Jiang Luo, carrying the stolen heart of the statue, quickly ran back to Shentu Village.
The village had changed. Scattered all around were human-shaped figures, but they weren’t people—they were paper effigies dressed in human clothes.
These paper effigies looked almost exactly like real people, so lifelike they could pass for the real thing. Looking around, the entire village was filled with these paper effigies—hardly any living humans remained.
Jiang Luo sprinted through them, his peripheral vision catching glimpses as he passed.
Villagers he had met before had all become paper effigies: the village chief, the red-dressed little girl’s parents, even two contestants who had apparently been swapped out without anyone noticing. A rough count revealed over two hundred of them.
After Jiang Luo had set fire to the paper effigies underground, the ones on the surface seemed to lose their vitality and instantly reverted to their true forms. A village of over three hundred people was reduced in a flash to just a few dozen survivors. The sudden change shocked the contestants, who hurried to report it to the staff.
Jiang Luo took a quick look around, then ran into the mountains to find Wenren Lian and the others.
Aside from Kuang Zheng, who had carried Lu Youyi to the hospital, the rest of the group was still standing guard by the cave entrance, tense and on high alert. They had been counting the minutes, nearly unable to resist jumping into the cave themselves. Luckily, Jiang Luo arrived in time. Without stopping to explain, he said, “Help me find a large stone. We need to seal this entrance.”
The group worked together to move a boulder and block the cave. Jiang Luo wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up, only to find everyone’s eyes fixed on his leg.
“What happened to you?” Ge Zhu pointed at his pants. “How did they get torn like that?”
Jiang Luo looked down and saw that only half a pant leg remained. He simply ripped off the other side, turning his work pants into knee-length shorts. “A lot happened. I’ll explain once we’re down the mountain. Something’s gone wrong in the village.”
They didn’t waste any more time and hurried down the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, staff members and police had already entered Shentu Village.
The entire village was filled with paper effigies that gave Ge Zhu and the others chills. “These people… how did they all turn into paper effigies?”
Jiang Luo briefly explained the situation to them.
Zhuo Zhongqiu shuddered. “So the ones we were talking to before… they were all paper effigies?”
Ge Zhu’s face turned dark. “Even the food we ate… was cooked by paper effigies.”
The staff were busy handling the situation in Shentu Village, their expressions solemn. This incident had clearly gone far beyond the competition organizers’ expectations. The staff were so overwhelmed they didn’t even have time to manage the remaining contestants. Once the number of survivors was confirmed, they joined the police in conducting a wide-scale search of the village.
Jiang Luo and the others helped by recording the names of the surviving villagers.
The little girl in red that he and Lu Youyi had seen was among those listed.
There had been 311 people in Shentu Village. In the end, only 36 living people were counted. Most of those were the young women offered as sacrifices to the deity. The rest had already been replaced by paper effigies.
The village chief’s son, Wang Qian, was one of the living. At the time when his parents were turned into paper, he had been eating with them. But midway through the meal, they suddenly stopped moving. Suspicious, Wang Qian looked up from his bowl and saw two paper effigies dressed in red and green smiling eerily at him.
His heart nearly stopped. He couldn’t even speak, only let out a scream before scrambling out of the house.
Once outside, he saw that all the villagers walking the streets had become lifelike paper effigies.
By the time Jiang Luo went to gather Wang Qian’s information, the boy was already semi-delirious. Holding a cup of hot water given to him by staff, his lips trembled and his eyes were vacant as he repeated over and over, “They turned into paper… They all turned into paper…”
The nearby staff member asking questions looked grim. Jiang Luo spun his pen and tapped his chin. “So what now?”
“We’ll invite Master Chengde to calm their spirits,” the staff member said heavily. “This challenge turned out far harder than we expected.”
Jiang Luo thought to himself: They still don’t know there’s a living god statue underground.
He subtly touched the oval-shaped stone heart hidden on him.
Since parting from Chi You, the stone heart had not pulsed again. But Jiang Luo was certain that the heartbeat he had felt, and the visions he had seen, were no illusion.
He had no intention of revealing the heart’s existence to anyone. He decided to keep it for himself.
If this heart truly allowed him to see Chi You’s past, then there was no way he could give it up. More than anyone, Jiang Luo wanted to know what had happened to Chi You — his secrets, his weaknesses.
That desire alone was enough for him to risk hiding the heart.
Soon after, the judges arrived at the scene. In the crowd, Jiang Luo immediately spotted Feng Li. Feng Li scanned the crowd, and once his eyes fell on Jiang Luo, he gave him a once-over before his tense expression eased slightly.
It had to be said, the presence of these judges brought a sense of reassurance that neither the contestants nor staff could replicate. Once they arrived, the atmosphere slowly settled. Before long, the contestants were gathered to submit written reports.
Jiang Luo took a moment to organize his thoughts. Omitting Chi You’s involvement, he wrote out the events in Shentu Village.
Shentu Village was remote and isolated. A locust tree stood at the entrance, and the village was surrounded on both sides by hills. With many desolate graveyards, it was considered a place where yin energy gathered.
They worshipped a deity — a statue that had gained sentience. Wanting to become a living being, the deity deceived the villagers with false promises of immortality, enticing them into worship.
But the deity needed more than just young girls for sacrifice — it also required spirits of the dead. Under its guidance, villagers hung themselves or drowned. Their souls, unable to reincarnate, became nourishment for the god’s awakening.
One of those souls was the hanging ghost Jiang Luo had seen in the locust tree at the village entrance — a villager deceived into suicide by the statue.
Jiang Luo filled three full pages with the story before finishing.
After the reports were handed in, the contestants had nothing else to do. Jiang Luo and Wenren Lian squatted on the side and shared a cigarette. During their smoke break, they saw the judge from the Chi family storm out in a rage, roaring at the staff.
The Chi family judge was so furious his dignified image as a respected elder shattered with each shout.
Jiang Luo turned and asked Wenren Lian, “Why’s he so angry?”
“There were two contestants turned into paper effigies this time,” Wenren Lian flicked his ashes. “One was He Zhi. The other was from the Chi family.”
Jiang Luo raised an eyebrow. “Chi You’s relative?”
Wenren Lian nodded and sighed. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone from Chi You’s bloodline die.”
Jiang Luo hadn’t expected the one who died to be someone from the Chi family’s side branch. He glanced toward the chaotic scene and vaguely thought—could the death of someone from Chi You’s family have anything to do with Chi You himself?
In the illusion, young Chi You’s words echoed in his ears: The Chi family’s downfall, the curse’s end, and dragging the whole metaphysics world down with me.
A blatant supervillain script.
Was he trying to become a tyrant in the metaphysical world?
The Chi family’s judge didn’t make a scene for long before returning to the judging room with a grim face.
The other five judges were reviewing the contestants’ written answers.
Each answer had to be graded by all six judges individually. The National College Natural Science Competition was similar to a regular academic contest in all but content. To ensure fairness, the judges followed the same scoring rubric: ten points full score, and no judge’s score could differ from another’s by more than three points.
When they saw the Chi family member enter, the Qi family’s judge was the first to ask with concern, “Brother Zhongye, did you find your kid?”
Chi Zhongye’s face was clouded with gloom. “Something happened to him.”
The Qi family judge was surprised. “Something happened?”
Chi Zhongye sat down with a dark face. The Qi judge wanted to ask more, but Feng Li frowned and tapped the table lightly with his knuckles. “Let’s focus on the task first.”
The Qi family judge responded softly, “Alright. Brother Zhongye, I know it’s upsetting, but contestants getting into trouble mid-competition isn’t unheard of. Don’t cause a bigger issue right now—it won’t look good.”
If words could be etched into someone’s face, Chi Zhongye’s forehead would have read bullies the weak, fears the strong. He didn’t need the Qi family judge to persuade him. As soon as Feng Li spoke, he pulled himself together, forced a smile, and said, “Don’t worry. Let’s finish grading these papers first.”
Half an hour later, the contestants’ scores were tallied.
But to everyone’s surprise, there were two people tied for first place.
One was Jiang Luo. The other was Liao Si, a descendant of a corpse driving family from Xiangxi.
Zhuo Zhengyu frowned. “What should we do about this?”
“Both answers are clear, organized, and accurate,” Master Chengde said after a moment of thought. “Shall we call the two students in for a look?”
“No need for all that trouble,” Chi Zhongye interrupted. “That Jiang Luo is the disciple of Heavenly Teacher Feng, isn’t he? With such a powerful teacher, he’s surely no ordinary person. Let’s just award him first place.”
Master Chengde looked at Feng Li. “Heavenly Master, what’s your opinion?”
Feng Li remained impassive, eyes lowered as he reviewed Jiang Luo and Liao Si’s answer sheets. His fingers made a subtle calculation. When the result turned out favorable, he finally said calmly, “Bring them in.”
Jiang Luo and Liao Si were soon brought into the judges’ room.
Upon hearing their scores were tied, Jiang Luo cast a glance at Liao Si.
He had learned the secrets beneath Shentu Village through firsthand experience. He was curious—how had Liao Si found out?
Just then, a judge posed that very question. Liao Si smiled lightly. “As you all know, I’m a descendant of the corpse drivers from Xiangxi. The clues were discovered by the corpses I sent to scout the village.”
It was a flawless excuse.
Liao Si coughed weakly and continued, “I’m not in good health, so I could only use such methods. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to achieve this score.”
Zhuo Zhengyu felt this was a tricky situation and threw the problem back to the two. “You’re tied now, but there can only be one first place. How about this—can either of you add something not written in your answer sheet? If one of you gives more, even by a single point, you’ll win.”
After a brief pause, Liao Si spoke first in a gentle tone, “I discovered two guardians near the divine statue—one was a living corpse, the other, a man wearing a fox mask.”
Jiang Luo immediately turned his head, staring coldly at Liao Si.
Liao Si noticed the gaze and gave him an apologetic smile. “Jiang Luo, that living corpse even came looking for you and Lu Youyi. Don’t you remember?”
Jiang Luo had deliberately omitted the divine statue’s guardians from his answer sheet, and so had the others from Baihua University. None of them had mentioned Dead Ghost. He hadn’t expected Liao Si to bring it up here.
“Living corpse?” Zhuo Zhengyu frowned slightly, his tone sharpening. “Jiang Luo, is this true?”
Jiang Luo stared at Liao Si, then suddenly smiled.
A bad feeling rose in Liao Si’s gut.
Jiang Luo’s smile was calm and unbothered, the kind of smile that made others unconsciously relax and feel like smiling with him. “Classmate Liao, what exactly do you mean by a ‘living corpse’?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, you know I used to slack off… I’ve never heard the term ‘living corpse’ before.”
“If a living corpse really did come find me and Lu Youyi, why didn’t you say anything back then?” he sighed regretfully, his brows and eyes full of disappointment. “I’ve never even seen what a living corpse looks like.”
Liao Si’s brow twitched.
The mood in the judges’ room subtly shifted. Zhuo Zhengyu looked at Liao Si with a hint of suspicion.
Originally, Liao Si was only curious about Jiang Luo because of Chi You’s comment—“Jiang Luo is not allowed.” He wanted to test him. Who would’ve thought not only did Jiang Luo not take the bait, but now Liao Si had landed himself in a mess.
But Liao Si wasn’t ordinary. Without changing his expression, he said, “Perhaps it was too late at night. I must’ve seen wrong.”
“No, I believe in the judgment of a corpse driver’s descendant,” Jiang Luo replied. “Classmate Liao, when that living corpse supposedly came to find me and Lu Youyi, were we both really present? What about the others? Were they there? Maybe I couldn’t recognize a living corpse—but surely not everyone failed to recognize it too.”
Of course, no one from Baihua University would admit to having seen a living corpse. Liao Si wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and suddenly began coughing violently.
With that fit of coughing, Jiang Luo couldn’t press him any further. He retreated graciously, saying, “Forget it, it’s just a small matter. Classmate Liao, take care of your health.”
Liao Si weakly replied, “Thank you for your concern, Classmate Jiang.”
People in poor health often drew sympathy, but after this incident, the judges who had previously felt soft-hearted toward Liao Si also hardened their stance. Zhuo Zhengyu turned to Jiang Luo, “Jiang Luo, do you have any additional points you didn’t write down?”
Jiang Luo thought for a moment. “There are two things I didn’t include.”
Master Chengde gently encouraged, “Good child, what are they?”
Jiang Luo smiled a little awkwardly. “The villagers turned into paper effigies because I burned a forest of paper effigies underground. Besides that, I also found a pond of blood from female venom-tailed scorpions underground.”
Liao Si froze, staring at Jiang Luo in disbelief.
That belonged to the master—how could he just say that?!
Fortunately, the expressions on the judges’ faces mirrored his own shock, so Liao Si didn’t give himself away. Zhuo Zhengyu sucked in a sharp breath and followed up, “What? A whole pond of female venom-tailed scorpion blood?!”
Jiang Luo nodded firmly.
The judges exchanged glances. Master Chengde spoke warmly, “Alright, the two of you may leave for now.”
Jiang Luo and Liao Si walked out of the room side by side. Liao Si gave a bitter laugh and said, “Jiang Luo, birds die for food, men die for wealth. Sorry—I wanted the Yuan Tian Bead too.”
“It’s alright,” Jiang Luo actually smiled, his demeanor unchanged. “I understand.”
Ten minutes later, the results were out. As expected, Jiang Luo was announced the first-place winner. Amid congratulations, the group got into the car, and after four hours of jostling, they finally arrived at a modest hotel in a small town.
By then, the sky was darkening, and night was about to fall. The hotel had no air conditioning. Jiang Luo was drenched in sweat. Taking advantage of the available hot water, he took a good shower and washed away all the dust from the past couple of days. As he stepped out of the bathroom, someone came to call him on Feng Li’s orders.
Jiang Luo threw on a shirt and, still damp, went to see Feng Li.
He knocked. Feng Li’s cool voice came from inside: “Come in.”
Jiang Luo pushed the door open and walked in. The moment he entered, a refreshing chill hit him—it was even cooler than having the air conditioning on. Jiang Luo squinted in comfort and glanced around the room, spotting a white porcelain bowl placed upside down in the corner.
A pair of chopsticks laid horizontally across the bottom of the bowl, and at the point where the bowl’s rim met the floor, white mist and cold air were seeping out, as if it were a block of ice continuously cooling the room.
Since arriving in this world, Jiang Luo had seen all sorts of supernatural tricks, so this wasn’t too surprising anymore—but it still piqued his curiosity. Feng Li noticed his gaze and said flatly, “Your room is hot?”
Jiang Luo nodded. “Not just hot—stuffy and dry too.”
“I’ll have your senior brother prepare a bowl of ice water for your room later,” Feng Li said. “Come, sit down.”
Jiang Luo sat in front of the desk. Feng Li was about to speak but frowned when he saw the water dripping from Jiang Luo’s hair. “Why didn’t you dry your hair?”
“I didn’t have time, came to see you first,” Jiang Luo said indifferently. “It’ll air dry in a bit.”
Feng Li was displeased. He stood up and fetched a dry towel, placing it on Jiang Luo’s head. Jiang Luo pulled the towel down to his shoulders and turned to look—Feng Li was still standing beside him.
Jiang Luo asked, puzzled, “Master?”
Feng Li stopped fussing about the wet hair. His slender fingers reached toward Jiang Luo’s collar.
He gently pulled down the collar, revealing the young man’s collarbone. Feng Li looked down and murmured, “The life-preserving talisman wasn’t even used.”
Jiang Luo heard this and swept the black hair off his shoulder to the other side, making it easier for Feng Li to examine the talisman. “It was dangerous, but I got through it safely—wasn’t a life-or-death moment.”
Feng Li let go and returned to his seat, thoughtful.
Jiang Luo yawned. “Master, what did you want to see me about?”
Feng Li snapped out of it, opened a drawer, and placed a box in front of Jiang Luo. “This is the competition prize—the Yuan Tian Bead.”
Jiang Luo instantly perked up. He took the box and opened it. Inside was a transparent bead that faintly emitted a frosty aura.
That familiar feeling—it was exactly the same as the one held by the funeral shop owner.
Jiang Luo held the bead in his hand. It felt like a piece of ice, smooth as jade. Under the silvery-white glow, it looked as though it could vanish into the air at any moment.
Jiang Luo stared at the pearl, clearly taken with its color. “Master, what exactly is a Yuan Tian Bead?”
Feng Li said, “I’ll tell you once we’re back.”
Jiang Luo snapped out of his reverie, returned the bead to the box, and smiled at Feng Li. “Okay.”
Seeing the fatigue on his face, Feng Li said, “Alright, go back and rest.”
Jiang Luo stood and took his leave. Just as the door was about to close, he looked back through the gap. Feng Li sat at his desk, entirely shrouded in shadow.
His eyes were deep-set. Dressed in a Tang suit, his nose bridge and side profile sunk into the dim light, making him look like a sculpture made of plaster—motionless, as if slowly swallowed by the dust of time.
There was a fundamental coldness and solitude that seemed to seep from his soul.
For a moment, Jiang Luo felt like the one sitting there wasn’t Feng Li—but Chi You.
Click—the door shut.
Jiang Luo stood still for a moment before slowly turning and walking toward his room.
After a few steps, a fine sheen of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose.
He thought to himself:
In the original book, why did Feng Li help Chi You cultivate and take revenge?
If Chi You’s ultimate goal truly was to drag the entire metaphysical world into ruin, how could Feng Li, as the newly appointed Heavenly Master, possibly assist him?
Unless—
Feng Li had also become Chi You’s puppet.
Or perhaps, Chi You’s new body.
***
Such a huge suspicion rose in his heart, and Jiang Luo thought he’d feel a chill, unable to sleep peacefully. But instead, he still ate when it was time to eat, slept when it was time to sleep. The next day, when they were allowed to visit the hospital, he went with the others to see Lu Youyi.
Lu Youyi was already fine, but was still held in the hospital for a day. A day later, he was bouncing around again, full of life.
Jiang Luo teased, “Lu Youyi, your recovery is pretty impressive.”
Lu Youyi replied, “How could I compare to Dead Ghost?”
As soon as he said it, he glanced around carefully and leaned closer to Jiang Luo. “Jiang Luo, was Dead Ghost rescued?”
Jiang Luo said, “He’s called Teng Bi now.”
Lu Youyi immediately understood what that meant. The one who was kind to them and treated them as friends was Dead Ghost, not the reanimated corpse called Teng Bi. And now that Dead Ghost had become Teng Bi, naturally, he wasn’t their friend anymore.
Lu Youyi stayed gloomy the whole way. Only after they packed up and boarded the plane did he finally let out a long sigh, “Fated to meet, but not fated to be together.”
Jiang Luo closed his eyes to sleep. “Alright, go to sleep.”
***
In the remote Shentu Village—
Deep in the uninhabited mountains, a massive boulder suddenly trembled twice. After pausing for two seconds, it started shaking violently again.
With a loud boom, the boulder finally collapsed to the ground, revealing a pitch-black hole beneath it.
A man covered in dust and dirt, wrapped in ragged cloth, crawled out of the opening.
He held a broadsword in his hand. After climbing out, he looked around with a dazed expression.
“Friends…”
But his nose could no longer detect the scent of any living person.
