After only a moment, Zhang Chen's head suddenly shot out from beneath the covers. He yanked away the quilt draped over him, flipped upright, seized the long blade beneath his pillow, and grabbed the tinderbox beside him. Feeling the gunpowder hanging from his clothes, Zhang Chen's drowsiness gradually faded, and he became fully alert.
Listening to the howling wind outside as it swept sand and stones along, Zhang Chen's first thought was, What a fierce sandstorm! Good thing my Thatched Cottage was built solidly, or that gale would have torn it apart long ago.
The thatched hut swayed continuously beneath the violent wind, trembling lightly as its shape distorted somewhat.
Someone knocking at the door in the dead of night? That's far from normal. Could Blacksmith Cui's affair have been exposed? Are those people here to kill me and silence me? Countless thoughts churned through Zhang Chen's mind, his eyes filled with terror. Then he slowly rose from the bed, blade in hand, and approached the door.
Knock, knock, knock~
The knocking grew increasingly urgent. Standing inside the room, Zhang Chen's eyes turned cold. "Strike first and gain the upper hand; strike late and suffer the disaster. I might as well open the door and let them in, then use the terrain to slaughter them all. Afterward, I can think about fleeing or reporting this to the authorities."
Listening to the howling outside, Zhang Chen could not help curling his lips into a smile, one that was icy in the darkness. "Truly perfect weather for murder and arson!"
The next instant, Zhang Chen used the tip of his blade to pry open the door bolt. A fierce gust blew the door wide open, and Zhang Chen swiftly crouched down, his eyes fixed firmly on the entrance. The moment anyone stepped inside, he would bring his blade down on them.
Yet at that very moment, golden light suddenly burst forth around him. A flash of red light flickered at the doorway, followed by a faint, barely audible scream from amid the sandstorm. Then the Black Wind in the sky abruptly ceased. In an instant, the clouds scattered and the mist dispersed, while bright moonlight poured down, illuminating the outside of the house as clearly as though lanterns had been lit. Where was the sandstorm? Where was the knocking?
"What's going on?" Zhang Chen crouched inside the room, staring at the brilliant moonlight with a bewildered look in his eyes. He quickly came back to himself, however, and a cold gleam flashed through his gaze. "Did I run into some filthy thing?"
Only when encountering something filthy would his Light of the Righteous God retaliate on its own. Its purpose was to suppress all strange and sinister things.
"How did I provoke something like that?" Zhang Chen stood inside with his blade in hand and did not go out. Instead, he watched the doorway warily for a full half hour before using his long blade to shut the door, securing it once more with the bolt. Then he lay back down, his mind churning restlessly.
Next door
Fox Spirit's eyes widened, disbelief filling them. "What exactly was that damned golden light? It actually made that ghostly thing flee in panic?"
"Though that golden light was weak, it was extremely pure. It seemed capable of restraining every evil force between heaven and earth. And it has only been a few days—how had that brat's Protective Golden Light grown stronger again?" Fox Spirit's eyes were full of horror. "Even with my soul inside my body, I was vaguely suppressed by that golden light. What exactly is that damned golden light?"
However, Fox Spirit quickly recovered, delight appearing in her eyes. "That brat's golden light is so formidable. That is good news for me—it means he can venture farther into the tomb, perhaps even retrieve the supreme treasure within that great mausoleum. Then my Qingqiu Clan can tear apart the New Covenant, cross the White Bone Great Wall once more, and enter the Divine Continent."
Fox Spirit felt quite pleased with herself, but she soon could no longer smile. Her eyes turned toward the still-shaken Zhang Chen. Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Zhang Chen's table. Fox Spirit sprang up in fright. A red document had appeared upon that table—the very document she had previously thrown into Zhang Chen's house.
"Damn it! How is that possible? How could this happen?"
"Impossible! Impossible!"
Fox Spirit stared fixedly at the document, terror filling her eyes. "Zhang Chen has been marked by that damned strange thing?"
Fox Spirit leaped directly onto the table. Before Zhang Chen could recover his senses, she picked up the red document in her mouth and held it over the lamplight to burn. As the Blood-Red Scripture turned to ashes in the flame, Little Fox slowly let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness! Thank goodness! That strange thing has finally been burned. I once heard the Old Ancestor of the Fox Clan say that Emperor's Daughter's tomb contains a mysterious gravestone. That gravestone was not originally meant for Emperor's Daughter. 'Emperor' dug up the grave of an old enemy, took a fancy to that person's gravestone, and used it for Emperor's Daughter instead. They say that gravestone contains a great secret, one even 'Emperor' could not decipher. But why has it suddenly begun causing trouble?"
Fox Spirit could not puzzle it out no matter how hard she thought.
At that moment, Zhang Chen also recovered his senses. Man and fox stared wide-eyed at each other. Zhang Chen had no intention of blaming Fox Spirit; he merely wore a bitter smile as he took some incense from beside him and walked to a memorial tablet of an Attendant. He carefully lit three sticks of incense and prayed, "Immortal Grandfather above, please protect me!"
After offering the incense, he turned to Little Fox. "My Little Ancestor, where did you dig up such a bizarre thing? You nearly got me killed."
Man and fox stared at each other. Little Fox's eyes were full of innocence. She merely wanted to obtain some opportunity and fortune—what could she possibly have done wrong?
"I must not stay too far from that reckless brute next door in the future. If danger strikes again, without his golden light restraining it, something terrible may happen." Little Fox secretly swore that she would keep a close eye on Zhang Chen from now on.
But when she thought of how quickly Zhang Chen's golden light was growing stronger, she could not help inwardly cry out in misery. Woe is me—his golden light is advancing far too quickly. How much longer can I keep watch over him?
The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Zhang Chen was awakened by screams next door. Throwing off his blanket, he said irritably, "Screaming, screaming! Knocking, knocking! There's never a peaceful day around here!"
Next door
Little Fox stared at the table with horror written all over her face. The Blood-Red Scripture that had been burned the previous night had somehow appeared on the table completely intact. Then a scream that shook heaven and made ghosts weep burst from Little Fox's throat.
Zhang Chen had slept fitfully through most of the night and only fallen into deep sleep in the latter half. Now Fox Spirit's shriek woke him. Following Little Fox's gaze, a scream also erupted from Zhang Chen's throat.
He remembered clearly that Little Fox had personally set that document alight last night. How had the document that was burned last night reappeared?
"What is going on? How can a shattered mirror be made whole again? How can something burned reappear?" Horror showed in Zhang Chen's eyes, his gaze filled with dread. He was so frightened that his limbs went numb, and he sat frozen on the bed, utterly at a loss.
Whether it was Little Fox or Zhang Chen, both knew they had encountered enormous trouble!
Not ordinary minor trouble, but trouble as vast as the sky!
Thanks to big boss "20230429233912046" for the 500-point reward. Thanks to fellow reader "There Is Nothing Worse Than Trusting People Too Easily" for the 100-point reward. The rest cannot be seen for now; even this author does not know why.
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