Chapter 61: The Slaughter Knife

　　With his eyes closed, Hu Zi held an invisible knife and slashed down at the air with great force.

　　It seemed as if he was beheading someone.

　　Each time he slashed, a painful and conflicted expression appeared on his face.

　　He was still apologizing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

　　Lu Fei knew he was being influenced by the ghost head saber, but seeing that he was not in immediate danger, he first observed what the ghost head saber was making him do.

　　The child's cries continued.

　　To Lu Fei's surprise, every time Hu Zi swung the saber, the child's cries became even more intense.

　　"Ow, ow, ow, it hurts, it hurts!"

　　What was the connection between these two things?

　　Lu Fei stood right beside Hu Zi, watching this scene closely.

　　After a few swings, Hu Zi's expression turned into one of collapse.

　　"Why can't I cut it off? Why can't I cut it off? If I can't cut you, then I'll cut myself..."

　　Saying this, he actually made a motion to cut his own head.

　　"Tiger!"

　　Lu Fei knew he couldn't just stand by and watch, so he hurriedly reached out to block. Unexpectedly, Tiger, failing to slash his own head, suddenly became ferocious.

　　With both hands in a knife-holding position, he viciously slashed at Lu Fei.

　　"Execute!"

　　Although he didn't actually have a knife in his hand, a sharp killing intent surged from above, directed at Lu Fei's neck.

　　At that moment, he was like an executioner.

　　This killing intent was no joke; it could truly take Lu Fei's life.

　　Lu Fei didn't dare to block directly and narrowly dodged by sidestepping.

　　When Tiger missed with one slash, he swung again. His good skills were now a problem, as he knocked over tables and chairs in the process.

　　Lu Fei was in a flurry, worried that Tiger would destroy his shop, so he quickly led him into the back courtyard.

　　Hu Zi chased while making slashing motions.

　　He wasn't moving very fast, and Lu Fei quickly widened the distance between them. But when he couldn't slash at Lu Fei, he turned to slash at himself, which was extremely frightening.

　　Lu Fei quickly moved behind him and slapped a ghost-repelling talisman onto his back. His body stiffened, and he stood still.

　　His hand remained in the same position, as if he had been frozen in place.

　　Immediately after.

　　Lu Fei returned to his front, reached out, and forcefully slapped the center of his forehead while shouting loudly.

　　"Release!"

　　With the sound of the slap, Hu Zi's body jolted, and then his hands relaxed, his eyes opening in confusion.

　　The center of the forehead is known as the life palace, and Lu Fei's slap, imbued with spiritual power, helped restore Hu Zi's consciousness.

　　"Boss, what happened? Did I fall asleep?" Hu Zi rubbed his eyes, having no idea what he had just done.

　　"You were influenced by that knife." Lu Fei recounted the situation from earlier to him, and asked, "Before you fell asleep, did you hear anything?"

　　Huzi was greatly startled, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that both Lu Fei and himself were unharmed.

　　He struggled to recall, saying, "I was half-asleep, but it seemed like a child told me that he was in too much pain, and gave me a knife, asking me to chop off his head."

　　"I don't know why, but as soon as I heard him cry, my heart softened, and I just wanted to end his suffering quickly. So, I tried to chop off his head with the knife."

　　"But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't cut through. The knife seemed to be too dull."

　　"I felt terrible for him and thought about chopping off my own head to apologize... then, someone stopped me from chopping myself. I got very angry and started to chop at him..."

　　As he spoke, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

　　"Goodness! This is so creepy; I didn't even realize how I got affected. I just blinked, and the child was there."

　　"If we hadn't woken up in time, would we have ended up like Boss Liang's family?"

　　"I think so. Either you would have chopped your own head off or mine." Lu Fei pondered, "I guess the ghosthead knife is an execution weapon, so it has a bloodlust. Those who are influenced by it will be compelled to kill."

　　"Both Mr. and Mrs. Liang must have been affected. Either Mr. Liang died, or the wife did, and even the dog was beheaded in the end. It seems that the knife was so cruel it didn't spare any living creature present."

　　"The Guǐtóu knife has killed too many people; its killing aura is heavy, and few can withstand its influence."

　　Lufei wasn't affected, probably because he now has magical powers.

　　Huzi looked over at the shop, and a new layer of fear settled in his heart.

　　That knife, just lying there quietly, could make people want to kill.

　　If it weren't for their boss's strength, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

　　"But there's one thing that's strange, why is there a child's crying?" Back at the shop, Lufei looked at the black, heavy knife and pondered aloud.

　　The knife didn't move at all from start to finish; it was entirely that killing aura that influenced people.

　　"Huzi, what did the child you saw look like?"

　　He remembered that when the antique store Duobaixuan was said to be haunted, they also mentioned hearing a child crying, and maybe it was related to this."

　　But when the crying sounded, Lu Fei didn't find any ghost spirits, indicating that the child was just a residual thought.

　　"Can't see clearly, it looks like the head is hanging crooked on the neck, as if it's out of place, about to fall off but not quite."

　　Huzi shivered; he hadn't felt scared when it happened, but now, looking back, it was truly terrifying.

　　"Head out of place?"

　　This was too bizarre, and Lu Fei couldn't explain it for a while.

　　"Could it be Boss Liang's son?"

　　He didn't know if there were such young prisoners in ancient times, only that the child recently killed by this knife was the only one.

　　Huzi's face changed dramatically, and he said, 'I didn't think of it until you mentioned it. The more I think about it, the more I feel it's Qiangqiang.'

　　"That's even stranger. Boss Lady and Qiangqiang were both killed by this knife, so why is Qiangqiang a residual thought, while Boss Lady is a ghost spirit?"

　　Huzi scratched his head: 'Is it because Qiangqiang is a child and more fragile?'

　　"It's very likely! A child's soul isn't as stable. If killed in such a cruel manner, the soul is very prone to dissipate, leaving only a remnant of consciousness, endlessly reliving the pain of death."

　　Lu Fei sighed.

　　"I think I know why the boss lady wants to be the knife. Which mother would be willing to watch her child suffer every day?"

　　"Boss, can we help Qiangqiang?" When Huzi thought of the child with the misaligned head again, his fear diminished a lot, replaced by more sympathy.

　　"From what we can see, this ghost-headed knife relies on its killing aura to cause mischief. As long as we neutralize the killing aura, Qiangqiang can be freed. But we need to prepare some things; we can get started tomorrow."

　　Although they found a method, the two of them still didn't dare to let their guard down and remained highly alert.

　　Huzi also took out the ghost-repelling talisman to prevent himself from being affected again.

　　However, the latter part of the night was very peaceful, and the ghost-headed knife did not cause any more trouble.

　　The first light of dawn appeared in the east.

　　Huzi breathed a long sigh of relief.

　　Lu Fei always felt that things were going too smoothly; such a ferocious knife shouldn't be this quiet.

　　But in any case, dispelling the murderous aura is never wrong.

　　"Huzi, go and buy four bronze mirrors first. They don't have to be antiques; as long as they are genuine bronze mirrors, that will be enough."