Huang Jiu's expression of fear triggered a realization in my mind, and I quickly stepped back, retreating to the bedside.
Just as I steadied myself, the red-clad girl abruptly stood upright, and the talisman on her forehead burst into flames with a soft pop.
This thing was a Spirit Corpse.
A mere talisman couldn't suppress it.
Simply put, it was a zombie with a soul.
When its spirit was active, it behaved like a ghost. When the spirit lay dormant, it was a rigid corpse.
If the spirit and the zombified body fused completely, it would become an abomination—something that shouldn't exist in this world.
Legends spoke of an evil technique that granted immortality by refining a person's body into a zombie while they were still clinging to their last breath. This allowed their soul to inhabit the undead form, ensuring eternal existence.
I had only ever heard my grandfather mention such a thing. I never thought I'd encounter it firsthand.
Just what kind of horrors lurked deep in these remote mountains?
Shocked, I held my breath and shut my eyes tightly. When I reopened them, I saw a swirling mass of decaying corpse energy emanating from the red-clad girl.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes, suspecting an illusion. Yet, when I looked again, the corpse aura remained, but I saw no spiritual glow.
My grandfather was a half-baked master, no doubt, but he did have some genuine skills. It was he who gifted me the Spirit Sight.
Now, however, I began to doubt its accuracy.
The red-clad girl's already shattered face suddenly shriveled, revealing taut, purple-blue skin clinging to her bones. She let out a chilling "Heh… heh…" and lunged stiffly toward me.
Uneasy, I asked Huang Jiu, "What was that thing you threw at her earlier?"
Recognizing the Spirit Corpse, Huang Jiu trembled violently. "Buddha—Buddha's relic bone! I was digging a burrow in the mountains and accidentally stumbled into an ancient tomb. The tomb's owner was a devout Buddhist, and I found it among the funerary objects."
A Buddhist relic!
A sacred artifact of the Buddhist faith!
It seemed the red-clad girl had underestimated us. When she attacked, she separated her spirit from her corpse, leaving her vulnerable to Huang Jiu's surprise attack with the sacred relic, which had obliterated her soul.
If she had fought as a complete Spirit Corpse, neither the relic nor even Buddha himself could have saved us.
Now certain that her spirit had been destroyed, I took advantage of her slow movements, dashed outside to retrieve my willow whip, and lashed it at her.
Peachwood repels spirits, but willow wood subdues the undead.
A corpse turns into a zombie because it retains a lingering breath of life. Willow branches, however, possess purifying properties that dispel such lingering energies.
As soon as my whip struck her, it sizzled on contact, dispersing some of her corpse energy.
Huang Jiu was stunned. "What the hell? Why is this Spirit Corpse so weak?"
I replied, "Her spirit was shattered by the relic. Now she's just an empty shell."
Hearing this, Huang Jiu, who had been trembling moments ago, suddenly straightened up and shouted, "Hold on!"
I flinched, thinking I had missed something critical, and stopped mid-swing.
With an air of arrogance, Huang Jiu strutted forward in his floral underwear, spread his arms wide, and declared, "Step aside and let your Grandpa Huang handle this. That damned corpse nearly scared the life out of me earlier—time to settle the score!"
The way he held himself, tail flicking high, he looked just like a pompous fox.
Since the Spirit Corpse no longer posed much of a threat, I stepped back, giving him room to act.
Huang Jiu puffed up his chest, his confidence swelling now that he had the Buddha relic. He flicked his tail, then launched the relic forward like a marble.
Buddhist relics weren't mere trinkets. The moment it struck, golden flames erupted, blasting the red-clad zombie out into the courtyard.
Only now did I get a clear look at the relic—a finger bone, smooth and white as jade, with faint scriptures engraved upon it.
With Huang Jiu's second strike, the zombie not only lost more of its corpse energy but also burst into flames.
Being a dried-out corpse, she burned like kindling, reduced to ashes in under two minutes.
Swaggering back inside, Huang Jiu grinned in triumph—until he noticed me staring at him.
Immediately, he clutched his rear pocket, glaring at me like I was a thief.
I had simply wanted to take a look at the Buddha relic, but seeing his paranoia, I let it go.
Heading outside, I checked the remains and confirmed the Spirit Corpse had been utterly destroyed.
When I returned, Huang Jiu had already settled in a corner, cross-legged, greedily absorbing the lingering corpse fragrance.
By dawn, the scent had mostly faded. Huang Jiu opened his eyes, stretched, and excitedly scurried over.
"Li, can you gaze at qi?" he asked eagerly.
"Yeah," I replied groggily, still half-asleep.
His eyes lit up. "Then take a look at my luck—see if I have any good fortune coming my way!"
Qi gazing is fundamental to both feng shui and fortune-telling.
My grandfather once said that with Spirit Sight, one wouldn't need divination tools to read fate. Instead, by observing qi, one could see fortunes and misfortunes at a glance.
It all sounded impressive—but I had never tested it myself.
Since Huang Jiu brought it up, I decided to give it a try. Closing my eyes briefly, I reopened them and focused on the qi above his head.
A faint red mist hovered there.
"You're going to have a blood calamity in the next two days," I stated bluntly.
Huang Jiu rolled his eyes. "Hah! You must be bluffing. Your Grandpa Huang is eating well, sleeping well—where's this 'blood calamity' supposed to come from?"
Given my grandfather's sketchy reputation, I didn't argue.
Muttering to himself, Huang Jiu wandered toward the door. "Even if there is a blood calamity, it's probably because I've been hanging around you, you jinx. I better stay far away."
With that, he sneaked off.
To be fair, he had helped me a lot last night, and I had no intention of forcing him to stay.
After he left, I lay down on the bed and resumed checking the woman's pulse under the black cloth.
Checking… and checking… until I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke, it was already noon.
I grabbed a quick meal, then spread more ash around the house, hoping to further suppress the corpse fragrance.
I knew how to set up a feng shui ward, but the required materials weren't easy to find. Otherwise, a proper ward would have completely concealed the scent.
By the time I finished, the sun was setting.
Anxiety crept back into my heart.
Ever since the female corpse emerged from its coffin, nightfall had become my greatest fear.
That said, no two predators coexisted in the same territory. It was unlikely that something else from the Ten Thousand Mountains would immediately show up.
Still… luck wouldn't always be on my side.
That night, the ash helped—no new threats emerged, and Huang Jiu didn't return.
He was probably hiding indoors, unsettled by my prediction.
I was too on edge to check the woman's pulse, staying alert instead.
Only when I heard the roosters crowing in the distant village did I finally relax.
Just as I reached under the black cloth to check the woman's pulse once more…
The door creaked open.
Huang Jiu hobbled in, one leg and one arm injured, a noose of hemp rope dangling from his neck—dragging a severed little arm behind him.
I immediately yanked my hand away from the black cloth and stared at him in shock.
Not only was he limping, but his chest fur was missing a chunk.
Had my prediction come true?