Yet having observed many people along the way, his brow furrowed.
The old man's voice suddenly interrupted Li Guanqi's thoughts.
"Immortal Master, this is Wang Ergou's residence."
"He was killed just the night before last, and we haven't had time to tidy up yet."
Li Guanqi gave a slight nod.
He then walked straight up to the door and slowly pushed it open!
Creak!
The decrepit wooden door groaned shrilly.
The screech made one's hairs stand on end, and what lay inside made even Li Guanqi suck in a breath of cold air.
A stench of blood washed over him, and the temperature in the room plummeted sharply.
The sight before him raised goosebumps across both of Li Guanqi's arms.
A burly man hung upside down from the roof beam by a hemp rope.
A pair of scissors was looped around his wrist, impaling a ball of flesh on its blades.
Looking closer, only two bloody sockets remained where the man's eyes had been.
Every single one of his toes had been severed with shears!
The fatal injury was an extraordinarily long gash across his throat.
Yet surrounding that wound were numerous smaller lacerations.
It seemed the scissors were dull, having hacked and slashed back and forth repeatedly.
Blood coated the entire floor, now congealed into a thick, sticky mess.
Even for Li Guanqi, this was the first time seeing such a gruesome scene. He had originally thought this mission was merely to capture the malevolent spirit causing trouble.
Yet now, it seemed matters were not as simple as he had imagined.
Turning to survey his surroundings, he found the man's home in utter disarray, though there were no other signs of struggle.
Li Guanqi then drew out a Filth-Cleansing Talisman. With a surge of origin energy, the talisman burst into flames.
The instant the burning talisman touched the blood on the floor, it flared violently!
As the flames consumed the gore, billows of black smoke rose into the air.
A moment later, the black smoke dispersed, and the frigid chill lingering in the room gradually faded away.
Seeing this, the onlookers nodded in approval.
They had assumed the Great Xia Sword Sect had sent a green boy just to go through the motions.
The previous people who came had also merely looked around without uncovering anything useful.
Standing where he was, Li Guanqi frowned slightly at the density of the black smoke.
He murmured in a low voice, "Looks like quite a formidable creature!"
Then he said softly, "You can have people take down the body and arrange for burial as soon as possible."
"The weather is warm; any longer and the corpse will start to rot."
The old man hurriedly called several men to help clean up.
Then he hurried over to the youth's side and asked in an uneasy whisper, "Immortal Master, are you confident you can deal with this evil spirit?"
Li Guanqi offered a faint smile and replied softly, "Whether I can or not, I'll only know once I try."
"I'll likely be staying here for a few days. The yang energy is too strong during the day, so that fierce ghost won't come out to do harm."
"Tonight, I'll test it!"
Li Guanqi said this partly to put the townsfolk at ease.
In truth, however, he had no real certainty, and could only consult the sword casket, asking, "Sword spirit, do you have any good ideas?"
After a long pause, the sword spirit's voice sounded in Li Guanqi's mind.
"Tsk. And here I thought you were so capable, but it turns out you were just putting on a brave face."
"Simple."
"When it reaches the second quarter of the hour of the Ox, just sit by a south-facing window and cultivate. That will naturally draw her out."
Li Guanqi asked in confusion, "Why the hour of the Ox?"
The sword spirit sounded thoroughly impatient as she explained, "The hour of the Ox is when yin energy peaks across all twelve two-hour periods of the day."
"Sitting by the window naturally makes it easy for her to strike. As for cultivating..."
"With your virgin boy's body, even without cultivating, you're like a lantern blazing in the dead of night. Cultivating merely adds a few more candles."
After saying that, the sword spirit suddenly added, "Still, you don't need to worry. I can take action this time!"
Li Guanqi was taken aback. He hadn't expected her to offer help at all.
Hearing this, he could not help teasing, "What? Worried about me, to the point of stepping in yourself?"
Silence.
Only after a long while did the sword spirit speak, her voice seventy percent disdain and thirty percent haughtiness:
"It seems you really are blind, unable to see your own worth."
"Worried about you? I'm worried I won't have anywhere to absorb origin energy in the future."
"I can absorb some of a malevolent ghost's sinister resentment. Before you reach Foundation Establishment, I have to devour power from elsewhere from time to time."
With that, the sword spirit's voice faded into silence.
Li Guanqi smiled, murmuring softly, "In the bag."
However, there was still plenty of time before nightfall. Li Guanqi first joined the townsfolk for a meal of local dishes.
The spicy heat whetted his appetite.
Xingyun Town lay on a plain ringed by mountains, which meant it was veiled in thin mist year-round, with heavy dampness in the air.
Cooking with chili peppers induced sweating, expelling cold from the body.
In the afternoon, Li Guanqi wandered leisurely through the town.
Thanks to his arrival, the villagers, who had previously barred their doors and stayed inside, dared to take a stroll before darkness fell.
Over the course of the afternoon, he gathered bits and pieces of news from talking with others.
Squatting by the roadside, Li Guanqi suddenly felt the situation tangling into a ball of confusion before him.
The first victim was named Zhang Daniu. He had once had a mute wife who went missing years ago.
Later, Zhang Daniu found a widow in town, and the two moved in together to get by.
After Zhang Daniu's death, that widow had also vanished without a trace.
The subsequent victims were all men from the town—some bachelors, others married with families.
"Sigh... what connection is there between these people?"
Just as Li Guanqi was fretting, his ears twitched.
By the roadside not far away, two middle-aged women were cracking melon seeds, their eyes darting about constantly.
They were whispering to each other with exaggerated expressions.
Even several dozen yards away, Li Guanqi could tell they had to be gossiping about something major.
Taking some pastries from the mountain out of his storage bag, Li Guanqi strolled over quite naturally.
"What are you older sisters chatting about? I have a few pastries from the mountain that I can't finish, so why not have a taste?"
The plump middle-aged woman beamed with delight and hurriedly took the pastries, saying with a grin, "Aiya, little Immortal Master, why are you being so polite?"
Li Guanqi smiled and took the opening: "I saw you two sisters having such a lively chat—could you share with your little brother?"
The thinner woman beside her glanced around, leaned toward Li Guanqi's ear, and murmured, "What else could it be? The men who died, of course!"
Li Guanqi raised an eyebrow, unconsciously lowering his voice as he whispered, "Do you know some insider details?"
At the mention of insider details, the plump woman immediately checked all around like a thief.
Seeing no one nearby, she spat out a single word to Li Guanqi:
"Retribution!"
Chapter 36