The Eerie Monster, Lin Muqian

Great Jin had been founded on martial prowess and revered the martial way.

The realm was divided into twelve provinces and sixty-four prefectures. Amid countless mountains, rivers, and towns, sects stood everywhere, while martial academies were too numerous to count.

Spirit Peak County wasn't large. It lay within Northern Province, and only Spirit Peak Mountain at its back could be considered a notable mountain.

As the saying went, those by the mountains lived off the mountains; those by the waters lived off the waters.

Most of Spirit Peak County's people made their living from Spirit Peak Mountain.

After accompanying Lin You'er through dinner, the little girl happily slung her bamboo basket over her arm and skipped home.

Su Qingyang also stepped outside, shut the door behind him, and followed the alley to the left.

Not long after leaving the alley, a burst of clamor came from the market district. The passing pedestrians looked panicked as they hurried back the way they had come.

"Hmm? Did something happen?"

Curiosity stirred in Su Qingyang, and he walked against the flow of people toward the source of the commotion.

Before he got close, he saw several burly men in the black uniforms of constables blocking the street ahead and dispersing the crowd. Every onlooker wore an expression of terror, hurriedly retreating three paces away without daring to linger.

As Su Qingyang approached and looked over, a trace of gravity immediately appeared in his calm eyes.

A middle-aged man lay on the ground, his eyes bulging outward as though they were about to burst from their sockets. Black blood flowed from his seven orifices, carrying an unbearable stench.

The smell was like that of a dead sea fish left to rot in mud for more than ten days.

"Save... save... me... Quick! Save me! Save me now!"

The man vomited blood as he howled at those around him. His nails clawed at the ground while he dragged his powerless body toward the passersby with difficulty.

Gurgle!!!

He suddenly spewed out a huge mouthful of blood mixed with strange chunks of flesh. The pieces seemed to twitch faintly, as if something were inside them.

Su Qingyang wanted to step closer for a better look, but someone grabbed him from beside him.

It was a dark-faced man in a black constable's uniform. As he pulled Su Qingyang back, he said with a grave expression, "Qingyang, stay back. Don't get close."

The dark-faced man was Lin You'er's father, Lin Shan, the deputy captain of Spirit Peak County's constable squad.

Lin Shan pulled Su Qingyang back to the mouth of the alley, then glanced again at the dying hunter on the ground before lowering his voice, his face ugly with concern.

"Something like a plague disaster seems to have appeared in the county recently... No one knows what happened to that Bai Family man. Ever since he returned from Spirit Peak Mountain a few days ago, he'd been coughing nonstop."

"At first, we didn't think much of it. Though he was coughing, his bones and physique were strong, and it hadn't delayed his usual hunting work...

"But today, he was bargaining with someone by the roadside when he suddenly fell stiff as a board. In the blink of an eye, he became this horrifying."

Su Qingyang's brow twitched faintly. Looking at the man on the ground, he asked, "Uncle Lin, did it strike without any warning?"

Lin Shan rubbed his brow tiredly and nodded solemnly. "That's right... We still don't know whether this strange illness is contagious, but no matter what, we must be careful."

"With how he looks, once someone catches it, I'm afraid there'll be no cure."

When he finished speaking, he let out a heavy sigh.

As the deputy captain of Spirit Peak County's constable squad, he was naturally overwhelmed by the sudden emergence of such a bizarre illness.

What was more, his wife and daughter both lived within the city. If the plague truly erupted, the people of the entire little city would suffer. His own family would be the first to bear the brunt of it—the consequences would be unthinkable.

"Urgh... Aah!"

The hunter in the middle of the street suddenly let out a muffled scream of agony. His heartbeat grew faster and faster until it finally reached a critical point.

Bang! His heart exploded!

Foul blood and mashed flesh smeared his entire face. One eyeball burst from its socket, bouncing along the ground until it rolled all the way to Su Qingyang's feet, staring directly at the two of them.

Terror and resentment still lingered in its pupil, as though it were still condemning them for refusing to save him.

Lin Shan jumped in fright and violently dragged Su Qingyang several steps back, immediately checking whether any foul blood had splashed onto them.

Su Qingyang, however, remained calm as he silently stared at the fallen eyeball by his feet.

Until a dark whisper rang beside Su Qingyang's ear. "You... can see me?"

Spirit Peak County was a small county town, and there were very few physicians within it.

Only after the man died did a physician rush over with a medicine chest. Yet upon seeing the scene of mangled flesh and blood, he could only shake his head helplessly.

In the end, at everyone's suggestion, they burned the corpse on the spot.

The strange incident spread throughout the city. For a time, every resident feared for their safety and shut themselves indoors.

Uncle Lin wore an ugly expression for a long while before telling Su Qingyang of another grave concern.

Spirit Peak Mountain had also begun to stir recently. Hunters who went out had died in the mountains, and according to their companions who had luckily escaped, they had been killed by bandits.

Since ancient times, bandits had mostly been deserters from battlefields. They specialized in raiding remote towns.

Those with some conscience were manageable enough—they wanted money, not lives.

But if they encountered utterly vicious men, both wealth and lives would be taken together.

As the deputy captain of the constable squad, Lin Shan had originally discussed with the captain about conscripting the city's able-bodied young men to form teams, establish defenses, and resist the bandits descending the mountain to plunder.

But now that this eerie plague disaster had erupted out of nowhere, the two calamities had collided, making the situation extraordinarily thorny in an instant.

"With these two disasters together, the road ahead is impossible to predict. We don't even know whether we can get through this safely. As for the worst possible outcome... I don't dare think too deeply about it."

Lin Shan's tone was heavy. "I don't care much about myself, but I have people on my mind. I can't set my heart at ease."

"Qingyang, among everyone on this street, you're the one I trust most."

"I think your character is the best. So if anything happens to me, I'll entrust my wife and child to you. Take good care of your sister-in-law and You'er for me..."

Su Qingyang turned to take his leave, but Lin Shan suddenly reached out and grabbed him, as if he were making arrangements for his own death in advance.

His face was filled with worry. Afraid that he might truly leave and never return, he was leaving behind his final instructions early.

Su Qingyang raised his eyes toward Spirit Peak Mountain, shrouded in clouds and mist in the distance. His brow twitched slightly, and after a moment, he only said, "Uncle Lin, put your mind at ease. Nothing will happen."

Lin Shan nodded reluctantly. Though he remained deeply worried, he said nothing more. With his hands clasped behind his back, he turned away and slowly departed alongside the setting sun.

The sunset stretched his lonely, desolate shadow long behind him.

Su Qingyang walked alone to the county town's walls, then leaped lightly onto them.

"A Grandmaster... worthy of having stepped into the Transcendent Realm. He truly could see things ordinary people couldn't."

As the sun sank westward, magnificent evening clouds dyed Spirit Peak Mountain blood-red.

He gazed at the verdant mountain ranges in the distance, stretching toward the endless horizon, and gave a stretch.

"You can see me?"

"You can see me, right!"

"You really can see me!"

Before Su Qingyang stood a monster wreathed in black qi, its entire body covered in a layer of writhing, eerie fur, its features hideous and savage.

It stared straight at Su Qingyang from its blood-red eye sockets, pressing close to his face.

"You can see... you can see..."

"Hahaha!!! You really can see me!!"

The monster bared its fangs and brandished its claws, unleashing a shriek that didn't sound human. Yet the citizens below the city walls felt nothing at all, as if it existed wholly apart from the mortal world.

"Too damn noisy!"

"..." The monster's shriek abruptly stopped.

Su Qingyang finally withdrew his gaze, revealing eyes as resplendent as a golden river of stars. For the first time, an undisguised, icy killing intent burst forth from within them.

"So what if I can see you?"

The monster froze. Then its face twisted as it broke into wild, arrogant laughter. "Kill you! I'm going to kill you..."

"Hahaha!!!"

A terrifying surge of blood qi beyond words erupted into the sky. His blood qi rose like a long rainbow, crimson radiance drifting upward and piercing the clouds.

At that moment, even the monster's hollow eye sockets contracted. That aura was so terrifying that it made even it shudder with fear.

Su Qingyang reached out with one hand, clamping down on its head with an overwhelming, irresistible force.

"Blood Refining Grandmaster!! You're a Blood Refining Grandmaster!!"

Bang!

With a deafening crash.

The monster's entire body was crushed to pieces. Yet at the moment of death, the writhing fur on its body was burned away by the flames of blood qi.

The monster seemed to experience a final flash of life, vaguely recovering its original intelligence and Spirituality.

Su Qingyang's movement paused slightly.

The man's face was no longer horrifying. A flicker of confusion, age-worn sorrow, and fear appeared in his eyes, ultimately turning into frail clarity.

There was even a joy like liberation.

"Th-thank... you..."

"Finally... finally, I can... die..."

The indistinct words grew softer and softer, but it was clear that he was thanking Su Qingyang for killing him.

Because to him, this was liberation. Living in such a form, worse than death—what unbearable torment was that?

"I... Lin Muqian... cannot let it go... I cannot die in peace..."

The expressionless Su Qingyang's golden eyes narrowed. "Lin Muqian? You said your name is Lin Muqian?"

The man at death's door looked over instinctively, but in the next instant, the last glimmer in his eyes abruptly vanished. His remaining body turned into wisps of black smoke and slowly scattered on the wind.

Su Qingyang stood quietly where the phantom had vanished, unmoving for a long time. The golden radiance in his eyes gradually faded, returning to bottomless black, like an abyss ten thousand fathoms deep.

The monster that had emerged from the Bai Family man's body after his death had truly caught him by surprise.

"Was that form he took just now a ghost?"

"Lin Muqian... Lin Muqian..."

He didn't recognize the name, but from the man's words, he was certainly no insignificant figure.

"I'd originally planned to observe for a few more days. Now, it seems it's better to end this directly." Su Qingyang murmured, his gaze falling upon Spirit Peak Mountain shrouded in twilight.

Half the blazing sun had sunk below the horizon. Half of Su Qingyang's face was hidden in shadow, his expression dark and unreadable, vaguely divine!