Chapter 62: The Qin Family's Hidden Card

In the hall of the fourth courtyard, a large group of people had been driven there.

All of them were servants of Qin Fu, squatting or kneeling in terror.

Wang Tianyou's gaze swept over the crowd. "I'm a soft-hearted man. You're just Qin family servants — debts have their owners, grievances have their heads. I'm willing to give you a way out, as long as you tell me where the Qin family's youngest son is hiding!"

Ding Junhui stood to the side, smiling coldly.

After a moment of hesitation, the servants scattered. One person wearing a Retainer's uniform, his face very dark, remained standing where he was.

At this moment, that person's eyes were filled with despair.

"I was saying I'd been watching Qin Fu perfectly well, hadn't let a single fly out — how did the Third Young Master of the Qin family disappear?" Ding Junhui walked over, wiped the man's face, and his hand came away black with ash. "So he was hiding among the servants. Young Master Qin really can bend and stretch."

Qin Huan's legs trembled as he looked at the two men before him. "Spare my life, and I'll leave Feirong County right now… I'll never come back, and I won't be your enemy."

Wang Tianyou burst out laughing, walked over, and kicked the man in the stomach.

Qin Huan flew backward a full yard, hit the ground, and rolled in agony.

"More than three months ago, when your Qin family sent people to cause trouble at the Earth God Temple, you weren't thinking about letting me live."

Wang Tianyou's eyes were full of resentment. If the Qin family hadn't caused trouble that day, he would have captured that very pretty female apparition and brought her home, and his family's opinion of him would have risen.

But the result… something went wrong, and his standing in the family dropped.

Ding Junhui's expression was equally cold.

Wang Tianyou had merely lost some 'support' within his clan, but the Ding family had genuinely lost a direct-line descendant at the Qin family's hands.

This was a blood feud.

Ding Junhui snorted. "Why say so much to him."

As he spoke, he walked over, grabbed Qin Huan by the hair, and dragged him outside.

In the corner of the courtyard sat a 'menhai' — essentially a large water vat. In feng shui it symbolizes the gathering of wealth; normally used to collect rainwater, so that in case of fire, the water inside could be put to use.

And the water in this 'menhai' was very full.

Ding Junhui shoved Qin Huan's head straight into the water vat.

Qin Huan struggled violently, but Ding Junhui's hand pressing down on his head was very steady.

The servants of Qin Fu all turned their heads away, not daring to look.

Before long, Qin Huan's struggles gradually weakened, until he was completely still.

Only then did Ding Junhui release him.

Wang Tianyou laughed. "Now we can both report back to our families."

"Mm." Ding Junhui nodded lightly.

And at that very moment, both men looked toward the 'menhai' at the same time.

A wisp of evil Qi rose from there.

The previously motionless Qin Huan suddenly began writhing all over, the movements bizarrely strange — constant shaking coupled with uncanny spasms.

"Not dead?" Ding Junhui was stunned.

Wang Tianyou shook his head. "No, he's been possessed by an apparition."

At this moment, 'Qin Huan's' head rose from the water vat. His appearance had changed — on either side of his neck, a large fleshy tumor had grown, each with eyes, a nose, and a mouth, looking just like a baby's face.

"You killed Daddy, killed Big Brother… I'm going to eat you!"

The two baby-faced tumors spoke disjointed words in an infant's voice.

It was deeply unpleasant to hear, giving one the urge to vomit.

"A Wild Apparition?" Wang Tianyou was stunned. "How can a Wild Apparition possess a person?"

"Who cares what kind of apparition it is — chop it into ten, eight pieces and it'll still die." Ding Junhui grinned savagely.

His expression was so sinister it was unsettling, and Wang Tianyou instinctively stepped back.

……

Li Lin did not sleep well that night, because he didn't dare sleep too deeply — after all, this wasn't his own 'territory'.

By the next morning, he came out of the loft, bought two drink-cakes and a bowl of soy milk on the street to stave off his hunger.

Then he saw many people hurrying toward the other end of the street, chattering among themselves.

Li Lin, curious, stopped a passerby, slipped a copper coin into the man's hand, and asked, "Brother, you're all heading that way — what's happened?"

"I heard something terrible happened at Qin Fu," the passerby pocketed the coin and said quietly, "Everyone's dead, flesh and blood everywhere, horribly tragic."

Li Lin was stunned. Something happened at Qin Fu… did Wang Tianyou and Ding Junhui go on a killing spree inside?

But with the abilities of those two, even a killing spree wouldn't leave things drenched in blood like this.

Li Lin finished his drink-cakes and soy milk in a few bites, then picked up his red-tasseled spear and bundle, and followed the crowd.

He had just arrived outside Qin Fu when he caught a foul smell of blood.

On either side of Qin Fu stood several pale-faced government office Runners, and three Spirit Hunters with white jade plaques at their waists guarded the gate.

Many passersby came to the opposite side of Qin Fu's main gate to look in, then left with ashen faces.

A few even vomited.

Li Lin used his Willow Catkin Body Art to drift up to the rooftop opposite, looked down, and immediately frowned.

The entire ground of Qin Fu… was covered in a layer of dark red-black substance.

On closer look, it was an even coating of flesh and blood.

How gruesome!

Just as Li Lin was sighing, he suddenly glanced instinctively to his right — on a nearby rooftop, someone had appeared.

"Li Xunshou, my young master requests your presence. Please follow me."

Li Lin recognized this person — he was one of Wang Tianyou's subordinates.

Li Lin, red-tasseled spear in hand, followed behind.

The two of them arrived at an inn and went up to the third floor.

Pushing open the door to the largest room, they saw Wang Tianyou leaning against the head of the bed, his face an unnatural shade of blue-green.

Li Lin walked over and exclaimed in shock: "How did your face get like this? Poisoned?"

Wang Tianyou nodded and said weakly: "Got careless. It won't kill me."

"What's going on inside Qin Fu?"

"That old bastard Qin Feng left a contingency — he conjured two very sinister infant apparitions and had them merge with and possess his youngest son. Ruthless, truly. To scheme against us, he wouldn't even spare his own son — the whole place was a mess of blood and flesh."

Li Lin glanced to either side: "How's Brother Ding?"

Wang Tianyou was silent for a moment, then said: "Dead."

Li Lin was startled at once: "No — how does he just drop dead like that!"

"Don't worry, this has nothing to do with you. If the Ding family really wants to pursue the matter, they'll come after me." Wang Tianyou coughed twice and spat out a mouthful of blood onto a handkerchief, black tinged with green: "Those two infant apparitions were probably created by the legendary 'Wuliang Fetal Repository Secret Rite' dark art. Also — those two secret manuals of yours, read them, commit them to memory, then burn them. I'm afraid that old thing from the Qin family may have left some contingency on them."

Li Lin nodded.

"Brother Li, you should leave first. Something this big happening in Qin Fu — if you don't go now, Feirong County may seal the city again."

"But you—"

"Don't worry. No matter what, I'm still a Wang family man, and I do have some old ties with the county magistrate here." Wang Tianyou forced a smile: "Besides, in my current state, I'm really not fit to move around."

"Alright, I'll head off first. We'll meet again another day."

"Once I've recovered, I'll come find you in Yulin County and repay the favor."

Li Lin left Feirong County. Just as Wang Tianyou had said, the moment he passed through the city gate and hadn't gone far, the great gate behind him slowly closed.

It was like a pitch-black maw snapping shut.

(End of chapter)