Chapter 17 Psychic Entries Completion
Xu Yi looked at the room full of ghosts, his eyebrows knitting tighter and tighter.
If these were common ghosts, even in large numbers, he wouldn't worry, but ferocious spirits were different—they possessed the ability to actively kill people.
He glanced at the bloodstains on the shards of glass in the bottle, one of which had grown dim.
This was no illusion, the energy contained in the blood could perform exorcisms, but this energy was not endless. Once it ran out, the blood would lose its effect.
Xu Yi quickly screwed the cap back on the bottle, his face filled with distress.
Why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken?
His mysterious blood was obviously a "high-end product," using it on these ghosts was truly wasteful. If he didn't lack other exorcism methods, he wouldn't have used it.
"Looks like I need to find a way to enrich my exorcism methods!" Xu Yi resolved in his heart.
After all, the blood was related to the golden entries, which he planned to use for research in the future—he couldn't afford to squander it all away.
While Xu Yi was pondering, Martin had already opened his eyes, filled with regret at this moment.
He had snuck into the house, not finding Xu Yi but encountering Maria instead.
Just as he was puzzled, she suddenly pounced on him.
Initially, he didn't pay much attention to it, as Maria's frail appearance was deeply etched in his mind. However, he quickly learned he was terribly mistaken.
He hadn't lasted three seconds before Maria knocked him out!
When he woke up, he found himself tied to a pillar, his hands pierced through. But the most terrifying thing was that he was surrounded by a group of ghostly shadows.
Fear engulfed him like a tide, he would have preferred to encounter Cannibal.
It was then he saw Xu Yi, hope igniting in his pupils as he used the last of his strength to shout hoarsely, "Save me!"
Xu Yi, realizing something was wrong as soon as Martin woke up, was just about to retreat when Martin cried out.
The dense cluster of ghostly shadows turned their heads in unison. Xu Yi managed to stay calm, but Ailent panicked like a rabbit and ran towards the back of the corridor.
Maria hid behind Xu Yi, clutching the hem of his clothes, her face pale.
"Don't be afraid," Xu Yi reassured, holding Maria's tender, white arm.
Ailent, who had run off, suddenly let out a scream and rushed back even faster because the end of the corridor was blocked by a bandaged ghostly shadow.
Ghostly shadows didn't need to walk with legs like ordinary people. In the blink of an eye, Xu Yi found himself surrounded by a dense crowd of them.
A chill hit him head-on, and Xu Yi almost couldn't resist opening the wooden bottle again.
Just then, the long-missing charred ghostly shadow suddenly appeared, blocking in front of Xu Yi. He looked at the charred ghostly shadow, or more accurately, at the silhouette of the psychic boy Jona, and was momentarily taken aback.
Was the other party helping him?
At the same time, the system's voice rang out.
[Psychic Entries Experience +13, Experience Overflow, Current Progress: 100/100.]
[Psychic Entries Infusion in progress...]
A stream of cold energy poured into him from the crown of his head, causing Xu Yi to shudder. He was immersed in an enigmatic sensation.
As he was receiving the baptism of entries, the charred ghostly shadow suddenly stretched out its hand and grabbed his wrist.
Xu Yi was startled and tried to struggle, but he soon stopped.
[Homologous Energy detected; Psychic Entries is changing, upgrading from "White Rare" to "White Epic."]
Entries upgrade?
This unexpected gain made Xu Yi ecstatic; entries were divided into three sub-levels: "Common," "Rare," and "Epic."
Xu Yi hadn't even had the chance to check the contents of the upgraded entries when his vision suddenly flickered, and when it returned, the scene had changed.
He stood in the lobby of the Funeral Parlor, in front of him a large solid wood round table, around which a group of people were seated.
He saw a familiar face in the crowd, the psychic boy Jona, whom he had once seen in old newspapers.
At that moment, Jona extended his hand and joined with the people on either side, their movements synchronized, hands joined to form a circle.
Jona's eyes were intensely focused, as if he were conducting some kind of spirit communication ritual.
Behind the round table, Xu Yi also saw the original owner of the house, a middle-aged man with round-framed glasses, his face gloomy.
The former homeowner took out a wooden box, opened it, and placed it in the center of the table.
Xu Yi frowned and stared at the contents of the wooden box, which looked like pieces of withered leaves, elongated in shape, but upon closer inspection, they were not quite the same, lacking the characteristic veins of leaves.
The spirit communication had started off very smoothly, but halfway through, the boy Jona suddenly contorted his face in pain, his body violently trembling. He gasped open his mouth, from which a white, jelly-like substance poured out from his nose and mouth.
"Extraneous matter!"
A word flashed through Xu Yi's mind.
In the spiritual world, extraneous matter was extremely well-known; only psychics with powerful Spiritual Perception could produce it in their bodies, enhancing their spirit communication abilities.
A rare few psychics' extraneous matter also possessed some bizarre abilities.
Extraneous matter flowed out from Jona's nose and mouth, seeming to defy gravity as it floated in the air.
Though the scene was eerie, it was not beyond control; the original house owner stood by silently.
Suddenly, Xu Yi turned his head to look at the box in the center of the round table. He felt an intense resentment emanating from the box.
As soon as the resentment encountered the extraneous matter, it ignited like gasoline meeting a spark, transforming in the blink of an eye into a blazing fire.
The explosion of flames splashed in all directions, landing on people and instantaneously setting them alight.
These people had spent a fortune to come here for spirit communication, hoping to see their deceased loved ones once more, only to suffer such a calamity.
People burning like torches let out piercing screams as they fled in all directions. The fire ignited everything around, engulfing the entire house in flames.
For reasons unknown, whether due to luck or something else, miraculously, the original house owner and Jona were not touched by the flames.
The former homeowner grabbed Jona and sprinted down the hallway.
Their actions seemed to draw the gaze of a mysterious force from beyond, as those engulfed in flames abruptly turned their heads, staring intently at the two's retreating figures and rapidly pursued them.
Ordinary people set ablaze by fire would have long been incapacitated by pain, let alone chase after Jona and the homeowner. Xu Yi knew very well that all of this was due to that resentment.
It was the resentment that ignited the extraneous matter, and it was the same resentment that controlled the burning corpses to attack Jona and the homeowner.
The burning corpses moved with astonishing speed. Knowing they couldn't escape, the homeowner looked at Jona and, with determination, grabbed the wooden box and ran towards the attic.
The burning corpses pursued the original house owner, seemingly ignoring Jona who had fallen to the side.
"The original house owner is leading the burning corpses away!" Xu Yi, as an observer, instantly understood the other's intention.
Jona stared blankly at the former house owner's retreating figure until the searing flames spread towards him, and only then did he snap back to reality.
He ran towards the exit, but it was already enveloped in flames. The raging inferno forced him to retreat back inside.
With fiery flames on all sides, Jona had nowhere to escape and could only make his way to the mortuary room in the basement.
As the flames drew closer, Jona suddenly remembered the "hidden passage" in the cremation furnace.
A channel was reserved for easy removal of coal ash, leading directly outside for easy disposal.
He crawled into the cremation furnace, and at that moment, the burning corpses appeared at the mortuary door, madly rushing towards the furnace.
They slammed against the furnace, and whether by coincidence or some mystery force, the latch of the furnace fell, locking the lid in place.
Unable to open it from the inside, Jona desperately crawled further in, hoping to escape through the "hidden passage." However, under the manipulation of the intense resentment, the burning corpses crawled into the furnace's fuel intake below.
The coal below was ignited, turning into roaring flames that burned Jona alive inside it.
As Jona died in agony, the fire in the house eerily extinguished itself, leaving behind charred skeletal remains.