There was a brief moment of silence on the other end of the conch. Jian Yun deliberately lowered his voice, making it sound eerie. "Silly junior sister, that lamp is called... the Soul - Gathering Lamp."
The window in the room was open. The cool autumn breeze blew in, sending shivers down one's spine. Zhaozhao rubbed her arms and asked nervously, "You mean Uncle's soul is in that lamp?"
Her voice trembled slightly. Jian Yun couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Oh, my little junior sister. You don't really believe it, do you? I was just kidding. I have no idea if Uncle's soul is in that lamp."
Zhaozhao was truly angry this time. She threw the conch onto the bed and puffed up like an angry pufferfish.
"Alright, alright. I was wrong, junior brother," Jian Yun on the other end of the conch began to apologize. "I was just teasing you. Master does have a sister. That uncle was kind - hearted, but he passed away many years ago. As for that Soul - Gathering Lamp, it's probably just a coincidence. After all, when a divine bird falls, it's not that easy to collect its soul."
Hearing the lazy tone of her third senior brother, Zhaozhao didn't really want to talk to him. She put on an ice - queen look and said very coldly, "Got it. I'm not talking to you anymore."
As she said this, she cut off the connection with the conch with a swift motion, without the slightest hesitation. Strangely enough, she resembled a certain big shot in the demon world.
On Wutong Mountain, Jian Yun tossed the small conch in his hand and shook his head with a smile.
Oh, after going down the mountain once, his little junior sister was becoming less and less able to take a joke. She even knew how to throw a tantrum.
But she was still as cute as ever! Jian Yun's filter for his little junior sister was at least eight meters thick.
The wind seemed particularly strong tonight. Zhaozhao stared blankly at the fluttering curtains for a while. Then she got up, closed the window, lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes. Soon, she fell into a deep sleep.
In the night outside the window, the moon quietly climbed up the treetops. In a corner unnoticed by anyone, something slowly crawled down from the ceiling, came up to Zhaozhao's bedside, sniffed, and then walked away.
The Taotie in the living room had been snoring softly. Suddenly, it opened its beastly eyes and pricked up its ears warily in the silent night.
The smell of decay came from the room of its stupid master.
Cold light glinted in the Taotie's vertical pupils. Its claws scratched impatiently on the floor, making a sharp, hissing sound.
It really annoyed this demon beast, this thing that couldn't see the light!
With its claw blades exposed, the Taotie stepped on the floor. Its body began to grow rapidly. Step by step, it walked towards Zhaozhao's room.
It pushed open the door. The room was overly quiet, only filled with Zhaozhao's shallow breathing. The Taotie bared its teeth and pounced towards the southwest corner of the room. It knocked over the wardrobe beside it and woke up the sleeping Zhaozhao.
"Taotie?! What are you doing here?" Zhaozhao woke up from her dream and saw the Taotie tearing at the corner of the room non - stop, looking like a cat chasing a mouse.
"What are you doing?" Zhaozhao just stepped on the floor and turned on the light in the room with her front foot, and then saw the Taotie licking its paws and turning back with an unsatisfied look on its face.
"Nothing. You just go back to sleep. I'm just having a little snack," it said and even burped.
"..." Zhaozhao's expression was rather indescribable. Just as she was about to ask clearly, Song Yao came.
The commotion when the Taotie was "having a snack" was really too loud. It also woke up Song Yao, who was sleeping.
"What's going on?" Song Yao was in a hurry. She didn't even have time to put on her shoes. She heard the sound coming from Zhaozhao's room. In her eagerness, she didn't care about anything.
Seeing this, Zhaozhao quickly comforted her cousin. "It's okay. The Taotie said it had a snack." Although she didn't know what kind of snack it was.
Song Yao frowned, walked over, and carefully checked Zhaozhao up and down. Then she continued to ask, "What kind of snack does it have to come to your room to eat?"
Moreover, Song Yao had just bought this apartment not long ago. Except for the furniture, nothing else had been added. Where could there be anything to eat?
"Alright, alright. It was just a little ghost. Look at how nervous you two are. Sure enough, humans are so fragile. I say..."
"What?!" Before the Taotie could finish its words, it was interrupted by Zhaozhao and Song Yao in unison.
The two of them were so shocked that their jaws were about to drop. But obviously, the points that shocked them were completely different.
Sure enough, Zhaozhao turned into a little whirlwind. In the Taotie's confused gaze, she bounced in front of the Taotie like a flash, grabbed the already - shrunk Taotie, and shook it vigorously.
"Spit it out for me. Hurry up and spit it out! Why do you eat everything? Can you just eat that kind of thing casually?" Zhaozhao was extremely anxious. While shaking, she also patted the Taotie's back.
The Taotie's head was buzzing from being shaken. While struggling, it shouted, "Are you some kind of skin - peeling Zhaozhao? You're so stingy! I ate a little ghost, and you still have to interfere! I'm warning you, don't go too far, or I'll turn my back on you!"
The quarrel between the human and the beast made Song Yao's head ache. Song Yao shouted impatiently, "That's enough! Stop!"
The noisy sound stopped abruptly. Zhaozhao obediently grabbed the Taotie and stood still, covering the Taotie's mouth. Ignoring the Taotie's whining, she whispered in her own defense, "Cousin, it's not my fault. I'm just worried that it will get a stomachache."
"..." Song Yao sighed and said exhausted, "What's going on in your mind? Is that the point? The point is why there was a ghost in your room in the middle of the night!"
"Exactly! I saved you, and you still scold me! Stupid master, you're so stupid!" The Taotie finally escaped from Zhaozhao's grasp and pointed at Zhaozhao, screaming without knowing right from wrong.
That arrogant look of the fierce beast was really annoying! Zhaozhao was both aggrieved and angry. She didn't like this furry thing! She angrily turned her face away.
These two were just like two primary school students. Song Yao felt like she was taking care of two kids.
"How do you know there was a ghost in Zhaozhao's room? What kind of ghost was it? Did you see it?" Song Yao decided to figure out the situation first.
The Taotie was very dissatisfied with the tone of this little human. But when it met Zhaozhao's gaze, it could only pretend to be magnanimous and not care. It simply told the whole story.
"I smelled the stench of decay in her room, and I heard the sneaky laughter of the little ghost. So I came in to help her catch the ghost. It was a headless ghost holding a head in its arms. It should have gone to look for its own head and walked into the wrong place. I didn't really want to eat it at first, but its laughter was so disgusting. It clearly had bad intentions."
It talked non - stop in one breath, making Song Yao's hair stand on end. Zhaozhao, however, didn't show any reaction. She just stared blankly at the southwest corner that the Taotie had mentioned.
"Zhaozhao, what are you looking at?" Song Yao touched Zhaozhao's shoulder. The Taotie also peeked at her nervously, wondering if it had gone too far and made this little girl sad.
However, Zhaozhao put a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet. "Cousin, there's blood there. And listen, there's some sound."
Song Yao looked in the direction Zhaozhao was looking. Sure enough, there were a few drops of blood in the southwest corner.
Tick, tick...
The sound of a ticking clock rang out in the room, but there was no clock here at all.