feel very uncomfortable.

Ordinary people are better off—they simply fall asleep and sleep till dawn, seeing nothing, feeling nothing.

Wait.

Suddenly.

Li Yi remembered something. The commotion he had just made could not have possibly gone unheard by Rong Niang and Zhao Qian, who were sleeping in the inner room. Even if they had truly been asleep, they should have been woken up by the noise.

Although a Martial Artist is not an Evolver, their senses are nonetheless much stronger than those of an ordinary person.

Realizing that something was amiss, Li Yi immediately rushed into the inner room.

Then, his pupils sharply contracted as he witnessed a bizarre scene.

Standing beside the bedroom, there was an unfamiliar ghost that he had never seen before. The ghost was nearly two meters tall with limbs that were dark blue and extremely robust. Its head was wrapped in white cloth, and it seemed that a large black character was written on the cloth: "Longevity."

At this moment, this towering ghost was using a hollow bamboo as a straw, extending one end toward Rong Niang’s face and then took a deep inhale.

Through the eyes of an Evolver like Li Yi, a stream of pure white Qi was seen emerging from Rong Niang’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, which was then sucked into the bamboo stick.

The originally dark purple bamboo changed and turned white in a section as if the Qi was stored inside it.

Li Yi then noticed that after losing that white Qi, several of Rong Niang’s hairs instantly turned white, and fine wrinkles appeared on her face. She seemed to have aged significantly in moments, a change so subtle it was almost imperceptible, but not to his eyes.

After absorbing Rong Niang’s Qi, the ghost then aimed the bamboo at Zhao Qian, seemingly intending to repeat the process and siphon her Qi as well.

All the while, Rong Niang and Zhao Qian slept soundly, utterly unaware of what was happening.

No.

Even if they were awake, they wouldn’t have noticed.

Because they are only Martial Artists, not Evolvers. They couldn’t see ghosts; only Li Yi could.

"What exactly are you doing, you beast?"

At that moment, Li Yi’s eyes narrowed into slits, shining brightly as if he were a fierce tiger about to pounce. Clenching a Sword Coin in his fist, he hammered it toward the ghost’s head.

Although he didn’t understand the ghost’s actions, he could sense that the ghost was trying to steal something from Rong Niang and Zhao Qian.

The ghost, with "Longevity" written on its face, seemed startled that Li Yi could see it. It turned its large frame slowly around, but it was not greeted by Li Yi’s query, but by a punch hurtling toward it.

This punch emitted a strange brilliance in the darkness.

This brilliance was more vigorous than the Qi-Blood of a Qi Cultivation Expert and could combat ghost spirits and kill fierce ghosts.

"Bang!"

With the impact of the Fist Power, the untouchable ghost’s head suffered a heavy blow and was smashed apart by a punch. However, there was no blood or shattered bone, only a dense, cold Qi that burst apart and then dissolved into the surroundings.

Yet, even after its head was destroyed, the ghost’s body didn’t fall but continued to move somewhat awkwardly, stumbling towards the outside of the house.

Ignoring the barrier of the door, its large body simply passed right through.

"Didn’t die from one punch?" Li Yi’s expression changed, and without hesitation, he immediately gave chase.

If one punch didn’t kill it, then he would throw a few more. He refused to believe that he couldn’t kill this ghost.

Breaking through doors and windows, Li Yi, agile as ever, instantly rushed out.

However, upon rushing out, his expression changed drastically.

In the courtyard outside the house roamed all sorts of people, their bodies ethereal, without corpses, their complexions pale and their gazes dull. They were countless vengeful ghosts and fierce ghosts, wandering aimlessly around Sanyang City, as common as people you’d see on any street.

Meanwhile, the ghost whom Li Yi had smashed in the head was still stumbling and running towards the outside of the manor, carelessly bumping away any vengeful ghost or fierce ghost that stood in its way.

Seeing this scene,

Li Yi immediately pursued him. While the ghost had not gone far, he flipped over the courtyard wall and charged directly at it. This time, he did not only use Sword Coin, but also his Guiding Skill.

Under the enhancement of the Guiding Skill, the hand holding the Sword Coin blazed with light, creating a brilliant and dazzling energy field.

Even the eyes of ordinary people could see the light of the energy.

In such circumstances, the tall ghost was struck from behind with a fist and was instantly blown open with a huge gash. Then, its entire body could no longer maintain its form and fell heavily onto the ground, dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Indeed, Sword Coin combined with Guiding Skill is the bane of ghosts and can easily kill fierce ghosts," Li Yi thought to himself, feeling a bit more confident seeing this.

Unfortunately, the cosmic energy in this world was not abundant, weakening the energy field of the Sword Coin. Otherwise, the ghost would have died from that punch just now.

After the tall ghost died, it left nothing behind except for the black-purple bamboo it had been holding in its hand. One end of the bamboo had turned white, which happened after absorbing Rong Niang’s essence.

Li Yi had intended to pick up that piece of bamboo to study it, but when he saw the scene on the street, he froze in place.

The previously desolate street was now filled with various vengeful ghosts and fierce ghosts. Apart from these ordinary ghosts, there were many like the one he had just killed, all tall, about two meters in height, with faces covered by white cloths bearing the character "Life."

These ghosts continued to roam every corner of Sanyang City, recklessly entering into each household. When they emerged, their black-purple bamboos had turned white, clearly having stolen something from the living, just like before.

The eeriest part was, the entire city was deadly silent.

No one noticed, nor did anyone resist. It seemed as if everything was to be expected.

"What on earth is happening in this world?" At this moment, Li Yi felt a chill down his spine.

He realized that he might have uncovered some of the horrors and secrets hidden in this world. The people of Sanyang City, whether Qi Cultivation Experts or ordinary folks, were all oblivious, kept in the dark because they couldn’t see the ghosts and had no idea what the intruding ghosts had done to them or what exactly had been stolen.

Suddenly,

A living person’s crying echoed from a nearby house. Though the doors and windows were tightly closed, Li Yi, standing on the high courtyard wall, could faintly see through a lamp the shadows moving inside the house, and the cries from the house grew louder.

Li Yi listened carefully and soon understood.

An elderly person in that household had died that night.

As the elderly person passed away, a ghost like the one before emerged unhurriedly; its bamboo, now turned white. This white color faintly reminded Li Yi of the white talisman paper that the old man on Ghost Street had handed him.

The white talisman paper was used for making marks, and it could be sold in exchange for one’s lifespan.

And the elderly person’s death... the loss of some essence of the living, the ghosts wandering the entire Sanyang City... and finally, what Li Yi heard from Rong Niang that people in the Four Seas and Eight Continents have short lives, nearly always dying around fifty.

These series of things connected in Li Yi’s mind, leading to a terrifying hypothesis.

Could it be that these ghosts were collecting the lifespan of the living?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Because Li Yi had seen with his own eyes that after Rong Niang had some of her essence stolen by a ghost, she aged instantly.

That part of the essence might have been Rong Niang’s lifespan.

It’s just that the lifespan taken each time was so small, so it normally went unnoticed. But with twelve months in a year and this continuing each month, year after year, how much lifespan would that total? Even a long-lived person could not withstand such harvesting.

So, was this the reason why people in the Four Seas and Eight Continents generally had short lifespans?

Li Yi was shocked by his own speculation. His expression fluctuated, and then another question arose.

On every first day of the month, with so many ghosts collecting lifespan, where had this lifespan gone over thousands of years? It couldn’t have just vanished.

Furthermore, the actions of the ghosts were clearly organized and premeditated, and did not seem like a natural phenomenon.

As Li Yi pondered,

perhaps because he had killed a lifespan-collecting ghost, an unknown number of government officers, no—ghosts, appeared on the eerie street; their forms ethereal and unreal. However, compared to the other ghosts, this group of government officers seemed very ferocious. Anywhere they passed, the vengeful ghosts on the street involuntarily made way for them.

"Are they coming for me?" Li Yi’s eyes gleamed with light as he sensed hostility.

The leading government officer was dressed in black and had a Ghost Head Big Saber at his waist. His face was sullen and fierce, with hollow eye sockets that were pitch-black, housing no eyeballs.

"To disrupt the collection of lifespan by ghosts and gods is regarded as a grave disrespect, deserving of death."

This government officer seemed to be aware and stared at Li Yi as he slowly spoke, his voice hoarse and chilling.