Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I jumped in fright, hunching my shoulders as I tried to offer a greeting.

“Little brother, let me borrow your spot to sit for a while.”

Before I could finish speaking, that hand suddenly shot straight out and clamped firmly over my mouth.

A foul stench wafted into my nose, so pungent I nearly fainted from the smell.

Just then, a flurry of footsteps sounded from beneath the tree.

“The Great Shaman said they ran in this direction. Have any of you seen them?”

“Search carefully. Be cautious, and do not disturb the spirits of the dead.”

The voices gradually faded into the distance. As the hand over my mouth tightened its grip, I held my breath, reached into my bag for the Seven-Star Sword, and gave it a sharp jab.

With a *shing*, the hand instantly retracted into the box.

Relieved, I thrust the Seven-Star Sword into the opening of the box a couple more times until all sound from within ceased.

Once the lamas had left, I jumped down from the tree, hurried over to the large tree nearby, and lowered my voice.

“Jiang Haoyan, get down here!”

“Jiang Haoyan, did you hear me? You didn’t fall asleep, did you?”

I looked up and saw something tied to his branch as well. It wasn’t a box, though; it was a bundle of tattered quilts. The bedding was torn, and a small boy was currently straddling Jiang Haoyan, his hands locked around his throat.

Jiang Haoyan’s eyes were rolling back in his head, and his arms hung limply at his sides.

Startled, I hurriedly threw the Seven-Star Sword upward. The blade slashed through the small boy, who let out a ghostly shriek and vanished back into the tattered quilts.

Jiang Haoyan fell straight out of the tree.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Jiang Haoyan propped himself up and told me we needed to leave this forest as soon as possible.

“This is a custom unique to Linzhi called tree burial. People put corpses in wooden boxes or barrels and tie them to tree trunks. Dammit, I almost got strangled to death by that little brat just now.”

I looked up and realized that indeed, every tree trunk had something tied to it. On some of the thicker trees, there were even several wooden boxes hanging in dense clusters.

According to local custom, the souls of children who die young are pure. By tying them to a great tree, they can grow as strong and sturdy as the tree in their next life.

Unfortunately, the tree species here were different. Some were locust trees, which are extremely yin in nature. Being buried on one prevents the soul from reincarnating, harming them instead.

An idea struck me. I pulled several copper coins from my bag and set up a formation.

This was the Soul-Guiding Formation. Since there were so many little ghosts here, I would draw them down to give those lamas something to keep them busy.

Jiang Haoyan and I then skirted around the edge of the forest and left the area under the light of the full moon.

We walked the entire night. It wasn’t until the first light of dawn that we finally reached a main road.

We hailed a large truck that took us into the city. Jiang Haoyan and I found a restaurant, ordered some food, and began to devour it ravenously.

“Qiao Moyu, what now? Should we just head back?”

I glared at Jiang Haoyan, my mouth stuffed with chicken.

“No way. I’ve never suffered such a huge loss before.”

Jiang Haoyan frowned deeply.

“But they have the numbers. There are only two of us. If we run into them again, it’ll just be another grand escape like last night.”

“Heh, you call that ‘numbers’? Just watch-I can summon hundreds of people with a single call.”

With that, I pulled out my phone.

“Hello, 110? I’d like to report a major homicide case. Serial killings and body disposal. Yes, I saw it with my own eyes. The bottom of the well is overflowing with bodies; they’re packed in there.”

Jiang Haoyan: “…”

After finishing our meal, the two of us took a taxi and returned to our guesthouse on Barkhor Street with heads held high.

Fang Lu was standing at the entrance of the neighboring temple, whispering something to a lama. The lama suddenly stopped talking and looked in our direction with an expression of shock.

I gave a casual wave.

“Lei hou ah-”

Fang Lu narrowed her eyes.

“Qiao Moyu, you actually dare to come back? I’ll give you credit for having some guts.”

I stepped aside.

“Officers, it’s them. The murderers are right there in the temple.”

Watching the swarm of police cars pulling up behind us, Fang Lu was completely dumbfounded.