14: Chapter 14 Who Writes a Diary If They're a Serious Person?

Mr. Xiangli walked out from behind the shelves, carrying two sets of folded coarse cloth clothes in his hands: "These are the clothes of the Mohists, take them."

Wu Xi felt another familiar stabbing pain shoot up from his Dantian, as if someone thousands of miles away was pulling on his Meridians with a thread.

Niu Fei grabbed an axe from the corner and walked over, the blade glinting with a greyish-blue hue in the workshop's firelight: "What's wrong? Your face looks terrible."

"You're alright?" Wu Xi tucked his hands into his sleeves, his eyes still holding traces of surprise. Niu Fei looked blankly: "What thing?"

"You blockhead, you're truly tough." Wu Xi gave a bitter smile.

Mr. Xiangli interrupted the two of them, pointing at the axe in Niu Fei's palm: "That axe weighs three jin and six liang; if it feels right in your hand, take it."

Niu Fei lifted the axe with one hand and slashed at the empty air, the wind whistling. He gave a simple, honest smile: "It fits, it fits perfectly."

Wu Xi packed the clothes into his bundle and bowed to Mr. Xiangli: "Many thanks, Mr. Xiangli, we must be going."

"Wait." Mr. Xiangli fished a wooden tablet from under the counter, "Take this to the county office and collect some dry rations."

The two thanked him and left the workshop's main gate. They went to the county office first to collect the food—a few jin of roasted millet, wrapped in oil paper.

Mr. Xiangli stood at the workshop entrance, watching their retreating figures disappear around the street corner.

"Against Fate, valuing strength, an innocent heart..." He muttered softly, "It has been a long time since I've seen these two traits."

He turned back into the room, the corners of his mouth lifting: "I hope you can give the Mohist school a little surprise."

Wu Xi and Niu Fei exited the city gates and walked along the dirt road toward the mountains. After walking about two li, Wu Xi suddenly slowed his pace, his ears twitching.

"We're being followed." He lowered his voice, "Ten people; they've been tailing us ever since we left the city."

Niu Fei gripped the axe handle: "Fellow workers from the mine?" "Hmm." Wu Xi narrowed his eyes, "Perfect, let's take them to Aunt Mei's place to play."

The two suddenly quickened their pace, their figures flashing as they turned into a small, overgrown path to the side.

"We've been discovered!" The scholar's expression darkened, and the group tailing them immediately broke into a sprint.

However, when they rounded that earthen slope, only a solitary thatched cottage remained in front of them; the two from just before had vanished without a trace, like ghosts.

"Young Master," a subordinate crouching on the ground pointed at the mud, "The footprints lead straight to Aunt Mei's ghost house; they can't escape."

The scholar held his spear horizontally across his chest, the tip of the long spear gleaming coldly in the twilight, and sneered: "Two idiots, courting death. The Cave Master has ordered that they be taken alive."

Before the words had even faded, he strode forward and kicked open the precarious wooden door.

"Creak." It was dim inside the room; Aunt Mei was sitting right on the chair in the center, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

She raised her head, a strange smile blooming on her wrinkled face: "The little brats are back... no, wait, why are you all here to join the fun?"

Boom! The doors and windows slammed shut instantly, and the scene inside the room twisted like the surface of water. Over a dozen giant striped tigers surged out from the walls, the ground, and the rafters.

"...Tiger Ghosts." The scholar's voice was as heavy as lead, "It's a Tiger Ghost illusion, form up!"

"Forget it, since you've come, don't leave. Let's get this over with quickly." Aunt Mei's voice drifted through the room.

The ten subordinates were well-trained, instantly forming a circular formation, their blades shining like snow. The flesh on the scholar's forehead suddenly squirmed, splitting open into a bloody slit—shing! Golden light erupted, the Heavenly Eye opened, and the battle began!

However, as the blade light and tiger shadows intertwined, flesh and blood flew; four subordinates had their throats torn open almost instantly, blood spraying onto the earthen walls.

"Ah!" Another scream rang out, and the group turned back in horror to see one of their companions in the center of the formation standing still, a bowl-sized bloody hole ripped open in his chest, his heart already missing.

The scholar's eyes were wide with rage, and he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, "Break for me!" His Heavenly Eye glared, and a beam of golden light as thick as a bowl shot out, blasting straight toward the roof.

The mist tore apart like rags, and the giant tigers let out screams so sharp they pierced the eardrums before dissolving into green smoke.

At the same time, the blade of the subordinate in front of the scholar swung toward him in a strange manner; he roared, brandishing his spear as the golden light swept across...

A moment later, three subordinates had already been cut in half by their own side, their severed limbs still twitching on the ground. Aunt Mei had also been pierced through the right chest by the long spear and pinned to the wall, but she wasn't bleeding; only thick, ink-like black Qi bubbled out from the wound.

The scholar knelt on the ground, covered in blood, his left arm hanging at a strange angle, a transparent bloody hole in his chest where one could even see the squirming organs inside. Most terrifying was the Heavenly Eye on his forehead, which had become a black hole, with tears of blood streaming out like a spring.

"Hah... hah..." His flesh squirmed frantically under his super-strong self-healing ability, attempting to knit together, but the black Qi was like maggots in the bone, tearing it open again every time it tried to heal.

Yet the scholar grinned with his bloody mouth, laughing neurotically: "Good... a truly good Tiger Ghost..." The two remaining subordinates rushed over trembling, supporting his swaying form.

From behind a broken wall, Wu Xi strolled out and stopped in front of the scholar. He looked at the other man's tattered martial attire and the bloody hole in his forehead, sneering: "Wearing mourning clothes and opening a Heavenly Eye, do you really think you're Erlang Shen?"

Niu Fei casually waved his hand nearby, and the heads of the other two subordinates rolled onto the ground. He gave a simple, honest grin and kicked the scholar in the chest, sending him tumbling away.

Aunt Mei had already shifted down from the wall, half of her body looking like a broken ragdoll.

"My two darlings..." Her voice sounded like sandpaper rubbing against dry bones, "Don't rush, it's your turn now."

As soon as Aunt Mei finished speaking, the black Qi in her wounds exploded. It was like pouring cold water into a boiling wok of oil, crackling and popping loudly.

Those Tiger Ghost fragments that had been scattered by the scholar earlier crawled out from the cracks in the walls, the ground, and the rafters, swarming onto her like locusts. In the blink of an eye, Aunt Mei's entire body swelled up, and beneath her skin were countless squirming human faces.

Niu Fei stomped his right foot down hard, cracking the blue bricks into eight pieces, and charged forward with his head lowered. The phantom images of two ox horns above his head solidified, glowing with a brass-colored light, and the air was pushed aside with a low, whistling thud.

The axe came down with the wind, and Aunt Mei raised her hand.

Her left hand, which was still relatively intact, suddenly turned into a mass of black mist, with dozens of mouths gnawing inside the mist. The axe blade hacked into the mist as if hacking into rotten cotton, its force instantly completely neutralized. The veins on Niu Fei's arms bulged, his face flushed red, but the axe wouldn't go down even an inch.

"What great strength," Aunt Mei tilted her head, her neck making a cracking sound, "It's a pity that Aunt Mei doesn't eat strength, I eat this."

The black Qi crawled up the axe handle and instantly wrapped around Niu Fei's wrist. His expression changed, his knees softened, and he nearly collapsed.

"Let go!" Wu Xi rushed out from the side, plunging his hands straight into Aunt Mei's waist. At the same time, Tentacle Lady coiled toward Aunt Mei's neck.

Aunt Mei shrieked like ten tigers howling at once. She let go of the axe, and her whole body exploded into black mist. Wu Xi's hands grabbed nothing but air, but Tentacle Lady changed direction mid-air and thrust into the mass of mist.

"Got you!" Wu Xi gritted his teeth tightly, and instantly countless voices screamed in his ears: "Come down and join us!" "It's so cold, it's so cold underground!"

A nosebleed streamed down Wu Xi's face and into his mouth. Niu Fei seized the opportunity to regrip his axe, spinning and sweeping, the silver-bright axe light drawing a circle as he slashed at Aunt Mei's waist.

Aunt Mei was bound by the Tentacles and got stuck halfway through turning into mist, so she could only block with her arm. With a clang, sparks splashed onto Niu Fei's face.

Aunt Mei was jolted off the ground, and Wu Xi seized the chance to pull back on the Tentacles, suspending her in mid-air.

"Now!" Wu Xi roared until his throat cracked.

He pressed his fingers together like a blade and thrust them into Aunt Mei's chest with a squelch. Tentacle Lady seized the opportunity to coil upward, one turn, two turns, three turns, strangling her neck and tightening further and further.

Aunt Mei finally panicked.

"Ram her!" Wu Xi shouted, his mouth full of blood. Niu Fei had been waiting. He lowered his head, the phantom image of the ox horns on his forehead glowing blindingly bright, took half a step back, stomped a pit into the ground with his right foot, and then—

Boom! He rammed his head into Aunt Mei's stomach.

The sound of the ox horns piercing flesh was dull, like poking a hole in a water-filled leather bag. A hole opened in Aunt Mei's stomach, and black Qi hissed out.

She was in excruciating pain; she gave up struggling and suddenly grabbed Niu Fei's shoulders, her ten fingernails piercing into his flesh and digging into his collarbones.

Niu Fei's body stiffened, his eyes rolled back, and his face instantly turned ashen. Niu Fei felt something being dragged out from his forehead, his limbs went weak, his knees buckled, and he looked like he was about to kneel.

Wu Xi saw Niu Fei's pupils dilating. "Snap it for me!" Ignoring the screaming of the Tiger Ghosts in his mind, he pressed all his strength onto Tentacle Lady.

Tentacle Lady's muscles tightened, strangling into Aunt Mei's neck, digging into the gaps between her bones.

Crack. The first sound, the cervical spine broke. Aunt Mei's head lolled to the side, hanging on her shoulder, her mouth still open, but she could no longer bite.

Crack, crack. The second and third sounds, the bones in her neck shattered inch by inch. Black Qi sprayed out from her severed neck, rushing onto the Tentacles and corroding the remaining half of the Tentacles until the white bone was exposed.

Wu Xi shuddered all over from the pain, his teeth chattering, but Tentacle Lady only tightened further, nearly strangling that head right off.

Aunt Mei's limbs were still twitching, but slower and slower. Her body began to deflate like a leaking ball, her skin and flesh collapsing to reveal the skeleton frame formed from black Qi inside.

Her eye sockets glared at Wu Xi one last time, filled with resentment, then dimmed. She stopped moving, the Tentacles released, and Aunt Mei's corpse dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

Wu Xi's legs went soft, and he knelt on the ground, gasping for breath. He turned his head to look at Niu Fei; Niu Fei was lying on the gravel ground, his chest still rising and falling, but his face was ashen.

Wu Xi turned back to look at Aunt Mei; the remains were lying quietly, but suddenly they began to turn to ash from the severed neck, and in the end, only a pool of foul-smelling black water remained.

"Search and see what else is in this old witch's room."

Wu Xi kicked away the broken chair beside him. Niu Fei gave a grunt of acknowledgment and walked to the corner, lifting a tattered sack, inside of which were stacked several piles of account books, dusty and yellowing.

He picked them up and flipped through them; the paper had a slight waxy feel, likely a waterproof and fireproof material.

"Wu Xi," Niu Fei stared at the booklet, his brow furrowing, "Does this aunt love writing a diary?"

Wu Xi sneered: "Who writes a diary if they're a serious person? This old witch recording this every day, she's definitely hiding something."

He flipped open a page with his finger, "March 15th, delivered twelve males, eight females. April 2nd, six children, three hundred taels of silver."

"This is... an account of human trafficking?"

His finger stopped on a certain page, where two words appeared repeatedly on the edge. One was "King", the other was "Cave Master". The ink depth varied, as if written at different times.

There were also a few lines of small characters, written in a sloppy hand: "The King demands that this month's quota be doubled."

"Damn," Niu Fei leaned over to take a look and cursed aloud, "There's even a mastermind behind the scenes." Wu Xi finished reading, closed the booklet, and tucked it into his robes.

"Let's get out of here first," Wu Xi turned to look at the door, "That scholar—"

A sound came from outside the door; the scholar had stood up.

The bowl-sized bloody hole in his chest was still there, but the granulation tissue at the edge of the hole was squirming, crawling toward the center like worms.

His face was pale to the point of being blue, and his lips were dry and cracked. "Next time, you won't escape," he said, then turned and ran.

Wu Xi hurriedly chased after him; he couldn't let the other party go back to report the news, otherwise there would truly be no peace in the future.

The two rushed out the door and chased into the Dead Bones Marsh, where everything around them was mud and tree stumps. Wu Xi held on tight, neither widening nor closing the distance.

They soon reached the bank of the Heizhuo River. The scholar didn't stop when he reached the bank and leaped straight into the water. With a splash, water sprayed three feet high, and the black waves swallowed him.

Wu Xi looked at the pitch-black river water; bubbles from the scholar sinking were still rising on the surface. He cursed under his breath, gritted his teeth, and followed him in.

Wu Xi closed his eyes, his whole body engulfed in darkness, his ears filled with the gurgling sound of water, unable to distinguish up, down, left, or right.

--- Deep in the King Ridge of Dai Mountain, in a gloomy Immortal Cave.

The King opened its eyes abruptly and looked down at its right hand. A black vein on the back of its hand was deflating, its color fading and gradually disappearing.

It sat motionless, the veins on its neck bulging, sensing that the Tiger Ghost that had followed it for twenty years had experienced Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

"Little Mei is dead, but the business cannot stop." The King narrowed its eyes, "I would like to see who has eaten the heart of a bear and the gallbladder of a leopard to dare this."