Eight
The next day, nearly everyone in the city had heard the news.
There was a monster who could transform into smoke, fond of eating human hearts—particularly those of the living dead—and would pay ten taels after each meal.
Some with sick family members were even tempted, finding the price quite satisfactory.
With rumors spreading like wildfire, even the somewhat slow-witted Chi Xue quickly caught wind of it. Burdened with concerns, he returned to report to his Elegant Confinement: Xia Zhi had consumed the final human heart and would soon evolve into a corpse fiend within a short period.
Ban Xia had largely recovered by then. Though still somewhat weak, her fever had mostly subsided. Hearing this, she chimed in, "Corpse fiend? What exactly is a corpse fiend?"
"It's a highly advanced corpse human. Not only does the body lose its rigidity, but it becomes immortal and indestructible, unafraid of sunlight, much like an Asura."
"Like that bamboo guy? Unkillable and unchoppable?"
Chi Xue nodded vigorously.
"What about weaknesses?" Xuan Ye spoke from the side. "Surely it must have some weakness?"
"Unknown." Chi Xue began fidgeting with his fingers. "Even my master doesn’t know. In our clan’s records, only one corpse fiend has ever appeared throughout the years, and that one... later vanished without a trace."
"How many days until he fully becomes a corpse fiend?"
"Unknown."
"After turning into a corpse fiend, can he still transform into smoke?"
"Unknown."
...
Countless unknowns, no leads—the situation had reached a dead end.
Among the three of them, only Ban Xia seemed relatively at ease.
"Let’s lay it all out now," Ban Xia sat up slightly, adjusting her nose tip. "The root of this matter is the extermination of the Xia family. Now Xia Zhi is seeking revenge. He’s already become a corpse human, yet he refuses to eat the hearts of good people, targeting only the dying and ill. Such a pitiable soul—why are you all so apprehensive? What exactly are you afraid of?"
Chi Xue looked up, his eyes instantly filled with admiration as he gazed at her.
"His goal is solely Zhan Xiao, and according to Xuan Ye, Zhan Xiao deserves to be eliminated as a corpse human." Ban Xia’s reasoning grew clearer. "So now that Xia Zhi has attained this path, the only outcome is Zhan Xiao losing his head, leaving behind a conscience-retaining corpse fiend in this world. Simple as that—what does it have to do with us?"
Xuan Ye remained silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. After a while, he finally spoke, "I can’t shake the feeling that something’s off. Too many coincidences—it just doesn’t sit right."
"What seems off?"
"For instance, why did he let himself be seen after consuming the last human heart? If becoming a corpse fiend requires time, why didn’t he secretly pass this final hurdle?"
"For showmanship! Transforming smoke is his signature move. Superman wears his underwear outside, Spider-Man strikes poses on rooftops—everyone does it for the flair. No one wants to be an extra."
"Both of us have seen him before. Do you think he’s that kind of person?"
Ban Xia fell silent.
Indeed, Xia Zhi—who managed dozens of shops for the Xia family at nineteen, moved with such stealth, and endured with a strength that commanded respect—did not seem like a man who would flaunt his image.
"Another thing doesn’t add up," she said after a pause. "Willing to become a corpse human for family vengeance, yet so kind-hearted? No matter how I look at it, he doesn’t strike me as a boss capable of running dozens of shops so efficiently."Of course, no merchant is without cunning. According to this logic, the owner of dozens of chain stores could never be a soft-hearted and kind pushover.
There were many other oddities, but unfortunately, they had no time to analyze them one by one, because the abandoned inn they were staying in had actually received a guest.
A guest carrying a heavy purple coffin—Zhan Xiao.
"I'm looking for your companion," he said bluntly after setting down the purple coffin, speaking to Xuan Ye. "I want to ask for his help in resolving this trouble I've caused."
Watching Zhan Xiao standing stiffly in the middle of the room, Chi Xue felt uncomfortable and went to pour a cup of water to offer him.
After taking the cup, Zhan Xiao thanked her but remained standing where he was. It was clear he was a kind person, though not skilled in conversation.
"In this city, he has already eaten the hearts of at least three people and brought countless corpse puppets with him," he said seriously after a moment. "I want to find that companion of yours. I'd like to ask the ghost domain he carries to help me locate this person."
"It's Xia Zhi," Xuan Ye said gravely.
Zhan Xiao was slightly taken aback and repeated, "Xia Zhi? That young man from the Xia family? He's innocent. He wasn't involved in the Xia family's affairs."
"But now he has become a corpse puppet and has come to seek revenge on you personally."
"If I'm not mistaken, the Xia family has resumed their old trade. Those corpse puppets were created by them, and they harmed you too, which is why you went to the Xia family for revenge, am I right?" Seeing Zhan Xiao remain silent, Xuan Ye continued, looking into his eyes, "If that's the case, why didn't you explain yourself? Why let the Xia family spread rumors that you're a demon who devours both humans and ghosts?"
Zhan Xiao lowered his head, instinctively glancing at the wound on his right palm left by the broken sword. After a long pause, he finally said, "I was never very good with words, and besides, it wasn't necessary."
The wound, which hadn't been carefully treated, would still bleed if he clenched his palm.
Xuan Ye looked at him and suddenly understood. "That sword was given to you by someone, wasn't it? That's why you still carry it even though the blade is chipped."
"It was a gift from my wife. The sword is ordinary, even the jade hilt is fake. My wife, not knowing any better, spent two hundred taels to buy this so-called ancient sword for me."
His words were plain, but they couldn't be pondered too deeply.
"Where is your wife?" Xuan Ye asked softly, voicing the question any ordinary person would ask.
Sure enough, Zhan Xiao, who had always been solitary and calm, raised his head at these words. Even after all this time, mentioning the topic still stirred turmoil in his eyes, filled with resentment and panic.
"My wife's name was Lin Min," Zhan Xiao said after another long pause, struggling to organize his words. "She was seven years younger than me. I was obsessed with martial arts and didn't marry until I was twenty-five."
In one sentence, it was clear: an arranged marriage between families of equal status. Their beginning, and the eight years that followed, were equally lukewarm and uneventful.
Zhan Xiao was devoted to martial arts, with a calm temperament. He practiced swordsmanship purely for the sake of practice, never engaging in conflicts, so he never knew how skilled he truly was.
Lin Min, on the other hand, was more lively. Though plain in appearance and without any particular talents, she had a charming personality, always smiling at everyone and generous with her resources. From servants to the cunning merchants on the next street, no one disliked her.
A couple living off the legacy of their ancestors, though childless, they lacked nothing in food or clothing and lived in peace. Until Zhan Xiao turned thirty-two, their days were filled with warmth and tenderness.August 13th, Zhan Xiao's birthday. The autumn sky was clear and the air crisp. The Zhan family estate was filled with blooming osmanthus flowers, and servants were preparing wine and dishes to celebrate Zhan Xiao's birthday. It should have been a harmonious day.
Early in the morning, Lin Min couldn't contain her excitement. She crouched by Zhan Xiao's bedside, blowing air gently until he woke up, then eagerly presented her gift: "This is for you. The shopkeeper said it's a famous sword from the Yin-Shang period. Only because we're familiar did he give me such a good price."
Zhan Xiao took the sword.
It was an extremely crude sword. The so-called jade handle was merely a whiter stone, clumsily carved with an utterly tacky name: Windchaser.
"I carved it myself. Not very well, hehehe." Lin Min stuck out her tongue. "But the name suits you."
Zhan Xiao got up, coughed once, and put on an elaborate performance, pretending to be immensely surprised.
"Anything from you, I'd love." He even uttered such an overly sweet and transparently insincere line.
Though not particularly clever, Lin Min could still read something from his expression. She held her tongue at first, awkwardly made it through breakfast, but by nearly noon, she could bear it no longer and took the sword to confront the shopkeeper.
That departure marked their eternal separation, with no word from her ever again.
For a full half month, Zhan Xiao searched the entire city like a madman, yet found no trace of her.
On the sixteenth day, when he had nearly given up hope, Lin Min was returned to him.
Almost completely transformed into a corpse, she was brought back still carrying that sword, with a note stuck to it:
—There is a cure for the corpse poison. Northwest, Fengqi Mountain. Dragon Soaring Flower. Black petals, purple sap. Take the sap and root.
Someone had not only returned Lin Min but also pointed a way out, even carefully drawing the antidote's appearance on the paper: a small black flower with white, dragon-like patterns on its petals.
Not daring to delay, Zhan Xiao immediately set out with Lin Min.
Northwest to Fengqi Mountain—with haste, it should take less than half a month by horse.
But during their first stop to rest at an inn along the way, the unexpected happened.
Lin Min, who had been calm until then, suddenly went berserk, uncontrollably biting Zhan Xiao three times on his thigh and waist.
From that day on, Zhan Xiao's leg began to stiffen. He could no longer ride a horse and had to hire a carriage. Upon reaching Fengqi Mountain, every step became a struggle. It took a full twenty-two days before he finally found the Dragon Soaring Flower in a shaded valley.
He had the antidote, but it was too late. Not only was Lin Min fully transformed, but the corpse poison had also reached his own heart, leaving him beyond cure.
An entire hillside of black Dragon Soaring Flowers, yet he could only hold Lin Min, watching her crimson eyes and withered face, her body convulsing unconsciously no matter how much flower sap she drank.
"She's beyond saving. Now, perhaps you can only save yourself." Ultimately, a Taoist priest at the mountain's base told him, "If you truly love her, then grant her release."
"So you cut off her head." At this point in the story, Xuan Ye also sighed.
"I cut off her head, and following that Taoist priest's guidance, I took catalpa wood from a highly yang location, soaked it in Dragon Soaring Flower sap, and made this purple coffin to slow my own corpse transformation."
"Then, I found the Xia family. Of the nine members, I only killed those involved in corpse controlling. All nine deserved to die without exception!"
"At that time, I thought my path had come to an end."After saying so much in one breath, Zhanxiao's anger gradually subsided. He slowly raised his hand to cover half of his face.
That's right—back then, he truly believed his path had come to an end.
If he hadn't found that registry of hundreds of names at the Xia residence, if he weren't so stubborn and solitary, possessing what Lin Min often called an "irreparably rigid mindset"...
The corpse-people who escaped from the Xia family originally had nothing to do with him.
From the moment she turned into a corpse until her death, Lin Min never spoke again, never asked him to free all corpse-people.
Yet whenever he saw those mindless, stiff-moving corpse-people, he would always think of her. He'd remember how these repulsive creatures might have once been like her—with childish faces that weren't particularly beautiful, picky eaters who loved throwing things, who enjoyed leaning against bedframes watching people sleep, who had once lived with such vibrant energy.
Freeing all corpse-people under heaven—he took it upon himself, as if he had made this promise to her.
And so he set out, carrying that always-blunted sword, bearing that purple coffin on his back, dragging his stiff lower limbs, beginning his journey.
"Until hell is emptied, I shall never attain Buddhahood."
The road was lonely and desolate. Unable to sit or lie down, he just kept walking and standing, with no one to speak to, for four hundred and eight full days.
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