After Stein was knocked to the ground by Antonio, the nuns immediately retreated. It was surprising that these possessed nuns were actually afraid of a half-transformed jiangshi, especially since several of them had nearly been bitten to death by Stein moments earlier.
But he can't consume BLOOD PRODUCTION or there'll be no turning back. Thankfully, Antonio stopped him just in time.
Why hasn't Dreaming Nun returned yet? We're out of sticky rice, and Stein's cadaveric poison is reaching his heart.
Just then, QINGYIN, who had suddenly withdrawn, shouted, "Burn them!"
Too afraid to enter, they instead used their torches to ignite the woodshed, intending to burn us alive.
Antonio sniffed the air and tried to charge out, but a dozen torches came flying directly at him. Forced to dodge repeatedly, he couldn't prevent the inevitable - this being a woodshed, the torches landed on the firewood and immediately started a massive blaze.
"Go!" Antonio shoved me through the doorway with one push. By then Stein had stood up and began hopping outward in classic jiangshi fashion.
Even after turning into a jiangshi, this kid's survival instinct remains remarkably strong.
The moment I emerged, the nuns rushed at me ferociously. With vicious expressions, they surrounded me - not to beat me, but to tear off my clothes.
My heart pounded violently. In this life-threatening situation, they still want to do this to me? What kind of evil spirits are you?
The same thing happened to Antonio last time - after some nuns manhandled him, they tried to kill him. I suspect this was their standard treatment for all men who came to the nunnery.
In that case, is there any point in waking these nuns? They're no longer pure. When they regain consciousness, imagine their psychological torment - could they ever return to normal?
This evil spirit is utterly depraved. Not content with controlling the nuns to kill, it also orchestrates these violations - truly unforgivable.
As the mob of nuns clawed at me, I desperately protected myself. As a decent man, I couldn't possibly let them have their way so easily.
Just then Stein emerged, snarling as he exhaled cadaveric qi before lunging at the nuns again.
This time the nuns showed no fear. Each produced a black comb, and with a synchronized shudder, I saw waves of malignant energy surge forth. Concentrating into a single force, this energy blast sent Stein flying.
Stein wailed as he crashed to the ground, body convulsing, his jiangshi fangs shattered.
This poor guy - beaten as a human by jiangshi, now beaten as a jiangshi by ghosts. That power came from the combs - clearly ghost energy.
But why didn't the nuns use this power earlier? Why now?
I instantly understood what was happening and frantically looked around. Finally, on a rooftop not far away, I spotted a woman in a red robe standing there, combing her bald head with a strange comb. I couldn't see her face, but the horrifying ghostly aura and resentment radiating from her were palpable even from several meters away—oppressive, even suffocating.
This ghost… why was it so terrifying? And its power felt immense. No wonder it had infiltrated this sacred Buddhist site and taken control of the entire nunnery.
Now, she had finally appeared—yet her face remained hidden.
Just then, Antonio burst out of the woodshed. Behind him, the structure collapsed with a thunderous crash, the flames roaring as everything inside was consumed. Had Antonio been a second slower, he would have perished in the blaze.
Not only had he escaped, but he was also clutching a burning stick—a dangerous weapon that could set a person ablaze with a single touch. Swinging it wildly, Antonio forced the nuns back. The black combs in their hands seemed to be single-use; after unleashing their power, the nuns hastily tucked them back into their pockets.
"Stop staring—run!" Antonio knocked aside a nun and dragged me away. Snapping out of my daze, I grabbed Stein, who was still sprawled on the ground, and hauled him along as we fled.
We sprinted ahead with the nuns in pursuit—until, halfway down the path, a figure suddenly flung a sack of flour into the air. A cloud of white powder erupted, engulfing the nuns in a blinding haze.
It was Dreaming Nun! In one hand, she held flour; in the other, glutinous rice. The flour served as a distraction, and she used the chaos to guide us to another location.
We reached the Buddha Hall, where a solemn statue of the Buddha stood enshrined, surrounded by dozens of wooden fish—all coated in dust, untouched for who knows how long.
Dreaming Nun explained that the possessed nuns no longer struck the wooden fish and avoided the Buddha Hall out of fear, making this the safest place. It was where she usually hid.
After speaking, she led us behind the Buddha statue, concealing us from outside view.
Stein, whom I'd dragged the entire way, was barely clinging to life. At this point, he couldn't even bite—I doubted he could open his mouth at all.
Dreaming Nun took out the glutinous rice and pressed a handful against the bloody puncture wounds on Stein's neck. Immediately, white smoke hissed from the injuries, accompanied by a sizzling sound.
"Oooo—ow! Oooo—!" Stein bolted upright, howling in agony, his face twisted with pain.
If he recovered from this, he'd probably fear not just ghosts but also jiangshi.
His screams were too loud—risking alerting the nuns. But none of us dared to cover his mouth, afraid he might bite us. Instead, Antonio yanked off one of his socks and stuffed it straight into Stein's mouth.
The moment the sock was stuffed in, Stein's eyes rolled back, and he passed out cold.
"Mr. Roger, how did Stein faint just like that?" Antonio asked, baffled.
Dreaming Nun and I both pinched our noses. "Don't you know how foul your own socks are? Anyone would faint from that smell."
Fortunately, after applying the glutinous rice, Stein improved significantly. Many symptoms of the cadaveric poison gradually faded, though his teeth and fingernails remained unnaturally long. Antonio had to use a knife to carefully file them down.
I cautiously peered outside and realized the nuns hadn't followed us—neither had the female ghost. I couldn't tell whether she feared the Buddha or simply hadn't noticed our hiding spot.
Pulling back, I sorted through Stein's earlier claims and turned to Dreaming Nun. "Are you absolutely certain KONGQING is dead?"
Dreaming Nun looked confused. "What do you mean? Not just me—the entire nunnery witnessed her death. She was hanged from a tree, her body stiff when they cut her down."
That was unsettling. Did that mean everything Stein said was wrong?
I pressed her again, and Dreaming Nun nodded firmly. "Yes."
I clutched my head, feeling like my brain had turned to mush. This nunnery's mystery was far more complicated than I'd thought—no wonder Webster had said it wasn't a simple haunting. Otherwise, we could've just called a Celestial Master to resolve it.
Then, a sudden question struck me: What was Dreaming Nun's actual Dharma name? And why wasn't she wearing a nun's robe, but instead this bright red dress with embroidered shoes? No wonder Markus had mistaken her for a ghost that night.
Another thing puzzled me—why hadn't she been possessed like the others?
Even though she'd left the mountain that day to seek help, she'd returned. The ghost could've easily corrupted her too. Stranger still, why had the possessed nuns spared her?