Chapter 46: 45, Omen of Death

45, Omen of Death

Good dog!

Zhou Chang hid in the corner and praised Ao Duoji.

He reached out and rubbed Ao Duoji’s head; that furry dog’s skull felt like a ball filled with Qi, not the solid, bony texture of a real dog.

Zhou Chang took the blackened human skin from Ao Duoji’s mouth and lit a firestarter, burning the demonic skin outright.

The moment the flame touched the blackened skin, multicolored flames erupted from it!

“Whoosh!”

The Feast-Nirvana flames roared to life!

At that moment, a horrifying sound of tearing flesh suddenly pierced the darkness.

Accompanying the sound, Li Xiamei’s shrill scream echoed through the pitch-black front courtyard: “Ah——”

The Feast-Nirvana fire boiling on the skin before Zhou Chang surged upward, swirling with the wind, drifting toward the headless body of Li Xiamei standing in the front courtyard.

Li Xiamei’s swollen belly had been torn open; its head emerged from within, followed by its arms and upper torso crawling out of the wound.

The rolling Feast-Nirvana flames poured into the neck cavity of the headless body, igniting flames across its entire form, blackening and withering it gradually.

Li Xiamei crawled out of its own “mother body” and circled around it.

The illusory, multicolored Feast-Nirvana flames gathered at the neck of its headless mother body, forming a phantom woman’s head.

The blurred face whispered unconsciously—a murmur that for an instant shook Zhou Chang’s living soul: “Li… Xiamei, Li… Xiamei…”

What is it doing?

Zhou Chang turned his head, locking eyes with Bai Ma, mouthing the words silently.

“Self-preservation,” Bai Ma replied coldly, mouthing back, “It’s trying to absorb the last shred of Feast-Nirvana from the skin to forge a temporary shell.

—Every Xiang Demon, when its shell nears exhaustion, performs this act of self-preservation.

But since its shell lacks a head, as long as it doesn’t reattach that head, it cannot succeed.”

“I understand,” Zhou Chang said, looking at Bai Xiue/Bai Ma. “Stay here.

Don’t make a sound. Try to seal your Qi with lotus threads.”

When Zhou Chang’s Thought-Cloak was first intact, though it covered his whole body, it couldn’t fully conceal his Qi.

Now, most of his thought-threads had been strengthened into blood-threads and iron-threads; when he draped them over his body, he could fully suppress his Qi—even Li Xiamei couldn’t sense him.

Bai Xiue’s lotus threads were of the same origin as his thought-threads.

Bai Xiue’s current thought-threads might not be enough to mask her Qi entirely, so Zhou Chang only asked her to cover her Qi as much as possible, without demanding perfection.

Zhou Chang rose silently from the corner, stepping out quietly, his thought-threads slithering into a net that caught Ao Duoji’s lolling tongue, sealing its Qi and sound.

He slowly unbound the net, watching Li Xiamei’s aimless patrol, then pointed at the head slowly rolling toward the headless body’s feet, calling out loudly: “Ao Duoji!

Go!

Bring me that head!”

The moment Zhou Chang’s voice rang out, Li Xiamei, patrolling far away, locked onto him instantly!

The long-haired Xiang Demon gripped a sharp, gleaming knife and lunged at him like a wisp of black smoke!

The Ao Duoji he had released barked excitedly, then shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, faithfully obeying its master’s command!

Swift as a hare, sudden as a magpie!

Before Ao Duoji reached the head, Li Xiamei was already upon Zhou Chang’s form.

Zhou Chang’s body was wrapped in thought-threads, his Qi sealed—even his heartbeat silenced—so Li Xiamei lost its target in that instant.

But in the next instant, a child’s cry suddenly rang out from behind Zhou Chang!

“Wu—Old Man! Old Man—save me!”

“Dad! Dad!”

The moment the child’s cry sounded, the knife-wielding Li Xiamei instantly found its target—it passed right by Zhou Chang and charged straight toward his back!

Hearing the child’s cry, Zhou Chang’s heart clenched—he felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread!

The long-missing chill of malice, which had vanished before, now clung to his back in an instant!

As if a pair of eyes full of malice were fixed on him from behind!

At the same moment, another child’s cry joined the first—so lifelike it mimicked the original perfectly, yet devoid of any sorrow or fear, filled only with endless cold malice: “Wu-wu-wu… Old Man, Old Man, save me!

Mom, Mom, save me!”

Hearing the cry, Zhou Chang froze in place.

Bai Ma’s panicked voice rang out: “Don’t turn around! Don’t turn around!

It’s all fake! All a trap set by the Mortal Gods—if you turn, you’ll touch the Omen of Death, and it’s all over!

You’re still fighting for control of your body with the Sǐ Corpses—you’re already losing. If another Omen of Death clings to your soul, you’ll have no chance left—nothing will ever be possible!”

Her voice carried unmistakable obsession.

Zhou Chang, hearing her, was certain she knew much about “himself.”

She might even be one of the Treasure King’s pawns.

But Zhou Chang had no time to ponder this now. Hearing Bai Ma’s almost pleading voice, he finally turned around: “That child is real!

He’s alive!”

He shouted, sprinting toward Li Xiamei’s back.

Bai Ma lowered her eyelids, her expression utterly lifeless—colder than ever.

On that icy face, her eyes held a deep, reluctant light, turning into tears that traced down her cheeks: “I told you not to turn around. I told you, turning means no chance….”

Zhou Chang had already passed her.

Was she speaking to him—or to herself?

The malevolent chill clinging to Zhou Chang’s back vanished the instant he turned—like it had never been there.

And now, though Zhou Chang could no longer feel his own heartbeat, he heard it—loud, frantic.

“Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!”

The wild drumbeat exploded in his ears.

Hearing that heartbeat, he sensed the end of his life.

His head throbbed with dizziness, pain stabbing through his mind.

But the pain lasted only a few breaths, then vanished entirely.

Yet that sudden pain was enough for Zhou Chang to know his end: “My skull will burst in ten days.”

This is the Omen of Death.