The expression on the cat's face was difficult to discern in such a night, so when the little black cat looked up at him with its round eyes, it was hard to say whether there was more horror or resignation in its gaze.

Xie Bai was naturally not very sensitive to directions, even when the stars were bright, he often took the wrong path. Moreover, the two stars above his head were so dim that they could hardly be seen. Fortunately, in addition to the stars, there were other things in the woods at night—

A crow suddenly flew out from the nearby tree, circled around, and then flew away from the entire Huangtou Mountain. It flapped its wings and cried out twice, in this extremely quiet night, its cries could be heard all the way to the village in the distance.

When there are no stars at night, watch the crows. Xie Bai patted the little black cat's head and then walked towards the direction where the crow had just flown out.

The entire Huangtou Mountain consisted actually of a narrow hill with three connected peaks. This hill was not straight, but curved like a crescent, enclosing a small lake. Facing the village was the outer side of Huangtou Mountain, while the inner side faced the lake.

The direction Xie Bai was walking in at the moment was to cross the low mountain top and head towards the valley inside from the outside.

There were thick branches and fallen leaves scattered on the ground. Xie Bai walked on it without making a sound, and soon arrived at the most secluded place in the valley.

This was less than five meters away from the lake, and according to the surrounding terrain, it should have been a deep depression, but in fact, there was a mound with a diameter of about two meters. The mound was not protruding, just slightly higher than the terrain, and if Xie Bai hadn't deliberately paid attention to it, he wouldn't have noticed it at a glance.

"Unnamed mound..." Xie Bai lifted his foot and drew a line at the edge of the mound, touching the little black cat's head gently.

He looked around the mound, and indeed, there were three willows standing on top of the mound, but these three willows had already withered, as if all the water and vitality had been drained from them, and they stood there twisted and contorted, bare and strange. At first glance, they looked like three figures hunched over with their arms open.

Willow trees are inherently yin, and there are various sayings about the yin qi around graves. These three willows were planted in a seemingly random manner, but in fact, they were very particular.

Xie Bai walked around them with the little black cat in his arms, silently calculating in his heart. The number of steps from the first willow to the second, from the second to the third, and from the third back to the first, were all exactly the same, meaning that the three willows encircled the entire unnamed mound perfectly.

And judging from the withered branches of the willow trees, one pointed northeast, one pointed southwest, and the other had a branch pointing upwards and another pointing downwards... This looked like a formation of "soul-binding willows".

In other words, someone deliberately planted these three willows here to bind whatever was under the unnamed mound, preventing it from ever reincarnating.

However, it was unclear what happened later that caused these three willows to become demons, and they were slaughtered by someone, cut into pieces, and placed in a formation in a place like Kanghe Hospital...

Xie Bai clicked his tongue and picked a shady place in front of the unnamed mound to squat down, then gently laid his hand, which had turned grayish-blue, on the mound. His thumb pointed to the northeast, and his four fingers pointed to the southwest, suppressing the ghostly energy. He coughed a few times with his head lowered, then hugged the little black cat and closed his eyes.

As he had expected, there was a hollow space beneath the thin layer of soil of the unnamed mound, and whatever was wrapped inside had disappeared without a trace. The hollow mound was filled only with dense corpse energy.

This kind of thing might be highly toxic to others. When touched, it could cause skin ulcers and sores, and in severe cases, it could be life-threatening. But for Xie Bai, it was essential.

*

When he was young, regular food simply wouldn't go down, despite still having his sense of smell at that time and able to detect fragrances. However, as soon as food entered his stomach, he would experience an intense rejection, leading to vomiting until completely empty. Only consuming Yin Corpse Qi could truly "fill his stomach".

Nowadays, he had adapted to eating regular food, but when he was truly "hungry", Yin Corpse Qi was still the only thing that worked.

With a slight furrow of his brow, a faintly mocking smile tugged at one corner of his mouth as he absorbed all the Yin Corpse Qi from the nameless mound. The corpse energy, cold and damp, flowed continuously into his body through the thin layer of soil covering the grave.

The expression on the little black cat's face was hard to distinguish in such a night. When it looked up at him with its round eyes, it was difficult to say whether it was more horrified or resigned.

His hand resting on the grave remained slender, straight, and thin, with the tendons and bones protruding slightly on the back of his hand due to the subtle arch. The once blue-gray skin gradually reverted to its normal pale hue, and the red spots resembling blood under the skin slowly dissipated and faded away.

Only after he had absorbed the last trace of Yin Corpse Qi did he retract his hand and rise to his feet.

Due to excessive inhalation of Yin Corpse Qi, his hand was icy cold, emanating a chill that seemed to seep from his bones. Instinctively, he reached out to touch the fluffy, warm fur of the little black cat, but halted before making contact.

"Is it dirty to touch you after handling the grave and absorbing the corpse's gas?" He glanced down at the little black cat, his tone light.

In this moment, the little cub revealed its extraordinary nature, tilting its head up to emit a "meow" towards Xie Bai, then nuzzling into his palm with a gesture reminiscent of dignified sacrifice.

Xie Bai: "......"

As he observed the little cub affectionately rubbing against his cold palm, the smirk on his lips gradually faded, hinting at a softening expression that ultimately reverted to impassiveness.

 

Xie Bai was naturally not going to forget that the kitten also wanted to eat something. So, while stroking its fluffy and warm fur, he walked to the riverbank.

The river seemed even more lifeless than the entire Huangtou Mountain. With no wind in the valley, the entire lake surface remained still, giving an strange feeling of falseness. He walked around the lake, finding not a hint of vitality.

Patting the round head of the little black cat, Xie Bai said, "Forget it, let's go to Fisherman's Crossing."

Whether the kitten had been dazed by the impact in Xie Bai's hand or something else, it lay quietly on Xie Bai's hand without a sound, seemingly lost in thought.

Xie Bai, naturally, didn't need to seek further opinions and simply tossed the black fog away before leaving Huangtou Mountain.

Fisherman's Crossing was not too far from Huangtou Mountain, just two villages away, which for Xie Bai was just a blink of an eye. There was an old ferry on the west side of Cenyun City, with a bridge spanning the lock gate. Along the bank under the bridge, a row of fishing boats were neatly parked, but the boats were dark, with no signs of life.

A bit north of the adjacent Lin city, the temperature here was even lower at night, with tiny snowflakes falling. Under the illumination of the streetlights on the bridge, they fell like scattered ashes.

Xie Bai descended onto the gate bridge, scanning his surroundings from the railing before tightly embracing the little black cat with one hand. With the other hand supporting himself on the bridge railing, he flipped over and leaped down.

Xie Bai landed soundlessly on a fishing boat. When he stepped onto the boat desk, the entire boat didn't even sway, as if he had landed on a dried leaf.

The ferry crossing didn't look like the route around Huangtou Mountain, so he roughly recognized the general direction and used the fishing boat as a steppingstone to make his way across.

The river at this ferry crossing was a branch of the Jiang river. In the distance, it widened, while nearby, the land on both sides abruptly narrowed, resembling a funnel with a long mouth. The lock bridge was horizontally positioned in the middle section of the elongated funnel. By this time, Xie Bai had already bypassed the mouth of the funnel and reached the open estuary of the river.

He stood facing east, so logically, the west bank should be opposite him. But what he faced was a vast expanse of the river, with only a solitary island in the middle, barely qualifying as the west.

Xie Bai clicked his tongue and shook his head, muttering, "Got the wrong place."

The little black cat let out a purr from the depths of its throat, sounding almost like a muffled laugh, displaying a look of no hope at all that Xie Bai could find the right way.

Xie Bai didn't hesitate to pat its head, then, as he was about to toss another black fog across the river, he caught sight of a dark brown lump on the ground beside his foot, with a faint trace of residual spiritual energy.

He stepped aside and squatted down, hesitated for a moment, then somewhat disgustedly bent down to wrap the black fog around his hand before picking up the dark brown object and examining it between his fingers. The charred parts crumbled to ash at his touch, leaving only a small brown fragment.

It was obviously a piece of burnt paper, probably carelessly burned by someone using spirit fire, but whether it was due to negligence or being interrupted by something halfway, it wasn't completely burned and was left lying on the ground, leaving behind this bit of residue.

Xie Bai looked at the small fragment in his hand, unable to discern what kind of paper it was before it was burned by the spirit fire.

Naturally, he couldn't stand there in a daze in the light snow. He reached out and collected the fragment, then, with the little black cat, crossed the river via the shadow gate and arrived on the small island in the middle of the river in the blink of an eye.

From a distance, the island didn't look big, and up close, it was even smaller. It could be walked from one end to the other in about ten steps, just a tuft of soil sticking out of the river. Some sparse dry reeds grew here, withered yellow leaves drooping from their tips, covered with a thin layer of snow.

As soon as Xie Bai landed here, he felt something odd about the entire cluster of soil. After walking along the edge, he found that in some places, his steps would involuntarily become heavier, as if something invisible was pulling his feet down to the ground.

He walked two circles and confirmed two such points, one in the center of the tuft of soil and the other at the edge. And at the edge, it happened to be facing the opposite bank, which, if he wasn't mistaken, was the "west bank of Fisherman's Crossing" written on the note.

"Found it." He scratched the little black cat's head, informing it as he did so, then reached out and broke off a long slender reed. Holding one end of the reed in his fingers, he tapped it twice on the surface of the river with the dry leaf end, then flipped his wrist and made another motion.

Suddenly, the water at the edge of the tuft of soil surged up with a snow-white wave, as if it were going to bring something from the bottom of the river to the surface.

And indeed, two big waves later, two lively fish and a dark object were pushed ashore.

Xie Bai stepped forward, picked up the live fish, and looked at them separately.

Both of these fish had a strange appearance, with their entire bodies shimmering with a black luster, almost devoid of scales, and their bellies were completely black except for a shiny white fish eye embedded in their heads. What's even stranger was that they only had one side, with no eyes on the other side.

Xie Bai had obviously seen a lot of fish, showing no hint of surprise. He lowered his head and lightly drew on the fish's belly with the tip of his finger wrapped in a black bandage, then squatted down and washed the two fish cleanly in the river water before slapping them in front of the little black cat with a "snap," saying, "I've unbound you, come and eat."

The little black cat: "............................................................................................."

After explaining it was free from the spirit binding, the little black cat really could move now.

However, it was already stiff as a coffin board from the shock of this simple and crude food, not moving at all. It got down purely because Xie Bai let go of it and stood up, and it naturally rolled to the ground.

Xie Bai had never raised any living things other than himself and Yin Wushu. Of course, the actual meaning of the previous sentence needed to be discussed separately.

Anyway, no matter how mysterious the origin of this little black cat was, it was the first pet Xie Bai had ever raised. All beginnings are difficult, and this saying was confirmed by Xie Bai in a very cruel way. The little black cat squatted in front of the two large black strange fish, looking very serious, with a fierce expression, as if it wanted to strongly condemn Xie Bai.

However, all of Xie Bai's attention was on the black lump in his hand, and he didn't notice the look in the kitten's eyes at all.

When he had just used the reed to scoop something from the water, it wasn't just a random act. He had intended to fish out the demon corpse mentioned in the note, but what he ended up with were two living Yin fish and a piece of unknown black object. The former was because it resembled the original demon corpse, but as for the latter...

Xie Bai knocked on the black lump and then peeled off a layer from the top.

Once the skin was peeled away, the core inside immediately became visible. Xie Bai examined the pattern closely and determined that it was a piece of willow wood.

Moreover, the shape of this willow wood was quite interesting, with a square top and a pointed bottom, like a wooden nail cut artificially. Normally, wood would float on the surface of the river, but this piece of willow wood had an outer layer wrapped in a thick skin and carved with a spell. This allowed the entire piece of willow wood to sink straight to the bottom of the river as soon as it entered the water, effectively nailing it to the riverbed.

Considering the three willow trees by the gravesite earlier, Xie Bai immediately understood the purpose of this piece of willow wood. If he wasn't mistaken, it was undoubtedly used for soul-binding, just like the effect of those willow trees by the graves.

However, Xie Bai was somewhat uncertain about what exactly was being bound this time—was it the Yin fish demon? Or did it have some connection to the one being bound?

The fine snow on the river increased again. This kind of snow normally couldn't accumulate because it was too light; it would completely melt upon contact with any warmth. Therefore, it couldn't stick to ordinary people and would turn into tiny droplets on their clothes, giving them a damp feeling.

But the snow falling on Xie Bai melted very slowly, eventually forming a thin layer on his shoulders.

The originally fierce-looking little black cat's gaze was somehow attracted by the thin layer of snow on his shoulders, silently staring at it for a while. It wasn't until Xie Bai moved again and warmth returned to his body that the thin layer of snow gradually melted, and the little black cat turned its gaze away.

"Why aren't you eating?" Xie Bai had just collected the piece of willow wood and turned around to see the little black cat glaring at the two Yin fish with rolled eyes, showing no intention of eating them at all.

Xie Bai's gaze swept back and forth between the kitten and the Yin fish, and he asked lightly, "Not hungry?"

The little black cat: "......"

Xie Bai asked again, "Don't like raw fish?"

The little black cat flicked its tail a couple of times, finally showing some reaction.

Xie Bai stood there staring down at it for a while, not saying a word for a long time. After a while, he asked again expressionlessly, "You don't like raw fish either?" He emphasized the word "either."

The little black cat: "......"

The man and the cat stood silently facing each other for a moment, then Xie Bai narrowed his eyes, picked up the two Yin fish, and smiled faintly, "Alright, let's take them back. How about I make you some ink-dot white jade?"

The little black cat: "......"

Cats can't speak, or at least it seemed that way. So when it just stared at him with round eyes and didn't make a sound, it was really difficult to judge whether it was pretending to be stupid or genuinely stupid.

After leaving it hanging for a while, Xie Bai collected everything he needed to and then lifted up the cat, added a binding, and then moved ahead to leave this tuft of soil.

But just as he was about to step into the black fog with the cat in his arms, another big wave rolled up on the shore, and white foam wrapped around something hit the soil.

Xie Bai: "......"

He probably hadn't expected there was still something there, whether it was a follow-up to the reed scooping incident or a delayed reaction to something that got stuck earlier.

He stopped his steps and withdrew his foot, walking over to take a look. He saw that the thing washed up on the shore looked like a piece of silk fabric, extremely thin and transparent, lying on the dry grass.

What was this thing? A piece of clothing or fabric?

Xie Bai reached out to carefully pick up the object, but as soon as his fingertips touched it, he felt as if his heart had been heavily hammered, feeling dull and painful, and his brain was almost momentarily blank.

He then realized that it wasn't just his heart that had been hammered, but the entire tuft of soil and even the entire center of the river suddenly shook twice. Ripples of large waves spread rapidly in all directions from the tuft of soil, and even Xie Bai's feet were slightly numb from the shaking.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the continuous buzzing in his mind.

But as soon as he recovered from that momentary dizziness, he felt the solid ground under his feet suddenly loosen, collapsing in a way that spread out into the river, collapsing completely in the blink of an eye.

The collapse seemed as if someone had forcibly dragged the entire mound to the bottom of the river.

As the earth beneath his feet crumbled, Xie Bai felt his ankles locked by a tremendous force, pulling him downwards, and he smashed into the river surface.

Where the tuft of soil had been was now a vast yellow broth, with a huge vortex rising from the center, white waves flying and swirling rapidly.

Xie Bai choked on a mouthful of water, then raised his hand and waved out a large cloud of black fog, flipping his hand underneath him, and the entire surface of the river seemed to be cut open horizontally by a sharp blade. Taking advantage of the moment when he separated from the vortex, Xie Bai leaped into the black fog.

A moment later, he appeared in his residence, drenched with water, holding the cat in his arms.

There was a Ten Thousand Soul tree in the house, and he shouldn't open the Yin door too frequently inside the house, because each time he did, it would endanger the tree, and indirectly endanger himself. But at this moment, he couldn't care less...

If it had been a year ago, such a thing would have been like scratching an itch for him, with no threat at all, and there would have been no burden or impact afterwards. But now, he couldn't be so carefree.

Because over the past year, his body had inexplicably started to deteriorate. In the past, if someone said that a Yin guest would fear the cold, catch colds, or get common human diseases, it would have been a joke. But in the past year, he felt that his body was gradually becoming more like that of an ordinary person.

Especially in the past month and a half, he had actually started coughing because of exposure to cold, and the cough had persisted for so long without improvement and had even worsened.

The shock from the center of the river just now hadn't completely dissipated even after he landed, and there was still a buzzing resonance in his mind and ears, making him feel a bit nauseous.

He stood in place, pale-faced, holding the cat, his head slightly lowered but his back still habitually straight. After a moment, he sucked away all the water on his body, took a few steps, and nestled into the sofa.

Somehow, as he closed his eyes to ease the sensation of shock, he inexplicably remembered something Yin Wushu had told him when he was a child.

 

Translator : DarNan