Chapter 397 Soul-consuming Mouse

Bai Jing's eyes, it was extremely tiny. Such a small clinic—if Xiao Hongyang were to stay here for just one year, he could endure and it wouldn't matter if he didn’t earn money during that time.But t...Chapter 397: Soul-consuming Rat

Xiao Yu looked down and saw something beneath the snow, but when he used his spiritual awareness to investigate, he felt nothing was there.

Furrowing his brows, Xiao Yu watched below as that chunk of body kept decreasing. So Xiao Yu's yin soul floated silently downward.

When he arrived beside this black body and looked down, he saw a white rat about the length of a palm.

Xiao Yu was stunned when he saw this white rat and thought to himself, What’s going on How could a mouse be eating fragments of human souls

As Xiao Yu watched this rat happily munching away, he suddenly seemed to have an epiphany. He moved closer again. When he looked at the rat's nostrils, a sense of familiarity welled up inside him.

However, Xiao Yu immediately shook his head. He thought to himself, It shouldn’t be that, or else why would there be such a big difference

But then he fell into deep thought again. How could this same nose exist here too

Gazing at the white rat, Xiao Yu suddenly looked up and had an epiphany; a word flashed through his mind—hybrid!

When Xiao Yu's mind came up with this term, he couldn’t help nodding. Under these circumstances, it was the only explanation.

This thing should be a hybrid of Soul-consuming Mink and White Rat. Not only did it inherit the appearance of the white rat, but also its ability—Soul-consuming Minks’ abilities are all in their noses. A mink’s third nostril is on top of its snout.

When Xiao Yu was observing this little white mouse up close just now, he noticed that it had a third nostril on the tip of its snout too. And when it sucked away at the body of the old ghost, it did so with this third nostril.

All these features were consistent with Soul-consuming Minks’, which was why Xiao Yu guessed this; and looking at the current situation, his guess seemed to be accurate.

Moreover, its third nostril made it the perfect tool for finding ghost souls as food.

Xiao Yu used his hand to wave in front of the little white mouse. However, the little mouse showed no signs of fear. Seeing this, Xiao Yu realized that this white mouse couldn't see him.

The memory of Zhong Kui was indeed true; according to Zhong Kui's memories, the soul-eating marten could not see any ghosts with its eyes but had an impeccable sense of smell when it came to detecting them.

It didn't seem appropriate to continue calling him a soul-eating marten at this point. Therefore, Xiao Yu gave him a new name: Soul-Eater Mouse.

Xiao Yu's yin spirit reached out and grabbed the little mouse, causing its limbs to struggle violently; however, after sniffing with its third nose, it didn't detect any danger and ceased struggling.

When Xiao Yu held this little mouse in his palm, not only did it show no signs of panic but seemed to find comfort there. It curled up in Xiao Yu's hand and closed its eyes as if it were full and sleepy.

Xiao Yu chuckled at the sight of this little mouse. Turning around, he saw that all the ghostly remains on the ground had turned into wisps of black smoke dispersing into the air.

Xiao Yu clenched the little mouse in his palm as he darted towards the small Daoist temple.

The rooftop of the temple was already deserted, and several dark figures were sprinting down the mountain from mid-slope. Xiao Yu knew these to be Mr. Li's group, so he quickly made his way toward the helicopter.

Upon reaching the helicopter, Xiao Yu placed the little mouse on the ground. The moment it touched the snow, it blended in perfectly with its surroundings; no one would notice it unless they looked closely.

The moment Xiao Yu saw this little mouse, if it wasn't devouring ghost fragments at that time, he wouldn’t have been able to spot it even with his spiritual senses which detected nothing but emptiness there.

This was a unique trait of the soul-eating marten—it could be seen by the naked eye but not sensed spiritually, and this little mouse clearly inherited this characteristic.

After placing the white mouse on the ground, Xiao Yu spoke to it. The mouse seemed to hear him as it looked around confusedly but saw nothing; then it shook its head and hid under a snow pile near the helicopter.

Xiao Yu's yin spirit flashed into the plane and swiftly returned to his physical body.

Sitting in his seat, Xiao Yu slowly opened his eyes, looking out the window. He saw several people coming down from the mountain and instructed the pilot, "Open the cabin door! Mr. Li’s group is back!"

After hearing Xiao Yu's words, Zhang Dahai and the others also looked outside. They saw that Lao Li and the others were almost at the foot of the mountain and stood up from their seats. After the cabin door opened, they walked out.

Xiao Yu followed them off the plane. The little white rat on the ground sniffed hard with its three nostrils before looking at Xiao Yu once and darting over, burrowing into his arms.

This Soul-devouring Rat loved Xiao Yu's upright righteousness; earlier, while on the mountain, it had sensed Xiao Yu’s righteous aura and thus remained silent and obedient. But it hadn't seen Xiao Yu in person before. It could only be sure that he was the same person by sniffing a few times to sense his upright righteousness.

"Master, what's going on" Lao Li and the others leaped down from the mountain one after another; when Zhang Dahai saw them stop in front of him, he asked Lao Li.

“Hmm!” Nodding without saying a word, Lao Li and the rest didn't speak here since Bai San and the others were present. They entered the plane silently with serious expressions.

Zhang Dahai and Xiao Yu followed them onto the plane. Soon after, the helicopter took off again, returning to White Qijue's village in no time at all. Zhang Dahai accompanied Lao Li and the rest as they packed up Old Wu’s belongings before heading back to Beijing.

"Ah..." After thinking about it, Old Wu sighed, looked around, then glanced at the top of the mountain behind his village before turning resolutely to walk with Lao Li and the others toward the helicopter.

At this time, all the villagers had returned home. No one was informed that he would leave, so Old Wu quietly left after living here for over half a century.

Back then, because he was crippled, he feared burdening his brothers and also felt rather disheartened; upon recovering from his injuries, he secretly escaped the military hospital and crossed the river alone to hide in this mountain area.

Sixty or seventy years later, they had all grown old and didn't have much time left to live. Furthermore, his disciple was also in Beijing, so after thinking about it, Old Wu decided to return to Beijing for his twilight years.

Everyone got onto the plane, while Bai San needed to go back to Qi City as his son was hospitalized there. He had come here to visit Old Wu but hadn't expected him to be seriously ill. Also, due to a heavy snowfall blocking the roads, he couldn't leave town and so stayed home. Now that the helicopter could make it into town, Bai San followed them back.

With so many people getting onto the helicopter, even the military one had its cargo hold filled to capacity. The helicopter slowly took off with a full cabin of people.

"Little Yu, is Old Fifteen really okay" On board the plane, Li Suijun and the other old men turned their heads to ask Xiao Yu.

The scene they saw at the Daoist temple left even these high-level martial artists feeling a chill. Especially when they waited on the roof for some time but didn’t see the middle-aged man come out and there was no sign of life in the room, not even a hint of someone being inside.

They were afraid that the middle-aged man might escape through a secret passage, so they carefully re-entered the house to guard against it. The room was empty except for a pile of ashes where the middle-aged man had fallen.

As they approached the ashes and picked up some with their fingers, their faces became solemn as they lightly rubbed them between their fingers.

They were soldiers; on battlefields in the past, countless comrades were cremated by their hands. Therefore, they knew that these ashes belonged to a human being. It was precisely because of this recognition that they appeared so serious.

The moment before, there had been a fully living person, who turned into a pile of ashes without any traces of fire—a scene as bizarre as it was inexplicable. Even though they knew about the existence of practitioners from Qimen studies, they felt very uneasy.

However, they knew that now wasn’t the time to leave; for a living person to turn into ashes in such a short amount of time made them feel this matter wasn’t simple and there had to be other matters involved. Thus, they all quietly waited in the courtyard.

Yet, with each passing moment, nothing happened. This left them bewildered, wondering, ‘What’s going on Could it be...’

Could this middle-aged man’s suicide have been to allow a ghost to escape Because they knew some Qimen practitioners and were aware that if one’s vital energy was strong enough, it could disperse ghosts.

Might this middle-aged man fear that after Li Lao killed him, his ghost would be dispersed by their strong qi, so he chose suicide

This was the only plausible explanation they had. After waiting a bit longer in the courtyard and seeing nothing happen, they rushed down the mountain.

As for this small Daoist temple, later on, they would send someone from Team 13 to come over and verify if there was indeed the ghost of that middle-aged man, which would need to be dealt with.

The old men like Li Suijun also found today’s events extremely strange, making them worry about Lao Wu's body.

"Haha, no problem. Lao Wu is fully recovered!" When Xiao Yu heard Li Suijun ask the question, he chuckled and replied.

Upon hearing this confident and calm answer from Xiao Yu, everyone nodded in relief. They now blindly trusted his medical skills; especially after learning that he was their second elder brother’s disciple, their trust hit an all-time high, akin to how they had once trusted Xiao Yu's grandfather.

"Doctor Xiao, when you go to Qishi City, can you take a look at my brother" Bai Qiyue also thought of Xiao Yu’s superb medical skills after hearing his conversation and asked him.

(To be continued...)e mysterious patterns that formed the three magical artifacts on his spirit’s body suddenly emitted golden light. The light formed an intricate net made of the mysterious patterns, gathering Xiao Yu's...