Chapter 104: Severing the Red Cord!

"A stand-in for death?" The term alone screamed bad news. I stood in the Blood Coffin and locked eyes with the old man. "What do you want from me?"

The black magician placed the infant dried corpse directly in front of the Blood Coffin. "This infant's eight characters align with mine. He was supposed to be born to the Death God, but died before birth. I cut him from his mother's womb while she still lived and crafted him into a Fate Ghost."

"A Fate Ghost? You want to use this infant's spirit to die in your place?" I couldn't quite follow his logic. These evil path ghost arts were even harder to comprehend than the Profound Truth Esoteric Method.

"Wrong. How could a wrongfully deceased ghost stand in for a living person facing a tribulation?" He let out a sinister laugh and waved a hand behind him. The four patients stood respectfully on either side. "I need a few men with flourishing Yang Qi to carve up and eat this infant, sharing the karmic obstacle among them. I set up the Six Harmonies Blood Yin Formation tonight, waiting only for the Yin hour and Yin moment to activate it and exchange our lives. Who could have known you would pop out right now, destroying my cauldron and ruining my plans!"

I gripped the Scalpel tightly, refusing to reply. These evil cultivators possessed completely twisted minds. They didn't see living people as fellow human beings at all, treating them as nothing more than livestock and disposable tools.

He must have seen my impending refusal, because he kept talking without even raising his head. "Don't be in such a rush to say no. This is an opportunity for you too. I have observed Jiangcheng's Feng Shui. Originally, the four symbols were all present. The winding great river to the east is the Azure Dragon; the continuous grand avenue to the west is the White Tiger; the clear Ze Lake to the south is the Vermilion Bird; the sprawling Henshan to the north is the Black Tortoise. It was a Feng Shui treasure land cultivated over a thousand years, tragically ruined by the hands of ignorant fools. Ze Lake was filled in, driving the Vermilion Bird into the river. If the pond isn't clear, how can it store wind and gather Qi?"

"Yin malefic energies run rampant. A thousand-year Feng Shui layout became a massive tomb for a trapped dragon in the blink of an eye! No one inside this tomb can escape their karma. Help me today, and I will take you as my disciple and pass my true skills on to you, allowing you to sever this karma and live free of all worries."

The black magician's skills were undeniable. He was only at the Sixth Layer Realm of the Flying Skull and hadn't yet reached grand completion, but he was already capable of turning hands to clouds and turning hands to rain, casting hex sorcery from a hundred li away to manipulate the minds of others.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. But on second thought, hex sorcery arts violated the laws of heaven and reason. To reach the Sixth Layer, this old man must have committed boundless massacres. As overbearing as the art was, the price of cultivating it was simply too high.

"Well? You don't need to worry about me turning on you. As long as you help me survive tonight's beheading tribulation, I will swear upon the Fate Ghost to take you as my disciple and pass my mantle to you."

I remained silent, secretly studying his face instead. If we were comparing our mastery of evil path ghost arts, the black magician would leave me in the dust. But when it came to reading people, he fell far short of me.

Thanks to my training in professional criminal interrogation, I could catch the microscopic shifts in his expression—anomalies he probably didn't even know he was making.

'His claims about Jiangcheng's Feng Shui layout are probably true, but when he brought up the beheading tribulation, he clearly started talking faster. He's anxious. There's still an hour until dawn, so what is he afraid of?' The old man had worn a grave, corpse-like expression since the moment he walked in, but when he mentioned taking me as a disciple, the corners of his mouth had twitched upward ever so slightly. That proved his intentions weren't pure. In that instant, he had been thinking about something else entirely.

"Have you thought it over? I won't ask a third time. This is my final offer." The black magician looked even more anxious than I did.

'There has to be a trap. I might as well stall him a bit longer.' With each harboring a ghost in their belly, we wasted about ten more minutes. Now, there was less than an hour before dawn.

The black magician finally lost his patience. "You refuse to listen to reason. Since that's how it is, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Seeing him drop the act, I let out a cold sneer. "If you want me as a disciple, wait for your next life! With that paralyzed face of yours, anyone who didn't know better would think your ass had senile dementia!"

"Ignorant brat, you're courting death!" The black magician shook his black robe. The four patients closed in on me, wielding ropes and Scalpels. "The golden sun has not yet risen. There is still the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before the beheading tribulation. Today, you will eat it whether you want to or not!"

The black magician sat cross-legged on the spot, silently chanting a spell. The sound of surging blood echoed from within the Blood Coffin. The lid of the Inner Coffin banged repeatedly, as if something inside was trying to break free.

"Take him down!" At the old man's command, the four patients swarmed me. Fighting four against one, I could barely parry their attacks. My body was already exhausted, and soon, more and more cuts were slashed across my skin.

"You don't know what's good for you! Once I survive this tribulation, I'll let you taste a black magician's revenge! I will refine everyone connected to you into human puppets, making you all beg for life and wish for death!"

The old man's vicious curses rang out through the confined hospital ward. Finishing his incantation, he took out an incense burner and placed it in front of him.

"When this incense burns out, I will break the obstacle and cross the tribulation!"

He closed his eyes and formed hand seals. The lid of the blood-colored Inner Coffin finally blasted open. A bloody shadow shot out and merged into the infant corpse. That was the magic power the black magician had used to seal his internal organs, carrying the bloody malefic energy gathered in this place.

A moment later, the Death Spirit Dried Corpse on the floor actually sat up slowly. Its movements were completely identical to the old man's, as if they were the exact same person.

Only the four patients and I were left fighting in the room. My entire body was slashed and dripping with blood. The wounds weren't deep, but the pain pierced straight to the bone, feeling like ten thousand ants devouring my heart.

My strength waned, but those four patients seemed completely tireless. Even when I landed a blow, they acted like nothing had happened.

Thud! Someone seized an opening and delivered a heavy blow to the back of my head with an iron chain. A split second of dizziness slowed my reactions, and the four men pinned me down.

My face was pressed against the blood-reeking floor. It was freezing cold and sickening. Struggling any further was practically impossible.

They shoved me right in front of the infant dried corpse. Looking at the mummified body mere inches away, I recalled the old man's words and gritted my teeth so hard they nearly shattered. 'I absolutely cannot let him have his way!'

"Refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. The beheading tribulation is imminent, so I won't bicker with you for now!"

The voice was shrill and repulsive, seemingly coming from right in front of me. I lifted my head, my pupils shrinking to pinpricks in sheer terror. 'That voice just came from this infant dried corpse!'

The incense lit by the old man was burning rapidly; in the blink of an eye, a fifth of it was already gone. Even though I didn't know what his so-called beheading tribulation actually was, I couldn't pin my hopes on metaphysical fortune-telling right now. I had to save myself!

"Hold him down! Force him to swallow this drop of essential blood!" The infant dried corpse, its eyes radiating a vicious light, squeezed a drop of pitch-black blood from its fingertip.

Three of the patients held me down, while the fourth forced a blade between my tightly clenched teeth. "Swallow it!"

The sharp tip of the knife sliced my lip, filling the gaps between my teeth with fresh blood. 'I can't swallow it. There has to be a way!'

With my head pressed firmly against the floor and my limbs completely immobilized, I opened my eyes and looked around. The Inner Coffin was already open, and Jiang Fei was slumped beside the Blood Coffin.

"Jiang Fei! Hack the internal organs in the Inner Coffin to pieces!" I screamed frantically. She was my final hope.

"Give up. She has already become my plaything. Once I get through the beheading tribulation, I will let you experience the exact same feeling Song Wenxuan had." The infant's laughter was shrill and terrifying, just like a demon's.

"Jiang Fei, Jiang Fei!" They had stripped off my jacket while I was unconscious. The Maoshan Seven Dipper Talisman and the Infant Night-Crying Talisman, my trump cards, were both inside it. Relying entirely on my voice to wake Jiang Fei up right now was far too difficult.

'Talisman Paper... that's right, there's still a talisman inside my body!' My thoughts raced, and I suddenly remembered the Red Cord of Marriage that had linked Jiang Fei and me earlier. That entire cord was woven from the Marriage Harmony Talisman!

'A thousand miles of marriage drawn by a single thread. Since I can't wake you up with my voice, I'll sever this red cord. Wake up, hurry!' The Detailed Explanation of Profound Truth Dao Methods contained an incantation for retrieving talismans. I could only hope that the shock of the talisman's destruction would buy Jiang Fei at least a few minutes of lucidity.

"Heaven is clear and Earth is tranquil. The essence of Heaven and Earth converge. Nine Heavens Mysterious Girl, grant me true sight. I now recall it. All gods of the Three Realms, any defiance is a rebellion against the Supreme Clarity!"

Every word rang out like the resounding toll of a great bell. Both Jiang Fei and I felt as if a piece of our hearts had inexplicably gone missing. The sensation was impossible to put into words. Our eyes naturally locked onto each other.

From this day forward, let there be no more longing. My yearning for you is severed forever!

In that split second, I saw clarity return to Jiang Fei's eyes. The vertical lines in her pupils faded in color, and her eyes welled up with tears.

"Jiang Fei! Hack the internal organs inside the coffin to pieces!"

The thick, black essential blood was right at my lips. Jiang Fei finally understood my words. Amidst the infant's shrieks, she grabbed a knife, leaped into the Inner Coffin, and hacked the black magician's internal organs to bloody pieces!