Chapter 81.4

Only now did Yin Meng understand why Xiaoyuan had tried to open that office door earlier, and why he'd repeatedly warned her to stay alert.

So he had already noticed—Mao Changan, lying in the so-called “main tomb,” was still alive.

He had to be. If you killed him too early, how would the sacrifice work? The killing had to take place inside the hall marked with the array diagram, and during the period between the lighting and the complete burning of that blood-incense stick—for it to be effective.

At that moment, Mao Zhushan pulled out two male and female dolls from his robe. Threads bound to needles were stuck into them. The backs of the dolls were soaked in blood, while the fronts remained their original color.

He gave the female doll a gentle wave.

Qiu Minmin immediately dashed out of the hall.

Li Zhuiyuan and the others, hiding in a rear corner, didn’t have to worry about being discovered. Normally, hiding like this would be futile against a Dead Sinker’s senses, but this was a yin-dwelling. Other than direct senses like sight and sound, sixth senses didn’t apply here.

Soon, Qiu Minmin returned, dragging Mao Changan with her.

Both enemy-kin sacrifices were ready.

Mao Zhushan let out a sigh and looked at his elderly father and master. A faint flicker of fatherly feeling still lingered in his gaze.

He lifted the female doll first, pointing it at Wu Xinhui.

Qiu Minmin propped Mao Changan against a pillar, then turned and walked toward Wu Xinhui.

Wu Xinhui screamed in terror. “No, no, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Aaaah!”

Crack!

Qiu Minmin bit clean through his neck.

“Sigh…”

Mao Zhushan sighed, but then his face lit up with expectation as he lightly flicked the needle embedded in the male doll.

At that very moment, Mao Changan suddenly opened his eyes and roared, “You bastard!”

Mao Zhushan was stunned. “How are you even awake? I drugged you heavily!”

Mao Changan began to struggle. His shroud had ripped open, revealing that he’d been bound with chains and secured by a massive bronze lock—obviously a precaution set up in advance by his own son.

“You monster! I raised you, taught you everything, and this is how you repay me? Committing such heinous acts—aren’t you afraid of divine retribution?”

“That book—you sealed it away right after I found it under the floor when we first moved here. You wouldn’t let me learn it! I’m your son, your disciple! You didn’t use it yourself—so why not let me use it?”

“That’s an evil book. It’s full of forbidden techniques. Even I didn’t dare look at it—let alone practice it!”

“I don’t care. I found where you hid it anyway. I’ve been practicing it for eight years. It says: with a Yin-Yang Companion Dead Sinker, you can ascend the Heavenly Gate and achieve immortality. I’m not wasting my life as a damned corpse retriever like you!”

“Zhushan, you’re possessed. It’s not too late—turn back. Please, turn yourself in. Atone for what you’ve done.”

“I’m on the brink of success. Turn back now? Hah!”

“Heaven is watching. For what you’ve done, you’ll suffer. You won’t die a good death.”

“Oh yeah? Then let me see it—where’s this Heaven of yours, old man? I’m done being scared by your crap. Now, go to your rightful place.”

“You disgrace! You dare—”

Mao Zhushan glanced at the incense in front of him. Only a sliver remained.

“The incense is almost out. I have to complete the ritual before it burns out. So, Dad—go on. I’ll break a mourning pot for you after you die.”

Outside, Tan Wenbin grabbed Li Zhuiyuan’s arm. Yin Meng was poised, ready to charge in at Li Zhuiyuan’s signal.

“Xiaoyuan-ge, let’s go save the old man!”

To the two of them, this was the perfect moment to strike.

But Li Zhuiyuan didn’t give the order. He muttered, “Those words he just said… they sound awfully familiar.”

“Huh?” Tan Wenbin didn’t get it—why bring that up now?

Yin Meng also looked over in confusion. Why wasn’t he acting?

Inside the room, Mao Zhushan raised the male doll. Zhao Junfeng started walking toward Mao Changan.

“You ungrateful traitor—I’ll carry out Heaven’s justice!”

Just then, though his body was bound, Mao Changan flipped his hands. Two thick silver needles, thread still attached, appeared in his grasp.

Buzz! Buzz!

He launched the needles one after another from his fingertips.

One struck Mao Zhushan in the wrist. He cried out, his hand spasming, dropping the male doll. The second needle hit the male doll precisely, and with a tug, it flew back into Mao Changan’s hand.

“You practiced it too?!”

Mao Changan lightly flicked a needle on the doll.

Zhao Junfeng’s eyes turned blood-red. He lunged like a beast at Mao Zhushan, who didn’t even have time to scream before being torn apart.

Mao Changan held a needle in his palm and twisted the bronze lock.

Click…

The lock popped open. He took a step forward, the chains slipping off.

Then Mao Changan scanned the room full of corpses, suddenly fell to his knees, and began wailing:

“Wuuuu… This is my fault—I didn’t raise you right. I led you down this path of rebellion. I’ve failed your mother. I’ve failed Heaven…”

His sobs were gut-wrenching, full of grief.

Outside, Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng reflexively swallowed hard.

This old man… damn, he was fierce!

But then the realization crept in: he was too fierce. Why hadn’t he acted earlier?

Li Zhuiyuan remained calm, unsurprised.

How could he be? The old man’s speech after waking sounded just like something he himself might say. That tone of trying to bluff Heaven—it was all too familiar.

His son killed people. His son committed the sins. He, the father, had been kept in the dark. And when he finally struck down his own son—it was just self-defense.

Innocent the whole way through. And now? He got to keep the ritual’s result: a perfectly paired Yin-Yang Companion Dead Sinker.

Based on what Mao Zhushan had said before he died, it sounded like when they settled here years ago, little Mao Zhushan had found a book beneath the place and handed it over to Mao Changan.

That book likely came from this water-burial site.

Maybe it had a bewitching effect. Or maybe its contents were just that tempting. But one thing was clear—the father had outplayed the son.

Watching this twisted display of fatherly “love,” Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt… maybe his own relationship with Li Lan wasn’t so bad after all.

At least when he and Li Lan met, they just tore at each other’s skins. These two? They gutted each other.

Happiness really is relative.

Li Zhuiyuan looked toward the room and murmured, “Alright, enough tears. The incense is almost out.”

Mao Changan stopped crying immediately. He jumped to his feet, quickly picked up the other doll.

“Something this wicked—I’ll take responsibility to seal and suppress it, so it won’t harm the world again!”

He stacked the two dolls together.

Zhao Junfeng and Qiu Minmin now stood side by side.

Mao Changan began chanting. He grabbed the ashes from the burnt incense and sprinkled them over the dolls. Then he placed the dolls in front of a candle and lit them.

But even as the dolls burned, Zhao Junfeng and Qiu Minmin just stood there. Nothing else happened.

“This isn’t right. According to the book, they should now form a seal, manifest yin and yang, join as one, and emit a sacred light.”

As the dolls kept burning, Zhao Junfeng and Qiu Minmin’s eyes grew redder, like they were about to break free from control.

“No, this can’t be… Did it fail?!”

Panicked, Mao Changan looked back at his son’s corpse.

No. He had paid too steep a price. He couldn’t let this end in failure.

“Where did it go wrong? Where?!”

Frantic, he snatched up the half-burned dolls. Despite the heat, he tore them apart—only to find that the male doll had turned red on both sides. The female doll? Only its back was red—the front still its original color.

That meant Qiu Minmin hadn’t completed her revenge.

“No! What’s going on?!”

He ran to Wu Xinhui’s body—neck snapped, head separated. Completely dead.

“Why didn’t the revenge complete? Wasn’t he the one who killed Qiu Minmin?!”

He turned and roared at Liu Xinya and Zhu Hongyu, who were curled in the corner, frozen with fear.

“Then who was it? You? You killed her?”

He’d completely forgotten he was yelling at two women.

Liu Xinya said, “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t us! We didn’t kill anyone! We really didn’t!”

Zhu Hongyu added, “We had nothing to do with it! Neither of us nor Wu Xinhui did it. That night, the three of us were together the whole time.”

Liu Xinya pointed to Zhu Hongyu. “She’s the one who said she saw Zhao Junfeng running out of the bathroom.”

Zhu Hongyu shrieked and pointed at Liu Xinya. “Liar! You said it! You said you saw Zhao Junfeng running out!”

The two women kept blaming each other—until both turned to the headless Wu Xinhui.

“He said it! Wu Xinhui said he saw Zhao Junfeng running out of the bathroom!”

Mao Changan bellowed, “But he wasn’t the killer!”

“We… we never actually saw anyone.”

“When we went to the bathroom, we saw Qiu Minmin already being killed.”

“Yeah, we never saw the murderer.”

Mao Changan howled, “Then why did you say Zhao Junfeng did it?!”

“We didn’t know he’d resist arrest—or that he’d die! We just wanted to give the police something… just something to go on…”

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