Trial Complete

Smack!!

With more than ten points of Strength boosting his full-force swing, all anyone saw was a blur. The next instant, they heard an explosive crack.

Everyone's gaze snapped to the shattered toad. Confusion flickered in their eyes, but more than anything, they shone with hope.

The Old Woman standing beside Xiao Ran was the opposite. Cold flames flickered in her empty eye sockets as she stared straight at him, as if trying to see through his body and into his soul. Her face was full of disbelief.

"Ding..."

The sound of a coin rolling echoed through the dead-silent crowd.

Then...

"Jingle... jingle..."

More and more coins rang out, spilling continuously from their battered bodies and rolling onto the ground.

As the coins scattered across the ground, the weight pressing down on everyone's bodies began to lift.

"Ah!!!"

Only when the Old Woman let out a scream did the others snap out of their dreamlike stupor.

They looked again and saw black smoke pouring from the Old Woman's body. Her flesh began to slough off as she writhed in agony, as though some unspeakable force were tearing her apart from within.

Her face twisted, her eyes filled with hatred and curses, as if she were enduring endless torment.

The air grew acrid, reeking of sulfur and decay, making everyone want to vomit.

In moments, she looked like Brother Tao and the others—neither human nor ghost.

But unlike them, her body kept disintegrating. Amid the mangled flesh, black bones gradually emerged.

Suddenly, the Old Woman opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream. The sound no longer belonged to a human; it was more like countless coins scraping against one another inside her mouth.

Xiao Ran noticed that the black bones were covered in twisted markings.

"Curse marks!"

The patterns looked familiar, somewhat like the black curse mark inside his own body.

"Ah!"

Unfortunately, before Xiao Ran could get a better look, Brother Tao had already come to his senses. Unable to hide the wild frenzy on his face, he roared and charged like a wild dog breaking free of its chains, raising his axe to bring it down on the Old Woman.

Thud!!

The axe struck the Old Woman's already-rotted body with a dull, wooden thump.

Already suffering the backlash, the Old Woman trembled even more violently when the axe hit her.

"Ha ha ha ha! Die! Die, you old hag! Die already!!"

Brother Tao's bulging eyes were bloodshot. The resentment he had buried in his heart for over a hundred years had finally found an outlet.

But when he tried to raise his axe for a second blow, the Old Woman suddenly slapped him. The tremendous force sent Brother Tao flying.

The Old Woman turned her head and stared straight at Xiao Ran. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Still, he could make out the word from their shape...

"Kill her! Kill her!!"

The next second, everyone rushed forward like madmen. They brought down hoes, sickles, axes, even manure scoops on the Old Woman's ruined body. Those without a weapon simply leaped in and kicked her.

The Old Woman who had turned the village into a living hell, the tyrant who had kept everyone under her thumb for a century, was beaten to the ground by the furious crowd.

Xiao Ran had already stepped aside. Through a gap in the crowd, he saw that even on the Old Woman's smashed face, one eye was still fixed on him.

The Old Woman's mouthed words flashed through his mind. He silently read them again...

Run!!

A ripple stirred in Xiao Ran's heart.

But it was only a ripple. He looked toward the deep darkness in the distance. Compared with the lives lost at the hands of the old hag, and the women and children who had been kidnapped and sold, her fate stirred not the slightest pity in him. He could sum it up in two words...

"Serves her right!"

Just then, Brother Tao looked up and spotted Xiao Ran standing not far away. Seeing that the kid still hadn't run, he was overjoyed.

He grabbed his axe and strode over to Xiao Ran.

He didn't know what had gotten into Li Shang to make him smash such an important golden toad, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that this guy couldn't be allowed to live.

After all, this guy had to suffer the same pain they had endured for the past century.

Seeing the crowd charge toward him, their Killing Intent blazing, Xiao Ran frowned. "What if I told you I'm not Li Shang? Would you let me go?"

"You're not Li Shang?"

The crowd was momentarily taken aback. If he wasn't Li Shang, then that would explain why he had smashed the golden toad.

"Bullshit!"

Brother Tao curled his lip. "If you're not Li Shang, how do you know Li Shang's Tiger Fist? And you crawled out of a coffin looking like Li Shang. If you say you're not him, that slap on my face says otherwise."

Hearing Brother Tao, Xiao Ran could only spread his hands helplessly. It wasn't his fault he'd played the role so well. At least when he'd smacked Brother Tao, he'd meant it.

"Cut the crap. Whether you're Li Shang or not, you're leaving your life here today!"

"That's right, kill him! Who cares who he is? Even if he's not Li Shang, we can't let him walk out of here alive."

The crowd had already lost their heads. They didn't care whether Xiao Ran was Li Shang. They just wanted an outlet, a target for all the hatred pent up inside them.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran sighed and looked at Brother Tao and the others. "So if I slap you, you have to pay me back twice over. Then..."

Xiao Ran's gaze sharpened. "What about the villagers you killed, the women you kidnapped and sold, and Yang Xuan, whom you tortured to death? Shouldn't their vengeance be repaid twice over?"

At Xiao Ran's list of crimes, some in the crowd hesitated and slowed their steps. Others silently lowered their heads.

Only Brother Tao and the men beside him seemed unconcerned. Brother Tao even taunted him, "That's right. But why don't you have them come after me for revenge?"

As he spoke, Brother Tao even spread his arms and shouted to the surroundings:

"Where are you?"

"Come out!!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a white shadow drifted past his eyes. He reached out and caught it, then looked down.

It was a handful of white paper money.

"Whoosh..."

A chill wind blew overhead without warning, and more and more paper money fluttered down like snow.

"Brother Tao, this money..." One of the men beside him stared at the paper money and suddenly shivered. He lowered his voice. "Isn't this the money we burned?"

After they had killed the villagers, the Old Woman had given them a large amount of paper money and told them to burn it along with the villagers' remains.

Now, that money had appeared here.

Brother Tao's pupils constricted. He turned and snapped, "Shut up. What are you talking about?"

He turned back and glared at Xiao Ran. "Quit trying to scare me with ghost stories. If there really are ghosts, I'm a vengeful ghost myself. Let them come after me, you—!!!"

Before Brother Tao could finish, a white shadow suddenly flashed in front of him.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Beneath the drifting paper money, a woman's figure appeared and disappeared among the swirling sheets, seeming both near and far. In the instant he stood stunned, the woman suddenly turned around. Her familiar face had no eyes or teeth, and two streams of blood ran down it like tears. Brother Tao began to tremble uncontrollably.

"A ghost! A ghost!! There's a ghost!"

Brother Tao stumbled back two steps, then felt himself bump into something. He turned around and saw two bloodied figures standing silently behind him amid the dancing paper money, their hollow eyes fixed on him.

When he recognized their faces, the memory surfaced involuntarily: that night, he had knocked on their door, then felled them with a single axe blow. He could almost hear their screams and pleas even now.

"Fuck you! I'm not afraid of you!"

Fear turned to rage. Brother Tao's head rang, and he simply raised his axe and swung at the two figures before him.

"You were alive, and I killed you once. I can kill you twice, three times, or a hundred times! Even if I turn into a ghost, I'll be the meanest, fiercest ghost there is..."

Red-eyed, Brother Tao swung his axe frantically at the figures before him. With every swing came another heart-wrenching scream.

Brother Tao wasn't the only one. The others who had taken part in the massacre were just the same. They seemed to have gone insane, wildly swinging their axes and blades as they attacked the people around them.

It was just like the massacre back then, except this time their victims were the very people who had stood by in silence.

In an instant, cries of battle and screams of agony filled the air.

Clang!!

Xiao Ran had been standing off to the side, watching. At the sudden sound of a gong behind him, he turned and saw Li Ji standing there, smiling warmly at him.

"Let's go."

Li Ji didn't say where they were going; he merely motioned for Xiao Ran to follow.

"Little brother, I misjudged you. I didn't expect you to be one of those in the know."

Xiao Ran followed behind him. Hearing Li Ji say that, he was taken aback. It was the second time he'd heard that expression.

The last time had been when the Old Woman had slipped a gold bar into his pocket.

Clearly, being "in the know" was some kind of special mark. If his guess was right, it had something to do with the curse marks.

"I got lucky."

Not knowing what lay ahead, Xiao Ran didn't dare reveal too much.

Li Ji smiled. "There's no such thing as luck once you've crossed the threshold. Getting in is hard, but the road ahead is harder. One wrong step and you're at the bottom of an abyss. Look at that Old Woman. She was in the business of borrowing gold from the Metal element, yet she turned herself into this."

Just then, Li Ji stopped and turned to look at the village. A fire flickered within it, and wherever it passed, raging flames sprang up from the ruins.

"It's her!"

Xiao Ran looked closely and saw the white-clad girl acting half-crazed as she hummed a little tune. She held a torch in her hand, and sparks took root wherever they fell. In no time, the village was ablaze.

As the fire grew, the girl danced lightly in its midst, letting the flames catch her white dress. She looked toward Xiao Ran, waved, then leaped into the fire and disappeared.

Watching the girl vanish, Xiao Ran felt conflicted. Without her, he might never have noticed anything wrong with the village.

Yet he hadn't been able to save her.

"Actually, you've already done very well. At least she's free now."

Li Ji gently comforted him, then handed Xiao Ran the oil lamp. "Take this lamp. Keep going and you'll find your way out. I'm giving it to you. If you ever feel lost, try shining it around."

Xiao Ran took the lamp, full of questions he wanted to ask Li Ji. Li Ji didn't seem like one of the wandering ghosts from the village. He seemed more like... a guide for newcomers.

But Li Ji had already waved him off, urging him on. "Go on, hurry. If you're late, you'll miss the way back."

"Okay, thank you!"

After thanking Li Ji, Xiao Ran turned and walked onward with the lamp in hand. In the dim yellow light, the white mist around him seemed to recede. He didn't know how long he walked before blood-red words appeared before his eyes once more...

You have completed this Lost City Trial.

Main Quest completed [Help Niujia Village] (F-rank)

Side Quest completed [Soul Snatching] (F-rank)

Trial rating: E

Settlement will begin shortly...