Chapter 148: Vanishing Like the Morning Dew

Guo Lin stood motionless, seeing terror and despair in the eyes of Gao Cheng and Qin Qiu. And this was precisely what he wished to see.

From the very moment he snapped off that branch, tossed it aside casually, and stepped upon it, the death knell had already tolled for the two of them.

Yet, to be fair, their panic greatly amused him.

"Accompanying one another on the nether road," he said, "shall be... my mercy toward you."

His words were no less than a summoning decree from the depths of hell. The two men retreated hastily, but even with their true essence driven to its absolute limit, the closing doom before them was inescapable.

Before either could even manage one last glance at the other, it was already too late.

Suddenly, both felt a numbness in their soles and tumbled to the ground together. Looking closer, countless black insects had already caught up, swarming up their shanks and eroding their feet at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Instantly, a scream pierced the air: "Ah—"

The heart-rending shrieks rose higher and higher, causing the moon in the sky to quietly retreat behind the clouds, as if reluctant to witness the sight.

Seeing this, and disregarding the agonizing pain gnawing at his heart, Gao Cheng forcefully gathered his true essence, brandished his hooks, and hacked at Qin Qiu's ankles. As crimson blood splashed, he threw his remaining might into his palm and struck, propelling Qin Qiu away from the perilous zone.

Guo Lin's eyes chilled. In an instant, countless black insects converged into several dark lines like roaming dragons, threatening to bypass Gao Cheng in the blink of an eye.

He said coldly, "With death at your door, you still wish to play the hero?

Assassins ought not to have sentiment."

Yet Gao Cheng staggered to his feet from the ground, the twin tiger-head hooks in his hands suddenly gleaming with a piercing, frigid light. "Hmph, you are right.

Assassins are indeed better off without sentiment."

With that, a bead of sweat slipping down his forehead suddenly dropped. At that very split second, he vanished abruptly from the spot where he had stood.

As for Guo Lin, he merely offered a cold smile. Suddenly extending two fingers, he parried a strike from behind, then spun around, his palm acting like a blade to slash directly at the neck of the assailant behind him.

"Want to launch a sneak attack? You need the life to pull it off."

Gao Cheng blocked with the hook in his left hand while fiercely hurling the right tiger-head hook toward Guo Lin's face, forcing Guo Lin to withdraw his offensive and save himself.

Taking advantage of this split second, Gao Cheng advanced with rapid steps. Striking alternately with left and right, he appeared to lead with his palm, but the tiger-head hook actually arrived first.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Yet it viciously slashed a gash across Guo Lin's abdomen. Curiously, the wound did not bleed. Judging by the depth of the cut, his entrails could be faintly seen writhing within.

Gao Cheng narrowed his gaze and said coldly, "You are indeed not him."

Guo Lin glanced down at his abdomen, raised his head with a half-smile, and said, "Knowing too much shortens one's life."

With that, he raised his hand and clapped.

Knowing something was amiss, Gao Cheng tried to recover, but by then, the black insects that had devoured his feet down to bare bones suddenly emitted a bizarre phosphorescent glow. Ghostly white flames instantly burst forth all over them, turning a living person into ashes in a fraction of a second.

Only the twin tiger-head hooks remained, testifying that their master had once existed.

Just as he raised a hand, intending to destroy the tiger-head hooks, a sound reached his ears.

Listening intently, Guo Lin lingered no longer. He vanished immediately, leaving not a trace behind.

Liang Yi demanded anxiously, "Where is he? Are you certain he is ahead?"

Crouched upon Liang Three's back, enduring the bone-deep agony, Qin Qiu laboriously pointed the direction for Liang Yi. Beads of sweat as large as peas rolled down, dampening Liang Three's clothes within the span of a few words.

Carrying him, Liang Three drove his true essence to the utmost, comforting him, "Hang in there, Qin Qiu. Gao Cheng will be fine."

With that, his figure vaulted past several patches of brushwood.

Clinging to Liang Three's back, Qin Qiu stared wide-eyed, yet said nothing. It was not that he refused to speak, but the pain had rendered him incapable of uttering a single syllable.

Upon seeing Qin Qiu's condition, Qin Mo immediately frowned and said, "I will go ahead to check. Follow closely behind."

"Understood."

"Understood."

...

A short while later, Liang Yi, Liang Three, and the others arrived carrying Qin Qiu.

Searching the surroundings thoroughly, they found no trace of anyone.

Liang Yi hurried forward and asked, "Moon Envoy, where are they?"

Qin Mo did not answer, merely turning to search all around before discovering the twin tiger-head hooks deep within the grass. At that moment, the moon, previously hiding behind the clouds, finally poked out half its face.

Gradually, a clear radiance spilled downward, faintly illuminating the blood of Qin Qiu still staining the weapons. In their line of work, there was a saying: while the weapon remains, the person remains; if the weapon remains but the person is gone, the person is surely dead.

Furthermore, the aura belonging to the weapon's master was now beginning to dissipate alongside his death.

A weapon possesses spiritual energy not because it is a heavenly treasure, but because someone once genuinely lived and died alongside it through thick and thin.

Now that the person was gone, and with that final trace of aura fading, the once-radiant twin tiger-head hooks instantly turned into ordinary iron.

Liang Yi's heart plummeted. Pointing at the twin tiger-head hooks, he could not form a complete sentence: "This... this..." Could a living person simply vanish like this?

Recalling when they parted ways before the Nine Luminaries Tower, the man had been perfectly fine, full of life. Scarcely a day had passed, so how had he ended up without even a corpse remaining?

Even the twin tiger-head hooks had chosen to perish with their master, their millennium of spiritual consciousness scattering.

Qin Mo handed him the twin tiger-head hooks and said, "Take them back and enshrine them in the Hall of Loyalty and Valor."

Just as he finished speaking, Liang Three and the others over there cried out in alarm: "Qin Qiu? Qin Qiu? Wake up, say something!

We have... we have arrived, take a look! Aren't you a nine-headed bird? How could you... how could you..."

"What has happened?" Qin Mo narrowed his brows and strode toward Qin Qiu.

Liang Three was supporting Qin Qiu in a seated position on the ground. "Moon Envoy, Qin Qiu is gone..."

With that, Liang Three and the others who had come along all averted their faces, unable to bear the sight.

At a glance, a stern and murderous aura abruptly surfaced on Qin Mo's brow.

Before he could speak, he suddenly noticed a small lump wriggling continuously beneath the skin on the side of Qin Qiu's neck. He instructed Liang Yi, "Lend me one of the tiger-head hooks."

"Moon Envoy?" Though puzzled, Liang Yi handed over one of the hooks from his hand.

Qin Mo used the hook to slice open Qin Qiu's garments, exposing his chest. Liang Three glanced at it, was instantly terrified into shoving the person away, and scrambled backward hands and feet together.

Fortunately, several brothers stepped forward to steady him, helping him barely stagger to his feet while he pointed at Qin Qiu, utterly speechless for a long moment.

Liang Yi was also blanched with terror, asking, "What do we do now?"

Qin Mo returned the tiger-head hook to him, then flicked a wisp of true flame from his fingertip, igniting Qin Qiu's corpse.

Finding it truly unbearable to watch, the others murmured, "Moon Envoy..."

Ignoring them, Qin Mo instructed the man holding the jujube-wood halberd, "Take this back to the Hall of Loyalty and Valor as well."

He exchanged a look with Liang Yi, signaling him to lead the others away first while he stayed behind to secure the rear.

After they departed, unlike the eerie white flames of Guo Lin, the fire commanded by Qin Mo was an inherently yang-vigorous force, best suited for incinerating unclean things.

When Qin Qiu was found by the others, he had already been hanging by a single breath, relying entirely on sheer willpower to guide them just to save his brothers.

Alas, the moment he finished guiding Liang Yi, he had reached his absolute limit.

Though Gao Cheng had promptly severed his ankles and repelled the swarm of insects, the reality was that the moment the black insects entangled them, some had already burrowed inside.

Gao Cheng had been unaware, believing that at the very least, it would preserve Qin Qiu's life.

With his own life, Gao Cheng had sought to sustain a final hope for his brothers—at least one of them must return alive to report what they had encountered, so the Gate Master would know the truth.

They could not simply lose their lives in such obscure ignorance.

Yet Guo Lin would never grant them that chance...

The incessant, piercing squeaks from within the raging fire served as the ultimate proof.

Scream after scream tore sorrowfully through the night sky.

It caused the footsteps of Qin Mo and the others to pause. Liang Yi and the others all glanced back over their shoulders, then lowered their heads in silence.

Liang Three muttered dully, "Moon Envoy, are we simply going to let this go?"

Recalling Qin Qiu—he was the one who carried him, the one who supported him, and yet the man had breathed his last right in his hands.

Qin Mo did not look back. After a long silence, he said, "Let's return first."

"...Understood."

Returning to the Underground City, everyone except those still in seclusion had gathered in the Hall of Loyalty and Valor.

At the same time, white silk draped the Underground City from top to bottom, replacing every eye-catching flash of red.

Xuan Ge-yue personally placed the twin tiger-head hooks and the jujube-wood halberd upon the altar before offering incense and a silent prayer.

Casting a sideways glance at Qin Mo, he asked, "Are the sacrificial elegies prepared?"

Qin Mo had already changed into white mourning garments. He lowered his voice and said, "The event was too sudden; there was no time to copy them out."

Hearing this, Xuan Ge-yue stripped off an outer robe and tossed it directly into the brazier.

Qin Mo hastily moved to stop him, looking at Xuan Ge-yue as he said, "Master, you must not. Your body is of supreme worth; how can you burn garments before death?

Does this not shorten your lifespan?

Furthermore, this robe..."

Xuan Ge-yue swept a glance at Qin Mo, then snatched the outer robe back and cast it into the flames. Instantly, the garment caught fire, blazing as fiercely as oil poured upon an inferno.

The flames leaped a person's height in an instant, illuminating the entire Hall of Loyalty and Valor with exceptional brightness.

"Master..."

"Fine objects are only as good as the person who uses them. Can I, a living being, not forge my own blessings? Do I need this garment to help me?"

"This..." Qin Mo was left speechless, a lump in his throat preventing him from knowing how to respond.

Yet what filled him more was profound admiration...

The burned outer robe was known as the Brocade of Auspicious Life, woven by gathering master craftsmen. Donning it in life bestowed blessings, while a deceased person wearing it could be directly elevated to heaven.

They could re-enter the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn as humans.

Otherwise, one must first stand trial before the Three Tribunals, having their lifetime deeds weighed and their sins cleansed, before being assigned to their respective paths—and even then, reincarnation as a human was never guaranteed.

Moreover, the duration of that process varied wildly. For some, it was immediate; for others, it could take millennia of drifting within the sea of suffering.

The virtue of the Brocade of Auspicious Life was that it spared its owner from enduring such torment.

Both the living and the dead profited from it.

Therefore, it was truly a rare and precious treasure.

Qin Mo's hesitation stemmed not merely from the superstition that burning clothes for the living was ill-omened, but largely because the item was too precious to waste thus.

Xuan Ge-yue was in low spirits. Once the Brocade of Auspicious Life had burned to ashes, he dismissed the others and returned to the council chamber.

Not long after, Qin Mo followed him inside.

Leaning against his throne with one hand resting casually on the armrest, Xuan Ge-yue asked, "Is everything arranged?"

"Yes, Liang Yi will handle the aftermath."

"Tell me what truly happened." When Xuan Ge-yue spoke, the suppressed hostility of a long while seemed on the verge of erupting from his chest.

How long had it been since he had flown into such a rage?

Sighing softly, Qin Mo replied, "When we arrived, we found only the fallen Qin Qiu. By then, his ankles had been severed.

Judging by the wounds, it was the work of the twin tiger-head hooks.

After we revived Qin Qiu, his only words were to urge us to hurry and save Gao Cheng.

When we reached the scene, we found only the twin tiger-head hooks in the grass; the man was already gone.

As for Qin Qiu, he breathed his last on the way back after we went to rescue Gao Cheng."

"Why was his body not brought back?"

"Because... Qin Qiu's body had already been taken over by the insects. This subordinate took it upon himself to have him cremated on the spot.

If this was improper, this subordinate is willing to accept punishment."

Xuan Ge-yue waved a hand, neither angry nor resentful. "No, you handled it well."

Had he not done so, the moment even a single person became infected with those insects, it would have spelled total annihilation for the entire Underground City. Qin Mo's action, though appearing heartless, carried far more benefit than harm.

"Then... should this matter continue to be investigated?"

"Investigate."

His words were few, but Qin Mo understood.

From the initial indifference to the current involvement, the Twin Fiends Gate now had no reason to let the matter go.