Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 61 Into the Tiger's Den

Lord Gu sent men to cast nets, catching black dogs all over the mountains. There were hardly any decent villages near Qingyun Mountain, and the villages were mostly inhabited by yellow dogs, so the soldiers had to put in a lot of effort to catch a few pure black dogs without any stray hairs.

"Can black dogs eat monsters?" he asked Wuxin.

Wuxin was practicing shooting under the tutelage of an adjutant when he heard Lord Gu's question. He handed the pistol back to the adjutant and then led Lord Gu away, answering in a low voice, "I always felt that monster was a bit evil, so I wanted to prepare some talismans to try on it. Black dog blood alone isn't enough; I want to bring a few more."

Lord Gu stared at him wide-eyed: "What else do you want? Where are you taking it?"

Unwilling to answer the second question, he only asked, "Is there any boy's urine?"

Lord Gu shrugged: "No problem. There are quite a few teenagers in the group; surely one out of ten is a child prodigy?"

Without further ado, he asked, "Are there any old virgins?"

Lord Gu picked at his ear and asked, "How old?"

Without thinking, he answered, "Thirty years and above."

Lord Gu immediately chuckled, "A boy in his thirties? You'd better let me find you a black dog in his thirties!"

The matter was left unresolved. Lord Gu prepared a generous gift and took Wuxin to Qingyun Temple, requesting that Chuchenzi perform an exorcism at the military camp. Perhaps because they had once faced life and death together, Chuchenzi felt a sense of familiarity with Wuxin, as if they were meeting again after a lifetime. Out of respect for Wuxin, he didn't even put on airs as the abbot and readily agreed to Lord Gu's request. Lord Gu was relieved and began to chat casually. As they talked, Wuxin suddenly spoke up: "Master, there's something I'm not sure if I should ask."

Chuchenzi smiled ethereally and nodded: "You may ask. This humble Taoist can speak freely with anyone, without any reservations."

Wuxin glanced at Lord Gu, then leaned slightly towards Chuchenzi and solemnly asked, "Daoist Master, are you a disciple?"

Chuchenzi was stunned, staring at Wuxin for a long time without saying a word. Lord Gu, both amused and exasperated, quickly smoothed things over: "Master, you're talking nonsense! He's a Taoist monk, he must be—" Lord Gu tried to find an elegant word to praise Chuchenzi, thinking and thinking, and finally, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he clapped his hands: "He must be chaste and virtuous, pure and immaculate!"

Wu Xin waved his hand dismissively, "Daoist Master, you're not from the Quanzhen School, you don't follow those rigid precepts." Then, as if by magic, he pulled a military water bottle from his clothes, turned to Chu Chenzi, and said, "Daoist Master, to be honest, I want some potent virgin urine. If you're a virgin, how about you give me a bottle?"

Chuchenzi's pale face flushed and paled in turns, one hand resting on the kang table beside him. Seeing his silence, Lord Gu's expression turned serious: "Daoist Master, you... are not a novice?"

Chu Chenzi's lips twitched, then he slammed his hand heavily on the table, shouting angrily, "Damn it, vulgar! Get out!"

After a one-second pause, he yelled again, "Leave the kettle!"

Wuxin placed the kettle on the kang table with both hands, then smiled slightly, bowed and scraped, and respectfully pulled Lord Gu out.

Wuxin led Lord Gu down the mountain to respond. Lord Gu grumbled the whole way, suspecting that Wuxin had offended Chuchenzi. Wuxin was nonchalant: "Sigh, if I was going to offend him, I would have done so already. What's a difference if I say something today?"

As evening approached, a distinguished-looking Taoist priest delivered a heavy water jug ​​and a large food box. Since Mei Xianghua had disappeared from the room, Lord Gu had quietly moved into the military camp. After the Taoist priest left, Yueya entered first: "Oh, what's this?"

Without thinking, he lifted the lid of the food box and immediately laughed: "It's snacks."

The pastries were exquisite, all molded into plum blossom shapes. Just as Crescent Moon picked up a piece to eat, Lord Gu entered: "Oh, where did these come from?"

Wuxin laughed and said, "Chuchenzi just sent his disciple to give me a box of pastries and a pot of urine."

As Yueya chewed on her snacks, she pondered her husband's words. As she thought about them, she found it hard to swallow, and she felt a musty smell in the room.

After two days of preparation, on the night of the third day, Wuxin took three water jugs and a glass bottle wrapped in a thick cotton cover, and led Lord Gu and Lord Gu's trusted officer into the mountains.

The kettle contained black dog blood, boy's urine, and kerosene, while the glass bottle, as instructed by Master Gu, held a bottle of acid. The group traversed mountains and valleys, finally arriving at the fake grave arranged by Chuchenzi. They dug up the fake grave, lifted the iron plate, and Master Gu and his men stood guard beside the entrance, leaving the two metal crates they had brought open. They had no intention of retracing their steps and instead descended into the sloping cave.

The moon was bright and the stars were few; the night breeze was no longer cold. Lord Gu built a fire on the ground beside the cave and sat down to wait quietly for Wuxin. Every now and then, he would take out a pocket watch to check the time. For the first time, he felt that time was passing too quickly, and he wondered why Wuxin hadn't come up yet.

Ever since Wuxin entered the cave, all the officers under his command had been sitting with their knees drawn up, solemn and silent. Lord Gu secretly suppressed a yawn, suddenly thinking, "What will I do if Wuxin doesn't come out?"

Although he was quite brave, he didn't dare to go down into the cave rashly, so he thought, "Crescent Moon will surely cry herself to death."

Lord Gu and the officers lit cigarettes and slowly puffed on them. Beside the wide-open iron box sat a canteen filled with black dog's blood. The aroma of tobacco filled the air, and the officers, as if stimulated, slowly became more alert. Someone asked Lord Gu, "Commander, can black dog's blood really fight ghosts?"

Lord Gu pondered for a moment before replying, "It is possible, but the power is limited; it might only be enough to scare a ghost!"

Someone else asked, "Sir, do you think there might be ghosts around us?"

Lord Gu waved his hand at him: "Don't you dare spread rumors and disrupt morale! I, as the brigade commander, am not afraid, so what are you poor wretches afraid of? If a ghost really comes, I, the brigade commander, will be the first to charge!"

The officer immediately gave a thumbs-up and complimented, "The brigadier general is impressive!"

Lord Gu, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, was about to continue his grand pronouncements when he suddenly heard a rustling sound from the cave beside him. He immediately perked up. With a "pui," he spat the cigarette butt into the fire and was the first to get up and walk to the cave entrance. There, he saw a pair of pale hands clinging to the black soil—it was Wuxin trying to climb up.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, reached out and grasped the two white hands, pulling them upwards as he asked, "What's wrong? Did you come all this way for nothing?"

Wuxin was heavy, and with a casual tug, he couldn't budge it. He clenched his fists, about to exert force again, but just as he was about to exert his strength, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. He abruptly looked down and saw that the white hand in his own hands had distinct knuckles, plump skin, soft and moist. In his memory, Wuxin's hands were thin and delicate!

At the same time, a bloodied and mangled round head slowly emerged from the cave. In the firelight, Lord Gu could see clearly that the creature resembled a living ghost crawling out of a sea of ​​fire; its skin was torn and charred, its eyeballs bulging out, its nose reduced to mere eye sockets, and a mouthful of haphazardly combed teeth exposed. A pungent, burnt stench filled the air, and Lord Gu cried out, only to discover that the creature was surprisingly well-dressed, with patches of pale skin remaining from its neck down.

After a moment of shock and disbelief, the officers nearby reacted, yelling and drawing their guns and swords. However, the living ghost held Gu's hands tightly, preventing anyone from approaching for fear of accidentally injuring the brigade commander. Gu bent down and raised his leg, intending to kick it back into the cave, but the ghost suddenly leaped upwards, almost colliding its terrifying head with Gu's face. Gu immediately tilted his head back to avoid it, then took a few steps back, managing to pull it out of the cave with him.

An officer, trembling, picked up a canteen and poured a canister of dog's blood onto the ghost. The ghost, startled, stiffened. Two officers, flanking him, swung their machetes and cleanly severed both of the ghost's arms. Lord Gu quickly shook off the ghost's hands, then drew his pistol, aiming for the joints rather than the head. After a series of shots, he retreated while reloading; his men followed suit, immediately firing follow-up shots. The ghost's limbs were all broken, and he lay paralyzed on the ground, unable to move. The others grabbed their machetes, terrified and ruthless, hacking the ghost to pieces with a flurry of cold steel.

Finally, panting, the group stopped around the pile of bones and flesh. One of them tentatively asked, "What...did we just kill?"

Although Lord Gu wasn't entirely sure what had died, his extensive knowledge allowed him to quickly come up with an answer: "A demon was killed! Do you know what a demon is? Let me tell you, it's an evil spirit that has cultivated into human form!"

The officers shuddered: "Are we... really that good?"

Before the words were even finished, two loud bangs suddenly echoed from the cave entrance. Everyone turned around in a panic and saw that the two large iron boxes had slammed shut at the same time!

Then, a dark figure emerged from between the two iron boxes.

Lord Gu seemed nailed to the ground, unable to move his legs or lift his feet, and could only tremble as he called out, "Was it unintentional?"

The figure in the shadows calmly replied, "Lord Gu, please help me up, I'm exhausted."

As planned, the officers rushed forward, secured the iron box with chains, and then several men worked together to carry it out of the mountain. There were constant movements inside the box; sometimes it would jump and thump, sometimes it would squeak and gnaw. Even the most timid of Gu's trusted men were braver than most, and they carried the box swiftly, skimming across the ground like the wind.

Lord Gu followed beside him, carrying Wuxin on his back. Wuxin was clearly exhausted; his chin rested on Lord Gu's shoulder, and he was completely still, his head swaying from side to side with Lord Gu's steps.

Before dawn, everyone returned to the military camp. The two iron boxes were carried into a barracks. The windows of the barracks were covered with a thick felt, and the edges were nailed to the window frames to block out all the light.

Wuxin wasn't injured, just utterly exhausted, coiled on the bed like a dying snake. Yueya had waited for him all night, and now seeing Lord Gu carrying him safely into the house, she quickly heated up the leftovers from last night for him. After he had eaten and drunk his fill, Lord Gu noticed that his water jug ​​and glass bottle were gone, and said, "Before you showed yourself last night, a monster crawled out of the cave. Holy crap, it was terrifying, but its skills were so-so; I smashed it to pieces."

With his eyes half-closed, Wuxin replied, "I know who it is. It's not a monster, it's a walking corpse."

Lord Gu thought for a moment: "That's not right. Didn't you say last time that the old Taoist priest set up some kind of formation, sealing a whole bunch of living dead inside the cave?"

Wuxin waved his hand: "You can't completely disbelieve Chuchenzi's abilities, but you can't completely trust them either. If he can seal eighty out of a hundred corpses, that's already quite impressive. After I entered the cave, I didn't go deeper. I went straight up to try and climb from the top, but I disturbed a corpse. I didn't have time to deal with it, so I just splashed acid on its head. I didn't expect that although it stopped chasing me, it would sneak out of the cave."

Lord Gu lowered his voice and asked, "You went into a monster horde again?"

Wuxin closed his eyes completely: "I've tried. Nothing can harm it, not even acid. It seems to only fear the sun, moon, and stars. It's impossible to kill them all; there are just too many of them."

Lord Gu forcefully shoved his finger down onto the bed: "Since they're afraid of light, how about I dig up the mountain and let them die in the sun?"

Without hesitation, he shook his head: "It seems there's a layer of stone on top of the cave; it won't be easy to dig it open."

Then he sat up, stretched out of bed, and said, "I caught two alive. I'll go and study them now. Lord Gu, you must guard the door for me and make sure no light gets in."

Unintentionally, he entered the dark room where the iron box was placed. Once the door was closed, the cracks in the door were stuffed with felt, and the room was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

A group of soldiers surrounded the house, forbidding anyone from approaching. At the same time, the sound of drums and music could be heard from afar. It turned out that the ritual was scheduled for today. At this moment, just as dawn broke, Chuchenzi dressed up in his robes and, surrounded by his disciples and followers, boarded a magnificent sedan chair and descended the mountain with a retinue of people.

(End of this chapter)