Chapter Fifty-Seven: Qiongqi

Liu Bansian finished arranging matters with Jidou, then turned to Qin Xiaomo. “Miss Qin, your martial arts skills may not be exceptional, but with the Xuanli Blade, you still pose a deterrent to the Qiongqi. Tonight, you’ll accompany me, while Qingfeng will go with his uncle. We’ll focus our patrols near the hospital mortuary.”

“Why the area near the hospital?” Qin Xiaomo asked curiously.

“It bit all four of those people, but didn’t finish eating them. It’s bound to return. That’s its nature,” Liu Bansian replied.

“That’s terrifying! I can’t believe a beast like Qiongqi would come back to finish the job… so frugal,” Jidou muttered, stunned.

“But how does it know how to find them?” Qin Xiaomo felt uneasy.

“Every person’s blood tastes different to it. Since it’s sampled all four, it can hunt them by scent, whether they’re alive or dead. As long as the bodies remain, it will return,” Liu Bansian’s voice was low, sending chills through his listeners.

“Then why not cremate the bodies right away?” Jidou asked.

“If we did, it might start killing again, hurting others. Once a beast like this goes on a rampage, it won’t stop at four victims. Do you know how many people live in the central district of Guang City alone? Three hundred thousand!” Liu Bansian’s brows were furrowed; he spoke as much to himself as to the others, feeling the weight of responsibility.

“Senior brother, should we call in our fellow disciples from other cities to help?” Guza turned to Liu Bansian.

“They’re probably just as overwhelmed right now,” Liu Bansian replied, thinking that exotic beasts were surfacing everywhere, and their colleagues would likely be contending with their own outbreaks.

Everyone hurried through their takeout, rested for a while, and by eleven o’clock, split up to begin their operation.

At the city hospital, in the corridor of the third-floor examination rooms opposite the mortuary.

“Master Liu, how do you think a beast like Qiongqi ended up here? I didn’t know much about it before, but it’s famous in ancient lore. Can we really handle it?” The more Qin Xiaomo spoke, the less confident she sounded.

“With what we know so far, the best news is that there aren’t more of them. Besides, our task tonight is reconnaissance. As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated. If we encounter it, we’ll evade rather than engage head-on,” Liu Bansian said.

“But what if it attacks someone again?”

“We save them! Then we run,” Liu Bansian said with utmost seriousness, but Qin Xiaomo felt a wave of exasperation. She’d expected him to vow to fight to protect the people, not to flee.

Sensing her thoughts, Liu Bansian added, “Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.”

“Have you ever encountered such a beast before, Master Liu?”

“I’ve helped my immortal master subdue one.” Liu Bansian suddenly fell silent, listening intently.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Xiaomo unconsciously lowered her voice.

“Don’t you feel it’s suddenly gotten very quiet?”

“Maybe… the birds are asleep?”

“No. Didn’t you notice? There were still a few cicadas chirping just now, but now, even they’ve gone silent.” Liu Bansian’s words made Qin Xiaomo shiver involuntarily.

“You mean… it’s here?” Qin Xiaomo whispered, afraid to startle anything.

Liu Bansian raised his hand, signaling her to stay silent, then took a talisman from his bag, holding it between his index and middle fingers. He muttered an incantation and swept it before his eyes. What he saw made his blood run cold; he pulled Qin Xiaomo down beside the window to crouch.

By the streetlight, a beast covered in bristling brown-black fur leapt onto the roof of the garden pavilion. Its back was lined with spines of varying size, resembling both armor and weapons. Its body was covered in bloody wounds, as if it had just weathered a fierce battle—yet it was impossible to tell what had injured it. Its face, reminiscent of a tiger, had two glowing white eyes, and its mouth was full of jagged yellow-black fangs, still stained with bits of flesh and blood. Even the fur around its jaws was smeared with blood—whether animal or human, one could not say. When it opened its gaping mouth to roar, even the birds that hadn’t fled in time cowered and trembled in the corners.

“Master Liu, what do you see?” Qin Xiaomo, seeing Liu Bansian’s eyes fixed in horror, knew it couldn’t be good. She tried to keep her voice to a whisper.

“You ate the immortal fruit, yet you still can’t see it?” Liu Bansian whispered without turning.

“They say because I haven’t cultivated, I can only see low-level beings.”

Liu Bansian took another talisman from his robe and used it to open Qin Xiaomo’s second sight.

With her vision newly awakened, Qin Xiaomo leaned against the window, peering outside. The moment her eyes fell upon the beast, she realized that not even the most terrifying demon from the depths of hell could rival its horror. She gasped, pressing both hands over her mouth to muffle any sound. The beast was less than thirty meters away. She cursed her own sharp eyesight for forcing her to witness the bloody flesh still hanging from its jaws.

“Is… is that the Qiongqi?” Her voice trembled uncontrollably, the terror overwhelming her—especially at the sight of the blood and flesh. At that moment, she truly wished she could see less.

Sensing her fear, Liu Bansian placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We won’t act tonight, just observe. If you really can’t take it, we’ll leave at once,” he said, concern in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about me. If it finds those four tonight, it’ll be gone by tomorrow, and tracking it will be that much harder.” Trying to calm herself, Qin Xiaomo popped a mint lozenge in her mouth.

Suddenly, as if it had sensed their presence, the beast began sniffing about, then leapt down from the pavilion and rushed in their direction.

Seeing this, Liu Bansian grabbed Qin Xiaomo and ran, asking as they fled, “What did you just eat?”

“A… a throat lozenge,” she stammered.

“The Qiongqi’s sense of smell is keener than a dog’s. The mint scent attracted it. Throw it away! We’ll take the other stairwell.”

Qin Xiaomo tossed the lozenge by the stairwell and dashed across the corridor. Just as they turned the corner, a roar and heavy breathing erupted from the stairwell behind them. They hurried downstairs, the pounding of the beast’s pursuit echoing in the corridor. They barely made it to the first floor, only to find the exit locked from the outside. The first floor was just a dusty, cluttered stairwell. Seeing this, they immediately turned to run back to the second floor, but heard the beast’s slow, rasping breaths approaching from above.

“This is bad!” Liu Bansian pulled Qin Xiaomo into the pile of junk, hurriedly pulling out two talismans inscribed with the Thunder God’s seal in cinnabar. Fearing they wouldn’t be strong enough, he bit his finger to trace over the marks again, then recited the Five Directions Divine Incantation and pressed the charms to their chests.

“These are invisibility talismans. Stay close behind me,” he whispered.

Qin Xiaomo nodded vigorously, blaming herself. The only thing she could do was make sure she didn’t cause Liu Bansian any more trouble.