Chapter 8: Thicket Village (Part 8)

A bone-chilling cold pierced through, and the Weird drew closer, yet Yun Xueqing couldn’t move a muscle. It was as if an invisible force field pinned him down, rendering him utterly immobile.

The creature charged straight at him, seemingly intent on making him its first meal, but he remained completely frozen, like a fish on a cutting board, at the mercy of the Weird.

This wasn’t the first crisis Yun Xueqing had faced, but being utterly powerless to act was a first for him.

With no other choice, he began circulating his inner energy, mobilizing the scant Spiritual Power left in his body.

As the Spiritual Power flowed past his injured Dantian, a dull pain throbbed in his lower abdomen, like being struck with a mallet. Yun Xueqing’s face paled from the agony.

But he didn’t stop. He knew that halting now would likely mean ending up in the Weird’s maw.

He directed the Spiritual Power to his Taichong acupoint, forcibly clearing the blocked meridians. Spiritual Power surged forth, and Yun Xueqing suddenly felt his body lighten. The suppressive pressure eased, and his arms regained mobility. He hurriedly pulled out a talisman paper.

But before he could throw it, his hand stiffened once more.

In an instant, his Spiritual Power was drained, and he couldn’t move again.

The talisman paper was pinched between his slender fingertips, fluttering in the wind, but it found no chance to be used.

The Weird approached step by step, now right before his eyes.

It opened its massive maw, revealing a blood basin of a mouth, poised to chomp down on Yun Xueqing’s head!

At that moment, the talisman paper he held suddenly blazed with light, erupting in a brilliant white glow that briefly illuminated the night.

The Weird was repelled by the white light, a faint incredulity appearing on its tree-bark face. But its hunger wouldn’t let it abandon this plump prey. It lunged again!

The white light flared once more. Realizing it was a reusable talisman, the Weird reluctantly retreated, shifting its target to the others.

Beside him came the teeth-grinding sound of chewing, but no one made a sound.

They were all controlled by the Weird, unable to move or speak a word. Like lambs to the slaughter, they could only await despair helplessly.

Yun Xueqing unwillingly urged his Spiritual Power again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth due to internal injuries, but he didn’t stop.

The Weird ceased chewing and twisted its head 180 degrees, its attention returning to Yun Xueqing.

The blood of a sacrifice held fatal allure for the Weird.

It dropped the half-eaten person in its grasp and advanced on Yun Xueqing once more.

Perhaps because the Weird had just fed and grown lax in its suppression, Yun Xueqing finally broke free completely!

With a flash, he dodged the fatal bite.

He picked up a nearby tree branch, assumed a starting stance, infused it with Spiritual Power, and thrust fiercely at the Weird!

He had poured all his remaining Spiritual Power into it, but it was still too little to matter. The branch struck the Weird’s body, leaving only a faint mark.

This strike would have been more than enough against a D-Rank Weird, but what he faced now was a notoriously difficult A-Rank Weird.

The Weird paused, and on its hollow face, a bizarre smile emerged, as if mocking his overestimation of his abilities.

Yun Xueqing’s expression grew solemn as he pondered ways to drive off the Weird. While he thought, it charged again, lunging straight for him!

He dodged awkwardly, but this Weird toyed with him like a cat with a mouse. It refrained from fully deploying its Weird Domain suppression, deliberately prolonging the game to watch him exhaust himself in despair before devouring him.

Yun Xueqing’s stamina was indeed nearing its end. He’d observed for a long time but found no weakness.

The more critical the moment, the calmer his mind became.

He stared fixedly at the Weird, his gaze sharp and piercing. The branch in his hand whipped through the air with the momentum of a sword. “One Sword Breaks Myriad Laws!”

He hurled the branch forward. It sliced through the air with chilling speed, embedding itself deep into the Weird’s forehead!

The Weird’s movements halted briefly. Then, its tree-bark face twisted into another bizarre smile!

It yanked out the branch from its forehead, snapped it effortlessly, and advanced on Yun Xueqing again.

Yun Xueqing was out of options. He stopped fleeing in a sorry plight and instead closed his eyes calmly, waiting for the Weird to close in.

It made no effort to muffle its footsteps, deliberately letting him hear them, eager to see him break down in tears before swallowing him whole.

Humans consumed in utter terror tasted the best. But even as it drew within arm’s reach, Yun Xueqing kept his eyes shut.

Bored, it gaped its blood basin mouth, ready to gulp him down.

At that instant, Yun Xueqing’s eyes snapped open. He grabbed its long hair, using it like a rope to climb up, flipped through the air, and landed astride the Weird’s head!

His face was frosty as snow. He formed a sword finger with two digits. “This is the true final move—Pluck Flower Shatter Jade!”

His two fingers stabbed down like a razor-sharp sword, piercing straight into the Weird’s crown!

Hitting its vital point, the Weird howled in pain, its body thrashing wildly and flinging Yun Xueqing off from a height of three meters!

He crashed down and spat out a mouthful of blood, his consciousness fading.

A shadow loomed before him. The last sight he registered was the enraged Weird stomping toward him…

Yun Xueqing hadn’t expected to wake again.

When he did, it was already noon the next day.

He lay on a wooden bed and struggled to sit up, looking around to find himself back in the village head’s house.

Fu Wuxuan pushed the door open, carrying a bowl of porridge. “Awake? If you’re awake, get up and eat.”

Yun Xueqing instinctively asked, “Not eating in the courtyard?”

Fu Wuxuan waved it off. “Don’t worry about that. The village head isn’t here at noon anyway.”

He chuckled darkly. “Not here—maybe the Weird ate him.”

Yun Xueqing didn’t get the dark humor and only asked, “What happened after I passed out last night?”

“That,” Fu Wuxuan set the porridge aside, “after you blacked out, the Man-Eating Ghost was about to devour you.”

“At the critical moment, Wu Xue broke free from the Weird Domain’s bindings and barely drove off the Man-Eating Ghost, saving your life.”

“Man-Eating Ghost?”

“Yeah, the Man-Eating Ghost—a B-Rank Weird. Its combat power isn’t that strong,” Fu Wuxuan said with a headache. “But its ability is tricky; it can form a domain that suppresses Oracles below its rank.”

Yun Xueqing seized the key point. “Below its rank?”

“Mm,” Fu Wuxuan said meaningfully. “Wu Xue was never suppressed from start to finish.”

Yun Xueqing frowned. “She just watched?”

“Don’t assume Wu Xue’s some good person just because she’s official.”

Fu Wuxuan’s face bore a smiling expression, but his eyes were ice-cold. “This woman only fulfills official tasks. Otherwise, she couldn’t care less. Without incident, her mission this time probably didn’t include saving E-Rank weaklings.”

He glanced at Yun Xueqing, his words a reminder. “She saved you last night because she sees your value and wants to recruit you into the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau.”

Yun Xueqing showed no reaction and only asked, “Wu Xue wasn’t suppressed—how about you?”

“Are you suspecting me?” Fu Wuxuan wore an inscrutable smile. “I was suppressed by the Man-Eating Ghost too.”

Yun Xueqing nodded. Seeing the bandages wrapping his entire body, he harbored no doubts.

Even without him saying it, Yun Xueqing could sense the heavy injuries on him—his abilities likely at ten percent at best. Yet he could still wield Oracle powers and join them on the mission; that took considerable willpower.

“I thought the Six-Armed Bodhisattva Statue was mysterious enough, but now the Man-Eating Ghost shows up,” Fu Wuxuan stroked his chin. “There must be something connecting the two.”

Yun Xueqing paused, then suddenly said, “I found a note in Hong Niu’s house.”

“What did it say?”

Yun Xueqing recited its contents verbatim.

“The Paper Animation Technique—interesting,” Fu Wuxuan murmured. “It connects them.”

“What?”

Fu Wuxuan chuckled lightly, not holding back. “The Paper Animation Technique, as the name implies, animates paper figures. They stay hidden by day but move like humans at night, even emitting human scents.”

“The village head keeps Paper Men.”

Yun Xueqing recalled the tightly shut rooms, guessing they housed quite a few Paper Men. Fetching Corpse Oil was probably for maintaining them.

“What does he raise Paper Men for?”

They had no attack power. Just to scare people?

Fu Wuxuan chuckled. “To blur the line between fake and real.”

With that hint, enlightenment dawned on Yun Xueqing. “Disguise Paper Men as living people to fool the Man-Eating Ghost?”

The Man-Eating Ghost devoured humans, and with no way to eliminate it, the village head used Paper Men to deceive it.

Yun Xueqing asked, “What about the Six-Armed Bodhisattva?”

“That I haven’t figured out yet. We’re still missing a key clue,” Fu Wuxuan said flatly. “But no rush.”

No sooner had he spoken than he coughed.

Yun Xueqing frowned, hearing him quip irreverently, “That Six-Armed Bodhisattva sucks vital energy. I’m gonna get drained dry.”

Yun Xueqing replied, “Then hurry and find the clues to escape this Weird Domain.”

“You’ve got no sense of humor,” Fu Wuxuan sighed dramatically. “Drink the porridge first. We’ll search the village head’s room for clues later.”

Yun Xueqing downed the porridge, its taste indescribable. He finished it in one go and moved to get off the bed toward the village head’s room, but the motion tugged at his wounds, drawing cold sweat.

Fu Wuxuan half-concerned, half-teasing, said, “Speaking of which, Daoist’s physique is pretty good. Thrown like that and still kicking around lively.”

The other didn’t banter back, heading straight for the village head’s room.

The village head owned a large courtyard compound, yet his own room was surprisingly spartan, with few items—making it easy for the two to search.

Yun Xueqing noticed a photo frame on the side table. While other spots had some dust, this frame was spotless, clearly wiped repeatedly.

The photo wasn’t large, and its content was ordinary: the village head standing outside the temple, nothing special.

Though the scenery differed, Yun Xueqing recognized it at a glance as the temple where he’d first landed.

The village head in the photo looked slightly younger, without his cane—suggesting the picture was some years old.

That was all the info he could glean. Yun Xueqing removed the photo from the frame and checked the back, finding no writing.

“Found something?”

Yun Xueqing handed him the photo. He examined it for a moment, then pondered. “Who took this for him? His son?”

Yun Xueqing shook his head and recounted everything he’d seen and guessed in the temple.

Fu Wuxuan gripped the photo tightly, thoughtful. “In that case, the Six-Armed Bodhisattva Statue he put in our room must’ve come from that temple.”

He said with interest, “Seeking a Six-Armed Bodhisattva Statue that drains vital energy, and raising Paper Men—this village head is quite the character.”

Yun Xueqing couldn’t stomach that. “Just a bunch of evil things.”

Fu Wuxuan chuckled and pocketed the photo. “Fine, fine. Let’s head out first, avoid an awkward face-to-face with the village head.”

“You found something?” Yun Xueqing followed him out, asking.

“Nothing much—just the note on the Paper Animation Technique.” Fu Wuxuan said casually.

They had just exited the village head’s room when they bumped into Wu Xue and her group.

The red-haired youth grumbled annoyedly, “Damn, they beat us to it.”

Wu Xue showed no emotional fluctuation, asking coldly, “What clues did you find?”

Yun Xueqing hesitated, but Fu Wuxuan chuckled. “Want something for nothing?”

Before Wu Xue could speak, the red-haired youth jumped in. “How do you talk to our Boss Wu Xue? We’ve got numbers—dealing with you two invalids is a piece of cake. Hand over the clues if you’re smart.”

Fu Wuxuan wasn’t fazed, smiling. “Feel free to try.”

The red-haired youth paled slightly, for the man’s eyes screamed: I’ll beat your punk ass.

He was just trash-talking. Though unclear on the bandaged freak’s strength, he’d witnessed the one beside him last night.

Someone who could solo such a powerful Weird—was no pushover.

The wise chose their battles; more talk meant more mistakes. He shut up.

Friction had just occurred, but Wu Xue acted unfazed, her face as cold as ever. “Exchange clues.”

The female student, who’d been acting as mascot, chimed in timely. “Win-win cooperation, right? Everyone wants out of this Weird Domain fast, yeah?”

Knowing that Fu Wuxuan seemed to harbor some opinions about Wu Xue, Yun Xueqing was just about to speak when the man nearby grinned and said, “Fine. I suppose the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau’s Wu Xue isn’t some insidious schemer who’d pull petty tricks. I’ll trust you this once.”

He deftly pulled the photo from his pants pocket and flashed it for Wu Xue to see.

The few people who had been standing behind Wu Xue as background props now crowded forward eagerly to look.

The female student couldn’t squeeze through them and pulled a bitter face. “Don’t step on my foot!”

Red Hair was dumbfounded. “What’s the meaning of this photo? You’re not messing with us, are you?”

“Naturally not.”

Just as Wu Xue reached out to touch the photo, Fu Wuxuan snatched it back and tucked it neatly into his pocket.

He glanced around at their surroundings with a sigh. “Last night, a lot of people really died.”

The original group of more than a dozen had dwindled to just four or five.

Wu Xue pretended not to hear.

Fu Wuxuan found it boring and said dispiritedly, “I’ve shared my clue. Your turn.”

Wu Xue gave him an expressionless look and said flatly, “Last night’s Man-Eating Ghost was the village head.”