Chapter 42: Turning Back

Seeing this feng shui formation, I felt a surge of confidence. I rummaged through my backpack and took out three traditional herbs: angelica, mugwort, and Sichuan lovage root. After boiling them over a high flame, I soaked the demon-whipping whip in the concoction. Once the medicinal properties had thoroughly penetrated the whip, I wrapped it securely in a waterproof bag and fastened it around my waist.

Finally, I found a peach tree facing the morning sun at the highest peak of Qinglong Mountain and cut off a branch. I sharpened it to a point, smeared it with black dog’s blood and white atractylodes, and tucked it into my pants pocket.

With these preparations complete, I drew out three sticks of sandalwood incense, bowed three times toward the waters of the Yellow River, and spoke aloud, “Mother Yellow River, please grant your blessing. If Pi Yangxi returns safely this time, I vow to dedicate my life to guarding your banks.”

I planted the three lit incense sticks by the riverbank, took a deep breath of the mountain’s fresh air, then leapt and plunged into the waters of the Yellow River, sinking once more to the riverbed. The Yellow River below had returned to its tranquil state. Schools of fish darted back and forth beneath the surface.

I had expected that upon entering the river, the female corpse would immediately come for me, but, to my surprise, after two or three minutes underwater, she did not appear at all, as if nothing had happened.

Strange—where had she gone?

I spun around at the riverbed and looked toward the underwater mountain. There was no sign of the corpse there, either. Anxiety welled up in me. The shadow of Qinglong Mountain was slowly shifting with the sun, inching toward the bend in the Yellow River. If I delayed another half hour, I would miss the natural feng shui formation entirely.

Quickly, I began to recite a spell underwater, hoping to summon the carrion-eating catfish as before. But when my incantation ended, what appeared before me were two catfish, belly-up and dead, their mouths and eyes gouged out by some unknown force, the bodies circling around me.

“Damn it!” I cursed inwardly. Those catfish, for revealing the corpse’s location to me earlier, had suffered vengeance—mouths slashed, eyes dug out. The female corpse was sending a warning to all the creatures of the water: don’t meddle in her affairs.

With such a warning, I knew no other aquatic creature would dare reveal her whereabouts. I surfaced for a breath, glanced at the shifting shadow of Qinglong Mountain—the alternating bands of light and darkness now reached the bend of the river. I was running out of time to find the corpse.

I dared not hesitate. I sank quickly to the spot in front of the artificial mountain where the corpse had once stood, grabbed a handful of Yellow River mud, and stuffed it into my mouth. A foul, fishy stench filled my mouth and nose; if not for being underwater, I might have vomited on the spot.

Forcing myself to taste the mud, I caught the faintest whiff of corpse stench in my nostrils. Guided by that scent, I swam back some dozens of meters. Sure enough, I found Xu Yingying again.

Xu Yingying’s eyes were closed once more. Her toes hovered a palm’s breadth above the riverbed, her body drifting as if walking beneath the water.

I drew the sharpened peachwood branch from my pocket, kicked off with both legs, and swam toward her. Xu Yingying remained motionless, eyes closed, completely unaware. Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to double back and had let down her guard, falling into a state of restful slumber.

To truly enrage her, I needed to strike at her weakest point. I glanced at her swollen belly and raised the peachwood branch, preparing to stab.

But at the very instant the branch was about to pierce her belly, I halted—her stomach was moving.

It was fetal movement.

The ghostly fetus within her had also undergone corpse transformation. This innocent child had never even glimpsed the world, only to become a corpse-fetus.

All living things possess a spirit. Seeing that twitching belly, I found myself unable to strike.

Instead, I drove the peachwood branch into her cheek. Vanity is common to all, even the dead. I refused to believe she could remain calm if I ruined her face.

Coated with black dog’s blood and white atractylodes, the peachwood branch dispelled evil and pierced corpse flesh with ease, sinking into Xu Yingying’s face. I dragged the branch down along her cheek, unleashing a stream of foul, black blood that drifted through the water, stubbornly refusing to dissolve.

A guttural howl erupted.

Xu Yingying’s eyes snapped open, bloodshot with black veins, glaring at me in rage and shock. She could not believe I had dared to return.

“You dare come back? Courting death!” Xu Yingying seized the peachwood branch in my hand and broke it in two, then charged at me.

I had been prepared for this. In the water, I kicked her forcefully with both feet, using the recoil to somersault away in the direction of the current.

Xu Yingying staggered back from my kick, then, like a madwoman, straightened her body and shot toward me headfirst, like an arrow loosed from a bow.

“Shit!” Her speed was beyond anything I’d imagined. With no time to think, every muscle in my body surged with the will to survive. I burst with desperate strength, darting through a school of fish and scattering them in all directions.