Eighty-Eight Taels of Life Silver

"Old Liu, what's Constable Liu talking about? He's been gone so long."

Watching Constable Liu sitting with the elders, Shi Qin spoke in a low voice.

Constable Liu was very experienced. It shouldn't have taken him this long to ask a few questions.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Old Liu today? Why's he taking so long to get things done?" Liu Yong spat out the willow leaf in his mouth and shouted:

"Old Liu! Old Liu? What are you doing?"

Old Liu stood up among the crowd and beckoned to them repeatedly, gesturing for them to come over.

His mouth kept moving, but no sound reached them.

"Maybe he's found something. Come on, let's go over." Liu Yong led the way toward the village.

Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin exchanged a glance and, without a word, fell three paces behind before following Liu Yong into the village.

When they reached the elders, Liu Yong was the first to speak:

"What's going on, Old Liu? You even sat down to ask a few questions?"

Constable Liu Neng hurriedly smiled. "Something good's come up. My lords, let me introduce you."

Constable Liu reached out and helped the white-haired old lady beside him to her feet.

The old lady had a kind, gentle face and wore a brocade robe embroidered all over with peonies. She looked exceedingly wealthy and distinguished.

"This is Old Madam Guo of Guo Family Village, Squire Guo's mother. She says nothing's wrong in the village. It's perfectly peaceful, and it's her son who's gone mad."

"She's already ordered someone to lock Squire Guo up. Everything's fine now."

"She's sent the steward to fetch some silver. Once he brings it, we'll leave."

After Constable Liu finished, Old Madam Guo spoke:

"Sorry for the trouble, my lords. I, Guo Liushi, offer my apologies to all three of you."

Xu Chunliang and the other two quickly told her there was no need.

Before long, a middle-aged steward came before the crowd carrying three packets of silver. At the old madam's direction, he gave one to each of them.

"My lords, since nothing's wrong in the village, why don't you head back? Please, head back."

Constable Liu smiled and gestured for them to leave.

"Since we're already here, you have to let us take a look around the village before we can be sure nothing's really wrong."

"As for this silver, we can't accept it."

Liu Yong, who had always been greedy and lecherous, was surprisingly the first to refuse the packet of silver.

Shi Qin also took the packet from Xu Chunliang's hand and thrust it into the steward's, his expression resolute.

"How honest you three are, my lords! Truly fine officials!" the old madam exclaimed, then said to the steward:

"In that case, Guo Si, take their lordships around the village."

"My lords, I'm old, so I won't accompany you. Once you've finished looking around, Guo Si will see you out."

With that, the old woman raised her hand and let a maid support her as she walked into the village.

No one noticed when the maid had arrived, nor did anyone notice that they had failed to notice.

It was as if the maid had been there all along.

There were many old houses in the village, half made of earth and half of wood. Some were new, others old, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Xu Chunliang quietly tugged on Shi Qin's arm.

"Brother Qin, why didn't we take the silver?"

Shi Qin glanced at the steward, Guo Si, who was walking at the front with Liu Yong and Constable Liu, before whispering:

"There was something wrong with that silver. It was eighty-eight taels of Life Silver."

"Liu Yong only insisted on looking around the village because he realized it was Life Silver."

"If we accepted that silver and spent it, a powerful anomaly would come after us and kill us."

"The people in this village are up to no good."

"Life Silver is silver used to buy a life. It takes an extremely complicated process to seal a drop of anomalous blood inside the silver and make it."

"In the future, when you're out and see silver wrapped in black cloth, weigh it in your hand. If it weighs eighty-eight taels, it's most likely Life Silver."

"Someone with experience can tell how much that silver weighs with a single touch."

"Your father was the one who taught me that."

"Be careful and stay behind me."

Xu Chunliang smiled and said quietly, "Brother Qin, going by what you've said, who knows how dangerous this village might be? Standing behind you isn't really any different from standing in front of you."

"What if the attack comes from behind?"

"Even so, you should stay behind me. At least I can help you block anything that comes from the front."

"All right, enough talk. Let's be careful."

"Hm? Liu Yong's stopped. He's probably found something."

When they reached a courtyard, Xu Chunliang followed Liu Yong's gaze inside.

His gaze sharpened.

A group of people dressed in black knelt in neat rows in the courtyard.

There were men and women, old and young.

They kowtowed incessantly, their mouths moving without making a sound.

And what they were worshipping...

Was a rusty steelyard. Its weight, covered in red and yellow rust, hung by a hemp rope from one end of its ebony beam.

An equally rusty iron hook hung from the other end, glinting with a filthy light.

What astonished Xu Chunliang even more was the lifelike little figure hanging from the rusty iron hook, which had pierced straight through its chest.

"What are they doing?"

Liu Yong gripped the hilt of his saber and looked at Guo Si.

Guo Si ignored Liu Yong. He pressed his palms together and bowed respectfully to the steelyard in the courtyard before speaking:

"They're making an offering."

"An offering to the Scale Immortal."

"The Scale Immortal? What the hell is that?"

Liu Yong's eyes widened. Clearly, he couldn't quite accept Guo Si's answer.

A strange smile appeared on Guo Si's face. He looked up at the empty air behind Liu Yong and slowly knelt, then said softly:

"The Weighing Immortal is the Scale Immortal. It's not some thing."

"If you want to see the Scale Immortal, I'll invite the Scale Immortal out to meet you alone."

As Guo Si slowly knelt, the world before Liu Yong's eyes went black in an instant, leaving him alone between heaven and earth.

A cold, numbing, ominous aura enveloped him.

Without hesitation, he drew his saber and slashed fiercely behind him!

Clang!

Metal rang against stone, deafening him.

His saber had struck a huge rusty scale weight hanging down from above.

Above the iron weight was a black pillar that rose like a pillar holding up the heavens,

And in front of the pillar was a densely packed mass of things.

Liu Yong looked at them, then piss pooled at his feet as he instantly went mad...

He saw countless iron hooks, with corpses hanging densely from them.

A maid in embroidered shoes, a young child with a topknot, Guo Liushi with her head full of white hair, Liu Neng in a constable's uniform, and...

Guo Si.

Pfft!

A rusty iron hook dropped from the sky and pierced his chest, gently lifting him up...

As his consciousness was swallowed completely by the ominous, icy darkness, he murmured, "So this is the Scale Immortal..."

"My lords, everything in our village is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

"There really is nothing wrong. Since you've already seen the village, please head back now."

At the village entrance, the steward Guo Si smiled as he spoke to Shi Qin and Xu Chunliang.

Watching Guo Si leave, Xu Chunliang rubbed his head and said to Shi Qin:

"I keep feeling like I've forgotten something."

"But what was it?"