Ninety. A Heaven-Sundered Path Linking Life and Death

Xie Wuju lay on the rooftop, yet his heart could not settle for a long while.

Who could have imagined that this father and daughter, who seemed so harmless, were hiding such a vicious scheme?

After some time, Xie Wuju finally calmed down. Looking down then, he saw that the pair had already left; Ye Fang was helping Li Qiufeng along the wooden planks of the dock.

Seizing the chance, Xie Wuju dropped from the roof to the ground. He tried the door, only to find it fastened with a lock that could not be opened without a key.

After thinking for a moment, he used a length of wire from the roof to hook the window open. Through that opening, he climbed inside.

When the young couple saw Xie Wuju appear, they were thrown into panic. Xie Wuju hurried over and removed the cloth gag from the man's mouth. The man cried, "Brave hero, may I beg you to take my wife away? I... I am willing to pay any price!"

"Enough talk. I will get you both out first," Xie Wuju said, moving at once to untie the rope binding the woman.

Yet just as he reached to loosen it, the rope suddenly turned into a huge brown snake, which lunged at Xie Wuju.

"Be careful, benefactor!" the man cried.

The snake bit Xie Wuju's finger, only to crack its fangs at once, for his hands possessed the power of an indestructible grip, hard as steel.

Xie Wuju seized the snake at its vital point and crushed it to death.

The woman, meanwhile, was already dazed, giggling foolishly like a madwoman.

Xie Wuju leaned out and looked left and right. Seeing no one, he then helped the man untie his bonds as well. "Leave quickly. The farther, the better. This village itself is not the problem, but the village chief's husband is!"

"Thank you, benefactor, thank you!" the man said, dropping to his knees.

"Don't waste time. Hurry!" Xie Wuju snapped. "If he comes back, you won't get away. I can't save you then!"

"I am Lu Tong. May I ask the benefactor's name? If one day I have the chance to repay this kindness, I shall do so even at the cost of my flesh and bones!" the man said.

Xie Wuju cupped his hands. "I am Xie Wuju."

He escorted the two out of the little wooden hut, found them decent clothes to change into, and safely led them out of Greenstone Village.

Xie Wuju was still shaken. Li Qiufeng was truly a poison to men, and Ye Fang as well: so young a girl, yet her mind was filled with nothing but schemes to harm others. It was truly a horrifying thing.

What Xie Wuju did not know was that inside the hut, although the snake transformed from the rope binding the pregnant woman had been slain by him, the rope binding the man, after he and the others had left, likewise changed into a long serpent.

That serpent slid to the doorway and looked around. It saw Xie Wuju's back, and the direction in which the young couple had fled.

Then the snake sprang into the water and swam off into the distance.

At the Li residence, the old woman was cooking, while the old blind man was wiping down some porcelain with a cloth.

The village chief's home was not luxurious, but it was tasteful and clean. The blind old man's ears twitched, and suddenly he lowered his body, for from beneath the crack of the door a small snake slipped in and went up into his sleeve.

The old man rose and said, "Mother of the child, I'll go check on our girl in the inner room."

"Mm, go on. Remember to come out for dinner in a bit," said the old woman.

He did not answer, but instead went to the bedroom with a heavy heart. Closing the door, he took the snake from his sleeve. The snake flicked its tongue at the old man's face, and in an instant the old man saw Xie Wuju's appearance in his mind, along with the pair of fugitives.

"Ga, ga, ga..."

The old man's teeth ground together. "For thirty years, I raised that king fish, and you killed it and dug out its demon spirit. Now you even want to ruin my plan to regain my sight! You forced my hand, so do not blame me for being ruthless! I had planned to betroth my daughter to you and send you with her to enjoy wealth and ease in the Scarlet Cloud Sect. Since you have treated me thus, I will not be courteous!"

He lifted the snake in his palm, opened the window, and cast it back outside.

"The child's father, come out for dinner!" the old woman called.

The old man walked into the tea room, tapping along with a blind man's staff in his hand. "Mother of the child, I just remembered that I still have some dried fish at Old Li's place and haven't brought it back. I'll come back later to eat. You and our daughter eat first."

At the table, Ye Fang was picking at her rice, her bright eyes fixed keenly on the old man.

The old woman sighed. "Don't be like that. Eat first before you go out. I made your favorite noodle soup today!"

"I'll be back soon," the old man said.

There was nothing the old woman could do. After Ye Fang quickly finished her meal, she too said, "Mother, I'm done as well. I'll go help Father!"

"You, always clinging to your father," the old woman said with a smile and a scolding tone, then said no more.

Ye Fang chased after him. "Father, what's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Something happened? Not merely something happened, it has already happened! I finally found a pregnant woman, carrying a male child at that, and now Xie Wuju has rescued her! I suspect that Xie Wuju has already guessed our identities, nine times out of ten. This man cannot be allowed to live!" the old man said.

Ye Fang said, "That can't be. Even if he knows, he may not know it was you, Father."

"Have you forgotten? More than ten years ago, that rotten old man ruined your father's grand design. In truth, that Five Ghost Art I used back then should have restored my sight, but that old bastard destroyed it. Though I crippled all his cultivation, I also paid a terrible price myself. Now that old man is surely lying low somewhere in Greenstone Village. Perhaps he is Old Hu at the village entrance, or Old Wang out in the wasteland. If he saw disciples from the Scarlet Cloud Sect coming, he may well have exposed my secrets..." Li Qiufeng said bitterly.

A vicious light appeared in Ye Fang's eyes. "Father, why don't we kill Xie Wuju, then send his corpse to the Scarlet Cloud Sect? I could personally deliver it and say that I discovered Xie Wuju, and that the killer was one of the Ten Thousand Demons Hall. In that case, returning the corpse would count as a great merit for me, and perhaps I could take the opportunity to slip into the Scarlet Cloud Sect."

"Indeed worthy of my good daughter. Beautiful and clever," Li Qiufeng said with a laugh.

The corners of Ye Fang's mouth lifted slightly, revealing sharp tiger teeth.

At the village entrance, Lu Tong, running with his wife, was panting heavily.

"Husband, I... I can't run anymore," the pregnant woman said, coughing.

Lu Tong wiped the sweat from his face. "Wife, we must keep running. This place isn't a village at all; it's a man-eating den. We absolutely cannot stay long. If we do, death is the only end!"

"Husband, I truly... truly can't run anymore. Why don't you run on ahead and... I'll stay behind," the pregnant woman said through clenched teeth, her face glistening with sweat.

Lu Tong said tearfully, "We finally found each other after so much hardship, and even our families opposed us. Now we have a child as well. How can I simply let go? Come... come here, I'll carry you."

"No, my belly is pressing too hard. It hurts too much," the woman said.

Lu Tong had no choice but to lift his wife in his arms. Yet carrying her in front was far more exhausting than bearing her on his back, and after only a few steps he was already gasping for breath.

Suddenly, Lu Tong felt his feet grow sluggish. Before he could react, he pitched forward, and even his pregnant wife was knocked dizzy to the ground.

"Wife!" Lu Tong screamed at the top of his lungs.

But then he realized that his feet had somehow been tangled by a long snake and could no longer move.

"Heh-heh-heh... trying to escape from the old man's grasp? You truly do not know death from life. Since it is so, I shall have to deal with you in advance."

An old blind man, supported by his daughter, had already come before Lu Tong. The old man blocked the road, his body suffused with a dark and venomous aura.

Lu Tong felt despair. "No... I have no grudge against you. Why won't you spare us even a single path to survival?"

"Heh-heh-heh..." The old man gave a grating laugh. "Because your wife is carrying my eyes in her belly..." As he spoke, the old man waved a great hand, and the pregnant woman was suddenly drawn upward as if tugged by an invisible force!