I had just breathed a sigh of relief when—BAM!—the bedroom door was blown off its hinges.
The blood corpse stood in the doorway, its clothes soaked in fresh blood.
The box of cinnabar perched above the door fell and landed right in front of us.
“Kid, run!”
Grandpa suddenly scooped me up and threw me out the window, then risked his life rushing toward the box of cinnabar.
My eyes felt like they were about to split open as I gripped the windowsill with all my might.
“Grandpa!”
The blood corpse lunged at him, reaching out with its long claws.
At the very last moment, Grandpa suddenly turned around and lifted his face, the Càn Khôn Kính still clutched to his chest.
“Ah!”
A beam of light shot from the Càn Khôn Kính, making the blood corpse shriek. Grandpa sprang to his feet and turned his head. When he saw me still standing outside the window, he glared at me angrily.
“I told you to run! Why didn’t you? You idiot!”
17.
“Aah—ah—”
Only then did I remember that Grandpa had once escaped a corpse creature. He’d followed his master and practiced the trade since he was twenty-four, and over the decades he’d faced countless dangers. He wasn’t nearly as weak as I’d thought.
I didn’t waste another moment. I turned and ran for the gate, but after just a few steps, a black shadow suddenly dropped from the sky and blocked my way.
The blood corpse stood in front of me, grinning.
Its teeth were smeared with fresh blood.
“You look delicious.”
The blood corpse reached for me. I twisted away, but she struck me with her palm and sent me flying to the ground.
She approached me one step at a time as I struggled to crawl backward. Just then, a vase flew out the window, struck her in the chest, and shattered.
Grandpa came sprinting out of the room, an inkstone in one hand and a box of cinnabar in the other.
“Take this!”
The inkstone smacked the blood corpse in the face, but she didn’t even blink. She just gave a scornful laugh.
“Tsk…”
Then the red cinnabar flew through the air, and the blood corpse let out a horrified scream and covered her eyes.
Grandpa seized the chance to help me up, then dragged me toward the stairs.
“You useless kid! I’ve told you to exercise more, but every day you sleep till noon!”
“Take a look in the bathroom mirror at those dark circles under your eyes! What kind of college student looks like that?”
I was mortified. Grandpa was racing up the stairs as if he had rockets strapped to his feet, yet he still had enough breath to scold me. He dragged me along at a breakneck pace, and I panted like a dog.
The last time we dealt with a corpse creature, it wasn’t after me, so I could hide behind a door and shine the mirror at it. I’d actually thought exorcising demons was as easy as eating pork chops.
Upstairs were two bedrooms. Grandpa dashed into his, opened the wardrobe, and his eyes lit up.
“Good. There’s still a paper effigy in here!”
“I nearly forgot about this thing. It’s a paper effigy from the Chu family. Our lives are all depending on it!”
18.
Making paper effigies is a specialized trade, one of the Four Yin Trades.
When someone dies, their family burns paper money and other offerings for them. Paper effigies are also considered offerings burned for the dead.
You can burn your hair to ashes or prick your finger and smear blood on a paper effigy. It will then carry your breath and become your substitute.
Grandpa pricked my fingertip and smeared the blood on the paper effigy’s forehead, then stuffed it under the bed. He hid in the wardrobe and handed me a black donkey hoof, telling me to hide in the next room.
I paced around the room, then heard heavy footsteps climbing the stairs. Nervous, I hurried into the bathroom and locked the door.
Only after I’d locked it did I realize how stupid I was. The blood corpse was strong as an ox. What good was one door going to do?
In the still darkness, the shadow of an osmanthus tree fell through the window onto my face.
The blood corpse’s heavy footsteps echoed down the narrow hallway. Each one was like a drumbeat, pounding against my heart.
I sat on the toilet, my heart in my throat.
I heard the blood corpse open the door to the next room. So why were the footsteps getting closer? Wait—had it opened the door to my room?
The footsteps stopped right outside the bathroom.
I held my breath and gripped the black donkey hoof tightly.
Time crept by until my back was drenched in sweat. I tried to hold on, my eyes fixed on the bathroom door.
The next second, the footsteps started again, heading toward the door.
The blood corpse had left my room.
I leaned against the side of the toilet, too weak to move.
I heard the door to the next room open, then close again.
With a door between us, I had no idea what was happening in there. Grandpa would be fine, right? He had to be fine. Was I just holding him back? Should I run downstairs now?
Why hadn’t Kiều Mặc Vũ gotten here yet?!
My thoughts were a tangled mess when I suddenly saw a dark shadow fall across the window from outside.
My whole body went rigid. I was on the second floor!
The shadow paused right outside the window.
I stiffly turned my head, then saw an embroidered shoe floating outside the window.
19.
Holy crap!
I was so terrified I nearly lost my mind. Then I heard Grandpa’s anguished scream from the next room.
“Grandpa!”
I flung open the bathroom door and rushed out. Just then, the door to the next room was smashed to pieces, and Grandpa came flying out.
The blood corpse emerged from the room, holding a tattered paper effigy in one hand.
She looked over at me.
“So there you are.”
“Kid, run! I’ll fight you to the death, you son of a bitch!”
Grandpa suddenly sprang up from the floor and slammed the donkey hoof into the blood corpse’s face.
The blood corpse swung a powerful palm strike, sending Grandpa flying into the hallway. He tumbled down the stairs.
“Grandpa!”
I screamed in anguish and ran toward him.
He rolled all the way down to the first floor and sprawled on the ground, spitting several mouthfuls of fresh blood.
“Kid, run!”
“Grandpa—we have to go together!”
“Waaah, Grandpa, are you okay?”
I helped him up through my tears. I don’t know where I found the strength, but I managed to carry him on my back and stagger toward the door.
For some reason, the blood corpse didn’t chase after us.
A glimmer of hope flashed through me. We were almost at the door when a dark figure suddenly appeared in front of us.
The blood corpse blocked the doorway. The cinnabar had lost its effect, and she glared at us with blood-red eyes.
I’d nearly forgotten—the blood corpse could fly.
Hope gave way to endless despair.
But just then, impatient knocking sounded from outside.
“Mộ Dung Nguyệt, what is wrong with you? Watching Huluwa transformation shows at night is one thing, but you’ve got the TV blaring so loud!”
“Grandpa, I could hear you from the end of the street.”
“As a college student, do you get extra credit for good conduct if you help out?”
20.
It was Kiều Mặc Vũ!
She was here!
But the blood corpse was blocking the door, so I had no way to go open it for her. Kiều Mặc Vũ knocked a few more times, and the blood corpse suddenly sniffed the air.
“Mmm, that smells even better than you do.”
The blood corpse walked over, slid back the bolt, and opened the iron door.
Kiều Mặc Vũ stood in the doorway, with a tall, handsome young man beside her.
“Giang Hạo Ngôn, this is the place. Her grandpa makes the most amazing braised lamb ribs.”
When Kiều Mặc Vũ saw the blood corpse standing in the doorway, she froze. Then she looked past it and saw me struggling to carry Grandpa on my back, and her surprise only grew.
“What happened? Did the house blow up from a gas leak?”
Kiều Mặc Vũ hesitated.
“Are the braised lamb ribs okay?”
I burst into sobs and pointed at Liễu Oánh.
“She’s a blood corpse.”
The blood corpse lunged at Kiều Mặc Vũ. Kiều Mặc Vũ dodged nimbly, then swiftly formed a hand seal and struck with a palm-thunder technique.
Realizing Kiều Mặc Vũ would be difficult to deal with, the blood corpse immediately grew wary.
Kiều Mặc Vũ was furious.
“You’re the one who wrecked Mộ Dung Nguyệt’s gas line?”
“I’ll beat the crap out of you!”
The fight quickly turned one-sided. The blood corpse had lost so much blood that it was weaker than usual, while Kiều Mặc Vũ went berserk, wielding the Seven-Star Sword and stabbing her again and again until the blood corpse was covered in blood.
Seeing that things were going badly, the blood corpse turned to flee. Then I saw her rise from the ground and fly into the sky. I knew that was bad.
But a bolt of lightning struck right after, turning the blood corpse into a charred lump that fell to the ground. The air around us fell silent.
I stared at her in admiration.
That was so freaking cool, just like a movie special effect. We’re both college students, so how could she summon thunder while all I could summon was a livestream argument?
21.
We didn’t notice Tôn Khả Khả’s phone lying on the ground, with the livestream still running.
【I’m dying to know what happened! Can someone go check whether Mộ Dung Nguyệt and her grandpa are okay?】
【Exactly! Someone said they lived nearby—hurry up and go check!】
【Are you nuts?! You want to go get your head handed to you? If you’re so brave, go yourselves!】
【Hey, everyone, can livestreams use special effects now? That last scene looked way too intense.】
【Yeah, I still haven’t recovered either. I can’t believe blood corpses actually exist in this world!】
【I don’t believe it. It’s just some kind of special effect!】
Just then, a dark figure shot up into the air.
【Holy crap! Holy crap! Look, the blood corpse is flying!】
【Oh my God! It’s real—she really can fly!】
【Oh my God! What if she comes to our house—what the hell is that?!】
【Lightning! She’s undergoing a heavenly tribulation!!】
【Don’t be scared, everyone. I think she failed her heavenly tribulation. She’s falling!】
Kiều Mặc Vũ noticed the phone’s bright screen on the ground, walked over, and stopped the livestream.
“You can’t just film this kind of thing. Oh, did this girl get bitten to death by the blood corpse?”
I nodded and helped Grandpa down.
Grandpa’s eyes were tightly shut, and he didn’t move.
“Grandpa—don’t scare me—Grandpa—are you okay?”
My chest ached, and I wailed through my sobs.
“Grandpa, from now on I’ll listen to everything you say. I won’t sleep in anymore, and I’ll exercise every day. I’ll practice tai chi with you every day. You want to see me get married, right? I’ll bring your grandchild to visit you someday. Grandpa, please wake up.”
Kiều Mặc Vũ came over and held a hand beneath his nose to check his breathing. Then her eyes widened as she said,
“All right, all right. Your grandpa fainted. Call 120, quick.”
22.
After Grandpa was taken to the hospital for an examination, we learned he’d only broken a rib and had no other serious injuries. Still, he’d need several months to recover.
The police also came to my house to investigate. According to the recorded video, Liễu Oánh had killed someone and was then struck dead by lightning. The case was quickly closed: the criminal had gotten what she deserved.
The case was reported in the news, leaving everyone stunned.
People found it much easier to accept that a depraved murderer had been struck dead by lightning than that there was a blood corpse.
I couldn’t make sense of it.
“I’ve lived for almost twenty years and never encountered anything like this. But in just the past few months, first there was a corpse creature, then a blood corpse. What’s going on?”
Kiều Mặc Vũ sighed.
“Someone is stirring up trouble and trying to throw the world into chaos.”
“You have the fate of someone blessed with a blade. Now a blade from years ago has come looking for you. Heaven and earth are in conflict—this is extremely inauspicious!”
“Even if you don’t look for it, it’ll come looking for you. There’s no avoiding it.”
I hoped Kiều Mặc Vũ was wrong.
But before long, her words came true.
-THE END-