Immortalis

Yin Residence 11

Seeing this, Shen Qingshi and Zhou Huai immediately gave chase, while Yang Wujian rushed back to his room, only to find the greased paper that had wrapped the roast chicken scattered on the table, while the roast chicken itself had vanished without a trace.

Did this thing come just for a bite to eat?

Yang Wujian froze for a moment, as if realizing something. Just then, Zhou Huai's cursing came from the courtyard outside: "How is this ghostly thing so light on its feet? I was just a step behind—if I hadn't bumped into someone, I would've caught it for sure."

A ghost in wedding attire, roast chicken, crawling on all fours, yet highly skilled in martial arts.

Yang Wujian took a soft breath and turned to leave the room. Shen Qingshi asked, "What did it come to your room for?"

"Nothing was stolen. I don't know if it was trying to scare us away. It seems the Tongueless Ghost still has its eyes on the Xue family."

Yang Wujian gave a bitter smile. "But it picked the wrong room if it wanted to scare someone. Young Master Zhou's room is right next door."

This time, Shen Qingshi fell silent for a long moment before suddenly saying, "That day at the Yin Residence, didn't you think that thing appeared very suddenly?"

"Suddenly?"

"Although it moves quickly, it can't appear and disappear out of thin air. We lost it just now because we bumped into someone, but that day at the Yin Residence, as soon as we entered the courtyard, it seemed to materialize out of nowhere and follow us."

Seeing the Tongueless Ghost again, Shen Qingshi recalled the events of that day and felt something was off.

With her hearing, if that thing had come from outside the residence, she would have noticed.

Yet the Tongueless Ghost's footsteps had appeared out of nowhere. At one point, they even vanished, making her and Yang Wujian let their guard down, which led to Zhou Huai encountering the ghost alone and falling ill.

Zhou Huai understood what she meant. "Indeed, that day at the Yin Residence, that thing was elusive, as if it could hide its tracks at will. Several times when I went looking, I could only sense its presence but never saw it."

Yang Wujian frowned. "So you're saying someone is renovating that residence not just to play tricks, but because there might be something hidden there that hasn't been discovered yet..."

The three exchanged glances and, almost in unison, rushed out together.

Returning to the Yin Residence, Yang Wujian finally understood the spirit wall that had puzzled them before.

The concept of a round heaven and square earth usually distinguishes above from below, but the Yin Residence's spirit wall showed the earth directly enveloping the heaven, meaning the heaven was underground.

Ironically, since the deaths occurred, this place had transformed from a Yang Residence directly into a Yin Residence. Yet for all these years, no one had known that beneath this Yang Residence, the true "Yin Residence" might be hidden.

The three carefully searched the area and soon found a movable stone slab concealed by overgrown weeds in the second courtyard where Zhou Huai had been in danger and fallen ill.

Yang Wujian chuckled. "Young Master, I take it you don't want to stay up here alone this time?"

Zhou Huai silently took his green pill, his meaning clear.

Without hesitation, Shen Qingshi exerted strength and lifted the stone slab. Instantly, a musty odor wafted out. Shen Qingshi reached her hand down—there was a draft below, meaning it wouldn't explode if exposed to fire.

"No wonder that thing came and went without a trace that day."

Descending underground, Zhou Huai was immediately stunned by the vast scene before him, his eyes wide with astonishment.Who would have thought that right beneath the upper courtyard lay an entire underground cellar? Last time, their attention had been completely drawn to the incense candles and yellow paper on the ground, never noticing that the entire inner courtyard had actually been hollowed out.

"The leftover materials from the house repairs are all here."

Yang Wujian's torch illuminated the wooden scraps in the corner as he frowned and said, "Or perhaps what they were truly repairing was this place underground. This is the biggest secret of this estate."

The cellar was silent. The three began moving deeper inside and soon discovered many discarded iron cages, each large enough to hold a person, hung with heavy Mysterious Iron locks—as if they had once confined some massive ferocious beasts.

Zhou Huai immediately made the connection, his face paling: "Could these be..."

"These are the cages for the Cage Play. Even a small troupe needs space to set up tents and arrange cages. Without sufficient space, they couldn't perform. This place was likely their performance ground."

Shen Qingshi knocked on the surrounding stone slabs—they were extremely hard and thick. It seemed even if ferocious beasts were locked in these cages underground, no one would hear a sound.

Yang Wujian remarked, "No wonder the families of those four never knew what they were doing outside. The location is so hidden, outside the city—ordinary people would never come here."

The three proceeded to the deepest part, where they finally saw several tattered quilts scattered on the ground, as if someone had been living there not long ago.

Shen Qingshi said, "The so-called Tongueless Ghost knew all along there was another level beneath the estate... Indeed, it's connected to the Cage Play."

Meanwhile, Yang Wujian thought of his mysteriously vanished roast chicken, and his heart sank.

Reaching the innermost room, they found not only ventilation shafts but also dug-out drainage channels. On the walls were iron rings clearly resembling shackles, surrounded by splatters of black stains—just the sight was enough to send chills down one's spine.

Zhou Huai shuddered: "This place is like a dungeon. Come to think of it, my father once built something similar..."

"Young Master, we've seen the cages. Surely you don't still think this place was for raising chickens and ducks?"

Yang Wujian ran his hand over the stone table in the center of the room, its four corners nailed with iron rings—clearly used to shackle limbs. Just from the discoloration of the stone, it was evident the area had been soaked in blood, so much so that even after ten years, a strong metallic scent could still be detected up close.

He frowned: "What were they doing here? According to what that shopkeeper said, although the Northern Desert's Cage Play is cruel and ominous, it only requires taking some medicine. Why would there be so much blood?"

"Come here."

Shen Qingshi, who had been inspecting another area, suddenly called out. Zhou Huai instinctively moved to follow but was pulled back by Yang Wujian: "Wait until I've finished looking. I'm already afraid of you, Young Master."

Yang Wujian knew perfectly well—such extensive bloodstains meant many people must have died here. Yet they hadn't found a single skeleton, which defied logic.

Sure enough, when he joined Shen Qingshi, the torchlight revealed countless scattered bones piled haphazardly in the deepest part of the cellar. At first glance, they weren't just human bones—many belonged to wild beasts as well.

"What do you think?"Zhou Huai asked with trembling fear. While Yang Wujian was still pondering how to respond, Shen Qingshi had already drawn her sword and began sifting through the bones on the ground.

"Many human limb bones—both fore and hind—are broken, and judging by their size, they should all be from children."

Facing the mountain of white bones, Shen Qingshi didn't even furrow her brow: "But the animal bones are all intact... likely from large wild beasts, like jackals, wolves, tigers, or leopards."

At this moment, Zhou Huai could no longer contain his curiosity and slowly shuffled over. Yet the moment he saw the pile of bones, his mind felt as if sharply pierced by a needle. He vaguely recalled a dark, gaping hole with a twisted, pale face hidden inside. Zhou Huai couldn't bear such a sight—he immediately gasped sharply and spun around abruptly.

"What's wrong, young master? Don't tell me you're about to have another episode?"

Yang Wujian was truly fed up with him. Seeing this, he immediately pushed Zhou Huai away, only to notice him clutching his head and muttering softly, "When I was little, my father did build a dungeon, even more airtight than this one. What was it called again... what was it called..."

Zhou Huai strained to remember but couldn't recall no matter how hard he tried.

"Your father was a master craftsman—it wouldn't be strange for him to build anything."

Yang Wujian didn't understand what he was so hung up about and simply deftly retrieved the medicine bottle from Zhou Huai's person, adding, "If you're sick, take your medicine. Don't wait until you have an episode to expect others to save you. Let me tell you, if there's a next time, I won't go easy on you."

Only after taking the medicine did the needle-like stabbing sensation in Zhou Huai's head finally begin to fade somewhat.

He gazed at the mountain of bones with lingering fear: "What was this dungeon used to imprison? Their Cage Play is already different from the Northern Desert people's version, isn't it? What could they possibly use children and wild beasts for?"

By then, Shen Qingshi had carefully examined all the bones on the ground. A vague suspicion had formed in her mind. She stood up and said, "Both the beasts and the children were likely skinned."

"What?"

Yang Wujian was startled, only to see Shen Qingshi use her sword tip to nudge out an animal leg bone, explaining, "There are cut marks on the bones around the shin and Achilles tendon area. Typically, skinning animals starts from the hind limbs. The skin around the shin and Achilles tendon is thin—applying force easily leaves scratches on the bone. I just saw two or three bones with clear knife cut marks, meaning they were all skinned—whether beasts or children."

She paused in thought, then turned her gaze to the stone table nearby: "Moreover, skinning requires making an incision first, and the body needs to be stretched taut. These four iron rings on the stone table were used to flatten the body. However, if skinning a dead animal, hanging it would be most convenient—you wouldn't even need iron rings for fixation."

"So you mean..."

Yang Wujian instantly understood her implication, a chill running down his spine: "If they were already dead, there'd be no need for fixation at all. Unless... they were skinned alive."

Zhou Huai's face immediately turned a shade paler, and he instinctively retreated several steps away from the platform. Yang Wujian and Shen Qingshi exchanged glances—both had arrived at the same conjecture simultaneously.

"The iron rings on the wall were used to hang corpses. Only one was needed because when the skinning occurred, the beasts were already dead."Yang Wujian walked up to the stone table. The bloodstains had already seeped deep into the stone, making it impossible to determine how many people had died here.

He said softly, "But those lying on this table were skinned alive. Not only that, some even had their limbs broken. There's only one thing in this world that requires doing this to children."

Both he and Shen Qingshi had seen it before.

When they were young, wandering the streets, there were always people who would try every means—using a cold steamed bun or a hawthorn berry—to lure them into the dark depths of alleyways.

"Life Harvesting and Dismemberment."

Shen Qingshi said coldly, "Peeling off animal hides is to make those children with broken limbs wear them. The reason for removing part of the children's skin and flesh is to make the animal hides 'grow' better on their bodies, turning them into speaking jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards... The butcher among them must be the one doing this work."

"These damned bastards have completely distorted the original meaning of Cage Play. Or perhaps, to earn more silver, having madmen spout nonsense couldn't satisfy those officials. They needed the 'caged beasts' to truly obey and say what the other party wanted to hear, so they could make a fortune."

The sound of Yang Wujian gritting his teeth was clearly audible.

He finally understood why Tongueless Ghost had targeted Xue Mingchang.

In times of chaos, it might have been easier to snatch one or two children off the streets. However, as the military unrest ended and Emperor Yong Zhao ushered in another era of peace and prosperity, randomly abducting children on the streets would easily draw official attention.

Xue Mingchang had served as the county magistrate here for a full twelve years.

With so many children missing, and bones piled mountain-high in the haunted mansion, how could he not have noticed?

Thinking of this, Yang Wujian couldn't help but slam his palm onto the blood-soaked old stone table. Furious to the extreme, he laughed bitterly.

"It seems we'll have to get tough with that old bastard."