That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Jiang Jingming walked up to him, squatted down, and quietly looked him in the eye:

"It's that sorcerer's fault. Even if it weren't Sanxi, he would have chosen another dead person to do this."

"Yes, in that situation, anyone would be tempted by him, and I was no exception."

Xie Yunqi lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling the sword tassel as he grasped the piece of white jade.

She rarely spoke so quietly, and for a moment no one knew what she was thinking.

The boss took a breath and raised his head:

"No, you don't know what happened next."

It seemed to take immense courage to say what he was about to say; his chest heaved violently.

“At first I tried to accept him. I wouldn’t let him go out, afraid that he would be discovered. He was obedient at first, but he just couldn’t speak. I comforted myself that he was still Sanxi, just that he looked terrifying.”

"But the next day, I heard people in the village say that someone had gone missing, and there was blood everywhere, and they suspected that he had been eaten by wild animals. Then I went home and found him with blood all over his mouth, sewing one of his legs back onto himself."

The boss was clutching his hair, on the verge of collapse.

"It wasn't until then that I realized the one who had come back to life was a man-eating demon. I locked him in the cellar and only fed him chickens and ducks, but somehow he escaped!"

“I couldn’t find him anywhere. Rumors of cannibals were spreading all over the area. More and more people were dying, and everyone was scared and moved away. The village became a ghost town.”

No wonder this once bustling little village is now so desolate; it turns out it's because of the man-eating demons.

Although this is the most well-known and safest trade route, with such a terrifying rumor, most caravans would choose to take a longer route, thus avoiding Jiang Jingming's group.

After escaping from the cellar, the cannibalistic demon lingered in the vicinity, likely killing isolated and uninformed vagrants.

"I had no choice but to continue setting up my stall on the trade route. I posted that notice to warn passersby to be careful. If I find him... I'll take him with me to die."

After saying this, the boss collapsed to his knees, utterly exhausted. It's unclear how much effort he expended to make this decision.

Jiang Jingming then noticed that there was a dagger wrapped around his waist, which was why A Qing was on guard when she pulled him out.

At this point, the whole story is clear enough.

A mysterious sorcerer happened to pass by and met the boss, whose son had just passed away. He then claimed that he could revive Sanxi.

The boss was so eager to save his son that he agreed without thinking it through.

However, the creature he saved was a non-human monster with a strong desire to eat people and sew up corpses, becoming the local horror legend known as the "man-eating ghost."

Thinking of this, Jiang Jingming couldn't help but sigh.

If that's really the case, things would be simpler.

But he retained some instincts; he still remembered not to hurt his boss, and he still remembered that nursery rhyme.

Perhaps he thought that if he sewed up a few more pieces of the corpse, he could become more complete and return to his former self, which is why he danced and gesticulated so joyfully in front of the water.

But this cannibal must be killed; he has already committed too many sins.

But the one who was truly at fault in this matter was the sorcerer who created him.

Jiang Jingming's words just now were not meant to comfort the boss. Even if he hadn't happened to run into Sanxi, the sorcerer would have found another target.

He did this for no particular purpose, but simply to create chaos, and Jiang Jingming had no doubt about that.

He sensed a familiar aura emanating from the man simply from the boss's brief description.

He had the same aura as the head of the Inspection Department.

They mostly came from the same organization, whose purpose was still unclear, but there was no doubt that it was targeting him.

It seems like strange things happen wherever he goes.

But the more this is the case, the more it proves that he must move forward.

Jiang Jingming pressed down on the hilt of the knife with one hand and slowly stood up.

Having made up his mind, he looked up at Lu Zhao.

I saw in the other person's eyes that they had made the same decision as me.

Chapter Fifty: The Intent to Kill

Jiang Jingming drew his sword, his voice calm.

"You don't need to do it yourself, just step back."

Upon hearing this, the boss remained prostrate on the ground, trembling all over, but did not utter a sound.

Lu Zhao took a deep breath and threw the fishing net in his hand out.

The Imperial Guards often used intricate nets to apprehend criminals, and he was very skilled at it.

Despite having only a hastily woven fishing net, it still managed to accurately hit the enormous creature beside the well.

The man-eating demon was caught in the fishing net, and Lu Zhao pulled hard with both hands, causing it to fall to the ground.

Perhaps sensing the danger, the man-eating demon began to howl shrilly, and at this moment his voice sounded no different from that of a child throwing a tantrum in the street.

Jiang Jingming glanced at his boss, who looked like a convulsing corpse, desperate and powerless.

Since that's the case, let's resolve it as soon as possible.

Jiang Jingming rose up with his knife, the tip piercing through the fishing net and into the cannibal's vest.

Even after the sharp blade cut through the skin, the smell of rotting flesh still wafted out.

It missed the mark.

But the man-eating demon struggled even more fiercely, its entire body twisting and turning at the same time, like a fat worm that couldn't turn over no matter what.

Lu Zhao gripped the fishing net with both hands with all his might, veins bulging on his forehead.

Aqing silently stood behind the man-eating demon, a foot-long silver blade sliding from her sleeve into her palm.

Jiang Jingming kicked the man-eating demon and pulled out Wujiu.

The cannibalistic demon screamed at him with all its might, its once childlike face now contorted with horrific terror.

Then Aqing's dagger pierced through the back of its head, dismembering its skull beyond recognition.

......

He's not dead yet.

Xie Yunqi's hand holding the sword trembled slightly. She should have rushed up to help at this moment, but her steps felt as heavy as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

With each scream of the man-eating demon, the boss lying on the ground trembled. Xie Yunqi was certain that the pain he felt was no less intense.

Fang Zhiyi, who was beside him, seemed unusually silent tonight. She lowered her eyes and looked down at the hellish scene before her, her gaze as cold as the moonlight.

"Sister Fang..."

Xie Yunqi crossed his arms, feeling a chill in his heart.

Fang Zhiyi's lips curved into a perfect smile, her expression as gentle as a spring breeze.

"Yunqi, don't be afraid."

The night breeze ruffled a few strands of her hair, which she tucked behind her ear, her voice light and airy:

"Since it is an inanimate object, it is naturally difficult to kill it."

As if to please her, the cannibalistic monster, which had been almost chopped into a pile of mangled flesh, was still writhing. His throat should have been ripped apart long ago, yet he was still alive.

Jiang Jingming took a step back, brandishing his longsword in the night wind to wipe away the bluish-purple bloodstains.

He looked down at the man-eating ghost and for a moment he even began to doubt whether it really was a ghost. Even if Master Fu had used the Dream Dharani, he should have been dead by now.

Aqing rolled up her sleeves, wiped the knife, and frowned slightly.

For an assassin who aims for a single, fatal blow, this situation is unacceptable.

She turned her head and saw the axe in the yard.

Lu Zhao, who was responsible for holding the fishing net, was also exhausted. He slumped on the roof, his hands stiff and sore from exerting too much force.

But the man-eating monster in the fishing net is still alive.

How can such a thing happen?

Lu Zhao had lost count of how many times he had asked himself this question. It was as if he were having a nightmare, and when he woke up, he was still in the glorious capital city, enjoying peace and prosperity.

Xie Yunqi felt extremely reluctant, and she slowly tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.

Her sword was named "Floating Frost," and it was crafted for her by Xie Jichuan from among many renowned craftsmen when she came of age.

Because of her impulsive personality and fiery temper, Frost Floating is an extremely cold sword.

Xie Jichuan wanted this unruly girl to be able to calm down and have room for thought when she drew her sword.

Although it turned out that his good intentions were ineffective, the young lady always drew her sword in an instant.

But at this moment, the chilling cold of the floating frost traveled from his palms to his heart, and Xie Yunqi finally made up his mind to draw his sword.

She couldn't hesitate at this moment. Such a slow and agonizing death would be the cruelest thing for both the boss and Sanxi. She had to help stop it all.

"it's useless."

Fang Zhiyi's voice came softly from behind.

Xie Yunqi turned around in surprise, only to find that Fang Zhiyi was not looking at her, but was just quietly staring at the mess in front of her.

"The so-called secret technique of resurrecting a corpse is, in essence, locking the soul of the dead into a cobbled-together body. You guessed right, it is indeed a monster, but it is also your son, only its consciousness is very blurred, with only a few instincts remaining."

Fang Zhiyi's tone was gentle, but the words she spoke were quite cruel:

"Furthermore, you sincerely believe that no matter the cost, your son must come back to life—that's why the spell can succeed. If you had even the slightest hesitation, the spell would have failed."

For a moment, everyone fell silent, with only the boss's desperate gasps remaining.

"So, how can we kill him?"

Jiang Jingming held the knife in his backhand, stood sideways, and looked directly into her eyes.

Fang Zhiyi smiled gently.

"What is locked is the soul, but what comes back to life is the heart. Once the heart dies, the body dies."

"..."

Before Jiang Jingming could figure out what she was talking about, he saw the boss, who had been lying on the ground like a dead man, suddenly stand up.

"Thank you everyone, I understand."

The boss's tone was unusually relaxed. He drew the dagger from behind him and walked step by step toward the man-eating demon, whose face was now unrecognizable.

Then he knelt down, like a father soothing a child to sleep, and slowly pressed his face against the cannibal's body.

"Three joys, three joys."

He called the child's name softly.

Perhaps hearing a familiar voice, the man-eating demon, which had been struggling since the beginning, gradually quieted down and let out a series of unpleasant whimpers.

"Sanxi, I'm sorry, Dad has never been able to buy you that Mohele you wanted."

"Your mother had no wishes before she died, only that I raise you safely. I am truly sorry to your mother and have no face to see her."

"Sanxi is a good child. Buddha will bless you to be reborn into a good family next year, so you won't have to be a father's son again."

"..."

He muttered to himself for a long time, until the night began to brighten.

Jiang Jingming stood behind them, watching the moon sink in the west over the Gobi Desert, with a sliver of light breaking through the sky.

After a long silence, Ah Qing stepped forward and looked down at him.

"he died."

The dagger he always carried had half a blade tip wrapped around its hilt, making it a double-edged sword.

One end pierced the cannibal's body, while the other end plunged into his own heart.

Fang Zhiyi is right. The dead resurrected by such a secret technique will not die even if their physical bodies are destroyed.

Only by killing his heart can this spell be stopped.