Nightmare

"Great Hero Gu!" Wang Dongli stepped forward and clasped his hands. "I'll immediately have my disciples notify the Azure Wave Sword Sect. I'll need you to come forward and testify. I just went to the Azure Wave Sword Sect to challenge Old Sect Leader, so they may not necessarily believe what I say."

"You mean the Taotie Divine Skill?" Gu Mo asked.

Wang Dongli nodded. "Yes. The Heavenly God Society is quite formidable. Yet over the past year or so, although they have been stirring up storms throughout Yun Province, they have only been fanning the flames from behind the scenes and have scarcely committed any great evil openly. Thus, though all the martial sects despise them, they have never been officially branded as a demonic path. But now that we know the Heavenly God Society is actually made up of Gongsun Jue's remaining followers, those evil cultivators of the Taotie Divine Skill, we can directly define the Heavenly God Society as demonic. We can issue wanted posters across the martial world and ask Six Doors to act, joining forces to suppress and wipe them out. Otherwise, there will be endless trouble in the future."

Gu Mo naturally understood the dangers of the Taotie Divine Skill. No matter where it appeared, a martial art that absorbed others' inner force for one's own use was an evil art, one that would plunge the martial world into panic.

After Gongsun Jue had been killed at Dragon Tiger Mountain, that group of Taotie Divine Skill practitioners had scattered throughout the martial world. Before sealing the mountain, Dragon Tiger Mountain's final wanted poster, issued in the name of the Martial Arts Leader, had concerned the Taotie Divine Skill.

Gu Mo immediately said, "No problem. I'll write a letter at once and send it to the Azure Wave Sword Sect, explaining everything clearly and asking them to verify it."

"Many thanks, Great Hero Gu!"

"What are you thanking me for? I'm a member of the martial world too." Gu Mo smiled faintly. "I know a little medical skill. When Sect Leader Wang fought Old Sect Leader on Azure Wave Mountain earlier, you seemed to have been injured. If you do not mind, I can take a look."

Wang Dongli immediately extended his hand. "Medicine Saint Qi Miaoxuan once publicly stated in the martial world that Great Hero Gu's medical skill was no weaker than his own. It is truly my good fortune to have Great Hero Gu examine my injuries. Then I'll trouble you, Great Hero Gu."

"You are too polite."

Gu Mo smiled, placing his fingers on Wang Dongli's wrist and sending a strand of true qi into Wang Dongli's meridians.

He soon discovered that Wang Dongli's injuries had basically healed. Even his wounds had nearly closed.

"Sect Leader Wang's recovery ability is astonishing. Your injuries have essentially healed, and there is nothing serious," Gu Mo said.

Wang Dongli said, "Then I can rest easy."

"However," Gu Mo continued, "Sect Leader Wang, the way your injuries recovered is abnormal."

Wang Dongli asked doubtfully, "What do you mean?"

Gu Mo got straight to the point. "I detected a special kind of qi in your blood. It is not your true qi, and it does not even belong to you. That qi contains immense energy and can grant your body the ability to cleanse the sinews and wash the marrow, but it comes with restrictions. That energy is tugging at your Nascent Soul, creating a kind of balance. Yet once that balance is broken, it may bring about harm beyond estimation. Of course, it might also turn out to be a good thing."

Gu Mo was not trying to frighten Wang Dongli.

Everything he had just said was something he had detected.

The reason he had proactively offered to treat Wang Dongli's injuries was because Red Clothes had previously said that Wang Dongli's Nascent Soul Sword came from someone of the Peacock Spirit Race. Therefore, Gu Mo had suspected that Wang Dongli was connected to the Peacock Spirit Race.

Now, after examining him, he was certain. Wang Dongli was absolutely connected to the Peacock Spirit Race.

Gu Mo had seen this unique power hidden in the blood before. It was like the people of the Kirin Spirit Race he had encountered at the He Xu Ruins in Mobei. The only difference was that the Kirin Spirit Race hid the Fire Kirin's spiritual energy inside their bodies, while this Peacock Spirit Race member, Wang Dongli, possessed icy spiritual energy.

Yet there was a difference. The Fire Kirin's fire spiritual energy did not harm the Kirin Spirit Race. Not only were they free of illness and injury, they also lived long lives. But the spiritual energy in Wang Dongli's body was different. It tugged at both his Nascent Soul and his physical body, as though losing that spiritual energy would mean his soul scattering and his body perishing.

At that moment, after hearing Gu Mo's words, a flicker of shock flashed through Wang Dongli's eyes. He asked urgently, "Great Hero Gu, you... you... can truly detect that strand of qi?"

Gu Mo nodded. "Of course. If I were joking, I could not possibly describe it in such detail."

Wang Dongli hurriedly asked, "Can it be cured?"

"Cured?" Gu Mo asked in confusion. "Why call it a cure? This qi contains tremendous energy. It can let you recover from injuries quickly, and it can even allow you to command the power of the Ascension Realm. Is that not a good thing?"

"The power of the Ascension Realm?" Wang Dongli looked bewildered.

Gu Mo said, "The Nascent Soul Power attached to your final sword when you fought Old Sect Leader on Azure Wave Mountain today was power that only the Ascension Realm can command."

Wang Dongli said in astonishment, "That was Ascension Realm power? But ascension only exists among Qi Refiners, does it not? I cultivate Martial Dao True Intent. How could I possibly ascend?"

Gu Mo chuckled. "That is the benefit brought to you by the qi in your blood. That is why I asked why you wanted it cured."

Wang Dongli sighed. "Great Hero Gu, you only know one side, not the other. If it merely allowed me to recover quickly from injuries and wield the power of the Ascension Realm you spoke of, then naturally it would be a good thing, a gift from heaven. But in truth, it is not a gift. It is a curse."

"I would like to hear the details," Gu Mo said. "Sect Leader Wang, explain it carefully. Perhaps I can think of a solution."

As they walked, Wang Dongli said, "I do not know where to begin. My Wang family has been in Yun Province for nearly two hundred years. From our first ancestor to me, this is now the seventh generation. We have always passed down a single line. Every generation gained considerable fame in the martial world. My grandfather had the greatest reputation. He was once the number one expert in Yun Province. Even my father says the Wang family declined in his hands, yet he was still a First-rate Master in the martial world. But under such circumstances, anyone attentive would notice that no successor of the Wang family ever walked the martial world in old age, nor even appeared in it. That is the curse!"

Gu Mo was left utterly confused. "What exactly happened? Did they die young?"

"No," Wang Dongli said. "My father is now over seventy and still alive, but he has been bedridden for nearly thirty years. During those thirty years, he has constantly suffered illness and pain, and at times he has even gone mad."

Wang Dongli took a deep breath. "In truth, there has always been a rumor in the martial world that my grandfather died of depression after being defeated by Old Sect Leader. But although my grandfather was struck by that defeat, it was not enough to break him. After moving to Qingyang County, he was despondent for a time, but he soon pulled himself together. He began working hard and determined to find a chance to defeat Old Sect Leader. Yet precisely at that time, the curse appeared again. His emotions began to spiral beyond his control, as though he had suffered a cultivation deviation. In the following years, his body began to wither, his qi and blood collapsed, and he suffered torment from illness. He was bedridden for ten years before passing away. The timing was simply too coincidental, and our Wang family would not reveal the matter of the curse affecting several generations for the sake of our reputation. So the martial world passed it down as my grandfather being unable to rise again after Old Sect Leader defeated him, dying of depression."

Gu Mo pondered for a moment. "What about your father?"

Wang Dongli said, "About thirty years ago, my father became the same as my grandfather. First, his mind grew muddled. Later, his qi and blood collapsed, his body withered, and he has remained bedridden ever since. These were not isolated cases. My great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and the ancestors before them were all the same. Every generation met the same end. None could escape this fate. Some died within a few years of losing their minds. Others, like my father, endured decades of torment. The reason this happened was the strand of qi Great Hero Gu detected. Our ancestral records all mention it. When we are young, this qi resides in our blood, giving us gifts beyond ordinary people. We recover swiftly from injuries and possess extraordinary talent for martial arts. The higher our Martial Dao Realm, the stronger that talent becomes. Other people find cultivation harder the further they advance, but the Wang family finds it easier and easier. We may even awaken special talents. For example, from last year onward, I awakened a talent for battle. The more I fight experts, the more I can attain sudden enlightenment. Sometimes I break through a bottleneck, and sometimes I can even attain sudden enlightenment and create a new martial art. But I know this means I will soon follow in the footsteps of my grandfather and father. After reaching this stage, they too soon began to lose their minds, their qi and blood collapsed, and they became bedridden. I knew fate had arrived, so I could not wait to challenge Old Sect Leader. In truth, I was not prepared, but I feared that if I did not challenge him then, I would never get another chance. Unfortunately, I still lost and failed to clear the Wang family's name!"

Gu Mo said, "You have already done very well. In Yun Province today, you are third on the Heavenly Rankings, are you not? The Wang family... or rather, the Dongli Sect, is also one of Yun Province's foremost Martial World Forces."

"Alas!" Wang Dongli sighed before continuing, "For generations, we have actively sought ways to deal with this, but none have worked. Over the years, I have sought out many eminent people, including Medical God Wei Wuwei, but not a single person could detect that strand of qi. Great Hero Gu, you are the only one! Great Hero Gu, if you can cure it, name any condition you wish. Even if I must climb mountains of blades and descend into seas of fire, I will not refuse. If you cannot cure it, then please keep this secret for my Wang family. I beg you!"

Gu Mo had been using the Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Technique throughout, influencing Wang Dongli's Divine Sense. He could determine that Wang Dongli was not lying. In other words, Wang Dongli had no idea that the blood in his body belonged to the Peacock Spirit Race.

Thus, Gu Mo said, "In theory, it can be cured. I have encountered people like you before. No, not one person, but an entire race."

Wang Dongli hurriedly asked, "Then... were they cured?"

Gu Mo nodded. "They were, but there is one condition: the root cause must be found. Let me be honest with you. That race's blood came from the Fire Kirin, one of the legendary Thirteen Taboos. As for your blood, it comes from the Seven-Colored Peacock, also one of the Thirteen Taboos."

Wang Dongli's eyes widened, filled with shock and disbelief.

Gu Mo waved his hand. "I know it is difficult for you to accept such legendary things all at once. But do not be shocked yet. Let me first tell you the treatment. We need to find an object that can draw out the spiritual energy in your body. I possess a martial art called the Great Devouring Spirit Hand, which can use the object's characteristics to absorb the spiritual energy. At that time, the Wang family's curse can naturally be removed."

Confusion and shock alternated in Wang Dongli's eyes. He said in a low voice, "Great... Great Hero Gu, what you are saying, I... cannot accept it all at once. It feels like I am listening to a story. But I believe you would not fabricate such a bizarre story just to deceive me. Where can such an object be found?"

Gu Mo said, "It must be an item from the Seven-Colored Peacock. Therefore, we must first find the Seven-Colored Peacock's location. My personal suggestion is that you carefully investigate the ancient texts and records passed down by your family. Find out where your Wang family came from, where your ancestor of more than a hundred years ago truly came from."

Wang Dongli slowly nodded. "I truly do not know that, nor have I ever considered it. Once I return, I will begin investigating."

Gu Mo nodded faintly and said no more.

Wang Dongli also fell silent, clearly digesting the information he had just received from Gu Mo.

Although the Fire Kirin and Seven-Colored Peacock Gu Mo had just mentioned were things the three of them had long accepted and did not consider remarkable, to ordinary martial artists, they were as absurd as tales from heaven. Though the legends of the Thirteen Taboos were not secrets in the martial world and could even be found in storybooks and novels, few people took them seriously. They were merely regarded as legendary tales. Wang Dongli, for example, had only treated them as stories from novels, while many others had never even heard of them. Under such circumstances, being told that a legendary tale was true would indeed deal a blow to one's understanding of the world.

As they walked, Gu Chundong sent a voice transmission. "Brother, can you really cure him?"

Gu Mo replied, "In theory, yes. The Great Devouring Spirit Hand was designed to absorb spiritual energy in the first place. It is just that forcefully extracting it causes enormous harm to a person, so an item with the same characteristics is needed to draw the spiritual energy out before it can be guided away. Thus, in theory, as long as we find the Seven-Colored Peacock and take something from it, we can remove the spiritual energy from Wang Dongli's body."

"Like when you used Kirin Bone to remove the Fire Kirin's spiritual energy from Yu Shijiu's people?" Gu Chundong asked.

"Exactly," Gu Mo said. "It will be even easier now. I improved the Great Devouring Spirit Hand."

Gu Chundong said, "I hope the Wang family has something left behind by the Seven-Colored Peacock." After pondering for a moment, she asked again, "By the way, Brother, can Gongsun Jue really be revived?"

"Impossible," Gu Mo said. "Gongsun Jue was beaten by me until his soul scattered and he returned completely to the void. He cannot be revived. At best, if he was lucky, he might enter reincarnation and become another person. Or if destiny rests upon him and he becomes One Who Knows From Birth, he might have a chance to awaken his Awakened Past Life Memories and recover his memories. But simple resurrection is impossible."

"Then the Heavenly God Society..."

"They are just spouting nonsense to fool people," Gu Mo said. "Someone must have taken a fancy to the remnants Gongsun Jue left behind. Once gathered together, they are no small force. Moreover, every one of them cultivates the Taotie Divine Skill, and they can produce many unexpected effects when used. Those people, without exception, were all Gongsun Jue's most loyal followers if they received the Taotie Divine Skill from him. Thus, by using the revival of Gongsun Jue as a pretext, as long as those people believe it, they can be easily controlled, creating a group of death warriors."

"I see. Is resurrection truly impossible?" Gu Chundong asked.

"Impossible," Gu Mo said. "Think of it this way. After someone dies, their Nascent Soul disperses into a kind of qi and merges with heaven and earth. That kind of qi is everywhere between heaven and earth. It is like pouring a bucket of water into the sea. Could you then scoop up that same bucket of water? Besides, after death, a person's consciousness has already scattered."

"I understand."

The ruined temple where Wang Dongli had treated his injuries was not far from Azure Wave Mountain. The disciple he had sent to deliver the message was also a martial arts expert and moved swiftly, so before long, people from the Azure Wave Sword Sect arrived and took custody of the Heavenly God Society followers' corpses.

Afterward, Gu Mo and his group traveled with Wang Dongli and his disciple toward Qingyang County.

Five days later, the group arrived, dusty from travel, at Cave Rock Mountain outside Qingyang County's county seat.

The mountain was not particularly steep, but its forests were lush and dense. The Dongli Sect was built against the mountain, its pavilions and towers hidden amid the greenery, carrying something of a reclusive air.

However, as soon as they reached the mountain gate, Gu Mo and Red Clothes frowned almost simultaneously and exchanged an inconspicuous glance.

Both of them clearly sensed a faint but distinct fluctuation of Nascent Soul Power coming from deep within the Dongli Sect.

Gu Mo's heart tightened.

His main purpose in coming was to investigate Tie Tou's disappearance, and the culprit was very likely someone who wielded Nascent Soul Power. Such people were rare not only in Yun Province, but across the entire world.

Wang Dongli was one of the suspects, and now there was another person within the Dongli Sect who possessed Nascent Soul Power. That made the possibility even greater.

However, Gu Mo also guessed that this person was likely Wang Dongli's father, another person who possessed Peacock Spiritual Power.

Though Wang Dongli had said his father had been bedridden for years, to someone at the Nascent Soul Realm, the physical body was no longer important.

Just then, a young man in his early twenties, bearing a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Wang Dongli, stumbled out through the gate. Tears and snot streamed down his face, and he was overcome with terror and helplessness. He grabbed Wang Dongli's sleeve and wailed sharply, "Father! Father! You are finally back... Grandfather... Grandfather, he... he is dying! Hurry and see him one last time!"

Wang Dongli was struck as if by lightning. His face instantly turned deathly pale. The small measure of relaxation from returning home vanished without a trace, leaving only immense anguish and pain in his eyes.

He did not even have time to greet Gu Mo and the others. Like an arrow released from its bow, he rose from the ground, becoming a blurred afterimage as he shot toward a quiet courtyard halfway up the mountain, where the Nascent Soul Power was coming from.

"Go!" Gu Mo said in a low voice, and immediately followed with Gu Chundong and Red Clothes close behind.

Wang Dongli's disciple hurriedly explained Gu Mo's group's identities to the Wang family's young master, who therefore did not stop them.

Very soon, Gu Mo and the others caught up outside a large courtyard.

The source of that Nascent Soul fluctuation was in the main room directly before them.

A heart-rending cry suddenly came from inside. "Father—!"

At the same moment that cry rang out, Gu Mo and Red Clothes clearly sensed the Nascent Soul Power that had been bitterly holding on. Like a bubble pierced open, it released a soundless wail, suddenly fluctuated violently once, then completely collapsed and melted away. It transformed into countless tiny light spots that silently merged into the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth, leaving no trace to follow.

This was the phenomenon of consciousness dying, the Nascent Soul returning to the void, completely dispersing and returning to the source of heaven and earth.

Gu Mo and the other two entered.

The room was filled with a heavy medicinal odor and an indescribable stench of decay.

Wang Dongli knelt beside the bed, gripping the hand of the person lying there tightly. His shoulders shook violently, and his suppressed sobs were heartbreaking.

The man on the bed was Wang Dongli's father. He was withered beyond recognition, with little more than a layer of gray, lifeless skin clinging tightly to his bones. He was skin and bones, like dried firewood.

The neck and arms exposed beyond the thin blanket were covered with large festering wounds. Some had scabbed over and turned black, while others oozed yellow fluid and emitted a foul odor.

His eyes had sunk deeply into their sockets, his mouth was slightly open, and he had long since stopped breathing.

This appearance was even more miserable and terrifying than Wang Dongli's description of "collapsed qi and blood, withered body." Clearly, he had endured unimaginable pain in his final moments.

Gu Mo swept his gaze over him and sharply sensed that the special spiritual energy belonging to the Peacock Spirit Race, which should have been within Old Master Wang's body, had now vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed.

Wang Dongli's son ran in as well and fell to his knees, bursting into tears.

After quite some time, Wang Dongli took several deep breaths and forcibly suppressed his surging emotions. He wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, rose, and turned toward Gu Mo's group. His voice was hoarse and exhausted. "Great Hero Gu, Heroine Gu, Miss Red Clothes... I am sorry. My father... this... please forgive Wang for being unable to personally receive the three of you right now."

Gu Mo hurriedly said, "Sect Leader Wang, there is no need for ceremony."

Wang Dongli then called over a disciple outside the door and ordered, "Take our three honored guests to rest in the west wing courtyard. Attend to them properly. Do not neglect them!"

With this happening, Gu Mo naturally found it inappropriate to raise the matter of searching for Tie Tou and the Seven-Colored Peacock. He said, "My condolences," then departed with Gu Chundong and Red Clothes.

As they walked, Gu Chundong suddenly asked, "Brother, Sect Leader Wang will definitely hold a funeral for Old Master Wang, and we happened to arrive at this time. Should we give some condolence money?"

"Give some," Gu Mo said.

"Not too much, right?" Gu Chundong asked.

"You decide."

"Alright."

That night, the Dongli Sect hung white funeral banners and lit ever-burning lamps.

The mourning hall was set up in the rear courtyard. Old Master Wang's coffin rested in the center, incense and candles curling through the air, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive.

Dressed in deep mourning clothes, Wang Dongli knelt alone before the bier, mechanically feeding spirit money into the fire basin.

The flickering candlelight cast shifting shadows across his haggard face, making him seem even more desolate.

Although Wang Dongli knew that death was a release for his father, and although he had long prepared himself for it, when this day truly came, his heart still ached terribly.

No one knew how much time passed. The night deepened, and the inside and outside of the mourning hall were deathly still. Only the faint crackling of burning spirit money in the fire basin could be heard.

Then, an extremely faint and intermittent sound of speaking drifted into Wang Dongli's ears, like the hum of mosquitoes, barely there.

That voice... seemed to come from the direction of the mourning hall entrance.

Wang Dongli jolted in alarm, and his scattered mind instantly focused somewhat.

He lifted his head and looked toward the open doors of the mourning hall. Beyond them lay darkness so thick it could not be dissolved, with only the pale halo cast by white lanterns hanging beneath the corridor.

He furrowed his brows and held his breath.

The voice sounded again. It seemed like two people whispering, but the words were blurred and impossible to make out.

Puzzled, Wang Dongli immediately suspected that the two disciples keeping vigil at the entrance were chatting outside and disturbing the dead.

A thread of anger rose within him. Supporting himself on his sore, numb knees, he stood and walked heavily toward the door.

At the entrance, by the weak light of the lantern, he saw what seemed to be a figure crouched in the shadows beyond the threshold. The figure was curled up with its back to him, head lowered, shoulders faintly trembling. That intermittent whisper came from it.

He assumed it was one of the disciples keeping vigil.

"What are you doing there? Where is Xiao Liu? Where did he go?" Wang Dongli asked in a low voice, his words especially abrupt in the silent night.

The crouching figure seemed not to hear him. It maintained the same posture, while the whispering instead became clearer, as though it were sleep-talking, or arguing with someone.

Anger flared in Wang Dongli's heart. He did not know which disciple could be so ignorant of propriety, putting on a ghostly act at the mourning hall entrance in the dead of night.

He strode forward, raised his hand, and with a trace of reproachful force, heavily slapped the person's shoulder—

Slap!

The touch was icy cold.

It did not feel like he had struck a living person's shoulder at all. It was more like striking a frozen block of hard wood.

The crouching figure abruptly stopped moving after that slap, and the whispers ceased as well.

Inside and outside the mourning hall, a suffocating deathly stillness descended.

Even the crackling from the fire basin disappeared.

Wang Dongli's heart suddenly clenched. A surge of cold energy shot from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head. Instinctively, he wanted to pull back his hand, but his gaze remained fixed on that figure as it slowly turned around...

The figure turned with extreme stiffness. The faint crack... crack... of bones grinding together made one's teeth ache, like rusted machinery being forced into motion.

At last, a face completely turned toward him, exposed beneath the ghastly white lantern light.

Wang Dongli's pupils instantly contracted to the size of needlepoints!

That face—gray, withered, skin and flesh tightly pressed against the cheekbones, the eye sockets deeply sunken into two black holes, lips shriveled to reveal yellowed teeth... It was his father's face. It was Old Master Wang's lifeless face, the one that had just been placed in the coffin!

At that moment, those empty eye sockets on the dead man's face seemed to "look" at him.

An indescribable terror, the ultimate fear born from the instinct for life itself, seized Wang Dongli's entire body. It seemed as though his blood had frozen solid in that instant.

A smile appeared on Old Master Wang's skin-and-bones face. "Son, you have come too. Your grandfather and great-grandfather... they are all waiting for you!"

In the next instant, several more people wearing burial clothes appeared in the dimness, all of them skin and bones.

Wang Dongli felt as though an invisible giant hammer had struck him viciously. He staggered backward, crashing hard into the mourning hall's doorframe with a loud bang!

At once, he woke up.

He was still kneeling in the mourning hall, before the coffin.

It had only been a nightmare. Startled awake, he had even overturned the basin in front of him that held the burning spirit money.

The two disciples keeping vigil at the entrance heard the commotion and rushed inside. "Master, what happened?"

"It is nothing. I am somewhat tired." Wang Dongli waved his hand.

"Master, go get some rest. Xiao Liu and I can handle things here," one disciple said, helping Wang Dongli to his feet.

Wang Dongli hesitated briefly. "I will wash my face and wake myself up. You two watch over this place first."

With that, Wang Dongli dragged his exhausted body outside.

His legs felt as though they had been filled with lead as he slowly made his way toward the old well at the corner of the courtyard.

The stifling air in the mourning hall and that nightmare, which had been far too real, made him desperately need icy well water to stimulate his dull, numb nerves.

The night wind blew past, causing the white lanterns beneath the corridor to sway unsteadily. They cast warped, wavering shadows across the ground like silent ghosts.

He reached the well, picked up the wooden bucket beside it, and the rope scraped against the well's edge with a harsh creak, especially piercing in the quiet night.

He threw the wooden bucket into the well and listened to the dull plop. A moment later, he pulled up the bucket filled with well water. The cold scent of it rushed toward him, carrying the chill of deep earth.

He poured the water into a stone basin beside him for washing hands. The surface rippled a few times before gradually becoming still, reflecting the pale, blurred night sky above and the dim halo of the white lantern beneath the eaves.

Wearily, he bent down, bracing both hands against the stone basin's rim. He was about to scoop up a handful of water and splash it hard over his face, driving away the exhaustion and grief that were almost swallowing him whole.

His face drew close to the water.

But at that moment, he saw a face reflected upon the surface.

That face was gray and withered, its skin and flesh pressed tightly against high cheekbones. Its sunken eye sockets were like two black holes devouring all light, its shriveled lips exposing several yellowed, warped teeth.

That face was unmistakably his father's—Old Master Wang's!

Wang Dongli stumbled back in terror and violently shoved the stone basin over, producing a loud bang!

He woke up once again.

He was still kneeling in the mourning hall, before the coffin, and the basin holding the burning spirit money had been overturned before him.

"Master, what happened?"

The two disciples keeping vigil hurried inside.

Yet at that moment, Wang Dongli suddenly felt that both disciples had an unreal, fractured quality about them.