Chapter 22: The Manifestation of the White Crane Boy

The burial mound was merely a disguise. Stepping through a small entrance, one found a narrow underground passage. Two grown men could barely walk side-by-side.

Under the beam of the flashlight, the tunnel appeared short. Ahead stood an altar table piled with bundles of hair and three dishes containing blood-stained teeth. Along the path, the ground was littered with shards of shattered mirrors and clay figurines, the breaks appearing fresh.

Li Xuan’s inner rage surged. He lowered his voice and said, "Li Ruonan has already entered. She broke the mirrors and clay dolls to release the Mother Buddha of Great Darkness..."

A-Ying also spoke with indignation, "How could someone be like this? It's a pity that even if we sent her to the police station, there’s no way to know how to judge her."

Li Xuan thought to himself: No need to send her anywhere; this Li Ruonan is beyond saving.

The tunnel structure was peculiar; it began as one path before branching into eight distinct holes. This area was particularly strewn with shattered mirror fragments. Near the edge of the second hole to the left, there were fresh friction marks.

Li Xuan pointed to that opening. The two men fell silent in tacit agreement, even dimming their flashlights to reduce their already limited field of vision as they pressed forward.

After a hundred meters, the tunnel suddenly opened up into a spacious chamber. The layout was bizarre. There was another altar table behind which stood a bronze statue with its head covered by red cloth. Eight arms, severed at the roots, were suspended in the air by red ropes. The words "Fortune and disaster are intertwined; life and death are destined" were conspicuously embroidered on the red cloth.

The altar held long-rotted offerings, but in the center rested a single, blood-soaked ear. Nearby, a woman in her thirties wearing a hoodie—her skin and face covered in intricate incantations—squatted, fiddling with a video camera while forming strange mudras with her hands and chanting.

Li Ruonan!

Damn it!

Upon seeing her, Li Xuan’s fury ignited. It was all because of this woman! On the last day of Chen Letong’s fast, he had been hounded by the police and forced to flee into the Red Cypress Forest, where he had nearly been killed by the curse of the Mother Buddha of Great Darkness.

Li Ruonan was momentarily stunned; she hadn't expected to see Li Xuan in such a gloomy, eerie place! Even more unsettling was the figure standing beside him—some sort of entity wearing a mask, like those used in a deity procession!

Did this Li Xuan know her purpose?

Li Ruonan turned and lunged toward the bronze statue of the Mother Buddha, tearing off the red cloth as she shrieked through tears, "Buddha of Fire, cultivate the one, heart..."

Hell no!

Seeing her actions, the composure Li Xuan had cultivated through years of high-level education shattered instantly!

*You’re courting death!*

He reached into his waistband, pulled out a dagger, and hurled it through the air. Since Li Ruonan’s betrayal on the seventh day of the fast, Li Xuan’s heart had been set on killing her. The daggers were bought after he left the hospital—Damascus steel, razor-sharp. He had bought ten of them, complete with belt clips.

The dagger streaked through the air like a cold light and embedded itself in Li Ruonan’s shoulder.

She let out a piercing scream of pain!

A-Ying cranked his flashlight to maximum power, revealing that Li Ruonan’s exposed arms were covered in patches of decay—a sign that the curse had seeped into her marrow. He reacted immediately, saying urgently, "Brother, don't be rash! If you kill her, it'll be hard to explain!"

Li Xuan was witty and brave enough to venture into a desolate village to face an evil god; A-Ying admired these traits and felt they could be good friends. He didn't want Li Xuan to carry the burden of a murder charge for a madwoman. This place would be discovered sooner or later; it couldn't be hidden unless they could dispose of the evidence perfectly.

Li Xuan ignored A-Ying’s dissuasion. He had come to this world to solve problems; a life on his conscience didn't matter. Once he killed this twisted woman and completed his mission, he would be gone.

A second dagger flashed in his hand!

He threw it!

Then a third! A fourth! A fifth!

Li Ruonan scrambled, clutching her head, but the space was limited. Daggers struck her back and abdomen. She collapsed in agony beside the altar, her blood soaking her clothes and pooling on the floor, filling the air with a pungent, fishy stench.

Li Xuan had been nervous at first, but now that he had struck, his heart began to cool. He gripped a new dagger. *I need to practice my throwing; my aim and force are both lacking.*

His eyes cold, he strode over, grabbed Li Ruonan’s hair with his left hand, and drove the dagger toward her neck with his right!

*Pfft!*

Blood sprayed like a broken dam. Li Ruonan’s mouth opened slightly, her eyes filled with unspeakable terror as she let out a garbled sound, "Buddha of Fire, cultivate..."

Li Xuan slammed her head against the altar to cut off the rest of the sentence.

Just then, A-Ying’s voice rang out sharply: "Look out!"

Li Xuan instinctively leaped to the side. He was a second too slow; he felt a heavy blow to his back, as if hearing his bones crack. He rolled and slammed into the wall, feeling liquid surge up his throat and nose. He touched his face—his palm was covered in blood.

Looking up, he saw that the eight severed arms of the bronze statue behind the altar had somehow reattached themselves. The head of the statue featured a gaping, black hole—an utterly repulsive sight.

*Such a shameless evil god!*

The pure bronze arms twitched like the legs of a spider. One of them was stained with blood; it had clearly been the one to strike him. Li Xuan was in excruciating pain. He peeled off his shirt to find a large, gaping hole, followed by a foul stench. Something was wriggling on his back—he turned to see maggots scattered on the floor.

*Terrifying. One hit, and the curse is already inside me.*

A-Ying’s voice echoed: "Brother, the suona!"

A-Ying lit three sticks of incense, held his jade ruyi, and began to pace the steps of the Heavenly罡 (Tiangang). Li Xuan endured the pain, picked up the suona that had fallen to the ground, recalled the melody from the deity procession video, centered his energy, and blew!

A sharp, piercing blast of the suona erupted in the narrow cave! The sound seemed to pierce the eardrums and penetrate the very soul. It was dissonant and chilling!

A-Ying shivered, his panicked expression gradually turning cold and sharp! A powerful aura exploded from him! He scanned the room, his gaze finally fixing on the Mother Buddha. The jade ruyi in his hand emitted a faint tri-colored glow!

He strode forward, his killing intent becoming almost tangible. Li Xuan, sitting to the side, felt the murderous aura and experienced a stinging sensation on his face, as if cut by blades. A-Ying’s killing intent was far more ferocious than anything in the film. No wonder Li Ruonan had been scared to tears by the deity procession in the deleted scenes.

The bronze Mother Buddha seemed intimidated, its eight arms clattering as it shielded its face in a defensive posture. A-Ying raised his jade ruyi and struck. Though it looked like mere jade, the blow shattered the eight interlocking bronze arms. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the Mother Buddha’s hollow head.

Blood trickled from A-Ying’s nostrils. Li Xuan, still playing the suona, thought to himself, *This is bad. A-Ying’s mortal body can't handle this power; he's about to collapse. What happened to lasting three minutes?*

A-Ying raised the ruyi for a second strike!

*Pfft!*

The sound of a blade entering flesh. A-Ying looked down; a dagger was embedded in his abdomen. It was Li Ruonan, her face pale as paper. She was repeating the mantra over and over, a hint of madness on her face. She collapsed to the ground, her eyeballs began to rot, and swarms of insects crawled from her eye sockets.

Li Xuan couldn't believe his eyes!

He remembered the box. He pulled it out, tore off the talisman, and inside was a straw doll that instantly caught fire in the air.

A-Ying seemed to sense something. He spun around, placed a hand on Li Xuan’s shoulder, and the White Crane Boy mask on his face peeled off entirely, slapping onto Li Xuan’s face with a wet thud!

Li Xuan entered a wondrous state. His mind became incredibly clear, yet his body moved on its own. "He" pulled out the Fengdu Treasure Seal, drew in the air with his index finger, and slammed the seal onto the Mother Buddha’s head with such force that the seal and his hand shattered the skull, embedding itself deep inside.