Everyday Life in the Northwest

Tap! Tap! Tap!

An eerie silence pervades the kitchen of the mutton soup restaurant.

The restaurant isn't big; it's run by the father, son, and daughter-in-law. The old man has been sick and resting at home these past few days.

In the kitchen, only the couple in their thirties stood there, looking at the faucet with a hint of fear.

Thick blood plasma was dripping from the tap, landing on the scattered pieces of onion in the sink.

There were still some bloodstains on the wife's hands.

She was washing onions when she turned on the tap, and a large gush of bloody water came out, filling the entire kitchen with a strong smell of blood.

"Dad, when Dad tripped and fell in the kitchen that day, he said he thought he saw a goat's head staring at him from outside the window."

The husband's lips trembled slightly. "I thought he was just old and misread it, but now... this really isn't right."

Tap! Tap!

The wife was completely disoriented.

"This can't be known by outsiders, otherwise who will come here to eat meat in the future?"

"The water in the soup pot probably isn't hot yet. I'll go scoop some water from over there and rinse the sink first."

The wife said, "Let's leave this faucet as is for now. We'll find someone to install a new one tomorrow."

Both of their Zhongdu reflected the dripping blood, the dripping rhythmically.

Amidst the dripping sound of blood, faced with this bizarre situation, they seemed to have completely forgotten that they could still make a phone call to report it to the Public Security Bureau.

Even now, the Special Investigation Bureau is an open secret, and you can report to the Special Investigation Bureau cooperating personnel for a preliminary review.

The sound of dripping blood caused many common-sense notions to crumble in their minds, leading them to think and act according to a bizarre logic.

"This is a classic case of being bewitched."

The kitchen's frosted glass leads to the restaurant area just around the corner, where a young voice can be heard at that moment.

"Ordinary Evil Spirit spirits use rather crude methods to bewitch people. This kind of bewitching that causes a lack of common sense is mostly caused by ancient cursed objects."

"If they really hire workers to reconnect the faucets, the water pipes will definitely malfunction during the installation, and blood will probably spurt out of the pipes."

"Who knows, we might even find huge piles of wool, human hair, and dismembered corpses."

The shop owners, a husband and wife, seemed not to have noticed the sound at first.

But when outsiders mentioned this, the blood plasma on the faucet seemed to freeze, trembling as if about to drip, but just wouldn't come down.

The shop owners seemed to snap out of their daze and heard the voices outside.

"At that time, the electrician and the shop owner, both of whom were also bewitched, will surely suffer death or injury due to fear."

"The one who survives will be even more deeply bewitched. After crossing the line, in order to cover up the traces, the cursed object will grant them a little power to make outsiders ignore the incident."

"From then on, the agents of cursed objects became serial killers hiding in the streets."

The young man's tone carried a long sigh, yet it also had a sense of Sikong.

It was as if he had seen many seemingly kind people who were controlled by cursed objects, their original personalities destroyed, and they turned into heartless butchers.

The body bag beside the warm cabin in the forest, the sound of a knife chopping bones on a rainy night... these sudden associations send chills down one's spine.

The couple snapped back to reality and cried out, "No, no, we don't want to be criminals!"

They rushed outside, and as soon as they opened the kitchen door, they saw two young men standing there.

One of them was wearing only a short-sleeved shirt, had a slightly darker complexion, and was about 1.7 meters tall.

The other one was taller, wearing a shirt and trousers, and had a smile on his face.

The shop owners felt inexplicably at ease when they saw the man's smile.

"Don't worry, we specialize in handling this kind of thing."

Chu Tianshu smiled and patted the shop owner on the shoulder before walking into the kitchen.

Tang Nu followed beside him, saying, "My experience was right, wasn't it? As long as we stand outside and analyze the possibilities of how things might develop, we can better extricate them from their hypnotic state."

The person who was speaking at length outside just now was Tang Nu.

As the two of them entered the kitchen, the faucet seemed to become enraged, automatically turning on its own, and gushing out large amounts of blood.

Chu Tianshu didn't take it seriously, reached out and scooped up a handful of blood.

"If it were real blood, even if it couldn't be used as a blood bank for hospitals, it could still be used for other purposes. What a pity..."

He said softly, "It's just an illusion, Lin!"

All the metal objects in the kitchen resonated for a moment under the sound of "Lin".

The water spraying from the faucet has turned into clear tap water.

There wasn't a trace of blood in the pool, only dripping onions.

Suddenly, a goat's face appeared outside the window, pressed firmly against the glass, distorted by the pressure.

It looked like it was about to smash through the glass and burst into the kitchen.

Chu Tianshu didn't even look at it, and casually pointed.

"Soldiers!"

A large hole appeared on the goat's forehead, without any blood, as if it had originally been made of just ashes.

The hole expanded, and the entire sheep's head turned to ashes.

Chu Tianshu turned left in an instant, took seven steps, his steps forming an arc, and stopped on a floor tile in the corner of the kitchen.

"This is it. Dig down six meters, and you'll find an unusual aura."

Without saying a word, Tang Nu swung his arm and slapped down.

If the Special Investigation Bureau's regular staff were to handle this matter, they might encounter some danger. Even if they could crack the code with their wisdom, perseverance, and equipment, they would still need to hire an engineering team to clean up the mess.

But since Chu Tianshu and Tang Nu were the closest to here when the message was received, it was convenient for them to come and resolve the issue, so there was no need for such trouble.

The thick ceramic tiles, under Tang Nu's powerful Eagle Claw Technique, were like tofu that wasn't quite frozen solid.

With a swift grab, a chunk of concrete beneath the tiles was even pulled up.

Although he struck quickly, each palm strike was first delivered with a shockwave that cracked the concrete before his five fingers gripped and machinated.

Precisely following the gaps, they expanded their gains.

The concrete layer here wasn't very thick, so once he dug through it, the soil and rocks underneath became much easier to deal with.

In just a few minutes, Tang Nu's hands moved in a blur of motion, his body sinking lower and lower.

A deep, well-like pit has been dug out on the spot.

The entrance to the hole was surrounded by piles of concrete blocks, which were then covered with a thick layer of soil.

Chu Tianshu saw some cold mutton on the stove, went over and cut two slices to try.

It smells very good, but it's a bit weak.

Before he could find the seasonings himself, Tang Nu had already jumped out of the pit.

"This stuff... damn it, you actually started eating it? Don't you have any conscience?"

Tang Nu looked at him with resentment.

"I'll try it for you first; it tastes alright."

Chu Tianshu a large, thin piece of mutton, rolled it up, and walked over.

Tang Nu grabbed the mutton and, without using his hands, tilted the mutton back into his mouth.

"This is what I found below; it should be some kind of sheep bone ornament used by ancient people."

In Tang Nu's hand was a sheep's facial bone that had been specially preserved with the sheep's horns intact.

Chu Tianshu flicked his finger, and a spark of charcoal-red Sword Intent struck the sheep bone like a spark, destroying the Evil Spirit within.

These Evil Spirit that rely on cursed objects possess abilities primarily through these objects; the Evil Spirit themselves are not of high quality.

Chu Tianshu glanced at the token and thought to himself: It's better than nothing.

Tang Nu walked out with the cursed object. The shop owner and his wife peeked around and, seeing that the matter seemed to be resolved, thanked him repeatedly.

"It's also thanks to your elders' vigilance that they called the police."

Tang Nu said sternly, "If this drags on, even if you haven't done anything truly outrageous yet, you'll definitely fall seriously ill afterward."

"Since your family can afford to run a shop, and you're not short of spare money, you should buy some cinnabar talismans certified by the official website and keep them at home as a reminder."

"If you have school-aged children, you can take their External Elixir and walk around in your usual places every Sunday."

The shop owners readily agreed.

Chu Tianshu laughed and said, "Alright, pack two boxes of mutton for me, I'll take them home to eat."

The couple quickly went to cut the meat.

Watching from the side, Tang Nu remarked with a sigh, "Answering the phone, solving cases, and battling terrifyingly ugly or howling supernatural monsters."

"Then I reminded them of some points that are frequently broadcast in the news, but people still don't pay close attention to them."

"Ah, this is what our Northwest branch should be like every day!"

There hadn't been any cases for the previous two or three months, and then suddenly, the base was attacked.

Tang Nu was still upset about it, and it's only been several days since then that his mood has finally calmed down.

The wounded at the base recuperated directly there, and the medical team was fully equipped.

Chu Tianshu and his companion went to the hospital today to visit the desertification control workers, who are recovering well.

"Once the accountability measures against the organizations within the Rose Society have been resolved, and Senior Lin has indeed regained his fighting strength, I should head back."

Chu Tianshu laughed, "During this time in the Northwest, I've gotten used to the days of gazing at the bright moon over the Tianshan at night and freely practicing my sword."

"When I go back to my hometown, I'll try practicing my sword skills by the riverbank reeds under the moonlight. I wonder what that will feel like."

The Heavenly Heart Sorrowful Demon Slash contains many sword techniques depicted in landscape paintings, most of which are thrilling, extraordinary, and eerily melancholic.

The latter half of the text includes some techniques for using the darkness of night to wield a knife and chase the water.

"Why are you going back so soon?"

Tang Nu said, "You should stay here for at least half a year. Besides, Sister Mo can only translate a small section of that cultivation manual each day. Aren't you going to wait for her to finish?"

"And the minister, who knows, he might be breaking Taboo again soon. Don't you want to hear about his experience?"

Chu Tianshu said, "It's not that easy. Senior Lin will need to make careful adjustments for quite some time."

"That's hard to say."

Tang Nu said, "None of us expected that he would attempt a breakthrough at that time, but he actually did. What he considered to be adequate preparation is probably very different from what we thought."

Chu Tianshu simply chuckled, took the mutton, and prepared to return to the base.

Just as he was about to reach the base entrance, he suddenly noticed that the Fortune on the token, which was already almost full, had jumped forward a bit.

"Huh?"

Chu Tianshu was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and looked towards the base.

Tang Nu noticed his actions, and realizing something, turned his gaze to the base, muttering to himself.

"No way, I was just kidding, Minister, you're really going to push through at this time...?"

The leaves of the roadside green belt rustled, and the branches of the large trees on both sides swayed gently in the wind.

Inside the base, the leaves of the trees were so still that they didn't even tremble.

The winds from all directions seemed to disappear as soon as the base was entered.

It's as if a force in the wind has been sucked away; the air is still there, but it can no longer be called wind.

In the Eight Trigrams, wind corresponds to the Xun trigram, which belongs to the element of wood.

Observe the way of heaven, draw upon the power of heaven, and in the wind, draw upon the power of wood.

Roar!!!

On the rooftop of the base, the azure power of wind and wood transformed into a lifelike tiger.

The tiger's body grew larger and larger until it was about the size of a car. It paced on the rooftop and suddenly looked back.

Lin Chucheng stood at the corner of the rooftop, looking like a tiny bean compared to the fierce tiger.

But the moment the tiger pounced on him, its entire body shrank into his body.

"We won't let Mystic Kingdom be the first to achieve a breakthrough; if they fail, there will be endless disputes."

"So what if it actually happens now?"

Lin Chucheng's eyes remained unchanged, his body remained the same, but the moment he opened his eyes, it seemed as if wind and clouds surged around him, and a tiger roared to the sky.

When he looked at Chu Tianshu, his imposing demeanor vanished, a wicked smile appeared on his lips, and he reached out his hand.

The two are more than seventy meters apart.

Chu Tianshu felt his hair on top of his head get messed up, as if an invisible hand had ruffled it.

"Hahaha!"

Chu Tianshu didn't take it to heart and strode away.

"Senior Lin, touching my head costs money. Quickly hand over all your breakthrough experiences and insights."

(End of this chapter)