026: Flying Horse Embroidery, A Killer in the Dark

Paper could never wrap up a fire. News of what had happened the night before quickly began spreading through the city.

Rumors about the Evil Path's corpse drivers were flying in every direction.

Word also got around that people who had left the city had been attacked, carried back by those lucky enough to escape.

As a result, panic gripped the whole of Linyuan City.

The County Yamen had been surrounded so many times that not even a drop of water could get through. The scene was chaotic.

City Guard Captain Tian Youji had no choice but to appear in person. Only after making promises and losing his temper did the anxious, uneasy townsfolk gradually quiet down and reluctantly return to their homes.

Still, after so many people had seen blood and lost their lives, the warning had certainly hit home. No one else dared risk their life by leaving the city.

If they stayed inside, they could at least stay alive. Perhaps they might even live long enough for an expert from the Demon Suppressing Division to come to their rescue.

But if they left the city, there was a very good chance they would die.

Linyuan City seemed to have become a besieged city, trapped beneath the shadow of the Evil Path's corpse drivers and the Heaven and Earth Incense Cult.

Chu Ge spent the entire day shut away in the Secret Chamber, tinkering with a pair of embroidered white horse boots.

At the same time, he used up some of the materials he had recently collected to make several more Thousand Mile Kites.

Then, while taking a break to get some air and relieve himself, he placed the kites at several windward spots around the city where they would offer a good view. He infused them with anomalous power, turning them into observation posts in case of need.

As he wandered through the streets and alleys, the anxiety on the townsfolk's faces gave him a sense of urgency, as if a storm were about to break.

At this point, there was no need to sound out Tian Youji or Hu Xuezhi.

The two of them were bound to be on high alert, but they might not know much about what was happening.

He, on the other hand, knew better than anyone that danger was drawing near. The Auspicious Ruyi Charm hanging in his home kept fluttering in warning, and the anomalous power stored inside it was running out faster and faster.

He didn't have much time left to prepare.

He still had to leave Linyuan City and go farther along the path of martial arts. He wasn't about to let himself die in this little county town.

Time passed, and before long, night had fallen.

Only late that night did Chu Ge finally use Gold Thread Embroidery to make a pair of Embroidered Flying Horse Boots.

At the same time, the Wine Exotic's wine pot inside the Dragon Clock finally finished refining. The results appeared inside the Dragon Clock.

"One drop of fine wine from the Twelve Exotics: Wine Exotic: Description: (A drop of wine personally brewed by Lu Zongzhao, the Wine Exotic among the Twelve Exotics. To Lu Zongzhao, it is merely a mildly intoxicating drink, but to most people, it is the very essence of wine—and a deadly poison.

Anyone below the Force Condensation Realm who drinks it by mistake will surely die. Even a Force Condensation Realm expert may fall unconscious.

This wine is an extreme yang substance. If a nonliving evil spirit drinks it by mistake, it will be affected by the anomalous power of alcohol. The specific effect will depend on the circumstances.

Nonliving spiritual entities are largely immune, suffering only partial damage from the anomalous power.

By consuming five strands of anomalous power, you can control this drop of wine and perfectly pour it into a sealed container."

"Whew."

After reading the information about the wine refined by the Wine Exotic's wine pot, Chu Ge drew a sharp breath and thought, Impressive.

This drop of wine was a huge drain on his anomalous power, but for what it could do, the cost was well worth it.

"Today really is a double blessing. For once, I haven't had bad luck."

Chu Ge looked at the Embroidered Flying Horse Boots in his hands, a hint of delight on his face. He felt that all those hours of work had been worth it.

The embroidered pattern on the boots was a Flying Horse Diagram from the Five Mao Mountain Marvelous Skill, which he had stitched a few days earlier.

A pair of wings stood out on the heels.

If he could successfully infuse the boots with anomalous power, they would gain a special effect: simply putting them on would greatly increase his speed.

The problem was that the embroidered pattern required more anomalous power than usual, and ordinary materials such as gold and silver thread could no longer serve as a suitable medium.

As for materials better suited than gold and silver thread—

After reading through countless books, Chu Ge guessed that only those at or above the Force Condensation Realm could get their hands on rare spiritual materials like those taken from anomalous beasts and evil spirits.

But there was no way he could obtain such materials for now. He could only use gold and silver thread as substitutes.

As he slowly infused a strand of anomalous power into the boots, the flying horse outlined in gold and silver thread began to glow faintly.

When he infused a second strand, the silver thread on the boots suddenly turned red, as if it were about to melt through.

"This is bad!"

Chu Ge frowned and immediately stopped infusing anomalous power.

After a moment, he looked at the now slightly distorted Flying Horse Embroidery in his hands. The flying horse seemed to have swollen into a flying pig.

It looked as though the embroidery on the boots could fall apart at any moment.

Even so, he could still clearly sense the anomalous power infused into the Flying Horse Embroidery.

That proved the boots hadn't failed completely. They might still have some special effects.

It was just that their effectiveness and the number of times he could use them would probably fall short of expectations.

"I was celebrating too soon. I can't call this a double blessing. I got carried away, and now I'm paying for it."

"Ah, well. I'll wear them for now."

He'd made the boots himself; he might as well wear them, even if he had to cry about it.

Chu Ge didn't mind. He pulled on the Flying Pig Boots, then checked the Beast Power Paper Talisman stuck to his back.

Next, he picked out a sealed medicine bottle from the Secret Chamber, the kind he usually used to store poisonous fungi, and carefully poured the drop of wine, wrapped in five strands of anomalous power, out of the Dragon Clock and into it.

The wine, wrapped in anomalous power, gave off no scent at all and didn't evaporate.

It swayed inside the medicine bottle like a drop of mercury, unnaturally dense.

But Chu Ge knew that all he had to do was withdraw one strand of anomalous power, and the wine would soon be released. The smell alone might be enough to kill.

He carefully attached the medicine bottle to one of his Shadow Puppets, then hung the puppet from the back of his cloak.

When the time came, he could flick his cloak, and the Shadow Puppet would quickly transform into a perfect double of him and pounce on the enemy.

Even if the medicine bottle shattered then and the wine splashed everywhere, the Shadow Puppet was fake, so it wouldn't be affected by the poison at all.

Once he had finished, Chu Ge checked the time on the clepsydra.

It was already the middle of the chou hour, after midnight. In the blink of an eye, it had become the next day.

He wasn't tired. If anything, he was full of energy.

Fully armed, he stepped out of the Secret Chamber. Beneath the courtyard's eaves, the Auspicious Ruyi Charm was flapping with a loud rustle, its anomalous power draining rapidly.

"The charm is giving such a strong warning. A storm is about to break. I'm afraid plenty of people won't sleep tonight!"

Chu Ge pulled a charred piece of yellow paper from his robes and furrowed his brow.

He called a servant over and instructed him to have the household cook prepare a hearty late-night meal to replenish his strength. At the same time, he used up the anomalous power stored in the Dragon Clock and began his daily martial arts training.

He now had the strength of the Fourth Realm: Blood Change, and the Beast Power Paper Talisman could increase his strength by eighty percent for a short time.

He had his Crimson Scale Claws to boost his combat strength, and his Shadow Puppet could work with the wine poison to mislead and ambush his enemies.

He reckoned that even if he ran into two Blood Change martial artists at his level, he could still make it out in one piece.

The Evil Path's corpse driver was powerful, but since he had ultimately failed to kill Lin Hongtu of the Demon Suppressing Division, he clearly hadn't reached the Force Condensation Realm.

So even if the worst happened, Chu Ge was fairly confident he could escape.

At that moment, the yamen was brightly lit.

At the city docks, along the streets, and atop the surrounding walls, soldiers and constables patrolled the night with torches in hand.

Their lights stood apart from the darkness blanketing most of the city's residential districts, seeming to give the townsfolk a sense of security.

That sense of security also seemed to have a real, deterrent effect.

At least at the docks and outside the city that night, there were no more attacks by Flying Head Zombies, and no long, shrill screams tore through the night.

Yet the unusual peace and quiet only deepened the unease of Tian Youji and Hu Xuezhi, who stayed awake all night in the yamen. It felt as though an endless darkness would soon swallow them whole.

"Old Hu, I told you to leave earlier, but you wouldn't. Now you might really be stuck here. I have a bad feeling about tonight..."

In the yamen's courtyard, Tian Youji took a sip of strong tea and sighed as he gazed at the dark night in the distance.

Hu Xuezhi sat beside him. He laughed scornfully and shook his head. "You told me to leave? That would've been sending me straight into a trap. Did you want to see how long it took that Flying Head Zombie to kill me?"

"If we're going to die, then we'll die fighting together in the city!"

Tian Youji scoffed. "All you ever talk about is dying. Maybe we'll be lucky and survive while they're the ones who die."

"Unless a Name Ranking expert from the Demon Suppressing Division shows up, that is. Heh. The two of us together might barely be able to hold off Lord Lin. Against someone even stronger..."

"Name Ranking expert from the Demon Suppressing Division..." Tian Youji's eyes dimmed.

The messenger hawk might only reach the Demon Suppressing Division tonight. By the time they sent someone over, it might already be too late.

At the yin hour.

Cold moonlight spilled across the surface of the Xue Men River, forming a broad, dazzling band that shimmered over the water.

"Splash—" Dark heads gradually emerged from the icy river, like water ghosts. Every pair of vicious, greedy eyes fixed on the docks in the distance, swallowed by darkness.

At a signal, the dark heads submerged once more. Swirls appeared on the surface one after another, and then they were gone.

In the dead of winter, anyone daring enough to swim across was naturally strong, sturdy, and full of vigor—not to mention having to lie in wait underwater for so long.

And it wasn't only beneath the water. Several eerie black shadows streaked through the air, heading straight for Linyuan City to attack.

"Splash—"

Figures like water ghosts swiftly sprang out of the Xue Men River and climbed ashore. They moved with nimble leaps, avoiding the patrolling constables and soldiers as they headed straight for the wealthy district.

Then a second group burst out of the water, only to run straight into a patrol of constables and soldiers. Weapons clashed at once, and the sound of fighting rose alongside a shrill signal flare that shot into the sky.

"Bang—"

A blood-red firework suddenly burst open in the dark night, a shocking sight and an urgent warning.

"Old Hu! They're here!"

In the yamen, Tian Youji's expression turned grave. He immediately stood, grabbed the saber beside the table, and led his team out of the yamen.

"So they really came."

In the Chu Family home, Chu Ge's tall, burly figure sat at the table. He tore off a piece of chicken leg and chewed slowly, refining the anomalous power in his body into blood and qi. The blood-red firework in the night sky was reflected in his sharply contrasting black-and-white eyes.

"Whoosh—"

The Auspicious Ruyi Charm suddenly burst into flames without a spark. Its anomalous power had run out completely, and it crumbled into ash beneath the eaves.

Chu Ge sprang to his feet, walked out of the house, and ordered all the servants to hide safely in the cellar.

Then he put on the Porter Mask, left his home, and quickly made his way to a tree nearby, where he had placed his first kite during the day.

Now, fully armed as a porter, he could advance or retreat as he pleased...