sbdcsierra Chapter 30: Colter's Collapse
Chapter 30: Colter's Collapse
Colter rammed the car onto the sidewalk, the brakes screeching, and the car shook twice on the curb before finally stopping.
The car door was kicked open, and a middle-aged white man tumbled out, clutching the talisman that had been burned down to just a corner.
When he saw Li Xuan, his whole face was twitching, and the whites of his eyes were bloodshot.
"Master! It...it's still on the roof of the car—"
Li Xuan looked up.
Something was crouching on the roof of the car.
That's not a person.
Its outline resembles a curled-up human figure, but its limbs are bent backwards, its elbows and knees are bent in the wrong direction, and its entire torso is hunched over the roof of the car, like a giant white-bellied spider.
Its skin was grayish-white, covered with cracks, from which a dark red light seeped, flickering like something breathing inside.
What's most creepy is its face.
The face was completely turned upside down, and where it should have been on the back of the head, two eyeballs were hanging out. The eye sockets were empty, and the eyeballs were suspended outside, connected by two thin fleshy lines, dangling and swaying back and forth.
Its mouth was crooked to the side of its cheek, stretching all the way to its ear; there were no teeth inside, only a mass of black.
It was staring at Colt.
It wasn't the look of a predator looking at its prey, but rather a stubborn, deep-seated hatred that wouldn't stop until you were dead.
Li Xuan recognized it at a glance: although it was ugly, it was a vengeful ghost.
It's not a wandering spirit, nor is it any kind of monster; it's a genuine vengeful ghost.
This thing doesn't need to possess anyone or rely on others; its powerful resentment allows it to interfere with reality on its own.
Those dents on the roof were made by it punching the car roof repeatedly.
"What the hell did you get yourself into?"
Li Xuan grabbed Colt by the collar, pulled him up from the ground, and dragged him back a few steps.
Colt, a man over six feet tall, was now walking with legs that felt like lead, his lips trembling as he managed to squeeze out, "I...I don't know...I've never done anything wrong in my life..."
"fart."
Li Xuan interrupted him, his tone as cold as ice.
He had only been practicing Taoism for a few months, but his eyes were not blind.
When vengeful spirits seek revenge, most of the time the grievances have a culprit and a debtor.
Even more so, a vengeful ghost wouldn't keep staring at someone without deep-seated hatred, especially someone like Cort Curry who was protected by a talisman.
It abandons the cycle of reincarnation, preferring to destroy its own soul rather than leave you alone. You say you don't recognize it?
Li Xuan's right hand was already gripping the hilt of the peach wood sword, his left hand reached into his pocket and clutched the bottle of black dog blood, his eyes fixed on the vengeful ghost on the roof of the car.
The thing was also looking at him. Its two eyes, which had been hanging outside, slowly turned over, their gaze falling on the peach wood sword on his back. It paused for a moment, then turned back and locked onto Colt again.
It is making judgments, and it clearly still has a sliver of rationality left, knowing what it can fight and what it should avoid.
Its conclusion was: the peach wood sword was not to be trifled with, but Colt had to die.
"Give me ten minutes..." Colt gasped for breath, gripping Li Xuan's arm, his fingers trembling, his whole body shaking. "Just ten minutes! I'll go back and get the money... fifty thousand, no, sixty thousand! I'll mortgage the house to the bank if necessary..."
"You're going back to get the money now?" Li Xuan almost laughed out of anger, and sneered, "While you're going back to get the money, this thing will have ripped your guts out of your throat. Save your breath, answer my question first: do you even recognize it?"
When dealing with vengeful ghosts, the most important thing is to figure out the truth of the matter, and then look for an opportunity to see if you can resolve their resentment.
If we can dissipate some of the other side's resentment, then whether we fight or make peace will be much easier.
Colt opened his mouth, his eyes flickering for a moment.
In that instant, Li Xuan understood everything, but he couldn't explain it to him in detail right now.
Because the evil spirit on the roof moved, it suddenly pushed off with its four limbs, and its whole body shot down like a spring.
Its body bounced back through the ground, half of its lower leg not in the concrete. With each step it sank a few inches into the ground, then pulled out again, as if wading through mud.
Its target is Colt.
Without further hesitation, Li Xuan drew his peach wood sword with a clang. He bit his index finger, then with a flick of his left hand, he slashed at the sword, chanting rapidly, "Xuantian Shangdi, divine might subdues demons. The sword strikes like thunder, slaying all evil. So be it!"
The peach wood sword vibrated and hummed, then suddenly glowed red, and the wood grain on the spine shone like a red-hot iron.
He rushed forward, placing his sword between Colter and the ghost, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground, casting a long red shadow on the ground.
The vengeful ghost stopped.
It tilted its head and looked at the reddish peach wood sword, its mouth widening into a grin.
"Get out of the way!"
Then it spoke, but the sound didn't come from its mouth; instead, it came from all directions, as if the walls themselves were shaking.
Li Xuan, having been paid to do the job, naturally wouldn't pay him any attention.
He raised the peach wood sword, gripped it firmly with both hands, aimed the tip at the ghost's chest, and spoke in a steady voice:
"I know you died unjustly, but if you insist on killing him without even explaining yourself, then I have no choice but to execute you first."
The ghost's eyes snapped back, and red light surged from the cracks all over its body.
"He—killed—me—"
Li Xuan caught a glimpse of Cort out of the corner of his eye. The guy looked like he'd been doused with ice water; his expression shifted from fear to guilt, and then to forced composure.
His lips moved as if he wanted to explain, but he didn't utter a single word.
Li Xuan took a deep breath, slammed the peach wood sword into the ground, took out a ghost-suppressing talisman from his pocket, and stuck it on the hilt of the sword.
"Fine, you say he killed you." Li Xuan stared into the ghost's eyes, his voice neither humble nor arrogant, and said coldly, "Were you killed by him? Or were you murdered by him? Explain clearly."
The vengeful ghost slowly raised a bent arm, its withered fingers pointing at Colter.
A drop of black liquid clung to my fingertip, dripping and falling to the ground, where it emitted a small puff of black smoke.
Colter finally broke down.
"I didn't mean to! I really didn't mean to! I drank too much that night... When I saw her, she was already in front of my car... I couldn't stop..."
He knelt down with a thud, covered his face, and burst into tears.
A cloud of black mist billowed from the ghost's mouth, sounding like a cold laugh.
"You—backed—into—the—car—twice—times—"
Colter's crying stopped abruptly.
Li Xuan closed his eyes.
Okay, no need to ask anymore.
Hitting someone and then running them over with a reverse car is not a traffic accident; it's intentional homicide.
The vengeful spirit's motivation for revenge was created by Colter himself.
"Cort..."
Li Xuan said coldly, "After this is over, you'll have to turn yourself in at the police station. You'll have to tell the police about the hit-and-run, the running over, and the escape yourself. I'm part of the Los Angeles Police Department now, and I'll handle the rest."
Colter was indeed a scoundrel, but since he took the money, he had to do the job.
Besides, Cortés has the law to punish him, and if the law isn't enough, he'll take action.