Don't go there.
Though there's no danger,
this place feels strange.
We should behave ourselves
when we're in other people's domain.
I need someone to help me.
Any volunteers?
Master Mo. I volunteer.
What should I do?
You.
Don't move
until I tell you to.
-Got it? -Okay.
Let's go.
What is this smell?
What are you doing here instead of
thinking up ways to detoxify?
How did you know that I was going to call you over?
I'm not here to help!
Did somebody kill someone but forgot to bury the body?
Why does this place stink?
Young Mistress Jin.
If you're coming with me, please lend me a hand.
If you're not, then please go back and sit down.
Tell someone else to come over.
Who are you calling "Young Mistress Jin"?
Be careful of what you say!
Well, I want to see
what on earth you're trying to do.
Okay then.
Sizhui, go fetch me a bucket of water
to clean the kitchen hearth.
Okay.
What's the use of cleaning the hearth?
You're not going to cook or anything.
I am going to cook.
You, go sweep the dust off.
Get rid of
the straw and other rubbish here.
Get moving!
You're making congee?
Why are you making some congee?
It's so watery and bland.
It's not for you anyway.
What did you say?
I worked for so long, and I can't even have any?
Master Mo,
is that the congee that can cure poisoning?
Yes. Sizhui is clever.
But it's not the congee that can cure poisoning.
It's the glutinous rice.
This is a traditional method.
So that's why you didn't want to use an abandoned house.
Only a house with someone living inside could have a kitchen.
And only a kitchen could have glutinous rice.
Am I right?
Yes.
All right, move aside.
You haven't explained yet
why you came to Coffin Town together.
It wasn't just by chance
that you ran into each other and then us, was it?
the Lan Clan's people,
the ones from other clans, and I
were all chasing after something.
I came from the Qinghe area.
We came from Langya.
What was it?
I don't know.
It never showed its face.
We don't even know what or who it was,
or which organization it belonged to.
Who is it?
Who are you?
The situation
continued even after I changed inns a few times,
so I went on the offensive.
If I heard that a cat's corpse
happened to appear anywhere,
I would go and check,
determined to find out who was messing around.
You guys too?
Yes.
We chased after it to Yueyang
and came across Young Master Jin.
We found out that we were searching for the same thing,
so we decided to work together
and only arrived here today.
We asked a hunter in the village
in front of a stone tablet,
and we were shown the path to Coffin Town.
A hunter?
When I came here with Lan Zhan this morning,
there was an ordinary farmer at the entrance of the village.
Where did the hunter come from?
Though killing cats and dumping corpses
sound terrifying,
they weren't actually harmed.
On the contrary, these events stirred up
their curiosity to search for the truth.
Also, these young men met one another
in Yueyang, where Lan Zhan and I stopped by.
It seems as if somebody was purposely leading them
to Lan Zhan and me.
And this isn't the most complicated part.
The person who restored the Stygian Tiger Amulet
might be in Coffin Town at this very moment.
Master Mo, I think that the congee is ready.
It's ready? Take it out then.
One bowl for one person. Feed those
who had been poisoned.
Jin Ling.
What?
Be careful.
What is this? It's poison?
Poison? It's the cure! Glutinous rice congee.
Firstly, I don't know why glutinous rice can be the cure.
Secondly, I've never had such a spicy glutinous congee before!
Did I accidentally sprinkle
the paprika in it?
The taste is so terrible
that it almost brings about a sense of déjà vu.
All medicine is poisonous to some degree.
The spicy taste will make you sweat
and make you better sooner.
Seriously? Come on.
What do you see?
What's outside the door?
Shh. Don't talk.
I'm looking at it.
Amazing.
Move aside.
What did you mean?
How is it? Doesn't it look pretty?
Yes,
it's so-so at best.
Barely worthy of a look!
Master Mo! There...
Don't say it out loud,
or else it wouldn't be a surprise.
Let everyone check for himself.
-No, thanks. -No, thanks.
In this situation, you still get into mischief?
Just what in the world were you thinking?
You joined me as well, didn't you?
Don't imitate your uncle's tone.
Sizhui, was that thing scary?
Yes.
Then take another look.
This is an excellent opportunity for your cultivation.
It's scary. That's why you need to see it.
Look carefully
and tell me what exactly it is.
What is it?
What did you see?
White pupils.
Female.
Short and skinny.
Fine looks.
Holding a bamboo pole.
The girl is only around 15 or 16.
She has an oval face,
with a lively air
mixed with her comely nature.
Her wooden hairpin has a small fox head carved onto the end.
She's not only small but her figure is also slender.
Although she's not that tidy,
she's not grimy either.
After some grooming,
she's bound to be a lovely girl.
Well done, well done.
The observations are both
detailed and unique.
Kid, you'll definitely
be the sentimental type after you grow up.
The girl's height reaches my chest.
She is only wearing rags and doesn't look too clean,
dressed like a beggar roaming the streets.
The bamboo pole appears to be a white cane.
She has white pupils.
It's not because she's a monster,
but she's blind.
And she keeps knocking on the ground with a bamboo pole
as if to express something that she is unable to say.
And
there are some black marks on her neck.
Right.
Jin Ling could see so much,
while Sizhui could see the details.
Miss,
you've been following us.
What can we do for you?
So that's why she could not speak.
Both blind and mute. How unfortunate.
Is it the Ghost-faced Man?
Probably not.
The Ghost-faced Man had entirely
different moves from this person.
Could it be him?
Master Mo, this man got poisoned.
-We need to help him! -How?
Poisoning powder is everywhere.
You're going to be poisoned if you go out.
Flirty eyes behind thy long lashes,
red lips parted, smiling in tease.
Mind not good or evil,
with smeared eyes I summon thee.
It's the Summoning of Painted Eyes!
Take the living person back inside.
Other than him,
eliminate everything.
Don't come near.
Be careful not to touch the powder.
Even physical contact would poison you.
Who are you?
Mister.
You know me.
Sizhui.
Get a bowl of glutinous rice congee. Go!
We still don't know who he is, whether he's a friend or a foe.
Why should we save him without a second thought?
If he were a bad guy,
wouldn't we be letting a snake in?
But it is also possible that he's a good person.
Didn't you see him outside surrounded by puppets?
He's definitely not a bad guy.
No matter what,
not helping a dying person is against our clan's rules.
Fine.
You're the good guys.
If someone dies, it's not my fault.
Master Mo.
The Frostwork?
Is he...
Xiao Xingchen?
Oh, no. There are so many puppets out there!
How many?
I'm not sure.
They fill the entire street. Probably hundreds!
I don't think the door can hold them off any longer!
Master Mo,
are you going to use the Summoning again?
If you dot twice in each one's eyes, how much blood will you lose?
How about using my blood?
-I can also spare some. -Me too.
You've only been cultivating for a few years.
Do you have any blank talismans?
One with writing is fine as well.
Disperse!
Song Lan?
Tie him up.
Song Lan.
Detached tongue.
My goodness.
Who could be so vicious?
Have anyone of you
studied Association with Spirits?
Me. I have.
-Did you bring your Qin? -Yes.
How is your Qin language?
Any practical experience?
Will the spirit that you summon be able to lie?
Hanguang Jun said that Sizhui's Qin language is fine.
Hanguang Jun told me to focus on quality instead of quantity.
The spirit that I summon will be able to
avoid answering, but won't be able to lie.
So if it is willing to answer,
then it will definitely speak the truth.
Then let's start.
The first question.
Who is he?
What did he say?
Song Lan.
Good.
Looks like your Qin language is not bad.
The answer is correct.
Then ask the second question.
Who killed him?
That is impossible!
What did he say?
He said...
Xiao Xingchen.
You played it wrong, right?
No.
"Who are you" and "who killed you" are the two
easiest and most common questions in Association with Spirits.
When someone first starts to learn Association with Spirits,
these are the first and second sentences that he learns.
I've practiced them no less than 10,000 times.
And I checked them before I played.
I definitely didn't play them wrong.
Either you played it wrong,
or you interpreted the Qin language wrong.
Impossible.
If playing them wrong is impossible,
then interpreting them wrong is even more impossible.
The name and the three characters of "Xiao Xingchen"
are not at all common in the spirits' answers.
If he answered a different name
and I interpreted it wrong,
it would not have just happened to be these three characters.
It's said Song Lan went to find the missing Xiao Xingchen,
But he just said Xiao Xingchen killed him.
Why would Xiao kill his own good friend?
He doesn't seem like this sort of person.
Sizhui,
ask the third question.
Who is controlling him?
The one
behind you.
Don't move!
Stay back!
In terms of swordsmanship,
even everybody here added up
wouldn't be a worthy opponent to this Song Lan.
Adults are going to talk to adults.
The children can wait outside.
Go outside for now.
You won't be much help here anyway.
Poisoning powder should have settled.
When you go outside, don't run around and stir up the dust again.
Breathe slowly.
Sizhui,
you're the most sensible here.
Guide them a bit.
Can you do that?
Don't be scared.
I am not.
Really?
Master Mo, you are so much like Hanguang Jun.
Us? How are we alike?
We are obviously like fire and ice.
I do not know either.
But it just feels familiar.
It is as though if one of them is present,
I won't need to be scared or worried about anything.
Cure of the poisoning powder?
Correct.
Much more effective than your terrible congee,
right?
And it tastes sweet.
Your performance was wonderful.
From courageously killing puppets, tiring out,
to getting poisoned
and losing consciousness.
You have worked so hard
for our entertainment, huh?
Not for you all,
but for you alone.
I'm guessing that
you haven't yet told anyone who you really are, have you?
So I didn't expose your secret either
and let them stay outside
so that we could shut the doors and talk privately.
How's that?
Aren't I thoughtful?
All puppets in Coffin Town
were made by your Stygian Tiger Amulet?
Just as you guys came in
and you began playing your flute,
I recognized who you are.
But the fog is so heavy
and we haven't seen each other for years.
So I had to sound you out.
Though Hanguang Jun is a little troublesome.
But it was not difficult for my friend
to keep him occupied in Coffin Town for a short time.
All right.
I don't have time to chat with you.
Get to the point.
Since you've taken the group of children as a hostage,
what do you want me to do?
Master, I want you to do me a favor.
A tiny favor.
Whose spiritual cognition is this?
It's already in shambles.
Even glue won't be able to stick it together.
If this person's spiritual cognition was that easy to stick together,
why would I need your help?
You want me to fix this spiritual cognition?
No offense,
but there really isn't much left of it in here.
If a spiritual cognition itself doesn't have any desire to live,
then it'll most likely be impossible to save.
If I'm not wrong,
this person is dead already.
Now that he's dead,
how can I save him?
Don't you understand this more than anyone?
I don't understand, and I don't care!
Wasn't Win Ning dead?
Since you were able to revive him,
there must be a way.
Who told you Win Ning was dead?
He didn't die at all, okay?
Since you address me with respect,
I'll tell you the truth.
Most of the rumors in the world are not to be trusted.
You have to do it even if you don't want to.
Master, don't you forget
those kids you brought
are still staring at you from outside,
waiting for you to get them out of the danger.
I haven't seen you for years.
And you haven't changed a bit, have you?
Xue Yang,
why are you pretending to be a cultivator
when you actually are a delinquent?
You found out.
You pretended to be poisoned
so that our consciences would urge us to save you.
You purposely showed us a peek at Frostwork.
You know not only how to pretend to be injured and defenseless,
but also how to gain the sympathy of others.
You truly brought out a genuine, virtuous Xiao Xingchen just now.
If we hadn't fought before,
I really would have believed
that you were Xiao Xingchen.
Well, it's true that his reputation is better than mine.
Of course, I pretended to be him.
It's easier to gain the trust of others that way.
That was some
excellent acting right there.
Now you're just flattering me.
I have a friend.
His acting is what I'd call excellent.
I still have a long way to go.
Anyways,
enough chit-chat.
You are Yiling Patriarch, the founder of crafty tricks.
I regard you as a master,
so you really have to do me this favor.
You're the one who made the long nails that controlled
Song Lan and Wen Ning, aren't you?
You can even restore half of the Stygian Tiger Amulet.
So why would you need my help
to restore a spiritual cognition?
They're not the same.
You're the founder.
If you never made the Stygian Tiger Amulet,
I wouldn't have been able to make the Yin Iron as effective as half the Amulet.
When we parted,
I didn't expect
that you could have used the Yin Iron
to invent the Stygian Tiger Amulet. Such a treasure.
I misjudged you at that time.
So you did hide
the Chang Clan's Yin Iron back then.
Wrong.
I did hide a shard of the Yin Iron,
but it's not the Chang Clan's.
How could the Chang Clan of Yueyang have the Yin Iron?
They were too weak.
You guys are so gullible!
I did hide one shard of the Yin Iron privately.
But
I hid it before I went to Nightless City.
No wonder
we turned the Chang Clan inside out
with no Yin Iron to be found.
"The Yin Iron is intelligent,
suppressed in four directions."
People know this sentence,
but they don't know the continuation.
"All the energy of the four directions belongs to Xuanwu."
The Tortoise of Slaughter?
So Master Wei,
you were so lucky to have found
the last shard of the Yin Iron
sealed in the sword
by accident.
So
you already knew there are five shards of the Yin Iron.
You are so good.
You could have hidden the Yin Iron for so many years
without leaking out any information.
Hence everyone thinks that
I took away your Yin Iron
and made the Amulet.
I don't deserve to be your equal.
No.
You are better than me.
I just happened to discover
some secrets of the Yin Iron,
but you're self-taught
when making the Amulet.
You're too humble.
It's not being humble.
It's the truth.
I never like to exaggerate when I'm talking.
If I say I'm going to kill someone's entire clan,
I'll actually kill their entire clan.
I won't even leave a dog behind.
Like the Chang Clan of Yueyang and Snow White Pavilion?
Fight outside, Wen Ning.
Guess who's going to win?
Would I need to guess? Wen Ning, of course.
It's such a shame that
even though I had put so many nails in his head,
he is still unwilling to obey.
Things that are too loyal
are also quite troublesome.
Wen Ning is not a thing.
Don't you see that
what you said could be interpreted in a different way?
Yes.
Do you often sneak up on people in the middle of a conversation?
Of course. I'm a delinquent, aren't I?
It's not like you met for the first time.
Anyway, I don't intend to kill you.
I just want to immobilize you and take you
so that you can take your time repairing the cognition.
I've already said that I can't do anything about it.
Don't be so eager to refuse me.
If you don't know what to do about it,
both of us can discuss the matter together.
Are you really taking advantage
of my body's low spiritual power?
That's right!
Well, there's an old saying.
"Better upset a decent man than a rogue,"
which is you, in this case.
I'm not dealing with you any longer. I'll get you someone else.
Who else?
That Hanguang Jun?
My friend is keeping him occupied.
Should I call this, "To come in time
is better than to come early"?
Hanguang Jun, we meet again!
Give me the sword back.
You do not deserve this sword.
The Looming Disaster?
The name of this sword matches you perfectly.
Step back. You are not needed here.
Master Mo!
I don't think I'm needed here either.
Let's go.
I'll definitely be needed there.
Is everyone all right?
Yes!
We all listened to you and held our breaths.
Good.
If anyone doesn't listen to me,
I'll feed him that congee again.
No more, please.
He's so good!
Well, obviously. Of course, Hanguang Jun is good.
He just never likes to show it off. He is very low-key,
right?
Are you asking me?
So you think that Hanguang Jun is not good?
He's good.
Of course. He's really good. He's the best.
Not good.
With so many people,
if we get surrounded by a large group of puppets,
escape will be impossible.
Go!
Where to?
Follow the sound of the bamboo pole.
You want us to follow an unidentified person?
Who knows where she'll lead us to!
That's precisely what you're going to do.
The sound has been following you guys
ever since you entered the town, correct?
You were trying to go into the town,
but she was leading you toward the town gate, where you ran into us.
She actually was chasing you out.
She was trying to save you!
Hanguang Jun,
it's up to you now.
We're going to go ahead!
Let's go.
Last night, she clearly wanted to tell us something really urgent,
but she couldn't express it.
However, she disappeared as soon as Xue Yang came.
She was most likely trying to avoid Xue Yang.
Anyways, she definitely isn't on the same side as him.
Xue Yang?
The Xue Yang who massacred the Chang Clan?
He's not dead?
Why is Xue Yang here as well?
Wasn't it Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan?
I'll explain that later.
Anyway, the one fighting with Hanguang Jun
isn't Xiao Xingchen, but Xue Yang,
who pretended to be him.
We've already come this far. Let's go in.
This is the so-called Coffin Home?
Where dead people are temporarily placed?
That's right.
Corpses that aren't claimed by anyone
are often brought here.
Why did she lead us to the Coffin Home?
It can't be because we
won't be surrounded by puppets here, can it?
Where did she go herself?
It's likely that we really won't be surrounded.
We've been standing still for so long already.
Have anyone heard any puppets?
-No. -No.
Master Mo.
She wants us to open this coffin for her?
Could it be that her family's body is inside?
Stay back!
Stand further back.
In case it's not a corpse inside
and some poisoning powder spurts at you.
Xiao...
KING
Master Mo.
Don't worry.
Master Mo.
Since this girl can't talk,
should I use Association with Spirits again?
There's no need.
We may not be able to
ask the question she wants us to ask.
And I think that her reply will be quite complex and difficult
to interpret.
Then what should we do?
How about Empathy?
No way!
Too dangerous!
Using such a wicked trick,
a little carelessness will get you destroyed.
You may never return.
Unless there is a... Enough! We're running out of time.
Form up now.
Let's begin.
We still need to go back for Hanguang Jun afterward.