Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 408: Chapter 349: Offering to Buddha with Burning Fingers

Escaping the crowd of villagers with the quickest speed, Tong Han held up the Soul-Attracting Incense and returned to the village chief’s side, only to realize that the string of Buddha Beads was not what they were looking for that night.

These Buddha Beads were too ordinary, and Du San had once said that as long as they saw that object, they would surely recognize it.

It must be something very special.

But Tong Han quickly searched the village chief’s body and could not find a second noteworthy object, let alone anything special.

Tong Han even began to suspect that there might be some secret hidden inside the wooden leg. Could it be hollow, with the treasure hidden inside?

This thought was too dangerous. Unless absolutely necessary, Tong Han was not planning to try. She quickly turned her head to look at the villagers behind her. Many villagers still maintained the posture they had when inhaling the fragrant mist, their pale greenish-grey faces breathing in and out, mouths open, paired with a set of dull, lifeless eyes. Obscured by the mist, it was quite terrifying.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning crossed her mind, and Tong Han keenly sensed something was amiss. She had found the difference between these villagers and the village chief.

All the Unjustly Deceased Ghosts were attracted to the Soul-Attracting Incense. When inhaling the fragrant mist, the villagers not only used their noses but also their mouths. However, the village chief was different; he never opened his mouth.

Tong Han suspected it wasn’t an issue with the village chief but that there was something hidden in his mouth.

Tong Han didn’t know what risks she would face by prying open the mouth of a ghost, as this was her first time. Glancing at the Soul-Attracting Incense which had burnt down significantly, Tong Han steeled her resolve. She had to try, or else the burden would fall onto Yang Xiao’s shoulders.

Her journey thus far had been nothing but perilous, and she couldn’t be certain whether Yang Xiao would also manage to survive this mission.

But Tong Han’s attempts with sharp rocks and prying with branches were all in vain. The makeshift tools were very unhandy. The scariest moment was when she even saw the old village chief’s eyeballs slightly tremble, scaring her so much she immediately threw away the branch in her hand.

Having no other choice, Tong Han placed the Soul-Attracting Incense under the old village chief’s nose. The strands of fragrant mist were inhaled into his nostrils, and the somewhat restless old village chief immediately calmed down. Without further hesitation, Tong Han grabbed his chin with her hand, applying strength with her finger arch, and pried his mouth open, releasing a burst of the foul stench of a decomposing corpse. Fortunately, Tong Han was prepared and had held her breath in advance.

The old village chief’s swollen tongue hung out of his mouth like a purple worm, still wriggling, occasionally dripping yellowish pus onto the ground. It was as disgusting a sight as one could imagine, but Tong Han could no longer concern herself with that. Under the faint ghost light, she noticed something being pressed under the old village chief’s tongue.

It was a black object, not very large, resembling an oversized beetle, but curled up, motionless.

Tong Han, though not afraid of insects, found it a challenge to reach into his mouth and retrieve that object.

As time ticked away, Tong Han’s face hardened. She pushed aside the rotting tongue and reached her index and middle fingers into the old village chief’s mouth. The moment her fingertips touched the object, Tong Han suddenly felt a chill down her spine, as if something was watching her.

She quickly turned her head, half-expecting to find those Ghost Villagers chasing after her, especially the dangerous old man in brown clothes. But there was nothing behind her.

It was a very strange sensation. She was clearly aware of the presence of something but couldn’t find it anywhere.

However, this also meant she had found the right thing. This was the object they were supposed to retrieve that night.

Suppressing the fear in her heart, Tong Han focused her attention and pinched the object between her fingers. The first touch felt very special, hard, and cool. As her fingers clamped down on the object, Tong Han realized what it actually was.

This was a finger.

To be exact, it was a charred finger bone.

Without guessing, this must be the finger that the Ghost Monk had burned as an offering to Buddha!

Tong Han shivered involuntarily, she hadn’t expected this thing to have been stuffed into the old village chief’s mouth, pressed under his tongue.

Holding that segment of finger bone firmly in place amidst the disgusting mucus was no easy task, especially since the wet tongue above kept moving incessantly. With each pass over the finger, it scraped off a layer of rotten flesh, and Tong Han had only one chance.

Just as she tried to pull the finger bone outward, something unexpected happened. Her right arm turned ice-cold and stopped responding, as if her veins were filled with ice.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on her forehead. She had experienced a similar sensation before when a ghost had stepped on her shadow. But now, her shadow lay quietly at her feet, empty and without anyone on it.

After several failed attempts, Tong Han’s fear gradually escalated. She didn’t have much time left, as the Soul-Attracting Incense had burned down to its last small piece.

What was more terrifying was that the old village chief’s gaze was slowly coming into focus, coldly staring at her, and his originally wide-open mouth was closing slowly at a visible speed. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

But her two fingers were still in the old village chief’s mouth!

Without hesitation, Tong Han made a dangerous move. She kept her hands as still as possible, bent down, and tried to get her head as close to the ground as possible, peering back through her legs.

The next second, Tong Han’s pupils sharply contracted. She saw it, indeed—there was something behind her. A pair of legs clad in old monk’s robes appeared behind her, accurately standing on the shadow of her right arm, toes pointed backward, back facing her.

This sight sent chills through Tong Han. It was the Ghost Monk! She had heard from Yang Xiao about this creature’s eerie nature; its upper and lower body were reversed. It appeared its toes were pointed backward, back facing her, when in reality... it was facing her!

The Soul-Attracting Incense was about to burn out. Tong Han had to make a choice. There were only two paths before her. The first was to retrieve the Soul-Attracting Incense, let go of the finger bone, and try to use the incense to lure the Ghost Monk away before running. This was the safer option.

The second was to retrieve the Soul-Attracting Incense but not let go, to see if she could steal away that finger bone while luring the Ghost Monk away with speed.

Tong Han decided to take a gamble. To lose meant merely losing two fingers, which she could accept. But to win meant this mission would end at her hands.

Quickly running through the plan in her mind, Tong Han acted. She moved the Soul-Attracting Incense away from the old village chief’s nose at lightning speed and placed it where she remembered the Ghost Monk standing. The movements were fluid, and sure enough, the next second, the smoke from the Soul-Attracting Incense changed direction, as if pulled by some force, drifting sideways and vanishing in mid-air.

The effect of the Soul-Attracting Incense was immediate, and her once stiff right arm was freed. Tong Han quickly grasped the finger bone, attempting to pull out her hand, but without the restraint of the Soul-Attracting Incense, the old village chief’s eyes suddenly narrowed into slits. The drooping tongue wrapped around Tong Han’s wrist like a snake and the upper and lower jaws clamped shut with a "crack," biting off Tong Han’s two fingers.

The finger bone naturally remained unretrieved, just like the two fresh severed fingers, left in the old village chief’s mouth as he nonchalantly chewed, blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth.

The acute pain from her severed fingers, paradoxically, stimulated Tong Han’s numbing nerves. She forcefully broke free from the slimy tongue, turned, and ran towards the ancestral house, leaving a trail of dripping blood. Finally, in the last moments as the incense was about to burn out, she burst through the grand doors of the ancestral home.