Heaven's justice was clear; evil met its due retribution

Heaven's justice was clear; evil met its due retribution

Yu Chen slept soundly.

He slept through the night until the third watch, then woke naturally.

His exhausted mind had recovered somewhat as well.

After getting up, he looked at the many paper figures in the room and put them all away.

Only a paper bird shaped like a crow remained.

Yu Chen had yet to fully test the marvels of the Paper Man and Paper Horse Art.

According to the book, even without magical power, one could control paper figures with the mind alone.

But Yu Chen's strength had not fully returned, so he chose a Paper Crow that would be easier to control.

Following the method he had practiced countless times in that dream, Yu Chen closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts upon the Paper Crow.

At once, a strange sensation filled his entire body.

In that instant, Yu Chen seemed to become the Paper Crow itself. At the movement of his thoughts, the paper crow in his hand slowly flapped its wings and staggered into flight!

It flew past the old window, past the disorderly tombstones, and through the pitch-black forest toward the scattered lights below the mountain!

The feeling was extraordinarily strange!

Yu Chen seemed to have truly become a bird, soaring between heaven and earth!

But before long, he felt his "body" growing heavier and heavier.

He immediately understood that it had gone too far from his real body and could no longer hold on.

Just as he was about to direct the Paper Crow back, he suddenly heard voices coming from the forest!

Curious, the Paper Crow turned to look.

Amid the dark vegetation, two figures were making their way forward with torches raised high.

By the firelight, Yu Chen saw their faces clearly.

The man in front was small and wiry, with a face full of hard flesh. A knife scar ran from the corner of his eye to his chin like a savage centipede, chilling to behold!

The man following behind him was enormously built, like a towering wall, though he did not look particularly bright.

Yu Chen suddenly understood.

He knew these two.

The wiry one was called Knife-Face, while the tall, burly fellow was Big Strong. Both were notorious ruffians in the county, often committing acts of bullying men and tyrannizing women.

The common people suffered miserably at their hands, but the two had joined a bandit gang called Blackwater. Knife-Face was vicious and ruthless, while Big Strong possessed brute strength. Ordinary folk were simply no match for them.

Thus, even when wronged, people could only swallow shattered teeth mixed with blood.

But several days ago, these two arrogant hooligans had finally stirred up a great disaster.

Half a month ago, a foolish woman had arrived in Weishui County Seat.

She was dull and dazed, unable to speak clearly, and only knew how to grin foolishly at people.

Even when cursed at and mocked, she would only smile stupidly.

Later, some old bachelors discovered that beneath the madwoman's ragged appearance, she was actually quite pretty. Evil thoughts arose in their hearts, and they brought her into their homes for a bout of cloud and rain.

The woman was already simple-minded, without family or kin, so naturally no one cared.

Fortunately, though those bachelors were ruled by lust, they still retained a shred of humanity. After each time, they would at least give the woman some food and clothing.

That allowed her to survive in the county seat.

Until three days ago, when the drunken Knife-Face and Big Strong forcibly dragged the woman into a house.

That night, the woman who had always known only how to smile foolishly wailed in agony for the entire night. Only when the eastern sky began to pale did it finally stop.

At dusk the next day, someone discovered a corpse beneath the bridgehead, covered in injuries, battered black and blue, with no breath left in her. Only then did they report it to the authorities.

A life had been lost. Even if the dead woman was a nameless fool, the authorities could not simply ignore it.

After an investigation, it was naturally easy to uncover Knife-Face and Big Strong's evil deed that night.

But when the constables came for them, the two had vanished without a trace. They had clearly fled long ago.

It was the Corpse Mover who had carried the woman's body up to Qingfeng Mausoleum who told Yu Chen about it.

And because Yu Chen had personally seen the foolish woman's tragic state at the time, the memory remained fresh in his mind.

—That foolish woman was still buried in Qingfeng Mausoleum even now!

Even thinking of it now filled Yu Chen with unbearable sorrow.

How could she merely have died miserably?

She had suffered tortures more cruel than anything told by storytellers!

That corpse—her frail limbs had been brutally snapped by two drunkards, not a patch of skin on her body remained uninjured, her jaw was dislocated, her eyes bulged from their sockets, and even in death, they would not close.

Not only Yu Chen—even the Corpse Mover, who had seen all manner of miserable deaths, had felt a chill crawl over his skin.

Just as Yu Chen, watching the two hooligans through the Paper Crow's eyes, was lost in thought, the pair suddenly began speaking.

The brawny Big Strong asked, "Didn't Sixth Master tell us to run for our lives? Why are we coming up the mountain?"

Knife-Face turned and glared at him. "Run for our lives? You idiot, do you think running costs no money? Want to starve to death?"

Big Strong was puzzled. "Travel money... we can just rob someone for it. What are we doing on Gravehead Mountain?"

"What the hell do you know?" Knife-Face snorted. "Normally, breaking into any household and snatching some money would be easy.

"But now both of us are wanted. If we stir up the slightest commotion, even with wings, we won't escape! And you still dare rob people openly?

"But this mountain is different. I know Qingfeng Mausoleum has only one little brat watching the graves—thin and small, without family or kin, and even from a criminal household. Even if he dies, no one will know for a while!"

Only then did Big Strong understand, though he still had a question. "But what money could that poor grave watcher possibly have?"

"Don't look down on grave watchers!" Knife-Face sneered.

"This morning, I was hiding beneath the bridge and saw that grave watcher go to Spring Breeze Pavilion to buy food! If he were penniless, would he dare go to Spring Breeze Pavilion?

"Besides, he has sold paper figures, incense, and candles in the mausoleum for years. With no major expenses, he must have saved up some money—enough for us to flee!"

"Brother Knife is smart!" Big Strong grinned, his eyes rolling. "Perfect. I was thinking of digging that woman out for another look."

"You dog-born bastard, you really are filth!" Knife-Face cursed with a laugh. He did not stop him, merely reminding him, "Take care of business first!"

The business he meant naturally needed no explanation—it was robbing Yu Chen.

But neither of them knew that a gray, dim crow sat upon the treetop above their heads, hearing every word.

Qingfeng Mausoleum.

Yu Chen opened his eyes and drew a deep breath.

His heart could not calm down.

The foolish woman's fate had already filled him with pity and sympathy.

And now these two murderers were actually setting their sights on him, a mere grave watcher?

Yu Chen's first thought was to report them to the authorities and have their heads fall at the third quarter of noon!

But on second thought, the pair would soon arrive at Qingfeng Mausoleum, and there was only one path up and down the mountain. If he went down to report them, he would certainly run into them.

Would that not be walking straight into a net?

And the paper figure art he had only learned today had the form but not the divine might. It likely could not deal with two villains.

As he pondered, an idea sprouted in the young man's heart.

He bowed lightly toward the tombs outside the door and apologized. "Miss, circumstances leave me no choice. Forgive this offense."

With that, he waved a hand and cleared the cluttered table, beginning his art!

Under the dim candlelight, the young man's hands became afterimages, moving in intricate, repeated motions.

Bamboo strips formed the bones, yellow paper became flesh, paste served as sinews, cinnabar congealed into blood, and black ink became hair. As his brush danced like dragons and snakes, he sketched a thing of the underworld!

Before long, Yu Chen looked at the object on the table, focused his mind, and blew out a breath!

In an instant, white smoke curled forth, and ghostly light sprang to life!

A white-clad figure drifted out from the smoke and floated into the night.

Below Qingfeng Mausoleum, the two hooligans, Knife-Face and Big Strong, had already neared the mausoleum gate. They extinguished their torches, stuck them into the snowy ground, and were about to break in!

But at that very moment, Big Strong felt a chill down his back and instinctively turned around!

At once, his whole body froze. His teeth chattered violently, yet no sound came out!

Knife-Face stared fixedly at Yu Chen's lit room. Noticing Big Strong's strange reaction, he lowered his voice. "Idiot, what are you doing?"

Big Strong trembled like chaff in a sieve. He merely stiffly jabbed Knife-Face with his elbow, still unable to make a sound!

Impatient, Knife-Face turned around—and came face-to-face with a white visage!

The face was pale as paper, yet its eye sockets were dark, empty hollows smeared with blood. Three feet of red hung down, and disheveled hair fell around it!

It seemed to be blowing breath right into his face!

At that instant, an indescribable icy horror rose from the tip of Knife-Face's heart!

He staggered backward and tripped onto the snowy ground!

The ghostly thing fully revealed its true form!

Its twisted limbs were grotesquely strange. Its back faced them, yet its head had turned all the way around to face them.

Was that not the foolish woman they had tortured for an entire night?

It slowly drew closer!

"Aah!!"

"A ghost!!!"

Though Knife-Face and Big Strong were both hooligans, they only dared bully the weak and feared the strong. When had they ever seen something so terrifying?

Their courage shattered at once, and they fled desperately down the mountain!

The next day.

Early that morning, townsfolk found Knife-Face and Big Strong in the deep snow, both as dazed as fools.

They were in a wretched state, covered in mud and melted snow, their bodies bruised all over as though they had fallen repeatedly.

Their mouths kept muttering without pause.

"Ghost... there's a ghost... the ghost came..."

This strange sight left ordinary people too frightened to approach, and they immediately reported it to the authorities.

Constables soon arrived and seized both hooligans.

Yet what puzzled the many onlookers was that although the two had been captured, they showed no reaction at all. They merely muttered to themselves, their bodies shaking like chaff in a sieve!

Later, a storyteller recorded the affair and made it into a tale, telling it to the crowds at Skybridge.

He said that two hooligans, blinded by lust, had taken a life and were pursued by the wronged soul seeking vengeance, leaving them mad and foolish.

At the end, he added one line: evil met its due retribution!

Once the story spread, those old bachelors who had once taken advantage of the foolish woman were all so frightened they could not sleep. They went to Qingfeng Mausoleum, lit candles and incense, and kowtowed in worship!

(End of this chapter)