NHWSG chapter 13

Sheng Zhao’s car took a longer route, arriving at the booked hotel more than twenty minutes later than planned.

While getting out of the car, he still had the strange stories of Changning District in his mind. However, it was not yet dawn, and it wasn’t convenient to ask Xing Yingzhu for details, so he discreetly stood at the hotel entrance, took a photo of a street lamp, and sent it to Xing Yingzhu.

“I’ve arrived,” Sheng Zhao texted.

After a moment’s thought, he added, “Avoided Changning District.”

Having sent the two messages, he felt he had set the stage enough. He looked forward to asking for gossip when he returned confidently. With a satisfied smile, he tucked his phone into his pocket and proceeded to the front desk to check in.

On the coffee table, Xing Yingzhu’s phone screen lit up, and two new messages accompanied by brief notification sounds popped up successively. He glanced over, reached for his phone, and spun it in his hand like a walnut.

“Continue,” Xing Yingzhu said.

Xiong Xiangsong shivered. His broad shoulders hunched slightly, and after a moment’s hesitation, he continued, “In these days, Leyu woke up a few times, but there has been no improvement. She still couldn’t revert to her human form. Despite our efforts to ‘nourish’ her in various ways, it hasn’t worked. So… I wanted to ask if you could suggest any solution.”

Xiong Xiangsong stumbled through his words, knowing that Xing Yingzhu would likely not refuse, but he still tensed his body nervously.

In reality, Xing Yingzhu was quite lazy. Although he had strict rules and a dark reputation, as long as people behaved and were cautious not to violate his rules, he wouldn’t go out of his way to cause trouble. However, given his age and temperament, even if Xing Yingzhu didn’t say anything, the mere presence of him hiding in the house all day long made others fearful.

Xiong Xiangsong was one of the earliest residents in the building and, counting the years, had interacted with Xing Yingzhu for about a century. That’s why he could muster the courage to speak a few words to him.

Fortunately, even though Xing Yingzhu set numerous peculiar rules binding them, as long as they followed the rules, they could seek his help if they encountered any problems.

As expected, Xing Yingzhu pondered for a moment, didn’t say anything, and stood up, heading into the kitchen.

Xiong Xiangsong’s gaze followed his back with confusion, shifting slightly in that direction but not daring to look too much, glancing only briefly before retracting his gaze.

After a moment, Xing Yingzhu returned from the kitchen and tossed something to Xiong Xiangsong.

Xing Yingzhu’s eyes could see in the dark, and he usually didn’t turn on lights at night. However, Xiong Xiangsong was like a blind man at night. He only saw a dark lump of something carrying a gust of wind directly towards his face. Instinctively, he raised his hand and caught it, realizing it was a dusty canned bottle.

Squinting his eyes, he tried to peer inside but could only vaguely see something floating in the water, moving up and down.

Xing Yingzhu had already sat back down. Aware of Xiong Xiangsong’s poor eyesight at night, he mercifully snapped his fingers, turning on the ceiling light in the living room.

The high-wattage pendant light instantly illuminated the entire living room, as bright as daylight. Xing Yingzhu squinted uncomfortably and made a soft clicking sound.

Clearly, Xiong Xiangsong’s eyes were also dazzled by the light. He wanted to complain about Xing Yingzhu’s violent attack, but he dared not speak.

With a pitiful blink of his eyes, he wiped away the mist in front of him and looked back at the thing in his hand.

The eerie face inside the jar had already separated from its original worm-like skin. It oozed out from the thin slit, now pressed against the wall of the can, staring outside with a sinister and resentful gaze.

It was a woman’s face, and from the appearance, she seemed quite young. The cheekbones and jaw had not fully developed, and from the contours, she looked no more than eighteen or nineteen. The eye sockets that should have contained eyeballs were now empty, filled with black, oozing slime, giving it a sinister appearance.

The two sections of the worm body that had split apart during the formation of the face had fused back together, twisted and distorted. Now, lifelessly floating in the water, it resembled an irregular oil film.

Looking at that thing, Xiong Xiangsong couldn’t help but feel that it resembled the husk shed by a silkworm.

He was startled and subconsciously wanted to throw it away.

“This—” his face suddenly turned unpleasant, urgently saying, “Boss, I can guarantee that this dirty thing is definitely not something we created… even if you give us the courage, we wouldn’t dare to do this under your nose.”

If asking Xing Yingzhu for help was making Xiong Xiangsong anxious, then the thing in front of him truly made him “terrified.”

He was familiar with this thing – when he was a young and ignorant little bear, just gaining consciousness and struggling to find the path of cultivation, he stumbled and couldn’t figure it out. Most of the time, he could only foolishly follow the elders in the clan and act like a tagalong.

At that time, he had already heard the elders in the clan talk about some crooked and evil ways.

Cultivating into a demon was not easy, requiring the right timing, location, and people. It also required talent. To transform from an animal to a human, one needed to peel off the skin and shed the beastly bones to have a chance to stand up. This was already a challenging and rebellious act against the natural order, involving many difficulties. Moreover, if luck was not on their side, after working hard to cultivate, there was a possibility of failure.

Faced with numerous challenges, some demons were unwilling to endure the laborious process of cultivation. They didn’t want to beg for the thin spiritual energy of the sun and moon bestowed by the heavens. Instead, they resorted to unconventional methods.

The timid ones, relying on their beauty and illusion techniques, would entice passersby on the road to extract a bit of spiritual energy from them to supplement their cultivation. The bolder ones would interfere with the fate of mortals, either deceiving or robbing them, manipulating their destinies to fill their own spiritual energy.

However, considering that humans only lived for a hundred years, the spiritual energy that could be drawn from their fate and destiny was ultimately limited. For demons practicing cultivation over hundreds or thousands of years, it was just a drop in the ocean.

Yet, demons couldn’t continually harm humans throughout the year, as doing so would attract calamities before their cultivation progressed, and they would face heavenly retribution.

Therefore, there were demons who, with great boldness, would select humans with abundant spiritual energy and favorable destinies – either deceiving or robbing them – then take them back, kill them, and extract their three souls and seven spirits to create creatures that were part human, part demon, for their use.

Xiong Xiangsong had heard the elders talk about these things during his childhood. Those demons referred to these “things” as human spirits.

These human spirits either served as carriers of spiritual energy for demons or engaged in acts of violence on their behalf, collecting resentful and angry energies. In any case, it was a genuine “crooked and evil way.”

This method was sinister and went against the natural order. Only the insanely wicked or the daring demons who feared no divine retribution would dare to engage in such practices.

Xiong Xiangsong certainly didn’t dare to suspect anything about Xing Yingzhuo, but he feared that Xing Yingzhuo might have suspicions about them. Living in the human world, they were already subject to numerous restrictions, and engaging in severe actions like harming and killing was strictly prohibited, let alone deceiving humans with illusions.

Even though they had the ability to turn things into gold effortlessly, they still diligently worked and earned money to pay rent. Xing Yingzhuo, with his strict rules and dark reputation, left no room for disobedience. Xiong Xiangsong had no doubt that if they dared to engage in such crooked ways, Xing Yingzhuo would strip their skin and hang it outside the building.

“I know.” Fortunately, Xing Yingzhuo showed no signs of suspicion. He glanced at Xiong Xiangsong with a somewhat “gentle” threat and said, “If any of you dares to touch these filthy things on my territory, I’ll peel your skin and make it a welcome carpet.”

Xiong Xiangsong: “…”

Indeed, Xiong Xiangsong thought woodenly. He knew Xing Yingzhuo well.

However, for some reason, he felt a bit of security – as if only this kind of Xing Yingzhuo was the real deal.

“Big boss, what about this…” Xiong Xiangsong, feeling disgusted by the thing in his hands, wanted to put it down. However, considering that Xing Yingzhuo gave it to him, he could only hold his nose and carry it, expressing his disdain, “Where did this dirty thing come from?”

Xing Yingzhuo raised his chin slightly, saying, “I’m showing you this to let you know that this is the thing that attacked Diao Leyu.”

Xiong Xiangsong was momentarily stunned.

“But aren’t human spirits supposed to assist demons in attacking humans? Why would they attack demons?” Xiong Xiangsong asked, “Leyu is over a thousand years old; these things shouldn’t be a match for her.”

“Have you not seen her injuries?” Xing Yingzhuo asked in return.

Xiong Xiangsong was temporarily caught off guard by Xing Yingzhuo’s question.

Before this, Xiong Xiangsong had been unclear about Diao Leyu’s situation. If it weren’t for Xing Yingzhuo mentioning human spirits today, he wouldn’t have thought about it. Initially, he assumed that Diao Leyu, being young and inexperienced, might have accidentally revealed something outside, attracting the attention of someone capable, leading to the confrontation.

These days, he had been preoccupied with the concern of whether Diao Leyu was getting better, and he hadn’t thoroughly investigated the matter.

Generally, human spirits were like a hook or a “tentacle” behind a big demon. Anyone harmed by human spirits, if the demon behind them wasn’t coveting their soul and fortune, would mostly be drained of their entire essence. This was easily recognizable.

Recalling Diao Leyu’s appearance when she was brought back, there were indeed several deep wounds on her body, as if caused by a sharp weapon.

In addition, as Xing Yingzhuo said this, Xiong Xiangsong, though hesitant on the surface, already believed it in his heart.

“So…” Xiong Xiangsong asked, “What should we do?”

“Take it back where it came from,” Xing Yingzhuo raised his chin and said, “Give it to Diao Leyu to consume.”

Xiong Xiangsong subconsciously tightened his grip on the bottle.

The face inside the bottle seemed to understand human language. It immediately started making teeth-gritting and grimacing movements, banging forcefully against the glass.

“But…” Although Xiong Xiangsong was worried about Diao Leyu, he couldn’t help but have reservations, “Is this safe?”

Even though human spirits were no longer considered human, they were essentially refined from human souls. If they consumed this thing, who knew if they might incur karmic consequences, marked down in the ledger of merits and demerits.

Xiong Xiangsong intended to ask again for reassurance from Xing Yingzhuo, but at that moment, Xing Yingzhuo’s patience announced its end, and he refused further business.

Xing Yingzhuo licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, saying in a chilling tone, “if not, then you can throw Diao Leyu back into the mountains. Let her fend for herself.”

Xiong Xiangsong: “…”

Thinking quickly, Xiong Xiangsong bent slightly, clasped his hands over his chest, and expressed gratitude. Then, without waiting for Xing Yingzhuo to drive him out, he voluntarily and smoothly rolled out of the door.