Chapter 21 | Ten Years of Study, Righteous Qi Shakes the Heavens

“I don't know what you're talking about. We're already going to sleep. Please leave.”

As he spoke, Yang Da tried to slam the door shut.

However, Chen Ning had already grabbed the door first, sneering, “That's your brother. Isn't it a bit much to not be worried at all when he hasn't returned this late?”

Yang Da's eyes widened in anger, and he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Chen Ning, don't think your status as a scholar gives you the right to be shameless. There's no one you're looking for in my house. If you dare provoke me again, don't blame me for being impolite!”

Hearing the noise, the second and third brothers, who had been inside the house, rushed out and quickly asked, “Big brother, what's wrong?”

Yang Da pointed at Chen Ning and said angrily, “This brat looks down on our four Yang brothers. In the middle of the night, he actually dared to bring a few monks to our door to provoke us.”

“What?”

Hearing this, the two Yang brothers, who were physically strong but simple-minded, didn't even think before they were instantly enraged.

“I've always felt that scholars were no good. I didn't expect this brat to get so arrogant just because he passed the Xiucai exam. He actually came to look for trouble with us!”

“Daring to come to the Yang house to pick a fight, I think you're really tired of living!”

Seeing the two of them rolling up their sleeves and looking ready to fight, Yang Da couldn't help but curl his lips in a smug smile.

“I can pretend nothing happened today. If you're smart, you'll go back quickly. We're all from the same village, and I don't want things to get too tense. I'm sure you feel the same, right?

“After all, you have such a beautiful maid at home. If someone happened to enter while you weren't there one day... the consequences... I'm afraid they would be unimaginable.”

Yang Da thought his threat was well-placed.

But when he inadvertently looked up, his body suddenly couldn't help but tremble violently.

In just an instant, those eyes became as cold as winter frost and snow, and a dense killing intent even faintly permeated from them.

He had said the one thing he shouldn't have.

He had directed his ill intentions toward the only person who was a taboo for Chen Ning.

“You brat, you still dare not leave? I think you want to die here—”

Thud.

Before the second Yang brother's voice could fade, his sturdy body, over eight chi tall and weighing more than two hundred jin, was sent flying, smashing through a section of the wooden fence nearby.

“It seems it's not just the body; even the brain has been eaten clean. Since that's the case, I'll send you on your way.”

“Eaten? What do you mean?”

Before the second and third brothers could react to what those words meant, they saw that Yang Da's head was already gripped in Chen Ning's hand.

“Go back and tell your master to wash her neck and wait for death.”

As Chen Ning's fingers tightened slightly, Yang Da's head suddenly burst like a ball.

But no blood splashed out at all. The fallen body of Yang Da was actually a skin casing without a shred of flesh or blood!

“This is... a Painted Skin!”

“Big brother... he actually wasn't human!”

The two brothers felt a chill run down their spines, feeling as if their souls were about to leave their bodies.

They never imagined that they had been living under the same roof as their eldest brother, who had long since turned into a ghost. If it hadn't been discovered in time, they might have been eaten tonight!

“Wait, Second Brother, you... you're not human either!”

At this moment, the third brother suddenly widened his eyes.

He realized that his second brother's chest, which had just been punched by Chen Ning, was indented with a huge fist mark like modeling clay. It felt exactly the same as their eldest brother—a monster that had no flesh or blood inside its body!

“What are you saying? I'm your biological brother; of course I'm human,” Yang Er argued angrily.

But when he looked down, his expression instantly froze.

“How could my body be like this? How is this possible!”

Reaching into his shattered chest, he found that there was nothing inside his body; it was simply an empty casing of skin.

“How can this be? I'm clearly human. How could I turn into this kind of monster? Where is my body? Where are my flesh and bones?”

Yang Er clutched his head in pain, his pupils trembling violently, his mind completely broken. He threw himself frantically at Chen Ning's feet, his expression full of pleading.

“Mr. Chen, we were wrong just now. Please save me! This must be some kind of hallucination. I'm a real human being!”

Chen Ning shook his head.

With an indifferent kick, he directly pierced through the hollow shell.

This was the terrifying part of a Painted Skin Ghost. Some Painted Skin Slaves already knew they had become monsters that were neither human nor ghost, but some would be like these two Yang brothers, not even knowing when they had been reduced to an empty shell.

Seeing his second brother die before his eyes, the third brother's face was pale, and his whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

“So, I've actually become that kind of monster without even knowing it, haven't I?”

He looked at Chen Ning, wishing with all his heart for a negative answer.

However, Chen Ning did not answer. He simply used his hand as a blade and swept it across.

The next second, the world in the third brother's eyes flipped upside down, and then, it quickly faded into darkness...

[Slayed three Painted Skin Slaves, obtained Noble Qi * 10]

“Amitabha. To think that all four brothers of one family have fallen to become Painted Skin Slaves... it is truly a tragedy of the human world.”

Jingkong silently recited a Buddhist name and sighed.

If they were facing ordinary demons, as long as the Demon Suppression Division intervened, the matter could almost be resolved quickly. But this situation was entirely different. No one knew who around them had become a Painted Skin Slave; there might even be Painted Skin Slaves lurking within the Demon Suppression Division itself.

If the true form of the Painted Skin Ghost cannot be found as soon as possible, then in the coming days, a hidden storm of blood will likely sweep through the entire Wu'an City, as well as all the towns and villages in its vicinity.

Jingkong lifted his Buddhist staff and placed a Buddhist bead in Chen Ning's hand.

“This Buddhist bead can be used to contact Mingji Temple. As long as Brother Chen crushes it, I will come immediately. I will return to Wu'an City first to report this matter to the Demon Suppression Division. Please be careful, Brother Chen, and do not easily trust anyone, even... those closest to you.”

After Jingkong left, Chen Ning also quickened his pace toward home.

[Chen Ning]

[Noble Qi: 158]

[Purple Qi Protection (Great Perfection)]

[Substitute Puppet Technique (50/200)]

[Poem and Wine Sword Art (300/400)]

[Merit Protection (100/200)]

This time, he directly used the Noble Qi he had accumulated from reading and slaying demons recently to raise the levels of Poem and Wine Sword Art and Merit Protection by one stage each.

He wasn't afraid of Painted Skin Slaves at all. After all, even if he were asleep and let them hack at him, they probably wouldn't even be able to break through the Merit Protection covering his surface.

The most troublesome thing about these ghosts was their ability to lurk among the crowd, wearing empty skins that made it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake. But if he could find a way to identify Painted Skin Slaves, he could make them lose their only advantage completely.