Chapter 55: The Truth Behind the Massacre
The moment Li Yan spoke, Wang Daoxuan immediately became alert. “Stench of corpses? Is there a zombie?”
Zombies were not easy to deal with, especially deep within the mountains. After absorbing moonlight and killing qi over long periods of time, they became impervious to blades and spears. Even severing their heads would not stop them from attacking; their souls had to be completely destroyed.
Li Yan shook his head. “No, just dead people. You guys stay here. I’ll go take a look.”
After speaking, he crouched and slipped soundlessly into the undergrowth.
Coo... Coo...
Not long afterward, a birdcall echoed in the distance. It was the signal they had agreed upon beforehand. Two calls meant it was safe. Three meant danger and everyone else was to hide themselves.
Wang Daoxuan and the others hurried to the source of the voice. Guided by Zhao Luzi, they quickly found Li Yan.
He was bent over beneath an old tree, examining a corpse. The body had already decomposed heavily. Blackened muscle had mixed together with mud, and after drying and shriveling, exposed rows of ghastly white teeth. The appearance was extremely horrifying.
Sha Lifei glanced at the concealed wooden platform hidden among the branches and said, “A bandit lookout post. How come no one even collected the body?”
As he spoke, he reached out as though intending to inspect it.
Li Yan stopped him with a grave expression before pointing around the corpse. “Don’t touch it!”
There were numerous dead insects and ants nearby. Even several rats had died farther away.
“What vicious poison...” Sha Lifei sucked in a cold breath. “No wonder wild beasts never dragged the corpse away.”
Li Yan stood up and sniffed the air several more times before saying solemnly, “This bandit stronghold was probably wiped out long ago. Let’s see what happened.”
The others did not object and quietly advanced toward the bandit hideout under cover of night.
They were not merely investigating out of curiosity. Yan Laojiu’s bandit gang had survived repeated military suppression campaigns, which meant they were not easy opponents. Yet they had been killed off silently. If they could determine the cause, then should some strange evil spirit be lurking about, they would at least be prepared when heading to Leopard Ravine later.
With Zhao Luzi and Li Yan present, the pitch-black forest posed no obstacle at all. They encountered several more corpses along the way. Some had died from poison just like the first. Others, however, had been torn apart by wild beasts, indicating they had not been poisoned.
Very soon, the bandit hideout appeared before them. It was built upon a cliffside, with rammed-earth walls and crude wooden watchtowers. The entire place looked rough and primitive.
The whole place was permeated by an overwhelming stench of corpses. The gates stood wide open. Inside was utter chaos, with bodies scattered everywhere. A rough count showed forty or fifty corpses, all lying on the ground clutching their weapons.
“Shh!” Sha Lifei suddenly signaled for silence. Pointing toward a large building on the right side of the stronghold, he whispered, “Listen. What’s that sound?”
The dead silence of midnight blanketed the hideout beneath pale moonlight. Though the interior of the building was pitch black, strange squishing sounds echoed from within.
It was like someone smacking their lips while eating.
Suddenly, the sounds stopped.
Creak...
The wooden door slowly opened, and something crawled out. Wild hair covered its face as it painfully dragged itself forward with both hands.
It only had half a body. Under the moonlight, the sight was indescribably horrifying.
Cold sweat instantly formed on Sha Lifei’s forehead. He jumped behind Wang Daoxuan and stammered, “W-what the hell is that?!”
“Relax. If it were a wandering spirit, you wouldn’t be able to see it.” Li Yan shook his head grimly. “It’s a person.”
“A person?” The moment he heard that, Sha Lifei immediately regained his nerve. Furious, he stormed forward while cursing. “What’s wrong with you?! Pretending to be some damned ghost in the middle of the night—”
As he spoke, he grabbed the figure by the head.
Beneath the tangled hair, both eyes had become empty black sockets. The face was withered and skeletal, making him resemble a ghost more than a living man.
Sha Lifei froze. “Commander Zhao?!”
The only living person left in the stronghold was none other than Zhao Cheng. This senior disciple of the Zhao Fist and head guard of the Lu Manor had both of his eyes gouged out and both legs severed. He had survived alone within the stronghold like a vengeful ghost.
Wang Daoxuan and Li Yan exchanged glances. Hadn’t Commander Zhao supposedly betrayed his master, colluded with the red-robed concubine, and fled with stolen money? Why had he appeared here?
After learning their identities, Zhao Cheng first expressed shock that they had survived the calamity, then began explaining everything hoarsely and furiously. “Cuilan and I were both forced into it! The real traitor was the bitch in white!
“She called herself Yulian, though that was definitely a fake name. Thinking back now, all her methods clearly belonged to the Black Enchantress branch of the Yan Sect!”
Li Yan immediately fell into thought. The Feng, Ma, Yan, and Que sects of the unorthodox faction were made up of swindlers.
Those in the Feng Sect usually organized fraud rings, while the Ma Sect consisted of lone veteran con artists. Those in the Yan Sect used feminine beauty to deceive others. As for the Que Sect, they were professional criminal syndicates.
The Feng, Ma, and Que Sects usually only sought wealth. The Yan branch, however, had no restraints whatsoever. Their methods were sophisticated, and they freely deceived, robbed, and murdered.
As for the Black Enchantress branch of the Yan Sect, it referred specifically to young women whose methods fell into two categories.
The first involved using four or five year old children who would pretend to be lost. Compassionate people would then bring the crying child home. Later, a woman claiming to be the child’s mother would arrive asking after the child. After tearfully thanking the household and retrieving the child, she would return the next day bearing gifts in gratitude, secretly noting down valuables and escape routes. That same night, thieves would strike.
The second method used beautiful young women pretending to flee abusive husbands or in-laws. Acting pitiful and helpless, they earned sympathy from wealthy households and stayed as servants for several days. Once familiar with the place, they would coordinate with accomplices outside and rob the family from within.
Some older members of the Liu Sect knew their tricks but found them difficult to expose openly, so they instead wrote ghost stories about fox spirits and evil ghosts wearing human skins to infiltrate households. The so-called “painted skin” was precisely that, a beautiful exterior hiding the heart of a demon.
Naturally, there was an even more ruthless method.
A beautiful woman would first marry into a wealthy family. Then she would summon large numbers of Yan Sect sisters who would indulge the wealthy man in endless pleasures day and night. Before long, the man would die from exhaustion, and the women would openly seize his fortune.
Sha Lifei asked curiously, “The Black Enchantress branch usually only steals money. Why would they cooperate with bandits?”
Zhao Cheng laughed bitterly. “Cuilan and I were secretly involved. Yulian said she would drug the master unconscious so we could flee together at night. At the time, we even felt grateful to her.
“After the bandits entered the estate, they slaughtered everyone. Then they forced Master Lu to reveal the whereabouts of an ancient painting. Terrified, Master Lu led them to the treasure vault. But unfortunately, the painting had already been stolen by Yulian, who had vanished without a trace.
“Later, when we reported the matter to the authorities, we were all being coerced by the bandits. They forced us to eat poison while keeping people nearby to watch us. Their goal was to lure Yulian into revealing herself! When that failed, Yan Laojiu dragged us into the mountains, chopped off my legs, and skinned Cuilan alive. He’s a damn beast!”
At that point, Zhao Cheng burst into loud sobbing. Seeing the once proud and spirited man reduced to something neither human nor ghost, everyone felt a chill in their hearts.
Li Yan steadied himself and looked around. “What happened here afterward?”
Zhao Cheng muttered weakly, “I don’t know. They gouged out my eyes and tortured me for amusement every day. I had long since stopped wishing to live. One night, the bandits suddenly erupted into panic. Someone screamed about a Crowned Serpent Spirit, then chaos broke out. In less than half an hour, everyone was dead.
“I heard a man approach afterward and ask me what had happened. I truthfully recounted everything. He said I deserved this punishment for betraying my master and that I should experience such suffering myself. Then he left.
“I survived by catching rats that fed on corpses and eating them. The only reason I endured was to ensure the truth of Gushui Village would someday be revealed! The people involved included several Guanzhong Plains bandit groups and Shandong bandits. I overheard them say they had gathered under orders from a man in the capital called Master Luo!”
After speaking, he suddenly burst into desperate laughter. “Master, this disciple has failed you!”
The moment he finished, he gathered all his remaining strength and slammed his head against a rock. His skull burst open, brains splattering everywhere as he finally breathed his last.
The others merely shook their heads without stopping him. The man had already lived like a vengeful ghost. Now that his final wish had been fulfilled, he likely no longer had any desire to continue living.
“Crowned Serpent Spirit?” Sha Lifei suddenly spoke up. “Could it be the same one we encountered on the road?”
Still visibly shaken by the bizarre massacre, Zhao Luzi shook his head. “Crowned Serpent Spirits usually dwell within ancient tombs. My father once told me that some hidden seekers inherit evil techniques capable of controlling Crowned Serpent Spirits.”
Sha Lifei shuddered violently. “Damn it, this whole thing sounds cursed as hell. What kind of painting could stir up so much trouble? It must be worth a fortune!”
“No matter how valuable, it remains a source of calamity.” Wang Daoxuan shook his head. “Let’s leave. This happened quite some time ago. Whoever did it has likely already gone. We shouldn’t linger for too long here.”
Li Yan nodded. Then he formed another hand seal again, enduring the overwhelming stench of corpses as he took a deep breath and pointed toward the main hall of the stronghold. “Uncle Sha, there’s something valuable buried beneath the tree to the right of the hall!”
Sha Lifei knew well what Li Yan’s abilities were capable of. His eyes instantly lit up. Grabbing the iron pick strapped to his back, he rushed over. After a furious bout of digging, the sound of metal striking metal rang out.
Buried beneath the earth was a small chest barely half a foot long. At first Sha Lifei looked disappointed, but the moment he smashed apart the iron lock and opened the chest, his eyes widened in shock.
“We’ve struck it rich...”
Inside the chest were neatly arranged rows of little gold bars.
