Chapter 276: Ghost Arrival

"Hahaha, the people of Pixian must be idiots to believe such nonsense about shrinking genitals," Gouwa mocked wildly.

"If you were put in a similar situation, you probably wouldn't fare any better."

Seeing the usually quiet street outside suddenly bustling, he set down his teacup and headed out.

"Everyone, follow me. Bring your weapons. Later, stay on the outskirts of the crowd and help me keep watch, so nothing unexpected happens."

It was unclear how Yang Hongzhi had spread the word, but the Pixian county yamen was completely surrounded by panicked people, with many standing on walls and rooftops as well.

Thousands of people were crammed together, buzzing like a massive swarm of flies.

Yang Hongzhi discreetly moved closer to Li Huowang, looking at him with an excited expression.

"True Master, do you think this is enough? Practically every household has sent someone."

He had just returned from checking, having confirmed that his son's genitals had not, in fact, shrunk.

Surveying the dense mass of heads beside him, Li Huowang nodded, took a few strides, and leaped directly onto the stone lion at the yamen's entrance.

"Fellow villagers of Pixian! Don't panic! I'm here to tell you that there's no ghost that steals people's genitals. You've all been fooled! The claims of shrinking male and female organs are false! It's nothing but a rumor!"

As soon as Li Huowang uttered these words, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of chatter.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" A piercing bell sound instantly assailed everyone's ears, causing them to instinctively cover them.

Once the bell's ringing had silenced the chatter, Li Huowang stopped shaking the Daoist bell and tossed it to Chun Xiaoman, who was standing nearby.

Watching everyone slowly lower their hands from their ears, Li Huowang paused, then directly raised his voice again: "Everyone! Magistrate Yang and I have already examined the so-called 'diviner' who supposedly died from shrinking organs! That person merely faked his death and fled to parts unknown long ago!"

"Furthermore, think carefully: Has any one of you *personally* seen someone's male organ shrink into their body? Remember, I'm not asking what your son or neighbor told you, but what you *yourselves* have witnessed with your own eyes! Has anyone?!"

Upon hearing Li Huowang's question, expressions of hesitation spread across the faces of everyone in Pixian.

Just as Li Huowang believed they would cast aside their fears, an unexpected sound emerged from the crowd.

"Yes!" A woman with streaked gray hair, cradling her swaddled infant, tremblingly stepped forward.

With trembling hands, she unwrapped the child's clothes layer by layer, then held the naked infant high in the air for all to see.

"Can't you see? My child's genitals were stolen! This man is a liar! Don't believe him!"

Li Huowang scrutinized the woman before him. Once he confirmed she wasn't disguised by the Zuo Wang Dao, his gaze shifted to the child in her arms.

"Is this your child? And the invisible ghost stole his genitals?"

"Yes! Look! Where are his genitals? They're gone! Waaah, waaah, my poor child!" The woman hugged her son and burst into tears.

"Truly gone?" Li Huowang stared at the empty space below, his mind reeling.

But the next second, Li Huowang quickly recovered and, looking at her tear-streaked face, asked a very ordinary question.

"Auntie, is there a possibility that your child is, in fact, a girl?" He thought to himself that the appearance was too natural to be the result of shrinkage.

After he spoke, the woman seemed startled and, clutching her child, retreated back into the crowd.

"Nonsense! My belly was pointed when I was pregnant! How could I have given birth to a money-losing girl? I gave birth to a son!"

As soon as the woman finished, she immediately hugged her child and knelt before an old man, frantically pleading: "Husband, don't believe him. You truly cannot blame me for this! I really did give birth to a big, healthy son who can carry on our family name! It was that ghost who took the child's genitals. You truly cannot blame me for this!"

The woman's words brought a flicker of unease to every face, and the murmuring grew louder. A thought crossed his mind: people forcefully claimed their daughters were sons to avoid mistreatment from their in-laws. Yet, why were they not so clever when they faced the Zuo Wang Dao?

Hearing the escalating murmurs below, just as Li Huowang was about to calm the situation, a scream suddenly erupted from the crowd.

The dense crowd instantly parted, revealing a beggar in tattered clothes, clutching a rusty short knife. Amidst the victim's wails, he brutally severed their genitals, then, with satisfaction, hung them on his own body. The trembling, swaying beggar, whose eyebrows met in a single line, stood up, a sinister smile on his face, and gazed at the terrified crowd around him. "Hehehe... genitals, genitals... if I have genitals, I can be reborn..." As he spoke, his body inexplicably floated like a ghost, and he lunged at another man nearby.

"Ahhh!" Amidst the woman's scream, everyone present descended into chaos, scattering and fleeing for their lives.

Just as the man was about to be tackled, one of Li Huowang's fingernails shot forward.

With a crisp "clang," the fingernail struck him, producing a sharp metallic sound.

In the midst of the escalating chaos, Li Huowang struggled to reach the beggar. By the time he got there, several men and women were already lying on the ground.

"Clang!" Li Huowang raised his sword and lunged at the man, striking him directly. To Li Huowang's surprise, the exceptionally sharp Purple Tassel Sword, a weapon of war, merely produced a crisp sound as it struck the man, failing to even break his skin.

Gao Zhijian charged towards them, his heavy footsteps thudding, his spiked mace already whistling through the air. As they clashed, Li Huowang and his opponent engaged in a back-and-forth battle. However, the more Li Huowang fought, the more he felt something was wrong. This "ghost" before him was highly unusual. If this creature truly was a ghost, it was an exceptionally strange one. Could a ghost be impervious to weapons? Could even a spirit-slaying sword fail to cut it? And why would it appear in broad daylight, of all times? As Li Huowang pondered how to deal with the man, he felt—or perhaps it was his imagination—that the opponent had blinked at him. A myriad of thoughts flooded his mind.

Under the watchful eyes of all the Pixian villagers, they saw the man wearing the copper coin mask battling the ghost, neither gaining a clear advantage. Their emotions ebbed and flowed with the tide of the battle.

After a stalemate lasting about fifteen minutes, Li Huowang abruptly kicked, thrusting his foot directly into the man's chest. Immediately afterwards, he pulled out a yellow talisman from his hand and slapped it onto the man's forehead. At last, everything fell silent.

Li Huowang, holding his sword, surveyed the crowd. "You were right," he declared in a resolute tone. "There truly is a ghost that steals organs, and he is that ghost! Now, I have killed him!"