The old man with cloudy eyes showed no reaction in his expression. It was as normal as chopping firewood. Then he dragged over another cultivator, gouged out his heart, and threw him into the cellar.
The last cultivator, whose face was filled with terror, could not escape this fate either and met the same end as the first two.
After killing the three cultivators, the old man flicked his hand, shaking off all the bloodstains completely. He flipped the board to cover the cellar, moved a pile of firewood to block it, and then carried a bundle of wood away, heading straight into the kitchen.
He threw down the firewood, went to the stove, lifted the pot lid, scooped water into the pot, and then moved a steamer basket onto the pot. He opened the basket lid and looked inside. There was a large, cold, and hard flatbread. He closed the lid, walked to the front of the stove, sat down, pushed a pile of dry firewood into the stove, lit it at the opening, and then pushed it into the stove chamber with a fire fork.
Soon, the stove chamber was blazing with fire.
The dirty old man put down his work, reached behind his waist to pull out his pipe, stuffed it with tobacco dregs, and lit it. He sat in front of the stove, facing the fire and puffing away. The firelight illuminated his face brightly, and his eyes reflected the flames…
The sky had already turned the colour of a fish’s belly at dawn. Ning Chaoyi and the thieving mandarin duck couple sneaked to the vicinity of the target’s home. Seeing the cooking smoke rising from the kitchen, they could not help but look at each other.
They had previously found a villager to inquire about the target.
Everyone in the village knew the dirty old man smoking a pipe. His seniority was indeed the highest in the whole village. Even the three masters of the manor would treat him with great respect when they saw him. He was known as Old Master Wu, and he lived alone as a widower.
This was not a secret. A casual inquiry would reveal where he lived and everything else.
It was said that Old Master Wu was the type of person who would scrounge a meal wherever he could, rarely cooking for himself. Today, however, they happened to see cooking smoke, which meant someone was at home and had returned from the village entrance.
This made it a bit difficult for the three people hiding by the corner of a house. They had been reminded by Yu Qing that Old Master Wu was someone to be wary of, and there might be some expert or similar existence. Could Old Master Wu himself be an expert?
After hesitating repeatedly, they still had no choice. Actually, they had no say in the matter, otherwise they would not have come to this Rift Valley Manor to stir up trouble.
Ning Chaoyi said, “I will go.”
Nie Pinlan said, “Let us go together. If something happens, we can look out for each other.”
Ning Chaoyi did not decline any further and reminded them, “Once inside, control the people first. If there is an expert, or if that Old Master Wu is an expert, we will definitely be discovered upon entering. Since it will be like this anyway, we might as well be straightforward and save ourselves the trouble. If there is no expert, controlling the people first can also avoid any shouting that might alarm the surroundings.”
“Alright.” Nie Pinlan nodded in agreement.
Ning Chaoyi observed the surroundings. Taking advantage of the fact that no villagers were paying attention, he quickly slipped to the wall of the target’s house and flipped over the wall like a puff of smoke, keeping his body pressed against it.
The thieving mandarin duck couple followed closely behind…
The water had been boiling for a while, and steam swirled around the stove. Old Master Wu, who was puffing on his pipe in front of the stove, began using fire tongs to pull out the unburnt firewood from the stove chamber, letting the fire die out on its own to save some firewood.
Who would have thought that just as he emptied the stove chamber and put down the fire tongs, a sword was placed against his neck. The one who made the move was Zhu Kuanzhen.
Old Master Wu turned his head and saw the three people who had entered the house. He looked very annoyed and said, “Are you three guests trying to scare these old bones of mine? This old man does not have anything valuable for you to rob.”
Zhu Kuanzhen grabbed him and pulled him up. He quickly struck his body to place a seal on him, keeping his sword against his neck at all times and remaining highly vigilant.
Even so, Ning Chaoyi was still not at ease and reminded them, “Be careful not to let what happened with Wu Xieshan happen again.”
He was referring to the incident where Wu Xieshan escaped. They had clearly placed heavy seals on Wu Xieshan, but it turned out to be completely useless.
Nie Pinlan had already checked him personally and replied, “It should be fine. Wu Xieshan had cultivation, but this Old Master Wu has no cultivation. He is an ordinary person.”
An ordinary person? Remembering Yu Qing’s reminder, Ning Chaoyi could not help but personally use a spell to check. He found that he was indeed an ordinary person with no cultivation, which finally put his mind at ease. He then walked to the stove, lifted the steamer basket lid, looked at the flatbread in the rising steam, and closed the lid again.
After that, Old Master Wu was handed over to Zhu Kuanzhen to watch, while Ning Chaoyi and Nie Pinlan began to search everywhere.
The two searched the house carefully and found nothing unusual. When they searched the outdoor stable, Nie Pinlan’s nostrils flared as she smelled the scent of blood. She flipped open the piles of firewood, saw the cover board, and reached out to slowly lift it.
The movement here attracted Ning Chaoyi, who assisted in keeping guard and helped open the cellar cover. A stronger scent of blood immediately surged out from inside.
The cellar was pitch black. Ning Chaoyi threw a luminous stone down and immediately saw three corpses below, which were clearly the bodies of cultivators from the manor.
The two looked at each other and subconsciously looked towards the kitchen. They realised that Old Master Wu indeed had a problem. How could there be corpses of manor cultivators in the cellar of an ordinary household?
“Look, they died with their chests hollowed out, and the blood is still wet,” Nie Pinlan said, pointing at the scene inside the cellar.
Ning Chaoyi was filled with shock and doubt. “It is the method of gouging out the heart again. This time, it cannot be Lou Yushu who did it, can it?”
Nie Pinlan said, “They obviously died not long ago. How could it be Lou Yushu? Even if Lou Yushu were alive, she would not run to the cellar of this dilapidated place to do this.”
“Was it done by a monster? There are really a lot of strange things in this Rift Valley Manor.”
Ning Chaoyi left these words and swung his body to jump down. The cellar was not large in area, but it was quite deep, almost three zhang high.
Nie Pinlan followed and jumped down as well.
Ning Chaoyi picked up the luminous stone from the ground and examined the three corpses again. He touched the bodies, examined the wounds, dipped his fingers in the blood, rubbed it, and sniffed it, reaching a conclusion. “They really did not die long ago.”
Nie Pinlan, who had lit a fire tinder and was looking around, suddenly whispered, “The back here is hollow.”
Ning Chaoyi turned around and stood up, only to see Nie Pinlan touching a wall. The walls here were reinforced with logs split in half, which could prevent collapse.
Creak, a section of that wall suddenly opened slowly like a door.
Nie Pinlan had found the mechanism. A wooden post at the corner of the wall, which fixed the four corners, was stepped on by her foot, and so the door to the hidden room opened. It was pitch black inside.
Ning Chaoyi quickly pushed the luminous stone in his hand inside to illuminate it. The first thing that met the eye was a stone staircase going diagonally downwards. The surroundings of the stairs were also reinforced with good quality stone materials. At a glance, it was clear that a lot of effort had been put into this place.
Nie Pinlan said, “If it were not for the reminder from that Lin Erqing, who would have thought that there would be such a grand construction under the dilapidated house in this village? Could the thing we are looking for really be in here?”
Ning Chaoyi was a bit hesitant to go in easily. “Have your husband bring that Old Master over.”
Nie Pinlan immediately flew out. Ning Chaoyi carefully closed the door to the secret passage again.
In a short while, the couple brought Old Master Wu down.
Ning Chaoyi personally released Old Master Wu’s mute acupoint. “Old Master Wu, tell us, what is the story with the three freshly dead corpses in the cellar?”
Old Master Wu glanced at the corpses on the ground and said stubbornly, “What else could it be? You must have killed them!”
Nie Pinlan immediately issued a stern warning, “I have seen many tough bones, and it is not your turn to act tough. I advise you not to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, otherwise I guarantee you will regret it.”
Old Master Wu immediately stiffened his neck and closed his eyes, looking completely stubborn as if he were ready to be killed or sliced.
Ning Chaoyi immediately walked to the corner, stepped on the wooden post, and opened the hidden door of the secret passage. He turned his head and asked, “Did we dig this secret passage too?”
Old Master Wu opened his eyes and took a look. He immediately became emotionally agitated and shouted as if he were going mad, “What do you want to do? This is not a place you can break into. Whoever dares to go in will die and will face retribution!”
Ning Chaoyi frowned and tilted his head to signal. Zhu Kuanzhen immediately sealed Old Master Wu’s mute acupoint, silencing him. They were afraid that his loud shouting would alarm the people outside. Who knew how many secrets were still hidden in this village.
Ning Chaoyi stepped aside from the hidden door. “If he refuses to confess honestly, we can only let him lead the way at the front. No matter who dies, he will be the one to take the fall first.”
Zhu Kuanzhen immediately grabbed the back of Old Master Wu’s collar and pushed him forward to lead the way. Old Master Wu was obviously unwilling, constantly humming in his nose, and his resistance was very obvious.
The three of them did not know if they had forgotten Yu Qing’s instruction to not act rashly once they found a clue. They actually pressed Old Master Wu to enter the secret passage and went all the way down.
This secret passage had indeed cost a lot of labour and materials. The edges of the steps, stone walls, and vaulted ceiling were all neatly aligned.
The zigzagging steps went down. After descending more than ten zhang deep underground, the group stopped in front of an exquisite stone door.
“Could an underground palace have been built down here?” Ning Chaoyi muttered.
Seeing this stone door, the three of them started to feel a bit unsure. The exquisiteness of the materials and craftsmanship here was clearly superior to the manor they were staying in. What was behind this door? Could there really be some expert hidden inside guarding it?
And what about those three corpses without hearts? What caused it? It seemed very likely to be related to this place.
Looking at Old Master Wu’s reaction again, his eyes were full of terror, and he shook his eyeballs left and right instead of shaking his head.
In short, the three uninvited guests felt immense pressure facing this silent stone door, and there was a sense of fear of the unknown in their hearts.
Nie Pinlan suddenly released Old Master Wu’s mute acupoint. “What is behind this stone door?”
Old Master Wu said in a deep voice, “It is a god that must not be blasphemed. It is not too late for you to retreat now. Once the door is opened and the god’s peaceful dream is disturbed, the god’s anger will turn you into ants in an instant, and no one can save you!”
Nie Pinlan said, “A god? What kind of god would hide in an underground secret room and let an old village man like you guard the door? Stop playing tricks here. Tell me, what exactly is behind it?”
Old Master Wu was angry at first, but then he laughed and said, “You know there is something behind there that makes you fearful. You are already afraid, so why pretend not to believe it?”
Pure nonsense. Nie Pinlan immediately sealed his mute acupoint again, silencing him.
After the three uninvited guests looked at each other for a while, Ning Chaoyi suddenly said slowly, “Do we still have a choice? Even if we go back and discuss it with that Brother Lin, do you believe we would still be the ones pushed to the front?”
His gaze fell on the stone door. “If there is really such a terrifying existence inside, I do not believe we could break into their doorstep without them noticing. Now that we know the secret of this place, do you think they would easily let us leave? I bet this old guy is bluffing us!”
Before his words even finished, he had already put his hands on it and slowly pushed the stone door open. The stone door emitted a dull humming sound, and inside was once again an expanse of darkness.
Nie Pinlan immediately held up the fire tinder in her hand to illuminate it, and a flashing golden light immediately shone from inside.
At a glance, the three of them saw a brilliant golden halberd planted in the ground, visible as soon as the door opened.
Under the illumination of the firelight, behind the golden halberd, the outline of a jade couch gradually appeared, with someone faintly seen lying horizontally on it.