Two days later, in the dead of night, Patshakhan slipped into the elder's house.
The old man was asleep, wheezing.
Patshakhan silently approached.
"Y-you… poisoned me?" the elder rasped, his body weak. "When?.."
"Yesterday. In your tea.
Xiao Shi gave it to you. She didn't know, of course. She… helped, unknowingly."
The elder stared at him in horror.
"I gave you everything… taught you, fed you… and this is how you repay me?"
"No. I am freedom.
You tried to bind me. You wanted to control me. You wanted me to stay and care for these villagers.
You wanted to continue your bloodline through me."
"What will you do… to me? What about Xiao Shi? Will you kill me?
Even if you do, I won't regret it. I'm too old.
I truly wished you'd stay and give me great-grandchildren.
Take care of Xiao Shi… If you marry her, I will die without regrets."
Patshakhan leaned in and whispered:
"I will.
I'll send her… to her parents."
Then — he plunged the blade into the man's throat.
The elder died without a sound.
And in that very instant — his body ignited like a flash of light and flew into Patshakhan's hand.
---
So when I kill someone… their body enters my world through my hand…
He was once again in that same realm.
This time, the pit breathed. Hot mist rose from it.
One of the stakes — was no longer empty.
The elder's head was impaled on it.
His body had become blood, flowing toward the pit.
From the abyss emerged a lotus of crimson light — dense, saturated with energy.
"If I absorb it… I'll reach the middle of the fourth stage of qi concentration."
Absorption took a day and a half — in this world.
Opening his eyes, Patshakhan was surprised:
"Still night?" He looked at the clock.
"So… time flows slower in that world?
One day outside… is a hundred in here?"
He stood up.
> "Now… Xiao Shi…"
The night was far too silent.
Patshakhan stood at Xiao Shi's door.
It had only been half an hour since he killed the village elder — sealing his body inside his bloody inner world.
But it wasn't enough.
He knocked. Twice, exactly.
— "Who's there?" — came a cautious voice.
— "It's me."
A pause. The door creaked. A crack of light.
— "Patshakhan?.. Why are you here?" — her voice was sleepy.
— "May I come in?"
She hesitated, then nodded. Opened the door wider.
He stepped inside. The room smelled of dried herbs.
A small oil lamp burned on the table.
In the corner — a sleeping mat, still warm under a thin blanket.
Xiao Shi was still dressed — a light gown beneath a robe. Her hair loose over her shoulders.
— "Why did you come? Don't tell me… you want to do something to me?!"
She glared.
— "Pervert! Leave, or I'll call my grandfather!"
— "Tonight is special," — he said quietly.
— "Why?"
He remained silent.
She sat down on a stool, crossing her arms.
— "Well? I'm listening."
He stepped closer — but not too close.
The lamplight threw long shadows across his face.
His eyes glowed faint crimson in the dark.
— "You always knew… I never wanted to stay in this village."
— "I want to see the world."
— "Not exactly," — she smirked. — "I thought you were just rude.
Now… now I think you're something else entirely.
You have no anger, no compassion. You don't even feel human."
— "You're in the way.
All of you.
You're witnesses.
One day, through you, my enemies might find me."