When he walked out of the cave again, the eastern horizon had already brightened.

In the corner outside the stone wall lay several skeletons scattered about, dead for who knows how many years, their empty eye sockets staring at Meng Rui. Meng Rui felt slightly surprised seeing the skulls, but soon he was completely attracted by a cluster of colored light.

Meng Rui was stunned. On the open ground ten zhang away from him grew an abnormally enormous Moluo, over two zhang tall. Its gigantic flower leaves floated in mid-air like clouds, refracting magnificent light—red as blood, blue as the sea, purple as crystal, yellow as jade, beautifully enchanting like a demon. Not only that, this extraordinary Moluo didn’t emit the foul stench of decaying corpses, but instead had an unusually elegant and extreme fragrance lingering around it. Meng Rui was intoxicated by that refreshing aroma.

Suddenly, an innocent and lively girl rushed out from beneath the Moluo’s giant flower branches, waving at Meng Rui! Meng Rui was startled. The girl was actually his own younger sister, Wan Xiang! Meng Rui reached out his hand, waiting for Wan Xiang. But suddenly a man in a black cloak chased from behind, waving a long blade in his hand, slashing toward Wan Xiang.

“No!” Meng Rui roared furiously, drawing the curved blade “Death God” from his back and pouncing toward the man in the black cloak. The man in the black cloak fought fiercely with Meng Rui beneath the fragrant Moluo flower. After a hundred rounds, Meng Rui was drenched in sweat, while the man in the black cloak seemed to feel no fatigue.

The man in the black cloak’s face bore a pitch-black veil, revealing only a pair of eyes. Meng Rui looked into his eyes and in those bright eyes saw himself wildly and crazily hacking and slashing at the air. How could this be? The man in the black cloak slashed through Meng Wan Xiang’s clothing. Blood instantly soaked through. Meng Rui’s “Death God” cut through the man in the black cloak’s abdomen like a meteor. The man in the black cloak backhanded a sword thrust that also wounded Meng Rui’s abdomen.

Meng Rui’s eyes were obscured by rage. He roared and fought fiercely with the man in the black cloak again. In the middle of the battle, the two competed in internal energy. As a result, they were both sent flying. Meng Rui fell onto a smooth bluestone, his head bleeding.

The smooth bluestone reflected his blurred face. Meng Rui gazed for a long time, finally pressing against the bluestone and slowly crawling up.

Then Meng Rui closed his eyes and strode toward the man in the black cloak. The man in the black cloak surprisingly didn’t attack either, allowing Meng Rui to walk before him. Meng Rui reached out to touch the man in the black cloak. His hand only passed through air, touching nothing.

Meng Rui gradually opened his eyes. “So it’s just a nonexistent phantom.” The man in the black cloak gradually vanished. In the distance, Meng Wan Xiang also disappeared.

Meng Rui touched the wound on his abdomen. It turned out he had been fighting with himself all along. Was this the so-called mutual self-destruction?

The alluring fragrance of the Moluo still lingered. The phantom should be related to this fragrance. Meng Rui gazed at the Moluo for a long time, then walked to the bluestone from earlier and suddenly spoke. “Come out.”

The cave was pitch black and silent. The enormous fragrant Moluo swayed its leaves slightly. Beyond was an impenetrable cluster of Moluo flowers. Who was Meng Rui talking to? Meng Rui waited a while. When no one emerged, he sneered coldly. “When I fell onto the bluestone earlier, I saw you in the stone’s reflection and heard your footsteps. Phantoms don’t make sounds.”

After Meng Rui’s words fell, from behind the Moluo’s thick, wide flower branches slowly walked out a man also dressed in a black cloak, his face similarly bearing a pitch-black veil. The man in the black cloak moved extremely slowly. Meng Rui stared at his veil. The man in the black cloak said hoarsely, “I didn’t expect you to break through the Spirit of the Moluo’s phantom so quickly.”

“Are you the Master Hua that Jin Yaoguang spoke of?” Meng Rui asked. The man in the black cloak nodded. “Yes.”

“The Spirit of the Moluo you mentioned is this Moluo with the unusual fragrance?” Meng Rui asked. The man in the black cloak, Master Hua, turned back to look at the giant Moluo and said, “Correct. Don’t underestimate it. This Moluo is an ancient remnant species that has lived for nearly three thousand years. All the Moluos in this gorge are its descendants. It is the king of this Moluo Gorge, the soul of the Moluo. This is also very likely the only ancient Moluo in the world.”

“An ancient remnant species. No wonder it’s different from other Moluos, so enormous, and with an unusual fragrance.” Meng Rui looked up at the Moluo’s enchanting flower face high above. Master Hua smiled and shook his head. “The ancient Moluo is not only enormous in plant size and emits an unusual fragrance that causes people to have illusions and hallucinations, but it also possesses miraculous divine effects comparable to miracles.”

“Ordinary Moluos already have the efficacy to formulate secret medicine. The divine effects of this Spirit of the Moluo are imaginable.” Meng Rui said coldly. “You demanded girls for this ancient Moluo?”

Master Hua stared into Meng Rui’s eyes and nodded. “Precisely. The lifespan of an ordinary Moluo is one hundred to one hundred fifty years. It blooms once every twenty years. But the ancient Moluo possesses infinite lifespan. Its flower cycle requires a lengthy sixty years. When I discovered this ancient Moluo, it had already bloomed once ten years ago. I needed to wait fifty years to hope for it to bloom again.” Master Hua laughed strangely twice, then continued. “I don’t have the Moluo’s longevity. I’m afraid I can hardly wait another fifty years. So I could only think of some extraordinary methods to make the ancient Moluo bloom early.”

Master Hua let out a long breath. Meng Rui waited. Sure enough, Master Hua continued. “The Moluo is an extremely yin object, merging with all yin and soft aspects of heaven and earth. It dwells in places of yin malevolence, absorbing yin evil energy. These yin malevolent and evil existences are like yin food that can make the Moluo’s flowering period arrive normally or even early. As long as there is enough yin food to nourish the ancient Moluo, its flowering cycle can become shorter and shorter, reduced to at most twenty-five years. The ancient Moluo has been blooming for ten years, which means I only need to wait another fifteen years.”

Meng Rui’s face turned iron blue, but he still didn’t speak. He knew Master Hua hadn’t finished talking. Master Hua continued. “And the purest yin food is the blood of young girls, pure and crystal clear. The ancient Moluo absorbs young girls’ blood slowly, so I had the Jin father and son send two girls every five months. Constable Meng, this is why I demanded girls.”

“After that? What about those girls?” Meng Rui looked at Master Hua. Master Hua smiled. “Their blood was all drained. Naturally, the people are no longer here.”

“Using dozens of lives to nourish a flower, making the flower drink human blood. Ha ha, this is the most ridiculous and tragic story I’ve ever heard. Master Hua, do you know what it feels like to have your blood drained drop by drop? Do you know the terror when life gradually departs and the cold death god walks closer and closer? Those dozens of innocent girls must all know. You should try it too.” Though Meng Rui’s tone was calm and steady, the blue birthmark on his left face became engorged and protruded, like a hideous blue beast coming to life, ready to tear and devour. This was Meng Rui’s expression when extremely angry.

Master Hua wasn’t panicked. He looked at Meng Rui. “The courage of a common man. Meng Rui, you are a good person, but not a smart person.”

“A smart person? Hmph! Sacrificing innocent lives with complete inhumanity is a smart person? Destroying families with moral depravity is a smart person? Zhang the Cowherd who abandoned his carriage and learned to run is a smart person? No, if I were Zhang the Cowherd, I would fight the wolves to the death! This is me, a foolish person, Meng Rui.” Meng Rui’s gaze shot intensely toward Master Hua. “What do you think, Master Hua… or should I say Kua Lao?”

Master Hua’s veil jumped violently. After a long time, he laughed. “You still saw through me.” Master Hua removed the veil from his face. It was indeed Kua Lao, Kua Lu from the Dougu Yizhuang. Kua Lu walked back and forth a few steps, pounding his sore legs twice. “I’m old. Standing for just a while makes me tired. I’m curious, how did you see through me?”

“Here.” Meng Rui walked to the earlier bluestone.

The bluestone’s surface was smooth and moist from being washed by rainwater over the years. The upper edge of the bluestone had a layer of grayish-white stone material, varying in depth. Meng Rui pointed at the grayish-white stone material. “The upper stone layer of the bluestone, though not completely fallen off from rainwater washing, has become quite soft and fine. On this stone surface, I repeatedly discovered traces of wrinkles, obviously from someone who had sat on this giant bluestone, so the wrinkles of the clothes beneath would be imprinted into the stone material. The depths below the stone material on the left and right sides vary, because the person sitting on the bluestone had different force on both legs—left shallow, right deep, the right leg bearing more weight. Multiple wrinkles with different patterns indicate this person came many times. And the left and right depths being so clear indicate this person consistently had the right leg bearing weight, never changing posture. This person should be a cripple with a broken left leg.” After Meng Rui finished, he glanced coldly at Kua Lu’s broken left leg.

“Ha ha, there are countless cripples in the world. Why must it be me?” Kua Lu laughed. Meng Rui nodded. “This is just the first clue I discovered. The second clue is here.” Meng Rui pointed to the crevice at the bottom of the bluestone. Beside the crevice was blood, left by Meng Rui when he pressed the bluestone to stand up earlier.

Kua Lu walked over. Something was actually wedged in the bluestone crevice. Meng Rui took it out. It was a black wooden whistle.

Kua Lu’s face was full of helplessness. Meng Rui said, “This wooden whistle must have been lost by someone who came here. A wooden whistle plus a cripple with a broken left leg—how could it not be you!”

Kua Lu looked up and laughed several times. “Ha ha ha ha! As Jin Yaoguang said, is this heaven’s will? Every time after feeding the ancient Moluo yin food, I would sit on the bluestone to rest. The wooden whistle was also lost by me. At that time, I came to this secret realm for the first time and, like you, fell under the magic of the Moluo’s unusual fragrance and had hallucinations. When I struggled, I tore my clothes, and the wooden whistle was lost then. I never imagined that today this whistle would become ironclad evidence identifying me. Laughable, lamentable.”

“What about the skeletons by the stone wall?” Seeing Kua Lu had admitted it, Meng Rui asked. Kua Lu glanced at the stone wall area. “Because the gorge’s Moluos were too dense, even I couldn’t pass through. So I invited a group of skilled craftsmen to enter the gorge to help me hollow out the stone wall and create a series of cave mechanisms leading directly to the ancient Moluo. Then, to prevent them from going out and talking, I made them stay here forever.”

“Were Ma He and Wen Nansheng also killed by you?” Meng Rui continued. Kua Lu nodded. “Correct. Ma He was too greedy. Such a petty person would sooner or later ruin my grand plan, so I gave him sleeping drugs and then killed him. As for Wen Nansheng, at first I saved him out of kindness. Later, when he revealed secrets about the Moluo Gorge and the Jin father and son at the Yizhuang, I knew I couldn’t keep him.”

“You didn’t kill Wen Nansheng immediately to get the second half of the map.” Meng Rui spoke for Kua Lu. Kua Lu slowly nodded. “Correct. I didn’t want you to obtain the complete map, so I held back and waited for Wen Nansheng to retrieve the map before striking.”

“Just now in the gorge, when I asked Jin Yaoguang whether he killed Wen and Ma, suddenly countless round stones fell in the gorge. That was also your trick.” Meng Rui said coldly. Kua Lu laughed. “The Jin father and son also had the intention to silence witnesses. I just never felt confident in their methods, so I personally finished off Wen and Ma. The Jin father and son became the best scapegoats. Naturally, I didn’t want them to ruin the good situation. So when you weren’t paying attention, I activated the mechanism and released the rolling stones.”

Kua Lu confessed everything. Seeing murderous intent frequently appearing in Meng Rui’s eyes, Kua Lao said resentfully, “Even if I’ve done all kinds of bad things, you cannot kill me.”

“Why can’t I kill you?” Meng Rui looked stubbornly at Kua Lu. Behind him, the “Death God” curved blade trembled.

Kua Lu smiled mockingly. “Because you’re already unable to protect yourself. Do you know why I gave you the wooden whistle? Just to help you get through the insect tide? Of course not. I already smeared a colorless, tasteless specially made poison on the edge of the whistle’s mouthpiece. I only need to shake the matching bell, and the poison will activate in your body, making you lose all your power and die violently in an instant. I ask you, how can you still kill me?” Kua Lu took out a golden bell.

Meng Rui was unmoved. He took one step toward Kua Lu, then another step toward Kua Lu. Between the two was only a distance of ten steps. Meng Rui instantly crossed eight steps. Kua Lu’s expression changed. He sneered. “Do you think I don’t dare kill you? Heh, I originally wanted to let you linger on for a while longer. Since it’s like this… die.” Kua Lao shook the bell. In the clear bell sound, Meng Rui took the ninth step, and then the tenth step.

Meng Rui stood before Kua Lu. Kua Lu looked at Meng Rui, who wasn’t damaged in the slightest, and said in shocked, changed voice, “Impossible, this is absolutely impossible! You’ve already been hit by my secret poison. How could you be fine?!”

Meng Rui took out a wooden whistle and shook it in front of Kua Lu. “You’re not the only friend willing to give me gifts. Among my old friends is also a strange and mysterious coroner. Long ago he gave me an identical wooden whistle.” Meng Rui thought of the wooden-faced Wu Zuo, Lao Sitou, the world’s foremost coroner, and couldn’t help but feel warmth in his heart. He continued, “So from the beginning, I was blowing the whistle he gave me, not yours. Naturally, I wouldn’t be poisoned.”

Kua Lu broke out in sweat all over. His mouth twitched. He didn’t know what to say. Meng Rui easily lifted Kua Lu, whose face was ashen as death, and said coldly, “I said you should also try the pain of those dozens of innocent young girls having their blood drained.”

Kua Lu struggled violently, shouting loudly, “Let me go, don’t kill me… you, you can’t kill me!”

“Ha ha, could it be I’m unable to protect myself again?” Meng Rui drew “Death God” from its sheath. Kua Lu closed his eyes and shouted, “Meng, Meng Wan Xiang… do you remember Meng Wan Xiang?” With Kua Lu’s words, Meng Rui’s hand froze in mid-air. His gaze scattered as he asked, “You know Meng Wan Xiang! Tell me, where is she? Is she dead or alive… speak!”

Meng Rui shook Kua Lu with both hands until his bones nearly fell apart. Kua Lu spat out several mouthfuls of acid water before he could speak. “Meng Wan Xiang was the first yin food I sent to the ancient Moluo. If you want to see her, she’s underground.”

Kua Lu pointed toward the ancient Moluo. Meng Rui’s hands loosened, dropping Kua Lu to the ground. Like a lost soul, he walked beneath the enormous ancient Moluo flower and began frantically digging with his hands. Meng Rui seemed to become a stone man, feeling no fatigue. After frantically digging for a shichen, Meng Rui suddenly touched something. He froze in place, stunned.

It was a white cocoon body wrapped into an oval shape by Moluo root tendrils. The cocoon shell was misty and nearly transparent. Meng Rui could clearly see a girl curled up inside the cocoon body, her eyes tightly closed, hands held to her chest, motionless. The girl inside the cocoon body wasn’t Meng Wan Xiang. Meng Rui quickly discovered a second cocoon body exposed in the soil. His brain paused for a moment, then he continued frantically digging.

He didn’t know how long he dug. Meng Rui’s hands were already dripping with blood. The ancient Moluo’s root system was almost completely excavated. Between the densely spread root system hung sixty or seventy pure white cocoon bodies. Inside each cocoon body was a silent girl.

Meng Rui identified them one by one. Finally, he tightly embraced a cocoon body at the very bottom of the root system. The girl inside the cocoon seemed to be sleeping, her mouth slightly pouted. It was Meng Rui’s younger sister, Meng Wan Xiang, unseen for fifteen years. Meng Rui recklessly tore off the root tendrils and broke open the cocoon body. Kua Lu shouted to stop him but it was too late. Meng Rui pulled Wan Xiang out from inside the cocoon body! Meng Rui laughed madly, but tears couldn’t stop flowing from this man’s eyes.

Behind him, the Moluo root tendrils suddenly contracted automatically. Sixty or seventy cocoon bodies were instantly compressed into bone and flesh.

Bone and flesh splattered onto Meng Rui’s face. Meng Rui said blankly, “What happened?”

“Alas, you tore the cocoon body. It’s like cutting off one of a person’s fingers—the other fingers will contract and gather. This ancient Moluo is the same. You severed one root system, the other root systems closed together, and the cocoon bodies were crushed.” Kua Lu shook his head regretfully. Meng Rui was stunned. He looked at his sister who couldn’t be awakened. He grabbed Kua Lu by the throat and shouted, “Can my sister still wake? Is she dead?”

“The ancient Moluo dragged the yin food underground, wrapped it into cocoons, then slowly fed on the yin food’s blood. Your sister’s flesh is in the cocoon liquid so it hasn’t decayed, but all the blood in her body is already gone.” Kua Lu revealed the truth. Meng Rui caressed his sister’s cheeks. “Blood… It was you who took Wan Xiang away fifteen years ago. It was you who harmed her! Today I will make you pay with your life for Wan Xiang and the other girls, exchanging blood for blood.”

Meng Rui gripped Kua Lu’s throat. Kua Lu struggled to spit out several unclear words: “There… is… a… way… to… save… her.”

Meng Rui’s hand loosened slightly. Kua Lu, who narrowly escaped death, gasped for breath. “I guarded the Moluo for fifteen years, waiting for the Moluo Fruit that would form after the flower bloomed. The Moluo Fruit produces only one walnut-sized fruit every sixty years. It’s one of the important ingredients in the ancient secret legendary elixir of immortality.”

“You weren’t waiting for the Moluo to bloom, but for the Moluo Fruit. But Wan Xiang’s blood is already drained and she’s dead. Even if you refine the elixir of immortality, what use is it? Can it bring her back from the dead!” Meng Rui’s blue face swelled, like a primordial fierce beast.

Seeing Meng Rui’s expression was wrong, Kua Lu immediately said, “I’m telling you about the Moluo Fruit to tell you that ancient miraculous remnant species still exist. Among them there may be divine medicine that can bring your sister back from the dead. Believe me, as long as you don’t kill me, I, I can definitely help you find it.”

“Ha ha! Ha ha! Do you think I’ll believe you, this murderous demon?” Meng Rui held Meng Wan Xiang tightly, drawing “Death God” with one hand.

Under “Death God,” Kua Lu’s face was full of despair…

Blade light, cold shadow. Has Death God already arrived?!

Unknown.