Four ghostly minions trailed behind Liu Dashao like ferocious hounds, their feet barely touching the ground, their steps eerily floating forward. In the blink of an eye, they had closed the distance by ten meters. Liu Dashao knew there was no way he could outrun them. As they neared, he realized: whether he ran or not, he would still be caught. With a resigned determination, he suddenly stopped. The four ghosts were momentarily stunned, unable to halt in time, and rushed past him in a confused blur. They quickly turned around and blocked his path. One of them, with a green face and sharp fangs, roared, “Little brat, come quietly with us, or else…”
Before the ghost could finish, Liu Dashao reached for the jade pendant around his neck, gripping it tightly in his fist, and shoved it into the ghost’s hand without hesitation.
“What? What is this?” The ghost, who had sprinted so fast he could’ve won a gold medal at the marathon, seemed to have a rather dull mind. He had already been caught off guard by Liu Dashao’s sudden stop, and now he was even more bewildered by this unexpected gesture. Sigh! Perhaps it was the influence of working for so long alongside ox-headed and horse-faced spirits, whose single-mindedness had left its mark.
“You’ll see,” Liu Dashao said with a forced smile, his heart pounding.
“This kid is trying to bribe you!” whispered a short, small ghost beside him, jingling a chain in his hand.
“A bribe?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. He must want you to let him go!”
“Hmph! Offending our Boss Ox and still thinking he can leave alive? He should consider himself lucky if we don’t send him to the eighteenth level of hell to simmer his bones into soup!” The green-faced ghost puffed out his chest proudly, but his beady eyes glanced down at his open palm. “Damn it, kid, don’t you know how things work? If you wanted to bribe me, you should’ve done it secretly, just between us. But you had to go and do it so openly, right in front of Boss Ox! Do you expect me to take it? Besides, these little ghosts won’t let me keep it all to myself either—they’re probably hoping to get a cut!” Thinking this, he glanced around. Sure enough, three pairs of greedy eyes were fixed on his hand, their pupils glowing green with desire.
As the ghosts schemed among themselves, Liu Dashao was sweating bullets. The jade pendant he had handed over was the very one that had once saved his life—it was a Pi Xiu pendant. Truth be told, even he wasn’t sure whether it would work again, but having something to rely on was better than nothing. At this point, he had no choice but to try anything. “Come on, buddy,” he silently pleaded, “you were so awesome the other night, glowing and scaring those ghosts away. Please, just do it one more time! Be a pal! If it works, I’ll burn incense for you every day, offer you wine and meat, treat you better than my own father—no, even better than that! You’ll be like my real king of a dad…”
“What the hell is this junk?” The ghost examined the object in his palm, his excitement vanishing instantly. He had expected a golden ingot or at least a bundle of underworld banknotes, but instead, it was an ugly, yellowish stone. If not for the hole in it and the red string threaded through, no one would even recognize it as a jade pendant. The other three ghosts sighed in disappointment too—what had seemed like an easy windfall turned out to be nothing but trash.
“You dare mock me, brat!” The green-faced ghost roared in anger and hurled the pendant at Liu Dashao’s head.
“Oh no, oh no! It’s not working!” Liu Dashao’s last hope crumbled as the pendant showed no sign of power. He felt utterly helpless, as if no heaven or earth would answer his cries. Instinctively, he covered his head and prepared to run again.
At that moment, a sharp, burning smell suddenly filled the air, like rice scorched to the bottom of a pot. The ghost’s fingers, which had thrown the pendant, began to sizzle and smoke. With a shriek, he released his grip. As he looked at his left hand, his eyes rolled back in horror—his entire palm had rotted away, leaving only bone. A gaping hole pierced the center of his hand, and the jade pendant, still attached to its red string, coiled like a snake around his middle finger, swaying gently. On the pendant’s surface, an image of a fierce beast—resembling a lion—had appeared. It radiated dazzling light, with a faintly visible, self-rotating Tai Chi pattern behind it, barely perceptible yet undeniably present.
The other three ghosts erupted into chaos, spinning in place with their chains, chattering incoherently. Not one dared to approach. After all, they had spent years in the underworld, capturing weak souls and bullying the helpless, growing arrogant in their invincibility. But now, faced with real power and witnessing their comrade’s gruesome fate, who among them had the courage to get involved?
“Roaaaaarrrr—” The Pi Xiu, vivid and lifelike, twisted its neck and pulled itself out of the pendant. With every inch of its body that emerged, the jade’s glow dimmed. When the beast fully detached and hovered in midair, the pendant returned to its lifeless state, all its brilliance now concentrated on the Pi Xiu’s scaly armor. It raised its head and let out a thunderous roar that shook the heavens, as if proclaiming that it alone was the master of existence in this world.
The four ghosts were utterly stunned. The green-faced ghost even forgot about his burning hand, which continued to emit smoke like a tiny tractor exhaust. Liu Dashao, mouth agape in shock, sat down hard on the ground, speechless. If there was one word to describe the scene, it would be “petrified.”
Meanwhile, Ox-Head, who had been stomping on Old Woman Fan’s foot, also froze. He swallowed hard, then swallowed again as he stared at the Pi Xiu, which was now three times his size. With a clang, his steel fork dropped to the ground, and his legs buckled—he fell to his knees.
If the green-faced ghost were asked about the worst day of his life, he would answer without hesitation: today. Despite his frantic attempts to fan out the flames with his clothes and beat them with his club, the fire from his palm kept spreading. Helplessly, he jumped around as the fire crawled up his shoulders, chest, and limbs. Minutes later, the flames died down, leaving only a pile of ashes on the ground, scattered by the wind. The jade pendant, unscathed, flew back into Liu Dashao’s hand, as plain and unremarkable as ever. The Pi Xiu took a few steps back, growled warningly at Ox-Head, then faded into a brilliant beam of light and vanished into the pendant.
“L-L-Lord…” The remaining three ghosts scrambled to Ox-Head’s side, trembling and barely able to speak.
“Damn it!” Ox-Head slapped his forehead and turned tail, running away.
“Boss, what about this kid?” one of the small ghosts timidly asked.
“If you want to be scattered to the winds, stay behind!” Ox-Head shouted over his shoulder.
“Boss!”
“If you’re not done yet, what now?”
“You forgot your trident…”
“Who needs a trident when I barely have my life left!” With that, Ox-Head disappeared far beyond the Naihe Bridge, leaving a trail of dust behind.
“You… just now…” Liu Dashao pointed at the only remains of the green-faced ghost—the ashes on the ground—then at the three ghosts, rubbing his eyes again and again, unable to believe what had just happened. He had hoped the pendant might buy him a little time, but it had completely annihilated the ghost instead! Was this still a pendant? It was more effective than a Japanese machine gun! If the Eighth Route Army had one of these per soldier, China might have been liberated years earlier!
“D-Don’t point at me! It’s not my fault!” The ghosts waved their hands frantically, fearing Liu Dashao might turn on them next. If they could have wet their pants, they surely would have.
“It was all that old ox! He was the one who provoked you!”
“Run!” In an instant, the three “civil servants” of the underworld followed their leader’s example and scattered like a flock of frightened birds, leaving only Liu Dashao and the half-dead Old Woman Fan staring at each other in stunned silence.
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