Chapter 12: Killing Intent Arises on Its Own
Zhao Xiaohu lay on a bed made from several wooden planks, his eyes closed and his face dark and blackened.
His breathing was rapid and heavy, loud enough to be heard from far away.
Li Lin walked over and took a few looks before immediately feeling that the situation was troublesome.
“How did he end up like this?”
Uncle Zhao sighed.
“He opened the window last night.”
Tsk.
Unable to hold back, Li Lin said in a tone mixed with disappointment and frustration, “How can he be this stupid?”
Although gui could not enter the village, after all, the Tree Immortal Lady was stationed here, and there was also Li Lin, a Spirit Hunter with vigorous qi and blood.
In addition, the qi and blood barrier formed by the village’s hundred-plus residents could prevent most supernatural entities from entering human settlements.
But...
That did not mean ordinary people were qualified to directly look at gui that appeared at night.
Even seeing them from afar was not acceptable.
Especially when the other party was specifically searching for you.
It could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Just like now.
Xiaohu had suffered for it.
Uncle Zhao had nothing to say.
Not opening windows at night was something everyone knew.
Even a three-year-old child would remember it.
There was no way Zhao Xiaohu did not know.
Aunt Hua wiped away tears beside them and said, “He and Xiuniang had a very good relationship.”
“When he heard Xiuniang’s voice, he couldn’t resist opening the window to look.”
“I didn’t stop him in time.”
“It’s all my fault!”
Uncle Zhao wanted to lose his temper.
But seeing Aunt Hua crying so miserably, and then looking at his son’s current state, he could only sigh helplessly.
Li Lin took out the white jade token and infused it with blood vitality.
A red glow appeared, enveloping Zhao Xiaohu’s body.
Faint traces of black qi seemed to drift out from Xiaohu’s body.
Though it was not very obvious.
At the same time, Zhao Xiaohu’s expression appeared somewhat more relaxed.
His breathing was no longer as labored as before.
“Young Li, can Xiaohu be cured?”
“I’m unable to do it.”
Li Lin shook his head.
“We can only go and ask the Tree Immortal Lady again.”
Aunt Hua cried as she said, “We only asked her for help not long ago.”
“If we ask the Tree Immortal Lady again now, it won’t be good for Xiaohu’s body, will it?”
The Tree Immortal Lady was, after all, a gui.
Whenever she saved someone, some price always had to be paid.
Moreover, even after being cured, patients would experience certain side effects.
For example, Xiaohu had been left weak and deficient in vitality for two days after the previous treatment.
Now that he had encountered trouble again and needed the Tree Immortal Lady’s help once more, even if she could save him, whether Xiaohu could endure being tainted by the resentment of gui twice in succession remained an open question.
When it came to gui, ordinary people should avoid contact whenever possible.
Uncle Zhao sighed.
“The only option now is to ask the Tree Immortal Lady again.”
“It’s just that I don’t know whether she’ll pay attention to us.”
“I’ll go ask first.”
“Many thanks, Young Li.”
Uncle Zhao spoke gratefully.
Li Lin walked out of the house.
Outside the Zhao family’s courtyard, many villagers had already gathered.
The moment he came out, someone asked, “Patrol Hunter Li, how is Xiaohu doing?”
“Patrol Hunter Li, I heard Xiuniang’s voice last night. Has she come back?”
Among the crowd stood the Wu family couple as well.
Naturally, they could recognize Xiuniang’s voice.
Even so, they had not opened their window.
Yet Xiaohu had opened his and looked outside.
“If I wasn’t mistaken, it should have been her.”
Aunt Wu’s face was filled with sorrow.
“How could this happen?”
“Why would she come back and harm Xiaohu?”
“Clearly, she and Xiaohu were...”
“I’ve heard a saying before. When the dead become gui, the first people they kill are their closest relatives.”
Li Lin spoke calmly.
“After Xiaohu, it should be all of your Wu family next.”
Upon hearing this, all four members of the Wu family looked extremely distressed.
Their eyes were filled with disbelief.
They had treated Xiuniang so well.
Why would she want to kill them?
Seeing how heartbroken and unable to accept it they were, Li Lin explained, “A gui is no longer a person.”
“You cannot judge her according to human standards, understand?”
The four of them seemed to understand.
And yet seemed to understand nothing.
At this moment, Village Chief Zhang approached with a cane, his body stooped.
“Patrol Hunter Li, that gui outside is shortening the intervals between its soul-calling more and more.”
“And now it has even brought Xiuniang along.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
The last wandering gui’s soul-calling had happened only four days ago.
Li Lin smiled.
“It’s always hungry and never gets enough to eat.”
“Now it’s getting hungrier and hungrier.”
“Naturally it can’t sleep.”
Those words frightened the villagers so badly that their faces turned pale.
“What are we supposed to do?”
Village Chief Zhang looked full of worry.
“Last night it was Xiaohu.”
“Tonight it might be one of us.”
“If this continues, Shangtikou Village will be abandoned within half a year.”
All the villagers wore expressions of fear and despair.
“As long as you don’t open your windows, it’ll be fine.”
“With the Tree Immortal Lady and me here, those two gui can’t get in.”
As he spoke, Li Lin walked toward the outside.
“I’ll go ask the Tree Immortal Lady.”
The villagers made way for him.
Li Lin arrived at the center of the altar.
The female gui in palace attire had already appeared.
Her mask covered most of her face, leaving only a cherry-like mouth exposed.
The corners of her lips were slightly raised.
She appeared to be smiling.
A teasing sort of smile.
Li Lin walked over and asked, “You know about Xiaohu’s situation too, right?”
“Can you help?”
The female gui pointed at Li Lin’s left hand.
After thinking for a moment, Li Lin extended his arm.
The long serpent-like tongue licked Li Lin’s palm again and again.
Tiny red motes were drawn away.
The villagers could not see the Tree Immortal Lady.
But they could see Li Lin’s blood vitality appearing and then disappearing from his palm.
Thus they understood that Li Lin was “feeding a gui.”
Uncle Zhao watched from nearby.
His face was filled with gratitude and shame.
After quite a while, the Tree Immortal Lady stopped feeding.
Elegantly, she took out a red silk handkerchief and dabbed at her lips.
Then she spoke four words.
“The smelly porcelain bottle.”
“What do you mean?”
Li Lin immediately pressed for clarification.
The Tree Immortal Lady looked at him as though he were an idiot.
Then she vanished.
Li Lin thought for a moment and immediately understood.
He quickly returned home, took out the two porcelain bottles from the wardrobe, removed their stoppers, and began smelling them.
Li Lin trusted that the Tree Immortal Lady would not harm him.
Thus he no longer had the reservations he had felt the previous night.
He confidently sniffed the contents.
The first one smelled fragrant.
The second one smelled foul!
[Alchemy +1]
[Alchemy +1]
Hmm?
Looking at the two lines of text that suddenly appeared, Li Lin froze for a moment.
You could learn a special skill this way too?
He sniffed again.
No further prompt appeared.
After staring blankly for a while, he put the fragrant bottle back into the wardrobe and carried the foul-smelling bottle to Zhao Xiaohu’s house.
A short while later, Xiaohu swallowed two pitch-black, foul-smelling pills.
Very quickly, he coughed up a mouthful of black qi.
After another short while, he woke up.
Though his complexion still looked somewhat poor.
This medicine was pretty good.
It could actually expel gui qi.
Unfortunately, he did not know its ingredients.
Although he had learned Alchemy, his “experience” was still far too limited.
He had no idea what materials had been used to make the medicine.
However, Li Lin’s thinking expanded because of this.
In the future, whenever he entered the city, he would buy more medicinal pills just to smell them.
If he bought enough different pills, sooner or later he would be able to raise his Alchemy skill.
As long as he accumulated enough experience, he would eventually be able to refine pills himself.
“I’ve troubled you again, Brother Lin.”
Lying on the bed, Xiaohu looked at Li Lin and spoke guiltily.
Li Lin shook his head.
“Focus on recovering.”
With that, Li Lin left.
He had been busy until now.
He had not even eaten breakfast yet.
The Tree Immortal Lady had also drained quite a bit of his blood vitality.
His body felt somewhat tired.
Half a shichen later, while eating cooked Blood Rice, Li Lin pondered things.
Maybe he should find an opportunity to kill those two wandering gui outside.
Letting them wander around from time to time and keep everyone in constant fear was not a good solution.
After all, Shangtikou Village was now under his protection.
After learning the White Tiger Turning Frame boxing art and killing a gui, his confidence had grown considerably.
The saying “when one carries a sharp weapon, killing intent arises on its own” probably referred to exactly this sort of situation.