Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 86 Escape from the Water

Saiwei hadn't actually seen the details of the Eighth Concubine's appearance clearly, but she didn't need to. The way the Eighth Concubine leaned down from mid-air was enough to terrify her. Taking a step out of the pavilion with an unintentional push, she heard the words "Run!" and immediately took off running without thinking.

Her legs were long, and despite the rugged road, she skipped and hopped along, completely oblivious to the uneven ground beneath her feet. After running a few steps, she turned around and was startled again. Shengyi was right behind her, her mouth agape in shock, as if she were about to bite someone. Leaping over a clump of tall grass with her mouth agape, Shengyi suddenly realized Saiwei's gaze. She jolted back to her senses, closed her mouth, and asked in a tearful voice, "Sister, where do we go?"

Seeing that he was unharmed, Saiwei relaxed and continued running towards the river while glancing at Wuxin out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell face-first to the ground. Before she could cry out in pain, Shengyi bent down and pulled her up with all her might. She raised her hand to cover her chin, two streams of tears flowing from her eyes—her chin had hit a rock!

A small river flowed in front of the rock, and the boat, unmoored, drifted forlornly on the bank. Just as Sevi was about to continue his escape, Sheng Yi suddenly cried out, "A ghost!"

She instinctively turned her head, and instantly a patch of hair stood on end, itching from the roots. Wuxin was running towards him, with Eighth Concubine following behind, crawling on the ground like a snake, chasing after him at high speed. When Wuxin looked up and saw the two siblings standing on the shore, dumbfounded, he shouted anxiously, "Don't wait for me, get on the boat!" Then he turned around and kicked Eighth Concubine hard in the forehead.

The eighth concubine tilted her head, taking advantage of the force, and Wuxin could see clearly that her fair neck was exposed, with a thin, horizontal crack. There was no blood or flesh in the crack, only a thin line of black showing. The eighth concubine swayed her shoulder, and an arm lashed out like a soft whip, striking directly at Wuxin's ankle. Wuxin jumped back, dodging the arm, and then turned and continued running.

Saiwei and Shengyi were frozen in place, as if under a spell, their thoughts and actions completely halted, watching helplessly as Wuxin rushed towards them. In their dazed state, Saiwei suddenly felt herself being lifted up, her mind instantly clearing. She realized that Wuxin had picked her up around the waist. After a brief moment of floating, she landed with a thud, having been thrown from the shore into the boat by Wuxin.

Enduring the pain, she scrambled to her feet. A blur flashed before her eyes, and her feet lurched as Sheng Yi also crashed into the small boat. Both siblings, sharpened by the fall, were quickly pulled forward. Sai Wei, strong as ever, swung forward and grabbed the oars, while Sheng Yi knelt at the stern, reaching out her hand to Wu Xin on the shore, frantically shouting, "Come quick, grab my hand! Hurry!"

Ignoring everything else, he jumped into the shallow water by the riverbank. Looking back, he saw his eighth concubine chasing after him again. He bent down and forcefully pushed the boat forward. Using his strength, the small boat immediately slid into deeper water, and he lunged forward, throwing his upper body onto the stern. Sheng Yi frantically grabbed his collar and sleeves, dragging him onto the boat without a word. In no time at all, she had pulled him onto the boat.

Before he could even settle down properly, he burst into tears, crying, "She went into the water! She went into the water too! What happened to her? Has she gone crazy?"

Immediately after, Savi, who was ahead, gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it! Why can't I move?"

Unintentionally, he pushed Sheng Yi toward Sai Wei, saying, "She's not the eighth concubine!"

Savi's voice trembled as he strained to a high pitch: "A ghost?"

Wuxin knelt at the stern, gripping the side of the boat with both hands, his eyes fixed on the water: "It's not a ghost, don't be afraid, just think of it as a snake!"

Saiwei and Shengyi each gripped an oar, gritting their teeth and paddling furiously. An inexplicable resistance appeared in the water; despite their immense effort, they could only move forward an inch. Wuxin pulled a half-soaked piece of yellow paper from his pocket, bit his fingertip, and began drawing a blood talisman. A head of black hair appeared on the surface—it was the Eighth Concubine, chasing after the scent of life. Closer to the boat, she suddenly tilted her head back from the water, her grinning mouth wide open. The skin at the corners of her mouth tore open, her features distorted, yet her mouth continued to expand, eventually becoming a square-shaped maw. Inside, it was jet black, densely covered with sharp barbs. Her slender body swayed with the current; she had truly transformed into a monstrous snake. Saiwei and Shengyi happened to glance back and saw her. They didn't scream, only letting out a hiccup-like "uh" in their throats, then, as if wound up to a full spring, they nearly threw their oars away.

Wuxin remained kneeling on all fours at the stern of the boat, one hand supporting himself on the ground, the other holding the blood talisman. People truly don't learn without being forced to; his day's work was less impressive than his casual stroke earlier. The blood talisman felt cold in his hand, and as the Eighth Concubine drew ever closer, he suddenly hurled it. The paper talisman flew smoothly through the air, yet it seemed to possess a blade, slicing diagonally into the Eighth Concubine's forehead!

The chirping sound, neither insect nor beast, rang out again, emanating from the Eighth Concubine. Wuxin knew his talisman-drawing skills were erratic, sometimes effective, sometimes not, so he drew his iron needle from his chest again. Stealing a glance behind him, he saw the Saiwei siblings still struggling desperately against the heavy current, and felt relieved. Gripping the needle tightly in pain, he plunged it into his own neck. He stared intently at the monster in the water, ready to pull out the needle at any moment.

The eighth concubine in the water seemed to be in great pain, thrashing about and shaking her head. The cracks in her neck deepened and widened with each movement, spreading out in pieces. Suddenly, there was movement beside her. She turned her head without thinking and saw Saiwei, panting, squeezing in: "What do we do? The oar broke—"

She was clearly in a state of extreme panic, her face turning deathly pale. However, before she could finish speaking, the Eighth Concubine in the water suddenly swung her head, her neck snapping clean off at the root, her head flying forward. Saiwei, her eyes fixed on Wuxin, vaguely sensed a black ball flying towards her. Before her mind could process what was happening, her hands involuntarily clenched into fists, and she thrust upwards with the motion of a ball-passing motion. With a muffled thud, she used the Eighth Concubine's head as a volleyball, sending it flying back into the water ten meters away.

A large splash of water rose in the distance, while the surface of the water nearby temporarily returned to calm. She asked Wuxin, bewildered, "What did I just hit?"

Wuxin didn't dare tell the truth, and pulled her arm to push her behind him: "The oar is broken, so be it. You're sitting on the boat, so don't move!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a black wave surged up from the stern of the boat. The headless Eighth Concubine thrashed about in the water, and a shiny black, pointed head emerged from her neck. At first glance, the head resembled a water snake, but when it raised its head towards the living people on the boat, it opened its large, square mouth full of barbs—clearly not the structure of a water snake! Seeing that it was about to charge at the small boat, Wuxin leaped into the water to meet it. Dodging its gaping maw, Wuxin used his hands and feet to grab its body, preventing it from continuing to assault the boat. With one hand, he pulled out the iron needle deeply embedded in its neck and plunged it into the monster's slippery skin.

The iron needle was inherently an evil object, and now that it had been soaked in his flesh and blood for so long, he couldn't predict what its effects would be. As the iron needle pierced through, the Eighth Concubine's body began to convulse violently in his arms, while the monster twisted its head desperately, trying to bite Wuxin. Wuxin dodged left and right, knowing that once the monster bit him, not only would his flesh be scraped off by the barbs, but even his bones would likely be torn off.

He dodged nimbly, but the monster seemed intelligent as well. With each attempt to escape, it struggled and its head, resembling a water snake, grew longer and longer, as if connected to a snake's body, about to emerge from the Eighth Concubine's body. Seeing that it was undefeated, Wuxin pulled out an iron needle and inserted it into his mouth, tracing the tip from the base of his tongue to the tip. He used the blood-stained needle to pierce the monster again, and at the same time discovered that the monster had developed a pair of human eyes.

The monster was in excruciating pain, yet it stubbornly refused to die. The bloody taste in its mouth was fading, and with the wound still on its tongue, and having no other recourse, it steeled itself and bit down hard on the monster's head. Amidst the gasps of Sevi and Sheng Yi, the monster jerked violently, and a slippery, slender body slid out from the Eighth Concubine's neck, revealing its true form—something between a snake and an insect, impossible to discern.

It was clearly cunning, coiling itself around Wuxin and lurking into the deep water. However, Wuxin didn't care about the difference between land and water. Aside from his canvas overalls being a bit cumbersome after being soaked, he was no less clumsy in the water than the monster. Having no weapons left, he relentlessly stabbed the monster's eyes with needle after needle, refusing to let go. Suddenly, he twisted his head sharply, tearing a piece of flesh from the monster's head with his teeth. Black blood quickly spread in the water. He stuck the iron needle into his leg, then grabbed the monster's wound with both hands, tearing it apart with all his might. The monster was clearly in agony, thrashing and swirling, trying to shake off Wuxin, but Wuxin held its body tightly with his legs. The cold, foul-smelling black blood obscured Wuxin's vision. He put all his strength into his hands, digging a bloody hole in the monster's head. Releasing his legs and rising to the surface, he pulled out the iron needle from his leg and quickly drew a talisman on the monster's body. With a final upward flick of his wrist, he stepped on the monster's tail and used it to propel himself toward the small boat.

With a splash, he emerged from the stern of the boat. Looking up, he saw Saiwei and Shengyi staring intently at him. He paused for a moment, then began to pant heavily.

Saiwei and Shengyi were clearly terrified, staring blankly at Wuxin for a full half minute before joining forces to pull him onto the boat without a word. Their hands were surprisingly strong, gripping him like vises. Even after he was seated securely on the boat, they wouldn't let go.

Wuxin was panting heavily, so he took the opportunity to stop panting and said to the two of them, "Don't be afraid, I've already killed the monster."

After speaking, he turned his back to the river and stared intently into the water for a moment. Of course, he couldn't discern anything with just his eyes; he was merely gazing. The evil aura in the water had faded considerably, though it wouldn't completely dissipate, because only a henchman had died. He didn't know where the mastermind was.

The river had returned to its usual calm, and Saiwei and Shengyi, with great effort, finally managed to cross it using a single oar. The three of them helped each other ashore, remaining silent the entire way, and sneaked back to the courtyard like thieves.

The old women and maids in the courtyard had all gone to bed early. In their drowsy state, they suddenly heard a commotion coming from inside the room, but the young master and young lady didn't call out, so they happily lay there pretending to be asleep. And their silence suited the young master and young lady just as well.

Despite his foul odor, Wuxin was granted the right to shower first. Knowing that Saiwei and Shengyi were both very hygienic, he lathered his face and head with soap, and even stretched out his tongue to brush his teeth. A long, red welt on his tongue was stinging from the toothpaste foam, but he endured the pain and rinsed his mouth meticulously.

An hour later, Saiwei and Shengyi had also finished washing up and personally poured hot water from the thermos to make three cups of hot tea. Wuxin had no clothes to wear again, so he had to put on Shengyi's pajamas. Pajamas are loose clothing and don't have strict size requirements; and Wuxin didn't care at all. If Saiwei and Shengyi didn't mind, he would be fine with being naked.

Saiwei and Shengyi had also changed into their pajamas and wrapped themselves in bathrobes, as if the more they wore, the safer they would be. They stood guard on either side of Wuxin, silently finishing a cup of hot tea, their minds filled with countless questions, and for a moment they simply didn't know where to begin.

(End of this chapter)