Strange ghouls

Lai Yiteng felt his blood boiling and simmering darkly. Hatred at being told what to do, hatred for being belittled as though he were a child that could not make his own decisions, and even hatred at himself for not being able to prevent himself from being forced against a wall helplessly. Things always resorted to this, isn't that right? Violence. Coercion. Cheap threats.

How was what he did so wrong? And when did he agree to follow Xian Wu's every command?

Never. He never would listen to someone else blindly again.

Xian Wu had seen Lai Yiteng get a dazed look in both his pupils, finally stopping his struggles, and assumed the younger was thinking about it and would soon see reason. Although, the way Lai Yiteng went still and silent all of a sudden was fairly unnerving.

He never predicted that in the next moment Lai Yiteng would give him a sneer. It was a bit off-kilter and amused, yet bitter, a smile that made him look like he was about to happily slaughter a chicken.

Lai Yiteng bit off his next words with vehemence.

"Fuck," his knee slammed up into Xian Wu's crotch, "you!"

Tears were drawn into the corner of Xian Wu's eyes and he saw stars as his knees sunk onto the floor. The pain was unique in a way that was both humiliating and unbearable. S-So underhanded…this little fucker didn't hold back at all!

In the next second Lai Yiteng had escaped back outside the hut, drawing his knife out with one smooth movement. He would rather face the numerous unknown evils outside compared to dealing with Xian Wu another second.

Lai Yiteng was met with about fifteen corpses outside. He cocked his head at them and bent his knees, leaping onto the nearest rooftop. Work smarter, not harder, right?

Pft, and Xian Wu called him a lunatic.

A ghoul with a jaw hanging limp, fleshy gums in open sight, was lifting its spindly arms at Lai Yiteng on the rooftop. There also seemed to be a strange mould or disease on this one, because its shoulder was peppered with dark purplish dots like a strange pattern. The house he'd jumped on top of wasn't safe like the other one, and the ghoul pounded its body against the wall dumbly in a way that made the rotting wood shudder.

Another half of the ghouls noticed that and came over to do the same, while the rest were still loitering around the hut that Xian Wu was in.

The roof Lai Yiteng was on began to sway, tiles falling off as though it'd collapse soon.

"Caw, caw—" said Mildew. It was very insightful. The bird landed on the next rooftop over, one that was about a four-meter jump away.

"I think so too," agreed Lai Yiteng.

He crouched down and jumped onto the next rooftop alongside the crow, then went over roofs in quick succession until there were no more houses. He planted his feet onto the ground, his insides feeling jarred slightly.

Now the crow landed on a nearby pine tree. The branch was dead and dry.

It seemed to be leading him somewhere.

Birds have a high vantage point, aerial vision, so Lai Yiteng was curious about what it had seen, and although humans had betrayed him plenty, the pet lizard he had before never betrayed him. Neither did the stray dog or cat that he'd come across before, so trusting this crow couldn't be too bad of a decision.

In any case, he couldn't go back to the hut he liked the most right now because Xian Wu was there, and Xian Wu also probably wanted to beat him up in revenge for hitting such a 'sensitive' place…so he might as well follow the crow.

Perhaps it will help him escape.

He ran over to the tree Mildew was at, and a corpse popped up out of the brush there. It swung its dirty nails at Lai Yiteng, but he just ducked down and cut into its chest with one graceful movement. Elegant, quiet, interconnected movements were the basis of Seven Lotus Arts.

Curdled blood oozed out. He removed his blade and flicked off the filth without getting a drop on himself, and smiled.

Actually, Lai Yiteng was a bit of a lunatic.

He liked fighting and bloodshed, enjoyed having the power to destroy and ruin things that were weaker than himself. The feeling of his blade sinking into flesh and the powerlessness of the foe dying under his blade and the scent of metallic blood in the air made his own mind simmer with energy and adrenaline flow.

If he weren't trying to escape Xian Wu at the moment, he probably would indulge his vices and try and dismantle all the corpses on Deathly Howling mountain.

As he thought of it, he heard a faint sound.

"Lai Yiteng! Come back—!" called Xian Wu.

The crow tilted its head at that, seeming to hear his voice as well, then just cawed and flew deeper into the forest. Lai Yiteng followed.

Xian Wu's shouts faded, so Lai Yiteng he did not hear the second part of Xian Wu's words, which were, 'I was a little too forceful before! Can't we just talk it out? I'm not mad anymore, so just come back!'

In any case, it could hardly be called a 'forest' that Lai Yiteng was going through.

The trees were all halfway dead, some kind of whitish fungus crawling up the trunks, and the plants were so frail they would turn to ash-like dust when Lai Yiteng brushed against them.

A herd of other ghouls were following behind him like hungry dogs. They were not very fast, however, so he just sped up his pace like before, dashing over logs and rocks.

There was cawing whenever the crow landed in a new spot, then it would wait for him to catch up.

When he reached a small open area in the dying woods, two ghouls waited for him, their once still bodies lurching to life. One was clacking their teeth.

Lai Yiteng was moving to kill the closest when he sensed something behind him.

He quickly spun around and saw that an abnormally fast ghoul was holding a sickle and had swung at him! This one was also wearing robes with an insignia that read 'Immortal Crane'. That was a martial Sect from far in the north.

There had been a few from other various martial Sects, as well.

Why were these people coming here? Wasn't it an abandoned death zone?

A sickle came at him again, aiming towards his arm.

Lai Yiteng spun backwards and went atop a log nearby. The other two ghouls were closer to him now, but the one from Immortal Crane jumped at him from two meters away.

First his knife drove downwards, slicing off a ghoul's arm, his other hand flew out as a palm strike, bashing over the heart of the other.

That one burst in blood and gore, splatting on the earth and the martial artist ghoul behind it. He sidestepped a sickle strike, then brought his knife down into the armless ghoul, finishing it as well.

Now only the martial artist ghoul remained.

Although it was slightly more skilled than the rest, it would still prove no foe to Lai Yiteng.

He crouched down and took in a deep breath…then his heart failed him. It clenched up as though something was gripping onto it cruelly. So his chest did not accumulate his Qi as it should with Seven Lotus Breaths, but all his veins stuttered and throbbed as though clogged.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as the ghoul's sickle flew towards him.

"Ugh…" he wheezed in a breath as he leapt off the log to dodge, nearly tripping.

The ghoul spun around towards him again, but a black blur appeared in front of its face.

Irked, Mildew was viciously diving and pecking at the face of the ghoul with precision. Its sharp beak aimed at its already glazed eyeballs, tearing one clear from the socket while the other was obliterated into white mush.

Waving its arm and sickle wildly, the ghoul was very horrible at retaliating against Mildew.

"Impressive…" complimented Lai Yiteng. He finally had regained his normal breathing and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Mildew flew back into the nearest tree and puffed its chest.

Now that the ghoul had lost its eyes, though it was still able to sense Lai Yiteng's general direction and attack, its earlier accuracy was greatly degraded.

Lai Yiteng pressed forward easily finished it with his knife.

The crow flew off into the next tree.

He didn't really know that Deathly Howling Mountain would have so many ghouls, the number was nearly obscene. So Xian Wu made fair points by saying that he shouldn't stay here, but Lai Yiteng just hated the way he got his points across. Dumb Xian Wu. He would just keep following this bird and keep killing ghouls, rather than go back and admit he was wrong.

No, he'd rather eradicate every ghoul on this mountain.