Carrying the cat corpse, Zhang Yuanqing stepped across the threshold. To prevent the creature from feigning death, he swung it up and slammed it hard against the sill.
The skinned giant cat suffered heavy trauma. Its four limbs kicked violently once, and it seemed to pass out again.
Only then did Zhang Yuanqing feel safe tossing the beast into the coffin, bending down to hoist the heavy wooden lid and seal it shut once more.
At that moment, his teammates followed him inside. Seeing no sign of the skinned monstrous cat and noticing the coffin had been shut, Guan Ya asked in surprise, "Why did you lock it back inside?"
I already told you it was an experiment. How am I supposed to answer you right now?... Zhang Yuanqing looked down at the red cords and purple talismans scattered across the floor. "Li Chunfeng, do you know what these are?"
Everyone turned to Li Chunfeng. Stroking his chin, the erudite Scholar circled the coffin, scrutinizing it carefully. He picked up the paper talismans and red cord from the ground, sniffed them, and offered his deduction: "The red cords bind resentment, while the purple talismans nurture fiendish malice. How strange. This coffin serves as both a seal and an incubator for nurturing the monster."
As expected of a Scholar, a walking database... Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Can you restore the red cords and purple talismans to how they were?"
Li Chunfeng said, "Restore them? No, you misunderstand. Just bind them however you like; there are no strict rules."
Just bind them however? Here I thought we'd have to snap ink lines all over the coffin like in Daoist rituals, where missing a single spot would spell disaster... Seeing Li Chunfeng pick up the red cords, Zhang Yuanqing hurried to take them. "Let me do it!"
He immediately wound the red cords tightly around the red-lacquered coffin, tying them into dead knots. Then, picking up the purple talismans, he slapped them across the coffin's seams as Li Chunfeng directed.
So what is he actually trying to do? His teammates stared at him in bewilderment.
The instant Zhang Yuanqing pasted the purple talismans in place, a Spirit Realm chime rang out in his ears, audible to him alone:
[Ding! You have triggered the hidden quest: Eternal Cat Corpse (1/3).]
[Eternal Cat Corpse: This is a cursed monster that emanates the power of a curse at every waking second. Do not approach him under any circumstances, or you will be tainted by the curse and turned into a stray cat.]
[Remarks: I want him to never find release for all eternity!!]
[Quest Item: A piece of broken jade.]
It really did trigger a hidden quest! My deduction was right; that's what Demon Lord meant by "refrain from slaughter"... Zhang Yuanqing rejoiced inwardly.
According to Demon Lord's deduction, the item from the hidden quest was left behind by Yinyang Sanren. That legendary figure was quite high-level, so who knew what kind of item he had left behind? If it was a rule-based item, he would hit the jackpot...
Suppressing his delight and anticipation, Zhang Yuanqing brought his focus back to the hidden quest itself.
Who cursed this monster? Based on the prompt in the remarks, the person who cast the curse harbored bone-deep hatred toward him, wishing for him to never find release or be reincarnated for all eternity...
I get it. That's why the skinned giant cat couldn't be killed—killing him would grant him release, defying the caster's wish. Looked at this way, the hidden quest points toward the curse caster.
But who could the caster be?...
Reining in his thoughts, Zhang Yuanqing addressed his companions. "My hypothesis has been confirmed. Now, let's do a debrief."
Too lazy to rack his brain, Huode Xingjun said bluntly, "You're the team leader. You speak first."
The others nodded in succession.
Having braved mortal peril together just moments ago, the team's cohesion had strengthened considerably, and mutual trust was taking root among them.
Zhang Yuanqing took a few seconds to organize his thoughts, then said, "First, let's start with Yinyang Town's background story. Everyone heard the tale Granny Wang told earlier. Parts of that story were true, but parts were fabricated—for instance, the curse from Yinyang Sanren's descendant.
"I've read several guides on Yinyang Town. The earlier batches of Spirit Realm walkers who cleared this dungeon never mentioned anything about a curse, and they had interacted with the town's residents. Something this massive should have been uncovered long ago.
"So Granny Wang's story about the curse is false, but the cat-transformation curse definitely exists. And the person cursed is her son."
Zhang Yuanqing looked toward the red-lacquered coffin.
The others nodded along as they listened, agreeing with his analysis.
"That makes sense," Guan Ya agreed with a nod. "And to add to that, the cat-transformation curse probably only triggers along Granny Wang's storyline. Previous Spirit Realm walkers didn't follow this plot thread."
She flashed Zhang Yuanqing a radiant smile. "Please, continue."
As a Scout, her powers of observation and analysis far exceeded his, but she naturally wouldn't steal an opportunity like this for him to establish authority as the team leader. At most, she would fill in the blanks from the side.
Zhang Yuanqing continued, "Then how did her son's curse come about?"
Queen's eyes darted as she remembered something, and she blurted out, "Granny Wang said her son couldn't control his lust, which was what brought him to this end."
As soon as she spoke, everyone except Huode Xingjun looked at the straw doll in Guan Ya's hands.
To be cursed as a straw doll by Granny Wang and hated so venomously, this Xu Xiu'er must have done something unforgivable to her.
Combined with what Granny Wang had said, as well as what had happened to her son...
"I get it!" Huode Xingjun finally caught on, saying excitedly, "This Xu Xiu'er cursed her son! But who's Xu Xiu'er?"
Zhang Yuanqing prompted, "Out of the only six people left in town, who has the surname Xu?"
"Who?" Huode Xingjun asked back.
Zhang Yuanqing nearly let out a "the hell with you" before answering, "Widow Xu!"
Huode Xingjun had a sudden realization.
If the person who cast the curse is Widow Xu, then the hidden quest points right to her. The objective is crystal clear... Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help recalling Demon Lord's lament: slaughter and beauty.
From the looks of it, a lecher like Demon Lord, who scattered his progeny across so many different nurseries, had definitely done something unspeakable to Widow Xu.
The round-faced young man, Chi'ou, said enthusiastically, "Then our next target is clear: this Widow Xu. Without further ado, let's get moving! We need to finish this side quest and reach the town square before the evil faction does."
The others looked excited, but Guan Ya alone furrowed her brows, her gaze settling on Zhang Yuanqing.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "We definitely have to find Widow Xu, but there's one thing I haven't figured out. Li Chunfeng, you know the most and have the broadest knowledge. Do you think that relying solely on the cat corpses hanging outside would be enough to sustain such a powerful curse?"
Not knowing why he asked this, Li Chunfeng was taken aback and sank into thought.
A dozen seconds later, he slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Something's wrong. Something's not right..."
"What's wrong? What isn't right?" Seeing Li Chunfeng look as if struck by a bolt of lightning, Huode Xingjun pressed anxiously, "Speak plainly!"
Li Chunfeng said solemnly, "The cat corpses are a medium, not the source of the curse. It's like how a Witch Doctor, when cursing a target, finds ways to obtain their photograph, eight characters of birth, flesh, hair, and the like. Those things are mediums, but the true source is the Witch Doctor's own power.
"Where is the source of the power that turned us into cats? I thought it was Granny Wang at first, but she was clearly an ordinary person—otherwise, how could she have been bitten to death so easily? Besides, the straw doll is proof."
Everyone looked at the straw doll in Guan Ya's hands.
"This is just an ordinary straw doll. The cursing method is childish and laughable. If Granny Wang were a Witch Doctor, she wouldn't have made such a shoddy straw doll," Li Chunfeng said.
The taciturn Lili Yuanshangcao spoke up: "That truly is a suspicious point, but what does it have to do with our quest?"
Zhang Yuanqing didn't answer his question directly, instead explaining, "Of course it matters. If we don't clear up every suspicious point, it might seem harmless now, but in the late stage of the dungeon, information gaps could cost us many opportunities, or even our chance to turn the tables.
"The higher a dungeon's difficulty, the less we can afford to be blind and deaf. We must get to the bottom of everything."
As someone who had cleared two S-rank dungeons, his viewpoint commanded everyone's respect.
Lili Yuanshangcao nodded slowly, accepting the leader's reasoning.
Zhang Yuanqing continued, "Alright, back to the point. What if—I'm just saying what if—the entity emanating the curse's power is the cat inside the coffin? Wouldn't that make logical sense?"
This also matched the hint in the hidden quest!
The one emanating the curse is the cat... Li Chunfeng pondered for a moment, and his eyes lit up. "Yes! Whoever set up this ritual took advantage of that exact fact, utilizing the Cursed Cat—heh, I'll just call him the Cursed Cat—utilizing the Cursed Cat's power to arrange the ritual so that everyone who enters the house falls under the curse."
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Then that brings up another question: who set up the cat corpse ritual? Granny Wang is clearly an ordinary person; someone must have taught her."
"Was it Xu Xiu'er?" the round-faced young man, Chi'ou, guessed.
"No," Zhang Yuanqing rejected flatly.
"Why?" Chi'ou asked, unconvinced. Queen and the others cast puzzled glances at Zhang Yuanqing as well.
Zhang Yuanqing spoke with steady confidence, laying out his thoughts: "The setup of the cat corpse ritual and the coffin nurturing the Cursed Cat must have been taught by the same person. Think about it: what are the functions of those two things?"
Queen chimed in, "The coffin is to seal and nurture the Cursed Cat, and the cat corpses are to gather curse power..."
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. "The cat corpses have another function: to suppress the curse on the Cursed Cat, holding back its madness and bloodlust."
Hearing this, everyone suddenly remembered how, after the cat corpse ritual was disrupted, the Cursed Cat had become savage and crazed, completely losing its sanity.
Li Chunfeng gasped in realization. "So the coffin and cat corpses exist to suppress the Cursed Cat while simultaneously nurturing it. If these things were done by Granny Wang, that makes complete sense. She wanted to stay by her son and protect him, keeping him from turning into a total monster.
"From an enemy's perspective, the more agonizing and maddening it was for him, the sweeter the revenge."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Therefore, casting the curse and setting up the cat corpse ritual were done by different hands. If the person who cast the curse was Xu Xiu'er, then who guided Granny Wang in arranging the cat corpses and the coffin? What was their relationship with Granny Wang and her son, and what role did they play in all this?"
A figure flashed through everyone's minds. Huode Xingjun, keeping pace with the train of thought for once, said, "It must be one of the remaining five people. Could the one capable of this be that master Squire Zhao hired?"
Guan Ya nodded approvingly and smiled. "This dungeon is getting more and more interesting. What kind of relationship really exists among the six people left in town? And what role did they play in the town's depopulation?"
Having carried the debrief to this point, Zhang Yuanqing had said everything he needed to say. "Without further delay, let's go find Widow Xu."
His teammates had no objections. Queen touched the ring on her left ear and said with a bright smile, "Even though we just faced severe danger and nearly wiped out, I'm very confident about what comes next. For a high-difficulty dungeon like this, we've broken it down thoroughly and clearly, without much confusion or bewilderment. As long as we're not lost, no matter how tough the road is, I have confidence."
Huode Xingjun voiced his agreement. He was amazed that his teammates could analyze such a complicated dungeon so clearly; they were all remarkably sharp, especially this Yuanshi Tianzun.
Although the young man hadn't displayed dazzling combat strength during the fight just now, in the subsequent debrief, this official genius—who had cleared two S-rank dungeons in a row—had shown an agility and wisdom that earned Huode Xingjun's genuine respect.
Chi'ou, Li Chunfeng, and Lili Yuanshangcao said nothing, but they obeyed the leader's instruction instinctively, turning and walking out of the room.
As the group headed toward the exit of the courtyard house, Guan Ya and Zhang Yuanqing lagged behind. The seasoned driver smiled faintly and murmured, "Not bad!"
Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to reply, he saw her gaze drop lower, a corner of her mouth curving upward. "Very nice."
Zhang Yuanqing's cheeks burned as a rare look of embarrassment crossed his face. After all, he was only a college student who had never had a girlfriend—the sort of greenhorn who talked big and never backed down with words, but chickened out when things got real.
Trading banter and playing along with the seasoned driver's dirty jokes was his limit, but the exposure earlier had crossed the college student's psychological threshold.
Having his assets appraised like this made him feel his skin was not quite thick enough to bear it.
Seeing him flustered and embarrassed, Guan Ya chuckled smugly, feeling she had gotten the better of him after all.
What are you laughing at... Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanqing held his ground and retorted, "Then are you satisfied? Were you intimidated? I clearly saw shock and awe in your eyes."
Guan Ya chuckled softly. "I certainly won't broadcast your size, but Queen might not be so tight-lipped. Women love gossip, and she peeked at you quite a few times earlier..."
"..." Zhang Yuanqing nearly ran after Queen to negotiate hush money.
He definitely didn't want to leave the dungeon only to find the walkers on the official forum debating Yuanshi Tianzun's measurements.
That was a burden far too heavy for a twenty-one-year-old young man to bear.
***
Inside the blacksmith shop.
Li Xianzong sat splayed on the ground with his legs sprawled out, panting heavily.
He was drenched in blood from head to toe. His left arm twisted at an unnatural angle, and his body bore multiple blade wounds and blunt-force trauma.
His five companions were similarly covered in injuries, either lying on the floor or slumped against the walls, greedily gulping in air.
All around them were toppled forging benches, a cracked furnace, scattered charcoal, and broken iron tools... along with Blacksmith Wang, his head severed.
He lay over a pile of glowing red coals, blood sizzling into the embers, his severed head resting several meters away—lopped off by Li Xianzong's own hands.
Besides Blacksmith Wang, there was another corpse—the bald, burly man.
The gaunt, middle-aged man pushed himself up by his knees, kicked the bald man's corpse, and grumbled, "Dead just like that? I didn't even catch his name."
Panting, Li Xianzong grinned and said, "Why would you need to know his name? People like us lick blood off blade edges. When our time comes, we die as we must, in our proper place."
"Exactly. If you knew his name, he'd be a friend. Why bother?"
"Heheh, dying is fine too. An early death means early release, far away from this fucked-up world."
Several other companions chuckled in agreement.
They never cared about life or death—not an enemy's, not a stranger's, and not even their own.
Those steeped in slaughter possessed a numbness toward death that ordinary people could never fathom.
Li Xianzong waved a hand toward the gaunt middle-aged man. "Go check the back of the shop. There should be clues inside."
The gaunt middle-aged man immediately headed into the depths of the shop. A few minutes later, he returned with a stunned expression. "Boss, this shop is a bit weird."
Chapter 129