Chapter 448: Chapter 412: Thousand Faces
"What kind of Thousand-faced God?" Sang Que pressed further.
Zhang Junyao looked a bit puzzled by Sang Que’s sudden urgency, "I’ve never seen the Thousand-faced God either. I heard from that Liang San that in Bai Gou Village north of Sanchuan City, villagers suddenly started worshiping a mysterious Thousand-faced God who is said to grant every wish and is incredibly effective."
"Around Bai Gou Village, is there any chaotic burial mound or Yizhuang?"
Zhang Junyao’s eyes widened slightly, "How do you know? Indeed, there is a chaotic burial mound north of Sanchuan City. The government doesn’t allow bodies to be discarded casually, but the poor can’t afford firewood to cremate bodies, so they often discard them at night, gradually forming a chaotic burial mound."
"Liang San also told me that two or three months ago, a Yizhuang was built near the mound, managed by a hunchback who properly takes care of the bodies at reasonable prices. Wait—doesn’t this coincide with the appearance of the Thousand-faced God? Could there be a connection between the two?"
Sang Que quickly said, "Draw me the map of the chaotic burial mound’s location and the other two evil spirits’ positions. I’ll check the mound first and then help you capture the evil spirits."
Zhang Junyao nodded, "Do you need me to accompany you?"
"No need, I’ll find someone else to go with me. Since the Zhao Family is watching you, it’s safer for you to stay in the city."
"Alright, then wait a moment."
Zhang Junyao drew the map for Sang Que, thoughtfully attaching some silver notes and broken silver. Sang Que, still in the guise of the cloth store manager, left the grain store and drove the donkey cart straight to Yao Zhen’s fortune-telling stall.
Jia Liang came with a mission to investigate the situation in Sanchuan City. Cheng Ge, who had lived in Yunzhou for a long time, was very interested in the Central Plains. The two acted together, as long as they were careful not to provoke the two colonels of Jinzhou, others from the Evil Suppression Bureau could not catch them.
...
Following the directions on the map, it took a day and a half by horse to reach the chaotic burial mound near Bai Gou Village from Sanchuan City.
Sang Que found Yao Zhen near nightfall, left the donkey cart at the inn, and the two of them walked out of the city on foot.
After night fell, Sang Que released the Paper Macher, who used yellow paper imbued with incense to craft a paper horse and a paper cart. Upon burning the paper, the horse and cart became lifelike, almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Amazing!"
Yao Zhen jumped onto the horse, feeling around, sensing the pervasive yin energy on the cart that made it chilling to sit upon.
The Red Umbrella Ghost still held the red umbrella, appearing on the shaft of the cart to drive it, with four Ghost Slaves floating beside the carriage. At a word from Sang Que, the entire carriage sped away like the wind, traveling no slower than the flower sedan from before.
Within half an hour, the paper horse cart arrived at the chaotic burial mound.
The endless dark night echoed with the cries of Blood Crows. Sang Que jumped down from the cart, her gaze piercing through the tombstones and graves among the wild weeds, spotting a small blue-brick courtyard under a century-old dead tree. Not far from the courtyard, a flickering firelight could be seen, and the air was filled with a burnt flesh smell.
Yao Zhen followed behind Sang Que, scanning the area, and said, "This place is... very clean!"
Clean, meaning no evil spirits or ghosts lurking around. At night, in such a chaotic burial mound, that’s indeed unusual.
"Let’s have a look inside."
Sang Que took the lead, walking through the burial mound towards the Yizhuang. It wasn’t long before they saw an ugly hunchback furiously digging an abandoned grave with a hoe, collecting the white bones inside and tossing them into the cart behind him.
"Digging by day, digging by night, these bodies never end! People toss their ancestors around, absolutely heartless! Who’s there?"
The hunchback heard footsteps and looked up to see Sang Que and Yao Zhen.
His gaze lingered only a moment on Sang Que before settling on Yao Zhen, who was wearing a Daoist robe. The hunchback took a couple of steps back in fear.
Yao Zhen stepped forward with a friendly demeanor, "Infinite Taoist, my friend and I are just passing by, and as evening falls with nowhere to stay, could you offer us shelter for the night?"
The hunchback spoke with a buzz, "This is a Yizhuang, full of dead bodies; aren’t you afraid of the bad luck?"
Yao Zhen laughed, "A roof over our heads is enough."
The hunchback pondered for a moment, then furrowed his brows and nodded, quickly collecting the bones he had just dug up into the cart, leading the way without further comment.
Yao Zhen turned to glance at Sang Que, noticing a grey light flash across Sang Que’s eyes, and then the corners of her mouth curled into a smile. Yao Zhen was puzzled, but Sang Que said nothing, simply followed the hunchback.
The hunchback led them to the entrance of the Yizhuang, lifting the door for them, "There’s no one else inside; go in by yourselves. I’m going to burn these bones."
Having said that, the hunchback pushed the cart towards the place with firelight; his task was to clear the burial mound and burn all these unclaimed bodies so that the accumulation of bones wouldn’t spawn evil spirits.
In the front yard of the Yizhuang, coffins were all sealed with talisman paper. Yao Zhen couldn’t make anything out of it, but Sang Que, through her Ghost Eye, saw that the coffins were filled with intact human skins of men, women, old, young, from all walks of life.
She had just used the Ghost Eye to check the hunchback and didn’t find anything unusual, seeing only real past events of the hunchback. However, she noticed a familiar abacus in the hunchback’s possession, confirming that this guy was indeed Hua Qianmian.
Hua Qianmian being alive was a good thing. She had clearly entered Ghost Level, with disguises sophisticated enough to be undetectable even to the Ghost Eye.
The human skins in these coffins in the courtyard were surely the bodies Hua Qianmian had used as disguises.
"Is this the Thousand Faces you’re looking for?" Yao Zhen whispered to Sang Que.
Sang Que nodded, "Close enough."
Seeing a water vat in the courtyard, Sang Que walked over, scooped some water, took out a small bottle of makeup remover oil, and slowly washed away the makeup, restoring her original appearance.
Once clean, Sang Que and Yao Zhen stood in the front yard waiting. It wasn’t long before the hunchback returned, pushing the cart.
"Can’t even get some peace at night..."
His words caught short when he walked in and saw Sang Que standing in the courtyard, his body jolting, eyes widening.
Sang Que smiled, "Long time no see, Thousand Faces."
Just as Sang Que’s words fell, the hunchback in front of her suddenly deflated, turning into a human skin that fell to the ground. Simultaneously, the lid of a nearby coffin was pushed open aggressively, and a girl around Sang Que’s age sat up, her eyes filled with delight.
"Sang Mulan!"
Hua Qianmian was very excited, but she still spoke in a low voice, afraid to shout too loudly. She emerged from the coffin, quickly ran to Sang Que, scrutinizing her with disbelief.
"I thought you had already..."
Sang Que replied, "I thought you..."
Both tacitly avoided uttering that inauspicious word.
"Come on, let’s sit inside; tonight you must tell me everything that happened after Wangshan City’s incident. By the way, that scholar surnamed Liu? I noticed some anomalies when I woke up; is he still alive too?"
Hua Qianmian tugged Sang Que towards the main hall of the Yizhuang, suddenly realizing that Yao Zhen was still standing nearby. Hua Qianmian paused to stare at Yao Zhen.
"I noticed earlier that you looked familiar. On the night of the ghost disaster in Wangshan City, didn’t I see you outside the city blocking the Ghost Coffin procession alone?"
Sang Que was hearing about this for the first time, looked towards Yao Zhen in surprise.
Yao Zhen appeared calm, hands inside his sleeves, "Just trifling matters not worth mentioning."
Sang Que chuckled, sensing a subtle air of someone ’hiding one’s skills and fame’ on Yao Zhen.
