Chapter 8: Destroying the Corpse and Erasing Traces

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Destroying the Corpse and Erasing Traces

Glancing back at the Wang Family widow who was burning paper money, Fang Xu saw that she hadn’t noticed him. He turned his back to the corpse, reached behind him, and fumbled to pull out the item hidden inside the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots, clutching it tightly in his hand.

Anyone who could afford shoes made with Glowing Gold Thread Embroidery clearly held a high status in life.

And whatever such a prominent figure carefully kept hidden definitely wouldn’t be anything ordinary.

Clutching the item retrieved from the boots, Fang Xu’s heart pounded, THUMP, THUMP. He certainly hadn’t expected that accompanying the Wang Family widow on a trip to the Yizhuang would present such an opportunity.

"Fang, I’m finished," she said.

The Wang Family widow had knelt before Wang Ergou’s corpse to burn a pile of paper money. Watching the dancing flames, she seemed to feel that she had fulfilled her ultimate duty to him. She then stood up and looked at Fang Xu.

Fang Xu nodded. "Let’s go, then."

The Wang Family widow stepped over to a dilapidated desk nearby, placed two copper coins on it, and quickly followed Fang Xu out of the Yizhuang.

By the time the two emerged from the Yizhuang, the sun had mostly faded, leaving only a lingering fiery orb on the horizon. Blood-red sunset clouds dyed half the sky.

As they neared Fenglin Town, they ran into a few familiar neighbors. Uncharacteristically, the Wang Family widow took the initiative to greet them.

Fang Xu took all of this in, fully understanding the motive behind her actions.

Outside his small courtyard in town, Fang Xu opened the gate, looked at the Wang Family widow, and said, "I’m here, Mrs. Wang."

The Wang Family widow stood outside, seemingly eager to follow him in. However, Fang Xu’s body blocked the entrance, showing absolutely no intention of inviting her inside.

Shooting him a somewhat resentful glance, the Wang Family widow gave a slight bow. "Thank you for the trouble, Fang. I’ll be taking my leave now."

Fang Xu quickly nodded, turned around, and shut the courtyard door.

PHEW.

Leaning his back against the wooden door, he let out a deep breath.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Wang Family widow, he was currently just an unromantic block of wood.

Unromantic or not, so be it. He wasn’t the kind of lust-crazed fool who would risk his neck just for a moment of pleasure.

Suppressing his messy thoughts, Fang Xu hurried into his room, took out a fire starter, and lit the oil lamp. He then spread the item he had been clutching onto his desk.

The item on the desk was made of an unknown material. It was like paper, yet not paper; it actually looked more like some kind of irregularly shaped Beast Hide, densely covered in tiny script.

Fang Xu leaned in closely to examine it.

"Divination... God... Treasure?"

"All living things are but the evolution of the Dao. Spirit acts as the Dao, matter acts as the crucible, forming the shadow of the Dao. Thus, acupoints should serve as boundaries—hiding mountains, hiding oceans, hiding the immensity of all creation..."

COUGH!

Merely reciting the first few lines of the Divination God Treasure in his head caused a sudden, violent surge of vitality within Fang Xu’s body, and he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood!

He hastily tore his gaze away from the Beast Hide, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with a solemn expression.

It was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying!

What kind of cultivation technique was this Divination God Treasure? Just silently reading a few lines had dragged his consciousness straight into the Realm of Inner Observation—the very same state Lu Zhiyuan had guided him into earlier that day when teaching him the Refining Viscera Technique.

During this inner observation, Fang Xu seemingly witnessed an even more shocking scene. All one hundred and eight acupoints in his body were glowing brightly. Then, one of the acupoints continuously expanded—first the size of a grain of rice, then resembling a bright moon, and soon expanding like a millstone, a lake, and finally, an ocean...

The sheer impact of this transformation directly shattered that sliver of his observing consciousness. Consequently, the vitality in his body churned violently, forcing him to involuntarily cough up blood.

Calming his reeling mind, Fang Xu quickly folded the Beast Hide on the desk and put it away.

The Divination God Treasure was undoubtedly a terrifyingly powerful cultivation method. The owner of the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots likely had a much greater background than he had imagined. Although the man was now dead, Fang Xu couldn’t be certain if anyone else knew the secret that the man carried the Divination God Treasure.

In fact, Fang Xu had a nagging suspicion that the tragic death of the boots’ owner near Fenglin Town was inextricably linked to this Divination God Treasure.

Now that he had obtained this hot potato, what would happen next?

After some thought, he immediately hid the Beast Hide recording the Divination God Treasure in a secret compartment beneath his bed. He then grabbed a bucket of lamp oil from the corner of the room and hurried back toward the Yizhuang under the cover of night.

The fact that the boots’ owner had been sent to the Yizhuang after death meant that no one currently knew his identity. However, many people had seen him and the Wang Family widow go to the Yizhuang, and that wouldn’t hold up to close scrutiny.

As things stood, the only solution Fang Xu could think of was to destroy the corpse and erase all traces!

Only by burning the body of the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots’ owner to ashes could he maximize the destruction of evidence and minimize the risk of exposing himself.

Carrying the oil, Fang Xu sprinted all the way, soon arriving near the Yizhuang.

The Yizhuang was entirely devoid of light in the darkness, allowing Fang Xu to breathe a slight sigh of relief. The lack of light meant the Yizhuang’s caretaker hadn’t returned yet, so he could set this fire without any worries.

He stealthily slipped inside and quickly poured the lamp oil over the corpse wearing the Glowing Gold Embroidered Boots. He then gave the body a slight bow and muttered, "Although I don’t know your identity, Senior, since I took your belongings, I’ll kindly send you off on your final journey."

With that, he took out his fire starter, blew on it until it glowed, and resolutely tossed it onto the corpse.

The oil-soaked body instantly burst into flames upon contact with the fire. Seeing the blaze taking hold, Fang Xu didn’t dare linger. He immediately vaulted out the Yizhuang window and bolted straight toward the mountains behind the building.

The fire spread rapidly. He had only run a few miles when the entire Yizhuang behind him was swallowed by a sea of flames. Looking back at the inferno, Fang Xu was finally able to let his guard down.

The next morning.

Fang Xu, still deep in sleep, was startled awake by a frantic knocking at his door.

"Young Master Fang!"

"Coming."

Throwing on an outer robe, Fang Xu opened the courtyard gate, only to find the two attendants who had followed Zhang Mingliang at the Qinxiang House yesterday standing outside.

The two were carrying a bloodstained cloth sack. Upon seeing Fang Xu, the attendant named Xie Xiaoqi spoke respectfully, "Young Master Fang, this is the Blood Food that our Second Young Master ordered us to deliver to you."

Hearing this, Fang Xu quickly took the sack, weighed it in his hands, and thanked them. "Thank you. Please pass on my gratitude to Young Master Zhang."

The two cupped their hands in salute. "Young Master Fang, the items are delivered. We’ll be taking our leave."

After watching the two depart, Fang Xu was about to close the gate when he spotted the Wang Family widow hurrying over from a distance, looking utterly panicked.

"Fang!"

Seeing Fang Xu at the gate, the Wang Family widow called out frantically, stumbling her way to the entrance.

"Mrs. Wang, what happened?" Fang Xu asked.

Seeing no one around, the Wang Family widow disregarded all propriety and pushed her way straight into the courtyard. She slammed the gate shut, grabbed Fang Xu’s arm, and cried, "Fang, I... I’ve caused a disaster!"

Fang Xu looked confused.

The Wang Family widow continued, "Last night... last night the Yizhuang caught fire! A massive blaze burned the entire place to the ground!"

A fire at the Yizhuang?

Fang Xu naturally knew about this since he was the one who set the fire, but what did that have to do with the Wang Family widow?

"Fang, that fire at the Yizhuang must have been caused by me! Yesterday, when I was burning paper money, I left before the fire was completely out. Now the entire Yizhuang is gone, I..."

Although there was nothing valuable inside the Yizhuang, it was ultimately government property. Now that it had been burned clean, the authorities were bound to investigate.

Paying to repair the Yizhuang was a minor issue; the real problem was that she would likely be thrown into prison for a year or a half.

Believing that the Yizhuang fire was caused by her own negligence, the Wang Family widow was naturally terrified.

Fang Xu hadn’t expected the Wang Family widow to overthink things to the point of voluntarily taking the blame for the fire.

But this actually seemed like a pretty good outcome.