Wife Doting Addiction：My Abducted Tsundere Husband - Chapter 89: Evil Souls

Chapter 89: Evil Souls

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Jin Feng let the woman go first and then knocked on the door and entered the room, holding a candle in his hand. After lighting it, he set the candle down on the table and blew out the one the woman had been carrying.

“When one is away from home, it’s best to be a little more cautious than usual,” he explained.

“Quite so.” Ji Yuxian opened the window and stood there looking out at the mountain village in the still of the night. The candlelight made his appealing silhouette stretch thin and long.

“Yes, Young Mistress, What was wrong with the meat today?

Hearing what was said, Ji Yuxian cocked his head slightly and looked at Su Jiu.

She was looking over the room and simply said, “That wasn’t pork!”

“It wasn’t?” Jin Feng raised an eyebrow and said doubtfully, “If it wasn’t pork, then what was it?

Su Jiu glanced at him before quickly looking away. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, “I don’t know! either”

In truth, she did know. She would never, ever forget that smell as long as she lived.

When she first joined the Dragon Conqueror Gang, she was just a street urchin. One day she saw several gang leaders roasting some meat. Lured by that sweet aroma, she began to salivate, and before she knew it, she had wandered toward the gang members, one of whom tore off a chunk of meat and offered her a piece. She was wild with joy. As soon as she bit into it, she saw a human leg sticking out of the meat roasting on the fire. The thing they were roasting was a large human leg.

She ran off and vomited violently while the gang members kept eating the meat, laughing hysterically.

She would remember that smell for the rest of her life.

Right now, she couldn’t tell the others the truth about what they’d been served tonight. It wasn’t as simple as saying that these people were a family of cannibals, though the entire village was indescribably strange. If she were to tell that to Jin Feng now, there would probably be little chance that they could stay here. They would just alert the enemy before the proper time. She needed to see what this family was all about.

“You don’t know?” Jin Feng asked in response, utterly astonished.

Su Jiu glanced back, frowning. “If I don’t know, then I don’t know. Is that a problem?”

“…” Jin Feng was acting dumb.

If she didn’t know, why was she making this an issue? It was one thing not to know something but quite another to say it with such flat-out assurance.

Ji Yuxian looked at the young woman, stifling a small laugh. He turned toward Jin Feng and said, “Right. Well. Why don’t you get some rest.”

Jin Feng nodded. “We’ll just be next door and will take turns keeping watch. Eldest Young Master, if there’s any trouble, all you have to do is knock on the wall!”

The wooden door creaked shut, and Jin Feng’s figure could be seen leaving and heading toward the next house over.

Su Jiu yawned and prepared to crawl into bed.

“Wash your feet,” the man looked back and said suddenly.

Su Jiu had already thrown herself onto the bed. Frowning, she said, “How about not washing them today?

Ji Yuxian looked at her lying in bed, her languid and listless body flooding his heart with tenderness and longing. He lovingly grabbed a wooden basin, poured some hot water into it, and placed it at the foot of the bed. He extended his hands to take off her shoes and socks.

Su Jiu sat right back up and barked, “I’ll do it myself!”

Indeed, she wasn’t used to having people wait on her.

Moreover, although she had done him a favor, he didn’t need to put on airs and wait on her as a way of thanking her. That would be overdoing it.

Su Jiu removed her shoes and socks unceremoniously. With her feet soaking in the water, her entire body felt relaxed and refreshed. The exhaustion of their long journey had practically vanished.

Ji Yuxian looked at the young woman’s delicate feet; a brightness shimmered in his eyes. Just when he opened his mouth to speak, he glanced at the window and walked over to shut the curtain.

“What’s the matter?” Su Jiu looked up.

There was a rustling sound outside the window. She looked at Ji Yuxian, grim-lipped. Removing her feet from the water, she carried the basin she had just soaked her feet in, and with careful steps, approached the window.

As soon as Ji Yuxian pulled back the hanging screen, Su Jiu lifted the basin and tossed the water out the window at anyone who might have been lurking about.

Splash. “Ahh,” someone cried out as if he had fallen on the ground and run away pitifully.

It was the idiot son of the head of the village who had come in the middle of the night to peep at Su Jiu.

Su Jiu narrowed her eyes and exchanged glances with Ji Yuxian. Neither said a word to the other. Simply put, they had both come to the same conclusion: These people were more than a little weird.

Since there was no way to take a bath, Ji Yuxian just washed his feet and then fell wearily into bed to rest up after the long journey. It was after they pulled down the bed canopy and lay down that the two of them realized how unusually narrow the bed was. It was just a twin bed, vastly inferior to the one at the Ji residence.

Su Jiu slept on the inside with half her body tightly pressed against the wall while Ji Yuxian’s slept on the other with half his arm hanging off the side of the bed.

Winter nights in the mountain were eerily quiet. By late evening, it was already completely dark out. A hush fell over the entire village except for the occasional sounds of animals coming from deep within the mountain. One or two animal calls caused the dogs in the village to howl. By midnight, however, it became still and quiet once more.

The candle on the desk emitted a weak tendril of light as the logs in the stove gradually extinguished. The room grew cold and soon felt much like an icehouse.

Su Jiu’s arm was pinned against the stone wall. She felt an icy cold seep through her, penetrating right to the bone. It felt like the pain of needles being pricked into a pincushion.

Still sleepy and uncomfortable, she twisted and turned between fits of sleep and wakefulness and now faced the outside of the bed.

Ji Yuxian’s also found it intolerably uncomfortable to have his arm hanging over the side of the bed, so he turned his body toward the inside of the bed.

The two of them were now facing one another and were so close they could smell one another. The refreshing lotus fragrance he wore wafted in Su Jiu’s face with each breath he took. She became less sleepy as she thought of how utterly inappropriate this close distance between them was.

If his body moved even the slightest bit, she had to turn her body toward the inside. The man’s arm suddenly stretched over and grasped her shoulder, practically holding her in an embrace.

She felt his warmth, which surprisingly made her reluctant to leave. Su Jiu shut her eyes without moving carelessly after that. Before she knew it, she slipped into the land of dreams.

Ji Yuxian opened his eyes and stared at the young woman curled up beneath the weak candlelight. Her long fan-like eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her face, which was white as jade. Stray wisps of hair fell on her forehead, stroking her straight, turned-up nose, making her look even more peaceful.

Her arms were ice cold, and Ji Yuxian could not help but move in closer, pulling her entire body to his chest, holding her in a protective gesture.

Their proximity at that moment did not necessarily evoke the enchanting feelings of passion. They were simply two people embracing one another on a cold winter’s night to keep warm. Still, perhaps there was the tiniest sliver of unrealized affection.

It grew late, and the candle on the desk had already gone out. Darkness filled the room.

At eleven o’clock, Ji Yuxian awoke with a start and saw that Su Jiu had already gotten up, taken off her daytime clothing, and was wearing a tight, dark bodysuit that accentuated her shapely figure.

“Where are you planning to go?” he asked, his voice hoarse and sexy from having just woken up.

Su Jiu tied up her hair with her back facing him. Hearing his voice, she turned around and said in a low voice, “There’s something sinister about this family. I’m going to look around and see what’s going on here.”

With the arrival of darkness, the moon shone brightly through a cloudless sky. Except for Su Jiu’s bright, clear, limpid eyes, her face was obscured by shadows.

Ji Yuxian’s said with a low chuckle, “If the wife leaves, who will protect the husband?”

Su Jiu searched the room with her eyes. Finding a stone, she put it on the bed. “If you hear anything strange or someone comes to the room, pound on the wall with this. Jin Feng and the others will be here right away. I’ll be back shortly!”

Whatever was going to happen after one o’clock in the morning was going to happen. Before then, she was still very curious about what this family was hiding.

Frowning slightly, Ji Yuxian got up slowly and watched as the young woman’s figure disappeared.

The first thing she did was jump up on the roof with movements as nimble, light, and agile as a cat. She bent down and decided to search the backyard first.

Guided by the light of the moon, she saw that the back courtyard was much larger than the front one, though both layouts were similar. There were four main rooms, each with a wing on the left and right. Behind the western wing was a small door leading outside the courtyard.

Everything was pitch black, except for the easternmost room, where a weak light was flickering.

Hmm. How odd: It was already midnight, so why was someone still awake?

Just as Su Jiu was about to flip herself over to get a better look, she heard the creaking of a door and saw a shadowy figure walking out of the room on the west side. The figure seemed to be carrying something, possibly a tray, as he headed east.

Su Jiu bent over watching, without moving a muscle.

The man was carrying a bowl. He entered the easternmost room, the one with the flickering light. After waiting for him to enter, Su Jiu flew over and followed him. She landed on the top of the roof of the back courtyard without making a sound. Then she followed him, walking on the eaves and hung upside down above the window.

But she was still too far away to make out what the people inside were saying.

Su Jiu saw a platform for keeping out water above the window. The problem was that it was very narrow, barely wide enough for a child.

She wriggled her body and got down, pressing her chest firmly against the wall. Twisting her body to the side, she managed to land right on the platform.

Then she bent her head forward just a little to peek inside. Using her tongue, she pushed open the window paper and saw two people.

The layout was also about the same as the front courtyard. There were an antique bed and a variegated desk. An older woman was lying on the bed, with half her body resting on a divan. Her face could not be seen, however, because it was blocked by the man standing in front of her. A familiar scent of blood wafted through the air. The man gave her the bowl and hollered, “Mother, it’s time to take your medicine!”

The old woman stretched out an arm that looked like tree bark. Clutching the bowl, she said hoarsely, “Why haven’t you begun working yet?”

“Soon. I’ll start after one o’clock,” he answered.

After he finished talking, he stepped aside to add a few coals to the stove. Su Jiu could now clearly make out the old woman’s face. She was shocked: It was the same woman who had shown them the road that morning!

So, that witchy woman was a member of the family in charge of the village. She also appeared to be this man’s elder relative.

The old woman held the bowl made of unrefined porcelain that contained a dark black substance that smelled of rancid blood.

After finishing the contents, she set the bowl down on the chair beside her, slowly lay back down, and closed her eyes.

“Go back and get ready. Those bodyguards will mostly likely know martial arts. Be sure not to lose to them!”

“Don’t worry, Ma. The candles we lit for them contain a spell. The people who went to bed early are probably unconscious by now.”

The corners of the old woman’s mouth cracked open into a bizarre smile, and she nodded her head slightly, “That young woman has good looks, don’t kill her. Keep her alive, and we’ll give her to my grandson as a wife!”

“I worry it’ll turn out like last time. Remember? The one who caused such an uproar, she almost hurt Chun Er?” The man said with a frown, squatting on his heels next to the stove.

“That wasn’t only because of your stupidity; you didn’t give her enough knockout drops. She was still partly conscious.”

“Yeah. This time your son will get that girl and make her Chun Er’s wife.”

“And if she doesn’t listen, we’ll tie her up and beat her until she agrees.”

“Understood. Now, go and take an early rest. I still have to make Chun Er something to eat,” the man said as he stood up.

“Well, go ahead then,” the old woman said, shutting her eyes.

He blew out the candle and took leave of her.

Su Jiu, who was still pressed against the wall, saw the man return to the western room where he had just come.

She then followed him. The western room was dimly lit, and she crouched outside the window.

But she didn’t hear any movement inside.

How odd. The man had returned; had he gone directly to sleep?

Didn’t he say he had to work after one o’clock?

Su Jiu curiously opened the rice-paper window with her hand. Aided by the moonlight, she peeked inside.

There was a bed, a woman’s dressing table, a wooden cabinet, and two chairs–but not a single person.

Strange, since she had seen the man enter.

Su Jiu scrutinized the room, then delicately pushed the window open and slipped inside. There was a chill in the air since the coals in the stove had already gone out. But no one was present.

Hmm. Did that mean there was a secret room?

Su Jiu surveyed the space until her eyes fixed on that wooden cabinet. She walked over and opened it slowly. There was indeed a pitch-black secret passage that appeared to lead underground.

Su Jiu didn’t think much about it before, but now she raised her leg and stepped inside.

Grasping the walls with her hands and carefully feeling her way through the darkness, she tiptoed step by step, like a ghost.

After she had gone about thirty meters or so, a faint light appeared. Su Jiu moved even slower with extreme caution.

As she got closer to the light, she could hear muffled voices and moaning. The raw, acrid air had a heavy festering scent of fresh blood.

At the end of the secret passageway was a door with a crude frame that lacked a door leaf. Su Jiu leaped up and crouched on top of the frame. Peering inside through a crack in the stone, she could see the scene inside that secret room. Even though she had smelled the metallic pungency of fresh blood countless times, she could not stop the quaking in her chest or the icy chill running up her spine.

The secret room was huge, about the size of two rooms. Several iron cages lined the eastern wall. From what she could make out, there appeared to be people inside, lying perfectly still. It was unclear if they were alive or dead.

Next to the iron cages was a wooden shelf on which all kinds of human heads were displayed, some dry and shrunken, some still fresh but lacking a nose, mouth, or other feature. It was a macabre exhibit: Everything was placed primly and neatly. The dim candlelight added an unspeakable air of gruesomeness.

On top of the wooden shelf was a stone surface, and on top of that was a wooden plank with a hole in the middle about the size of a human head. At that very moment, something resembling a person was lying on top of it with its head was inside the hole. A villager holding an unfamiliar-looking implement adroitly inserted the tool into the back of the person’s head and pried open his skull. Covered in blood and encased in a membrane, the brain plopped into the bowl that was waiting underneath.

The man’s movements were skillful: He was no novice. The tool in his hand was also specially made to pry open skulls. Before Su Jiu could figure out what was going one, the brain had already slipped from the skull.

The man on top of the wooden board was still alive, a low, faint moaning issuing from his lips.

The village leader carried the bowl to the other side of the wooden bed, where the imbecile Young Master of the family was sitting.

“Chun Er, it’s time to eat!”

He sat right up, his unfocused, dull-looking eyes rolling in his head. Using a large spoon, he ate the entire brain, then wiped the bowl clean in several scoops.

Su Jiu shut her eyes repeatedly. She was so repulsed she couldn’t control the retching, which she had to hold back for fear of being discovered. The feeling she had experienced the first time she had seen those devilish people eating human flesh when she was young came flooding back.

The wife of the village elder walked over to the wooden board and examined the person on top of it. She said with a smile, “This man’s mouth is rather nice. If an even better one hadn’t come along, I would have taken his mouth and swapped it out for my son’s.”

After she spoke, she looked back and said excitedly, “Each part of that Young Master who came today is beautiful in every way. I can lop off his face and put it on my son’s. I won’t have to sew together different parts from for him after this!”

Upon hearing those words, Su Jiu realized that his nose and mouth had been assembled from other people’s body parts. She didn’t know what method had been used to transplant them to the imbecile son’s face, but there wasn’t even a mark or trace of any stitches.

“When you all set about doing your job, tell them not to harm his face at any cost. I will give it to my son,” the woman explained.

“Understood!” the man promised while dragging the brainless corpse from the board and putting it on the butcher block. He grabbed a knife and started cutting it up into pieces.

Years of being soaked in blood had permanently stained the butcher block a brownish-black color.

The imbecile on the bed clamored, “I want the young wife! I want the young wife!”

He made quite a ruckus, behaving like a three-year-old child. He rubbed his face on the blanket, causing his mouth, nose, and the rest of his face to slide off. His white, ghastly teeth and inky black nostrils were all that remained: His bare skin was raw, like blood, giving him the appearance of a ghoulish demon.

From his bizarre appearance, Su Jiu guessed that this Young Master’s head must have been burnt. In all likelihood, his features had melted off and so had his hair, which had been replaced with a layer of scabs.

‘Oh, my baby,” his mother cried as she hurried over and gathered him into her arms. She undid her clothing and breastfed him. “Don’t fuss, don’t fuss. You just wait a little while, and I will get that young woman and give her to you.”

The man’s two rows of teeth bit into the woman. As he heard her words, he immediately bared his teeth and laughed idiotically, “Mother is the best!”

Su Jiu couldn’t control herself anymore as a look full of murderous intent filled her face while her hands clenched into a tight fist. She wanted to rush in at once. Patience, patience. I must be patient!

Just then, she felt something press down on her shoulder–and nearly jumped out of her skin. It was Jin Feng, who was also squatting on the door frame. He blinked his eyes at her several times and said in a low voice, “The Eldest Young Master sent me to look for you. He said that the young lady should not act rashly!”

The dark, haziness welling up in Su Jiu’s eyes subsided, and she nodded. She got up and followed him down the secret passageway.

Suddenly, a shout was heard from the secret room, “Who’s there?”

Boom! At that very moment, a loud rumbling sound came from behind as a wall of rock descended from the top of the opening. It crashed down with a bang and shook the secret room so hard that it trembled, transforming the secret passageway into a dead end.

Su Jiu and Jin Feng exchanged glances. There was no way to exit. They weren’t at all flustered; they just flipped down from the door frame and slowly entered the secret room.

Inside, the village elder and his wife stood in shocked silence. “How did you manage to get in here?”

“This will be the end of your evil deeds; God has sent the Young Master to stop you!” Su Jiu yelled. Her body gave off an ominous aura that was scarier than the blood-soaked secret room. She lunged toward the head of the village and grabbed him.

The man stepped back in terror when he saw the murderous look in Su Jiu’s eyes. Scared out of his wits, he grabbed this wife and used her as a human shield to fend of an attack.

The woman let out an ear-splitting shriek. Picking up the knife on the cutting board, she charged toward Su Jiu with a crazed look in her eyes.

Kruuunch! The sickening sound of bones splitting rang out as the wife’s wrist snapped from a leg kick. She wailed, her corpulent body slamming down near the bed next where her imbecile son was lying.

The young man stared at Su Jiu and clapped his hands, “So pretty, so pretty!” Argh! It was the epitome of creepiness!

The man retreated to the wall and moved his hand toward some unknown spot and pressed down. The wall of rock behind him gradually opened. Jin Feng’s face froze as he braced himself for action. Just as he was about to seize the man, he saw the wife furtively press some mechanism that caused a large net with spikes to drop on Su Jiu.

Paying no further attention to the man, Jin Feng grabbed the wooden plank on top of the stone surface and flung it against the giant net. With a flick of his arm, the plank got entangled in the spiky net, and then the whole thing came crashing down on top of his wife and son.

The spike punctured the wife’s body, causing blood to shoot out and her to scream crazily as she tried to protect her imbecile son.

With a leg kick, Su Jiu sent the wooden board flying as she grabbed the wife. She then swung herself around, smashed the woman against the wall, and pressed her leg into the woman’s chest. She pushed so hard she snapped a few ribs, but even that wasn’t enough to assuage her anger. Su Jiu grabbed the wife by both her legs and crushed her like a cockroach. The wife made a whistling sound as her lungs burst and raised her head and hollered. All the bones and muscles in her body cracked and split one by one in a disturbing display of brutality.

Once Su Jiu loosened her grip, the wife fell limply to the floor. All that could be heard was a pitiful whimper that sounded like the groan of a wild boar when its throat was gripped.

Hearing his mother shriek, the imbecile son drew back toward the bed and threw his pillows and blankets at Su Jiu.

Jin Feng watched the young woman in awe, who was like a rakshasa demon. He’d never seen a woman fight so ruthlessly.

Still, to see someone fight so ruthlessly against this evil family was very satisfying.

Su Jiu bent over and picked up the knife she had just kicked away from the wife and walked toward the imbecile son on the bed. The expression in her eyes was cold and brave.

“No! Don’t! Don’t kill my son!” the wife yowled, tears and snot streaming down her bloody face. Su Jiu dragged her body lying limply on the ground toward the bedside, leaving a trail of oozing blood in her wake. “Don’t kill my child! He’s innocent!”

The imbecile son covered himself with his blanket; only his eyes were visible. Terror-stricken, he watched Su Jiu.

She blinked. Suppressing the rage churning inside, she turned her head and said, “Who on earth are you, depraved people?”

The wife, deathly pale and emitting a few piteous squeals, lay prostrate on the floor ground. She was only able to raise her neck. Streams of snot and saliva had blurred her makeup into a messy concoction.

She was a sorry sight as she stared at Su Jiu in bewilderment.

“Are you going to talk or not?”

Su Jiu hollered, as she raised the knife over the imbecile and cut into the top of the blanket covering the imbecile, making a stream of blood fly out. The imbecile son didn’t even realize where he had been cut. He just began wailing.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” the woman cried.

“We were originally from Qingshan village in the eastern part of the Yuhu Mountains. The master of the house was a landlord. Our family owned 165 acres of fertile farmland. Life was prosperous; however, we then gave birth to a son who was born physically deformed and like an idiot. When he was ten years old, he stuck his head into the stove, and his entire face was burned off. After that, after that.” The wife took a deep breath before continuing. “A Daoist monk came to our family and told us we needed to eat a thousand human brains, and then our Chun Er would become intelligent.” To avoid the ridicule of the world, we moved to these deep mountains. Whenever anyone passes on the road, we capture them and use them to cure my son. We then chop up the rest of their bodies to use for meat.

The wife said the last part with a weak voice. She panted and said, “Don’t kill my son. If you must kill someone, kill me!”

Jin Feng’s face became white with rage as he heard this. “You’ve killed so many people for your son’s sake, and now you want us to spare his life. You people are depraved and inhumane!”

The wife hissed and cried painfully, her gaze venomous. “Why did my son have to be born an idiot. Why does he have to endure so much pain and suffering and ridicule from others? It’s they who should die! All of them must die!”

Su Jiu clenched her teeth and glared at the wife. To kill this woman now would be letting her off easy. Breaking her bones and snapping her muscles would make her suffer, as she deserved.

The natural law of samsara obliged her to mete out judgment against her.

Jin Feng went to search for an exit, and Su Jiu’s eyes fell on those iron cages. She tapped the cage with the bottom of her shoes and asked, “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

These people must have been traveling and decided to spend the night here and were captured by this insane family.

Despite a faint, panting sound inside, no one answered. One could dimly make out two people lying down.

Su Jiu pulled out the two people and saw that they were two young men in their twenties. Based on their dress, they seemed to be scholars.

Jin Feng came over and said, “I can’t find the switch to open the stone door.”

“Hehe.” The old woman was lying limply on the floor cackling; her face contorted hideously. “You all can’t leave here. You will die here with us. Just wait until you all can’t bear starving anymore and have to eat human flesh just like us, hee-hee!”

Su Jiu paid no attention to her. She only looked at Jin Feng, “Can you first see if these two people can still be saved?”

The two unconscious men had already dwindled to skin and bone from the physical and mental turmoil they had endured. Jin Feng grabbed one of their wrists and searched for a pulse. He shook his head slowly, “It’s too late. These two people have probably been shut up here for ten days already. They’ve been given large doses of knockout drops. Even if they could be revived, they will become idiots.”

With a strange expression on her face, Su Jiu’s eyes narrowed. She threw the knife in her hand at the woman behind her. The woman’s laughing lips were sliced off, as well as half of her nose. In a moment of excruciating pain, she fell unconscious.

Since the two men were too far gone to be saved, Su Jiu didn’t spend any more time on them. Instead, she turned her attention to finding a way out with Jin Feng.

The secret passage through which they entered had been sealed off by the rocks, and there was no mechanism to clear the way. Their only option was to find the stone door that the man had just used to escape.

Where could it be? They searched the entire wall and couldn’t find any unusual spot. So where had the man moved just now?

Did that mean the escape route could only be used once? Once used, did it automatically seal itself off?

“You needn’t worry. Once the Eldest Young Master sees you’ve not returned, he’ll come looking for you,” Jin Feng said to reassuringly.

Su Jiu snorted, “You still don’t know what that Eldest Young Master of yours is like, do you? You should be more concerned about him!”

Jin Feng was unsure how to react.

The room, oppressive and eerie, still reeked of blood. Su Jiu looked around and saw the imbecile sitting on the bed, staring fixedly at them. Su Jiu walked over to him and asked, “Where’s the switch? You do know, don’t you?”

The bottom half of the Young Master’s face was gone; only the skin above his eyes was still intact. He looked at Su Jiu stupidly and shook his head slowly.

Su Jiu hopped on the bed and said, “Your father didn’t want you anymore and ran off without you. Let’s bring him back here together. What do you say?” The Young Master smiled, showing his teeth, “Okay!”

“Then, you have to help us open the door!”

The Young Master nodded his head, then reached up to the top of the bed and stroked his hands across. He tugged down a length of cord and pulled on it forcefully. Jin Feng, who stood at the nearest rock wall, blurted out, “I found it!”

Su Jiu quickly ran over. Something was protruding from the wall, which was level just a moment ago. As Jin Feng pressed it down, a stone door slowly opened.

Su Jiu’s eyes lit up, and she and Jin Feng, one behind the other, moved sideways through the stone door.

The door behind them slammed shut, and the secret passageway became a sheet of darkness. They walked forward the whole way. After fifteen minutes, about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they emerged from a dry well in the forest outside the courtyard.

The first thing they heard was a ruckus coming from the courtyard that was ablaze with lights.

Both froze. Flipping over, they flew toward the front courtyard.

They jumped on top of the wall and saw a flood of villagers with pickaxes and clubs assembled in the courtyard. Ji Yuxian’s bodyguards were all tied up together.

Although these villagers didn’t know martial arts, like crazy maniacs, they carried paring knives and sickles, their faces contorted in madness like demons from hell. They did not fear pain, and they did not fear death. As soon as one fell, another rushed to take his place. More were coming forward in the distance–Not just men but women and children, too.

The head of the village who had escaped the secret room stood there at the head of everything barking commands for the mass of people to attack.

Su Jiu flew over and stepped on a sickle a villager was carrying and sent it flying at the head of the village. The blade pierced clean through his skull, causing blood to spew in the air.

The head of the village’s mouth opened wide in disbelief. He stared at Su Jiu, then fell to the ground with a thump. Jin Feng joined in the fight right behind her, and Su Jiu looked over her shoulder and said, “I am going to find Ji Yuxian. You take care of these villagers!”

“Got it!” Jin Feng said with a quick nod as he flipped in and charged against the crowd of people.

Su Jiu sprinted through the crowd of deranged villagers and ran toward the dark western room. Just as she was about to push the door to enter, someone dealt her a blow.

Su Jiu leaped into the air, flipped over, and kicked both her legs at the stealthy attacker, sending him rolling backward. With both his hands curled into claws, he stared insidiously at Su Jiu.

Were her eyes deceiving her? Was this attacker the mute woman?

So, everyone in this family, not just the villagers, was a devil!

Su Jiu was too stupefied to say or do anything. Her expression grew cold. Then she charged and landed a blow between the woman’s eyebrows.

Su Jiu’s strike sent the old woman flying. She stumbled backward in fear, lifted her arm, and shot countless silver needles from her sleeve with a dull blue flash.

Haha! In your dreams, lady! Su Jiu laughed derisively and leaped in the air and flew toward the old woman swiftly and fiercely. In an instant, she reversed the direction of the needles that were glittering in the dim light.

The poison needles flew into the old woman’s face. What a hideous sight. She fell to the ground and instantly picked herself up and began charging toward Su Jiu.

Su Jiu extended her leg and kicked the woman in the knee, grabbing her wrist and flinging into the air.

The old woman slammed to the ground once more and spat up a mouthful of blood. With great effort, she propped herself up with both hands moaning in agony. It was futile. Her arms gave way, and she collapsed in a heap, whimpering.

Su Jiu walked over and grabbed her by the collar and punched her with all her might.

The old woman’s face was pulped like an overripe tomato that had burst in the sun. Her expression was contorted in agony; she didn’t look like a human being. Her loose witchy hair flying about made her look all the more pitiful.

The old woman’s wrist and knee had shattered when Su Jiu kicked them. It would be impossible for her to hurt anyone now. Good riddance to her.

Su Jiu wiped her beautiful brow and tossed the old woman down on the ground like a piece of garbage. She then turned and walked away.

However, the moment she turned away, the woman miraculously bounced to her feet, flashing venom from her pale eyes. She flicked the knife from her sleeve and charged from behind toward Su Jiu.

Su Jiu frowned deftly stepped aside to dodge the swift blow of the knife. She then hit the old woman square on the top of her head. The old woman remained there in posed to chop someone with her blade as her entire body shook, and a stream of blood gushed out the corner of her mouth. Her eyes gradually grew dim, and she plopped to the ground.

This time, she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else! She was dead.

Su Jiu’s eyes were bright and cold this time, without the slightest hesitation. She hardly gave the dead old woman a second thought.

With that old woman waiting in ambush right outside the room, she hoped nothing terrible had happened to Ji Yuxian!

As she opened the door and entered, Su Jiu froze. There had just been an intense, close-quarter fight outside the door, yet the Eldest Young Master of the Ji family was fast asleep. Amazing.

Su Jiu walked over and could not stop herself from peals of snorting laughter. “Are you still asleep?”

Ji Yuxian sat up and grabbed Su Jiu by the wrist and took her into his arms as he lowered his head to looked at her. With his two eyes twinkling like the moon, he said with a delicate laugh, “My wife’s martial prowess is extraordinary. As long as she’s around, I do not need to worry.”

Su Jiu stretched out her hand. “My hand has gotten dirty. Eldest Young Master, help me clean it!”

Ji Yuxian immediately took her hand. In the dark, he thought it was some sticky substance on her hand. frowning, he said, “What’s this stuff?”

Su Jiu replied simply, “The Young Master of the family in charge of the village was just eating some human brains. I saw that and thought they looked rather tasty, so I grabbed some for myself and brought some back here for the prince to have a taste!”

Ji Yuxian’s face changed instantly, and he pushed Su Jiu away at once.

Su Jiu fell to the floor and burst out laughing like a hyena.

Ji Yuxian opened his palm wide; in the moonlight, he saw that it was stained with blood. Why in the world had this woman gone and stained her hands with blood from who knows where and then dared rub it all over his hand?

He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped off his hands.

Su Jiu got up and walked in front of the bed, she looked outside and saw that the villagers were surging in. She jumped on the window and prepared to head out. “I am going to help Jin Feng!” she announced.

Ji Yuxian pulled her back by the hand. “If the wife must go, what will the husband do? If the husband lacks a small weapon, the wife must protect him.”

Su Jiu looked at the fighting outside and could hardly contain her urge to join in the brawl; however, her mission was to protect Ji Yuxian.

“Fine, okay. Go. I will observe from here!” Su Jiu shrugged.

Ji Yuxian pulled her and walked her over to the bed. Flashing her a smile, he looked back and said, “It’s still early. You know what? Why don’t we go back and sleep some more?” The thought sent an arrow of desire through his body.

…So…She was quiet a second before continuing.

This Eldest Young Master was unlike other people!

In the back courtyard, the old woman who had just gone to sleep heard the commotion outside. She dressed hurriedly, opened the door, and called for her son. When no one responded, she took small, quick steps toward the back courtyard.

They only had to kill several people. Why then was there such a great ruckus now? What was going on?

The old woman carefully cracked opened the door leading to the front courtyard. Seeing the scene outside, she froze her in her tracks. Those bodyguards who had come that day were wielding long swords. Their bodies were robust and healthy, and their martial skills were second to none. No wonder they were hacking down the villagers like heads of cabbage.

Although the villagers were many, more than half had already fallen, and none of them had any strength to fight.

The old woman’s face grew deathly pale. Her two completely cloudy eyes darted around frantically. Just then, she spotted the head of the village in the courtyard, lying in a pool of blood, a scythe cleaved into his skull. It seemed that he had died when the fight first broke out.

Her body shook in trepidation, and she quickly bolted the door.

Where were her daughter-in-law and grandson? She grabbed an oil lamp and walked stealthily down the secret passageway. Once she got to the wall of rock, she finally realized something terrible had happened here. She didn’t stay to find out–she scurried back.

She didn’t dare hide in the house. It was too dangerous. She opened the door and planned her escape.

As she ventured out, she saw several villagers holding iron forks and scythes running in her direction. She was about to shout, but the villagers mistook her for one of the guests trying to escape. She plunged a fork into her chest while another person had already raised his scythe. Wham! With an intense ferocity, he cleaved her skull open.

By now, the moon had receded behind a layer of clouds as darkness fell over the land. The stench of death filled the valley.

Half an hour later, Jin Feng gave his report, “Eldest Young Master, all the villagers were killed. No one escaped or retreated; they’re all dead!”

Su Jiu had already lit the fire in the stove again, Ji Yu Xian was sitting beside the fire, warming his hands. Hearing Jin Feng, he looked up at him with relaxed awareness and not even the slightest change in his handsome features. He gave a small nod. “Who were all of those people?”

“They were the underlings of this family. All of them moved here together and had been living here for five or six years. To survive, they feasted on innocent passersby.”

The human brains were fed to the imbecilic son of the head of the family; the rest of the body was served up for dinner. The hearts, lungs, etcetera—that stuff went to the pigs. After so many years, there must have been several hundred people who perished in this village. But the villagers had long since lost their humanity. They had truly become wild beasts of the mountain.

The blockage of the mountain road had most likely been their doing. As they barred off the way, the people on it would have no option but to turn to the village, where their lives came to an untimely end.

Most of the passersby had been people on long journeys from afar. After they had disappeared, their families wouldn’t have had any idea where to search for them. No one had ever come out alive. It was hard to access information in the mountains. So for all these years, this village’s secret had never been discovered. Perhaps the village and its people had finally provoked the wrath of heaven, and encountering Su Jiu was its reckoning.

Su Jiu ‘s heart was grave upon hearing that so many people had been killed. She hated the evil this family had done, and she also hated that Daoist monk who had spread fallacies to deceive people.

The fire glimmered as Ji Yuxian looked over Su Jiu’s gloomy expression. He turned toward Jin Feng and instructed him, “Go rest. When it’s light out, we’ll continue our journey.”

“Understood!”

Jin Feng agreed and went to his room.

There was still an hour before dawn. Su Jiu hugged her knees and rested her jaw on top of her kneecaps. She looked toward the fire, lost in thought.

“What is it? Do you feel bad for those people who were killed?’ Ji Yuxian said with a small laugh. “He raised his hand toward Su Jiu’s forehead and tucked several stray hairs behind her ear.

Su Jiu shook her head slowly. She was still too shocked and upset to talk. All she felt was a gloominess in her heart, though she couldn’t explain why she felt that way.

“Today heaven killed everyone in the whole village. You could consider it to be revenge for all those people they killed. Moreover, never again will this kind of thing happen. You should be happy!” Ji Yuxian said to comfort her as he pulled her hand and delicately raised her chin. His long and narrow eyes glistened in the firelight as he looked at her quietly.

Su Jiu’s black eyes looked back as she lightly nodded her head.

“Well, this time, we can go to sleep!” Ji Yuxian said, pulling Su Jiu by the hand toward the bed.

Since the two were husband and wife, they had only prepared one blanket. The two lay down, exhausted. Su Jiu suddenly remembered that Ji Yuxian didn’t like to get dirty and that she was covered in blood from head to toe. Thus, she automatically distanced herself from her husband.

Ji Yuxian reached out his hand suddenly and pulled her toward him by the waist into his chest. He closed his eyes and said, “Like this. It’s warmer if we hold one another.”

The man’s beautiful eyes were long and narrow; his features were enchantingly beautiful. The firelight shimmered in Su Jiu’s transparently bright eyes, and she calmly shut her eyes.

At dawn, they went outside and saw the courtyard filled with corpses. It was deathly silent–a ghastly sight.

Among the many corpses were men, women, and children who were still clutching weapons meant to kill people. Since they had already been dead several hours, the expressions on their faces retained the same ferocious, beastlike expressions as when they were alive.

Indeed, these people were no longer human. They had long lost their human compassion, their humanity, their empathy. They did not know what fear or pain meant.

They had long since become a pack of demons who fed on human flesh.

“My Eldest Young Master, my lady, please go on ahead and board the carriage. We’ll take care of the people,” Jin Feng said.

Ji Yuxian nodded. He took Su Jiu by the hand and together walked outside the courtyard.

Half an hour later, the entire company continued down the road on horseback. Su Jiu lifted the screen and looked back. She saw the village ablaze with an immense fire. Thick smoke curled into the air with a pungent, foul stench. The black smoke bore fangs and claws, fully threatening as if it was the last stand of demons from hell.