Volume One: A Carefree Sojourn Amid Indistinguishable Leaves, Chapter Ninety-Seven: Corpse Dissolution

The snake catcher raised his steel trident. The big man was not yet quite dead; his body still hung in the air, convulsing in a final struggle. With a hideous look on his face, the snake catcher let out a soft, sinister chuckle deep in his throat, as though watching another man die were a pleasure beyond measure.

A chill ran down Yang Ning’s spine. He had assumed the man was nothing more than an ordinary snake catcher, but now it was clear he was no easy prey. He had burst out from the weeds a moment ago; though broad and heavy-set, his movements had been extremely nimble, and his strike was astonishingly swift. With a single thrust he had pierced the big man’s throat. No ordinary snake catcher could possess such skill.

Looking at the man’s clothing, Yang Ning noticed that his head was wrapped in a turban. Suddenly he thought of the heir to the Shu Prince he had encountered in the capital; the turban around this man’s head resembled, in some ways, the garb worn by those attendants beside the Shu Prince’s heir.

He knew this was a fairly common style of dress in the Bashu region, but this place was Jingnan, not Shu. He could not understand why such a man would appear here in the Gorge Mountains.

The big man struggled a few more times. Little by little his body lost all strength, until at last his limbs drooped limply. Only then did the snake catcher flick his wrist and cast the corpse to the ground. He set the steel trident beside him, then reached into his robes and took out something. In the dim light Yang Ning could not make it out clearly, but he saw the snake catcher sprinkling powder over the corpse, and his heart filled with suspicion. The man was already dead—what was this snake catcher up to now?

After pouring the powder over the body, the snake catcher tucked the item away again, returned to the severed giant serpent, and cut the rest of it into sections, tossing them into a leather bag.

Then a foul, fishy stench rushed into Yang Ning’s nose. Just as he was wondering what it was, he saw wisps of white smoke suddenly rising from the corpse. The smoke was faint, yet Yang Ning could still see it clearly.

The snake catcher was clearly very experienced at catching snakes. His movements in cutting the serpent were extremely skillful, and in moments he had chopped the whole thing apart. Only then did he stand up, steel trident in one hand and leather bag in the other, and without even glancing at the corpse, he turned and walked away.

Only after Yang Ning was certain the snake catcher had gone far off did he approach. One look nearly made him retch. The big man’s corpse had already been reduced to less than half its original size, the flesh rotted away and the white bones exposed. The upper half of the body, skin and bone alike, had completely vanished, leaving only a pool of blood on the ground. Even now, the remaining half of the body was rapidly decaying and dissolving, and that rank stench was coming straight from the corpse.

Yang Ning pinched his nose, his back covered in a cold sweat. This man had certainly been no good thing, but for the snake catcher to kill him so easily, then dissolve his body into nothing, was vicious in the extreme. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, who would have imagined that a person could, in such a short time, be erased from the world so completely, flesh and bone alike?

Then he heard a low birdcall from above. Yang Ning looked up. In the darkness of night, he saw a huge bird like a hawk sweeping across overhead, its cry harsh and beastlike, sounding like “croak, croak.”

Now that he knew there was still that poisonous snake catcher in the mountains, Yang Ning became even more cautious. He thought to himself that the man had first lain in ambush, then launched a sudden attack without asking who was right or wrong. He would have to be extra careful and not let himself be ambushed in turn.

Seeing the direction in which the snake catcher had gone, he remained curious about the man’s origins, but he was already being hunted, and there was no need to follow and invite more trouble. He moved off in another direction.

The Qi family’s ancestral house had been controlled by a group of men for several years, and yet the marquisate in the capital had remained completely unaware. That alone was enough to shock the world.

What surprised Yang Ning even more was that after these men used Qi Cheng to seize control of the old house, they still continued, for three years, to send taxes and tribute to the capital. For that very reason, the marquisate had never suspected a thing. But what was the purpose behind all this? If they had truly held on here for three years to carry out some scheme, then it could not be a small matter.

The leader of the group seemed to be the clerk Zhao Yuan, the man called the Judge, but Yang Ning felt that someone else was probably directing the entire affair from behind the scenes.

The Brocade Marquis was a meritorious noble house of the empire, its standing exalted. Even those powerful ministers in court might not dare lay hands on the Brocade Marquis lightly. For Zhao Yuan and the others to seize control of the ancestral house, and even set a trap to frame the heir to the Brocade Marquis, was certainly not something ordinary men would dare attempt.

They had laid a trap in the warehouse, using Misty Rain Begonia to force Gu Qinghan and himself into disgraceful intimacy. The methods were despicable, but this was clearly not the beginning.

Zhao Yuan had made it plain: this matter was meant to give them leverage over him, and after that there would certainly be an even larger conspiracy.

If he could escape, of course he would have to root out these people. But Yang Ning also knew they had spent years building their base here and must already have considerable influence. If he relied only on his own rash courage, not only would he fail to eliminate them, he might even suffer at their hands. So before making a move, he would need to gather men. The best course would be to first request troops from the Prefect of Jiangling and then surround them and strike.

With the status of the Brocade Marquis’s heir, it should not be difficult to summon troops from the Prefect of Jiangling.

Just as he was thinking about where to go after escaping, a fierce wind suddenly rose at his side, and a sharp blade came slashing at him from the flank.

Yang Ning reacted with lightning speed. He did not dodge. Instead, he bent slightly and drove himself straight toward the source of the wind, crashing into a man. His speed was so great that the other man had clearly not expected such a move. Yang Ning threw his full strength into the collision, and the man cried out in pain, but though robust and powerful, he merely staggered back two steps and did not fall.

Of course Yang Ning would not give him a second chance to draw his blade. At times like this, mercy toward an enemy was a crime against oneself. He extended his arm, and the cold edge of the blade had already buried itself in the other man’s chest.

He knew the vital points of the human body like the back of his hand. Though acting in sudden peril, he still judged the man’s weak spot with ease. The cold blade slid cleanly into his chest, then was withdrawn at once as Yang Ning flashed aside. The man swayed and then pitched forward onto the ground. From his clothes, Yang Ning knew he was one of Zhao Yuan’s men.

Then a cold laugh rang out. “The heir truly has impressive methods. It’s just a pity you have nowhere left to run.” It was Zhao Yuan’s voice. Yang Ning looked up and saw, a few paces ahead, a figure standing there with something in his hands. Looking closely, it was a crossbow, aimed directly at him.

“The heir was born into a martial family, so of course you know what this is,” Zhao Yuan said with a smile that was not quite a smile. “With a light pull, your little life will end right here.”

Yang Ning’s eyes turned cold. At that moment he heard movement behind him and looked back. On his left and right stood two men with broadswords in hand, staring at him with icy expressions.

“You’re Qi Ning?” one of them asked, startled when he recognized Yang Ning’s face. Then he broke into a sinister grin. “So you’re the Brocade Marquis’s heir. Never thought we’d meet again so soon. Back in Prince Lu’s Village, you were so arrogant, you even cut the hamstrings of Steward Luo and made him unable to rise again. You never imagined you’d end up in our hands, did you?”

Hearing this, Yang Ning knew the man must be one of the attendants who had followed Steward Luo to Prince Lu’s Village.

Zhao Yuan let out a soft “oh,” then studied Yang Ning from head to toe, smiling. “So it was you who made the move in Prince Lu’s Village? Seeing is believing. I had only thought the Brocade Marquis’s heir was a truly useless mediocrity. But it seems the heir has been hiding his abilities.” He took two steps forward. “You’re much cleverer than I expected... That short blade in your hand should be the one that broke through the wall, yes? To escape through the wall in such a short time—truly a remarkable weapon.”

“Zhao Yuan... no, I should call you the Judge,” Yang Ning said, fixing his eyes on Zhao Yuan while also guarding against a sneak attack from the two men behind him. “You set all these traps. What exactly are you after?”

Zhao Yuan inclined his chin toward the cold blade in Yang Ning’s hand. “The heir should put the knife down first.”

“With the three of you here and a crossbow in hand, are you still afraid of me?” Yang Ning said with a cold laugh. “You even dared occupy the Brocade Marquis’s ancestral house. I thought you men were quite bold.”

Zhao Yuan smiled. “Your Highness, the Brocade Marquis’s heir, is far too cunning. I have always been careful in my affairs and would never bring trouble upon myself. With a blade in your hand, I still cannot feel at ease.” He thrust the crossbow forward. “The heir had best be obedient. Otherwise, if I get nervous, one careless twitch and this bolt will be loosed.”

Yang Ning gave a cold snort and tossed the blade at his feet. Only then did Zhao Yuan sigh. “The heir need not have suffered so much. If you had remained honestly in the storehouse with Gu Qinghan and enjoyed the delights of the flesh, perhaps you might still have kept your life. But now I can make no such promise.”

“Oh?” Yang Ning smiled. “So you’ve lost your leverage over me and can no longer threaten me, and now you want to kill me here?”

Zhao Yuan said, “The heir is indeed sharp. You guessed the matter at once.”

“I’m only curious,” Yang Ning said. “Since you already had the drug, why go to all the trouble of luring me to the granary at Red Sand River? You controlled the old house, and you set the trap there. Wouldn’t that have been more convenient?”

Zhao Yuan smiled. “I said before: when I do things, I make sure there is no room for error. It would not have been impossible to have you and Gu Qinghan lying in the same bed in the ancestral house. But then there would have been no excuse to let many people see you together. Without witnesses, the matter would be hard to turn to effect. Besides, the few men you brought with you are not fools. This business had to be done so no flaw could be seen.”

“So it really was a painstaking design,” Yang Ning said. “Those people in the ancestral house knew I had gone out to search for the Third Madam. How did you silence everyone?”

“You underestimate us too much,” Zhao Yuan said with calm assurance. “For these past years, they saw no flaw at all, yet they were still deeply afraid of Qi Cheng. To tell the truth, one word from Qi Cheng in that old house was more useful than you, your Highness, the heir.”

Yang Ning laughed. “Since the arrow is in your hand and I’m empty-handed, if I want to live I can only do as you say.”

“He who submits to circumstances is a hero,” Zhao Yuan said with a sly chuckle. “Since the heir is so enlightened, it seems we can have a proper discussion.” Suddenly he raised one arm and tossed something toward Yang Ning. Yang Ning reached out and caught it. It was a small porcelain bottle. Zhao Yuan said, “There are two pills inside. If the heir swallows them, you may live.”

Thanks to Brother Lu Taurus and reader 32358923 for their generous support and rewards.