A ghostly face loomed right in front of him.
He nearly collided with it.
Still shaken, Fu Shaoping retreated several steps, tightening his grip on the Martial Suppression Saber. Taking a closer look, he recognized the Ghost-Faced Youth he had encountered that afternoon on Five-Finger Slope.
"Eeya!"
The Ghost-Faced Youth let out a strange cry.
Seeing that Fu Shaoping neither fled in fright nor attacked him, he tilted his head and stared at Fu Shaoping for a long while.
Their eyes met.
Only then did Fu Shaoping notice something familiar about the boy's eyes, but however carefully he searched his memory, he could not place them.
"Eeya!"
The Ghost-Faced Youth darted away, his skin-and-bones frame flitting like a phantom among the graves.
Fu Shaoping hurriedly used Ethereal Steps to follow.
Seeing Fu Shaoping following him without attacking, the Ghost-Faced Youth thought he wanted to play. He immediately broke into strange, cackling laughter and ran with even greater delight.
Half a cup of tea later.
The Ghost-Faced Youth suddenly stopped and let out a string of strange "eeya, eeya" cries at Fu Shaoping.
Fu Shaoping understood.
The boy wanted him to wait where he was.
A little while later.
The Ghost-Faced Youth reappeared, now carrying a rotten, meaty leg bone crawling with white maggots. He tossed it to Fu Shaoping, who hurriedly caught it.
"Eeya!"
Seeing that he did not eat it.
The boy thought he did not know how.
He took the meaty leg bone back, bit into it himself, then tossed it to Fu Shaoping again.
Fu Shaoping pulled a meat bun from inside his robe. He had not eaten dinner and had intended to make do with it on the road, but now it came in handy. He tossed the meat bun to the boy.
"Here, this tastes good!"
The aroma wafting from the meat bun.
Immediately set the boy drooling.
However.
He hesitated, craving it but not daring to eat it.
Smiling, Fu Shaoping took a bite himself before handing it over. This time, the boy stuffed the entire bun into his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed contentedly.
Tap, tap, tap.
Just then.
Soft footsteps came from the hillside.
Someone was coming!
Fu Shaoping looked around for somewhere to hide, but fear appeared on the boy's face. He quickly grabbed Fu Shaoping's sleeve, wove through the scattered graves, then pulled aside the covering of a weed-choked grave and crawled inside.
Beneath the grave lay a burial chamber that had been hollowed out.
A few strands of moonlight filtered down.
In one corner of the chamber lay numerous remains. The bones appeared to belong to mongrel puppies only a few months old. Among them was a half-rotted puppy; the rotten meat the boy had tossed him had been torn from it.
This was what the boy had been living on.
Through the weeds.
Fu Shaoping watched a man pass by carrying a tiny coffin on his back. He stopped a dozen or so paces away, and then came the sound of digging. The man seemed to be sobbing.
Another hour passed.
The man's voice reached him in broken snatches.
"My child, your father has wronged you. But why did you have to be born in a Yin Moon? Your father was also... remember to choose a good family in your next life. Your father has wronged you."
After the muffled sobbing continued for a while.
Footsteps sounded.
Once those footsteps had faded again.
The boy excitedly pushed aside the weeds and leaped out of the burial chamber. Scrambling on all fours, he reached the fresh grave a dozen or so paces away and began digging with both hands and feet.
Fu Shaoping glanced back at the burial chamber.
Could it be...
Were the remains in that burial chamber actually those of infants?
No.
He should not have mistaken them. Those had clearly been the remains of mongrel puppies a few months old.
"Eeya, eeya!"
The boy turned and called strangely to Fu Shaoping several times, signaling for him to come help.
Fu Shaoping's pupils contracted.
A thought surfaced in his mind.
Once it arose.
The more Fu Shaoping considered it, the more plausible it seemed.
"If that really is the case, then this Endless Cliff Village...!"
Fu Shaoping immediately stepped forward to help the boy dig. It was only a small grave, shallow and filled with fresh earth. With Fu Shaoping's help, they soon uncovered a tiny coffin made of green pine wood.
"Eeya!"
The boy let out an excited cry.
He stepped forward to pry open the coffin lid.
But several attempts failed.
Fu Shaoping stepped forward and exerted a little force. With a bang, the lid flew off.
What met his eyes was a mongrel puppy a few months old, not a dead infant at all.
Everything before him confirmed his suspicions!
The villagers of Endless Cliff Village were clearly using infants born in Yin Moons to conduct some sort of trade. That was precisely how they had come to live in such abundance.
"Eeya!"
The boy took a bite of the puppy's corpse, then held the other end up to Fu Shaoping's mouth.
Fu Shaoping shook his head.
He stared steadily at the boy.
Why had this Ghost-Faced Youth ended up on Five-Finger Slope? Perhaps the youth could answer his questions.
"Hey, do you know where the infant from this coffin went?"
Fu Shaoping gestured animatedly.
The boy gnawed away happily, paying Fu Shaoping no attention whatsoever.
Fu Shaoping pulled another meat bun from inside his robe. As its aroma spread, the boy instantly lost his appetite for the puppy in his hands. He tried to snatch the bun, but Fu Shaoping dodged him.
"If you answer my question, you can have all the meat buns you want from now on. You'll never have to gnaw on raw meat again."
Fu Shaoping made another series of gestures at him.
The boy hesitated.
"Eeya!"
He let out a strange cry.
After filling the grave back in.
He beckoned to Fu Shaoping.
Then he led the way with a secretive air, stepping over grave after grave among the countless burial mounds. An hour later, they reached a valley. The only path into it led through the graveyard on Five-Finger Slope.
Because of the graveyard on Five-Finger Slope.
Few people ever ventured into the valley.
Weeds grew thick and luxuriant.
Upon reaching the valley entrance, the boy gestured toward a vine-covered rock face to the west. Fu Shaoping signaled for him to wait where he was.
Just as he was considering using Ethereal Steps to enter the valley.
Suddenly.
Faint footsteps came from far behind them.
Fu Shaoping hurriedly took the boy to the other side, where they lay prone and hid in the weeds.
A little while later.
Two figures approached from the direction of Five-Finger Slope. Both wore black robes, and as the night wind rose, it blew aside a corner of one robe.
The one walking in front was the priestess of Endless Cliff Village whom he had encountered during the day.
Behind the priestess.
The other person held an infant, and the two hurried into the valley!
In the northwestern corner.
The priestess grasped a protruding stone on the rock face, turned it three times to the left, then twice to the right. When she turned it left again.
A rumbling sound rang out.
The rock face revealed itself to be a wall and slowly swung open.
"Eeya, eeya!"
Waves of strange cries immediately drifted out from within.
The priestess and her companion hurried into the cavern. With another rumble, the stone door closed again, cutting off the strange cries abruptly.
Just as I thought!
Fu Shaoping's eyes lit up.
Endless Cliff Village really was trading infants!
Before you continue