Chapter 338: The Ghost in the Painted Skin

Inside the dim cave, the candlelight was like a bean; Duan Rong squatted beside Pan Yong's headless corpse and searched his body.

He fished a small purple Porcelain Bottle out of the inner pocket of Pan Yong's robe.

He looked at the Porcelain Bottle in his hand, his gaze flickering slightly...

Inside this Porcelain Bottle was the Wutou Frost.

In Duan Rong's mind, information regarding this poison surfaced one by one once more.

This Wutou Frost was a poison refined using two types of poisonous vines as the main ingredients: Wutou and Thorn Kiss.

It was just that these Wutou and Thorn Kiss were both exotic species from the twisted underground space, no longer ordinary herbs of this world.

This Wutou Frost, refined from a mixture of the two poisons, was such that even fine and dense True Qi could hardly force it out of the body.

This poison was far more formidable than Shen Ping's Crimson One.

Shen Ping said his Crimson One was the best in the world, beyond compare; now it seemed he was just a frog in a well.

Duan Rong's hand gave a flick, and he tucked the small Porcelain Bottle into his sleeve.

Following that, he fished Pan Yong's Star Disk and Sect Cloud Token out from his body.

Duan Rong took a glance; on the surface of Pan Yong's Star Disk, there were over two hundred points.

He put away Pan Yong's Star Disk and Sect Cloud Token, then searched some more, fishing a pitch-black key out from the inner pocket of his robe.

Duan Rong took the candlelight to look at the key.

This should be the key to the lower level of that cabinet.

Duan Rong put away the key, then fished out some scattered miscellaneous items from Pan Yong's body; he carefully placed these items onto an empty Sack.

After scanning Pan Yong's entire body, Duan Rong then looked at the Soft Sword that had fallen to the ground before Pan Yong died, as well as that palm-sized, cold Iron Box.

The Iron Box was silver-gray all over, heavy and cold to the touch; its surface was frosted, the sides had protruding mechanisms, and the other side was covered in dense pinholes.

Duan Rong felt his scalp tingle as he looked at those dense pinholes.

A flash of shock crossed his eyes.

How many flying needles would be shot out in one wave? And he believed those flying needles were all coated in poison.

Duan Rong carefully put away the hidden weapon Iron Box, then placed the Soft Sword from the ground onto the pile of miscellaneous items on the Sack.

Only then did Duan Rong turn his head and walk to the Hammock not far away; he grabbed Pan Yong's head down from the Hammock.

On the forehead of that head, a few blood spots were splattered, and Pan Yong's eyes were still wide open, but his gaze was left with only emptiness and confusion...

Duan Rong grabbed the head and placed it on the Stone Table where the Copper Mirror stood, then moved the Candle Lamp closer to him.

Then Duan Rong drew the Minghong Saber; he steadied Pan Yong's head with one hand and gripped the Minghong Saber near the tip with the other, carefully using the tip to slit Pan Yong's skin and flesh, along the hairline of the forehead, to the earlobes, and then to the back of the neck...

Duan Rong's gaze was cold as he slowly, with extreme patience, peeled off Pan Yong's entire face.

Throughout the process, his movements were very careful, fearing he might tear the skin even a little...

Not until he had peeled that face off completely did Duan Rong let out a long, turbid breath and wipe the fine sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Under the illumination of the dim yellow candlelight, Pan Yong's head had become a bloody face of mangled flesh.

Duan Rong looked at that bloody face and barely suppressed the urge to vomit.

He placed the bloody skin he had peeled off onto the Stone Table.

Just at this moment, he glanced at the Copper Mirror at his side; in the mirror, a bloody face was reflected just as hazily, looking at first glance like Guan Gong in a Peking opera.

Duan Rong walked to the corner of the cave entrance, took the wooden basin Pan Yong usually used for washing, and poured the clear water from the pottery pot on the Stone Table into the basin.

Duan Rong placed the basin of clear water on the Stone Table, picked up the bloody skin, and soaked it in the clear water.

The blood water swirled open, and that face skin floated on the blood water, rising and falling with the ripples; except for the empty eyes, it was no different from a real face.

As Duan Rong watched, for some reason, he began to feel a chill run down his spine.

He somewhat frantically stripped the clothes off Pan Yong's headless corpse, broke its limbs, stuffed it into a large Sack, and then stuffed that bloody head into the Sack as well.

Duan Rong carried the Sack, rolled up the Sack on the ground that held the miscellaneous items and the Soft Sword, clutched them in his hand, and walked out of the cave.

Duan Rong first came to the pool in the dense forest and threw the miscellaneous items and the Soft Sword in his hand into the bottomless pool.

Only then did he carry the blood-soaked Sack, left the pool, and walked toward the depths of the dense forest.

He arrived in front of a stone wall entangled with vines; carrying the blood-soaked Sack, he squeezed inside.

Holding a torch and the Sack, Duan Rong arrived at the depths of the Black Blood Vine cave.

Duan Rong looked at the blackened rock layer not far from his feet; that black boundary was the area where the Black Blood Vines fed.

Duan Rong suddenly shook the Sack forcefully, tossing the corpse and the bloody head inside near two Black Blood Vines.

After Chen Hu died, Duan Rong had been busy with bitter cultivation and hadn't come to feed these Black Blood Vines for several days.

The hungry Black Blood Vines, black vines as thick as fingers, were twisting crazily...

The vines, covered in mucus, instantly entangled the corpse and the bloody head.

The mucus secreted by the Black Blood Vines had strong corrosive properties; the skin of the corpse soon began to fester and suppurate, followed by the flesh and blood beneath the skin...

Bursts of foul stench rushed toward him inside the sealed cave...

Duan Rong's face was pale, his brows tightly furrowed; if his focus wavered even slightly, he would immediately vomit.

Under the corrosion of the Black Blood Vine mucus, the skin and flesh of that bloody head perished, turning into pus, and soon it became a white, glistening skull...

Only on that skull, there still remained wisps of blood threads and yellow-black pus...

Just at this moment, Duan Rong suddenly discovered that there was still a black vine entangling that skull, and black-yellow mucus was continuously being secreted from the vine, wrapping around the skull...

After only a few breaths, that white bone was actually also corroded and melted by the mucus...

After the white bone perished, the things inside flowed out...

Duan Rong's gaze suddenly jumped; he saw that the white pulp was actually covered in dense black dots, like a white-fleshed dragon fruit...

"It's Gu insects!"

Those Gu insects, upon encountering the Black Blood Vine mucus, actually emitted wisps of green smoke; in that green smoke, the Gu insects all woke up and began to squirm...

However, as soon as those wriggling gu-insects touched the black-yellow mucus covering the ground, they emitted wisps of green smoke and instantly vanished into nothingness...

As Pan Yong's remains dissipated, Duan Rong suddenly noticed that the remaining Black Blood Fruit on the Black Blood Vine had begun to emit a faint, dull red fluorescence...

"Has it ripened?"

In fact, after those two Black Blood Fruits had ripened, this remaining one was also on the verge of ripening.

It was just that later, what with killing Chen Hu to provide a pledge of loyalty and Shang Xiangyu leaving the mountain—one major event after another—Duan Rong had never come to feed it, so this Black Blood Fruit had never been able to fully ripen.

At this moment, Duan Rong had originally only intended to use the Black Blood Vine to destroy Pan Yong's corpse without a trace. This Black Blood Vine could dissolve Pan Yong until not even dregs remained.

But he hadn't expected that, in doing so, he would also feed the remaining Black Blood Fruit until it ripened.

Duan Rong looked at the Black Blood Fruit, his gaze flickering. This item was an auxiliary medicine for his cultivation of the fifth level of the Womb Treasury Sutra; since it was ripe, he naturally had to pluck it.

However, the Black Blood Vine was not in a sated state right now; if he were to step across the boundary, the Black Blood Vine would attack him.

Duan Rong grabbed the large sack by his feet and walked out of the cave.

About an incense stick's time later, he returned to the cave; he was seen walking with heavy steps, carrying a wild boar on his back and dragging a bulging large sack in his hand.

Duan Rong walked to a spot not far from the edge of the black rock layer and, with a *thud*, threw the large wild boar off his back.

He panted, exhaling turbid air, and first scattered the poisonous insects from the large sack near the two Black Blood Vines, then bent down to skin the wild boar and threw the bloody carcass near the Black Blood Vines as well.

Following the fermentation of the foul stench, with only about one-third of the large wild boar's carcass remaining, the Black Blood Vine finally stopped feeding.

Its vines no longer twisted and coiled around the bloody food and poisonous insects, but hung down naturally, and it no longer secreted the black-yellow mucus.

And the layer of mucus originally on the ground also slowly seeped away...

Duan Rong's eyes brightened; the time to pluck the Black Blood Fruit had arrived.

He stepped slowly into the area of the black rock layer.

He first walked a short distance closer, watching the vines not far away with a vigilant gaze; after a while, confirming that the vines were not reacting, Duan Rong approached slowly until he reached out and plucked the Black Blood Fruit.

The moment Duan Rong plucked the Black Blood Fruit, he unleashed his movement technique, flashing a few times like a ghost, and was already standing outside the black rock layer area.

Duan Rong looked at the Black Blood Fruit in his hand, his eyes filled with joy, but the joy in his eyes vanished in a flash, because he still had very important things to do next.

Duan Rong tucked the Black Blood Fruit into his sleeve and walked out of the cave, returning to the cliff side.

It was just past the afternoon 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM period, but the sky was still overcast and thick with clouds.

Duan Rong locked the Black Blood Fruit in his hand inside the Black Iron Cabinet in Shang Xiangyu's stone chamber.

Afterwards, Duan Rong looked at the copper lock on the upper drawer, his brows slightly furrowed; he suddenly pulled out the Minghong Saber, channeled his True Qi, and slashed at the copper lock with one strike.

With a *ding* sound, Duan Rong's Minghong Saber hung suspended there, and the latch of the copper lock on the black iron drawer had already been severed.

Duan Rong sheathed his blade, removed the broken lock, opened the drawer, and stared inside.

He saw that inside the black iron drawer lay a Jade Pendant, a Belt, a bottle of pills, and also the Star Disk—Shang Xiangyu's Star Disk.

Duan Rong picked up the Star Disk, took a look, and tucked it into the inner pocket of his robe.

Next, Duan Rong looked at the bottle of pills; he knew it contained three Ice Heart Pills.

These pills were prepared by Shang Xiangyu for his own condensation of a Qi Cyclone. But his cultivation of the Nine Nether Great Treasury Art had already severed his path to forming a cyclone.

Although these pills were good, Shang Xiangyu would never be able to use them again.

Duan Rong tucked the pills into his sleeve; although condensing a Qi Cyclone was still very far off for him, they were, after all, pills that helped with forming a cyclone, and they were not easy to refine.

Duan Rong finally looked at the Jade Pendant and the Belt; his gaze shifted, and he gripped the Jade Pendant, secretly saying, "Spirit Reader."

Then, a set of data appeared before Duan Rong's eyes.

He glanced at it and secretly said, "Devour."

This Jade Pendant had been with Shang Xiangyu since he was a child, and he had only taken it off and stopped wearing it after he entered the mountain to become a Pharmacist.

As the data panel before his eyes collapsed and vanished, Duan Rong grabbed the Belt again and followed the same procedure, devouring the Spirit Tool.

After finishing all this, Duan Rong closed the drawer and went into the outer stone chamber.

He stood there, his gaze flickering, the information in his mind rolling rapidly; he suddenly walked to an old wooden shelf in the corner, squatted down, and grabbed a dust-covered black pottery jar from the very bottom.

According to the information he had devoured and digested, that black pottery jar contained a type of Peach Gum.

Duan Rong took the black pottery jar, which was only the size of a fist, and returned to Pan Yong's cave.

He stood at the cliff edge at the cave entrance, suddenly flipped his hand, and a broken lock was pinched in his fingers; he gave a light flick and threw the broken lock into the valley filled with white mist.

Duan Rong walked into Pan Yong's cave.

Pan Yong's corpse had been cleared out, but the bloody stench in the cave remained intense; Duan Rong walked slowly to the table where the Copper Mirror stood, and saw that in the basin of water, the surface was already calm, and Pan Yong's face was floating on the water, vivid and lifelike...

Duan Rong glanced at it and walked to the corner, where he dug out a stone pot.

Duan Rong piled up dry firewood at the cave entrance and melted the Peach Gum in the stone pot...

About half an hour later, Duan Rong stood before the Copper Mirror in the cave; in the wooden basin beside him, there was only a basin of bloody water, and Pan Yong's face was no longer inside.

And the face in the Copper Mirror was precisely Pan Yong's face, the pair of eyes on that face flashing with a curious, cold light.

When Duan Rong was in Xiangu County, he had devoured the Spirit Tool of Fang Jingbao's thumb ring at the Weiyang Workshop, thereby obtaining the strange art of the Disguise Technique.

At this moment, by relying on the Disguise Technique, plus Pan Yong's face, he was truly as authentic as could be, like a fake corpse returning to life.

Just at this moment, a series of popping sounds from his joints erupted within Duan Rong's body.

In less than a breath, his stature had suddenly shrunk by half a head.

Pan Yong's build was slightly shorter than Duan Rong's; Duan Rong had used the Bone Shrinking Technique to shrink his body by half a head.

Duan Rong looked at the face of Pan Yong in the Copper Mirror, which felt like a lifetime ago, and suddenly felt a chill all over his body; in a daze, he felt as if he were in the world of *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio*, and he himself was that ghost who painted skins and changed faces.

Pan Yong tied a cloth bag around his waist and walked out of the cave; he looked up at the sky—it was still long before dark, and there was plenty of time; he suddenly gave a creepy smile and walked along the cliff wall toward the iron chains.

Pan Yong slid onto the Cableway, his figure disappearing into the white, misty fog.

He arrived at the mountain peak where the Lower Courtyard was located, then followed the familiar mountain path and walked into the Lower Courtyard.

Pan Yong walked straight to Qin Laotou's room.

As soon as Pan Yong entered the room, he heard Qin Laotou coughing there—*cough, cough, cough*—he coughed a few times, drank a few mouthfuls of strong tea, and only then suppressed it.

Qin Laotou raised his head and saw Pan Yong walking in.

Pan Yong said, "Elder Qin, now that the dosage has been reduced, has that old coughing ailment started up again?"

Qin Laotou sighed and said, "Just holding on. I only wonder if these old bones of mine can last until Master Shang returns."

Pan Yong said, "Master Shang left suddenly, but I hope he can return soon..."

As Pan Yong spoke, his tone seemed somewhat sorrowful.

Qin Laotou said, "What is it? Did you come over for something?"

Pan Yong smiled and said, "It is like this. I would like to make a trip to Shenyun Prefecture. Counting the return journey, it will take about ten days or so."

Qin Laotou's brows furrowed.

By rights, for a Registered Disciple to leave the mountain, they must have a signed note from the manager; only then could they at the Lower Courtyard grant approval.

However, Shang Xiangyu is currently not here.

If the regulations were followed, Pan Yong would not be able to leave the mountain.

But Qin Laotou could not bring himself to turn Pan Yong away; he still had to collect his medicine from Pan Yong, so how could he afford to offend him?

Qin Laotou pondered for a moment, then looked at Pan Yong and said, "Since Master Shang is not here, we shall break the rules just this once."

(End of chapter)