Chapter 265

Hey! came a roar like a tiger's long howl. Yang Qiye stood firm in his horse stance, steady as Mount Tai, clenched his fist with one hand and threw a mighty punch at the stiff corpse. As the corpse fell to the ground, Yang Qiye quickly locked its limbs, then flipped it over. I and Pangzi stared dumbfounded as Yang Qiye's crimson palm somehow sucked out a prismatic, elongated object from the corpse's feet.

On our side, things were also winding down, as a chill drifted from Han Duo's eyes and nose, Pangzi finally relaxed, putting away the silver needles.

"Qiye, what is this?" I stared intently at the two prismatic elongated objects in Qiye's hand; they looked like ice chunks, giving off a chill, and I felt an uncomfortable sensation inside them.

Qiye gave a cold snort: "Warped talisman, heretical ways." With a clang, he clenched his fists and crushed the two objects in one grip.

Seeing his grim expression, I didn't dare ask further. I hoisted Han Duo onto my back, Pangzi picked up the unconscious child, and our group began descending the mountain.

On the road, we hailed a taxi, the four of us piled in, and had the driver take us back to Chan Yi Hall.

As we set Han Duo down in the main hall, the clock on the wall had already passed two a. m. Yang Qiye sat in the rocking chair at the center of the hall, his face perpetually gloomy, lost in thought.

I fetched a small coal stove from the room, placed it beside Han Duo and lit it; her cold aura was strong, so we needed the fire's heat to dispel the chill.

I was about to ask Pangzi why such a coincidence had occurred, but Yang Qiye, with a stern face, spoke first: "Hai Sheng, how did you get to that place and run into that thing?"

"Oh, it's like this: my friend and I were looking for clues related to the murder case, so we went there..." Although surprised, I still recounted the whole story to Yang Qiye in detail, hiding nothing—from Han Duo's invitation to the innocent children who met their doom in Tong Yuan Bay… I told him everything, point by point.

Yang Qiye's expression remained strange all night; looking at him, I recalled the old woman who had come to Chan Yi Hall to curse us. I don't know why, but I feel these two things are connected. In my memory, Yang Qiye has always been hot-tempered, rarely showing such solemn oddness on his face.

"This matter, you and Xiaoqiang don't need to worry about it. Xiaoqiang, call your dad and have him come back right away…" Yang Qiye's solemn expression was tinged with anxiety.

"Why?" I asked, bewildered: "Why can't I intervene?"

Yang Qiye stroked his beard, paced back with small steps to the side hall, leaving me standing in the main hall.

Suspicious, I could only turn my gaze toward Pangzi…

Pangzi shrugged: "Don't look at me; honestly, I'm even more clueless than you—I've had no idea what's going on from the start."

"Tch, you're just bragging. If you really didn't know, how could you have shown up with Yang Qiye so timely?" Given my intellect, I could never believe his words.

Pangzi spread his hands, wearing an innocent expression: "I truly don't know. I and Qiye were escorting the ashes back to the Buddhist temple; halfway there, Qiye inexplicably changed direction and took off. I, Pangzi, chased him all night, and when I caught up, I saw you and that fiery little girl."

Pangzi told me that he and Qiye were preparing to go to Huanglong Cave on Mount Wudang in Hubei for secluded cultivation, because the area abounds in medicinal herbs and the Daoist priests on Mount Wudang are especially adept at studying the medical arts. Although Qiye comes from the Fa sect, he maintains good relations with several renowned Daoist masters. Having taken Pangzi as his disciple, he intended to bring him along for an exchange.

Who would have thought that halfway, Qiye and Pangzi encountered a procession of monks—monks Qiye knew, from the Eastern Suburb Buddhist Temple. They were heading to a Water-Land exchange gathering, but the presiding leader suddenly passed away en route. Out of past camaraderie, Qiye temporarily set aside his plan to go to Hubei and instead accompanied the monks to escort the eminent monk's ashes back to the temple.

As a result, upon returning to Shenzhen and nearing their temple, Qiye suddenly changed direction again. The turn was so swift—comparable to a Benz doing ninety mph—that even Pangzi couldn't react in time.

"Pangzi, you said Qiye suddenly changed direction—did you notice any strange phenomena? Or did anyone appear nearby when he whipped around?" I guessed, Qiye must have seen something.

Pangzi didn't hesitate, nodding immediately: "Yes, when Qiye suddenly turned and sprinted, he stared at the ground for a long while; as I caught up, I glanced back at the ground and saw a line of tiny white things."

In Pangzi's words, that line of white tiny fluid resembled a man's secretion, but the smell—upon a whiff, Pangzi knew it contained women's Tiankui blood, extremely yin and evil.

"I say… Pangzi, don't you find this disgusting?" My whole body shivered with chills, and what made me feel utterly defeated was that Pangzi was still holding a bun and a cup of milk, chewing them with relish.

Pangzi held the bread, his expression unchanged, and gave me a sideways glance: "Have you ever been to a funeral home? People there get corpse oil on their hands, casually wipe it off, then pick up an apple and eat it. I'm not like you—I've never touched that stuff, so why wouldn't I dare eat?"

"I suppose I'm utterly convinced by you, Pangzi… Hold on, what did you just say?" I stared at Pangzi, asking, as he seemed to have said I'd gotten something like male semen on me.

Pangzi said nothing, merely pointing at my back. I took off my jacket and nearly vomited—my black coat was now splattered white all over, and even a sniff gave off a nauseating, vomit-inducing stench.

I rushed into the restroom and heaved violently; Pangzi's tolerance is something I could never match even by flattering him. The mere thought that I'd been coated in this disgusting substance for so long without noticing sent a chill through my whole body.

After coming out of the restroom, Pangzi was rummaging through the bookshelf for something?

"Pangzi, what are you looking for?" I asked.

Pangzi handed over a yellowed book; I flipped it open and immediately tossed it back. I loathe pre-Republican typesetting—vertical layout, right-to-left reading—it just annoys me. Moreover, this book is so trashy you could use it to wipe your ass; who could even tell what nonsense it's supposed to be?

"After death, the three hun return to heaven, the seven po to earth. The flesh becomes a corpse, yet among the Three Teachings and Nine Streams, in the unorthodox paths, there exists a practice distinct from corpse-driving: corpse command." Pangzi picked up the ancient book from the floor and said to me: "Just now Qiye mentioned the warped talisman—it's described here as well."

I instantly grew nervous, glanced at Qiye's room, then fixed my gaze on Pangzi and asked: "What does it say? What's written in the book?"

Pangzi said: "The warped talisman, also called jue, refers to cold invading the feet; when it congeals in the feet, it's jue. The jue talisman is a glyph outside the thirty-six gate talisman canon, using ice as its medium, Tiankui as the offering, and then the cat as the po…"

The first two sentences are medical theory, negligible. But the latter two, I caught a hint: corpse-driving and corpse-commanding, in plain terms, means moving the hun and po. After death, if the hun enters the body, it's possession; if the po remains while the hun is gone, it's a sham corpse; when a Daoist adept commands it, it's corpse command.

"Is there more detailed information about this warped talisman, such as the ritual refinement method and how to break it?" I asked, frowning.

Pangzi's eyes widened in bewilderment: "This book doesn't record it, and besides, you shouldn't be asking me!"

I asked him, then who should I ask? Pangzi pointed his finger at me.

"Me…?" I widened my eyes. This has nothing to do with me—I can handle ghost command, but when it comes to corpse command, all I'm good for is being the corpse that's commanded.

Pangzi dug at his nostrils and said to me: "The Yinshan Fa sect is renowned as the most yin of the Mystic Gate; its ghost and corpse command are on par with the Chenzhou corpse-driving lineage, lacking nothing."

Pangzi's words reminded me—is that really the case? But I've only learned a fragment of the Yinshan Fa; not even I, let alone my master Li Feng, have inherited more than a tenth of the Yinshan Fa sect's teachings. I've barely touched the martial aspect of the twofold civil-military methods, let alone this profound and vast corpse-commanding art.

"Tch, unlearned and inept." Pangzi disparaged me with a remark, leaving me with his long retreating back.

At that moment I felt like beating him to a pulp, but thinking of the unconscious Han Duo, I restrained myself.

I and Pangzi walked to the bedside; I touched the unconscious child's head and asked Pangzi: "Big Pang, what's wrong with this kid? Could something happen?" I was a bit worried.

Pangzi chuckled, speaking with firm assurance: "Don't worry, this child merely inhaled a bewitching incense from the jianghu arts sect; he'll wake up soon. As for Han Duo…"

"What's wrong with Han Duo?" Before Pangzi could finish, I pressed on anxiously.

"Tch, I'd long guessed you two had something going on. I just didn't expect you to hook up so quickly?" Pangzi raised his eyebrows, leering.

Feeling Han Duo's icy limbs, I had no mood to joke with Pangzi; I urged him: "Cut it out, think of a solution—you said you'd already forced the cold toxin out of her, so why isn't she waking up?"

"Tch, do you think she's a reincarnated Calabash Brother? Even if you forced out the cold toxin, it still ran through her system. Any normal person—let alone having the cold toxin run through them, just sleeping in a fridge would lay them flat."

As Pangzi was speaking, a slow yet distinct knocking sounded outside Chan Yi Hall.

"Go open the door!" Pangzi told me.

I set Han Duo down, walked to the doorway, and opened the main gate—yet at that moment I was stunned.

Outside the door stood a woman utterly "bewitching"—excessively so. In the freezing weather she wore a set of stockings and a skirt, draped in a large red overcoat, and sprayed with an unnamed but strong perfume. At first glance she seemed a youthful maiden, but a closer look… she must be in her forties, her face caked with a thick layer of foundation, pallid to the point of being frightening.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Chen Hai Sheng? I'm Li Li, the one you just spoke with on the phone." She suddenly smiled at me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and said: "Sir, you pay first, then I'll come in."

I: …speechless line…

What kind of situation is this? What phone call? What payment? What have I just done?