The long-forgotten agony of death made Master Zheng, lying in the Grandmaster's Chair, straighten his back, his toes curling.
He opened his mouth wide, gasping for air.
"HUFF!"
"HUFF!"
"HUFF!"
The agony of suffocation, the pain of his neck being snapped—those were one thing, just so-so.
What disturbed Master Zheng the most was what he saw just before his death: the burly man's massive silhouette, his eerie laughter, and his insane, red eyes. It was a visceral, first-person horror story, and the experience left Zheng Xiu shaken for a long time.
Those terrifying eyes were seared into Master Zheng's memory, floating before him whenever he closed his eyes, impossible to shake.
His heart still pounding with fear, Zheng Xiu stepped into the Heart Prison again.
'I'll put the memory of my last death aside for now.'
Zheng Xiu remembered that before he died, his Dice had made a passive check.
The Incarnation, Zheng Shan, still stood quietly on the table.
What had changed was that a faint black thread now extended from the top of the Incarnation's head, connecting to the Ghostly Realm, Baili Village - Act II.
He checked the Incarnation's Attributes again.
Zheng Xiu was startled.
In the Incarnation's Will column, a new line of small, blood-red text had appeared.
...
[Will (Corrupted)] Thirty-one (Thirty-two) (Loyal and Unyielding, Firm as a Rock)
...
Master Zheng had been corrupted!
He was tainted!
He stared blankly at the Will Attribute, which had been forcefully reduced by one point.
Master Zheng had never understood why this Attribute he'd rolled at the start was so high. It increased occasionally, but he'd never paid it much mind.
Now that this "corruption" had appeared, Zheng Xiu finally understood the purpose of the Will Attribute.
'But...'
"Is it that effective a counter?" Master Zheng was dumbfounded.
He once again doubted whether that village was really in Daqian.
'Isn't this supposed to be an ordinary, magic-free parallel world?'
'Twenty years ago?'
Zheng Xiu was skeptical.
He felt like the style was all wrong.
'Could this be the reason why the Mountain Bandit Group doesn't dare touch this village?'
Master Zheng still found it incredible that everything he was now experiencing in the Ghostly Realm had actually happened twenty years ago.
He would rather believe this was a heavily modified "memory illusion" that he was now being made to challenge.
Putting aside these stray thoughts, regardless of the truth, Zheng Xiu decided to focus on clearing the Ghostly Realm for now.
Things were gradually becoming clear.
Clear the Ghostly Realm, reap the rewards, project the Incarnation, and grow stronger and stronger.
Then, clear a new Ghostly Realm.
This was the virtuous cycle of the Prisoner's Path.
This was Master Zheng's own great path of Cultivation!
Zheng Xiu glanced at the moon. The night was a pale blue, the starlight was dim, and the sky would soon lighten.
But he wasn't in a hurry to get through the Ghostly Realm. Re-entering Baili Village, Zheng Xiu equipped the Mountain Bandit Saber and ran a lap around the village at a sprinter's pace, surveying the terrain once more.
Soon enough, Wang Cangyun, hearing the noise, came to kill him.
From a distance, Zheng Xiu observed Commander Wang's movements.
These past few days, Zheng Xiu had focused on leveling up his [Taunt]. His other Attributes had also improved, but not nearly as conveniently or quickly as [Taunt].
The appearance of the "Late-night Butcher" had resulted in a quick death after a brief encounter, making Zheng Xiu realize he was no match for him.
Having learned his lesson from the painful experience, Master Zheng decided to continue squeezing every last drop of value out of Commander Wang.
This time, he was really going all out.
'If I can't beat him, then I'll just keep training.'
'I'll worry about the pain later.'
How can you see a rainbow without going through the storm?
The flash of his saber was like lightning as Commander Wang slashed with a single move.
Zheng Xiu raised his saber, his movements somewhat unfamiliar and clumsy.
And yet, it was precisely this swordsmanship, like that of a total amateur, that placed the saber in the path of the Commander's slash ahead of time, stopping it in its tracks.
[Through unremitting effort, you have blocked a fatal blow from Imperial Sword Guard Commander Wang. Your Muscle Strength has gained a meager amount of experience.]
[You attempted to dodge Imperial Sword Guard Commander Wang's famous ultimate technique, "Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes." You failed to dodge. Your Step Technique has gained a meager amount of experience.]
[Your arm has been severed by Commander Wang's "Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes." You are now "Bleeding."]
[By forcefully enduring the "Bleeding" status and continuously losing blood, your Constitution has gained a meager amount of experience.]
[As you endure the pain, your Will is already firm. The experience your Will gained is negligible.]
Master Zheng had grinded these Attributes before.
But the gains were almost always "meager," the progress was too slow, and it hurt. So Master Zheng had simply chosen the most comfortable way to grind quickly.
Now, Master Zheng decided to push himself, to unleash his Merchant's instincts and fleece Wang Cangyun for all he was worth.
Effort! Struggle! Strive!
Zheng Xiu let his severed arm gush blood, not even trying to cover it, his gaze icy.
This resolute posture made Wang Cangyun's brow twitch. 'This time, I've run into a true, iron-willed tough guy,' he thought.
"Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes?"
Zheng Xiu barked coldly.
Wang Cangyun gave a sinister sneer. Without a word, his killing intent surged.
[Through your rich Scholarship, you have recognized Imperial Sword Guard Wang Cangyun's famous ultimate technique. Your Scholarship has gained a considerable amount of experience.]
'Huh, that works too?'
It was an eye-opener for Master Zheng.
His perspective had widened.
[You have been chopped into nineteen pieces by an enraged Wang Cangyun.]
[Death.]
...
「A short while earlier.」
The Imperial City was as bustling as ever.
The streets were crowded with pedestrians, and the whistles of traveling merchants rose and fell.
In the alleys, Sister Hua sat out from sunrise, while street vendors rested at sunset.
Night fell, the moon clear and the wind cold.
As the evening wind blew, clouds quietly obscured the moon.
"What a dark and windy night. Perfect for going out to do good deeds."
In the southern part of the city, inside the courtyard of an ordinary house, a rickshaw leaned against the wall. Qing Shisan was sitting on a wooden stump, one leg crossed over the other, smoking a dry pipe as he looked up and sighed with feeling.
After puffing on his pipe for a moment, Qing Shisan's nose suddenly twitched. He looked up sharply at the eaves of the roof and broke into a grin.
"I say, Sister Hong'ou, since you're here, you're here. But what are you doing sitting on my roof? Aren't you afraid your husband will see you and think you're sneaking out at night to cheat on him? I, Qing Shisan, don't want to be blamed for that."
Where Qing Shisan looked, a beautiful woman in plain clothes with her hair in a bun sat quietly on the roof.
Though she wore no makeup, the beautiful woman's skin seemed to glow under the faint light, as tender and fair as a twenty-year-old's.
They hadn't seen each other in years, and Qing Shisan couldn't help but find it absurd. He had known this Hong'ou for over a decade; she looked the same ten years ago as she did now. But then, the image of her frail husband came to mind, and understanding dawned on Qing Shisan.
The beautiful woman called "Hong'ou" landed as silently as a cat and chuckled, covering her mouth. "It's fine. I drugged my husband before I left. He might not even be able to get out of bed by noon tomorrow."
"In that case..." Qing Shisan's eyes lit up.
"In what case! I'm a respectable married woman now. And another thing—I'm quite sure my concealment skills haven't gotten rusty. So how did you discover me, Old Ghost Qing?"
"Take a whiff of that 'fragrance' on you. It's almost more pungent than my pipe smoke."
Hong'ou sniffed herself and had a sudden realization. It was the unique knockout incense she had used to drug her husband.
"There's a door, but you insist on climbing the wall? What if I got nervous for a moment and attacked? Wouldn't that have hurt our feelings?"
Hong'ou shook her head and sneered, "It's been too long since I've done this line of work. I came over the roof to get the feel for it again. Besides, for the kind of dirty business we do, who ever comes in through the front door?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Hong'ou had just finished speaking, and Qing Shisan was just about to agree, when a sudden knock echoed from the door.
Qing Shisan and Hong'ou stared at each other. They then noticed that both had subconsciously reached into their robes.
Qing Shisan shook his head slightly and opened the door a crack.
BANG!
A large, burly man carelessly shoved the door open. He used too much force, knocking Qing Shisan back several steps.
The newcomer was over seven feet tall, with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear. He wore a greasy apron around his waist and had a thick, bushy beard, but his head was completely bald, as if his hair had grown in the wrong field.
As he barged in, the burly man muttered to himself, bowing and scraping, apologizing profusely.
"Don't mind me, don't mind me! I just got dinner ready, but that silly kid of mine at home wouldn't stop crying. Then my damn wife refused to let me leave, insisting I had to put the kid to sleep first. She even pulled that whole 'one, I'll cry; two, I'll make a scene; three, I'll hang myself' routine on me. I told her my eyebrow was twitching, a sign of good fortune! I'm heading to the Treasure Basin to try my luck and make a little extra on the side. But no, she wouldn't believe me until I spent half the night plowing her till she was groaning and moaning... Huh? Why are you two looking at me like that?"