Xie Zhaolin loosened her fingers, and Ah Mo crashed to the ground, clutching her throat and coughing violently. The baleful qi still coiled around her neck, ready to end her life at any moment.
"Immortal Master, please see clearly…" Her eyes reddened from the fit of coughing, but she struggled back to her knees. "Ah Mo only wanted… to prove her worth."
Xie Zhaolin suddenly leaned down and pinched her chin. In the moonlight, the face of the plain woman she wore as a disguise seemed strangely bewitching.
"For example… your ability to slip past a cultivator's senses?"
Ah Mo's pupils shrank.
"You have three breaths." A flash of cold light shone from her sleeve, and the dagger that had severed Zhang Laosan's hand now pressed against Ah Mo's throat. "Fail to explain, and you can take your secret to the grave with him."
Ah Mo's breathing grew ragged, cold sweat sliding down her temple. She stared at the dagger against her neck, then suddenly grabbed the blade with her bare hand. Blood welled from her palm, but she didn't flinch. Instead, she dragged the dagger closer toward her heart.
"Ah Mo's life belongs to Immortal Master." Her voice was hoarse, but every word was clear. "If you don't believe me, you can take it right now."
Xie Zhaolin narrowed her eyes.
The dagger had already cut through the coarse cloth, leaving a red line across pale skin. This girl dared gamble her life against suspicion—either she was stupid beyond saving, or she was hiding something deeper.
"You think I won't?" Xie Zhaolin's wrist sank, driving the blade half an inch into flesh.
Ah Mo suddenly laughed, a wild edge in her voice.
"Of course you would. But if you kill me, who'll buy bone-tempering grass from the west market? Who'll watch the gambling den for you?" She pulled her bloody hand away and fished the medicine list from her chest.
"Especially snakeheart vine… No mortal apothecary sells poison openly."
Moonlight glinted on the bloodstains across the list. Xie Zhaolin's eyes flickered. Snakeheart vine was indeed critical to her plan—an ingredient for a secret medicine that temporarily bolstered baleful qi. But normally, only cultivators had access to it. How could a mortal girl recognize it?
"Zhang Laosan's ledger." Ah Mo seemed to read her doubts. She tugged out a filthy notebook from her waist. "He used to skim off gambling den trades when collecting debts." She flipped it open to a page recording a transaction: Red Sleeve Gambling House had once offered three catties of snakeheart vine to a cultivator in exchange for a Detoxification Pill.
Xie Zhaolin suddenly crushed her wrist. A sharp crack echoed, and Ah Mo's face went paper-white, but she didn't cry out.
"Keep talking."
"There's a hidden chamber under the den where they stash those things." Ah Mo's voice trembled with pain. "The steward, Liu Balien, gets drunk every seventh day of the month…"
Before she could finish, Xie Zhaolin yanked her deeper into the mortuary. Rotten coffins cracked open under baleful qi, revealing damp soil beneath. Before Ah Mo could react, a hand forced the back of her neck down until her face hovered inches from a half-rotten corpse.
"You know what this is?"
Her breathing quickened, but she didn't move. "A… corpse."
"No." Xie Zhaolin yanked her hair, forcing her to look straight into the decaying face. "This is your way out.
See it clearly. If I hand you over to the gamblers right now and say you killed Zhang Laosan…" Her fingers tightened slightly. "They'll beat you to death, then toss your body to the wild dogs."
Ah Mo's pupils shrank, but she didn't look away.
"Take a bite." Xie Zhaolin sneered. "Aren't you unafraid of death? Didn't you want to prove your worth? Then prove you're not afraid of filth first."
Ah Mo froze, her nails digging into the soil until blood welled under them.
Xie Zhaolin studied her reaction, lips curling. "What's wrong? Don't dare?"
Ah Mo swallowed hard, then suddenly opened her mouth and bit into a lump of blackened flesh. The sound of her teeth piercing the rotting intestine made a sickening squelch.
Xie Zhaolin's pupils contracted.
Ah Mo's throat convulsed violently, and she actually swallowed the meat. Her lips dripped with yellowish liquid, but she lifted her head and grinned wickedly. "Should I… try a piece of liver too?"
In the moonlight, Xie Zhaolin saw what was left between her teeth. It wasn't human flesh—it was a half-decayed rat's tail hidden in the corpse's belly, and Ah Mo had picked it out deliberately.
"Clever." Xie Zhaolin released her grip. "You chose the least harmful part."
Ah Mo wiped her face with her sleeve, leaving streaks of rot. "You wanted me to eat a human? Too bad this body's been dead less than half a month." She pointed at the bloated stomach. "It's full of gas. Eat it and your guts would burst."
"You've eaten human flesh before."
Ah Mo's body stiffened.
"This isn't famine, and you weren't forced. You chose to survive by being more vicious than a beast." Xie Zhaolin's fingertip brushed her lips stained with decay.
Shadows twisted in the corner. Ah Mo's ragged breathing filled the silent mortuary.
Xie Zhaolin lifted her chin. In the moonlight, her eyes reflected the raw desperation of someone who had clawed their way out of death itself.
"Tomorrow, at the third quarter of the mao hour, I want snakeheart vine on the main hall table."
Ah Mo slumped on the ground, then tilted her head back. Her voice rasped. "Immortal Master doesn't want to know… why I can recognize snakeheart vine?"
The hand hidden in Xie Zhaolin's sleeve twitched. "And if I asked, would you tell the truth?"
Her fingers flicked, and three black-tinged silver needles nailed into the tiles before Ah Mo's knees. "Now get out and prove you're more useful than a corpse."
A low laugh spilled from Ah Mo's throat, echoing through the empty mortuary.
"Use that thieving skill of yours," Xie Zhaolin said, turning away. "But if I catch you following me again—"
Before she finished, Ah Mo grabbed a needle and drove it into her own arm.
Blood trickled down the shaft, laced with black qi. Her lips turned pale, but she bared bloody teeth in a grin. "Immortal Master's gift… Ah Mo will treasure it."
Xie Zhaolin paused ever so slightly. The moonlight stretched her shadow long until it merged with the night. This girl was far trickier than she'd thought, like a dagger laced with poison—deadly if wielded well, but just as likely to bite the hand that held it.
She needed Ah Mo to scout the gambling house, but she'd never entrust her life to such an unpredictable mortal.
As for what Ah Mo was hiding…
No rush. She'd slip up eventually.
Inside the mortuary, Ah Mo pushed herself up, casually dusting off her clothes. Her tongue darted across her lips, sweeping away the rot smeared there.
"Urgh—" She bent over, gagging, but her shoulders shook with eerie laughter. "Disgusting…"
Moonlight fell on her open palm, where a thin silver thread glimmered—the one she'd filched from Xie Zhaolin's robe while she was close.
She wound it around her finger, a sly gleam flashing in her eyes.
"Next time…" She licked the corner of her mouth. "I'll succeed."