An Unforeseen Turn of Events

This old man was clearly a crafty rascal through and through. Zhang Yuanqing sheathed his blade with satisfaction and asked, "First question: how did Wang Xiao'er end up like this?" Generally speaking, yin corpses formed in one of two ways. The first was deliberate refinement by human hands, just as he had refined Corpse No. 1. The second was when a corpse was buried in an area steeped in dense yin energy, gradually absorbing it over months and years until a faint wisp of sentience was born, transforming it into a jiangshi—a yin corpse. Wang Xiao'er did not fit the second scenario. If it was the first, being able to refine an ordinary villager into such a formidable yin corpse—one that even surpassed Corpse No. 1—was a chilling display of power. The old man lamented bitterly, "Isn't it all because he went down into that tomb and brought back unclean things! A while ago, Wang Xiao'er went missing for several days, only to suddenly return to the village with a huge sack of gold, silver, and jade wares. He bragged that he'd struck it rich, that he was going to build the finest house in the village and marry a girl from the provincial capital. "He sought out Teacher Xu, who teaches the children in the village, asking him to take a look at a few antiques and appraise them." *Antiques...* Setting aside the mystery of how Wang Xiao'er had turned into a yin corpse for now, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What antiques did he bring back?" The old man reminisced, "I was standing nearby joining in the excitement back then. He showed Teacher Xu three pieces. The first was a figurine of a little girl without a tongue. It had a pair of prominent ears, jet-black and glossy, and felt icy cold to the touch. Teacher Xu said it was yin jade, and that it had to sit in a tomb for many years to turn so slick and glossy. "The second was a rouge box. The box was made of silver and carved with flowers, terribly pretty. And the rouge inside—goodness, it was as vivid as blood. Tell me, how could that stuff sit in a tomb for so long without drying up?" "And the third item?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, not taking the bait. "A bronze mirror. It was dusty and dull, but embedded with several pretty stones that Teacher Xu called gems. A pity that mirror couldn't cast a reflection; otherwise, it could've been sold to some wealthy lady in the provincial capital." *Well, not a single one of those three things was meant for the living. Wang Xiao'er sure knows how to pick 'em,* Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help snarking inwardly. "Did Wang Xiao'er sell those three things?" he asked, remembering that he had searched the house for quite a while earlier without turning up a single thing. The old man nodded, then shook his head. "Teacher Xu bought that box of rouge. As for the little girl figurine and the mirror, nobody knows. Either way, starting the day after Wang Xiao'er brought those things back, several bizarre things happened in the village." "What sort of bizarre things?" Zhang Yuanqing pressed on, following the lead. "Widow Li at the head of the village said that on the night Wang Xiao'er returned, when she got up in the middle of the night to use the chamber pot, she peered through the window and saw a woman in red entering the village. That woman was drop-dead gorgeous—she'd never seen such a pretty girl—only her face was somewhat pale. The next day, Wang Xiao'er turned into that ghastly monster," the old man said. *According to the Spirit Realm's introduction, the woman in red should be the Commandery Princess. Looking at it this way, Wang Xiao'er was targeted by her vengeance and transformed into a yin corpse. This princess is pretty fierce.* *Sigh, female ghosts have always been beauties since ancient times. A pity she's a ghost... Er, wait, the Commandery Princess is most likely a yin corpse, not a vengeful spirit. If only I could subdue and refine her. I'd definitely use her every day... Mhm, use her to fight.* Letting his wild thoughts wander, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What else?" "There's more! Zhao Erdan's child had his tongue cut out. According to Erdan's wife, she was cooking dinner that evening while Xiao Dan—that's Erdan's boy—was playing in the yard. She saw Xiao Dan follow a little girl outside. She didn't think much of it at the time, assuming it was another villager's kid coming to play with Xiao Dan. But the little girl's face seemed pitch-black, like a shadow, which struck her as strange. "When Erdan's wife finished cooking and went out to look for Xiao Dan, she found him collapsed outside the front gate, his tongue gone." As the old man spoke, terror flashed across his eyes. "From then on, as soon as dusk fell, a pitch-black little girl would roam the village, prone to peering into people's windows and asking if they wanted to play a game. "Whichever house's window she peered into, the people inside would have their tongues cut out the next day. That little girl wanders through the village until the first watch before leaving." *So that's how the villagers' tongues were cut out. Leaving at the first watch... which means the game has to be played until the first watch?* Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What game?" The old man shook his head. "How would anyone know? She just keeps repeating, 'Play a game, play a game,' without ever saying what game it is." Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing furrowed his brows. A discrepancy had emerged in the intel. The information from the Cat King Speaker indicated playing "You Clap One," yet the old man claimed she never named a game. "How was your tongue cut out?" Zhang Yuanqing asked for details. Recalling that terrifying experience, the old man wore a horrified expression. "I was terrified back then. I hid under the bed and didn't dare come out. She kept clinging to the window, repeating over and over to come play a game. Later, she disappeared. I remember falling asleep, and when I woke up, my tongue was gone." Synthesizing this with his own experience, Zhang Yuanqing analyzed rapidly. Playing the game was actually the correct way to avert the crisis; the villagers were simply too frightened, and none dared play with the little girl. As a Spirit Realm walker, the Demon Lord had adhered to the rules and boldly played the game, thereby clearing this hurdle. What he played was... Zhang Yuanqing understood. The Demon Lord had played "You Clap One." No wonder he had found it so strange when listening to the Cat King Speaker's recording. "You Clap One" was a modern nursery rhyme; it shouldn't exist in a dungeon set in the Ming dynasty. The nursery rhyme didn't originate from the supernatural entity in the dungeon, but from the Demon Lord himself! The Cat King Speaker had simply recorded the Demon Lord's method of breaking the impasse back then and played it back to him. *Of the three antiques Wang Xiao'er brought out, this is only the first. There should be subsequent strange events...* Pondering this, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Were there any other strange occurrences?" At those words, the old man's face filled with dread, his voice instinctively dropping. "Teacher Xu died!" *Just as I thought...* Zhang Yuanqing did not interrupt, listening as the old man continued. "The next morning, the village children went to the private school for their studies, but Teacher Xu, who was always early, didn't show up. The children told the adults, and when everyone went to his house to look, they discovered Teacher Xu was already dead. He died a miserable death—drained into a dried husk! "He lay stiff on his bed, and beside him was a paper figurine. That paper figurine was crafted beautifully, its cheeks painted rosy red and its eyes dotted with red lacquer—oh, not lacquer, it was that box of rouge! "The rouge box sat open right by the head of the bed. The village chief noticed Teacher Xu's fingers were stained with red rouge; he must have been the one who painted the paper figurine's face and dotted its eyes." At this point, the old man whispered furtively, "Li Tieniu next door said that in the middle of the night... around the second watch, he heard Teacher Xu frolicking with a woman. But Teacher Xu had been a widower for years. Where would a woman come from in his house? "It was that paper figurine coming alive at night and doing Teacher Xu in!" *The dead of night, a paper figurine with painted eyes and rouged cheeks lying beside you, coming alive...* Imagining the scene, Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill run down his spine. *This is why I never buy figurines, let alone silicone or inflatable dolls. Watering them daily with billions of living cells—if one of them ever came alive, that'd be one hell of a nightmare...* Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Where is that box of rouge now?" "Still at Teacher Xu's place. Who would dare take it?" The old man sighed. "The night after Teacher Xu died, around the second watch, someone saw that paper figurine walking through the village. It was terrifying!" Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing narrowed his eyes. The paper figurine roamed the village during the second watch, which meant the second wave of danger would strike at that time. He wondered how the Demon Lord had dealt with the paper figurine; he would ask the Cat King Speaker later. "Old man, there should be a third strange event, right? For instance, during the third watch," Zhang Yuanqing said. Based on the old man's account, he had deduced a pattern: the tongue-less ghost doll haunted the village up to the first watch, and the paper figurine emerged during the second watch. Something would definitely crop up during the third watch. To his surprise, the old man shook his head. "The third watch? Nothing strange happened then. But during the fourth watch, something seemed to have occurred." Zhang Yuanqing pressed at once, "What happened?" The old man knitted his brows, a look of bewilderment passing over his wrinkled, dark-skinned face. "I... I forgot..." *Forgot? Then I can only ask other villagers.* From what he had heard so far, the dungeon didn't seem too difficult. Finding the tongue granted access to a wealth of intelligence, basically laying bare the supernatural threats in the dungeon. Play the game before dark and continue until the first watch to send away the ghost doll, deal with the paper figurine during the second watch, no anomalies during the third watch, and something in the fourth watch that the old man forgot, which he could inquire about from other villagers. After dealing with the three antiques, would it be time to fight the boss? Survive, and he would clear the dungeon. Although he knew the Commandery Princess was bound to be formidable, having a clear grasp of all the supernatural threats in the dungeon was reassuring enough. Danger laid bare in the open was far less daunting than crossing a river by feeling the stones. In fact, Zhang Yuanqing still had a trump card—the Demon-Subduing Pestle. That item was a lethal counter against yin entities, but he didn't dare use it lightly. After what happened at Jinshui Amusement Park, he suspected that using the Demon-Subduing Pestle inside a Night Wanderer-exclusive Spirit Realm would definitely be sensed by the Old Hag. If the Old Hag came, even kneeling down and singing surrender wouldn't save him. What would happen if he summoned such an ultimate boss? Zhang Yuanqing didn't know; all he knew was that crushing him would be as easy for the Old Hag as pinching an ant to death. He didn't dare gamble his life on her temperament. At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing glanced up at the sky. Dusk had fallen, the thin clouds hung motionless, and the fading daylight had grown faint. In just a little while, complete darkness would take over. Zhang Yuanqing delayed no further and said, "Old man, it's almost dark, and that ghost doll is coming. You don't want your tongue cut out again, do you? Let's play a game." When it came to following his craven instincts, the old man never disappointed. He immediately nodded. "What game?" Zhang Yuanqing taught the old man the chant and rules of the game. "Will this really work?" The old man looked skeptical. "You don't have much of a choice," Zhang Yuanqing retorted. He then summoned Corpse No. 1, connected with the mark in his sea of consciousness, and split his spirit body in two, leaving half in his physical body while directing the other half into the yin corpse. The two men and one corpse stood in a triangle. Zhang Yuanqing clapped his hands and said: "You clap one, I clap one, play a game before the light is gone." The old man clapped his hands: "You clap two, I clap two, touch your tongue and ear too." The two men and one corpse opened their mouths, touched their tongues, and then touched their ears. Corpse No. 1 clapped its hands, its voice hoarse: "You clap three, I clap three, add the shadow to make three." The rhythmic clapping sounded repeatedly as the two men and one corpse carried on playing. Minute by minute passed, and night fell swiftly. A black shroud draped over the world before deep darkness swallowed the mountain village whole. There was no moon in the night sky, no stars—only an impenetrable, ink-black darkness where one couldn't even see their own outstretched fingers. The mountain village sank into dead silence. No chirping insects, no barking dogs. It was so quiet it bred dread and unease. The clapping and chanting of the two men and one corpse were the sole sounds in this dead world. *Once darkness fell, the yin energy in the village grew heavier...* Maintaining the rhythm of the game, Zhang Yuanqing, as a Night Wanderer, keenly perceived the changes in his surroundings. During the day, there had been hardly any yin energy in the village, but as soon as darkness fell, an icy chill began to permeate the air, turning the entire village into what seemed like a domain of ghosts. Furthermore, with the passage of time, the yin energy grew steadily heavier bit by bit. Just then, Zhang Yuanqing heard a giggle drift out from the darkness behind him: "Ooh, someone is playing a game~" The voice was crisp and childish, belonging to a young girl. *It's here...* Zhang Yuanqing saw the old man's expression contort, his lips trembling. He sensed an extraordinarily pure, frigid yin energy drawing near. Its sheer intensity reminded him of the Ghost Bride—or more accurately, the overwhelming pressure the Ghost Bride had exuded. *Is this ghost doll really this terrifying?* *Facing it head-on doesn't seem very wise...* Zhang Yuanqing found his own cowardly instincts kicking in, just like the old man. The yin energy stopped right behind Zhang Yuanqing. Immediately afterward, he felt an icy chill press against his back, crawling upward inch by inch. *She wants to possess me?* The hairs on Zhang Yuanqing's spine stood on end, his scalp tingling with numbness, almost making him lose the game's rhythm. Fortunately, that frigid presence lingered for only a few seconds before leaving his back and shifting behind Corpse No. 1, attempting to possess it. Catching a glimpse from the corner of his eye, Zhang Yuanqing finally saw what it was. It was a shadow—the shadow of a child. It fell upon the ground behind Corpse No. 1, looking as though it were the corpse's own shadow. The shadow seemed intent on possessing Corpse No. 1, but after several attempts, it failed every time. "Why are there three people again... I want to play a game, I want to play a game..." The short shadow emitted a young girl's tender voice, complaining unhappily. *As long as three people are playing, she can't join?* *How did the Demon Lord test and find this rule? Uh, actually, it wouldn't be that hard. Without the Cat King Speaker's hint, I would definitely have gathered some villagers to play the game.* "You clap two, I clap two, touch your tongue and ear too." The old man's voice had begun to quaver; it was plain to see how terrified he was. Yet cowardice gave him the strength to persist with the game. Over the next stretch of time, the shadow kept flitting between the backs of the three participants, attempting to possess one and join the game, but failed every time. *Great, it can't get in. As long as we keep this up until the first watch, we'll be fine. Also, the yin energy in the village is getting even heavier...* Zhang Yuanqing breathed a slight sigh of relief. Everything was proceeding according to plan. He tracked the time while continuing the game. After what felt like an eternity, he sensed that the end of the first watch was drawing near. At this moment, his mind working in overdrive under the intense tension, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized a perplexing detail. Namely, the hint about "three people" from the Cat King Speaker, and what the ghost doll had just whined: "Why are there three people again?" The rule regarding the number of participants had definitely been deduced by the Demon Lord. But there was a problem here: without knowing the rules beforehand, more people would naturally seem better. If he were the Demon Lord, he would definitely have gathered a group of villagers to play. He wouldn't have pinned it precisely down to three people. Yet just now, the ghost doll said "three people again." If she was referring to the Demon Lord's run, then a question arose: how did the Demon Lord deduce that once the count reached three, the ghost doll would be shut out? The only answer was that it was a rule deduced through trial and error. Back then, did the Demon Lord gather a crowd of villagers, only to discover that numbers were meaningless as the ghost doll cut their tongues out or killed them one by one, until only three remained and the ghost doll finally stopped? That didn't seem right either. Villagers hardly possessed such discipline; the moment one died, the rest would scatter in terror. Besides, once the Demon Lord realized people were still dying despite playing the game, would he have continued urging villagers to play? He definitely would have clashed head-on with the ghost doll, because he couldn't guarantee whether the ghost doll's next possession target would be himself. So how on earth had the Demon Lord deduced this rule? *The first watch is almost over. I'll send the ghost doll away first before dwelling on this.* Just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw the old man beside him suddenly grimace in agony, muttering, "I remember... I remember... During the fourth watch..." Only now did Zhang Yuanqing notice thick yin energy pouring off the old man, his skin shifting from a normal complexion to a bruised, purplish black. The surrounding yin energy was so overwhelming that it had masked the yin corpse aura emanating from the old man! *He's a yin corpse? How is that possible...* Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank slightly. As a Night Wanderer, he could clearly discern that, nourished by the ambient yin energy, the old man's body was transforming step-by-step into a yin corpse. Sharp claws sprouted from the old man's fingertips, and blood vessels bulged across his bloodshot eyeballs as he muttered, "During the fourth watch... everyone in the village died..." *Everyone in the village died...* Hearing those words, a chill gripped Zhang Yuanqing's heart, his scalp tingling with numbness. There were no normal living people in this dungeon at all! The villagers had died long ago. They retained human form during the day, but at night, nourished by yin energy, they would turn into yin corpses! *Fuck! I thought it was bizarre how there were so many living people in this dungeon, and why an A-rank dungeon's supernatural entities would be so gentle. Turns out not a single living soul remains!* In an instant, he realized how the Demon Lord had made his trial and error. The Demon Lord had gathered a group of villagers to play the game, only for them all to transform into yin corpses at nightfall, causing the game to fail! Yet the Demon Lord hadn't died immediately; perhaps he happened to have two yin corpses on hand, or some other means. In short, he had deduced the pattern and discovered that as long as three participants played the game, they could circumvent the ghost doll's killing rule. By now, the last shred of sanity had vanished from the old man's eyes. Reduced to a bloodthirsty monstrosity, he lunged at Zhang Yuanqing beside him. *Bang!* Corpse No. 1 intercepted from the side, a heavy collision sending the old man flying. The game was forcibly broken! "Hee-hee, I want to play a game too~" A crisp, childish voice rang out directly behind Zhang Yuanqing. An aura of absolute, biting yin cold pressed against his back. The next second, with a sickening crack, Zhang Yuanqing's neck was twisted completely around to face backwards. *Crack, snap, snap...* His legs and arms twisted backwards in unison, his joints distorting and contorting until he resembled a crudely cobbled wooden puppet.