Immortalis

Death Hex Twelve

Having grown up in sunless places, Yang Wujian's Night Eyes, though not as keen as the Chiwen Envoy's, were sharp enough to detect the anomaly on the corpse.

It turned out that what they had earlier mistaken for bloodstains on the corpse's back were not blood at all, but some powdery substance embedded in the wounds, resembling blood in appearance. Now, after Dong Dali's rough handling, much of the powder that had clung to the clothing and wounds had shaken loose, scattering across the ground.

"That is..."

Though Shen Qingshi couldn't discern the finer details of the powder, he still noticed something squirming on Dong Dali's body—like swarms of black insects, some even crawling in and out of Dong Dali's nostrils and mouth, emitting faint rustling sounds. The mere sight was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

Not daring to take risks, Yang Wujian pulled Shen Qingshi back slowly, only to stumble midway. Looking down, he discovered Dong Qisheng had also collapsed nearby, still breathing and seemingly untouched by the black insects.

"The insects seem to be attracted by the powder on the corpse... If the wind picks up, we'll be affected too. We need to get back quickly."

Holding his breath, Yang Wujian helped Shen Qingsho lift Dong Qisheng from both sides, retreating cautiously.

Fortunately, the black insects appeared interested only in Dong Dali for now. After the three withdrew behind a nearby rock, Yang Wujian hastily checked himself and Shen Qingshi, relieved to find no traces of the powder on them.

"What are those?"

Even after years of witnessing rare treasures in the palace, Shen Qingshi had never encountered insects like these.

Considering Dong Dali's death—drained of vitality with skin hardened like stone—could it be the work of these insects?

Yang Wujian thought questioning Dong Qisheng would yield the fastest answers. He promptly pinched Dong Qisheng's philtrum, and as the man gradually regained consciousness, Yang Wujian sneered, "Brother Dong, out for a midnight stroll with your brother behind the village?"

Dong Qisheng seemed thoroughly terrified. Upon seeing them, he stared blankly for a moment before letting out a scream and attempting to flee. Yang Wujian grabbed him firmly. "It wasn't us who harmed you. Why run?"

Under the firelight, Dong Qisheng's face was deathly pale. "The insects..."

"You know what those insects are?"

Yang Wujian surmised that the Dong brothers had indeed fallen victim to the strange worms, though he wondered why Dong Qisheng had no powder on him, thus sparing his life.

The chilling rustling in the distance had faded away. Shen Qingshi, lacking patience, struck his sword scabbard beside Dong Qisheng's ear and said coldly, "Why did you come here in the middle of the night? Was it because Tian Ting's letter told you the Meteor Star is buried beneath this corpse?"

Even combined, their martial skills were no match for Shen Qingshi alone. Dong Qisheng wasn't foolish enough to resist and sighed helplessly. "Yes, we received Tian Ting's letter. He claimed his Death Hex was approaching and he was nearing his end. He wanted to gift the rare Meteor Star he'd found in his lifetime to a destined recipient, instructing us to come here on a specific date. The letter detailed the burial location... right behind this stone village."

Just as he had suspected.

Yang Wujian reflected that Tian Ting's letters to these men had indeed offered irresistible temptations. But without proof, why had they so readily believed his words?Yang Wujian now dropped all pretense and asked directly, "We came specifically to meet Tian Ting, but you're different. Tian Ting is renowned far and wide, yet you have no personal ties to him. When he suddenly claimed to have generous gifts for you, how could you not suspect it might be a trap?"

Dong Qisheng shook his head. "It can't be a trap. In his letter, he mentioned many private matters between me and Dali. If he weren't skilled in divination, there's no way he could know these things so clearly. In this martial world, countless swordsmen dream of catching a glimpse of that rare Meteor Star. Initially, we just wanted to try our luck."

"But him knowing your private affairs doesn't necessarily mean he's skilled in divination," Shen Qingshi suddenly interjected.

Having served in the Zhaoming Division for years, she knew all too well that walls have ears—any action leaves traces.

"Tian Ting was betrayed in the past, thrown into a mine to die with crippled limbs... And Sun Eryuan told us he once sold out fellow miners who were secretly digging with him, just to save his own life."

Shen Qingshi stared coldly at Dong Qisheng, whose face had suddenly turned pale. "Tian Ting wouldn't have chosen you without reason. When the old story of the Aconite Kiln came up that day, all four of you reacted. I suspect you and your brother also betrayed others to the authorities in exchange for your lives, didn't you?"

"I..." Dong Qisheng struggled for a long moment before finally sighing deeply and telling the truth.

As it turned out, he and Dong Dali weren't actually blood brothers but close relatives. They originally lived in the Minhai region, making a living by fishing. Later, because Dong Dali was exceptionally burly, he caught the eye of a kiln boss. Unable to endure their hand-to-mouth existence any longer, they took a desperate gamble and started illegally mining silver with others.

Hearing "Minhai" finally jogged Shen Qingshi's memory. She remembered Dong Dali because she had once investigated the Minhai prefect and had seen Dong Dali's file in the Minhai government office.

There had been a portrait in the file, and she had remembered him precisely because of his extraordinary stature.

Dong Qisheng said, "After the authorities caught us, they blinded both of Dali's eyes right in front of me. We grew up together—I couldn't bear it, so I had no choice but to betray the others..."

Recalling the brutal deaths of their comrades back then, Dong Qisheng's face turned ashen. "We thought the authorities would never let us go, but to our surprise, they actually released me and Dali... After that, fearing retaliation from enemies, we entered the martial world, found a master to learn martial arts and sword-forging, and made our living that way."

"It seems Zhang Buwei is most likely in the same situation as you," Yang Wujian sighed deeply, thinking to himself that Gu Yun hadn't mentioned there would be so much trouble involved in finding Tian Ting.

Now that they had figured out why Tian Ting had targeted these people, only one question remained: how exactly had the other party killed Dong Dali and Zhang Buwei.

Shen Qingshi asked, "Why did you faint earlier? Did you recognize that insect?"

Dong Qisheng shook his head. "Originally, Dali and I planned to come last night, but I had a vague feeling something was off, so I stayed cautious and didn't go immediately to the location mentioned in the letter. Little did I expect that Zhang Buwei would drug us with Bewitching Smoke and... end up dead."

"Even after he died, you still dared to come? The corpse clearly showed the date of death," Yang Wujian couldn't believe that the Meteor Star could drive people to risk their lives like this and couldn't help asking, "So, after you came, did you find that Meteor Star?""No, I told Dali to search, but he used too much force and couldn't see clearly. He immediately tore the clothes on the corpse, and the black powder inside spilled all over him. At first I didn't pay attention, but then from somewhere, many black worms came crawling..."

Just recalling what had just happened made one's heart race with fear. Dong Qisheng said with lingering terror: "The night was too dark. By the time Dali noticed the worms, they had already crawled into his nose and ears. He... he just convulsed once and stopped moving. He died without even making a sound. I was so scared I wanted to run, but I tripped over something, hit my head on a rock, and immediately fell unconscious."

"That thing is actually so deadly?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Wujian couldn't help but feel a wave of retrospective fear.

Now thinking back, that black powder had probably been on the corpse from the beginning. Fortunately, he had worried it might be poisonous and hadn't touched the corpse, thus escaping disaster. But later, Zhang Buwei, who was forced to directly examine the corpse, wasn't so lucky...

Shen Qingshi said: "At that time, he thought the Meteor Star was under the corpse, so when he was sent to investigate the body, he was actually searching for the Meteor Star. He never expected to get covered in black powder... which led to his eventual death."

"What exactly is that black powder? Yesterday when it stuck to clothes, it looked exactly like bloodstains, and even smelled faintly metallic..."

Yang Wujian pondered hard. After a long while, he suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Could it be some kind of iron ore powder?"

He had forgotten they were currently in a mining area, where the most readily available substance would naturally be ore powder.

Shen Qingshi continued this line of thought: "The black worms were attracted by the ore powder and burrowed into human bodies, draining their blood and vitality... In other words, these worms prefer to eat ore."

For a moment, the three of them looked at each other in dismay - none had ever heard of strange worms that ate stones. Just then, Sun Eryuan came running from afar. The moment he saw Yang Wujian and Shen Qingshi, it was like seeing family. Reeking of strange odors and panting heavily, he said: "You two young masters, why did you abandon me there? Miss Shen, you... are you better now?"

"What's wrong with me?"

Adhering to the principle of seeing the act through to the end, Shen Qingshi glanced at him expressionlessly. Sun Eryuan immediately shrank behind Yang Wujian: "There's really something strange about this mine, Young Master Yang. I don't want to search for any Meteor Star anymore, let's leave now, alright?"

"Leave? Another person has died. For all we know, we've been targeted long ago. First think about whether we can even get out."

Yang Wujian irritably reported Dong Dali's death. Sun Eryuan turned pale upon hearing: "Ore-eating worms... that kill people? You're saying that stinky Taoist died that way? But yesterday... I was the one who tied him up yesterday."

As he spoke, Sun Eryuan immediately began frantically trying to take off his clothes to check if he had any of that deadly iron ore powder on him. Remembering that Shen Qingshi was nearby, Yang Wujian rolled his eyes and grabbed him: "You'd be dead already if it were going to happen. To be precise, we all have some on us, and probably inhaled some too, but small amounts of powder don't seem to attract those worms... The question is, where do those worms go after they finish eating the ore?"

Yang Wujian suddenly felt a chill in his heart. He realized that the iron ore powder had been a murder trap set by their opponent from the beginning, but those ore-eating strange worms hadn't originally existed here.Someone had released that insect, retrieved it after the killing, and then released it again when the Dong brothers came searching for the corpse.

Someone was following them...

Was it Tian Ting or... who?

Yang Wujian abruptly turned to look back, but amidst these mountains, aside from the dim moonlight overhead and the faint glow from their torch, there was no other light.

Another night breeze swept through, rustling the grasses and trees along the foothills like ghostly wails. Yang Wujian and Shen Qingshi exchanged a glance, their thoughts converging in that moment.

"Let's return to Stone Village first."

Shen Qingshi said plainly, "With such a lethal weapon in their hands, no one can leave this place before the tenth day of the seventh month."