Taking a deep breath, he suddenly swooped into Chu Shuzhi’s bottle.
Chu Shuzhi closed the lid on it and put it in his pocket, then turned to Guo Changcheng. “Let’s go find the next one.”
Guo Changcheng followed. After a few steps, Chu Shuzhi suddenly spoke again, without even turning to look back at him. “You’re doing great.”
The tiniest compliment had always been able to make Guo Changcheng light up. This sudden praise made him glow like the peak of spring.
At that moment, a howling arose, uncomfortably close by. It turned out to be a few low-level gui that had remained in the Mortal Realm. The creatures launched themselves at the pair, jaws agape as they followed the smell of fresh blood and flesh.
Chu Shuzhi shoved Guo Changcheng behind him and brought his foot up in a sweeping horizontal kick. He struck the nearest gui in the chest with a low thud. The gui stumbled back a few steps and fell on its ass.
Three or four more gui grew bolder at once, despite seeing this. They rushed forward, shoulder to shoulder.
Chu Shuzhi pushed Guo Changcheng in the chest. “Stay away.”
But before the Corpse King, who had been emulating Lei Feng for many days, could stretch his muscles and start to really show off, someone landed in front of him. It was a youth holding a long skewer, which he turned on the gui. He stabbed them swiftly and precisely, as if making tanghulu. In the blink of an eye, he had created a truly revolting barbecue stick of low-level youchu.
No one would have called the young man pretty. His appearance suggested that his parents hadn’t put much effort into making him, but his smile radiated absolute sincerity. He withdrew his sharp skewer, wiped it on the ground, and then approached Chu Shuzhi. “Hey, friend, are you all right?”
Still somewhat stuck in his own edgy teenager phase, being around strangers always made Chu Shuzhi defensive. His brow furrowed as the young man walked closer. Fortunately, the stranger was observant. Seeing Chu Shuzhi’s dark expression, he stopped and kept his distance—his friendly smiling never wavering. “I’m a rogue cultivator. I sensed something off around here, so I came to check things out. Don’t misunderstand, bro.”
Chu Shuzhi gave a slight nod, all cold arrogance. He turned and called to Guo Changcheng. “Xiao-Guo, let’s go.”
Guo Changcheng ran over at once, but the young man tagged along, uninvited. Perhaps seeing that Chu Shuzhi was wary and didn’t like talking to people, he turned his attention to Guo Changcheng instead. “What were those monsters just now? Why aren’t there any people here? Do you guys know what happened?”
This was more questions than Guo Changcheng was used to being asked all at once; it was easy for him to lose track of the order they’d been asked in, and once his brain got muddled, it was hard for him to think. “I’m not sure either,” he replied with a timid look.
“Then what do you guys do?”
“We’re police,” Guo Changcheng said.
“Oh! Really?” Surprise flooded the young man’s expression, but he started to chat with Guo Changcheng naturally.
Chu Shuzhi stayed silent and listened to them talk, not dropping his guard for a moment. Only a dumbass like Guo Changcheng would lower their guard when a friendly rogue cultivator appeared in a place like this.
The stranger had a knack for conversation. In just a few sentences, he realized that words didn’t come easily for Guo Changcheng, so he changed his approach at once. Rather than asking question after question, he started chatting casually about the resort, periodically sneaking in a few questions about their backgrounds.
As they walked, they collected six or seven more souls. It wasn’t long at all before they’d entirely filled two small bottles. In the darkness, the bottles glowed richly with different colors. Chu Shuzhi tucked them side by side in his fanny pack and got out another empty one.
The Corpse King had an extreme personality and was cold by nature; necromancy was a deviation from the norm to begin with, not accepted by the world. Chu Shuzhi was lonesome and arrogant, wholly unconcerned about his merits, so he never paid it any mind. He’d always thought “morality” was a facade, nothing but an excuse to hide behind. The purer and more beautiful something seemed, the darker it might be beneath.
Despite this cynical outlook on the world, he somehow managed to put up with Guo Changcheng. Maybe by now it was just habit.
Either way, looking at the soul bottles in his bag stirred an inexplicable feeling in his heart. It made him grumble that Guo Changcheng was being too kind for no reason, even as Chu Shuzhi followed him around to collect lost souls.
There were plenty of gui wandering around the little resort. The unfamiliar cultivator kept helping them clear out any youchu in their way. He was quick and merciless, raising Chu Shuzhi’s guard even more. So when the cultivator started asking about the Soul-Guarding Order, the Corpse King naturally gave him a chilly response. “Sir, if something is none of your business, maybe you shouldn’t be asking. Why be annoying for no reason?”
Guo Changcheng just laughed, embarrassed. “Sorry. Chu-ge is a very good person. He doesn’t really mean it like it sounds. It’s just that we have regulations…”
The easygoing cultivator nodded repeatedly. “Ha ha! No worries, it’s my bad for asking too much. Sorry, bro. I have no filter. It must be annoying sometimes. You’re not annoyed with me, are you, li’l bro?”
“How could I be?” Guo Changcheng immediately asked. “You’ve helped us so much! When we get back to the county, we’ll treat you to dinner. You’re a good person.”
But just then, they passed by a little store. The young man’s profile was facing the display window, and he was talking with a dazzling smile, but from the corner of his eye, Guo Changcheng happened to glimpse the reflection in the glass.
What he saw there shocked and alarmed him. This kind, warm friend’s reflection was that of a monster Guo Changcheng had never seen before: pitch-black all over, with different heads constantly surging in and out of its shoulders. In the window, its mouth was opened savagely in Guo Changcheng’s direction—a mouth bristling with fangs that resembled ancient torture devices.
The little baton in Guo Changcheng’s pocket reacted before he could even make a sound. Flames erupted toward the kind-looking youth. Chu Shuzhi turned back, stunned, only to see Guo Changcheng just standing there helplessly. The kindhearted cultivator, however, had sprung back a good dozen meters, effortlessly landing on the roof of a house.
Chu Shuzhi knew Guo Changcheng couldn’t control the baton; anything the contraption did was an instinctive reaction to his fear. Stuffing the glass bottle back into his bag, Chu Shuzhi narrowed his eyes and stared icily at the person on the rooftop. “What happened?”
The young man on the roof was no longer smiling. He looked down at Guo Changcheng. “Yeah, friend,” he echoed. “What happened?”
Guo Changcheng stumbled over his words. “His… H-his…shadow…”
Chu Shuzhi turned on his flashlight. The cultivator’s lonely shadow had nowhere to hide from the light, but no matter how carefully Chu Shuzhi looked, he didn’t see anything wrong. The cultivator squatted on the roof, letting him look all he wanted. Calm and collected, he asked, “What’s wrong with my shadow?”
With Chu Shuzhi giving him a confused expression, Guo Changcheng was at a loss for words.
The young man shook his head with a sigh. “My efforts have truly gone to waste. I’ve been helping you guys all this time, and I don’t need thanks, but if I hadn’t been quick just now, would I have died at this li’l bro’s hands? Even though he seems so honest and kind?”
Chu Shuzhi’s forehead creased. At that moment, the whistle around his neck went silent. Footsteps rustled in the distance, followed by the sound of heavy breathing. In the darkness, it was hair-raising. Goosebumps prickled to life all over Guo Changcheng’s neck. And then a huge youchu’s head burst up out of the ground, right between the cultivator and the two of them, coming face-to-face with Guo Changcheng.
It seemed that the Great Seal was straining more and more. The gui wandering the Mortal World drew closer and closer to the city and streets, following the scent of fresh flesh and blood. Meanwhile, in the county less than fifty kilometers away, people were still completely clueless.