Chapter 64: Flesh and Mud Idol

Xu Yuan had already cut the fleshy tentacles Chanraozhe himself with a dagger the moment he saw the musket raised, holding his umbrella before him as he swiftly dodged behind the wall.

A wave of heat, carrying countless pellets, shot past with a whoosh.

The half-burned flesh monster was instantly riddled like a sieve.

A dense patter of impacts rang out across the two wooden gates of the courtyard, and over a dozen pellets flew inside, striking the windows and walls of the main hall.

Xu Yuan dodged most of them; only a few grazed his left arm, leaving behind several bloody grooves!

A numb stiffness spread from the wounds; Xu Yuan looked down and saw the wounds already turning blue, the blood oozing out blackened.

“The pellets are coated in poison—how utterly vicious!”

Xu Yuan charged out under his umbrella, only to see the driver standing frozen in place after firing the musket.

Rain soaked the paintings on its body; the recoil of the musket cracked the wet areas, revealing dark red flesh beneath.

The flesh suddenly lost vitality, peeling off in chunks, quickly piling into a pool on the ground.

The flesh was a grotesque mix—Xu Yuan spotted shattered parts of snakes, rats, cats, dogs, sparrows, and more.

The one manipulating it from behind, seeing the assassination fail, abandoned them outright.

Xu Yuan held his umbrella warily, glancing a few times into the alley outside, but ultimately did not step out; instead, he retreated cautiously, burned the fleshy monster inside to ash, then dragged the musket inside and shut the courtyard gate behind him.

The courtyard gate was made of old wooden planks three fingers thick, riddled with transparent holes from the pellets!

Back inside the house, Xu Yuan finally released a medicinal pill to detoxify and heal.

“So it’s begun already…” Xu Yuan’s expression was grim.

…

Uncle Mao IV stepped out wearing a conical hat and a straw rain cape.

He didn’t even glance at the fleshy remains and broken cart, but followed some “trail” only he could see.

His face, already heavy with sorrow, now twisted with fury.

…

The real Yan Lao’s carriage was still slowly moving through the rain.

When they set out, it had been a light drizzle, but now the rain grew heavier; Yan Lao grew increasingly uneasy, so he extended his hand from his sleeve and calculated with his fingers.

“Bad!” Yan Lao’s expression changed drastically. “Turn back—immediately turn back!”

…

Master Gao stepped out of his home, clutching a bundle, exiting through the northern city gate.

Chen Liangxuan’s men followed behind in a cart, covered with oiled cloth; beneath it lay five corpses.

There was also Master Gao’s wooden chest.

The bundle in Master Gao’s arms was strange—resembling… a baby’s swaddling cloth.

After leaving the city, the rain intensified; the world grew cold with sinister yin energy. Suddenly, the thing inside the bundle writhed and struggled.

Master Gao patted it gently, as if soothing a sleeping infant, murmuring: “Don’t rush, don’t rush—we’re almost there.”

Yet his arms gripped the bundle with all their strength, tendons bulging on his forearms!

The swaddling cloth in his arms thrashed three times along the way; each time, Master Gao struggled harder than before.

Finally, they reached a ruin four li outside the city.

Not a single intact building remained—only broken walls and shattered pillars, overgrown with wild grass.

But the area was vast, hinting at its former grandeur.

Master Gao’s group of “intruders” startled many snakes and rats, as well as wild foxes sheltering from the rain.

Upon arriving, the swaddling cloth suddenly fell “silent.”

Master Gao carefully searched and located the site of the ruin’s former “main hall.”

He pulled up the weeds, pushed aside broken beams, and finally cleared out the approximate shape of the old “altar.”

Then he carefully unwrapped the swaddling cloth and Quchu a damaged clay statue.

The clay statue was unrecognizable; its painted surface had flaked and faded, dull and lifeless.

Master Gao ordered his attendants: “Bring them over.”

Chen Liangxuan’s men had been trembling since they left; when they departed, it had been a light drizzle—they never expected the rain to grow so heavy.

Today was “Jin Linhe”—such heavy rain meant leaving the city was like walking straight into a monster’s mouth.

Several times along the way, they felt something in the roadside puddles trying to crawl out.

But it seemed afraid of something, swirling a few strange ripples before sinking back into silence.

But by then, regret was too late.

Turning back would have been futile—without Master Gao to hold them back, the water’s horrors would have surged out and devoured them.

Their legs shaking, they dragged the corpses and the chest over.

Master Gao opened the chest and Quchu various “tools.”

First, he bound each of the five corpses with a bundle of red thread, using a special technique.

Among Chen Liangxuan’s men, the head was a manager surnamed Liu—he was also one of Old Master Chen’s “death servants.”

Manager Liu recognized the method: it was sealing the dead souls back into their corpses.

Master Gao then picked up the nearby axes and knives and began chopping the corpses.

His face remained calm, yet within the span of a single incense stick, he chopped all five corpses into pieces!

Blood and shredded flesh splattered over him; he showed no reaction.

The men under Manager Liu were too terrified to make a sound.

Master Gao cupped the flesh pulp in both hands and smeared it onto the clay statue.

One handful after another, he reshaped the statue into a divine idol!

Raindrops pattered down, yet could not wash away the new sculpture.

One servant, lips trembling, summoned courage to whisper to Manager Liu: “Manager Liu, can we leave now?”

Before Manager Liu could answer, Master Gao turned around and looked at them all—and smiled.

Only then did they notice: Master Gao’s lower body had somehow fused with the leftover flesh pulp!

His upper body remained human, caked in blood and shredded meat.

His lower body had melted into a carpet of flesh, writhing continuously, as if taking root and growing!

He now looked like a terrifying aberration.

On a distant small mound, two fox heads emerged—they had been sheltering under a collapsed wall in the ruin, startled out by Master Gao’s group.

But curiosity drove them to linger; now they peered out—and their fur instantly bristled in terror.

“What kind of demon is this?”

“Even more like a monster than we are!”

“Run! Run!”

“The city’s too dangerous—let’s return to the mountains, seek out our two aunts…”

In the ruin, countless red threads shot out from Master Gao’s lower flesh-carpet, binding and hoisting Manager Liu and all the others.

“Ahh—”

Everyone screamed in soul-shattering terror: “Manager Liu, tell him—we’re on the same side!”

Manager Liu’s face stiffened; he didn’t answer them, sighing inwardly as he accepted his fate.

On the idol reshaped by Master Gao, flesh wriggled like countless earthworms.

The flesh beneath Master Gao also began growing upward—he realized he could no longer suppress it, his expression showing surprise: “This thing… has tremendous power!”

He flicked his finger; one of the hoisted men flew into his grasp. Amid the man’s desperate, terrified screams, he bit down on the man’s neck!

After drinking his fill of blood, the flesh-carpet beneath him temporarily sated, halting its upward invasion.

Yet fine, dark red veins sprouted across Master Gao’s skin!

“If you’re filled with hatred, why not seek revenge?” Master Gao said to the idol. “I’ve reshaped your body with the true blood and souls of Ming subjects—the Ming court’s talismans can no longer hold you back…”

Happy holidays to everyone!

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(End of Chapter)