Of Three Broad Roads, Take the Middle

Thunder rolled as Lin Feng darted through the forest, swift as an arrow loosed from a bow.

Raindrops the size of copper coins had already begun falling, pelting his head.

Even Lin Feng was a little out of breath.

He really was lost.

The surrounding darkness shrouded the area like a curtain. Only the increasingly frequent lightning pierced it, giving Lin Feng glimpses of the path ahead.

Occasionally, a flash illuminated the many strange beings hiding behind the trees, peeking at Lin Feng.

He called them strange beings rather than evil gods or lurking spirits because, when he occasionally looked up, he saw a shadow at least sixty or seventy feet tall looking down at him. When the lightning vanished, so did they.

Those shadows were definitely not normal creatures.

Lin Feng marveled inwardly, unsure what they were. They seemed to bear him no ill will; he sensed no malice from them.

The moment Lin Feng realized he was lost, he decisively abandoned science.

He chose mysticism.

By mysticism, he meant [Mountain God's Blessing]. With that blessing, he only needed to choose the first direction that popped into his head.

There was also [Sword Heart Clarity]. Wherever he sensed danger, he steered clear.

And just like that, he actually found the Jixi Inn.

A ruddy glow seeped from a small two-story building. Its entrance stood half closed, looking rather desolate amid the thunder and lightning.

Who knew who had built an inn like this deep in the mountains?

Whew, finally found it.

Rain was already hammering down, obscuring his vision.

Lightning flashed overhead, one bolt after another. Lin Feng felt every hair on his body stand on end, as though a bolt might strike him at any moment.

He hacked through the vines and trees ahead with his sword. Before he could move on, an ethereal operatic song drifted from behind him.

Even the thunder exploding in his ears could not drown out that eerie music.

It was not Peking opera.

Peking opera did not exist yet.

It was some regional form of opera, though Lin Feng had no idea which.

He could not understand the language, but at least he could hear the music. It was sinister stuff. He had no idea what they were singing, but hearing music like this at night would definitely make his hair stand on end.

Every hair bristled!

This time, it was not because of the music.

Lin Feng turned his head and saw several figures approaching from afar. They looked like people whose spines had been pulled out, with nooses around their necks dragging them forward.

A mountain lord?

A tiger's thrall ghosts?

Or was someone dozens of meters tall walking ahead of them, holding their strings? Lin Feng looked up, but saw no giant like the one he imagined.

"Master from afar, our uncle invites you over to have a look."

The figures called out in peculiar accents, speaking from their throats like people who had only just learned to talk.

He ignored them.

What kind of freaks were these?

Your uncle thinks pretty highly of himself. He calls, and I'm supposed to come?

Can't you see I'm in a hurry?

Lin Feng really was getting anxious. The mountain rain had already formed a solid curtain, striking his body painfully.

He could do nothing about the howling wind, either.

And the prickling sensation [Sword Heart Clarity] sent all over his body hardly seemed to be telling him this place was safe.

Lin Feng moved forward. The figures darted at him like boneless snakes. As though he had eyes in the back of his head, he turned without a word, Dragon-Tiger Qi already appearing on his sword.

Thrust!

Flick!

Azure Dragon Turns Its Head, Sun Pierces the Rainbow, upward diagonal slash!

Rainwater mixed with green blood on the ground. Even his sword was left pitted with corrosion!

Green blood!

In just a few strokes, he slaughtered every one of those boneless figures!

More importantly, [Mountain God's Wrath] had landed critical hits!

These figures were not locals!

Red and golden flames burned over their bodies, and green blood poured out. Lin Feng thought of the enormous claw in the pit back in the first scene!

The curse-laden blood struck the ground, triggering a thunderstorm!

With a boom, lightning struck. Lin Feng dropped his sword and rolled!

The lightning was remarkably strange. It struck precisely the figures Lin Feng had killed, leaving him untouched right beside them!

At that instant, his premonition of death reached its peak!

Lin Feng did not even dare retrieve his sword. He turned and ran straight for the inn.

As for step voltage...

There was no time to worry about that.

Life or death would be decided in seconds!

He had to reach shelter first!

Throwing caution to the wind, Lin Feng plunged into the Jixi Inn!

A heavy stench of decay immediately slammed into his nose, making his eyes water.

It was suffocating.

Lin Feng glanced outside. Whoever that uncle was, he probably could not come over now.

His whole body relaxed.

[Sword Heart Clarity] no longer issued fierce warnings. Only a faint sense of danger lingered over his heart.

Thunder boomed and boomed, furiously striking the spot he had just occupied. Yet the Jixi Inn seemed to have a soundproof barrier; the noise grew much quieter inside.

The mountain forest caught fire.

The strange, sinister music vanished as well.

Only then did Lin Feng examine the inn. At the entrance to the Jixi Inn, a stick of incense still sent smoke curling upward despite the torrential rain.

No matter how heavy the rain was, it could not extinguish that incense.

Lin Feng turned his head. This was probably the inn's main hall. A battered table, worm-eaten and weather-beaten, stood on the verge of rotting apart.

There were no stools.

A small door stood at the back. He could not tell whether it led upstairs or down to a basement.

A strange smell drifted from it.

It mingled with the stench of decay, forming a dizzyingly potent fragrance.

The rotten smell came from the three figures enshrined before him.

A large tallow candle, as thick as a burly man's arm, stood before three enshrined gods.

[Mother-Child Gu]

[Granny Ayi]

[Grandpa A-Qing]

They sat in a row like the Buddhas of the Three Ages.

The Mother-Child Gu occupied the central position.

It was a corpse.

Someone had used special methods to seal her body in corpse wax. Her belly was huge, as though she was about to give birth.

Her hands formed a seal Lin Feng did not recognize. After a closer look, he noticed that her body had countless pores.

Like an insect nest.

For some reason, Lin Feng thought of someone.

Third Lady.

After she died, her body had turned into an insect nest. Lin Feng could not see the Mother-Child Gu's face; it was covered with a red cloth bearing incantations written in cinnabar, which he could barely recognize.

As for Granny Ayi on the corpse's left, her whole body was blue-black. Her head was uncovered, and she was probably a dried corpse too.

Grandpa A-Qing was the same.

Lin Feng stood in the hall for a while, with no intention of finding a room to sleep in.

He would wait in the hall until the rain stopped.

He stayed right by the entrance, ready to flee at any moment.

Unexpectedly, as he stood there, the Danger Perception granted by [Sword Heart Clarity] grew increasingly intense. Lin Feng stared unblinkingly at the "Buddhas of the Three Ages." He had been there a long time, yet the innkeeper had never appeared.

But the grandpa and granny among the "Buddhas of the Three Ages" kept casting glances his way.

Lin Feng looked at the chipped bowls before the three figures. After some thought, he took out a little dry food, broke it into pieces, and placed it in their bowls. Then he pressed his palms together and murmured.

Mostly because the rain outside still had not stopped.

"Please forgive me, the three of you. I'm only passing through your honored domain. I have no spare money on me, only a little food to offer. Please don't be angry."

He rambled on with a very respectful attitude.

Clearly, the three did not see it that way.

The stench of decay grew stronger. Unbearably foul black water flowed from the Mother-Child Gu's body.

Lin Feng's expression darkened too.

"Right, then. Sorry for disturbing you. I'll be going! No need to see me out."

So he said, but evidently, Lin Feng did not really understand the rules. He had failed to leave anything behind!