He Is Dead

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

This morning, Chen Mo was woken by a chorus of chirping birds. He opened his sleepy eyes and saw bright morning light spilling through the window, warming his face. A few little sparrows perched on the windowsill, chattering endlessly.

Perhaps because Chen Mo was in a good mood, he didn't find it annoying. Instead, he felt this was the true taste of nature. He stretched lazily, rubbed his eyes, and got up in his clothes.

After washing up, Chen Mo picked up his saber and walked to the yard to practice.

The moment he began, the broad saber slashed like a dragon or tiger, flowing like a swimming dragon, stirring up gusts of saber wind. Compared to half a month ago, it had undergone a fundamental transformation.

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

No choice—he had plenty of Qi and Blood Pills.

The Golden Finger saw through the key points, letting him take wild shortcuts.

With the same effort, Chen Mo's results were several times, even ten or a dozen times, better than others.

A player who pays and uses cheats—he just doesn't play by the rules.

Not only had he mastered the third move of the Fuyang Saber Technique, Beheading the Mountain Man, but he had also cultivated the second move of the Blazing Palm, Subduing Pressure. And the third move of the Mysterious Yin Hand, Carry Block Strike, was also firmly in his grasp.

It was a great harvest.

But Chen Mo didn't let it go to his head. A shadow of gloom still hung over his heart.

He knew very well that even with his current strength, if he encountered a Nightmare Suppression Technique again, he'd still have no resistance.

Let alone being Possessed by Evil and entering a ghostly realm.

He was still too weak—no room for the slightest slack.

He continued practicing martial arts for another hour or two before sheathing his saber and having Qiulan bring breakfast. After eating quickly, he returned to his room and consumed the last of the Wei Qi Skin Paste.

This batch of Wei Qi Skin Paste was the second one Chen Mo had scraped off The Woman. He took one small pellet each day, and now it was finished.

With Chen Mo's current blood and qi intensity, taking the second batch of Wei Qi Skin Paste had almost no side effects. The slight Yang Qi corrosion was dispelled in no time.

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

Chen Mo told 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 forced it into Chen San's mouth. Then he returned to the main room to practice.

Around noon, Ma Tie rushed in from the back yard. "Young master, Chen San is dead!"

Chen Mo shot to his feet. "Take me to see him now."

He hurried to the back room in the rear yard and saw Chen San lying stiff on the floor, his face flushed red, multiple burn marks on his skin. He had no breath left.

Chen Mo frowned at the body. "When did this happen?"

Ma Tie said, "Just now."

Chen Mo said, "Tell me the whole story in detail."

Ma Tie thought for a moment and recounted, "I was guarding the back yard when I suddenly heard Chen San cry for help. I rushed over and saw him rolling on the ground, tearing at his clothes, shouting that he was burning hot. Before I could notify you, young master, he kicked his legs and died. It took no more than four or five breaths."

Four or five breaths and he died?

This batch of Wei Qi Skin Paste... the Yang Qi corrosion was that strong?

Chen Mo crouched down and reached out to touch Chen San's skin. It was scalding hot. He figured Chen San's internal organs had already been burned through.

He immediately went to the next room where The Woman was locked up.

"Roar!"

Seeing someone approach, The Woman lifted her head and howled madly at Chen Mo. Her mouth split open to her ears, fangs now an inch long, sticky drool dripping down them, pattering onto the floor.

If this had been a month ago, Chen Mo wouldn't have dared to get close to The Woman.

Now that he had reached the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm, strength in hand gave him courage. He walked over and kicked The Woman, stomping her head hard into the ground.

Even though she was bound by layers of iron chains, she still struggled fiercely. Chen Mo had to use half his strength to pin her down completely.

Next, he flipped The Woman over and stared at her abdomen.

To his surprise, the original single Black Rod had become two Black Rods.

This meant... the Ghost Curse's resentment inside her had deepened significantly.

That made Chen Mo a little uneasy.

All along, he had thought The Woman was improving thanks to the Wei Qi and the Mad Demon Disease getting better.

But unexpectedly, as the Wei Qi grew stronger, the Mad Demon Disease... was also deepening!

If the Wei Qi Skin Paste couldn't cure the Ghost Curse's resentment, what else could he rely on?

Thinking this, Chen Mo felt terrible.

But he had a good mindset. He quickly adjusted his emotions and analyzed the situation:

The Wei Qi was strengthening, and the Ghost Curse's resentment was also strengthening... So the key to curing the madness lay in obtaining strong enough Wei Qi to reach a balance that suppressed the Ghost Curse's resentment—then the Mad Demon Disease could be cured?

Chen Mo felt this judgment was sound.

It was like AIDS in my past life—the symptoms didn't appear because the body had no virus at all, but because the virus count was so low that the immune system kept it in check, never reaching the threshold to trigger the disease.

As long as I could obtain a high enough quality of Wei Qi Skin Paste to keep the Ghost Curse from reaching that symptomatic level, there was still a chance to cure it.

After all, I wasn't The Woman. My constitution was stronger, and I'd made progress in martial arts. Absorbing her Wei Qi Skin Paste should yield far better results than it did for her original body.

I might not necessarily become the next Woman.

With that thought, Chen Mo instructed Ma Tie: "Give Chen San's corpse to The Woman. Also, go to the County Office and ask if there are any death row prisoners at the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm. If there are, buy one and bring it back for experiments."

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

Chen Mo returned to his room, closed the door, and lifted his clothes to check the Baby Face on his abdomen.

Although the Baby Face had faded considerably, knowing that the Black Rods inside The Woman had increased made Chen Mo deeply uneasy.

Unless this illness was fully cured, it would always be a huge hidden danger.

It made him feel far too insecure.

"I need to work harder."

Chen Mo flipped open the manual for Blazing Palm, recalling what Lei Peng had said before: Evil Spirits and ghostly beings were mostly yin-type entities, most afraid of the body's yang heat. In the outside world, that meant they feared fire. Blazing Palm took a different path, focusing on refining one's own hot blood into Fire Poison. Once mastered, the blood would burn like fire, generating Fire Poison that could suppress ordinary Evil Spirits.

"As long as I master the third form of Blazing Palm, Palm Heart Fire, I can suppress ordinary Evil Spirits. It should also have some effect against the Mad Demon Disease. But mastering the third form isn't easy—it requires reaching the Four Gates Five Viscera Realm."

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

Among all the guard martial artists in the Chen Mansion, those who had reached the Five Viscera Realm numbered no more than a handful.

Taking that step was extremely difficult.

"No matter how hard, I have to push through."

Chen Mo set aside his stray thoughts and began practicing Blazing Palm.

In the afternoon, at the hour of You, Ma Tie returned, but he didn't bring good news. "I asked Captain Wang and the jailer. There are no prisoners at the Three Gates Iron Bone Realm in custody."

Though he'd braced himself for it, hearing those words still made Chen Mo feel a pang of disappointment.

"How many Three Gates Iron Bone Realm guards do we have in the mansion?"

Ma Tie said, "About ten. But they follow Master Zhou, all obedient and disciplined, keeping to their duties."

Chen Mo nodded.

After all, finding someone for experiments meant they could die at any moment. Chen Mo was anxious, but he wasn't about to grab an innocent person to test on. That would make him no different from an animal.

Unless there was no other choice, Chen Mo didn't want to do that.

"As The Woman produces thicker and thicker Wei Qi, I'll need stronger test subjects. I don't have time to wait—I need 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 uninvited guest came knocking.