Chapter 242

As we slowly walked into the village, I finally knew who QingSongShu was chasing.

Not far inside the village entrance, I saw several familiar cars, all belonging to the Yang family. QingSongShu, it turned out, was chasing Yang Shouyi.

I was about to speak again to QingSongShu, but the moment I opened my mouth, I immediately shut it and cautiously guarded my surroundings. I smelled a strong stench of blood, a very thick blood stench that could not possibly come from just one dead person.

Following the blood smell, we found a relatively large but very shabby courtyard. After opening the courtyard gate and stepping inside, we were all stunned.

Describing the courtyard's carnage as a mess all over the ground is no exaggeration; many corpses lay scattered haphazardly, and the state of each corpse was gruesome, with mottled marks on every face and not a single patch of intact skin from head to toe.

Still, from their clothing I recognized these corpses' origin: they were the bodyguards who had pointed guns at us in the tomb mound.

I was bewildered and shocked, not understanding how these bodyguards could die in such a short time. As I crouched down to examine them, my hand almost touching their faces, QingSongShu's voice suddenly rang in my ear.

"Don't touch." QingSongShu shoved my hand away, his expression growing even more solemn.

"This is the Yunnan nail-worm; those poisoned not only suffer unbearable pain but also feel an unbearable itch, tearing at their own flesh until they self‑mutilate to death."

QingSongShu's words frightened me into pulling my hand back; I don't know what the nail‑worm looks like, but I've heard the name. Even corpses cannot resist the pain and itch, being tormented by the worm until they scrape off a layer of skin—one can imagine how bizarre this thing is.

"Come on, let's go inside and have a look!" QingSongShu placed his hands behind his back and stepped slowly toward the house in the courtyard. I saw his left hand, kept behind him, constantly rubbing; that motion told me he was extremely nervous. But I also didn't know what exactly he was nervous about.

He slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door, and the sight that met my eyes made me widen them.

Yang Shouyi's head drooped, his knees on the ground facing the door. I and QingSongShu checked his breath, only to find he was already dead. Moreover, from the unfaded floral markings on his eyes and hands, we could tell he was killed while under the possession of the Tong spirit.

That is to say, he was not ambushed; he was killed in a frontal attack.

Furthermore, aside from a bean‑sized black dot on his brow, Yang Shouyi bore no other wounds. From this we infer he was felled by a single swift blow, without even a chance to struggle. To defeat him at his Tong stage in such a short time—such strength is truly terrifying.

"Uncle… actually you already knew Yang Shouyi would be hunted, so you didn't resist in the tomb mound and let him go so easily, right?" I stared at QingSongShu's expression, feeling utterly puzzled and confused. He had been clearly tense before entering, but now, seeing no killer, he relaxed and seemed relieved.

QingSongShu's demeanor seemed to show he wanted to catch the killer, yet he was also afraid to face him.

At that moment I suddenly recalled a person—the black‑robed worm master who had abruptly appeared at Chen Zheng's ancestral home. I clearly remembered that, just as he was about to kill me, he oddly glanced at the doorway and then left, without even pressing me for the gold medal. Not long after, QingSongShu showed up.

In the hospital, QingSongShu wore a strange expression; he told me not to get involved in this murky affair, merely speculating that the mysterious person's identity was not simple, yet he himself showed no trace of doubt. Was he truly without doubt, or was he hiding it?

Earlier still, a strange old woman came to the Chan Yi Hall with an egg to cast a spell on us. After we broke the spell, QingSongShu and Elder Yang Seven both said in unison, "Could it be him?" Then, as if on cue, they both shook their heads.

Who could it be that makes QingSongShu and Elder Yang Seven so contradictory? Why does QingSongShu never reveal even half a word, while now Yang Shouyi's bodyguards were also killed by worm magic, and the ancient box dug from the grave that held the gold medal has vanished as well.

"Uncle… do you know that worm master who first appeared in Aomen?" I asked tentatively.

QingSongShu grunted, shook his head, rubbed my head, and sighed: "Uncle knows what you want to ask, but I won't tell you. Remember, no matter what treasure or gold medal, it's none of your business. I only wish to live peacefully with you, Xiaoqiang, to marry and have children, and to spend this life in quiet contentment."

"Think about how your master entrusted you to me; in the blink of an eye, almost ten years have passed." QingSongShu rubbed my head, gazed into the distance, and let out a faint sigh.

"Mm, uncle, I understand—I won't ask." I nodded obediently, though my doubts remained buried inside. Since the elders don't want me to know, I won't inquire. If I were to pursue my curiosity, it would only worry them more. I have followed my master since childhood, then QingSongShu; he is like a half‑father to me—how could I dare be unfilial and go against his wishes?

"Uncle… what should we do now? Yang Shouyi is dead," I asked.

"Actually, even back when we were with the Yang family, I noticed something following Yang Shouyi. I just didn't expect that I would ultimately still be a step behind." QingSongShu was unwilling to elaborate, merely hinting at it. But I could sense he had been trying to confirm something all along.

He gazed at the dead Yang Shouyi, slowly shook his head, and said, "Forget it, Hai Sheng, let's go; Yang Shouyi, too, got what he deserved."

I followed QingSongShu back the way we came; as dusk deepened, the mountain village had no bicycles, so we walked on foot. Practitioners of the Dharma teach travel by foot; many come from rural backgrounds, naturally unafraid of hardship, and walking does not tire us.

"Uncle, did you actually know all along that Yang Shouren and Ye Qi would meet such a fate?" I asked while walking, because I felt QingSongShu had always been overly nonchalant.

If he knew, why didn't he speak up sooner?

QingSongShu did not answer me directly; instead he shook his head, then nodded, giving me another ambiguous reply.

QingSongShu said: "I know, but I also don't know; I merely happened to see some traces. Yet this is all karma, all fate—the truth will eventually be revealed. We are both mediators and outsiders.

"Remember, as diviners we often end up tormented by knowing too much yet being unable to change anything. But since heaven has willed it to happen, if we can teach others to avoid it, we do; what cannot be avoided, you must never rely on your temper to force things—do not go against heaven.

QingSongShu rubbed my head and earnestly instructed: "Especially you—you have now entered the realm of Heaven‑Knowing. Though this surprised me, you must always remember: no matter whether you later see a person's future events, or witness the trajectory of someone's fate with your own eyes, no matter how painful or unwilling you feel, even if you try your utmost to change it and help others avoid it, you must never reveal what you have seen.

"Otherwise… you will die." By the end, QingSongShu's face was covered in a deep solemnity; he wanted me to forever remember his words tonight.

"Yes, uncle, I remember!" At that moment I understood why QingSongShu wanted me to stay with him. Perhaps, as he said, all this is karma, predestined. Yang Shouren and Ye Qi have been bound by ill fate from the start; maybe we could intervene. But having risked our lives to conceal it once, we are powerless a second time—what is destined to happen will happen.

That Yang ancestor was erudite and ingenious, using the earth to form a Three‑Slaughter layout, yet in the end his lifetime of effort was altered by human hatred. Though I never met him, I feel pity for that Yang forefather. He left the Yang family a century of fortune. But he never imagined that the maggot‑worms' sprouting growth came not from outside force, but from within the Yang family itself. The Yang family's downfall was not caused by enemies, but by the Yang family. In grand mansions, there are countless unfathomable grudges, often also giving rise to hatred that separates kin.

The grudge between the two Yang brothers actually began in the previous generation: the Yang family killed Yang Shouyi's mother, and Yang Shouyi had lived in the Yang family, bearing injustice and humiliation—this is the karma between him and the Yang family. The Yang family owes him, and Yang Shouren owes him; those debts must always be repaid.

Gazing at QingSongShu's slowly receding back, I fell into thought.

Perhaps there is more than one person who has comprehended Heaven‑Knowing. QingSongShu is a transcendent, yet also a worldly person; deep in his heart he already has attachments. I recall him saying: "I hope to watch Xiaoqiang marry and have children, living out this life in plain simplicity."

He is already old, yet he still has an attachment he cannot let go— that attachment is my brother Pangzi. Perhaps now there is also another me!