Chapter 492: Fear

Upon the old woman's death, the surrounding Law Cult followers, as if waking from a dream, scattered into the darkness outside the village with cries of panic.

The air was thick with the smell of blood and feces. Everyone stood motionless, taking a moment to realize they had won. The tension in their hearts released, many collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. But soon, their ragged breaths were replaced by cries of fear and retching.

The others who had come from Qingfeng Temple were relatively fine; having traveled with Li Huowang for so long, they had grown more accustomed to such sights. Chun Xiaoman wiped the blood from her face. Just as she was about to speak, her body went limp, and she collapsed, drenched in cold sweat.

"It's... nothing. The masters we invited have left. This is what happens after a divine possession ritual." Only when the child and Gao Zhijian saw that others who had undergone divine possession were in a similar state did they finally relax.

"Aiya, Scholar, you're no good! You're not even as useful as the magic item Brother Li gave me. Good thing I didn't learn this useless stuff." Gouwa smugly displayed the Tongue Ruyi in his hand.

"Go to hell! That's just the simplest incantation! You can only compare yourself to that. If you're so brave, wait until I learn the more powerful Two-Spirit Diagram and Three-Spirit Cultivation later! Then let's have another match!"

"Oh, listen to you! A match it is! What's the wager?"

"Gouwa, enough! Is this really the time for jokes? Hurry and help us to the main courtyard! Can't you see Gao Zhijian is injured?"

With the help of others, the remaining villagers of Niuxin gathered again in the Bai Family Courtyard. To prevent further sneak attacks, torches hung everywhere on the walls, illuminating the entire courtyard.

Although they had won, a faint sorrow hung over Niuxin Village, simply because of the twelve white-shrouded bodies laid out in the center of the main hall. Niuxin Village wasn't heavily populated to begin with, and for the living, the twelve deceased, if not friends, were at least acquaintances they had exchanged words with.

Lü Zhuangyuan, looking distressed, puffed on his dry pipe. Two of the twelve dead had been his newly accepted apprentices, and one of them had been the most talented. What a pity. "Sigh... why did bandits suddenly appear when things were peaceful? Isn't the Liang Kingdom quite stable?"

"They weren't bandits," Chun Xiaoman said, regaining her composure while helping the child with his injuries. "They kept mentioning 'Yuer God, Yuer God.' It seems like they're followers of some strange superstition."

"Yes, I don't think they were bandits either. My village had problems with bandits before. Bandits usually target the wealthy households, rush in, steal, and leave. They wouldn't attack tenant farmers like this," an experienced village militia member interjected.

Lü Zhuangyuan tapped his pipe stem against a nearby pillar, then took out some dark yellow tobacco from his pouch and refilled it. "Why would people kill when they could live peaceful lives? They must be truly bored."

"If you want to know why they tried to harm us, why not ask them yourselves?" Gouwa said from outside the main entrance, dragging something behind him as he walked in.

The others approached and were instantly startled. The thing barely resembled a human; its limbs and facial features were disfigured and twisted, making it look like a grotesque monster.

"How about it? Isn't my divine needle powerful? This person was struck by it and instantly paralyzed. They can't move or die, perfect for bringing back to question thoroughly."

A group of people gathered, staring at the mangled figure before them, and for a moment, no one spoke.

"How do we question them? Brother Li is always the best at interrogation, but he's not here right now."

"I'll do it!" The thought of the deceased Nan'er ignited a furious rage in Chun Xiaoman. She immediately grabbed a bamboo broom from the corner and began thrashing the person repeatedly. After his disfigured body was bruised and purple from the beating, Chun Xiaoman finally stopped, glaring fiercely as she demanded, "Speak! Why did you come to our village to kill people?!"

"You bitch! If you have the guts, kill me! If I die, I'll become a ghost of Yuer God! I'll be an emperor in my next life! And you stubborn fools are only fit to be pigs and dogs, eating shit your whole lives!" the Law Cult follower mocked wildly, speaking from a mouth under his arm.

"You really think I won't?" Chun Xiaoman, with her single arm, swiftly drew her sword and pressed it against the throat near his left ear. Facing the man's mocking smile, Chun Xiaoman's fury flared. She barely restrained herself from cleaving him in half.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not doing it right. Watch me instead," Gouwa said, then walked out. When he returned, he was wearing a red Daoist robe and carrying an assortment of knives and tools.

"Brother Gouwa, why are you wearing Brother Li's clothes? And why are you holding my pig-slaughtering knives?" the child asked curiously.

"Stop talking nonsense, just watch!" Gouwa squatted in front of the man, cleared his throat a few times, and mimicking Li Huowang's tone, began, "I know you're not afraid of death, but what if it's worse than death?"

As he spoke, he neatly laid out the knives one by one: a pointed knife for piercing a pig's heart, hooks for hanging pigs, a broad-backed cleaver for chopping bones, and small knives for scraping pig hair. Watching the tools gleam coldly, the man's eyes twitched, but he still shouted, "You motherfucker! If you have the guts, kill me!"

"Oh? Still tough, are we? So, which one should we start with?"

In the end, Gouwa didn't pick up any of the knives. Instead, he grabbed an ordinary piece of thick hemp rope. "Hehe, you didn't expect me to use a rope, did you? How about we use this to give you a little appetizer?"

"This isn't silk or satin. It's very coarse. Aiya, look how rough it is," Gouwa said, rubbing the rope hard against the man's body. The spot immediately turned red. "Wait a moment. I'll thread this through your crotch and slowly pull it back and forth, like sawing wood. This hemp rope isn't a knife, it's rough, so it will gradually, little by little, grind your skin and flesh into a pulp, like grinding ink."

As Gouwa described it, fear gradually crept into the man's eyes, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Oh, right, and because it'll be threaded through your crotch..."

Just as Gouwa vividly described the process while tugging the thick hemp rope, the man completely broke down, tears and snot streaming down his face. His body shook like a sieve. "I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Please, just kill me quickly! Wooo...!"

Seeing this, Gouwa clapped his hands excitedly, turning around triumphantly. "Ha! How about that? See how capable I am!" However, what greeted him was not the admiration and respect he had expected, but apprehension and unease.

"Why are you all looking at me like that? Hey, I didn't do anything. I was just imitating how Brother Li talks."