Chapter 104: The Villains Leave the Village
Granny Si turned around, blinking her eyes. "Who said I'm leaving the village?"
The Village Chief chuckled. "Though I'm a worldly man, I can read between the lines. You've been eating poorly and sleeping poorly these past few days, so naturally you can't bear to stay here any longer. You must be going out to find Mu'er."
Granny Si said with annoyance, "So you saw right through me. I'm leaving! I won't stay here any longer!"
The Apothecary coughed and said, "If you leave the village, who will help you suppress your heart demon? In the past, with us around, Chief Li's primordial spirit didn't dare act recklessly. But if you leave, I'm afraid you won't be able to suppress Chief Li. Chief Li was profoundly accomplished in the demonic path. Before he died, he transformed himself into a demon seed and planted it in your Dao heart, using your Dao heart to survive, constantly waiting to devour you. You can't erase him, you can't suppress him—he will devour you, annihilate your primordial spirit, and seize your body."
Granny Si's gaze flickered. "He won't seize my body."
"Because he loves you too much?"
The Apothecary sneered. "Then you're wrong. If he seizes your body and is reborn through you, then he becomes you. He doesn't love you—he loves your shell. Once he becomes you, he can love himself. He is your heart demon, and you are his heart demon. By being reborn through your body, he overcomes his own heart demon. Chief Li wants to use you to temper himself, to become a god."
Granny Si shuddered, then suddenly laughed. "Apothecary, you've said so much—can you eliminate this heart demon of mine?"
The Apothecary fell silent. Li Tianxing's primordial spirit was already planted in Granny Si's Dao heart. He couldn't eliminate it. Not only could he not solve it, but Master Ma's Buddhist teachings couldn't solve it either, nor could the Village Chief's sword cut out this demon within her Dao heart.
Only Granny Si herself could eliminate this heart demon. All they could do was help her suppress it.
"I've lived here for over forty years, and you can't eliminate him. So what's the point of me staying any longer?"
Granny Si picked up her basket and left without looking back. "I'm going to find Mu'er. I always worry that he won't have enough to eat or wear, that he'll be bullied. Don't worry—if I can't suppress Old Ghost Li, I'll come back!"
The Village Chief and the Apothecary both frowned.
Granny Si, carrying her basket, arrived at the riverbank. She called over a River-Crossing Beast, climbed onto its back, and rode downstream.
After the River-Crossing Beast had traveled over a hundred li, Granny Si suddenly froze. She saw a blind man in the middle of the river, walking with a staff. Her face darkened instantly. She reached out, grabbed the blind man, and set him on the beast's back, saying angrily, "Blind man, are you trying to stop me too?"
The Blind Man looked confused and said with an apologetic smile, "So it's Granny. I was just walking along the road—what do you mean, stop you?"
Granny Si was skeptical. "You came all this way early in the morning—wasn't it to block me from leaving the village?"
The Blind Man protested, "You go your way, I go mine. Why would I stop you? By the way, old lady, where are you headed? Can you give me a ride?"
Granny Si blinked her blurry old eyes and smiled. "I'm planning to go to the Yan Kang Kingdom. Do you want a ride?"
The Blind Man clapped his hands. "What a coincidence! I was just heading to the Yan Kang Kingdom too!"
Granny Si stared at him with wide eyes, but the Blind Man looked innocent. She sneered, "What are you going to do in Yan Kang?"
The Blind Man said calmly, "My eyes are blind. I'm going to find the person who gouged them out."
Granny Si's heart skipped a beat, but she smiled. "And here I thought you were worried about Mu'er's safety and planning to find him in Yan Kang. Turns out you have real business."
"He's grown up now. He can handle any changes on his own."
The Blind Man's words made Granny Si feel secretly ashamed. She heard him continue, "I won't go directly to him. I'll observe him from the shadows."
Just then, a streak of light flashed across the sky. Granny Si looked up, but the light was already gone. Suddenly, the streak turned back and landed with a whoosh on the River-Crossing Beast's back. The Cripple's figure appeared, looking sullenly at the two people on the beast's back.
The Blind Man snapped angrily, "Cripple, you dart around like a ghost—it's terrifying! What are you doing?"
"Just taking a stroll out of the village."
The Cripple looked around and said, "Have you two seen Master Ma? I haven't seen him since yesterday. He didn't come back last night."
Granny Si said in surprise, "Master Ma didn't come back? He always returns to the village on time."
The Cripple sighed. "I think he misses Mu'er and went to the Yan Kang Kingdom. I'm going to find him. That old bastard left without a word—I need to confront him about why he did this, why he abandoned our years of friendship. And I also want to check on my leg..."
The Blind Man sneered. "You're not just going to see Mu'er, are you?"
The Cripple said coldly, "Would I miss him? Of course not! That kid was found by us—he's been a troublemaker since he was little, and I've wanted to kick him out for ages... Hey, look ahead—isn't that bastard the Butcher? Sure enough, it's the Butcher!"
A moment later, four people stood on the River-Crossing Beast's back—though the Butcher stood on his hands. The three of them looked at each other. The Blind Man leaned on his bamboo staff, listening intently, but no one spoke.
Granny Si carried her basket, the Cripple leaned on his crutch and whistled, and the Butcher put his hands down, planted them on his hips, and looked around.
After a long silence, the Blind Man stammered, "Master Ma ran off too. With the four of us gone, only the Apothecary, the Village Chief, the Deaf Man, and the Mute are left in the village..."
"The Mute ran off too."
The Butcher snorted. "Before the Village Chief and the Apothecary even got up, the Mute was already gone. He ran off carrying a big box. I chased after him but couldn't catch up!"
The Blind Man was stunned, then said with a wry smile, "So that leaves only the Deaf Man, the Village Chief, and the Apothecary."
The Cripple snickered. "It's not that we miss Mu'er—we all have our own business. I'm going to the imperial palace to check on my leg. What if the Yan Kang National Teacher has pickled, roasted, or smoked my leg and turned it into ham? That would be terrible!"
The Blind Man nodded. "I have real business too. I'm going to avenge my eyes."
Granny Si nodded repeatedly and smiled. "As the previous Saintess of the Holy Religion, with the new Sect Leader ascending the throne, I naturally have to go meet the new Sect Leader."
The Butcher thought for a long time before coming up with a reason. "I think my lower half might have fallen off somewhere. I'm going to look for it—maybe I can reattach it."
The four of them all breathed a sigh of relief and said in unison, "So we all have real business!"
Back in the Crippled Elderly Village, the Village Chief and the Apothecary sat at the village entrance, silently drinking tea. After a long while, the Apothecary said, "There are only four of us left in the village now."
"Apothecary, Master Ma left yesterday."
The Village Chief sipped his tea. "Their temperaments are still lacking—they can't sit still. At least the Deaf Man is well-read, learned, composed, and calm..."
He turned his head and stared blankly as the Deaf Man walked past them carrying a bamboo basket with a sun-shading cloth.
The Apothecary couldn't help asking, "Deaf Man, where are you going?"
The Deaf Man seemed not to hear and kept walking.
"That bastard, pretending not to hear again!" the Apothecary said angrily.
"Now there are only two of us left in the village."
The Village Chief smiled wryly, then suddenly asked, "When are you leaving?"
The Apothecary quickly shook his head. "With so many enemies, how dare I leave? Right now, I'm worried that all these villains rushing out at once will cause quite a commotion. The villains from our village..."
The Village Chief laughed. "Let the outside world deal with the headache. If you want to leave, you can go too. I'll stay and watch the village until you all come back."
The Apothecary hesitated, then shook his head. "If I go out, I'll only cause trouble for them. Among all the villains in our village, I have the worst reputation..."
The Village Chief said with a half-smile, "If it weren't for that, you'd have run off long ago."
The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
At the border between Dijiang County and Huyang County, Qin Mu looked up at the rising sun. He raised his hand, and his Vermilion Bird primordial energy burst forth, burning the clothes he had taken from the Corpse Immortal Sect disciple. As for the human skin, he had already discarded it halfway. Wearing someone else's skin still gave him some psychological burden. Besides, he was carrying a large bundle filled with odds and ends that Granny Si had prepared for him, so he couldn't wear the skin—it would make him look like a hunchback and be easily seen through.
"What's hidden inside Granny Si's hunchback?" Qin Mu suddenly felt a surge of curiosity.
He carried his pack. If he wore the human skin, he would become a hunchback. Since Granny Si wasn't actually a hunchback, there must be something hidden inside her hump. Qin Mu was very curious about what strange things were in there.
He had fled all night without rest and had fought several fierce battles, leaving him utterly exhausted. Fox Ling'er in his pack had already fallen asleep from fatigue.
A gust of wind blew, and Qin Mu immediately chased after the wind's crest, riding the breeze. But after just a few steps, he felt too tired and had to land and walk honestly.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound came from the air. Qin Mu looked up and saw several fiery red beetles flying toward him. The beetles weren't afraid of people—they flew right up to him and circled a few times.
"Corpse Beetles!"
Qin Mu's eyelid twitched involuntarily. He yawned and muttered to himself, "So tired... I'd better find a place to sleep..."
His fingers flicked rapidly, and the beetles exploded!
Qin Mu immediately sped up and dashed away.
He had seen these beetles at the Apothecary's before. Corpse beetles came in colors like green and black, with the red ones being the rarest. And these red beetles were exactly that—Red Corpse Beetles!
At that moment, the buzzing grew louder. He looked up and felt his scalp tingle. A red cloud was rushing toward him, menacing!
The red cloud descended lower and lower, and suddenly, countless red beetles flew into the forest, burrowing into a mass grave. The ground trembled, and skeletons crawled out from underground, sprinting on their legs as they madly chased after Qin Mu!
More corpse beetles flew in, burrowing into wild wolves, badgers, and even tigers they encountered along the way. Those beasts, their eyes bloodshot, also lunged at Qin Mu!