Chapter 5: The Suit-Clad Thug

In an instant, ghosts of all shapes and sizes swarmed out from the haunted house. Old Man Li, though long past his prime, took the lead with vigor. The consumptive ghost, physically frail, followed close behind. The ghost in the red bathrobe combed her hair as she moved, while the little girl clutching her doll and the boy holding his own severed head walked hand in hand.

"How coincidental," Chu Tian said, looking at the man in the suit. "The numbers are perfectly matched, one-on-one."

"The old, the weak, the sick, and the crippled!" the man in the suit sneered. "Kid, I don't know where you scavenged these little specters, but do you really think they can handle my elite troops?" He seemed exceptionally confident in the thrall-ghosts under his command.

"Whether they can handle them or not, you're welcome to try!" Chu Tian replied. He gripped his soul-locking chain, gave it a flick, and added, "Chen Meng, I won't have time to protect you for long!"

"Don't worry," Chen Meng said. "If you can keep this tiger busy, I’m not afraid of the rest!"

"Attack!" The man in the suit raised his right hand, held up his index finger, and gestured toward Chu Tian. His thrall-ghosts immediately charged!

These thrall-ghosts were handpicked by the man over the years. Each one had been killed while in their physical prime, and after becoming ghosts, they had been nourished by his demonic energy. Their strength was not to be underestimated; any one of them could wreak havoc on a region.

However, just as the group of thrall-ghosts lunged forward, a head flew out from Chu Tian's side faster than the rest, slamming directly into the head of one of the thrall-ghosts and shattering it.

The headless boy’s body remained in a soccer-kicking pose. The kicked head rolled back to his feet. The delicate face on the head broke into a grin and remarked, "I've been dead for thirty years and practicing my kicks for thirty years. I’m good enough for the World Cup—you think you can take me?"

Well, it seemed this was a very senior little ghost. The other thrall-ghosts suddenly realized that this particular boy might not be easy to deal with.

Meanwhile, Old Man Li had already engaged a particularly formidable thrall-ghost. The hunched old man watched as the ghost swiped at him with a giant hand wreathed in roiling spectral energy. His eyes flashed with a sharp light; he tossed his cane aside, took a step forward, and moved—Tai Chi: Parting the Wild Horse's Mane!

Using the ghost’s own momentum, Old Man Li sent it crashing to the ground, followed by a flurry of strikes aimed directly at its head and face.

"Twenty years of park Tai Chi experience, and you want to fight me? Do you think your elder isn't still your elder?" Old Man Li shoved the ghost, whose energy was dissipating, and finished with the 'White Crane Spreads Its Wings' posture, speaking with leisurely calm. Naturally, Old Man Li wasn't that strong as a ghost, but he had the guidance of a soul reaper. Which other ghosts could boast such a privilege?

"My goodness, are all the ghosts you raise this capable?" Chen Meng asked, stunned by the scene. When she had left, Chu Tian hadn't raised a single ghost. Although she had sensed their presence in the house upon arrival, she hadn't expected them to be this powerful.

"Do you think I collect just any ghost?" Chu Tian replied. The little ghost with the doll tossed her toy into the air. It was suffused with dark energy and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a giant, five-meter-tall doll, striking down one of the thrall-ghosts.

The red-bathrobe ghost’s hair shot out like spider silk, entangling another thrall-ghost and tossing it about recklessly. As for the consumptive ghost, he looked slow and stationary, yet the thrall-ghost before him had already collapsed to its knees, its spectral energy fading away—it looked on the verge of total annihilation.

"Swoosh!" Seeing his thrall-ghosts failing one by one, the man in the suit charged directly at Chu Tian.

"Chu Tian, watch out!" Chen Meng warned. Before her voice could fade, Chu Tian crossed his arms to block the blow. Even so, the force of the man's strike, like a tiger descending from the mountains, sent Chu Tian flying backward.

Chu Tian felt a sweet, metallic taste in his throat; his blood surged, and he barely managed to swallow back a mouthful of blood. Channeling his soul-reaper energy, he steadied himself. Given his current physical strength, he knew he couldn't win a direct brute-force battle against this tiger demon.

"Snap!" Chu Tian flicked his soul-locking chain. Like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, it lashed out at the tiger demon. The chain, normally two or three meters long, seemed to extend infinitely.

"Cheap tricks!" The man in the suit sneered. He moved with ghostly speed, so fast that the chain couldn't even track him. In a flash, he was closing in on Chu Tian again!

"Oh no!" Chu Tian’s pupils contracted. Just as the tiger claws were about to strike him again, an old figure abruptly appeared in front of him.

"Is having strength such a big deal? Watch me use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds..."

"Whoosh!"

Before Old Man Li could finish his sentence, the man in the suit sent him flying with a single palm strike. As for the distance he flew... let's just say, your elder is still your elder!

Seeing Old Man Li sent flying, the other four ghosts were instantly enraged. Just as they were about to help, Chu Tian shouted, "Don't come over! He's a tiger demon—a tiger demon who keeps thrall-ghosts. He has a natural suppression over you!"

At that moment, Old Man Li drifted back, cursing, "You have no sense of martial honor! Ambushing a seventy-year-old man!"

"Old Man Li, are you alright?" Chu Tian asked, seeing that some of the old man's spectral energy had been scattered.

Old Man Li floated to Chu Tian’s side, shoved a ball of spectral energy into his hand, and said, "I was hoping to have a snack tonight, but here, take it, Chu. Go kill him for me!"

Chu Tian looked at the energy in his hand—it was the essence from the thrall-ghost Old Man Li had just defeated. He grinned. "Don't worry, sir! With this, at least he won't be able to kill me!"

Chu Tian looked at the tiger demon, opened his mouth, and swallowed the ball of energy.

The tiger demon's eyes flickered in shock. "You can swallow ghosts too? You're not human? Are you a tiger demon as well?"

"This isn't just swallowing ghosts!" Chu Tian’s eyes glowed with an eerie blue light. Dark spectral energy billowed around him as his soul-locking chain surged to over ten meters in length, splitting into six or seven strands that slithered through the air like snakes.

"I wasn't ready before," Chu Tian said, "but now, we truly begin." He launched the chains in unison and charged forward!

It was a one-on-one fight, but Chu Tian was delivering the impact of a full-scale brawl. The man in the suit, while parrying Chu Tian’s attacks, revealed a cruel smile as tiger stripes slowly began to crawl across his face.

"You're strong... stronger than any thrall-ghost I've ever raised. When you die, I will make you my strongest one yet!" The tiger demon laughed, his demonic energy swelling to a new level as he sent Chu Tian flying once more.