Chapter 15: Thicket Village (Fifteen)

The epidemic unleashed by the Six-Armed Bodhisattva was incurable and could easily claim a person’s life.

But after Yun Xueqing heard this, he showed no major reaction. He merely nodded faintly with an indifferent expression to indicate that he had heard.

Fu Wuxuan stared at him for a moment before suddenly smiling. “I’ve realized you’re truly an interesting person.”

“You talk about accumulating merits on your lips and always step forward at crucial moments, acting like you have a strong sense of justice.” Fu Wuxuan’s tone shifted, his eyes filled with scrutiny.

“But when those Oracles died, you didn’t show the slightest sadness or anger. You didn’t even ask me how many people died that night to the Man-Eating Ghost.”

His gaze sharpened as if trying to pierce through the mask of hypocrisy to see the true nature beneath. “Yun Xueqing, are you truly full of justice, or do you simply not care about their lives at all?”

If he truly cared, why had he let the middle-aged uncle be dragged away by the Water Ghost while fishing in the pond?

If he truly cared, why hadn’t he personally dealt with the red-haired youth after knowing he had killed several people?

His questions were sharp, yet they carried no malice or targeting—it was as if he was simply inquiring.

Yun Xueqing lifted his drooping eyelids, looked at him for a moment, then lowered them again. His expression remained indifferent throughout.

Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Fu Wuxuan chuckled mockingly. “Right, you don’t even care about your own life and death, so how could you care about strangers’ lives?”

“I’m not that detached from the mortal world,” Yun Xueqing replied in his mild tone. “If I can live, naturally I want to live.”

Fu Wuxuan was amused by his words and shook his head with a laugh. “Actually, this indifferent demeanor of yours is the true way to survive in the apocalypse—including me now. After all, the world above has already cultivated enough savior-like kindhearted ones.”

When he mentioned “savior,” a trace of genuine desolation unconsciously slipped into his tone. But upon noticing Yun Xueqing’s probing gaze, he smoothly retracted that inadvertent leak.

His smile gradually faded, though his tone remained his usual playful nonchalance. “But if that’s the case, you’re no different from anyone else.”

“Then you’ve misjudged me,” Yun Xueqing looked at him and, unusually, retorted with a heavy statement tinged with barely perceptible sarcasm. “Your moral standards are too high—no one can meet them. Those who could might not even be human, but monsters.”

A rare flicker of anger appeared on his face, which was fairer than frost and snow, making him seem more alive instead of so ethereal.

Fu Wuxuan hadn’t expected him to say that. He paused, about to speak again, when Li Yulin came running over. “Holy shit, big shots, something weird grew on my hand!”

As he approached and saw the red bumps on Fu Wuxuan’s arm, his suspended heart settled. “You guys have them too? Then it’s fine.”

Li Yulin poked his head in like a mouse, squeezing forcefully between the two. “Big shots, what were you just talking about?”

Fu Wuxuan’s eyes flickered slightly as he smiled. “We were discussing how to deal with this thing on our hands.”

“Huh? Are these red bumps really that dangerous?”

Fu Wuxuan had no patience to explain and merely tugged at his lips, scaring him. “If you don’t remove it, you’ll be lying in a coffin in a few days.”

Li Yulin was instantly frightened into panic and looked at them helplessly. “Th-then… let’s hurry and figure out how to get rid of it! Let’s look for clues!”

Fu Wuxuan nodded. “Split up. You go with Yun Xueqing.”

Yun Xueqing glanced at him and said flatly, “You two go together.”

Caught in the middle, Li Yulin felt somewhat helpless amid the awkward atmosphere. He forced a laugh. “Then I’ll stick with the big shot.”

With that, he sidled closer to Fu Wuxuan.

For some reason, after spending time with them, Li Yulin felt that Fu Wuxuan provided more security.

Although Yun Xueqing would protect him too, he couldn’t sense any emotional fluctuations or human desires from Yun Xueqing.

The unknown was often the most terrifying, and the emptiness around Yun Xueqing made him hesitant to approach.

Yun Xueqing glanced at the two, said nothing, and simply turned to walk down another path.

After walking along the road for a few minutes, he heard a voice ahead. “You’re looking for me, right?”

He looked up and saw San Zhi standing not far away, holding an oil-paper umbrella and smiling at him.

He slowly approached under the oil-paper umbrella. “Earlier, it seemed like you had something to say to me, but because Dong Jun was there, it wasn’t convenient, right?”

Dong Jun?

It must have been referring to Fu Wuxuan.

Yun Xueqing ignored his words and directly asked, “Have you touched a sword before?”

“A sword?” He countered. “Are you like Dong Jun, here for the Calamity Blade?”

In his view, there was no difference between a knife and a sword.

His tone carried some arrogance. “So you’re competing with Dong Jun for something and didn’t dare tell him. Humans really are the best at scheming against each other.”

“It’s not the knife,” Yun Xueqing frowned. “It’s a sword.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but in this Small Weird Domain, the only Ghost Artifact is the knife left by the Calamity God.”

San Zhi suddenly gave a eerie smile. “Speaking of which, to kill the Six-Armed Bodhisattva, you need the Calamity Blade. It’s reasonable that you’re so eager to find it.”

Yun Xueqing’s brow twitched. “Only the Calamity Blade? What about the Bodhidharma Sword?”

“Bodhidharma Sword? What’s that?”

Seeing Yun Xueqing’s puzzled expression, San Zhi suddenly realized, even putting away the umbrella as he slapped his palm and laughed heartily. “Hahaha, humans are truly amusing!”

His Weird Power was weakened, and he couldn’t be exposed to sunlight for long, so he raised the oil-paper umbrella over his head again. His smile grew even more eerie. “You’ve been tricked by that bad guy Dong Jun. There’s no such thing as a Bodhidharma Sword.”

From his mouth came another version of the legend, spoken slowly.

It was said that the Six-Armed Bodhisattva had two aspects: one yang and one yin. The yang one, when worshipped, brought good fortune and warded off disasters. The yin one exploited human desires and devoured people’s lifespan.

The yin Six-Armed Bodhisattva committed many evils, frequently descending the mountain to wreak havoc. The villagers had long suffered at its hands. But there was no Dharma Bodhisattva to save them—the lofty gods feasted on human incense but ignored the plight of a remote mountain village.

Ironically, the immortals who preached compassion didn’t save their lives. Instead, the Calamity God, who brought disaster wherever it went and was shunned by all, happened to pass by, sensed the Six-Armed Bodhisattva’s presence, and slew it with a single slash.

As San Zhi told the story, his tone revealed pleasure toward the end. “Of course, those villagers didn’t meet a good end either. That was the Calamity God—its ‘blessing’ was more than they could bear.”

“After the Six-Armed Bodhisattva died, they were still implicated by the disasters brought by the Calamity God. All 404 people in the village met untimely deaths.”

After finishing the tale, he anticipated a horrified reaction, but the other’s expression remained indifferent, unmoved by external things. He asked expressionlessly, “Where is the Calamity Blade now?”

“Why should I tell you?” San Zhi looked at him, his true nature slipping through as he licked his lips. “I’ve told such a long story—my throat is thirsty. Your blood should quench it.”

His tone was elegant like a gentleman. If not for his teeth growing longer in his mouth, he might have seemed the type to make women swoon. “Don’t waste time resisting. You can’t beat me.”

A human with no Spirit Energy, only some unorthodox tricks, couldn’t possibly defeat him, an A-Rank Weird.

“I don’t need to beat you.”

There was no panic on Yun Xueqing’s face. Calmly, he pulled out a prepared talisman paper from his sleeve.

The yellow paper bore the characters “San Zhi” written in blood. Upon encountering the real San Zhi, the originally oxidized and dull red blood erupted with a piercing crimson glow.

He threw the talisman paper at San Zhi. It streaked through the air and, as it neared him, flashed with white light before drilling directly into San Zhi’s body!

Having done this, Yun Xueqing said mildly, “I just need to control you.”

San Zhi hadn’t expected this move and said in astonishment, “What did you do to me!”

He couldn’t move now.

“It won’t harm you. Don’t worry.”

Yun Xueqing’s voice remained as cold and gentle as ever, though this gentleness toward a Weird that had just wanted to kill him felt somewhat eerie.

He was oblivious and said flatly, “It’s just a Prohibition Talisman to prevent you from harming me.”

His tone was light, but San Zhi’s heart grew heavy.

Something that could prohibit an A-Rank Weird from killing at will—if mass-produced—would be greatly detrimental to the Weird faction.

This person in front of him had to be eliminated soon.

Though San Zhi thought this inwardly, he smiled on the surface. “I truly underestimated you. What do you want to do to me?”

Yun Xueqing said indifferently, “You know where the Calamity Blade is. Take me there.”

“So you believe me now?” San Zhi sneered. “Humans’ trust is so fragile. But indeed, compared to believing someone like Dong Jun, my words are more reliable.”

“I don’t believe you.” Yun Xueqing wasn’t provoked by his words; his emotions remained flat.

“Regardless of the truth, one thing is real: there is something that can counter the Six-Armed Bodhisattva. Knowing that is enough.”

Casually, he removed the wooden hairpin from his head and pressed it against his neck, drawing a faint blood line. Then, from his sleeve, he took out a slender bamboo tube and collected the flowing blood.

San Zhi smelled the blood and felt his appetite surge, but he couldn’t move and could only watch as Yun Xueqing did the same on him.

San Zhi didn’t know what he was doing, but with his own things in the other’s hands, he stayed vigilant. Then he heard, “The Prohibition Talisman won’t hold you for long. I can only use another method to bind you.”

Yun Xueqing bit his fingertip and drew a string of runes on the bamboo tube.

The runes flashed red and vanished into the tube. Moments later, the bamboo tube ignited spontaneously without fire, burning to ashes in an instant.

An ominous premonition swirled in his heart.

San Zhi rarely felt panic—the unknown disrupted his composure. His face twisted somewhat ferociously. “What exactly are you doing!”

Yun Xueqing remained as indifferent as ever, terrifyingly calm compared to San Zhi’s frenzy. “Applying the Shared Fate Curse.”