The storm gradually receded into the distance, yet the fierce winds persisted. The ghostly Netherworld ship tossed and lurched atop the peaks of massive waves, rising and plummeting violently. In the lowest hold, closest to the icy cold sea, Yue Tianhong recounted with trembling fear the terrifying scene he had just experienced.
Li Si’s expression shifted unpredictably. He found it impossible to believe in the existence of malevolent ghosts, yet even the typically steady and experienced Yue Tianhong had been frightened into incoherence. This made Li Si wonder whether something else might still be lurking aboard this ship.
“Brother Yue, calm down first,” Li Si said, giving Yue Tianhong some water from the wooden barrel to drink.
“After the five of us entered this ship, it was as if we had walked straight into an elaborately prepared death trap. The trap-maker draws the net tight, ensnaring us one by one and slaughtering us.” Li Si took out the blue paper and said, “Yet the trap-maker has also provided an opportunity to eliminate him—it’s this blue paper that serves as the Grim Reaper’s invitation.”
Yue Tianhong had also heard of the Shadow-Devouring Garment. Li Si’s expression was grave as he said, “The trap-maker must be hidden within the remaining two blue papers.”
Yue Tianhong took Ji Ming’s blue paper: “‘The penitent one in the darkness, he shall be eternally exiled to the frozen hell.’ What does this mean? There are absolutely no clues.”
The sea vessel remained perpetually shrouded in gloom. Li Si, Yue Tianhong, and Su Qin closed their eyes to rest. The moment Yue Tianhong fell asleep, the ghostly image of that brocade-clad white skeleton filled his entire mind.
Yue Tianhong gasped sharply and woke with panic and terror.
Upon waking, darkness still surrounded him completely. His stomach growled again with hunger. Yue Tianhong looked toward the nearby water pool where the human-faced monster fish floated in the center, its eyeless face turned toward him.
If I kill this fish, won’t that solve my hunger problem? Yue Tianhong grabbed a sharp wooden plank and walked to the edge of the water pool.
The light from the human-faced monster fish illuminated Yue Tianhong’s gradually contorting face. Yue Tianhong shook his head and said, “Don’t blame me. I don’t want to starve to death on this ghost ship.”
The human-faced monster fish showed no sense of mortal danger whatsoever. It slowly swam to the pool’s edge and stopped right beneath Yue Tianhong’s feet.
“Ah!” Yue Tianhong forcefully brought the sharp wooden plank down toward the monster fish.
Li Si heard the commotion and woke, but it was too late to stop Yue Tianhong. He shouted, “No, Brother Yue!”
The sharp wooden plank halted an inch above the human-faced monster fish’s head. But Yue Tianhong had not stopped because of Li Si’s shout—rather, it seemed he could sense through his eyelid membrane the profound sadness within the monster fish’s body. Yue Tianhong released his grip. The plank clattered to the ground, and two streams of tears slid down this middle-aged man’s cheeks.
Yue Tianhong burst into uncontrollable sobbing and woodenly brought his face close to the human-faced monster fish.
The human-faced monster fish’s mournful low humming sound gradually intensified. More than ten pairs of deep blue hook-like tentacles emerged from the water’s surface, extending toward Yue Tianhong.
“Come back!” Li Si grabbed Yue Tianhong just as he was about to fall into the water pool.
“Whew!” Yue Tianhong collapsed sitting beside the water pool. Feeling the moisture at the corners of his eyes, he asked in bewilderment, “What just happened to me? What occurred?”
“Just now you wanted to kill the monster fish, but unexpectedly you nearly got eaten by it instead,” Li Si said.
“I… nearly got eaten by that human-faced monster fish?” Yue Tianhong patted his head, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t clearly recall what had happened moments ago.
“Yes. You were within a hair’s breadth of ending up in the fish’s belly. However, this actually gave me an epiphany.” Li Si looked down at the deep blue fish in the pool and said, “I think I now know the origin of this fish.”
Yue Tianhong also looked at the water pool and asked, “What origin?”
“The fragmentary remnant manuscript Records of Ancient Objects once recorded that a sinful fish lives in the frozen depths of the Eastern Sea, named: Huilin. Huilin reproduces once every ten years, laying one egg containing twin fish. After the twin fish grow together to the size of fist-sized stones, the mother’s nutrients are completely exhausted, and the twin fish devour each other.
The tenacious fish gradually consumes the weaker fish, swallowing it whole.
A mature Huilin’s body shape is spherical, possessing human facial features but lacking eyes. Its body surface has blue tentacles that radiate a blue-gold luster like moonbeams in cold, dark environments, but conceals itself when exposed to strong light.
Huilin moves slowly and has a frail body, so it possesses a peculiar method of hunting. It relies on vibrations within its internal cavity to emit bewitching sounds that cause prey to lose their senses, allowing Huilin to gradually devour them without any resistance.”
Li Si recited from deep memory every detail about Huilin’s description.
The Huilin fish, along with the Shadow Stone from before, were things Li Si had seen in the fragmentary remnant of Records of Ancient Objects belonging to Lao Sitou, the First Coroner of the Great Realm. This ancient book was nearly extinct in the world, with fewer than five copies remaining in existence.
“Just now you were entranced by the bewitching sound. If I had been even slightly slower, you would have been pulled into the pool by Huilin and devoured.” Li Si said. Yue Tianhong felt tremendous lingering fear, yet in his heart there was also a faint stirring. Why would he experience such strange sensations?
Li Si gazed at the Huilin chattering its strange sounds, then said, “Brother Yue, do you feel there’s something different about Ji Ming’s blue paper?”
“Different?”
“The target being sought. Previously, the blue papers specified that the search target was a person—the person with three moles on their left hand, the person whose shadow was devoured, the person possessing three eyes. But Ji Ming’s blue paper’s target is a penitent one, and a penitent one isn’t necessarily a person, is it?”
Yue Tianhong seemed to understand the meaning in Li Si’s words and exclaimed in shock, “You mean…”
“‘The penitent one in the darkness, he shall be eternally exiled to the frozen hell’—it’s talking about Huilin!” Li Si paused briefly. “Without eyes means darkness, the sea floor is the frozen hell, and devouring one’s sibling makes one a penitent—isn’t this exactly the Huilin fish!”
“Right, it is Huilin!” Yue Tianhong’s heart felt as if a sharp blade had suddenly pierced it. His eyes widened as he said, “Huilin, Hui… lin, ah! Could it be, could it be her?”
Li Si stepped closer and said, “Brother Yue, what’s wrong?”
“Huilin… it’s her, it really is her returning for revenge!” Yue Tianhong lost his composure.
“Who is she?”
Yue Tianhong said with his entire body trembling, “The Embroidery Woman!”
“Three-Eye Village is the place where the Embroidery Woman and I stayed together. The Embroidery Woman also once sewed the Shadow-Devouring Garment. As for Huilin, haha…” Yue Tianhong laughed with a twisted expression and said, “The Embroidery Woman’s real name was Hui Ling. Huilin is Hui Ling!”
Every clue from the blue paper matched up. Could the mastermind behind this entire death trap be Hui Ling, who had been dead for twenty years? Was it her restless vengeful spirit haunting Yue Tianhong, dragging every person aboard the Netherworld ghost ship into hell?
Li Si was about to ask more when suddenly the sea wind violently shook the ghost ship again. Li Si lost his footing carelessly and fell into the pool with a splash.
The deep blue Huilin let out a piercing shriek and lunged toward Li Si.
Yue Tianhong’s eyes at the pool’s edge transformed from shock to absolute resolve. He glanced at the struggling Li Si as if he couldn’t see him at all, then turned and climbed the wooden ladder.
“Wait… wait!” Li Si swam toward the pool’s edge, but suddenly his body went rigid—he couldn’t move.
Huilin’s more than ten tentacles had wrapped around both his feet. The tentacle tips pierced into Li Si’s legs, and the tips carried a numbing toxin that could slow down movement ability.
Huilin gradually tightened its grip on Li Si. Li Si sank bit by bit into the pool.
“Su Qin!” Li Si’s only lifeline was this ailing woman. He loudly called Su Qin’s name, but what filled Li Si with utter astonishment was—Su Qin had disappeared!
In the corner where Su Qin had been sleeping unconscious, a black shadow now stood prominently. The black shadow’s left hand clearly displayed three black moles.
“Su Qin…”
Li Si’s vision went black as he once again sank into the icy cold pool water.