Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 703: The Evil Mountain Spirit Appears!

The voices Han Yu had heard at night suddenly made sense.

They were not wind.

They were echoes.

Echoes of what this thing carried within it.

"You can see me," a voice whispered.

It did not come from its mouth.

It came from everywhere.

And from inside his head.

Han Yu did not answer.

He tightened his grip on his halberd.

The thing tilted its head.

Its lips pulled back in a smile that showed too many teeth.

"Fresh," it said softly. "Warm. Whole."

Han Yu felt his skin crawl.

This was not a mindless undead.

This thing could speak.

It could think... and it could hunt.

"You are not like the others," it continued. "Your soul is loud."

Han Yu felt a sharp pressure in his chest.

He understood then.

It could sense soul qi.

It was drawn to it.

Just like it was drawn to blood.

"Evil Mountain Spirit," Han Yu said quietly.

The thing laughed. "Jie~ jie~ jie~ jie~"

The sound was broken and layered, as if many voices laughed together.

"That is what they call me now," it replied. "I have had many names."

It drifted closer.

Each movement left trails of red mist behind it.

Han Yu backed away slowly, keeping his halberd between them.

His mind raced.

Blood draining.

Ritual displays.

Intelligence.

Soul sensitivity.

"This is not a simple Jiangshi," he thought. "This is something far worse."

The spirit inhaled.

And Han Yu felt his blood stir.

Not violently.

Subtly.

As if something inside him was being invited to move.

"Your blood sings," it whispered. "And your soul... your soul screams."

Han Yu suddenly understood.

This thing did not just drink blood.

It fed on souls.

On emotions.

On lingering obsession.

It was not just undead.

It was something that had evolved beyond simple death.

A monster born from death, blood, cold, and obsession.

He did not wait.

He turned and flew.

WHOOSH~

He did not look back. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Behind him, the spirit laughed again, its voice rolling through the mountains like a curse.

"Run," it called. "Run far. I like prey that learns fear first."

Han Yu pushed his spirit Qi harder than he had in a long time, flying through shadows, diving between cliffs, vanishing beneath forests.

His heart pounded.

Not from exertion.

From the certainty that something truly terrible had noticed him.

And now, in these endless mountains of death, he was no longer just a traveler.

He was prey.

Knowing that, Han Yu did not dare to slow down for even a moment.

He tore through the sky, weaving between jagged peaks and plunging into narrow valleys where wind screamed like blades. His halberd thrummed beneath his feet as he poured spirit Qi into it, pushing his speed as far as he dared without draining himself dry.

Behind him, laughter echoed.

"Jie~ jie~ jie~ jie~"

Not the laughter of a man.

Not the laughter of a beast.

It sounded like broken glass being dragged across stone.

"Run," the Evil Mountain Spirit whispered, its voice slipping into his ears no matter how far he flew. "Your fear tastes sweet even from a distance."

Han Yu twisted in the air and hurled a fireball back with a snarl. It was not a simple flame, but a dense sphere of compressed fire, spinning violently as it flew.

BOOM!

The fireball exploded where the spirit had been.

But it was already gone.

It reappeared several dozen meters to the side, drifting lazily, its red mist body swirling as if amused.

Han Yu’s heart sank.

That dodge had been too easy.

Too casual.

It had not even tried.

"That thing is playing with me..." Han Yu ground his teeth.

He flung three more fireballs in rapid succession, each aimed to cut off a different escape path. The spirit slipped between them like smoke, its speed suddenly spiking for a heartbeat, enough to show Han Yu the truth.

If it wanted to catch him, it already could have.

The memory of the claw marks flashed in his mind.

Each gouge had been as deep as a small house.

"At the very least, its raw strength is on par with a Peak Core Condensation cultivator," Han Yu thought grimly. "And that might just be its physical side."

If he had been even a second slower earlier, he would already be dead.

The spirit drifted closer again, matching his speed perfectly, never quite catching him, never falling behind.

"I have sensed you for a while now," it said softly. "Your soul is loud. Too loud to ignore. I wanted to savor the moment before we met."

Han Yu’s mind raced.

’If it had sensed him earlier, why had it not come?’

Distance? Some restriction? Something in the mountains that limited it?

"Why didn’t you come sooner?" Han Yu shouted back while flying.

The spirit laughed again. "Not everything is as free as it looks, little soul. But hunger grows. And now I am close enough."

They raced across cliffs and frozen forests, shadows sliding over snow. The mountains seemed endless.

Ten minutes passed like this.

Han Yu’s Qi dropped steadily.

The spirit, on the other hand, looked as fresh as when it had first appeared.

Finally, its tone changed.

The playful mockery gained a sharp edge.

"I am hungry now," it said. "I want to taste you. I have never eaten a soul like yours before."

Han Yu felt cold.

"Even that cold faced woman who keeps chasing me does not have a soul as loud as yours," the spirit continued. "She is stronger in body, but weaker in essence. You... you are rare."

Hearing that, Han Yu’s brows furrowed.

A woman.

Chasing it.

Strong body, weaker soul.

White robes.

Cold.

His mind leaped instantly to one person.

"Before you kill me," Han Yu called out, forcing his voice to stay calm, "tell me. What woman?"

"Jie jie jie jie," the spirit laughed. "Just a woman who does not know her place. Always interfering. Always trying to bind me. Annoying. But strong."

Hearing that Han Yu’s lips curved into a thin smile as he saw a small dot in the distance