Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Honestly, if I had discovered the corpse myself by searching through the leaves, I might not have been so terrified.

But she had appeared on her own and launched a surprise attack. That frightened me badly.

Think about it. Even if a classmate suddenly slapped your shoulder while you were concentrating, it would startle you.

Here, in these surroundings, the one surprising me was a corpse that had plainly transformed.

Fortunately, I had seen my share of extraordinary things since childhood. Even in my panic, I did not lose my head completely.

At least I did not open my mouth and scream. If I dropped the flashlight, being plunged into total darkness would make everything worse.

Even as fear seized me, my right hand entered my pocket and searched for a talisman.

It was an Evil-Suppressing Talisman I had drawn in advance. One slapped onto her forehead should make a recently transformed walking corpse freeze as motionless as a turtle.

But I never expected the corpse to fight without any sense of fairness.

Its sudden appearance had already startled me half to death. In the next instant, its eyes snapped open.

They had no pupils, only whites.

The ghastly white eyes carried a cruel, sinister air. At the same time, the corners of its mouth shifted into a hideous smile.

Most terrifyingly, the corpse moved.

Two rigid, pale arms shot from among the branches. Sharp nails stabbed straight toward my chest.

“Good grief!”

Panic surged through me. I twisted aside and instinctively shouted.

Naturally, the flashlight clenched between my teeth fell.

I heard it clatter against branch after branch as it dropped. Darkness instantly swallowed everything around me.

Fortunately, I had not grown careless. I dodged in time.

The instant darkness closed in, something whistled sharply past me. The female corpse’s outstretched hands must have stabbed through empty air.

Had I failed to dodge, she would have pierced me straight through.

“Taste this young master’s skill!”

Anger rose through my fear. Judging the distance by instinct, I swung the Evil-Suppressing Talisman I had drawn from my pocket.

Smack!

My palm met something hard and cold. I must have placed it correctly.

As I attached the talisman, I shouted, “Old Cao! I found one. Damn it, the thing ambushed me. If I hadn’t reacted quickly, this walking corpse would have caught me. I’ve attached an Evil-Suppressing Talisman now.”

Describing the exchange made it sound lengthy, but everything had happened in only a second or two.

Truly, if any of my movements had been slightly slower, I would probably have died.

This profession was extraordinarily dangerous.

No wonder my parents had initially opposed my studying magic under Master. I could never let them learn the truth now. If they discovered that I attended school by day and risked my life at night, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Old Cao’s voice came from another part of the distant canopy.

“Excellent, Xiao Wu! A worthy disciple of Immortal Lady Qin. I’ve caught one over here too–the cook who hanged himself the night before last. This fellow transformed as well and tried to stab me with his claws, so I slapped him in the face and stopped him. Young Brother Yuan, did you find anything?”

“Nothing, Master Cao! I searched through the leaves but didn’t find a thing. I saw only a few bird nests with eggs inside.”
Yuan Fei’s voice came from even farther away. It sounded faint and indistinct.

He seemed puzzled. “Both of you found hidden corpses. Why can’t I find even one? Could my magical power be so great that it doesn’t dare face me? Ha ha!”

We knew one another well enough for him to joke.

In truth, the quantity and quality of Yuan Fei’s qi were unquestionably inferior to Old Cao’s.

Just as I began to find his words amusing, an indescribable sense of danger suddenly rose in my heart without warning.

The next instant, leaves seemed to shift on my left. Then something breathed beside my ear.

Goose bumps covered half my face.

A powerful stench of decay mixed with the earthy smell of soil poured into my nose.

In a flash, I understood.

Why had Yuan Fei failed to find the cobbler’s son?

Because that walking corpse was on my side.

Two walking corpses were hiding in my part of the canopy: the saleswoman and the cobbler’s son, who had hanged himself earlier.

In the darkness, I knew the danger had closed in, but there was no time to react.

Time seemed to slow while my body refused to move. Two words repeated endlessly in my mind.

I’m finished!

“The third corpse is here too!”

I screamed and threw myself sideways.

My entire body fell from the tree.

It was the only possible way to evade the walking corpse’s direct attack.

I was sitting astride a branch and had almost no room to dodge. My only choice was to drop.

Dense leaves and smaller branches might slow my fall, and perhaps a sufficiently thick branch would catch me.

Sure enough, my decision was correct.

The instant I rolled into empty air, a cold gust brushed close enough to graze my cheek.

It had come from the walking corpse’s outstretched hand.

The claws had probably not touched me at all, yet my cheek faintly burned.

That proved the nails had aimed directly for my face or throat. If I had hesitated for even a moment, I might truly have died.

The hateful corpse would have stabbed me to death in the tree.

I plunged from more than ten meters above the ground, crashing repeatedly through leaves and branches.

My falling weight snapped the thinner limbs with an endless series of cracks.

Why hadn’t I struck a branch thick enough to hold me? I had already broken so many small ones. Why had nothing caught me?

Could my luck truly be this bad? Was I going to fall all the way to the ground and die?

Panic rose in me.

But I could do nothing to stop my fall.

At last, I burst from the lower foliage without being caught by a single thick branch.

Only five or six meters of open air separated me from the concrete below.

If I struck the ground directly, I would be seriously injured even if I survived.

“No way!”

For the first time in my life, I felt unprecedented terror.

Even at nine, following Master through the darkness to deliver the drowned revenant to the Hundred-Bone Pagoda, I had not been this frightened.