Chapter 87: Ghost

"If the elven Holy Sword is effective, that simplifies things, Ethan, we’ll be counting on you."

Ethan pondered and said, "However, why would a ghost appear there?"

’When things were abnormal, there had to be an underlying reason, and judging from Zharok and Walter’s reactions, ghosts should be a rare occurrence in this world, then why would that ghost appear there? And what exactly was it? A beastman’s ghost? A human’s ghost? Or the ghost of some other race?’

Ethan voiced his doubts to Ash, Ash remained silent for a moment, then spoke in a strange tone. "It’s a female ghost dressed in white with waist-length black hair, you can only see her eerie, terrifying eyes... I couldn’t see her ears clearly, so I don’t know if she’s a human or an elf."

"Hearing you say that, I’m getting more and more curious, let’s hurry over and take a look." Zharok’s scholar’s heart was burning fiercely; he couldn’t wait to meet this female ghost.

Ethan smiled and comforted the worried Ash. "Don’t worry, nothing will happen."

"I hope so... If you encounter danger, run immediately, as long as you stay off that road, the ghost won’t attack."

"Sounds like you’ve already suffered at her hands?"

"Haha, all the warriors in my village have been taught a lesson by her."

"Then we’ll have to be careful, thanks for the warning."

After finishing their conversation with Ash, Ethan and his group left the Fox Beastman village, Zharok walked up to Ethan and patted him on the shoulder, seemingly still a bit uneasy. "Are you really going to be okay?"

"Don’t worry, I’m fine." Unlike Zharok and the others, Ethan had fought evil spirits before, the experience had been in the Ascendant Tower rather than this world, but having some experience was better than none.

And so, Ethan’s group headed north, after walking for an unknown stretch of time, just as the sun was beginning to set, Zharok stopped in his tracks. "Why do I feel like we’ve been walking in circles?"

"I feel it’s strange too, the atmosphere around here is very eerie."

"It feels like something is preventing us from approaching that mountain, meow~"

It seemed they had run into trouble. Walter, Zharok, and Pearl all frowned and began discussing countermeasures, seeing this, Ethan jumped off the handcart. "Let’s eat something before we move on."

Hearing Ethan’s proposal, Zharok and the others immediately nodded in agreement, it was getting late, and continuing the journey wasn’t safe anyway.

Ethan started a fire and began roasting Honey Sweet Potatoes, Zharok ate his sweet potato absentmindedly, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, he seemed a bit nervous, Pearl watched him with curiosity.

Walter, however, looked around and spoke in a grave tone. "I feel very uncomfortable."

"You too? The air here is oppressive."

’Is it an enemy?’ But Ethan didn’t sense any hostility.

The Scythe of Gaia lay quiet in his hand, indicating there was no immediate danger nearby, not entirely reassured, he took the Goddess Gaia statue out of his pocket and held it in one hand, then placed his other hand on the hilt of the Holy Sword.

’Perhaps the ghost is affecting the atmosphere here.’

"We’d better leave here as soon as possible." Zharok polished off his sweet potato in a few bites and stood, Ethan and the others followed suit.

After packing up, Zharok climbed onto the handcart, ready to continue forward, he grabbed the handles and pulled.

The cart didn’t budge, not an inch.

He braced his legs and heaved with everything he had, but the cart felt as though it were nailed to the ground, it couldn’t be moved at all.

He stopped, panting, and gritted his teeth. "Is this the ghost’s doing?"

"It seems we’ve met our match, no wonder the Fox Beastman warriors suffered a loss." Walter raised his right hand, a blood-red magic circle bloomed on the back of it, ready to unleash blood magic at a moment’s notice.

Pearl looked around warily, then it shouted. "Meow!! Look over there, meow!!"

Pearl pointed toward the forest, everyone turned.

A woman in white stood at the edge of the trees, disheveled hair framed cold, eerie eyes.

"What are you looking at!!" With a furious roar, Zharok charged, his speed was incredible — in the blink of an eye, he had crossed the distance and was swinging his fist straight at her face.

The ghost stood rooted to the spot, she had no intention of dodging, just as Zharok’s fist was about to connect —

"Ugh!" His body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Walter was shocked, he unleashed his blood magic at once, sending blood-red blades streaking toward the ghost, but the ghost still stood there, allowing the magical attack to hit her, remaining completely unharmed.

Poof!

The blood-red attack passed straight through her body and dissipated into the air. Walter stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

Before he could react, the ghost’s figure vanished.

"Where did she go?!" He released more blood magic, scanning the surroundings warily.

Ethan, however, turned his head and looked behind him.

The ghost, who had been standing at the edge of the forest just moments ago, had somehow appeared right beside the handcart, she was staring fixedly at the things on the cart with those eerie, terrifying eyes.

Ethan met her gaze, then he asked calmly, "Do you want to eat a Honey Sweet Potato?"

She didn’t speak, and she stared blankly at Ethan for a long moment, then she slowly raised her right hand and pointed in a certain direction from the handcart.

Ethan followed the direction of her finger, then turned to Zharok. "She seems to be pointing at something." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"...Are you sure she’s not hostile?" Zharok kept his eyes on the ghost, fists clenched, ready to fight.

Ethan didn’t speak, he drew the Scythe of Gaia — but he didn’t sense any hostility from the ghost, whatever her purpose, it wasn’t violent.

’I’ll trust her this once.’

He led the group in the direction she had indicated.

"This is..." A dense patch of grass, Ethan pushed it aside and found plants bearing yellow pods, he picked one and squeezed it gently; several red beans rolled into his palm.

"Meow! Those are Purification Beans, meow!"

"Purification Beans? What are those?"

"A special type of bean that only grows in certain regions, meow, it’s said to have the effect of purifying evil energy, so it’s called a Purification Bean, meow. In the past, humans used them to lift curses, meow."

"That’s amazing, I had no idea something like this existed."

"Meow-meow, it’s perfectly normal for you not to know about them, meow, these things are extremely rare, so very few people know about them, meow, this is also my first time seeing real Purification Beans, meow."

After explaining to Zharok and Walter, Pearl curiously poked at the red beans in Ethan’s palm with its paws, it seemed to find the beans very interesting and played with them gleefully.

Ethan watched, then looked back toward the ghost. "Why would she tell us about these?"

He turned to Pearl. "You said Purification Beans can lift curses."

"Could it be that she wants us to lift her curse?"