Chapter 94: Another Thread of Spiritual Energy

When Redroot opened his mouth, the black mist thought only that he had been frightened. It never imagined that Redroot meant to swallow it.

Even if it had seen through his intention, it would only have taken him for a fool.

Swallow it? What a joke.

The only possibility, in its view, was that it would seize Redroot’s body, devour his soul, and use his flesh to replace the paper effigy that had been destroyed.

To the black mist, Redroot opening his mouth had only made things easier.

Fearing that it might miss the chance, it sped up and plunged straight into his mouth.

At the same moment, the scraps of paper that had lost the black mist’s control and protection were all ignited by the flame blade and burned to ash.

The black mist’s fate was no better than theirs.

The instant it rushed into Redroot’s mouth, it tried to break toward the palace at the crown of his head, intending to seize his body and swallow his soul.

But a tremendous force surged up, wrapped around it, and dragged it down the esophagus and into the stomach.

The whole process was so swift that the black mist was not without thoughts of struggle and resistance, but none of it did any good.

Then that black mist was offered up as a sacrifice in the Shrine of the Five Viscera and set upon the altar before the idol of the spleen deity.

Redroot used inner sight at once and saw what was happening inside the shrine.

Unlike ordinary food, the black mist was still struggling frantically after being brought into the Shrine of the Five Viscera and placed on the altar.

It wanted to escape this place, which was to it both bizarre and horrifying.

But no matter how it thrashed, it was useless.

The faint yellow light released from the spleen deity’s idol weighed on it like the Three Peaks and Five Ridges, pinning it down so completely that it could not break free.

Most terrifying of all, that yellow light was not merely suppressing it; it was also steadily digesting it.

The black mist panicked. It grew flustered. It became afraid.

At that moment, it regretted ever entering Redroot’s body to seize it.

This was no seizing of a body at all. It was clearly a food delivery, and an unpaid one at that.

Once Redroot confirmed that the black mist had been suppressed by the Shrine of the Five Viscera, he finally let out a long breath.

He had been gripping the ritual mask all along. If the shrine had been unable to subdue the black mist, he would have put on the mask and borrowed the power of the Mountain-Cleaving Savage General.

Though the Savage General was famed for strength, once one had invited a deity to descend upon one’s body, what was there to fear from a mere black mist trying to possess him?

The only thing Redroot could not be certain of was whether the mask itself would bring danger.

But if matters truly came to that point, did it still matter whether the mask was dangerous or not?

More importantly, after everything that had happened, Redroot suspected that the young witch officer probably knew nothing about what was going on in Cloud Blossom Mountain.

Otherwise, when the young witch officer had returned from Falling Eagle Pool, he would not have asked about the older witch officer’s situation.

Even if it had all been an act, there had been no need to perform it for a minor constable like him.

And once they had reached Cloud Blossom Mountain, all the strange events they encountered had been driven by the older witch officer’s power. No trace of the young one had appeared at all.

Either the young witch officer was hiding very deeply, or he had no connection whatsoever to the sinister affairs within Cloud Blossom Mountain.

That was also why Redroot had never thrown away the ritual mask.

He only did not know where the young witch officer was now, or whether some misfortune had befallen him.

The constables around him could not see the black mist. They only saw the paper effigy fragments being burned to ash by the fire on Redroot’s blade, and they immediately cried out in excitement.

Then they crowded around him, all speaking at once.

“Captain, you took down the bird-riding paper effigy?”

“Nonsense. If it’s burned to ash, what else could it be? Captain, you’re injured. I’ve got wound medicine here, use some quick!”

“Captain, I brought bandages. Let me wrap your wounds!”

Redroot did not let them help. He only took some wound medicine and bandages from them, then urged them to leave at once.

“Move while no new paper effigies have come after you. Once you’re back in the county seat, tell the magistrate and the chief clerk that a witch officer is harboring wicked intent, using the secret realm of Cloud Blossom Mountain to cultivate evil arts and nurture demon-spirits!

“Tell them to report this at once to the Witch Hall and the prefectural office, and to request reinforcements to root out the corruption. Otherwise, not only Cloud Blossom Mountain, but the entire county will become a living hell on earth!”

“What... what? A witch officer is cultivating evil arts here? Nurturing demon-spirits?”

At first, the constables did not believe a word Redroot said.

But as they recalled everything they had experienced on this trip, especially the attitude of the bird-riding paper effigy, they began to feel that Redroot’s conjecture might well be true.

All of them had been summoned here by the witch officer.

When they came, they had thought they were here to help patrol and protect the secret realm.

And what happened instead? They had nearly been killed in the dense fog to feed those monstrous serpents!

If that was not cultivating evil arts and nurturing demon-spirits, then what was it?

The constables nodded again and again, answering all at once that they would certainly report the witch officer’s crimes to the magistrate and the chief clerk.

At the same time, they were worried about Redroot as well.

“Captain, now that you know the strange happenings here were caused by the witch officer, are you still staying behind?”

“Of course.” Redroot nodded.

There were still many spoils within the eerie fog that he had not yet collected.

So long as he did not run into the older witch officer himself, and did not run into the ghostly hand summoned by the witch talisman, he had nothing to fear.

The constables did not know any of this. They only knew how dangerous the fog was.

And yet Redroot, to save his trapped comrades, still chose to press on despite knowing the danger.

That filled the constables with genuine respect and admiration.

Seeing that he had made up his mind, they tried no further to persuade him. They only said, “Captain, you have to come back alive! We’ll be waiting for you at the county yamen!”

Redroot was momentarily speechless.

He knew they meant well, but somehow those words sounded as though they were nailing a flag to him.

A little inauspicious, to say the least.

After leaving behind the wound medicine and bandages, the constables hoisted the bodies of their fallen companions and soon departed.

Redroot watched them go until they were far out of sight. Only after he had made sure that no paper effigies, bean soldiers, or anything else was trailing after them did he turn around and prepare to enter the eerie fog once more.

It was also at that moment that Redroot noticed the spleen deity’s idol had transformed a trace of qi from within that black mist.

This trace of qi felt somewhat similar to the one he had gained after drinking the fruit wine.

Redroot tried to bring the two traces of qi close together to see how they would react, and was startled to find that they merged into one another.

It seemed the two kinds of qi were of the same origin, most likely a form of spiritual energy.

He only did not know what use it had.

He supposed it was because his cultivation was still too shallow.

“Wait a moment.”

Redroot suddenly thought of something. The black mist had been able to control the paper effigies.

So if this qi were placed into a paper effigy, might it also be able to control it?

Redroot took out the paper effigy he had previously confiscated from the corpse-handler and tried to guide the trace of qi within his body, sending it into the effigy.

Unfortunately, the qi was not very obedient, and he could not make it leave his body.

“I’ll have to find a chance to ask the shaman-priest again, or learn some spells for controlling paper effigies, before I can test whether this qi can be used the way I suspect.”

Redroot shook his head and put the paper effigy away.

By then, he had also reached the edge of the eerie fog once more.

Third Sister floated in first, and when Redroot saw that, he immediately strode after her.