No one knew how long the corpse had been dead. It was a grisly sight: half its body had been reduced to bare bone, its limbs were incomplete, and there were numerous signs of animal bites.
The flesh that still covered it had long since rotted, giving off waves of foul stench.
A great mass of dead maggots lay around the corpse.
Its sole remaining hand was clutching a letter in a death grip.
Fang Shuwen glanced at it, his brows knitting slightly.
It was not as though he had never seen a dead person. Over the years in Julu City, he had seen more than his share.
Every now and then, a stinking corpse would come floating down a foul ditch.
But this corpse was different...
As he was thinking, Zhou Qingmei called out in a grave voice:
"Be careful. There might be poison!"
"You noticed it too?"
Fang Shuwen raised his brows slightly.
"A rotting corpse should be the perfect breeding ground for maggots, yet somehow they've all died.
"And the ground around the corpse is completely clean. There isn't a single insect..."
This was a chaotic age.
The imperial court was in decline, rival powers were rising, and local tyrants were everywhere.
Mountain bandits, road robbers, and practitioners of evil and unorthodox arts ran rampant without restraint.
That was why Fang Shuwen had never dared leave Julu City all these years.
His martial arts had been weak in the past, leaving him unable to protect himself. Had he rashly ventured outside the city, he would have met the same end as this corpse.
In fact, in just the half day the two of them had spent galloping on horseback, they had encountered more than one corpse.
No one knew how those people had died, how long they had been dead, or whether parents and other family were still waiting for them at home.
As for who had done this to the corpse before them, that was an unsolved mystery with no leads.
Fang Shuwen had no intention of digging down to the roots to investigate a truth he had no way of investigating.
But there was one thing... no one would poison a corpse for no reason.
"Judging by that half of his body, wild beasts must have gnawed on him. So he didn't die of poison, or there would be animal carcasses nearby.
"If there really is poison on him now, someone must have deliberately put it there recently."
Zhou Qingmei spoke in a grave voice.
Fang Shuwen pointed at the maggots on the ground and said:
"You can tell from these that this fellow definitely didn't die of poison."
"Then what was the poisoner's purpose?"
At that, the two looked at each other, and each saw the expression in the other's eyes.
"We can't take the main road anymore."
Zhou Qingmei sighed.
"A spear thrust in the open is easy to dodge, but an arrow shot from the shadows is hard to guard against. If we keep to the main road, someone might ambush us."
Fang Shuwen stared at the letter in the corpse's hand, somewhat curious.
"He's holding on to that letter so tightly. I wonder what it says?"
Zhou Qingmei rolled her eyes at him.
"Too much curiosity will get you killed."
Even so, she took a pair of gloves from inside her robes, put them on, and reached for the letter.
"Be careful."
Fang Shuwen hurriedly warned her:
"I was just wondering aloud. We don't have to read it."
[Muscle Tendon Change] itself could ward off poison, but he still did not want to take risks lightly.
"Don't worry. These are deerskin gloves,"
Zhou Qingmei said.
"They're practically essential for traveling the jianghu. They can keep deadly poison out, so you won't fall into a trap without even knowing it.
"Hold your breath in a moment."
Fang Shuwen nodded. Zhou Qingmei had already opened the envelope and taken out the letter inside.
She unfolded it, and the two leaned together to read.
But when they finished, they looked at each other and fell silent.
The letter had practically nothing to do with their current situation. It was only a letter home.
It read:
"My wife Jiaxiu, I hope this letter finds you well.
"I have been away from home for three months, and I miss you more with each passing day. Today I am sending this letter through the Julu Escort Agency to comfort you. I hope you will not reproach me.
"Business has gone well. The twenty taels I brought with me have grown to a full hundred taels of silver.
"I hear there are rare goods in Julu. I intend to invest everything I have in them. If I sell them in Yong'an, I can make a profit of fifty percent. I shall return as soon as that is done.
"I have also heard that Guangning is unsettled, with a lecher abroad at night. My wife, you must bar the doors tightly after nightfall and never go out.
"While passing through Lingguang, I happened to see a fisherman draw a pearl from a river mussel. If set in a hairpin, it would make my wife look even more radiant. After haggling for a long time, I finally got my wish.
"When I return home, I shall give it to you then.
"You have worked very hard keeping our home. Please take care of yourself, and do not think of me or worry.
"Your husband, Huaijin."
The letter was short, only a few lines, yet his longing showed through.
But looking again at the corpse's miserable state, even Fang Shuwen, who had long considered himself hard as stone, could not help letting out a soft sigh.
"He probably meant to find an escort agency in Julu City to send this letter home, but he never expected disaster to strike before he even reached the city."
Fang Shuwen spoke softly.
"The silver on him is gone, and the pearl he meant to give his wife has vanished without a trace too."
"Things like this aren't uncommon."
Zhou Qingmei put the letter back beside the corpse.
"In troubled times, human lives are as cheap as grass. Those of us who walk the path of chivalry only hope to make such things a little less common.
"But if we want to put a complete end to them, it will only be possible by truly unifying the realm and ending these chaotic times."
Fang Shuwen did not respond. There was no telling how long the corpse had been dead, nor how long ago the trouble with the lecher in Guangning City mentioned in the letter had occurred.
Perhaps it had something to do with what Zhou Qingmei had encountered.
The news had even spread beyond Guangning City, reaching this man while he was away on business.
As these thoughts turned in his mind, he shook his head gently.
"Let's go."
Zhou Qingmei nodded.
The two stopped riding. Although they could not be sure the person who had poisoned the corpse was targeting the two of them,
they had to guard against even the slightest possibility.
They left their horses and plunged into the woods. After finding a safe spot and eating some of the dry rations they had brought, they continued on their way.
Another half day passed peacefully, but after nightfall, they had nowhere to stay.
An eagle circled overhead, its cries ringing out in all directions from time to time.
The weather was poor as well, and it looked as though rain might fall at any moment.
Fang Shuwen unexpectedly found a hollow in a tree. It seemed to have been a wild beast's den, but there was no sign of the beast now. If the two squeezed together, they could make do there for a night.
Zhou Qingmei did not stand on ceremony and nodded her agreement.
They did not light a fire that night. In their present situation, the fewer complications the better, and with their profound inner strength, a little cold could not trouble them.
The downpour began after night had fully fallen.
The two took turns keeping watch. Zhou Qingmei watched for the first half of the night while Fang Shuwen rested.
He did not actually sleep, but sat cross-legged to cultivate his inner arts.
He could not waste his doubled aptitude and comprehension. Although he could make no further progress in [Muscle Tendon Change], having already brought it to perfection,
he could still cultivate [Jade Serenity Skill].
This inner art was used to lay the foundations for beginners. Its inner strength was mild and shallow, and once [Muscle Tendon Change] had produced inner strength, almost all of it had merged into the inner strength of [Muscle Tendon Change].
But perhaps because [Muscle Tendon Change] had made up for his lack of aptitude, along with the doubled boost, he actually made a little progress by following its method.
It was not much, but Fang Shuwen did not disdain it.
Yet halfway through his cultivation, he suddenly heard grunting and huffing in the curtain of rain.
He opened his eyes and met Zhou Qingmei's gaze as she turned back toward him.
Without speaking, the two went out into the rain and followed the sound.
A little later, they peered out from behind a large tree.
There they saw a hunched old woman with wrinkled skin and white hair, huffing and grunting as she dug in the woods with an iron shovel.
The sight of such a scene in the rain was truly absurd and bizarre.