Nightmare Deepens

Zhou Ji could hardly believe that the young master, who had only just reached the pinnacle of Muscle-Tendon Tempering... had actually sent him, someone half a step into Organ Tempering, flying with one punch until he coughed blood.

Fortunately, that punch had come head-on and had not targeted any vital spot...

Otherwise, that single blow could have beaten him to death outright.

This young master... had trained in martial arts for barely a month. It was simply too exaggerated.

Zhou Ji wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and rose to his feet. "Young Master's fist force is unmatched. I am utterly convinced."

Xie An gave a slight nod.

Previously, he had never mastered the third level of Taishan Fist, so the fist force he could unleash had been limited.

After all, the third level was the true essence and killing move of Taishan Fist.

Now that the third level, Five Mountains Collapse, had reached mastery, its power had naturally undergone a qualitative leap.

Xie An patted Zhou Ji on the shoulder. "We'll stop here today. Go to the treasury and collect fifty taels of silver, along with two doses of Tiger-Viscera Essence Decoction."

"Thank you for Young Master's reward!"

After watching Zhou Ji leave, Xie An still felt dissatisfied, oppressed by the frustration of being unable to fully unleash the power of Taishan Fist.

Clearly, a martial artist at the third threshold of Bone Tempering could no longer meet his needs.

He needed a stronger sparring partner.

Xie An left the room and went to inspect the training ground.

It was already past noon, but more than twenty guards were still gathered on the training ground, practicing and exchanging moves.

Xie An stood beneath the corridor for a while. Through Qi-Gazing, he roughly determined that one guard had reached Organ Tempering:

He was a burly man with a scar across his face, sitting at the edge of the training ground with a saber in his arms. He was taciturn, giving off the feeling that he was ruthless and spoke little.

Xie An walked over to the scarred man. "What is your name?"

Hearing someone call out, the scarred man looked up and saw Xie An. He did not rise to pay his respects, merely answering flatly, "Li Dao."

Xie An asked Li Dao in detail about his background and learned that Li Dao had once been a constable at the yamen. During an operation to pursue bandits, his face had been slashed by one of them, though he had still captured the bandit. Yet the credit had been stolen by the chief constable and several veteran constables. Deeply disappointed in the yamen, Li Dao had resigned and come to Xie Residence as a guard.

"From now on, come to the West Courtyard and train with me. Your monthly allowance will increase by fifty taels, and you'll receive two doses of Tiger-Heart Blood Essence Decoction. Are you willing?"

Li Dao was greatly startled.

Tiger-Heart Blood Essence Decoction was an indispensable medicinal aid for breaking through Blood Tempering. Each dose cost thirty taels on the market.

That was the equivalent of gaining an extra hundred taels of income every month for nothing.

Seeing that Xie An did not seem to be joking, Li Dao finally rose and cupped his hands toward him. "I am willing."

"Come with me."

Xie An brought Li Dao to the West Courtyard, took off his fox-fur cloak, and immediately attacked with Taishan Fist at the mastery level.

Li Dao had never expected the spoiled young master from his impression to enjoy martial arts training. At first, he did not take it seriously. But after receiving two of Xie An's punches, his expression changed at once, and he no longer dared be careless.

After all, he was an Organ Tempering martial artist, a full level stronger than Zhou Ji.

He actually received Xie An's Taishan Fist steadily.

Xie An threw caution to the wind and unleashed move after move. The Five True Forms erupted in rolling succession alongside Taishan Fist. At last, he fought to his heart's content, occasionally hearing the explosive twang of great tendons snapping within his body.

Clearly, under such tempering, the other great tendons in Xie An's body were continually being opened up.

In the days that followed, life grew busy for Xie An, the eldest young master.

Every morning after rising, he would seek out Li Dao to spar, tempering his fist and footwork while opening his tendons along the way.

After sparring, he would soak in a medicinal bath of Tiger-Tendon Essence Decoction.

Though the days were dull and flavorless, they were immensely fulfilling. Every day, he could feel his martial arts improving.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

That day, while sparring with Li Dao, the final explosive twang of a great tendon rang out.

Xie An knew that all 485 great tendons throughout his body had been completely opened.

Although his realm still remained at Muscle-Tendon Tempering, he could already fight Li Dao, who had just entered Organ Tempering, on roughly even terms.

By the time their sparring continued into dusk, Li Dao was drenched in sweat. "Young Master truly is a martial arts prodigy. You are clearly only at Muscle-Tendon Tempering, yet you have opened all 485 great tendons in your body. I have trained in martial arts for twenty years, and this is the first time I have seen the extraordinary sight of someone opening every great tendon in their body."

Xie An withdrew his hand. "We'll stop here today. You may return."

After dismissing Li Dao, Xie An returned to the medicinal bath room and soaked in Tiger-Bone Essence Decoction.

Three days earlier, when he had opened more than 450 great tendons, Tiger-Tendon Essence Decoction had ceased to have any effect. Xie An had switched to soaking in Tiger-Bone Essence Decoction.

The medicinal power flowed into his body through his pores, gathering within every bone throughout his body, tempering them and making them dense and compact...

After the medicinal bath, Xie An lay exhausted on his bed.

Perhaps because he had overexerted himself during the day, Xie An slept especially heavily that night.

In his daze, he had another nightmare.

Heavy snow whirled through the air, and a lone carriage stood alone.

Xie An took Zhao Hu to Li Family Village.

Tax clerks at the village entrance beat copper gongs to collect taxes; a grain-paying line as withered as dead vines; corpses packed thickly upon the old locust tree; an old Daoist performing rites... children playing and chasing through the village, peddlers calling out their wares, and Li Degui fawning obsequiously...

"It will be dark soon. Why not rest for the night at my humble home, Young Master? Tomorrow, I will take you door to door to make inquiries."

"There's no need to stay overnight. Help me fill the hot-water bottle with hot water."

Xie An took the hot-water bottle filled with hot water and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a piercing burst of copper-gong sounds:

"Clang, clang, clang... collecting grain, paying taxes..."

The last time he dreamed this far, Xie An had awakened.

But not this time. The dream deepened and continued onward.

The copper-gong sounds kept drawing nearer until, at last, someone began knocking on the door.

"Tap, tap!"

"Boom!"

As the third knock exploded, the door bolt, which was clearly jammed shut... began to shift sideways on its own with a "scrape, scrape."

Then a deathly pale hand slowly slipped through the crack in the door and gradually pushed it open.

The tax clerk who had collected taxes at the village entrance during the day then appeared outside. He held a register in one hand and a wolf-hair brush in the other. A blackened copper gong and mallet hung from his waist. The pale skin of his face clung in wrinkles to his skull, his eye sockets were sunken like those of a dried corpse, and he gave off the stench of rotting fruit.

Standing outside the door, the tax clerk first questioned Zhao Hu:

"Collecting grain, paying taxes... grass markers as proof, vermilion brush to tick the accounts. Those with money weigh out silver; those without... use their lifespan to fill the granary. No debts are recorded in the Underworld Ledger, hee hee... have you paid your Grave Tax?"

Adhering to the taboo that one must not answer when a ghost asked a question, Zhao Hu said nothing.

But... the tax clerk did not leave. Instead, he raised his head to look above the doorway.

The yellow lantern hanging high above the door had vanished somehow.

Then the tax clerk in dark official clothes stepped through the door one pace at a time. Suddenly, he opened his bloody maw, exposing two rows of dense fangs, and lunged directly at Zhao Hu. He pinned Zhao Hu to the ground, tore open his chest with both hands, and dug out his organs to devour every last bit.

The next moment, the tax clerk in dark official clothes slowly turned his head. With a mouth full of blood, he looked at Xie An and revealed a sinister smile. "Hee hee... have you paid your Grave Tax?"

Fuck!

Xie An suddenly shouted and jolted upright from the bed.

So it had been a nightmare...

"This dream was too real, too terrifying!"

If it had only been the first time he dreamed of Li Family Village, Xie An might have believed it was merely a dream.

But the second time, he had dreamed of the exact same scene, and it had even advanced a great step further... Something was wrong.

He vaguely remembered that when Uncle Shui had examined the Vital Breath within him last time, he had specifically asked whether there was any difference between Xie An's nightmares and reality.

At the time, Xie An had answered that there was none.

Uncle Shui had then said that what one thought of by day, one dreamed of by night; it was caused by excessive fright.

But now... the dream had changed.

That was downright eerie.

"Could I be haunted?"

Xie An hurriedly climbed out of bed and went to the desk to look in the mirror.

He activated Spirit Sight and Qi-Gazing.

To his shock, he saw that the wisp of descending qi on his body had grown noticeably stronger.

Xie An's heart gradually sank.

"Something is definitely wrong with me!"

"The qi of the living rises, the qi of the dead remains still. Descending qi... perhaps I've been tainted by some ghostly evil. And it's connected to this nightmare."

Xie An let out a long breath and pushed open the window, only to see that the sky was already bright.

Outside, Qiu Lan was directing craftsmen as they repaired the Taihu rock.

"Qiu Lan!"

Xie An called out.

Upon hearing him, Qiu Lan immediately jogged into the room. "Young Master is up! I'll attend to your washing and dressing right away."

After washing and changing, Xie An asked, "Is Uncle Shui in the residence?"

Qiu Lan shook her head. "Uncle Shui left early this morning with Master."

Xie An said, "Prepare a gift. I'll go to Zhao Hu's home in a while and take a look."

Xie An kept feeling that this nightmare... might not be merely a nightmare.

In the dream, Zhao Hu had been clawed to death by the Grain-Collecting Ghost.

Uneasy, Xie An wanted to go see Zhao Hu and verify it.