Chapter 8: Destroying the Corpse and Erasing Traces

He turned his head and glanced at Madam Wang burning paper money; seeing she hadn't noticed him, Fang Xu turned his back to the corpse, placed his hands behind his back, felt around, and pulled out the thing hidden inside the embroidered gold-thread long boots, gripping it directly in his hand.

One who can afford boots made of embroidered gold-thread must have held a high status in life.

And something carefully hidden by such a person would certainly not be ordinary.

Gripping the object taken from the boot, Fang Xu's heart pounded; he hadn't expected that accompanying Madam Wang to the charitable hall would present such an opportunity.

"Fang Xiaoge, I'm done."

Madam Wang knelt before Wang Ergou's corpse, burned a pile of paper money, watched the flickering flames, felt she had fulfilled her duty, then rose and looked at Fang Xu, saying:

Fang Xu nodded and said, "Then let's go."

Madam Wang rose, went to a nearby broken desk, placed two copper coins on it, then hurriedly followed Fang Xu's steps out of the charitable hall.

As the two left the charitable hall, the Golden Crow had already faded more than half, leaving only a single sun hanging at the horizon; the blood‑red afterglow dyed half the sky red.

When they approached Maple Forest Town, they also happened to meet some familiar neighbors, and Madam Wang unusually greeted them.

Fang Xu observed all this and also understood her purpose in doing so.

Outside the small courtyard in town, Fang Xu opened the gate, glanced at Madam Wang, and said, "Sister‑in‑law, I've arrived."

Madam Wang stood outside the gate, seemingly wanting to follow him in, but Fang Xu's body blocked the entrance, showing no intention of inviting her inside.

Madam Wang gave him a resentful glance, slightly bowed, and said, "Thank you for the trouble, Fang Xiaoge; I'm leaving."

Fang Xu quickly nodded, turned, and shut the gate.

Who—

Leaning against the wooden door, he took a deep breath.

Perhaps, in Madam Wang's eyes, he is now just a clueless block of wood.

If he's clueless, so be it—he's not the sort of lecherous fool who thinks, "To die beneath peonies makes a handsome ghost."

Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, Fang Xu hurried into the room, took out a fire striker, lit the oil lamp, and spread the thing he had gripped in his hand across the desk.

The object on the desk, unknown of what material it is made, neither paper nor not paper, looks like some kind of beast skin, irregular in shape, covered with dense characters.

Fang Xu leaned in to examine it closely—

"Yan… shen… cang?"

"All things are the evolution of the Dao; spirits are those who follow the Dao, objects are those who melt into it, they are the Dao's shadow. Therefore, apertures should be taken as boundaries, storing mountains, storing seas, storing the vastness of all things…"

"Pfft!"

Having merely silently recited the first few lines of the Divine Extension Canon, Fang Xu felt his qi and blood surge, and couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood!

He hastily averted his gaze from the beast skin, his face solemn as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Terrifying!

Too terrifying!

"What kind of cultivation method is this Divine Extension Canon? Merely silently reciting a few lines caused my consciousness to enter the Inner Viewing State that Lu Zhiyuan guided me to when practicing the viscera‑refining technique in broad daylight."

"During this inner viewing, Fang Xu seemed to witness an even more shocking scene: the one hundred apertures inside his body all glittered, then one aperture kept enlarging—first like a grain of rice, then like a bright moon, next like a millstone, then like a lake, then like an ocean…"

"The impact of the change directly shattered that sliver of his inner‑viewing consciousness, and meanwhile his qi and blood surged, causing him to involuntarily spit out another mouthful of fresh blood."

After calming his shaken thoughts, Fang Xu hastily folded the beast skin on the desk and put it away.

The Divine Extension Canon is undoubtedly a powerful cultivation method; the owner of those gold‑thread embroidered boots must have had a background far greater than I imagined. Although he is now dead, I am not sure whether anyone else knows that he possessed the secret of the Divine Extension Canon.

Even, Fang Xu secretly feels that the reason the owner of those gold‑thread embroidered boots met a miserable death near Maple Forest Town is likely inseparable from the Divine Extension Canon.

Now that I have obtained this hot‑potato Divine Extension Canon, what will happen next?

After some thought, he immediately hid the beast skin bearing the Divine Extension Canon in a secret compartment under the bed, then picked up a bucket of lamp oil from the corner of the room, and, under cover of night, rushed toward the charitable hall.

The fact that the owner of those gold‑thread embroidered boots could be sent to the charitable hall after death shows that presently no one knows his identity; moreover, many people saw me and Madam Wang going to the charitable hall, so this cannot withstand close scrutiny.

For now, the only thing Fang Xu can think of is to destroy the corpse and erase the traces!

Only by setting fire to the corpse of the owner of those gold‑thread embroidered boots can we maximize the eradication of evidence and minimize the risk of exposure.

Carrying the lamp oil, Fang Xu hurried all the way and soon arrived near the charitable hall.

The charitable hall at night had not a single light; Fang Xu slightly relaxed, for no lights meant the guards had not yet returned, so he could set this fire with confidence.

He sneaked into the charitable hall, quickly poured the lamp oil onto the corpse wearing the gold‑thread embroidered boots, then bowed slightly before the corpse and murmured, 'Young man, though I do not know your senior's identity, since I have taken your belongings, I will kindly see you off.'

Having said that, he took out a fire striker, blew on it, and resolutely threw it onto the corpse.

The oil‑soaked corpse burst into flames upon contact with the open fire; seeing the fire already spreading, Fang Xu dared not linger, immediately leapt out of the charitable hall's window, and ran straight toward the mountain behind it.

The blaze spread rapidly; by the time he had run only a few li, the entire charitable hall behind him had been swallowed by the sea of fire. Looking back at the flames, his anxious heart finally could settle.

……

The next morning.

Still asleep, Fang Xu was startled awake by a sudden rapping on the door.

"Young Master Fang!"

"Coming."

Having thrown on an outer robe, Fang Xu opened the gate and saw that the two attendants who had followed Zhang Mingliang yesterday at Fragrant Heart Studio were standing outside.

They carried a bag stained with blood spatters; upon seeing Fang Xu, the attendant named Xie Xiaoqi respectfully said, 'Young Master Fang, this is the blood food sent by our young master second son for you.'

Hearing this, Fang Xu quickly took the bag, weighed it, and thanked the two: 'Many thanks; please convey my gratitude to Young Master Zhang.'

They clasped their hands: 'Young Master Fang, the items have been delivered; we take our leave.'

After seeing the two off, Fang Xu was about to close the gate when he noticed Madam Wang hurrying over, her face panicked.

"Fang Xiaoge!"

Seeing Fang Xu at the gate, Madam Wang shouted anxiously, stumbling as she came to the gate.

"Sister‑in‑law, what happened?" Fang Xu asked.

Seeing no one else around, Madam Wang disregarded everything, squeezed straight into the small courtyard, slammed the gate shut, and seized Fang Xu's arm, saying, 'Fang Xiaoge… I… I have caused trouble!'

Fang Xu did not understand.

Ms. Wang then spoke: "Last night…… last night the Charity House caught fire, a great fire burned the entire Charity House to the ground!"

Charity House fire?

Fang Xu knew this, because that fire was set by him, but what does it have to do with Ms. Wang?

"Little Fang, that fire at the Charity House must have been caused by me yesterday when I was burning paper money and left before the fire was out, now the whole Charity House has been burned to ashes, I..."

Although there were no valuables inside the Charity House, after all it is government property, now burned clean by a fire, the authorities will certainly investigate.

Paying money to repair the Charity House is a minor matter; the key is that it is very likely one could be arrested and thrown into jail for a year or so.

Ms. Wang believed the Charity House fire was due to her mistake, naturally she was terrified.

Fang Xu hadn't expected that Ms. Wang would proactively imagine things, taking the blame for this fire upon herself.

But this seems rather good.

(End of chapter)