Granny Yu's room held a black medicinal furnace, bottles and jars piled everywhere, and heaps of medicinal herbs. Strange, eerie medicinal odors filled the room.
Granny Yu had just set the bamboo tube containing the lingzhi on the table when a woman's soft, seductive voice drifted out of the shadows...
"Older sister, always showing people this face of yours-have you forgotten how glorious you once were?"
Granny Yu raised her head coldly and stared at the figure sitting in the corner. She snorted. "What fucking business is it of yours? Why have you come back? The Village Head is gone. Who do you want to ruin now?"
The woman in the shadows stretched, revealing breathtaking, voluptuous curves in the dim light, then drifted lightly over.
She appeared to be in her twenties, with beautiful, lively eyes that could hook a soul and steal its spirit. Her face was mature and ravishing, yet carried a hint of bashful vulnerability. She was a beauty rarely seen.
"What are you saying, older sister? All this past year, I've been missing you and the Village Head... Wandering Two-World Mountain alone, I wanted to leave it all behind, but I couldn't let go of you! See? I've come back to visit you after all..."
"Go tell that bullshit to Big Black at the village entrance! Get lost... Don't piss me off, or I'll poison that foul skin of yours until it rots!"
"How heartless you are, older sister... Even if your husband from back then came here, I doubt he could warm that heart of yours! Back then..."
"Get out!"
Facing Granny Yu's icy stare, the seductive woman sighed and slowly walked over... She gently rested one hand on the door, turned back to give Granny Yu a strange look, then chuckled and pushed it open... "Older sister, why put yourself through this?"
The woman drifted away, and Granny Yu let out a breath as though a great burden had been lifted! Then, with a complicated expression, she looked at the tiny dead venomous insects that had appeared on the floor without her noticing and clenched her teeth.
Lü Bufan had transplanted a wild peach tree into the courtyard. He was watering the little tree with rice-rinsing water, muttering inwardly... It was already summer; he had no idea whether the peach tree would survive.
Suddenly, a curious gaze at the courtyard gate startled the frail boy out of his thoughts. Lü Bufan looked up... It was a pretty older girl he had never seen before!
Yet that older girl's shimmering gaze seemed to hold something he could neither explain nor name, leaving the boy inexplicably nervous!
It felt as though a little dove inside his heart was struggling to fly free... The beauty merely smiled, and Lü Bufan felt as though warm sunlight had enveloped him. He stood there staring blankly at her.
"Little brother... Has the Village Head ever come back? Who are you? Why are you living here?"
The boy felt as though his lips and tongue had gone numb. He stammered, "To answer you, older sister... I, I live here with my master. The Village Head... They say the Village Head won't be coming back! My name is Lü Bufan..."
The woman frowned and cast an unobtrusive glance toward the village entrance before continuing, "The Village Head is a dear friend of mine. I came back to visit him. Now that he's gone... I'm very sad. I wonder what he left behind? Could you give me something to remember him by?"
Lü Bufan immediately thought of the human-skin mask he had put away!
He had stuffed that bulging piece of human skin into a deerskin pouch and kept it on his person ever since, thinking that if the unfortunate Village Head returned, or if he met him outside, he would give him his face back...
Lü Bufan had just reached inside his robe when a furious shout rang out behind him. "You little bastard! Where the hell have you gone? Get back here and cook!"
The boy shuddered violently, suddenly remembering that not a single person in this place was simple!
Lü Bufan inwardly cursed himself for having been bewitched. He hastily cupped his hands in apology, then hurried back. At the doorway, his half-blind master stood leaning on a bamboo staff, staring coldly toward the gate.
The beauty paused, then broke into a radiant smile! It was as though sunlight had flooded the shabby little courtyard. She bent her knees and bowed to the half-blind master. "Oh my! I didn't realize there was an honored guest here! I am Liu Ling'er. Please accept my greetings..."
The half-blind master rolled his eyes. "Are you trying to seduce a blind man? Believe me, even if you stripped naked, I couldn't see you. Try it if you don't believe me..."
Liu Ling'er huffed, raised a hand to smooth the hair at her temple, and said, "Oh, sir! Why speak so disrespectfully to me? I know you're one of the old hands who presided over Two Realms Village alongside the Village Head back then! But Two Realms Village isn't what it used to be! Hehe... I came too late and missed you, sir. Otherwise, you might not have left Two Realms Village so early to court disaster outside and lose both your eyes. You might have been too attached to leave! Hehehe..."
The half-blind master, Master Ming, spat out a glob of phlegm that nearly landed right on the woman's shoes! Liu Ling'er's delicate brows drew together in disgust, and she almost burst into curses.
But an instant later, Liu Ling'er's face went pale and she took a step back, as though that spit carried some deadly poison!
Dozens of insects that had crawled into the courtyard unnoticed suddenly scurried over from every direction, scrambling toward the thick phlegm... Then, the instant they touched it, they died without a sound!
Master Ming snorted coldly. "What filthy creatures are these? How long has it been since you bathed? Have you started breeding bugs on your body? Why don't you strip naked and let my little disciple fetch some water to rinse you off?"
At those words, Lü Bufan stole a glance at the woman, his face flushing crimson with embarrassment.
Liu Ling'er's lips curled. She said coldly to the half-blind master, "That shameless, faceless fellow is either dead or gone. There's no way he took his family's inheritance with him. With his temperament, he wouldn't have the resolve! If he had no disciple, he'd leave the Martial Scripture behind. Hand over the Wei Martial Classic, sir... and I guarantee you'll be able to recuperate peacefully here in Two Realms Village, with no one daring to disturb you again!"
"I don't have it! The Martial Scripture was probably taken by that shameless, faceless fellow. Now get lost! And another thing... Keep a close eye on those lice and bedbugs of yours. Don't let them crawl all over the place! Otherwise..."
A sinister voice suddenly came from outside the gate... "Otherwise what? Would you dare kill someone in Two Realms Village? Even if you dare break the prohibition... we're not afraid of you! The faceless fellow is gone. Do you think you alone can overturn the heavens?"
Startled, Lü Bufan looked up and saw the village's tall, skinny man and that short, fat man with one leg!
The two men had already taken positions behind Liu Ling'er, one on either side. They were staring icily at Master Ming, who stood in front of the house.
Liu Ling'er giggled and reached backward, her pale, tender arms half-visible through her gauzy sleeves, gently stroking the two men's chins...
"Hehe... Master Ming! I haven't got your name wrong, have I? Master Ming, things don't seem quite the same as they were back then... Killing isn't allowed in Two Realms Village, but there's no rule against injuring people, is there? Tell me, if I insist on ruining you and this little disciple of yours, will that perpetually lazy Black Dog come to your aid? The villagers back then obeyed your every command, but those people are all dead or gone now! The useless ones left don't dare stir... Master Ming..."
Before Liu Ling'er could finish, the one-legged fat man leaning on a crutch beside her suddenly cried out in alarm! Then he nimbly sprang backward on his one leg...
Liu Ling'er and the tall, skinny man immediately turned to look. At some point, the big Black Dog from the village entrance, who was always too lazy to move, had silently sat down beside the road not far outside the courtyard.
Big Black's two listless eyes stared coldly at the three people outside the gate. Panic and horror immediately crossed their faces, and they slowly retreated, step by step.
Lü Bufan stared in bewilderment at a dull gray bronze bell that had appeared in his master's hand. Master Ming lightly tapped the bell with one finger...
Lü Bufan seemed to hear a faint vibrating note ripple outward! Outside the gate, Big Black slowly opened his eyes wider, and traces of blood-red seemed to spread through his gaze...
"So it's in your hands? No wonder that faceless fellow never brought the bell out all these years! You took it away... You dare unleash him in Two Realms Village? Have you gone mad? If he causes trouble, breaks the rules, and draws the guardian's attention, your Two Realms Village will be wiped out in an instant! Everyone will die!"
Master Ming bared his teeth in a cold grin at the three of them... The tall, skinny man was just about to speak when a shadow flashed past, and an enormous fist accompanied by a wordless shout appeared at his abdomen in an instant!
A layer of brilliant radiance immediately flared over the tall, skinny man's body. He crossed his arms and slammed them downward to block the sudden blow!
Boom! Mute's figure emerged before the tall, skinny man. With a single punch, he smashed through the man's defense and struck hard against his protective radiance!
With another boom, the tall, skinny man screamed and flew backward, his body bent double and his protective radiance shattered into disarray! As he stumbled back, he even crushed several thick paving stones beneath his feet!
Mute looked frantic, crying out wordlessly and gesturing wildly, seemingly trying to stop the quarrel between the two sides.
Not far away, Big Black suddenly let out a low growl! The sound rolled like muffled thunder, carrying an icy chill and an indescribably eerie echo that shrouded all of Two Realms Village!
Lü Bufan felt as though two ice-cold ghostly hands had reached in through his ears and seized his soul in a crushing grip. Then he collapsed onto the ground, trembling all over.
With a look of tragic resolve, Mute actually planted himself between Big Black and Liu Ling'er, standing motionless as though trying to stop Big Black!
Cold sweat was already streaming down Lü Bufan's forehead! Through a haze, he saw his half-blind master slowly turn his wrist, and the strange bell vanished from his hand.
The tall, skinny man climbed up from the ground, spat out a mouthful of black blood, and hurried to shelter beside Liu Ling'er and the fat cripple, staring venomously at Mute standing in front of them!
A puffing sound also came from beneath the tree at the street corner. Wearing a miserable expression, Meng Laojiu squatted there with his pipe, his wrinkled face listless as he watched them, looking just like an ordinary old countryman enjoying a spectacle.
Liu Ling'er sneered, glanced at Big Black not far away, then turned to look at the cold-faced half-blind master standing in the doorway. She extended her tender pink tongue and licked her lips...
"Fine! A pack of people who ought to be dead but won't die... Even I feel miserable for you! Why keep suffering here? I'll settle down here for now and see what other tricks you can play!"
At those words, the tall, skinny man and the fat man's eyes immediately lit up... Then they scrambled to tug Liu Ling'er toward their little courtyard to settle in and rest! They were as ravenous as two male wolves that had gone without mates for years...