He Was Dead

Two weeks flew by in the blink of an eye.

Early that morning, Chen Mo was woken by a chorus of chirping birds. He opened his bleary eyes and saw bright dawn light pouring through the window, warming his face.

A few little sparrows perched on the windowsill, chirping without pause.

Perhaps because Chen Mo was in a good mood, he didn't find the noise annoying. If anything, it felt like the sound of nature.

He stretched, rubbed his eyes, and got up without changing out of his clothes.

After washing up, Chen Mo took his saber out to the courtyard to practice.

The moment he started, his broad saber slashed like a dragon and a tiger, its movements graceful as a swimming dragon and stirring gusts of wind. Compared to two weeks ago, his skills had undergone a fundamental transformation.

Three days earlier, he had broken through to the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm.

He had Qi and Blood Pills in abundance, after all.

His Golden Finger had identified the key points, letting him take shortcuts at a furious pace.

With the same amount of effort, Chen Mo got several times the results of others—sometimes tenfold, even more.

A player who spent money and had cheats was all about playing dirty.

He had not only mastered the third move of the Fuyang Saber Technique, Mountain-Splitting Strike, but also the second move of Blazing Palm, Subduing Pressure. He had even grown proficient in the third move of Mysterious Yin Hand, Carry Block Strike.

It was a bumper harvest.

But Chen Mo wasn't the least bit carried away. A shadow still hung over his heart.

He knew all too well that even with his current strength, if he encountered another Nightmare Suppression Technique, he would be completely powerless to resist.

Let alone if he were possessed by evil and entered Ghost Land.

He was still far too weak. He couldn't afford to slack off for even a moment.

Chen Mo practiced martial arts for another hour or so before putting away his saber and having Qiulan bring breakfast. He ate quickly, returned to his room, and swallowed the last of the Guard Qi Skin Paste.

This batch of Guard Qi Skin Paste was the second Chen Mo had scraped off The Woman. He had eaten a small pellet each day, and now it was all gone.

With Chen Mo's current blood and qi, the second batch of Guard Qi Skin Paste no longer caused much in the way of side effects. Any slight Yang Qi corrosion was dispelled in moments.

"Looks like it's time to make a third batch of Guard Qi Skin Paste."

Chen Mo ordered Ma Tie to cut off a piece of The Woman's skin and had Qiulan boil it into paste. He rolled a small pellet and gave it to Chen San to eat, then returned to the main room to practice.

Near noon, Ma Tie hurried out from the back courtyard. "Young Master, Chen San is dead!"

Chen Mo shot to his feet. "Take me to him!"

He hurried to the servant quarters in the back courtyard. Sure enough, Chen San lay rigid on the floor, his face red and his skin covered in burns. He had stopped breathing.

Chen Mo frowned as he examined the body. "When did this happen?"

"Just now," Ma Tie replied.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

Ma Tie recalled the events before slowly recounting them. "I was keeping watch in the back courtyard when I suddenly heard Chen San calling for help. I rushed over and saw him rolling on the ground, tearing at his clothes and shouting that he was hot. Before I could go alert you, Young Master, Chen San kicked his legs out and died. It was over in four or five breaths."

He'd died in four or five breaths?

This batch of Guard Qi Skin Paste... Was the Yang Qi corrosion really this severe?

Chen Mo crouched down and reached out to touch Chen San's skin. It was scorching hot. His internal organs must have already been burned through.

He immediately went to the room next door where The Woman was being held.

"Grr!"

When The Woman saw someone approaching, she lifted her head and roared furiously at Chen Mo. Her mouth stretched back to her ears, and her fangs had grown to about an inch long. Thick, sticky saliva ran down them, dripping onto the floor.

A month ago, Chen Mo wouldn't have dared approach The Woman so casually.

Now that he had reached the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm and had strength on his side, he was bold enough to walk over and kick her, stamping her head hard against the floor.

Even bound in layer upon layer of iron chains, The Woman still fought back with tremendous force. Chen Mo had to use half his strength to pin her down so she couldn't move.

The next moment, Chen Mo rolled The Woman over and stared at her belly.

To his surprise, the single Black Rod had turned into two.

That meant...the Ghost Curse resentment inside The Woman had grown much stronger.

Chen Mo felt a flicker of panic.

All this time, he had thought that The Woman's Mad Demon Disease was getting better thanks to Guard Qi.

He hadn't expected that as the Guard Qi grew stronger, the Mad Demon Disease was deepening too!

If Guard Qi Skin Paste couldn't eradicate the Ghost Curse resentment, what else could he count on?

As the thought crossed his mind, Chen Mo felt utterly miserable.

Fortunately, Chen Mo was good at keeping his composure. He quickly steadied himself and analyzed the situation from beginning to end:

Guard Qi was growing stronger, and so was the Ghost Curse resentment... So the key to treating the madness lay in obtaining sufficiently powerful Guard Qi, until it reached the balance point where it could suppress the Ghost Curse resentment. Then the Mad Demon Disease could be cured?

Chen Mo thought the reasoning made sense.

It was like AIDS in his previous life. Symptoms didn't appear because there were no HIV viruses in the body at all, but because the virus count was so low that the immune system held it in check, never reaching the threshold that triggered symptoms.

As long as he obtained Guard Qi Skin Paste of high enough quality, he could keep the Ghost Curse from reaching the threshold that triggered symptoms. There was still a chance of curing the disease.

After all, he wasn't The Woman. He was healthy and had trained in martial arts. After absorbing The Woman's Guard Qi Skin Paste, the effects on him should be much better than on her.

He might not end up becoming the next The Woman.

With that in mind, Chen Mo instructed Ma Tie, "Give Chen San's body to The Woman. Also, go to the County Office and ask if there are any Three Gates Iron Bone Realm death-row convicts. If there are, buy another one to use in the experiment."

Chen Mo couldn't wait to find someone to test the third batch of Guard Qi Skin Paste on.

Back in his room, Chen Mo shut the door and lifted his clothes to inspect the Baby Face on his belly.

The Baby Face had faded quite a bit, but after learning that the Black Rods inside The Woman had increased, Chen Mo felt deeply uneasy.

If this illness wasn't cured, it would always be a huge hidden threat.

It was making him feel far too unsafe.

"I need to work even harder."

Chen Mo opened the Blazing Palm manual and recalled what Lei Peng had said: Ghosts and Evil Spirits were mostly yin beings, and they feared the body's hot, yang energy above all. In the outside world, they feared fire. Blazing Palm took an unconventional path, focusing on refining one's own blood and qi into Fire Poison. Once mastered, the blood and qi would burn like fire, and Fire Poison would arise, allowing one to counter ordinary ghosts and Evil Spirits.

"Once I master the third move of Blazing Palm, Palm Heart Fire, I'll be able to counter ordinary ghosts and Evil Spirits. It should also help suppress the Mad Demon Disease. But mastering the third move won't be easy. It means my cultivation has to reach the Four Gates Five Viscera Realm."

A martial artist at the Four Gates Five Viscera Realm could be called an expert.

Among the guards at Chen Mansion, no more than a handful had reached the Five Viscera Realm.

It would be extremely difficult to take that step.

"Even if it's hard, I have to do it."

Chen Mo cleared his mind and began practicing Blazing Palm.

At five in the afternoon, Ma Tie returned, but he had no good news. "I asked Captain Wang and the jailer. There aren't any Three Gates Iron Bone Realm prisoners in the cells."

Chen Mo had been prepared for this, but hearing it still left him disappointed.

"How many guards in the mansion are at the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm?"

"About ten," Ma Tie said. "But they all follow Master Zhou. Every one of them is obedient, sensible, and keeps to himself."

Chen Mo nodded.

After all, he was looking for someone to experiment on, and they could die at any moment. Though Chen Mo was anxious, he couldn't just grab some innocent person to test it on. That would make him no better than a beast.

He didn't want to do that unless he had no other choice.

As The Woman produced more and more potent Guard Qi, he would need stronger test subjects. He didn't have time to wait around. He had to find a way to catch a Three Gates Iron Bone Realm bandit as soon as possible.

Just as Chen Mo was at a loss, an unwelcome guest showed up at his door.