Mei Zhuyu hadn’t slept all night. Carrying the wooden box on his back, he arrived at an abandoned house in the mountains. This house had long been derelict, its walls collapsed and almost covered by wild grass—it looked even more dilapidated than a few years ago.
It was here, a few years back, that he had seriously wounded that monster. He knew this was where the monster would be waiting.
Without lingering, Mei Zhuyu stepped into the house. He moved forward slowly, his expression cold. As he passed a mottled bluestone in the courtyard, his steps faltered.
The blood that had covered the ground on that rainy night was no longer visible, but this stone, which had once supported two corpses, remained in place.
Standing on the bluestone, Mei Zhuyu looked around. Suddenly, his expression froze as he stared fixedly at a withered tree to his right. Hanging from its bare branches was something dripping blood.
It was the corpse of a cat, a tabby that looked strangely familiar to him. Mei Zhuyu’s face instantly turned ashen, veins bulging on his forehead. His usually calm face now looked shockingly fierce. He suddenly strode over and reached for the cat’s body. The tabby had been disemboweled and was long dead. A pool of sticky blood beneath the tree was alarmingly red.
Was it her? Was it Wu Zhen? Mei Zhuyu stared unblinkingly at the cat’s corpse in his hands, his heart aching so much he could barely breathe. He hadn’t expected to see this scene—it was the most terrible outcome he had imagined on his way here, and he hadn’t expected it to appear so suddenly before his eyes.
No, something wasn’t right. Mei Zhuyu took a deep breath, struggling to find a bit of calm in his chaotic thoughts. He closed his eyes tightly, then snapped them open, muttering two phrases. He quickly drew a talisman with his left hand, pressing it forcefully to his forehead. In that instant, accompanied by a slight pain in his brow, Mei Zhuyu discovered that the cat’s corpse in his hand had transformed into a cold black snake, flicking its tongue.
Almost at the moment Mei Zhuyu opened his eyes and saw the true nature of the thing in his hand, the black snake opened its mouth to bite him, as swift as lightning.
With a “poof,” like something exploding, the black snake that had nearly touched Mei Zhuyu’s face burst into a cloud of black mist.
Mei Zhuyu’s left hand still carried a trace of blue lightning. He waved his hand, tucking it into his sleeve, and exhaled. As he looked around, his expression became even more grave and alert.
This black snake had given him a warning. Likely from the moment he entered this place, its master had been preparing to kill him. Who knew how many things similar to that black snake were lurking here?
As he pondered this, Mei Zhuyu heard stumbling footsteps.
His hand moved to grasp a dark peach wood sword. He frowned and turned to look, his wariness turning to surprise when he saw who appeared. The person with the unsteady footsteps emerged from behind a door. Their initially fierce face froze upon seeing Mei Zhuyu, then changed to joy. She called out, “My lord!”
This suddenly appearing person was Wu Zhen. She didn’t look well—her face was pale, her clothes bloodstained, unusually disheveled. Moreover, she was clutching her belly with one hand, her furrowed brow indicating she was enduring some kind of pain.
Mei Zhuyu noticed the fresh blood continuously staining the hem of her dress. She was bleeding profusely, and the air began to carry a faint scent of iron. His expression changed, and he finally strode quickly towards her. Wu Zhen watched him approach, then suddenly slumped and slid to the ground. “You’ve finally come,” she groaned weakly, her face showing some worry. “Our child… I don’t know if something’s wrong.”
“It hurts so much…”
Concern and pain filled Mei Zhuyu’s eyes as he quickened his pace to Wu Zhen’s side, reaching out to check her pulse. At that moment, the seemingly dying Wu Zhen’s entire head suddenly transformed into a huge mouth, snapping down at him. However, before the mouth could reach Mei Zhuyu’s head, it froze in midair.
Mei Zhuyu let out a soft sigh and drew his peach wood sword. The instant this thing had opened its mouth, Mei Zhuyu had sensed something amiss. His hand, moving faster than his thoughts, had thrust the sword into its heart.
As the peach wood sword was withdrawn, this “Wu Zhen” screamed and dissipated into a cloud of black shadows.
There were indeed many “interferences” here, and he would likely encounter other “Wu Zhens” later. Mei Zhuyu’s guess was correct. As he walked deeper into the house, he indeed encountered three more “Wu Zhens.” One was a corpse, in an extremely miserable state—head separated from the body, all four limbs severed, pinned to the ground with sharp stones.
Even suspecting these were all fake, seeing the corpse with a face identical to Wu Zhen’s, Mei Zhuyu still approached. Only when those body parts transformed into the same kind of things that attacked him, and were dispersed by him, did Mei Zhuyu finally put his mind at ease, confirming it wasn’t the real Wu Zhen.
Another was hanging from a tree, seemingly dead or alive. Mei Zhuyu approached and lowered her. This time, the thing proved more formidable than before. After revealing its true form and being sliced in two by Mei Zhuyu’s sword, it surprisingly split into two entities that attacked him. Although they were ultimately dispersed, Mei Zhuyu was left with a small wound on his arm.
The remaining one was more direct, attacking as soon as it saw him, but was also eventually dispersed by Mei Zhuyu. As he continued, Mei Zhuyu still saw no trace of the monster, only constantly appearing entities with Wu Zhen’s face trying to disturb his thoughts.
Mei Zhuyu was nearly numb. Even though they were all fake, continuously killing things that looked like his beloved was not a pleasant experience. His expression grew colder. He stopped, thoughtfully touching the wooden box on his back, considering what to do next.
At that moment, he saw another “Wu Zhen” appear before him. Mei Zhuyu watched her motionlessly. Like before, this “Wu Zhen” rushed at him, her whip lashing out mercilessly.
Mei Zhuyu raised his sword to block, then slashed, but she parried. For some reason, as Mei Zhuyu met her eyes, he felt something strange, as if something wasn’t quite right.
This hesitation in his heart caused his sword to falter. Oddly, the whip that had been fiercely aiming for his face seemed to lose direction and missed.
That “Wu Zhen” narrowed her eyes, suddenly withdrew her whip, and closed in. As Mei Zhuyu tensed, preparing to retreat, he suddenly felt “Wu Zhen’s” hand touch his posterior, neither lightly nor heavily, then squeeze in a very improper yet familiar manner.
Just like that, Mei Zhuyu’s body stiffened. He blinked, the peach wood sword in his right hand and the lightning talisman poised in his left both stopping abruptly. He stared at the person before him with an incredulous and hesitant gaze.
Wu Zhen moved faster than him. She wrapped her arm around his waist and threw herself into his embrace, laughing, “Oh my, it’s the real lord! I almost really hit you. Let me see if you’re alright?”
“Is it… you, my lady?”
Wu Zhen nodded, “It’s me. Don’t you believe it?”
Mei Zhuyu reached back with one hand to grasp her hand that was squeezing his bottom, somewhat helplessly saying, “I believe you. Please don’t do this now…”
As he pulled her hand away, Wu Zhen showed no sign of embarrassment. She grinned at him, examining him carefully for a while before sighing, “My lord still looks the best. When I was in your body earlier, I looked in the mirror and always felt something was off. It didn’t have that certain essence.”
Despite the gravity he felt upon entering, hearing Wu Zhen speak so normally, Mei Zhuyu couldn’t help but soften. Still holding his sword in one hand and gripping her hand tightly with the other, he asked, “How did you get here? And where is that monster now?”
Wu Zhen narrowed her eyes, looking around as she said, “That monster is going crazy now. I drove him mad, and while he was raging, I disrupted the barrier he had made. As the barrier dissipated, I came here. I guess that place of his was anchored to this location. Now that the barrier is gone, everything there is scattered all over the place, which is why this place has become such a mess. These are all remnants of demonic energy that can peer into people’s hearts. You can’t kill them all.”
Mei Zhuyu listened for a while without speaking. “Drove him mad? And the barrier is gone?”
When he had been in Wu Zhen’s body, trapped in that barrier, he couldn’t find its weakness or break free. How had Wu Zhen managed it?
“You were able to break the barrier. That’s truly impressive,” Mei Zhuyu sincerely praised his wife.
Wu Zhen, however, chuckled and shook her head. “You righteous gentlemen, your minds just don’t turn the right way. Who said I had to break the barrier myself? To be honest, I had no idea how to break it, and I didn’t need to waste time finding its weakness.”
Mei Zhuyu: “…?”
Wu Zhen looked matter-of-fact: “Inside that barrier, besides the monster, weren’t there many demon servants living there? These minor demons didn’t have much killing power, but they had lived there for so long and naturally went out to buy things. In a way, they were the most convenient ‘keys.’ I might not have been able to handle that powerful barrier, but I could handle those demon servants. While it might have been difficult to turn them all, turning a few was easy enough. Even the mightiest things are easiest to break from the inside, aren’t they?”
“You see, one should never be too presumptuous, no matter when. That monster made this mistake, and now he’s paid for it.” Wu Zhen spoke casually.
Mei Zhuyu was at a loss for words. He coughed and asked, “The monster now…?”
Wu Zhen: “I don’t know where he’s gone mad to. Why, are you going to look for him? Don’t tell me you obediently brought what he wanted to exchange for me?” Even if he wanted to make an exchange, shouldn’t he have done something tricky?
Mei Zhuyu again didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t his approach the most normal one?
Seeing his expression, Wu Zhen understood. She clicked her tongue repeatedly, “My lord is truly an honest man.” Then she suddenly grinned mischievously and stroked Mei Zhuyu’s face. “But I like that.”
Mei Zhuyu: Suddenly unsure what to do now. Should he still go look for that monster?
“Boom— Boom—”
Suddenly, a dull thunder rumbled in the sky.