Chương 19: Wooden Corpse (Final)

"Do you think we should have put it inside?" Bai Xiaomeng asked. Walking beside her, Wang Chen was covered in ropes, pulling the sealed box along the cut logs loaded with jewels, books, food, clothes, and other supplies. What had changed from the previous days was that behind the logs, tied with two ropes and dragging across the ground, there was now a corpse.

"Little Meng, let's not bother him," Wang Chen muttered.

"We are about to leave the forest, Young Master," she replied, shaking her head.

"We will reach the village just before dawn. Bringing that large box is one thing, but a corpse…" Wang Chen winced as he imagined the reaction of the village gatekeepers.

"Let us wait until nightfall," he said again in a hushed tone.

"Then we will select a few goods and wake the… Cultivator."

"And vests, Young Master Wang," Bai Xiaomeng added, her nose twitching slightly.

"There is no river nearby, but the village should have a well for a bath later. Until then, you must cover yourself at least." Wang Chen lifted his chin proudly and grinned.

"What? A man should display his strength! After eating a few more buns—""Young Master!" Bai Xiaomeng shouted, interrupting him.

"I will respectfully call you Young Master Wang, but do not forget that the Bai Clan depends on you, and you are the symbol of their honor!" Wang Chen gave her a thin smile and nodded. Bai Xiaomeng noticed the slight downturn of his gaze. It was not the first time they had joked and bickered, so she stepped closer, sensing something was wrong.

"Are you feeling unwell, Young Master?"

"Did you know, Little Meng," he asked instead, "that I can see in the dark?"

"I do not understand—""I can run faster than any ordinary person. Perhaps even as fast as cultivators," he continued, looking up toward the azure leaves overhead.

"I fought an azure boar with my bare hands and did not die. I am pulling as much weight as a mule could… and I killed a man with a single punch." Bai Xiaomeng remained silent, watching him. Then Wang Chen turned to her, meeting her eyes. There was no sadness in them, only a mixture of anxiety, hope, and pain.

"I do not know if I am human anymore," he said with a faint smile.

"Nor whether I deserve to be the Young Master of the Bai Clan. However!" He struck his chest with a clenched fist.

"I will find the other two murderers, Huoxing Shen and Zhou Ren! After killing them… Even if I am a jiangshi, after killing them, I will bring the Bai Clan to prosperity." Bai Xiaomeng gave a soft giggle. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"You sound like a hero, Young Master," she teased.

"This lowly one will support you along the way." Before Wang Chen could reply, both of them turned at the sound of a loud knock. It came from the lid of the silver box. As it opened slightly, Wang Chen stopped walking while Bai Xiaomeng hurried toward it.

"Grand Cultivator," she said carefully, controlling her tone.

"What can this servant do for you?" A cold voice answered her in the common language, slightly different from Lucian's usual tone.

"Bring me the corpse and the treated leather of the Azure Boar." After a pause, Lucian added with irritation,"And you are not my servant." Bai Xiaomeng nodded and quickly retrieved the leather. Wang Chen, unwilling to let her carry the corpse, rushed to it, untied the dead bandit, and helped place it inside the sealed box. When Wang Chen finished the task and was about to step away, he heard Lucian say,"Wait."

Standing still, it took less than ten seconds before the bandit's mummified corpse was thrown out of the box. Wang Chen scowled and picked up the leather from Bai Xiaomeng's hands, throwing it inside the box. He caught a glimpse of Lucian, covered in his strange robe, with the wooden puppet beside him. The box was large enough that two or three men could lie down in it, depending on their size, so it wasn't too cramped.

Of course, in Wang Chen's case, even a single person would have trouble fitting alongside him Lucian noticed Wang Chen staring at him and, without saying anything, closed the lid. Bai Xiaomeng poked Wang Chen lightly. When he looked at her, she gestured with her eyes, and the two resumed walking side by side, ignoring the mummified corpse. After a few moments, she spoke.

"I feel that something changed."

"You mean, besides him speaking like a normal person?" Bai Xiaomeng shook her head.

"No, not that. I cannot quite put my finger on it." Wang Chen shrugged.

"If it is important, we will find out." Bai Xiaomeng hummed softly, still curious. However, unable to understand the strange feeling troubling her, she let the matter drop. The two of them spent the next half day walking and talking, stopping twice to eat. Eventually, they passed through the final treeline of the Azure Magpie Forest. Looking down at the grass beneath their feet, then ahead at the green trees in the distance and the mountains far beyond, Wang Chen sighed.

"We are finally out." Hearing him, Lucian opened the lid of the sealed box. It was nearly evening, and the sunset glowed beyond the distant mountain range. Since the Azure Magpie Forest lay in the southernmost region of the Golden Peng Empire, and Three Feathers City was even farther south as a coastal merchant town, the mountains Lucian saw stretched toward the center of the Empire.

Stepping out of the box, he said to Wang Chen,"Pack the wooden puppet, the boar leather, the maps I left inside, and enough food and gold for our journey." Bai Xiaomeng was mildly surprised to hear this. She had been wondering how to suggest abandoning most of their goods.

"Alright," Wang Chen agreed as he began untying the ropes around himself.

"After that," Lucian continued, "place everything else, except the food, back inside the box and bury it near this tree." He walked to one of the azure-leafed trees and carved a mark into its bark with his sword. Bai Xiaomeng and Wang Chen nodded and began discussing how to proceed. Meanwhile, Lucian stepped away and observed the unfamiliar landscape. His eyes swept stretches of grassland between the Azure Magpie Forest and the green treeline ahead of them, and finally the distant mountain range.

As he focused, his expression morphed into one more and more confused.

"These mountains," he muttered, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

"They should not exist."