Chapter 128

Just…

A nauseating stench of decay suddenly filled her nose.

It nearly knocked Su Jin off her feet.

So disgusting.

Su Jin quickly searched for the source of the stench, and as she looked, she found a human-shaped corpse in a patch of grass near a rockery at the far end of the small wasteland garden.

It was the corpse of a young woman dressed in a dress, but her face had been destroyed. She had likely been dead for several days; the stench of decay made it impossible for Su Jin to approach.

Anyway, Su Jin had no intention of getting close.

She ran out of the small wasteland garden at once, then gagged several times at the entrance, barely holding back vomit.

Fortunately, she had already endured the incident with that little boy.

What terrible luck she had!

Su Jin grumbled about her misfortune while quickly pulling out a long-distance message talisman to send word to Liu Shi.

Liu Shi arrived soon after.

She immediately saw Su Jin’s pale face again.

She sighed, then quickly slipped a small elixir into Su Jin’s mouth.

“This is a medicine specifically to suppress vomiting. Eat it, you’ll feel better.” After feeding her the pill, Liu Shi turned and walked into the interior of the small wasteland garden.

She came out not long after.

Liu Shi’s own face looked no better. She immediately contacted the Police Inspector’s Office.

The people who came this time—both Liu Shi and Su Jin felt they were strangers. And only two of them showed up.

They questioned Su Jin and Liu Shi in detail about how they had discovered the female corpse, then took the body away. If there were no clear clues to identify the killer, the investigation would have to be postponed. After all, the entire Police Inspector’s Office was currently focused on clearing out the insects.

After they left, Liu Shi comforted Su Jin several times before asking, “Shall I escort you back?”

Su Jin shook her head: “I’m fine, Master. Your pill worked wonders—my stomach isn’t churning anymore.”

Liu Shi noticed Su Jin’s complexion had slightly improved.

She said: “Su Jin, we aren’t children from ordinary families. Our sect isn’t some peaceful, prosperous sect. Though our sect is powerful and dominates this region, it has never lacked enemies.

And even as cultivators, most of us won’t die peacefully in bed, waiting for our lifespan to end. We either die on the battlefield or in various struggles.

Either immortality, or death.

Don’t even think about those lies about a gentle, peaceful end—they’re just for mortals.

So I believe you must learn to accept life and death.”

Su Jin listened, then nodded firmly.

Her mother had already warned her: once she entered the clan school, she would leave the warmth of home and face the storms outside.

So she must strive to become strong.

Most importantly, she must strengthen her inner resolve.

“Master, don’t worry—I can do it.”

Though Su Jin said this, Liu Shi quietly followed behind her, watching until she walked back normally, only then feeling reassured enough to leave.

As soon as Su Jin returned, she pulled out the alert array and set it up around the large room.

Although she had received the array before, the environment had initially been too deceptive.

It had led everyone to unconsciously assume this place was safe.

Deep in the clan grounds, a vast garden filled with arrays, clan school teachers as anchors, adults and caretakers helping with care—

Even Su Jin had initially thought they’d been assigned here for a safe guard duty, essentially just lying low to earn merit points. “Could it be the clan actually thought this way?”

But the corpse she’d encountered had mocked her, naked and cruel.

Where was safety? Where could she lie down and relax?

If she wasn’t careful, her life could be snuffed out—and she’d be dumped like that woman, hidden somewhere unseen.

Su Jin absolutely would not die so horribly!!

With this resolve fixed in her heart, after setting up the array plates, she told Su Wuji and Su Cheng—who had just finished cultivating—that she had found a female corpse in a hidden corner of a small wasteland garden during patrol.

Both Su Wuji and Su Cheng stared at her in disbelief.

“A woman’s corpse found here means there’s an enemy—and they’ve already hidden themselves. We just don’t know where they’re hiding now,” Su Wuji thought grimly.

“Then tonight’s patrol and guard duty must be handled with extreme caution,” Su Cheng said. “Everyone should carry their secret weapons on them.”

Su Wuji thought of what he carried in his pocket; Su Jin subtly glanced at the thin gold bracelet on her wrist.

“I’m going to put on an inner armor,” Su Cheng said.

Su Wuji and Su Jin both gave her a thumbs-up gesture.

Inner armor was a precious lifesaver, but few made them for children, because kids grew fast—armor made today might be unusable in a year or two.

The materials for inner armor were top-tier.

If you made it and it became useless so quickly, wasn’t that just waste?

“My parents said, as long as you survive, you’ve already won. Gold spent can always be regained,” Su Cheng grumbled.

“That’s true,” Su Wuji said.

“Exactly right,” Su Jin agreed approvingly.

Su Cheng decided to ignore the two of them and went to put on his inner armor.

While Su Jin and the others prepared intensely for the night, Xue Chiluo was intensely focused on eating a group of millipedes deep beneath the mansion. No one knew who had raised them, but each one was plump and fat.

Thousands upon thousands of millipedes, large and small, were now corpses. The largest were over two feet long; the smallest pups were half a palm wide.

These millipedes had clearly undergone mutation, growing much larger.

But now, Xue Chiluo crunched them like biscuits—every single one, gone.

Xue Chiluo ate happily, completely unaware that its ancestor had already decided to fight a hard battle tonight.

Su Jin’s group received lunch and dinner delivered by carts.

The dishes were plentiful, with meat, and tasted excellent; Su Jin and the other two devoured everything, nearly licking their bowls clean.

This made Gu Mama and the others laugh endlessly.

Night deepened. Gu Mama and the others had planned to take turns keeping watch so the children could sleep.

But Su Wuji firmly refused.

The three of them silently began taking turns keeping watch.

Patrols were just walking near the large house—they first had to fulfill their duties.

Just before midnight—Aaaah!!

A piercing scream came from somewhere in the large garden, followed by shouts of alarm.

And the loud wailing of young children—amplified in the silent night, magnifying the fear.

All the children and adults on this side were jolted awake.

Gu Mama hurried to calm the crying children.

Su Jin and the others stood silently at the entrance of the large house, waiting for whatever had triggered the alert array.