Inside the main hall, Liang Qu sat in the seat of honor to the right, his upper body bare, the wounds in his flesh a shocking sight.
Behind him, the Doctor held a mortar, crushing herb stalks into juice to keep the wounds from festering.
Chen Zhaoan sat in the seat of honor to the left, both hands crossed over the head of his cane.
The Village Elders sat or stood about, all uneasy. Whenever they glanced at those savage wounds, they felt pain themselves.
Apart from the groans of the injured villagers in the hall, the entire room was steeped in oppressive silence.
Chen Zhaoan swept his gaze over the room, then fixed it on the Village Elder seated to his lower left. The Village Elder understood at once, rose to his feet, looked toward Liang Qu, and asked the previous question again.
"This Mountain Ghost was neither the great Mountain Ghost from Ping Yang Town, nor a Little Mountain Ghost that had been born from it."
Liang Qu delivered the final verdict.
The Doctor grinding the herbs gave a tremble of his hand.
Such calm words carried something of the feeling of scraping poison from bone.
"Does that mean there are other Mountain Ghosts?"
"One was already so terrifying. If there are two more, we were fortunate that A Shui was here today. If he had not been, wouldn't disaster have befallen us?"
"How could they have come to Yi Xing City? There are a full sixteen li between us and Ping Yang Town. Even on foot, it takes an hour!"
The Village Elders looked at one another, their hearts full of fear.
They had truly come face-to-face with the Mountain Ghost. Its vertical pupils, yellow as pus, were more terrifying than a fierce tiger. Quite a few