Haunted houses were valuable treasures, according to Ula. They were created by powerful emotions given form by spiritual energy and cultivated by rumors until a unique existence formed. It's clear by the application of spirit sight that those places were sapient in some way. They could easily be described as gestalt spirits. When cultivators live in these areas, they have an impact dependent on their cultivation. The stronger their cultivation, the greater their impact on the area. Squatting in a haunted house or even starting a family in one will significantly influence them. Following this train of thought, the death of that family would have an even more significant effect.

Within the grounds of our first haunted house, there were no stars in the sky or other houses within sight. Instead, orchards of glowing fruit trees surrounded the manor house though most were picked clean. Fortunately, the party before failed to harvest the peanuts, so that’s what I had the guards do while Cain Moore and I approached the home.

Cain kept his rift pointed at the house while I approached at a sedate pace. I wasn’t in any hurry to see the insides of this place.

A large stone angel stood in place presiding over a fountain of blood. All the while, goatmen clung to the manor’s roof, waiting to ambush me. But, of course, spirit sight didn’t care how dark it was; they glowed like any other spirit beast the stone angel included.

Higher spiritual beings lock qi within the world and increase the world’s spiritual pressure. Living in a haunted house greatly improves cultivation and makes ascension much easier. Haunted houses attract powerful spirits and help facilitate the ascension to higher realms. Once these goat men were normal goats, but this place changed them. After generations, the flock began to stand on two feet and gained the musculature of men.

From my conversations with Logan and Emily, I learned the function of haunted houses and why they were allowed to exist. Without them, there would be far less qi in the world.

While I pondered the nature of haunted houses and spirit beasts, I took one step too far. The statue turned to face me, and its wings stretched out. A silver halo appeared in the sky, and the goatmen leaped from the roofs. My revolver was too slow to leave its holster when the angel’s stone-footed kick smashed me across the plantation’s lawn.

Black shadows shot across the yard, and I only recognized that they were dogs when one clamped its jaws on my dominant shoulder. I was a cultivator now, but these were legitimate spirit beasts further enhanced by the death of this manor’s residents. The horrible death rattle of a cultivator family large enough to be called a house formed a power block in the gestalt spiritual mass of the haunted house.

The sky lit up with dry lightning before a bolt shot down. I had a second to prepare myself before it struck. A bang resounded at the same time as a fist-sized hole opened in one of my attackers. I fished my skinning knife from my belt, serrated it with qi, and revved my mental qi engine. The serrated edge of qi cycled into movement as I drove its point into the side of the dog’s head. For a moment, the teeth locked before a pink slurry gushed out above my hand. I threw the dog’s nearly 250lbs corpse off of me as the lightning struck closer. I felt it gathering before it struck.

Before the pain hit, I reached out for my qi and tried to protect everything important. But, unfortunately, the electricity left me stunned long enough for two more dogs to bite into me. Then the goatmen came wielding fat tree branches as clubs. Without preamble, they beat me; I felt a two-handed hammer blow from the statue drive me into the dirt while Cain continued to fire shot after shot.

Another kick knocked me off my hands and knees, but my gun finally pulled free of my holder. One of the dogs yanked and rolled me over. The statue’s pupils dilated when our eyes met. It gave me enough pause to raise my revolver and put a .50 caliber round in its face. Stone exploded into powder as I thrust the blade of my knife into the back of a goatman’s head, severing its spine. Another shot by Cain finished the last dog off.

THE DUST CLEARED before I could get to my feet, revealing a very pissed-off statue with half its face missing. It kicked me, snapping a rib, and threw me spinning over the heads of the goatmen. An old oak caught me as I gasped for breath and struggled to my feet.

I sucked in an agonizing breath and let it out. More bullets began to fire as the other three picked off goatmen. Hopefully, they managed to harvest those peanuts; this fight was making me hungry. I grimaced as I stumbled to my feet.

The coalescence stage really was something else. I could take ten times the punishment and deal it back out with prejudice. Just thinking about how much stronger my battle form would be, gave me goosebumps. I could probably take that statue’s blows all day without feeling it in that form. The sheer insane power-up that form provided was mind-boggling. Too bad I couldn’t use it here. So I might as well be thinking, wow, I’d be so much stronger as a super Saiyan.

I bent my knees low and fell into the knife fighting stance Emily had beaten into me during our spars. Back then, I had been a mortal fighting a coalescence realm. This would be different.

My first step shot me past the goatmen front line giving me a surprise position amongst their ranks. I slammed my foot down on a goatman’s chest to slow my momentum. Then my knife blurred. The only thing I could hear was gunfire, the whirring cry of my qi engine, and the cry of goatmen. Once the goatmen in arm’s reach were dead, I stepped on the goatman underfoot and jumped off again.

The impact from my qi-powered step pulverized its chest. Then, just before I came into range of the statues, it leaped forward and held its arm out for a clothesline. I shifted directions and felt my joints scream in protest as I shifted my course. Turning even a few degrees put a shit ton of stress on my ligaments.

Gunfire from Cain didn’t have enough power behind it to put the statue down. It was almost like some kind of shield protected it. That’s when it hit me. It was so obvious I should have seen it.

The statue shielded itself with qi! Something like that was instinctual; I learned how to do it pretty well after getting the shit beat out of me by Emily. It still didn’t stop the statue from breaking my ribs or the dogs’ bites from hurting. That’s why my shoulder only hurt like hell instead of being a lump of useless flesh. That was really good to know.

I shot out both of its kneecaps with my revolver. Damn, the gun kicked like a mule even with my greater physiology. I guessed it would take time to really grow into my new strength. The angel statue fell as its knees gave out.

While it was distracted, I holstered my revolver and gripped my knife with both hands. The angel swiped in front of its face as if trying to knock away an invisible revolver. Its good eyes widened when it felt nothing but air and opportunity.

Qi flared beneath my feet, and I kicked off in a single fast step knife pressed forward and engine running full out. My knife slammed into the angel’s chest, and powdered rock blasted over my fists. I pulled down, opening a deep trench through the statue’s body, easily 6 inches deep and half an inch wide down the creature. Once my blade sliced a long line down, I turned off the engine and twisted the blade. With a crack, the creature’s chest opened.

A shot rang out, and the statue’s head exploded. It seemed the statue was too concerned about me opening its chest to care about shielding its head. After inspecting myself for any life-threatening injuries, I rejoined my group.

“The spirit nuts have been plundered and stored as you requested. But um, what are we going to do about this mess.” I looked over the bloody scene and shook my head.

“If we had time, I’d say we should cook and eat the spirit beasts. But, instead, we’re going to loot the mansion and then go to the next one. We have to investigate 10 tonight to meet our quota.” I flicked my cylinder open and replaced the three spent rounds. “Reload now while you can; that statue probably isn’t this place’s only guardian. Do any of you have any injuries?” I asked; the three guards and the Count’s heir shook their heads in the negative.

“Good, I don’t have any supplies to treat you if you get injured. I healed rather quickly and managed to block most of the damage with qi.” I said.

My body was also more durable now. Those blows from the statue would have crippled or outright killed a mortal 10 times over.

“Now the question is, did the enemy set that statue up or was it a natural defense developed by this place? I spotted a peach one of the looters missed and snatched it. Just by holding it, I could tell it was filled to the brim with qi. In the absence of the other fruit, it absorbed more nutrients than usual along with spiritual energy. I took a bite of it, relishing it's beyond sweet taste.