Chapter 32: The Woman in Red
Mu Bai’s pupils constricted sharply, and he instinctively stepped back two paces.
Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from the front hall.
He glanced over and saw an old man entering with a live chicken in hand, who nodded at him and said, “So early.”
Mu Bai caught a glimpse of the two parrots on the pole from the corner of his eye, maintaining a calm expression as he raised the lantern in his hand. “I’ve come to return the lantern.”
“Just set it there,” the old man replied, locking the chicken into its cage before taking out a bowl and placing it on the table, then lifting a kettle to pour water for him.
After setting the lantern down on the floor, Mu Bai walked over to the table and pretended to accidentally brush the tea bowl with the back of his hand, pushing it off the edge so that it crashed to the ground.
The old man immediately caught the bowl and placed it back on the table, without spilling a single drop.
Mu Bai narrowed his eyes. “Old sir, your martial arts are impressive.”
He stepped back half a pace, drew the Tianyu Liufang Sword, and pointed it directly at the old man’s throat.
His opponent sidestepped to evade, their movement so uncannily swift it seemed like a phantom.
He raised his hand to pinch the tip of Mu Bai’s blade, snorting coldly, “Boy, yesterday I praised you for being sensible; today you dare point your sword at this old man.”
Mu Bai asked, “Did you kill the young Taoist nun from Pianyu Temple?”
“Slandering me with baseless accusations! What reason would I have to kill her?”
Mu Bai flicked the sword body, shaking off the old man’s hand, and thrust straight toward him.
The old man leaned back, spun around, and the Tianyu Liufang sword struck the ground.
He pushed off the ground with his toes, sprang up like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, took two steps out of the room, and soared onto the courtyard wall using lightness skill.
His back was straight, showing none of yesterday’s hunched appearance.
Mu Bai had trained under Su Mo in lightness skills for so long that he was already considered one of the finest in the jianghu, yet within half an hour, he had lost track of the person.
Unable to find any trace nearby, Mu Bai had no choice but to retrace his steps and return to the low cottage.
A faint scent of blood still lingered in the courtyard.
Following the smell, he arrived before a massive chopping block leaning against the courtyard wall, its surface stained with blood, seemingly used for slaughtering poultry.
Suddenly, Mu Bai detected an extremely faint sound, seemingly emanating from beneath the chopping block.
His ear twitched slightly; focusing his hearing, he clearly discerned breathing sounds that seemed to echo from within a cellar below.
Moving the chopping board aside, a large hole suddenly appeared in the floor. The light shone down, illuminating only a small circular area; everything else remained pitch black and indistinct.
He went into the room to fetch a lamp, drew his Tianyu Liufang sword, and climbed down the rope ladder positioned at the edge of the hole.
The underground chamber was not large. As the lamp’s light spread outward, through the dimness at the far end, one could make out more than ten people hanging by their hands, bound to the walls. Dark blood had soaked through their clothes and continued to drip downward with a steady “patter, patter.”
Mu Bai frowned and walked toward the smallest among them, a young girl.
The little girl’s breathing was faint. Mu Bai checked her pulse, then rolled up her pant legs and sleeves to examine her, discovering her body covered in fine, dense wounds. Some had already scabbed over, while others looked as though they had been slashed open just yesterday, with blood slowly trickling from them.
She had lost too much blood; her face was deathly pale, and she seemed to have already fallen into unconsciousness.
Frowning, Mu Bai sliced through the iron chains suspending the little girl with his sword. Suddenly, a weak voice drifted from the corner: “Are you… here to save us?”
Following the sound, he looked over to see a man on the other side of the underground cave, eyes wide open, staring fixedly at him.
That person was similarly suspended by shackles and chains, covered in bloodstains, appearing to be just over twenty years old.
Mu Bai gently leaned the little girl against the wall, walked over to him, replied with a “Yes,” and raised his sword, intending to slash through the chains.
The man hastily cried out, “Wait!”
The blade halted just above the chain; Mu Bai asked in surprise, “What’s wrong?”
The man let out a sigh of relief and whispered softly, “If it weren’t for these iron chains binding me, I…”
He glanced at the unconscious Taoist nun in the corner, then lowered his eyelids. “Thank you, young hero, for coming to my rescue. However, there is still residual poison in my body. That old man said I must remain suspended like this for another two or three days.”
Mu Bai blinked. “The one living in the small room upstairs?”
“Yes.” The man asked, “I just heard strange noises from above. Is the old gentleman alright?”
Mu Bai covered her mouth and cleared her throat awkwardly. “He got away. I couldn’t catch him.”
After a pause, she explained further, “I smelled blood in the courtyard and heard those two birds perched on the pole crying ‘Help!’ So I thought he had harmed the young Taoist nun who went missing from Pianyu Temple… But judging by your tone, that old man isn’t a villain?”
“The two parrots were rescued by the old man along with us,” the man said slowly. “Some time ago, we heard that people had been disappearing frequently around here, so my companion and I came to investigate… Later, we found the missing individuals in an abandoned Taoist temple atop the mountain.”
“But before we could rescue them, we were knocked unconscious. When we woke up, our hands and feet were bound, and—” he gritted his teeth, “we had been poisoned with Hehuan toxin.”
Mu Bai was stunned. The man lifted his chin, gesturing toward the other eight men in the cave. “When the old man rescued us, the poison hadn’t fully taken effect on the two of us yet. But those others had been locked in the Taoist temple for some time; they had all gone mad.”
“What about those three young women? Are they alright?”
The man shook his head. “The elder said they were afflicted by a different gu poison—one that erodes the brain, turning victims into mindless zombies completely subservient to the poisoner. Unless fully expelled, the host will gradually wither and die.”
Mu Bai narrowed his eyes slightly.
He recalled from the original text that the Red Lotus Sect Leader had once used this very poison.
The man continued, “The elder hung us here to drain our blood, coming daily to feed us liquid nourishment, medicine, and treated chicken and duck blood.”
Mu Bai nodded. “I see. In that case, I won’t let you down just yet.”
“Leave us hanging; we won’t die anytime soon. However, we must trouble you, young hero, to fetch us some food.”
“Good.”
Mu Bai acknowledged their request, climbed up the rope ladder, and brought down bowls of freshly cooked congee and water from the small hut.
After eating, the unconscious Taoist nun and the others gradually regained consciousness.
The little girl drank some water from Mu Bai’s hand, her eyes curving into a sweet smile. “Thank you, brother.”
Mu Bai gently stroked her hair and asked softly, “You’re Tinglan, right?”
“How did you know, brother?”
“The nun at Pianyu Temple mentioned you.”
“Ah.” Tinglan blinked in confusion, then lowered her head and whispered barely audibly, “There’s a monster in the temple.”
“What?”
“A woman dressed in red… terrifyingly so. She must be a monster.”
Mu Bai immediately asked, “Where did you see her?”
“On the path leading to the summit. There is only an abandoned Taoist temple up there; normally, no one ever goes that way. I quietly followed her, wanting to see where she was headed… but later, she discovered me.”
“Two senior sisters were imprisoned here in the same manner. Fortunately, Grandfather rescued us.” Tinglan asked, “Have you met Grandfather? He lives up there. Whenever I passed by on my way down the mountain before, I would always go visit him.”
“Uh…” Mu Bai pressed his lips tightly together, unsure whether he should tell her that the old man had just been chased away by her own hand.
Having heard that another nun was the first to be imprisoned, he approached her as well to gather more information.
According to her, the first to go missing was a man who had passed through this area and stayed overnight at Pianyu Temple. After that, more people disappeared from the vicinity one after another. As for the three of them, they all encountered that woman in red near the temple atop the mountain and were imprisoned together.
The nun’s face suddenly flushed, her voice dropping to a whisper barely louder than a mosquito’s hum.
Fortunately, Mu Bai possessed extraordinary hearing and still caught every word—the woman in red had kidnapped these men to cultivate a sinister heretical art by borrowing their bodies.
Mu Bai hissed sharply, “I came here with three monks from Konggu Temple; they are currently staying at Pianyu Temple. Doesn’t that put them in grave danger?”
Upon hearing Mu Bai mention the Dharma names of the three monks, the nun nodded in understanding. “I have met all three. The little one is not yet an adult, Kong Yuan is relatively safe, but Kong Yan poses some danger.”
“Why is Kong Yuan considered safe?”
“Young hero, haven’t you noticed? The men she kidnaps may not be handsome, but they’re all sturdy young fellows at the very least.”
“Oh.” Mu Bai nodded in sudden realization.
“The one in the gravest danger is you.” The nun gestured with her eyes toward a gaunt man huddled in the corner, so thin he was nearly unrecognizable. “He was once the most handsome among them; look what they’ve done to him now.”
Mu Bai: “…”
“If you continue staying there at night, be extremely cautious.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
A chill ran down Mu Bai’s spine as he rose and approached the poor fellow, breaking off a piece of steamed bun to feed him. “Brother, you’ve worked hard; eat more to replenish your strength.”
As he tore the bun apart, he suddenly recalled Su Mo’s chive-filled buns.
Strangely enough, though they hadn’t met for several days, he found himself oddly missing him.
Mu Bai lowered his eyes with a sigh, resolving to finish his business quickly and return early, lest Su Mo worry.
Every morning, the old man would descend into the underground cave to feed these people, doing so three times a day. After Mu Bai chased him away, she had no choice but to take on the responsibility herself.
It was not until after dinner, as the sun set, that he finally moved the chopping block back to its original position, leaving a small gap against the wall to allow for air circulation.
Upon returning to Pianyu Temple, Mu Bai intended to speak with Kongyan about the matter, but could not find him anywhere; the other nuns in the temple all claimed they had not seen him.
The other two monks were resting under a tree within the temple grounds.
Hearing Mu Bai’s question, Kong Yuan bewilderedly rubbed his bald head and said, “After dinner this evening, Senior Brother kept yawning and went back to his room to rest. Is he not in his room?”
“…Alright, I’ll go check.”
Mu Bai returned to the corridor, confirmed that no one was in the monks’ quarters, then turned and stepped into her own bedroom next door.
The moment she closed the door, someone embraced her from the corner.
Before he could light the lamp, the room remained dim.
The person clasped Mu Bai’s waist from behind, gently nipping at the back of his neck, their breath warm and intimate.
Mu Bai shuddered all over; just as he was about to draw his sword, he suddenly caught a faint scent of sandalwood.
“…Su Mo?”
He turned his head back and indeed met those clear, refined brows and eyes.
At this moment, the corners of his eyes hung low, his feathery lashes resting upon the tear mole, inexplicably alluring.
Su Mo’s expression was obscure, his eyes pitch black, and his voice hoarse: “You said you’d return later, yet once you left, three days passed.”
Mu Bai’s Adam’s apple bobbed: “Didn’t I leave a note saying I’d received a new bounty notice that was rather tricky, so it would take some time…”
“You promised you wouldn’t sneak away.”
“I didn’t sneak away; I left a note… Wait, how did you find me?”
Su Mo offered no reply, burying his face in the hollow of Mu Bai’s neck.
Mu Bai’s black hair tickled him intensely, and his chest softened. With no mind for anything else, he simply raised his hand to gently pat Su Mo’s back.
Usually, Su Mo’s kisses and movements were gentle, but tonight they were unusually frenzied.
Mu Bai tilted his head back, panting, with seductive red marks adorning his neck.
His hands were pinned against the door, so he could only lower his eyes and softly call out, “Brother Su Mo.”
“Hmm?”
“I missed you too.”