Volume Three: The Fox Immortal Tomb, Chapter Two: An Unexpected Event

As soon as he finished speaking, I reached out and took the iron basin from Li Kun. It was filled to the brim with glutinous rice.

I pressed Xu Tian’s cheek with one hand, forcing his mouth open, then scooped a small handful of the rice into it.

This was to keep the corpse poison in his body from surging into his brain. If it reached the brain, not even the legendary physicians could save him.

The moment the rice touched his mouth, the blackness on Xu Tian’s lips visibly slowed. Then I seized his arm and thrust it straight into the basin full of rice.

Under Li Kun’s and my stunned gazes, the instant Xu Tian’s fingers touched the rice, we heard a harsh tearing sound, as though his arm had been plunged into boiling oil. Waves of black vapor burst violently from his hand.

Xu Tian let out a miserable scream, his face turning deathly pale. His eyes flew open, and then the pain drove him unconscious again.

Because I was too close to him, I was caught off guard the instant that vapor billowed out. I inhaled a mouthful before I could react, and at once felt a chill stream straight from my throat into my lungs. The sensation snapped me alert.

But I still could not let my guard down. I grabbed my collar with one hand and yanked it upward to cover my mouth and nose, then turned to Li Kun and said, “Old Li, open every window right away and get all this black vapor out. Also, find a wet cloth to cover your mouth and nose, and get one for me too.”

Li Kun nodded hastily, rushed to the windows, and threw them all open one by one. Then he ran to the kitchen, found two damp cloths, and brought them back to me.

I took the wet cloth and covered my mouth and nose, then looked back at Xu Tian’s arm. The black lines on it were slowly receding, but the rice in the basin was steadily turning black, and dark vapor still continued to pour upward from it.

I turned to Li Kun and said, “Old Li, go get another basin of rice.”

He nodded and ran back to the kitchen.

We repeated this several times. A full twenty pounds of glutinous rice were now piled in a large basin, but the rice was no longer white; every grain had turned pitch-black.

The black lines on Xu Tian’s arm had vanished as well, and his complexion was gradually improving. Even the color returned to his lips. But I knew this still would not completely purge the corpse poison from his body. We would need to find an expert in this field before the lingering poison could be fully removed.

Yet at that very moment, my head suddenly grew dizzy and my body went weak. I shook my head, feeling faint and heavy-brained. Seeing this, Li Kun turned to me and asked, “Old Liu, what’s wrong?”

I reached up and touched the back of my head, whispering, “Maybe I’m just tired.”

No sooner had I spoken than my head lurched downward, and I fell hard onto the floor.

Li Kun cried out in alarm. I had been crouched beside the sofa, and directly behind me was Xu Tian’s wooden tea table. If I had struck it squarely, I would have split my head open on the spot.

Li Kun lunged forward and caught me as I fell, then bent down to look at my face.

The next moment, terror flooded his expression. My face had turned waxen yellow, and on my lips black threads were writhing slowly.

At the sight, Li Kun shouted in panic, “This is bad! It’s corpse poison. How did you get infected too? Wait—when you inhaled that black vapor just now, that must be how!”

Thinking of how I had just been expelling the poison from Xu Tian, Li Kun glanced at the basin of rice beside him, grabbed a handful, and stuffed it into my mouth.

After a short while, it became clear that the method did work, but only to keep the corpse poison from rushing toward my brain. It could not stop it from spreading through my body.

Li Kun knew this too, and panic rose in him. In a low voice he said, “Who can save the two of them now? Who on earth can help?”

His mind blanked with anxiety. Then he suddenly remembered something and slapped his right hand against his left palm. “That’s it. The Hundred-Poison Daoist and the Ghost-Lamp Daoist at the ghost market can definitely save them.”

But then he came to himself. The ghost market did not open until seven in the evening, and right now not even its gates could be entered, let alone finding the Hundred-Poison Daoist or the Ghost-Lamp Daoist. And if we waited until seven tonight, Old Liu and Old Xu would probably already be cold. Damn it—what now? Who else could save them?

Li Kun paced the room in agitation, then his eyes fell on the phone that had slipped from Xu Tian’s pocket.

Seeing it, another person came to mind who might certainly save us: Xu Tian’s grandfather, Old Master Xu.

Li Kun hurried to Xu Tian’s side, picked up the flip phone, opened the contacts list, scrolled all the way to the bottom, and indeed found Old Master Xu’s number. He called at once.

After a few rings, an elderly voice answered. “Ah, Xiaotian, why are you suddenly calling Grandpa?”

Li Kun hurriedly said, “Sir, I’m Xu Tian’s friend. Something has happened to him, and we may need your help.”

Upon hearing this, Old Master Xu sat up at once in his recliner and asked, “Hm? What happened to Xiaotian?”

Li Kun said, “Xu Tian and a friend of mine are both in Xu Tian’s shop right now. They’ve been struck by corpse poison and are unconscious.”

At those words, Old Master Xu could no longer sit still. He rose at once and said, “Take them downstairs and wait there immediately. I’m coming to fetch you right now.” With that, he hung up.

Hearing the dial tone, Li Kun wasted no time. He put Xu Tian’s phone in his pocket, then carried Xu Tian and me downstairs one after the other and began to wait quietly.

Down below, Li Kun paced anxiously back and forth, occasionally checking the color of my face. He had noticed that I looked utterly dreadful; there was no trace of blood left in my face, only a ghastly pallor, and my lips were pitch-black.

He kept pacing in agitation. “Why aren’t they here yet? Too slow—way too slow. Old Liu, hang in there. Don’t save Xu Tian only to lose yourself in the process.”

He turned to look at Xu Tian. Xu Tian’s face had grown much rosier by now; it seemed that with proper rest and the removal of the remaining toxins in his body, he would recover completely.

While Li Kun waited in anxiety, Old Master Xu and Xu Tian’s father, Xu Jianguo, were sitting in a car, both solemn-faced, speeding toward the shop.

Xu Jianguo asked, “Dad, what happened over there? How could Xiaotian have gotten corpse poison?”

Old Master Xu shook his head and said gravely, “Don’t ask yet. We’ll know when we get there. Speed up.”

With that, he fell silent, his eyes fixed ahead in deep concern.

In this way, after about seven or eight minutes, the car arrived at the entrance of the Flowing Cloud shop.

When the car stopped, Xu Jianguo and Old Master Xu hurried over, and the moment Li Kun saw them, he recognized the white-haired elder with the slightly stooped build but bright, piercing eyes as Xu Tian’s grandfather, Xu Ruixiang.

Old Master Xu stepped forward and said to Li Kun, “Enough talking. Hurry and carry them both into the car. Explain everything once we’re on the road.”

Li Kun nodded, then lifted me and ran toward the car, while Xu Jianguo picked up Xu Tian and headed for the other vehicle.

The two cars sped down the road, and by then Old Master Xu and Xu Jianguo had learned the whole story. After hearing it all, Old Master Xu patted Li Kun’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. Your friend turned out like this because of our Xiaotian. I will not stand by and do nothing. Rest assured, he will be fine. Leave it to me. I guarantee he’ll be jumping around as good as new by tomorrow.”

Only then did Li Kun finally relax. Since Old Master Xu had said this, it meant he was absolutely confident he could purge the corpse poison from Xu Tian and me.

Time passed minute by minute. To Li Kun’s astonishment, the car actually drove into a range of mountains, yet the road beneath us was as smooth and clean as a proper avenue. Anyone unfamiliar with the place would have thought it was a paved highway, not a mountain forest.

The car drove uphill. Then, when it reached the middle of the mountain, Li Kun was surprised to find a very neat and clean compound there.

The car drove straight inside. Ahead stood three buildings: on the left and right were two three-story villas, while in the center was an old-fashioned tiled house built of gray brick. Several stout trees stood before it, and around the property was a fence more than a man’s height. Inside was a vegetable garden, though in winter it looked somewhat desolate.

Before the tiled house in the center stood two huge water jars, each more than three feet tall, filled with all kinds of medicinal herbs. The jars had been mounted on stands, and beneath them burned a fire, with several pieces of wood still smoldering slowly.