Chapter 474: Chapter 474: Cast a Long Line to Catch a Big Fish
 

Just as things were hanging by a thread, a streak of golden light filled the pitch-dark villa!

At the same time, the ghost cat that was pouncing towards Mengqi seemed to be stunned by something. Its body shook violently, as if it had been hit, and it suddenly flew sideways and hit the wall.

Mengqi looked towards the entrance of the villa.

There stood Huang Xiaolong. Originally, the villa’s door was closed and even locked by Mengqi herself. But Huang Xiaolong hadn’t broken in. The door was still intact. She had no idea how he had managed to get in.

Huang Xiaolong was now covered in a faint golden light; sacred runes swirling around him. His appearance was solemn and divine, and he looked irresistibly handsome.

Seeing Huang Xiaolong, Mengqi’s terror and despair vanished rapidly. What replaced them was an indescribable sense of safety and warmth.

“Master Huang, you’re finally here, sob, sob, sob…” Mengqi ran towards Huang Xiaolong, crying out.

“Huh?” she paused after a few steps and looked down to find that the sticky blood that had been rising up to her neck had disappeared! The hall was clean and dry!

In fact, as soon as Huang Xiaolong had entered the villa, he had burned a revealing talisman. All that so-called blood was just an illusion created by the ghost cat, deceiving Mengqi.

Once the revealing talisman was burned, the illusions were naturally destroyed, gone without a trace.

Mengqi finally reached Huang Xiaolong, trembling as she clasped his arm. “Master Huang… my… my pet kitten, it… it… it’s gone mad! No, it seems to be replaced… this one isn’t my kitten!”

Just after speaking, Mengqi’s face turned bright red. She finally realized that she was completely naked!

Huang Xiaolong chuckled and glanced at Mengqi.

Mengqi hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest.

“Eh… don’t bother covering up. You can’t hide it all anyway. We’ve seen everything, so don’t bother covering up.” The divine glow retreated from Huang Xiaolong’s face, replaced by a lazy smirk. “Ha ha, not only do you have a beautiful voice, your body is quite impressive as well. Tsk tsk~~~”

“Master Huang, stop… this is… too embarrassing…” Mengqi wished she could find a hole and hide in it.

However, she soon hissed in pain. The wound where the cat had bitten her was throbbing with excruciating, spasmodic pain.

She raised her hand and saw!

Her entire right arm was almost swollen, especially the wound, which was black and purple and oozing with pus.

“Master Huang, I…” Mengqi was frightened to tears.

“It’s okay, I’ll treat it for you later.” Huang Xiaolong said with a carefree smile.

“Meow~~~”

The cat meowed and started walking towards Huang Xiaolong and Mengqi.

Just a moment ago, its entire body was shaken up by Huang Xiaolong’s aura and might, causing it to fly away. Now, it had regained its composure, displaying an evil face, swishing its tail, and dramatically walking towards Huang Xiaolong and Mengqi.

The cat was terrifying. Mengqi, still shaking, ran behind Huang Xiaolong and hid.

“So, it’s a ghost cat…” Huang Xiaolong nodded and then raised his fist to punch the ghost cat through the air!

Boom~~~~~~~!!!

This punch burst with masculine energy, releasing intense heat, creating a gust of wind, and directly lifting the ghost cat into the air!

The ghost cat, like a leaf swaying in the wind, somersaulted mid-air more than a dozen times, and finally hit a wall heavily, turning into a bloody mess!

But soon, a skinless ghost cat emerged from the corpse, soaked in blood. It wasn’t the folded ear cat, but a domestic Chinese cat, commonly known as a wildcat; just a soul, bearing heavy resentment!

The ghost wildcat roared at Huang Xiaolong once, then suddenly disappeared, escaping the villa!

It seemed to know that it was no match for Huang Xiaolong, so it chose to flee instead.

Huang Xiaolong didn’t give chase, nor did he attack. He stood there grinning as he watched the cat spirit duck out through an open window.

“Master Huang, it…it got away…” Mengqi hurriedly stated.

“That’s fine, I let it go on purpose.” Huang Xiaolong replied with a playful smile.

Quickly, he turned on the undamaged chandelier in the villa.

The pitch-black villa was once again bathed in light.

Mengqi folded her arms across her chest, her fair skin glowing in the light. Her face flushed with embarrassment, she stammered, “Master Huang, could I… could I possibly get dressed first…This…this is a bit immodest.”

“No rush, let’s tend to your injuries first,” Huang Xiaolong responded seriously.

So, the two of them sat down on the couch.

Huang Xiaolong took out a talisman. In a flick of his wrist, the talisman ignited, turning into a water-like dragon that coiled around Mengqi’s swollen arm.

Mengqi felt a refreshing chill as the pain dissipated. Her bruised arm, not only lost its swelling but also regained its fairness, as smooth as jade.

The wound turned into a shallow bite mark.

“You were affected by an evil aura earlier,” Huang Xiaolong explained. “Without timely treatment, you would have lost your mind, become incredibly violent, and eventually turned into a living corpse. I used a ‘purification talisman’ to cleanse the evil aura from your body, so you’re safe now. But it was a close call. If I had come ten minutes later, you’d have been done for.”

“Ah~~ Thank you, Master Huang…I owe you my life…I…I will…I will repay you.” Mengqi murmured, thinking to herself, ‘Whatever you want in return, Master Huang, I’ll be obedient and do as you say.’

“Go ahead and get dressed now.” Huang Xiaolong glanced again at Mengqi’s naked body, swallowing hard. “Get dressed first.”

Mengqi quickly ran up to the second floor and returned a few minutes later dressed in jeans and a plain T-shirt.

She returned downstairs to see her mangled cat. Horrified, she said, “Master Huang…my…my kitten…”

“It’s long dead, possessed by a cat ghost,” Huang Xiaolong said indifferently.

“Cat ghost?” Mengqi wore a puzzled expression. “What exactly happened?”

Huang Xiaolong explained, “Cats, especially pure black ones, are considered somewhat evil, seen as intermediaries between the realms of living and dead. They are believed to summon spirits. This is why people keep watch for three days after someone’s death- one, to mourn the soul, and two, to keep stray cats away.”

“If a black cat jumps over the body of the deceased, part of the deceased’s soul is summoned back, but not the life spirit, which leads to the corpse transforming.”

“What’s called a cat ghost is made by brutally killing a cat, causing it to harbor great resentment and become an evil spirit that possesses another living cat. That’s how a ‘cat ghost’ comes into being.”

“Ah…Master Huang, are you saying that my kitten was possessed by this evil spirit and became a cat ghost?” Mengqi asked, her heart sinking. She had raised the kitten for several years and considered it family, and now it had been brutally killed by evil spirits.

“That cat ghost earlier wasn’t very strong, so it could only kill you or turn you into a walking corpse. If it was a stronger cat ghost, it might have possessed you, using your skin as its new vessel.” Huang Xiaolong chuckled.

“So I would have turned into a monster?” Mengqi shivered with unearthly dread.

“No, it would be more accurate to say a ‘demon ghost’,” Huang Xiaolong corrected her with a laugh. “Of course, you could also understand it as a monster.”

At this moment, Huang Xiaolong stood up and gazed out the window at the night. “I’ve got something to do tonight…”

Muttering to himself, he stretched his muscles, “I didn’t expect to stumble upon something so interesting just as I am about to leave Jiangnan City.”

“You should take a bath and go to bed early.” He gave Mengqi a smile before turning to leave.

Mengqi’s eyes darted around before blurting out, “Master Huang…are you…are you going to track the cat ghost that you deliberately let escape?”

“Hehe, a cat ghost is a man-made evil,” Huang Xiaolong replied lazily. “First, an extremely cruel method is used to kill a cat, turning it into an evil spirit. Then, a living cat is found for the spirit to possess; thus, a cat ghost is created. Since there’s one cat ghost already, there will be a second, a third… perhaps even a swarm of them. I wonder who would be so bored to stir up such trouble? I intend to find this person.”

So, it turned out that Huang Xiaolong was playing the long game!

…