Before Yang Xiao could even swear his loyalty, Xiao Heshang—who had been coldly watching from the sidelines—spoke in a frosty voice, "Are you done talking? Can we leave now?"
Before Wu Rendi could respond, it suddenly struck me: I was the heart of the formation. Wu Rendi had released Xiao Sanda, but my issue hadn't been resolved. What about me? Was I really supposed to stay here for the rest of my life? The thought made me dejected.
"You all seem to have forgotten something. I'm the core of the formation—I can't leave."
"Core?" Wu Rendi glanced at me with a cold snort. "So what? Did I say you couldn't leave? A Single-Person Formation? That counts as a real formation?"
As he spoke, he grabbed my left hand with one hand and began drawing circles in the air with the other. Then, lifting his leg, he walked straight toward the entrance of the cave. I was dragged along behind him all the way to the cave mouth. Wu Rendi stepped out first and gave me a sharp tug, pulling me out with him.
At that moment, I felt as though some kind of plastic-film-like layer had been wrapped around me. But with his pull, that barrier was torn open, and I stumbled out of the cave along with him.
A Single-Person Formation that even Yang Xiao and Xiao Sanda couldn't break—Wu Rendi had just pulled me out as if it were child's play. Was the power gap really that huge?
Outside the cave, everything was different from when we had entered. The air now carried a pungent, acrid scent. My eyes began to water from the irritation—it was hard enough to see normally, let alone activate the Heavenly Eye.
"What's that smell?" I squinted, barely making out my surroundings.
"It's Baleful Aura," Wu Rendi replied, standing beside me as if unaffected by the pungent energy. Yang Xiao, Sun Fatty, and Xiao Heshang followed shortly after, emerging one by one from the cave.
I could understand why Wu Rendi and Yang Xiao were unaffected, but even Sun Fatty and Xiao Heshang were wide-eyed and casually glancing around. I couldn't tell that the Baleful Aura was affecting them at all.
"Lazi, close your eyes," Xiao Heshang said as he walked over to me. "You were born with the Heavenly Eye—you're too sensitive to Baleful Aura. This place is saturated with it. It'll damage your eyes and your other senses."
I did as he said, closing my eyes and holding onto Sun Fatty as we moved forward. We hadn't gone far when Sun Fatty suddenly shouted, "What's that up ahead? Is that a person? Take a look!"
Out of instinct, I opened my eyes. By now, my vision had somewhat adapted to the Baleful Aura in the air, and the stinging pain had mostly subsided.
I looked in the direction Sun Fatty was pointing. There lay a pale human figure on the ground—his head was missing. He wore nothing but a pair of ragged boxer shorts, and one of his feet had been split in half.
Who else could it be but Xiao Sanda?
"Xiao Sanda…" Xiao Heshang fell to his knees in tears at the sight of the headless corpse. Wu Rendi walked over, glanced down silently, and stood beside the body as if nothing had happened.
After weeping for a while, Xiao Heshang removed his oversized Daoist robe and wrapped the corpse in it. Without asking for help from me or Sun Fatty, he slung the body onto his back and said, "Sanda, let's go. We're going home."
Just as we prepared to move on, Yang Xiao stopped us.
"Wait a moment. Let me set up a formation to mask our Yang energy," he said, pulling out a red rope from his belt. He tied the ends together in a tight knot, clearly preparing to form a circle that would encompass us all.
Wu Rendi gave him a sideways glance. "If you want to hang yourself, go ahead. Don't drag me into it."
Yang Xiao hesitated for a moment, unsure how to address Wu Rendi properly. "Director Wu… my formation is effective in masking Yang energy—it prevents spirits from detecting us. Just now—"
Before he could finish, Wu Rendi cut him off with a cold snort. "Hmph! Spirits can't see the living? What, are you too ashamed to show your face? If they've got the guts, let them come! You think I, Wu Rendi, won't take responsibility?"
That last "come" he shouted out loud.
As soon as his voice rang out, the acrid, eye-watering Baleful Aura dissipated like smoke. A few indistinct shadowy figures that had begun to emerge faded into nothingness. I even had the illusion that the once-dark passage was now slowly becoming brighter.
Yang Xiao was visibly pale from Wu Rendi's roar, but the shock in his heart was tenfold worse than on his face. Earlier, he had been ambushed by Xiao Sanda and forced into a dead-end passage. At first, he relied on his ghost-controlling techniques to pit ghosts against ghosts and managed to take down dozens of them. But the further he went, the more vengeful spirits appeared—an endless tide that seemed impossible to wipe out.
In the end, Yang Xiao barely had time to cast his Ghost Commanding Technique. Swarmed by countless spirits, he had to fight tooth and nail to carve out a bloody escape route. In the chaos, he managed to pull out his Chixiao Cord and cast a concealment spell to hide his Yang aura, only barely escaping with his life.
He hadn't gotten far before he ran into Wu Rendi, who was casually strolling by. Wu grabbed him by the collar and dragged him straight back into Xiao Sanda's cave.
We kept moving forward until we reached the end of the dead-end path. Strangely, we didn't encounter a single ghost. Fatty Sun and I weren't surprised—by now, we were used to how Director Wu did things. If he poked a hole in the sky, we'd assume it was all part of the plan. The only one still struggling with this was Monk Xiao. He had always harbored disdain for Wu Rendi, but now, even his face had turned pale. He avoided looking at Wu directly. As for Yang Xiao, there was no need to say more—he followed Wu Rendi closely, head bowed. If you didn't know their ages and faces, you might think Yang Xiao was Wu Rendi's overly filial son.
Back at the exit of the dead-end path, the Soul-Guiding Lanterns that had once hung from the walls now lay shattered all over the ground. Judging by Wu Rendi's calm expression, this mess of broken copper was clearly his doing.
After walking a bit further, Wu Rendi suddenly stopped and, without a word, kicked the wall.
Boom!
A gaping hole appeared in the stone wall. We were all startled—Fatty Sun even bolted thirty meters ahead. What the hell? Couldn't he give us a warning first? We could die from the shock! I silently grumbled.
Wu turned and glanced at us. "Just opening a path. What did you think I was doing?" His lips curled into a mocking smile.
"You could've said something. I almost ran straight back into the Death Gate…" Fatty Sun muttered under his breath. Wu Rendi acted as if he hadn't heard and stepped into the opening without hesitation.
Following him, we walked for just a few more minutes before seeing light ahead. The further we went, the brighter it got. After five or six minutes, the passage suddenly opened up—we were finally out. We emerged on the riverbed of the Daqing River, not far from our village. Despite wandering underground all that time, we had traveled less than five li. It looked like this was the main outlet of the subterranean river system.
Near the exit, a few figures stood waiting. At the forefront was none other than Director Gao Liang—the head of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation.
Seeing us emerge, Director Gao led a group over to greet us. Monk Xiao's anger flared the moment he saw him. Without a word, he threw Xiao Sanda's headless body at Gao.
"You've got the nerve to show your face! Are you here for him, or to see me dead too?"
Gao didn't respond. He merely turned and nodded at the agents behind him. "Begin. Be careful." The agents filed into the cave we had just exited. Only then did Gao glance down at the headless corpse. He swept his gaze over Wu Rendi, who gave a slight nod but said nothing.
"Monk, it's been over thirty years and you still haven't changed. If you've got something to say, say it. No need to lose your temper. With our history, there's nothing we can't talk about." Gao spoke slowly and clearly.
"Then talk to him." Monk Xiao pointed at Xiao Sanda's corpse, his voice trembling. "If you hadn't driven him away back then, none of this would've happened. He wouldn't have fallen to darkness. He wouldn't have ended up like this—dead and decapitated!"
Gao listened in silence, waiting until the monk had finished. "Xiao Sanda chose that path himself. You're pinning this on me? Isn't that a bit much?" He paused. "Was I the one who made that decision? Think about it—if that decision had gone the other way back then, what do you think would've happened to me?"
Monk Xiao lowered his head and didn't respond. But something clicked in his mind. "Wait a second… I just found out that Xiao Sanda fell to darkness. How did you already know?"
Gao chuckled bitterly. "I didn't—at first. Two years ago, Ouyang Pianzuo was sorting through old archives left behind by the Special Cases Division. He discovered that the records from the 1975 incident had vanished. The three of us were the main parties involved. I didn't take them. You—well, you had no use for them. That only left Xiao Sanda. I remembered what he said back then. If the files were in his hands… well, knowing his temperament, you can fill in the blanks."
He sighed. "And it's not like I didn't give him a chance. I asked Director Wu to spare him."
Gao really shouldn't have said that. Monk Xiao had just calmed down, but now his fury reignited. "Yeah, Wu Rendi spared him—only to drive him straight into the Death Route. Sure! Xiao Sanda brought this upon himself. None of you are to blame!"
"Death Route?" Gao's brows furrowed tightly.
"I destroyed the Death Route," Wu Rendi added. "Your men won't be in danger."
Gao nodded slightly and turned to Monk Xiao. "Every Death Route across the country is recorded in the Bureau's archives. There shouldn't have been one here. Who set it up?"
The monk was momentarily speechless. It had been Xiao Sanda who moved its location and created this new path. A classic case of bringing ruin upon himself.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak…" came a noise from Fatty Sun's pocket. It was the Fortune Rat, chittering nonstop. Ever since we'd exited the inner cave, it had stayed hidden in his pocket, completely still. In the Death Route, it had even peed itself—Fatty thought the wet spot was from his own cold sweat.
"That a Fortune Rat?" Gao glanced at Fatty and saw a little head poking out from his pocket. "Dasheng, that's a Fortune Rat you've got, right? Bring it here for a look."
"Fortune Rat? Director Gao, you must be mistaken. I picked up a chinchilla down there. Thought I'd keep it as a pet. There's no rule against rats in the dorms, right?" Fatty deflected quickly, trying to dodge Gao's scrutiny.
I could tell Gao didn't really want the rat—he just needed to lighten the mood and give Monk Xiao a way out.
The monk wasn't dumb. He let out a long sigh. "Xiao Sanda doesn't die unjustified. Let's leave it at that. Gao, I'll trouble you to find him a decent burial plot."