Evil Scholar’s eyes lit up.
He knew Black Crow well. The man was telling him that because he had the intention to help.
Despite his desire to promote his white cat to Rank 4, it had remained stagnant at Rank 3 for a long while now.
“Alright, let’s talk about the specifics later. Is there anything new lately? Show me the newspaper,” Black Crow suddenly said.
As if recalling something, Evil Scholar said, “Oh right, looks like there’s a request for you in the papers this time.”
Having said that, he instructed to have the papers brought over.
Black Crow was stunned. “Me? Specifically?”
Evil Scholar nodded. “That’s right. Not only you but “Ghost Child” as well. I wonder if it’s referring to the terrifying Madam Ghost Child from the Southern Continent?”
Black Crow’s heart jumped at this. “Where’s the paper? Let me see it now.”
He was rarely this anxious.
Despite how ravenous he scoffed down his food just, Black Crow was still sauntering around and talking in a leisurely manner. This all changed when he heard the mention of Ghost Child. Surprisingly, he seemed flustered upon hearing that name.
Black Crow practically snatched the newspaper before skimming through it.
Evil Scholar seemed confused. “The requester’s name is ‘Curator’. What an odd name. Apparently it’s a request for you and Ghost Child to head to the Grassy Continent’s Snake Country to subdue them. I’ve heard about this nation before. Although they’re not a large country, for an intermediate country, they’re not half bad. They should have a few Rank 4 beasts with them and Grassy Continent creatures are known to be vicious and hard to deal with. Black Crow, you wouldn’t go, would you? No, judging by your personality, I don’t think you’re going to accept the request. How could anyone order you around like a boss? What a joke…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Black Crow stood up and asked, “Scholar, how do you get to Snake Country?”
Evil Scholar was dumbstruck.
A brief moment later, Black Crow could be seen dragging the Scholar out of Mount Burnt Tail.
“Scholar, we’ll get on Black Falcon’s back and head for Snake Country at once. I’m bringing you along for two reasons. One, I don’t know the way, and two, I’m giving you an opportunity. Don’t ever accuse me of not looking out for you since we’re buds. You better appreciate this opportunity,” Black Crow said as they hurried along.
Evil Scholar looked puzzled.
“Black Crow, who’s this Curator?” Evil Scholar was a smart man. A person who could make Black Crow head towards the Grassy Continent which was thousands of miles away from here must be a formidable character.
“I can’t explain it all at once. But it’s the first time he’s posting on the newspaper requesting my assistance. This means the Curator can’t wait until the next Visitation Hall’s opening. I will brief you on the details as we go,” Black Crow answered anxiously.
He wanted to get to Grassy Continent’s Snake Country as soon as he could.
After some thought, Evil Scholar added, “Snake Country won’t be easy to deal with. Should we call Old Poison along?”
Black Crow shook his head. “Maybe next time. If Ghost Child is there, I think it’ll be more than enough to subdue that Snake Country.”
***
Somewhere in the wilderness.
Dead trees stretched as far as the eye could see and the air reeked of death. For the past few decades, this place had been treated like a landfill for dead bodies. Unknown corpses were all tossed here as if this was a mass grave.
After a long time, the grass stopped growing and the trees all dried up. There weren’t even signs of living creatures around.
Standing quietly beside a pile of dirt was Madam Ghost Child as she waited.
She had been standing there for three days and nights.
Three days ago, in accordance with the Curator’s advice, she brought Coffin Man here. When they found the desired spot, they dug a hole and had Coffin Man cut off his symbiosis with his pet beast. Then, she buried Coffin Man together with his coffin underground.
It was now the third day.
Ghost Child had absolute faith in the Curator’s words because he was her savior.
At that instant, she noticed movement from around and the silhouettes of multiple individuals. However, these people all stopped several hundred meters away from her.
Ghost Child merely glanced at them from the corner of her eyes before returning her focus to the dirt pile.
There were at least twenty people a few hundred meters away. They were all experts with various pet beasts by their sides.
Bounty hunters.
Madam Ghost Child was a wanted criminal by many countries in the Southern Continent. The bounties on her head over the years have been accumulated up to an impossible sum. Though they knew Madam Ghost Child was a powerful target, some people were still confident that they could take down Madam Ghost Child, to obtain that huge reward in return for her head.
One day ago when villagers from nearby came to dispose of a corpse, they saw Madam Ghost Child and that was how the word got out. These men here were all highly skilled and their pet beasts were just as strong. They planned to work together to take down Madam Ghost Child with their numerical superiority.
The leader of this group caressed his pet beast and said, “Listen up, that right there is Madam Ghost Child. Once we kill her, even if we divide the reward among us, it’ll be enough to last us several lifetimes. That’s why we have to give our all and we cannot afford to hesitate when it comes to killing her.”
“That’s right. Madam Ghost Child is only strong because of that thing in her arms. She herself isn’t that powerful. We’ll create a diversion later. Some of us will snatch away that monster in her arms while the rest will focus on taking her down. We can win that way.”
“Alright! But I’ll be brutally blunt and say this. We have to go all out. No pulling your punches, understood? I don’t need to tell you all how strong Madam Ghost Child is. Although we have the numbers, we might get killed if we’re not careful enough. So use all the spells you have later and take any pills you have now. That is what we have to do if we want to succeed.”
Once they were ready, these men planned to take action.
Simultaneously, dark clouds began to roll over the sky as thunder crackled. Soon, the rain started falling down.
“Charge!”
The group divided into two prongs and attacked from two directions.
It was common for rain to come and go on the Southern Continent. It usually lasted for a short while before the skies lit up again.
It was the same this time.
The rain stopped.
Madam Ghost Child gently patted her swaddle without any changes in her facial expression.
However, that group of bounty hunters from earlier was now wailing on the ground, each of them suffering at least a severed limb or two. It was a devastating sight.
Most of the bounty hunters couldn’t even see what happened just now. They had obviously underestimated Madam Ghost Child and overestimated themselves. Some were trying to search for their arm in the pile of arms while others simply fainted from the excruciating pain.
It was a gruesome scene, but Madam Ghost Child held herself back from killing anyone.
The rainwater carried the blood away in a tiny stream as it flowed down the slope.
“Get out of my sight!”
Madam Ghost Child hissed at the bounty hunters who scurried away, supporting each other as they fled.
They left many things behind and suddenly, Madam Ghost Child noticed something on the ground. She reached out and the item flew into her hand. It was a roll of paper.
This was obviously left by the bounty hunters.
“The villainous community newspaper!”
Madam Ghost Child clearly knew what this was. In fact, she even knew that the first villainous community papers were distributed by the legendary Daojun. This paper goes back for hundreds of years, and it’s still being published now.
She was bored after waiting here for three days so she opened it up and began reading.
Halfway through, her eyes widened when she saw a message directed to her from the Curator.
“Black Crow, Ghost Child, subdue Snake Country at once. Curator!”
After reading it, she looked down at the dirt pile and crouched down to pat it. “Old Coffin, come out now if you’re not dead. It’s urgent!”
There was some movement in the dirt below.
Something seemed to be climbing up.
Ghost Child took a few steps back and watched as Coffin Man pushed away the dirt and crawled out from the ground.
Coffin Man wasn’t carrying a coffin anymore as he had already severed the symbiosis. But perhaps it was because he had been carrying one around for so long that his back was slightly arched.
Despite the dirt on his face, Coffin Man couldn’t conceal the excitement and delight he was experiencing.
“Ghost Child, your idea worked.”
After decades of agony and living like a zombie, Coffin Man freely expressed his joy from being liberated from the ordeal.
Madam Ghost Child shook her head. “It wasn’t my idea but the Curator’s. Also, Old Coffin, you have to follow me to Grassy Continent.”
