A Three-Day Nightmare

Shuzhou City!

Mortal had nearly fled the Prefectural Yamen, limping out with his head in his hands. It had been utterly brutal.

Three days had passed since the battle at Hidden Moon Peak.

Early that morning, Mortal had gone to check on Cousin's injuries. The good news was that Cousin was out of danger. After being treated with all kinds of spirit medicines, his wounds had healed, and his internal injuries only needed a little more time to recover.

But for Cousin, that was bad news. As soon as Su Wanjun learned that his wounds had stabilized, she strung him up in the main hall of the Prefectural Yamen and started whipping him.

From the way Cousin had howled, it must have hurt like hell. Mortal had gone inside to watch for a little while, then promptly backed out.

Outside the Prefectural Yamen, Hanyu squatted alone by the gate, playing with stones. He wore a flower-patterned padded jacket, his hair tied into two sprouting buns. His expression was vacant, and every so often, drool dripped from his mouth.

What was this supposed to be?

Mortal covered his face.

After Hanyu had scared Ran Shiqing off that day, he had stood there like a statue. Only when the two of them slowly approached did they realize something was wrong with him.

Who could have guessed that someone who had been ferocious beyond belief one moment would be hopelessly stupid the next?

Every doctor in Shuzhou City had examined him. Even Cousin's cousin, Su Wanjun, had helped check him over. They had all reached the same conclusion: he had injured his brain. There was no hope.

Mortal had never heard of a divine ability with such a terrifying aftereffect. Refusing to give up, he had waited another two days, but Hanyu still showed no sign of improvement.

Not only had he failed to improve, he was as ignorant and dazed as a two-year-old child. Mortal had no choice but to care for him like one.

"I want milkies."

Hanyu, still squatting on the ground, suddenly lit up at the sight of a well-endowed woman by the roadside and called out to her.

Mortal's expression changed at once. He hurried over and dragged him away. This had caused plenty of trouble over the past few days. Those who believed his explanation looked at him with pity, while those who didn't went straight to the Prefectural Guard and had them haul the two of them off.

"Don't make a fuss. I'll take you somewhere nice to drink."

Mortal coaxed him helplessly, then dragged him off by force, all the way to a cowshed at a home in the eastern part of the city.

The cow there had recently given birth to a calf. Mortal had gone to great lengths to find the place, and after paying the owner, he brought Hanyu there whenever he said he wanted milk.

To Hanyu, those three days had passed in the blink of an eye.

His last memory ended abruptly when Ran Shiqing fled in a panic. After that, his mind had gone completely blank.

When he opened his eyes again, he had felt as if only a moment had passed.

"What's that smell?"

As his consciousness fully returned, the bloody stench in his mouth nearly made him retch. Only then did he realize he was in a cowshed, holding a pair of cow's udders in both hands.

Little Glazed laughed without restraint inside his mind.

"Ha ha ha! Hanyu, go find somewhere to look at yourself!"

At once, Hanyu left the cowshed. There happened to be a large water vat outside, and he leaned over to peer at his reflection. The rippling water showed a blurry image of someone with two sprouting buns on his head. No matter how he looked at it, he seemed like an idiot.

Then he looked down at his bright red flower-patterned jacket. It was downright festive. His face darkened.

Little Glazed kept laughing in his mind!

Just then, Mortal came over with a frown, grabbed him, and said, "Little kids shouldn't play with water. You'll wet the bed."

Hanyu turned to look at him, his expression complicated. When their eyes met, Mortal suddenly froze.

He reached out to touch Hanyu's forehead. Hanyu scowled and knocked his hand away, rolling his eyes. "You didn't put together this stupid outfit, did you?"

Mortal jumped in surprise, then cried out in delight, "You're back to normal?"

His face reddened as he remembered his spur-of-the-moment "masterpiece." He cursed the quack doctors under his breath.

Hanyu wordlessly pulled off the two little braids, then looked around. They were clearly in Shuzhou City.

Naturally, he asked what had happened. As they left the cowshed, Mortal told him everything that had happened at the scene that day, then talked about Cousin, and finally explained, looking rather awkward, what Hanyu had been like for the past three days.

"You're telling me I spent three days acting like a two-year-old? Wetting the bed, pooping my pants, playing in the mud, sucking my fingers, and chasing people around asking for milkies?"

Hanyu muttered in disbelief. What kind of humiliating life had he led these past three days?

Mortal looked embarrassed. He had witnessed pretty much every one of Hanyu's disgraceful antics. Hanyu seemed to think of something and suddenly paled.

"Don't tell me you were the one looking after me the whole time?"

The thought of two grown men doing that made his skin crawl...

Mortal rolled his eyes at him. "You're overthinking it. I paid an old nanny to take care of you. I only took you out for walks around town."

That was a relief.

Hanyu sighed helplessly. The three-day aftereffect really was terrifying. He had lost almost all ability to look after himself, and he hadn't been in control of his own actions.

If no one had been there to care for him, who knew what humiliating thing he might have done the moment he opened his eyes?

Right now, his most urgent concern was changing out of those ridiculous festive clothes. The two hurried back to the inn.

After Hanyu changed back into his usual martial robe, he finally felt comfortable again.

Around noon, someone neither of them had expected showed up: Cousin, freshly beaten.

He strode in through the door, his face glowing red. When he saw Hanyu, he paused, then exclaimed in delight, "You're finally awake!"

The two of them shot him strange looks. Mortal gave him a teasing smile. "They let you out?"

Cousin blushed and scratched his head. "My cousin's anger finally cooled off, so she let me go. I'm free again!"

No wonder Cousin's face was glowing. He had managed to escape her clutches again.

The three of them sat down together. Cousin poured himself a cup of water and drank it. Then his expression turned serious, and he lowered his voice. "The three of us might've kicked a hornet's nest."

Hanyu was baffled. "What happened?"

Cousin's expression was grave as he relayed everything he had heard from Su Wanjun.

When the three of them had returned to Shuzhou City that day—one limping, one fool, and one badly wounded—it had naturally alarmed Su Wanjun. She had sent a large contingent of the Prefectural Guard to Hidden Moon Peak based on Cousin's account. But by the time they arrived...

"Guess what they found?"

Cousin was just about to build suspense when Mortal impatiently cut him off.

"Spit it out. If you won't, get lost."

A wildfire had swept through Hidden Moon Peak. The Prefectural Guard couldn't get close. When the flames finally died out, all that remained were unidentifiable bones scattered across the ground. Nothing else was left.

"The valley was set on fire too. The Corpse Puppets Mortal intercepted all burned to a crisp."

Cousin sighed.

There was no way to accuse the Zhu You Sect of refining corpses. All they had were the three of them saying so. There was no solid evidence left.

Hanyu seemed to remember something and pointed at Mortal. "What about the Soul-Snatching Bell and the sect's Command Token you took?"

Mortal nodded too. "I remember handing them both to Commander Su that day."

Cousin shook his head with a sigh. "Yesterday, the Zhu You Sect replied that Bao Ruijie had been missing for a long time, and that the sect knew nothing about any of this."

That was as blatant a lie as anyone could tell!

"What about the other one?"

Hanyu remembered the high-level cultivator.

"Who was he? What was his name?"

Cousin shot back. The other two fell silent. They didn't know anything about that cultivator's identity.

Then Cousin told them something else: a small village near Pian Shi Gang had also been ravaged by a huge fire. Dozens of people had all died.

Why bring that up? Because Cousin said Su Wanjun suspected the high-level cultivator had fled to Pian Shi Gang and been killed to silence him.

Both places had suffered similar fires, and both had been burned clean. The methods were alike, so it was possible the same person had done it.

Hiss!

That was vicious. Killing him to keep him quiet was one thing, but wiping out the surrounding villagers as well? They had gone too far, leaving nothing behind.

"But it's only a guess. Pian Shi Gang was burned so badly that no one can tell who's who. My cousin said she hopes it wasn't the same person, or else we really have kicked a hornet's nest."

Cousin's expression was solemn.

"Even if it's a coincidence, it's too much of one. A small village with dozens of people wouldn't burn like that unless everyone had already been killed."

Hanyu's expression was just as grim.

"So there's another Mastermind in Shuzhou Prefecture, someone who went back and forth between the two places that day to wipe out every trace."

If that was true, then whoever had gone to such lengths to act in secret had something serious to hide.

Why had that high-level cultivator needed to die? Killing Bao Ruijie to cover up his exposure made sense, but the high-level cultivator didn't necessarily have to die. They could have simply hidden him away.

Unless he had to die for some reason.

The three of them thought it over for a long time, but couldn't figure it out. The more they thought, the more confused they became.

The whole affair was a tangled mystery. The three of them had only stumbled into it by chance.

Hah—ptoo!

In broad daylight, the Glazed Bottle spat again. No, it was spitting out medicine.

"What's with the Glazed Bottle lately? Why's it so active?"

Little Glazed explained in an annoyed voice, "It thinks it did a good job. It thinks it's more useful than me, so now it spits whenever it wants. There's nothing I can do about it."

Hanyu broke out in a cold sweat. The deal had been that the Artifact Spirit's revival would set him free. The deal had been that it would make pills on its own. So what was this now?

In his mind, the new pill the bottle had spat out spun round and round...