The moment he saw Tao Heru's second layer of skin, Xiao Sanda raised an eyebrow, as if something suddenly clicked in his mind. But he had no time to dwell on it. The area was packed to the brim with corpse ghouls. No sooner had they taken one down than another would immediately fill the gap.
"Sanda, Fatty, if this keeps up, we might have to retreat first," Xiao Heshang shouted. "We already lost Pu Dage today. If we don't pull back now, we might not make it out either."
Xiao Sanda didn't reply. He just clenched his teeth and kept his gaze fixed on Tao Heru's direction. It was clear he still couldn't bear to give up the Heavenly Principle Diagram.
Gao Liang squinted, offering no answer. Not far off, one of the men brought in by Pu Dage had been taken down by a corpse ghoul. Luckily, he was saved in time by his companions and avoided becoming their next meal.
Tao Heru had yet to act. He had simply been watching coldly from the sidelines. But once he made a move, things would be exactly as Xiao Heshang predicted—they'd all be buried here.
Fortunately, the Yin Wall had already been breached by Pu Dage. If worst came to worst, they could still escape. But if they retreated now, though they'd make it out alive, finding Tao Heru again would be harder than ascending to the heavens.
"You two gonna make up your minds or what?" Xiao Heshang barked, visibly losing his patience. "Give it to me straight—if we're pulling out, we go together. If you're hell-bent on dying, we die together!"
Seeing Xiao Heshang fired up, Gao Liang finally sighed and said, "Forget it. We'll fall back. The three of us will cover the rear. Let the others—"
Before he could finish, a sudden sputtering roar cut through the tension. A battered Beijing Jeep tore into the graveyard, charging straight through the horde of corpse ghouls like a battering ram.
"Don't say we're late to the party," hollered Hao Wenming from behind the wheel.
He and Lin Feng had been waiting in the car. When they heard explosions coming from the burial ground, Hao Wenming rushed over, found Pu Dage outside, and was told to stay put and provide backup. But the longer they waited, the more anxious they became—until finally, they threw caution to the wind and drove straight in.
By some miracle—and perhaps Hao Wenming's wild driving skills—the clunky old Jeep managed to plow across the uneven mounds, smashing through corpse ghouls without stalling even once.
The Jeep carved a bloody path through the ghoul ranks. Seeing an opening, Xiao Sanda quickly retrieved his Sky-Measuring Ruler from nearby, then charged straight at Tao Heru.
"Heshang, Gao Liang—let's go! For Pu Dage!" he roared.
Behind him, Gao Liang snorted. He knew full well Xiao Sanda was using Pu Dage's death as an excuse—the real motive was the Heavenly Principle Diagram. But now that Xiao Sanda had invoked revenge, Gao Liang had no choice but to follow through. Xiao Heshang, too, dashed after them toward Tao Heru.
The three attacked with different styles. Xiao Sanda led the charge, already exchanging blows with Tao Heru, swinging the Sky-Measuring Ruler straight at the bullet-torn wounds on his body.
Tao Heru didn't dodge. He let the ruler slam into him five or six times before he grew visibly annoyed. Suddenly, he reached out and caught the descending ruler mid-strike, then sneered at Xiao Sanda.
"Did I not make myself clear, or is your memory just that poor? This ruler does nothing to me."
With that, he gave the ruler a sharp yank. Xiao Sanda's grip slipped, and the Sky-Measuring Ruler was in Tao Heru's hands.
He weighed it in his palms and said, "I left a flaw in this thing forty years ago. And today…"
He paused, then gripped both ends of the ruler tightly and snapped it in two with a loud crack.
"I'll have it buried with you."
Before Tao Heru could finish gloating, a loud voice rang out from behind Xiao Sanda:
"Save that for your next life! Sanda—duck!"
The shout came from Xiao Heshang. He lunged forward, wielding Pu Dage's treasured sword. Tao Heru's expression shifted to one of sheer alarm.
That sword had left him bloodied more than once—it was one of the rare weapons that could wound him. The Ghost Path Sect was founded upon the power of blood, and external injuries were their greatest bane. When Pu Dage had died, Tao Heru had gone out of his way to retrieve the sword, even nearly slicing off Pu Dage's arm to free it from the transparent threads binding the hilt. Yet somehow, it had still ended up in Xiao Heshang's hands.
But Tao Heru wasn't some clueless greenhorn. He had lived over a hundred years and didn't survive by luck alone. Though startled, he remained calm under pressure. As Xiao Heshang lunged forward with the sword, Tao Heru gave Xiao Sanda a brutal kick, hurling him directly into Xiao Heshang's path.
Xiao Heshang had to pull back his strike at the last second, narrowly avoiding skewering Xiao Sanda like a frog on a stick.
Just as Tao Heru exhaled in relief, a shadow suddenly flickered across his vision. Something light drifted down from above. Before he could react, his neck was yanked tight—
Someone behind him had looped a steel wire—or something like it—around his throat.
It was that fat guy! In an instant, Tao Heru realized what had happened. That damned fatty—when had he managed to sneak behind him? He hadn't noticed at all. He had completely misjudged him—this fat guy wasn't simple. If he'd known earlier, he would've used the Corpse Control Technique to send Pu the Tall and his three men as cannon fodder first.
What was choking him now was most likely the transparent thread that had originally bound the sword. That thread was unnatural—it had already cut through his flesh and was tightening rapidly. Blood was gushing from Tao Heru's neck.
To make matters worse, Xiao Heshang raised the sword again and swung it down at Tao Heru. Behind him, Gao Liang shouted, "Monk! Aim carefully! Don't take me down with him!"
Tao Heru was trapped from both sides—there seemed no way out. It looked like he was doomed.
Just as it seemed Tao Heru would die on the spot, he suddenly pushed off the ground with the tips of his toes, throwing all his strength backward and using Gao the Fatty as a cushion. There was a loud thud, like several tons slamming into the ground. The weight crushed Gao Liang so hard that his internal organs felt like they'd been shoved into his stomach. He gasped violently, the sound coming from his mouth no longer human.
Gao Liang instinctively let go.
The pressure on Tao Heru's throat disappeared. He rolled and leapt up, grabbed Gao Liang, lifted him overhead, and hurled him straight at Xiao Heshang.
Another thud. It happened so fast that Xiao Heshang didn't have time to react. He only saw Gao Liang flying toward him, and quickly let go of the sword. The two of them collided head-first with a solid crack, and both passed out instantly.
Tao Heru had also suffered from being strangled. The wound around his neck was a bloody mess, the flesh torn and inverted. Kneeling on the ground, he gasped for breath, then noticed a fatal problem: the wound wasn't healing. Though it hadn't hit an artery, it kept bleeding relentlessly. In the blink of an eye, his bare upper body (and lower body) looked as though he was wearing a bright red coat of blood. It was terrifying.
Xiao Sanda picked up the sword Xiao Heshang had dropped and slowly walked toward Tao Heru. He only stopped when he was seven or eight meters away. As if remembering something, he turned and walked to the corpses of Pu the Tall and the other three. With the tip of the sword, he lightly pierced each of their foreheads. Wisps of black mist drifted out of their brows. I could see it clearly from inside his body. I'd seen this technique in the Bureau's archives—it's used to disperse corpse Yin energy, preventing Tao Heru from using the Corpse Control Technique again.
Tao Heru lifted his head and glared at him coldly. Xiao Sanda returned the glare and said,
"I've heard about your Ghost Path Sect—it runs on blood. With the amount you've lost, how much longer can you last?"
Tao Heru staggered to his feet, ignoring the blood pouring from his neck. He coldly replied,
"Don't get cocky. It wasn't even your doing. If not for that bald guy and the fatty, you'd be dead by now."
He panted again before continuing,
"Forget it. I won't waste words. Keep a close eye on your heads. I'll be back for them in a few days. Hmph!"
With a strange laugh, Tao Heru suddenly lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood instantly turned into a red mist upon contact with air. His body tilted forward, ready to fall into the center of the blood mist.
At that precise moment, Xiao Sanda used all his strength to fling the sword in his hand at Tao Heru. The blade struck his left calf with unerring precision. With a flash of blood, Tao Heru's lower leg was severed. The force of the blow also knocked him away from the center of the blood mist.
"AAAH!" Tao Heru screamed in agony, clutching his mangled leg. Xiao Sanda walked up, raised the sword again, and brought it down on Tao Heru's remaining leg.
In an instant, both of Tao Heru's legs were gone.
Seeing that Tao Heru was completely disabled, Xiao Sanda squatted beside him and said slowly,
"Where is the Heavenly Principle Diagram? Tell me, and I'll make your death quick."
Tao Heru's face had gone pale. With the way his blood was spilling, even a Ghost Path Sect practitioner couldn't hold on much longer. Knowing his time was up, he gave a crazed smile and said,
"You can forget about the Heavenly Principle Diagram. Even in my next life, I'll carry it with me."
"Oh yeah?" Xiao Sanda's face didn't change. He reached out, grabbed the skin on Tao Heru's chest, and ripped downward.
Riiip! The skin tore away with a sickening sound. At that instant, Tao Heru's expression changed completely—it became one of despair.
Beneath the torn flesh was another layer of skin, densely tattooed with a detailed diagram and hundreds of tiny characters. At the center of the image was a seal script character: Heaven.
"Heh…" Xiao Sanda chuckled as he looked at the tattoo. Ignoring whether Tao Heru was still alive, he carefully cut out the tattooed skin and tucked it into his own clothes.
He took one last look at Tao Heru, who was now barely clinging to life, then swung the sword and severed his head.
The moment Tao Heru died, all the corpse fiends he had summoned with his dark arts collapsed. The black clouds in the sky dispersed, and sunlight shone down. Under the sunlight, the corpse fiends turned into withered husks, crumbling to dust.
Hao Wenming, Lin Feng, and the others rushed over from the distance. Xiao Sanda suddenly remembered something. He took out a small glass vial, poured out a few drops of red liquid, and dripped them onto Tao Heru's corpse. The liquid ignited upon contact with air, and in no time, the body was engulfed in flames.
The fire released thick black smoke and a foul, distinctive stench that quickly spread through the air. I recognized it immediately—it was the smell of corpse oil.
The smell made me retch several times. It clung to everything and only grew stronger.
Then, trapped inside Xiao Sanda's body, my vision suddenly went black. I passed out...