Chapter 10: The Death of Ma Gusu
Four coffin nails were driven into this photograph.
One into each temple.
One between the eyebrows.
And one into the throat.
Now, except for the coffin nail at the throat, the remaining three were slowly being pulled upward.
Even though Ma Gusu had pressed both hands against the nails, he could not stop the process.
The nails, constantly pushing upward, gradually made a bulge on the back of his hands.
With the naked eye, one could see the nails rising—about to pierce through Ma Gusu’s palms.
Ma Gusu clenched his jaw, his expression twisting from the pain.
……
After Ma Gusu threw out the rooster’s corpse, the skulls on the ground suddenly grew agitated, dragging the fishing net toward Li Zhen.
The bats trapped within the net also screeched restlessly.
Li Zhen picked up the fallen palm-leaf whip and lashed twice toward the skulls. The skulls instantly quieted, dropping back to the ground.
Originally, Li Zhen had only ant to test the whip, but he could not help sighing again—this whip truly was useful.
Seizing the mont, Wong Kam-Sun charged forward, slashing at Ma Gusu, but was kicked away.
Li Zhen followed closely and swung his knife at Ma Gusu’s neck.
Ma Gusu, unable to move his hands, kicked toward Li Zhen once more.
Ma Gusu’s agility was extraordinary. Even Wong Kam-Sun, one of the top fighters in the police force, could not evade his kick—how could Li Zhen, who had not exercised in ages, hope to dodge?
The kick landed solidly in Li Zhen’s abdon, sending him flying several ters backward.
He fell hard to the ground, gasping, unable to breathe, clutching his stomach speechlessly.
Suddenly, Ma Gusu released his right hand and grabbed a round object, intending to smash it onto his left hand that was pressing the coffin nail.
Though Li Zhen did not know what Ma Gusu ant to do, it was certainly nothing good.
Experienced, Wong Kam-Sun did not give him the chance—he swung his blade and struck Ma Gusu’s arm.
The object fell, ruining Ma Gusu’s plan, and he let out a helpless, furious roar.
If not for these two interfering, he was confident that he could have fought evenly with the one who had broken his curse. But now…
Wong Kam-Sun slashed again, his blade eting Ma Gusu’s in fierce combat.
The coffin nails continued their steady rise.
Ma Gusu’s left hand bent upward at an unnatural angle, like clay being pushed from below.
His expression twisted further; he could barely endure it.
Suddenly, cracks opened across his face. From within flowed not blood, but a bluish liquid.
The wound Wong Kam-Sun had inflicted earlier also oozed the sa blue fluid, eerily grotesque.
It was the backlash of an uncontrollable curse.
Li Zhen, pale-faced, slowly crawled from the ground, forcing himself to ignore the swelling pain in his abdon, dragging his legs toward Ma Gusu.
A “pop” sounded—like a balloon bursting.
The first coffin nail shot from Ma Gusu’s palm, leaving behind a gaping hole.
Ma Gusu scread, ramming into Wong Kam-Sun without thought.
Seeing Wong Kam-Sun stumble back toward him, Li Zhen tried to shout a warning but no sound ca out; his outstretched hand failed to catch him.
The blue liquid flowed faster, covering Ma Gusu’s face entirely.
Yet, in his rage, Ma Gusu ignored it all, paying no heed to the coffin nails either.
He suddenly sat cross-legged on the ground, waving his hands and roaring out incantations—his posture wild, as if preparing so dreadful Head-Descending Curse.
Was he about to retaliate? Li Zhen grew alert.
This man was clearly at his limit.
When Ma Gusu pointed at him, Li Zhen’s nerves tightened to the utmost.
“Get out of the way!”
Wong Kam-Sun’s shout ca suddenly from behind.
……
As Ma Gusu began chanting his spell, the enormous six-ard demonic statue above them seed to stir. A bat, which had been like a sculpture on the wall, abruptly opened its eyes—two blood-red orbs.
That bat’s body was nearly twice the size of those trapped under the fishing net.
As its eyes opened, its body twisted against the wall, slowly tearing free from the stone.
When Ma Gusu pointed at Li Zhen, the bat vanished from the wall.
It moved so fast that the human eye could barely follow.
Almost at the instant it disappeared, it reappeared before Li Zhen.
By the ti Li Zhen heard “Get out of the way,” the bat had already slamd into his chest.
The impact knocked the breath from him, and instinctively, he struck his own chest with the fruit knife in his hand.
The bat didn’t react. It opened its mouth, revealing two sharp fangs, and sank them effortlessly into Li Zhen’s chest through his clothes.
A cursed creature?!
Li Zhen’s heart jolted.
He imdiately dropped the knife, reached behind him for the Ritual Implent given by Master Wan Madama, and thrust it straight into his chest—impaling the bat on its three lower spikes.
The bat shrieked “screee—” in a high, piercing tone, lifting its head toward Li Zhen with its mouth wide open, showing its terrifying fangs.
Li Zhen’s desperate act startled Wong Kam-Sun.
“You… are you alright?”
Seeing the bat nailed to Li Zhen’s chest, Wong Kam-Sun froze, unsure what to do.
Ma Gusu’s chanting grew even more frenzied.
The bat, pinned to the Ritual Implent, struggled harder and harder, its screams stabbing painfully into their ears like demonic echoes.
Li Zhen said nothing. He yanked the Ritual Implent—and the bat still attached—from his chest, then slamd it down onto the ground.
A pool of Ma Gusu’s blood stained the floor, and the bat landed right in it.
As the bat opened its mouth again, Li Zhen pressed its head into the bloody ss, pulled out the Ritual Implent, and began chanting loudly with both hands moving in tandem.
The pronunciation of his chant was strikingly similar to Ma Gusu’s—it was the sa Nanyang tongue.
When Li Zhen finished the incantation, the bat, now drenched in Ma Gusu’s blood, fluttered weakly from the ground and turned its head toward Ma Gusu.
In Ma Gusu’s terrified gaze, the bat lunged onto his face.
Ma Gusu grabbed at the creature with his right hand, rolling on the ground while howling in agony.
His struggles weakened. His wails grew fainter, more pitiful, until at last he lay still.
White blisters bubbled up across his skin.
Ma Gusu’s entire body swelled like expanding foam plastic.
The Ritual Implent pierced straight through the bat’s body again, and beneath it, Ma Gusu burst apart into ashes—no bones left behind.
Li Zhen stepped on the bat, ignoring its bloodied thrashing, and repeatedly stabbed its head with the Ritual Implent.
No matter how strong its vitality, it could not withstand that relentless assault.
Within monts, the once-lively bat was reduced to a heap of mangled flesh.
Li Zhen exhaled deeply and sank to the ground.
When he looked up, Wong Kam-Sun was standing motionless, staring at him in a daze.
Li Zhen managed a weak smile and pulled from his chest pocket two gleaming golden leaves—the Lotus Seat Golden Leaves loaned by Master Wan Madama.
There were several dents on them now.
The bat had not bitten through the Golden Leaves—otherwise, Li Zhen would have shared Ma Gusu’s fate.
“If not for what Master lent , I’d be finished after one bite from that bat. Master’s gifts… truly work.”
“You know Nanyang language?”
“I understand a few spells.”
Most of the mory fragnts he had absorbed from the palm whip were related to the Head-Descending Curse.
The incantation he had just recited, and the knowledge about cursed creature backlash, had all co from those fragnts.
If those mories had been extracted from that evil spirit, it ant that before being refined into a Little Ghost by Ma Gusu, that spirit had been a Head-Descending Curse practitioner.
The ghost had died young, yet had already undergone a fairly complete training in the art—proof of how cruel the discipline was.
Though Li Zhen had only gained fragnts, not full mories, he had benefited greatly and could now be considered half an apprentice in that dark art.
In truth, what had worked just now was rely the act of making the bat consu Ma Gusu’s blood—the chanting itself likely had no effect.
Yet influenced by those mories, Li Zhen had instinctively spoken the words.
……
The place was not suitable for lingering. The two said little more, hastily tidied up, and left while supporting each other.
Ma Gusu had left behind many nauseating things—like jars filled with organs.
Neither man had any interest in those.
After a careful search, Li Zhen rely wrapped up Ma Gusu’s Nanyang-language books with so torn cloth to take back for Master Wan Madama to inspect. He did not touch the other strange items.
Before leaving, the two set fire to everything Ma Gusu had left behind—reducing it all to ashes.
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