Chapter 92
Chapter 92
Tang Tian howled in pain.
An animal’s instinct for survival sent him darting backward at once, rapidly putting distance between himself and the place where he had been wounded.
He bit hard into his hand and sucked ceaselessly at the blood in his veins, using blood to mend the injury. The wound in his head healed at astonishing speed, but the eyepatch-covered half of his face and skull did not grow back. He did not have enough energy to regenerate such a massive wound.
The excruciating pain temporarily halted every thought in his mind, leaving only the instinctive awareness of agony.
It was not until Yu Wei sprang upright with a kip-up that Tang Tian realized he had fallen into a trap.
Yu Wei had not died after that vicious beating. He had feigned death to lure Tang Tian close, then waited for the chance to counterattack and kill him.
Tang Tian had never imagined that the usually quiet, honest Yu Wei would use deceit.
He had considered countless possibilities, yet it had never occurred to him that Yu Wei might trick him this way. The mistake had cost him dearly – half his head was gone.
Tang Tian burned with rage. “Yu Wei, you lied to me!”
The combat knife in Yu Wei’s hand still dripped with blood. White, viscous matter mingled with slightly congealed blood around the blade, clinging near its fuller instead of sliding off.
He limped toward Tang Tian one step at a time.
“Don’t underestimate an old man.” Yu Wei’s voice remained as deep and calm as ever. Though covered in blood and wounds, he held himself straight. His tall body reflected in a small puddle, compressed into a tiny silhouette.
Beneath the overcast sky, dim light fell over him like a net. Yu Wei’s steps were heavy and unsteady, but not slow.
He strode toward his great saber, one long step after another.
“It has been three years. Time hasn’t given me only an increasingly ruined, decaying body. It has also given me an ever stronger resolve and will – the resolve and will to cut you down with my own blade.”
Yu Wei bent to retrieve his great saber, but he could no longer lift it.
The flesh had been sliced from the top of his foot. An unknown number of ribs were broken, and his internal organs might have suffered extensive damage as well. Not one part of him remained uninjured.
Even an Acquired Spirit possessed a mortal body of flesh and blood. Yu Wei seemed to have reached his limit.
But that did not matter.
Without a great saber, he still had a small knife. To end a person’s life, one small, sharp weapon was enough.
With unwavering determination, he dragged his agonized body forward. The combat knife in his hand was small but sharp. Step by step, he closed in on Tang Tian, as if walking toward the end that awaited him – a final point that promised both victory and death.
Tang Tian stared at him in terror, his pupil contracting. In the murderous autumn light, he seemed to see the Grim Reaper approaching one slow step at a time.
Tang Tian wanted to transform again, regain his overwhelming strength, defeat Yu Wei, and devour his flesh and blood.
But…
The zombie transformation spread only as far as Tang Tian’s arm before stopping.
He did not have enough energy.
Yu Wei’s strike had not merely removed half Tang Tian’s head. It had taken his vital blood and his energy with it.
What should he do?
Panic seized Tang Tian.
His first instinct was to run.
He rolled his one remaining eye, fled awkwardly to the corner, snatched up the black cloth bag beside the courtyard wall, and dashed for the door.
What remained of Tang Tian’s earlier arrogance now?
He looked more like a whipped dog fleeing with its tail between its legs.
Yu Wei roared. Ignoring the shattered bones in his foot, he pushed off hard and sprinted forward. One hand clamped onto Tang Tian’s shoulder while the other slashed and stabbed with the knife.
He could not let Tang Tian leave.
He could not.
Yu Wei’s body had reached the end of its strength. He could no longer use any of his refined combat techniques. What remained was the savage fighting instinct buried in his bones.
He chopped, thrust, and slashed however felt most natural, letting instinct and bodily intuition guide him. Whatever happened, he could not stop.
Kill him. Kill Tang Tian!
Tang Tian fought back like a child with no technique, relying entirely on instinct to resist and block.
Once Yu Wei broke through his defenses, Tang Tian lost his nerve completely.
In will and determination, he fell far short of Yu Wei. The moment every known advantage disappeared, his fighting spirit vanished with them, leaving him capable only of scurrying and hiding like a rat.
It was not long before Yu Wei knocked Tang Tian down. Sprawled on the ground, Tang Tian moaned and trembled without stopping.
“Don’t. Don’t kill me. Master, don’t kill me…”
“You can’t kill me!”
Covered in wounds, with half his face missing, Tang Tian’s teeth chattered as he screamed desperately.
Yu Wei seemed not to hear him. Tang Tian’s ugly, terrifying half-face was reflected in Yu Wei’s unwavering eyes. Only one thought remained in his mind: kill Tang Tian.
Yu Wei raised the combat knife and gathered every last scrap of strength. He fixed his gaze on Tang Tian’s heart, eyes narrowing as he prepared to drive the blade down.
But all at once, the half-face before him vanished. In its place appeared a small pink box inlaid with a multitude of brightly colored shells.
Wet soil coated the box. Last night’s rain had turned the earth to mud, leaving it filthy and carrying the fresh scent of dirt.
Even so, a tiny glass “window” remained visible on its lid.
Through that window, he could see what the box contained: ashes.
It was an urn.
“Dad, all the other kids write in their essays that their moms and dads take them to the amusement park during vacation. When will you take Niuniu to the amusement park?”
“Mom and the doctors all say Niuniu is sick, but Niuniu isn’t sick. If Dad takes Niuniu to the amusement park for one day, Niuniu will get all better.”
“Dad, is this the house Niuniu will live in from now on? Isn’t the door a little too small? Can Niuniu fit inside? Will the little house get bigger once Niuniu goes in?”
“Dad, when I move in, can you put a window in the roof for me?”
“I want to see what the birds flying past Niuniu’s grave look like.”
“I also want to see what Dad does every day. Dad, oh, Dad, why do you never come home?”
Yu Wei’s knife stopped.
That flash of pink blurred the entire world before his eyes until he could no longer see anything clearly.
“Niuniu…”
How could Niuniu be here?
Of course. Tang Tian had taken it from the bag.
Yu Wei had seen him.
In his daze, pain pierced Yu Wei’s abdomen. Something punched through his stomach, then slowly withdrew.
Yu Wei stiffly lowered his head. Tang Tian’s hand retracted, fresh, scalding blood still coating its black nails.
All the strength in Yu Wei’s body seemed to leave with Tang Tian’s hand. He dropped to his knees, both hands pressed over his abdomen, his consciousness beginning to scatter.
Tang Tian’s wild laughter drifted near and far beside his ears. Warm blood poured from Yu Wei’s abdomen. It hurt, but at the very limits of pain, only numbness remained.
He was so numb that he did not even feel Tang Tian snap off his index finger.
He seemed to be dying.
But…
No. He could not fall.
Yu Wei swallowed the blood rising into his throat and used the last scraps of Spirit in his body to seal the fatal wound in his abdomen.
His mind cleared slightly.
Yu Wei tried to gather his strength and rise, but his limbs felt filled with lead. He could not summon any force.
“Once I’ve finished my business, I’ll come back and feed on you.” Tang Tian lowered his head and spoke viciously to Yu Wei.
Yu Wei could only watch helplessly as Tang Tian entered the office, apparently climbed to the third floor, then emerged carrying a deity shrine.
Yu Wei forced his eyes wider and struggled to make out its appearance. The deity resembled a noblewoman with compassionate features and a baby cradled in her arms.
“Hariti.” Tang Tian held the deity shrine and laughed, wanton and triumphant. He took a bag of hideously foul blood from the cloth sack and poured it over the shrine.
Moments later, the shrine that had brimmed with divinity was drenched in blood, becoming evil, unnatural, and terrifying. The blood coating it quickly congealed into strands. Drop by drop, it fell and gathered in a small pool on the floor.
Tang Tian knelt before the deity shrine, took out three sticks of incense, lit them, and planted them in front of it.
Smoke drifted upward, filling the air with sandalwood.
Tang Tian performed each action methodically as he spoke. “Master, I told you. I’ve waited far too long for this day.”
“I raised a whole pack of lesser ghosts to tie up those twisted freaks in your Department and lure every defender away. Then – then I came here to kill you! Hahahaha!”
“Yes, you’re the Department’s heavy hitter. You’re strong. I can’t beat you in a fair contest of force, but in my eyes, you were the easiest one to deal with.”
Tang Tian turned back and looked at Yu Wei, who lay on the ground with only the faintest breath remaining. He sneered, “Because your weakness is far too easy to grasp.”
“Every part of this was a trap designed for you. You forced me to go this far, so you have no grounds to complain about dying.”
Once the incense had been offered, it was time to present the offering.
Tang Tian placed the pink urn before the deity shrine. His voice held both devotion and madness. “Hariti, in your previous life, you sought help from five hundred believers traveling to worship in Rajagriha while you were pregnant. Those five hundred abandoned you, causing you to miscarry and lose the child.”
“Hatred filled your heart. You swore that if you had another life, you would devour every child in the city to avenge the baby in your womb.”
“And you truly did it! You ate so many babies, so very many! The blood of your slaughter covered your body! Awaken, Hariti. Open your eyes and look again. Shakyamuni is gone from this world, and no one remains to save you! Forget being the Lady Who Bestows Children. Forget being Hariti. You are the Demon Mother who devours infants!”
“I have used the blood of sinful humans to awaken your bloodlust and incense offerings to call you from the deity shrine.”
“I present you with the most delicious offering. She may no longer have flesh or blood, but she possesses the purest soul in the world!”
“Feed! Gnaw! Fall! Return to this wicked world and enjoy the offering I prepared for you. Devour her soul. Open your eyes – your sinful eyes – and reclaim your title as the Demon Mother. Make everyone fear and tremble. Make them all submit at your feet!”
The incense burned faster and faster.
The curling mist grew thicker and thicker.
In the unseen world, something seemed to be stirring, beginning to awaken.
Yu Wei stared at the pink urn being used as an offering. His eyes gradually turned bloodred, glimmering with what might have been tears or hatred.
With trembling hands and the last of his strength, he pulled a vial of pink medicine from his pocket, poured it down his throat, and drained it in one swallow.
At last, his strength returned.
Yu Wei roared, “I’ll kill you!”