The Female Corpse in the Wooden Box

Without a cultivation method, he was ultimately just a lowly martial man.

Xu Bai had actually wanted to ask for the full story, because there were still many doubts. Why had they gone to such lengths to rob an escort shipment, and why had they not taken the things from the carriage?

But there was no need.

The Great Stronghold Master had roamed the martial world for many years. An old hand of the jianghu was crafty to the extreme; Xu Bai could not let the boat capsize in the gutter over this.

Only the dead were truly safe.

Xu Bai stepped forward and delivered another slash, thoroughly finishing off the Great Stronghold Master.

After the Great Stronghold Master drew his last breath, Xu Bai opened his clothes and saw that he wore a suit of Golden Silk Soft Armor underneath.

Xu Bai did not mind it. He stripped off the Golden Silk Soft Armor and put it on himself, then searched the Great Stronghold Master from head to toe.

Aside from that Sleeve Arrow, there was only the Ghost-Head Saber.

He tied the Sleeve Arrow to his arm. After confirming that the arrows embedded in the wall were not poisoned, he reloaded them before picking up the Ghost-Head Saber.

"Search the place."

Such a large room could not possibly have no gold or silver hidden in it.

He had gone through all that trouble to kill the Great Stronghold Master. He needed to gain something from it.

Xu Bai walked to the doorway, told the escorts to guard the outside, then began searching the room.

The house was large. After rummaging around inside, Xu Bai found a Wooden Box.

The Wooden Box was not large, only about a meter long and wide, and it was locked.

Xu Bai could not find the key and guessed that the Great Stronghold Master had hidden it elsewhere.

This box was the only thing in the whole house worth noticing. Everything else was worthless junk.

The box was covered in intricate patterns and looked rather high-class.

"A refined wooden box found in a bandit den? It really doesn't suit the style of the Fierce Tiger Stronghold."

Xu Bai raised his hand and brought down the Ghost-Head Saber, cleaving through the lock. With a loud clang, the lock broke apart.

When Xu Bai opened the box, his pupils contracted slightly.

A woman lay inside the box.

The woman wore red clothes and heavy makeup. Her eyes were tightly shut as she lay curled up inside.

Her hands and legs were tied with rope, and the exposed skin was covered in wounds.

Besides the Red-Clothed Woman, there was also a layer of translucent grease that wrapped around her, filling half the box.

The Red-Clothed Woman's chest no longer rose and fell. She was already a corpse.

Aside from the wounds, there was also a large patch of lividity on her neck.

"What is this?" Xu Bai frowned.

An inexplicable Red-Clothed Corpse and translucent grease—everything about it was bizarre.

Something was going on here. Something huge.

Especially the Fierce Tiger Stronghold's robbery of the escort shipment—it was strange beyond strange.

But there were too few clues before him. Xu Bai remembered that there was still one thing outside.

He closed the Wooden Box, walked to the doorway, and looked down at the carriage below.

There were no other discoveries in the Wooden Box, so only the carriage remained.

The escorts had been putting on a show of guarding the area. When they saw Xu Bai emerge, every one of them tensed up.

"It's fine. They're all dead," Xu Bai said, walking toward the carriage.

He lifted the carriage curtain and entered.

In the escort business, it was taboo to know in advance what one was transporting. Thus, Xu Bai had not known what was inside either.

Only after lifting the curtain did he see another Wooden Box inside.

It bore the same intricate patterns, though this box was slightly taller.

"Get a few people over here and carry this down," Xu Bai said, sticking his head out.

Several escorts hurried forward and carried the Wooden Box down from the carriage.

They were now thoroughly convinced by Xu Bai. If he had not turned the tide today, they would all have died here.

Of course, beyond their admiration, there was even greater fear.

Watching those slash after slash had left them numb.

"Send a few more people to carry down the Wooden Box inside the house too." Xu Bai pointed toward the house again.

How could the escorts dare say more? They swiftly carried down the other Wooden Box.

The two Wooden Boxes were placed side by side. Xu Bai opened the one brought down from the carriage.

The instant the Wooden Box opened, it was a dazzling sight.

—A whole box of silver.

The surrounding escorts all sucked in a breath.

With so much silver, one could live the life of a wealthy man, free from worries over food and clothing for the rest of his life.

A letter lay atop the silver, and the envelope bore no signature.

No wonder it was so heavy. Xu Bai picked up the envelope and pulled out the letter within.

The paper was densely covered in tiny writing. Xu Bai gave it a rough read.

According to the letter, the sender was an organization called the Extreme Life Sect.

Because the Great Stronghold Master possessed only saber techniques and no cultivation method, he was ultimately just a lowly martial man. One day, he had encountered people from the Extreme Life Sect somewhere.

The people from the Extreme Life Sect told him that a cultivation method was not necessarily needed, and they gave the Great Stronghold Master a special method.

A woman was to serve as the foundation. She was to be subjected to repeated torment, then killed and placed in a Wooden Box. Her body was to be drenched in Corpse Oil, amplifying her resentment before sealing that resentment away.

Finally, the box was to be encased in a great quantity of silver. He was to stroke the silver day and night, allowing the woman's resentment to be eased through the silver until it reached a level that would not harm the body.

Through the unceasing invasion of resentment, combined with one's own yang energy, there was a great chance of giving birth to True Qi.

But before the silver encasement was complete, the Wooden Box absolutely could not be opened.

What followed were the specific methods of torment.

Xu Bai continued reading, and his eyes widened slightly.

The methods described within were brutally cruel. Having men take turns violating the woman was merely the simplest of them.

After finishing, Xu Bai crumpled the letter in his hand into a ball.

One escort saw Xu Bai's face shifting between light and dark. He wanted to speak, but did not dare.

"So the Fulong Escort Agency became a pawn." Xu Bai sorted out the chain of events and understood why they had accepted this escort job.

Transporting an escort shipment and having it robbed seemed, on the surface, like an exceedingly simple incident.

Even if the Fierce Tiger Stronghold was later wiped out, no one would discover that the Extreme Life Sect had been behind it. They would only think it had been a case of murder for wealth.

As for why the Wooden Box inside the carriage had not been moved, the Great Stronghold Master probably had not wanted anyone to discover this matter.

The box was filled with silver. The moment anyone carried it, they would realize how heavy it was.

How much trust was there among bandits in the first place? Besides, the Great Stronghold Master intended to melt down the silver inside. If his subordinates saw it, they would surely harbor ulterior thoughts.

Having pieced together the cause and effect, Xu Bai was about to deal with the aftermath when he suddenly thought of something.

"Wait, the letter said that the Wooden Box absolutely could not be opened before the silver encasement."

He seemed to have overlooked something important. He hurriedly turned to look at the other Wooden Box.

At that moment, the Wooden Box began to tremble slightly.

The surrounding escorts looked at one another, not knowing what was happening.

But Xu Bai knew perfectly well that there was a Red-Clothed Corpse inside. How could it suddenly start moving?

The box was narrow. There was absolutely no room for another living thing.

Could a corpse move?

Was that possible? It really was possible.

He himself had transmigrated. A corpse moving a little was hardly anything unusual, was it?

With a swish, Xu Bai drew the long saber at his waist and stared fixedly at the Wooden Box before him.

"Creeeak—"

A teeth-grating sound rang out. The Wooden Box opened a crack, and from that crack stretched a deathly pale hand.

Translucent grease clung to the hand, several drops sliding from its fingertips and falling to the ground.