The Little Demonic Cultivator in the Courtyard: Borrowing 100,000 Japanese Pirates to Heal

Xu Jiande took a deep breath, forcing himself to suppress the surging murderous intent.

It's not that we can't kill, it's that we can't kill here.

There are too many people and too many eyes.

So when Xu Jiande accepted the silver dollars with both hands, he bowed and said "Thank you, sir" several times, his face full of flattery and surprise.

These little devils had no idea that they had just walked through the gates of hell.

……

Back home, Xu Jiande still felt weak all over.

My fingers were still trembling slightly as I sat on the edge of the bed taking off my shoes; my body hadn't recovered from the exhaustion.

The demonic energy in his dantian circulated several times before he could barely recover a small portion of what he had consumed.

When he returned, Bai Ling sensed something was wrong with him and asked what was wrong.

Xu Jiande didn't tell the whole truth; he only said that he was practicing martial arts and had overdone it, and that he would be fine after a rest.

Bai Ling looked at him, remained silent for a while, and then told him to be careful.

She had said this many times before, every time Xu Jiande went out at night, but this time her tone was different from usual.

Before, it was a word of advice; this time, it's concern.

Xu Jiande nodded and said he would, picked up the bowl of porridge and slurped down a big mouthful, then used the bowl to cover his face.

Xu Jiande did not go out in the evening.

He sat cross-legged on the bed and focused his consciousness into his dantian.

Although the resentment he expelled from his body in the afternoon was extremely taxing, it also allowed him to grasp some of the tricks of the trade.

Resentment doesn't have to be released in large quantities all at once. It can be extracted in very fine strands, with only a little bit extracted each time. This way, it won't cause too much consumption, and you can continuously refine the resentment.

He decided to try using Jia Zhangshi.

Xu Jiande immersed his consciousness into the black crystal of resentment, wrapped the edge of the crystal with demonic energy, and gently rubbed it.

A small, extremely thin, translucent black fragment peeled off the crystal and was carried upwards along the meridian by demonic energy.

The quantity this time was much less than that in the afternoon, less than one-tenth of what it was in the afternoon.

Demonic energy and resentment intertwined, slowly seeping out from the Laogong acupoint in the palm, condensing into an invisible snake in the air.

This snake was much smaller than the one from the afternoon, only as thick as a finger, but its shape was more solid.

An invisible snake slithered through the wall and silently entered Jia Zhangshi's house.

Jia Zhangshi was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), with Jia Laonian sleeping next to her, snoring. Jia Dongxu was huddled in the corner of the kang, wrapped in a tattered quilt.

The snake slithered up to Jia Zhangshi's head, slowly pouring its icy resentment down her.

Unlike the suffocating cold of the afternoon, this was just a tiny bit, enough to make one feel chilled and fearful, but not fatal.

Madam Jia shivered in her sleep, turned over, and wrapped the quilt around herself more tightly.

The snake continued to flow downwards, and the chill spread from the back of her neck to her entire back.

Jia Zhangshi began to dream that she was being chased by something. She couldn't see what it looked like, but she knew it was very cold, bone-chillingly cold.

She ran desperately in her dream, but the thing got closer and closer, finally pressing against her back and blowing a cold breath on the back of her neck.

"A ghost!" Jia Zhangshi suddenly sprang up from the kang (a heated brick bed), her hands flailing wildly in the air. Her voice, shrill and hoarse, exploded in the quiet night, "A ghost! A ghost!"

Startled by her shout, Old Jia rolled off the kang (a heated brick bed) and lay on the ground for a long time before finally getting up.

Jia Dongxu was startled awake and burst into tears. His sobs were muffled, as if something had covered his mouth.

Soon, one by one, the lights in the courtyard were turned on.

He Daqing was the first to rush out, clutching the rolling pin in his hand and wearing cloth shoes on his feet.

Then there was Xu Wude, who stood at his doorstep, wearing an overcoat, looking this way.

Yi Zhonghai also came out, carrying a kerosene lamp, and walked quickly to the door of Jia Zhangshi's house.

When everyone entered the house, they saw Jia Zhangshi huddled in the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed), hugging her knees with both hands, trembling like a leaf, and repeating the same two words over and over: "There's a ghost, there's a ghost."

Yi Zhonghai held up a kerosene lamp and shone it around the room. The windows were closed, the door bolts were intact, there were no footprints on the floor, and no marks on the walls.

Yan Bugui stood at the door and peeked inside, asking if they wanted to burn some paper money.

The deaf old woman stood in the courtyard, leaning on her cane, her lips pressed tightly together. Looking at the flickering kerosene lamp in Jia Zhangshi's room, she said that the courtyard was unclean and that they needed to invite someone to perform a ritual.

An older woman stood next to the deaf old woman and asked her what she thought it was.

The deaf old woman said those people died unwillingly, and their spirits linger.

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

They all knew who "those people" referred to—Black Tiger and his two companions, who were stabbed to death by the Japanese in the courtyard, right under everyone's noses.

Since then, the yard has never been quiet.

First, Jia Zhangshi saw a dark shadow in the middle of the night, and now she's encountered a ghost. How is she supposed to live like this?

Soon, the entire courtyard was filled with unease.

Xu Jiande stood at his door, wrapped in his coat, yawned, and looked as tired and bewildered as the other neighbors.

No one noticed the cold sweat still clinging to his forehead, nor did anyone notice the slight trembling in his fingers as he gripped the doorframe.

No one knew that he was the culprit who caused Jia Zhangshi to "encounter a ghost".

……

The next morning, when the people in the courtyard woke up, they all had dark circles under their eyes and looked as listless as if they had all stayed up all night.

Last night, Jia Zhangshi's cry of "Ghost!" jolted everyone in the hospital awake. After going back to bed, no one could fall asleep.

As soon as I close my eyes, I feel a chill down my spine, as if something is standing at the head of the bed staring at me.

Some people covered their heads with blankets, sweating profusely but not daring to show their faces; others tossed and turned until dawn before finally managing to doze off for a short while.

Then I was awakened by the sound of the patrol team's boots.

He Daqing came out of the house with dark circles under his eyes, carrying a broken bowl in his hand. The cornmeal porridge in the bowl was so thin that you could see your reflection in it.

He squatted on the doorstep, took two sips, and then stopped drinking; his stomach was churning violently.

Last night, he walked around the yard several times with a rolling pin, but found nothing. However, the chilling feeling followed him all the way back to his room and lay down.

Sha Zhu, on the other hand, slept soundly. Children don't care about these things and aren't afraid of them.

Liu didn't sleep all night.

Houghwood nearly bumped into the door frame as he came out of the backyard.

After he got home last night, he became more and more frightened. He pulled the door latch several times and even moved a chair to block the door from behind. After all that, he lay down and kept feeling like something was scratching at the window paper.

I got up and checked three times, but each time there was nothing there. But as soon as I lay down, the sound started again.

Later, he simply stopped sleeping and sat on the edge of the bed smoking a pipe for half the night, making the room smell like smoky meat.

Madam Jia Zhang didn't even leave the room. She lay limply on the kang (a heated brick bed), her eyes closed but her eyelids twitching, muttering to herself, but no one could understand what she was saying.

After breakfast, the deaf old woman walked into the courtyard with her cane, glanced at the tightly closed doors and windows of each household, and then at the three pools of blood covered by yellow soil in the courtyard. Her lips were pressed tightly together.

Then they prepared to leave.

An older woman came and asked the old lady where she was going. The deaf old lady said she was going to find a master to take a look.

The three aunties hadn't slept all night either, and upon hearing this, they went too.