Ch 368: The Skinned Corpse

Liu Ke widened his eyes, staring at the mud with suspicion on his face, secretly pondering: What’s going on? These insects actually have such amazing abilities, able to perfectly fuse branches, soil, and flesh together, it’s simply unbelievable!

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to reach out and grab one of the insects, wanting to observe it carefully. This insect was entirely black, with a slender body and a pair of sharp pliers on its head, looking quite fierce.

Liu Ke held the insect up in front of his eyes, examining it carefully, then turned to ask the Mantis beside him: “Do you recognize this insect?”

The Mantis lightly flew onto his shoulder, also stared at the insect for a while, shook its head and said: “Never seen it.”

Liu Ke sighed helplessly, thinking that this insect was probably not a common species. He put down the insect, clapped his hands, and said: “Forget it, let’s move on.”

Seeing this, Xu Liang also put his four swords back into the sword case, and then continued to move forward with Liu Ke.

After a while, they arrived at Nanqing Mountain. However, to Liu Ke’s surprise, the Yueqing Temple he expected was not here; not even a single building was visible.

Liu Ke couldn’t help but feel doubtful, thinking something was wrong. Xu Liang seemed to have noticed this as well. He looked at Liu Ke and asked: “Where is the Yueqing Temple you mentioned?”

Liu Ke shook his head blankly and replied: “I don’t know either…”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then suddenly rolled up his sleeves, revealing a red eye on his arm. The two pupils of this eye kept rotating, as if searching for something.

With Liu Ke’s action, his perspective actually shifted from his face to his hand. Through the red eye, he began to carefully observe the surrounding environment.

His gaze slowly swept across every corner of Nanqing Mountain, not missing a single detail. However, despite his careful observation, he still did not discover anything unusual.

Time passed minute by minute, and Liu Ke’s patience gradually wore thin. Just as he was about to give up, suddenly, his eyes caught sight of several strange things.

It was a Bagua Pattern made of skulls, located in a hidden position on the mountaintop. These skulls looked ancient, and some decaying flesh still remained on them, making people shudder.

Liu Ke thought for a moment and said: “Let’s go!”

Liu Ke and Xu Liang began to climb Nanqing Mountain; this mountain is not suitable for living.

But thankfully, it wasn’t a cliff, making the climb considerably easier.

As they neared the summit, a gust of cold wind blew, and the surrounding temperature plummeted. Liu Ke and Xu Liang became alert, and the Mantis nervously vibrated its wings.

After a while, the two heard a clear bell sound, which was particularly abrupt in the quiet mountains and forests. Immediately afterward, a strong blood smell rushed into their noses like a flood. Liu Ke’s heart tightened; he could be certain that it was definitely the smell of human blood.

Xu Liang, carrying the heavy sword case, was significantly slower than Liu Ke. While struggling to follow Liu Ke’s pace, he gasped and shouted: “Liu… Liu Ke, slow down! You only carry one blade, but I’m carrying such a large sword case!”

However, Liu Ke seemed not to have heard Xu Liang’s call; he continued to climb upward on his own, as if something important was waiting for him ahead.

Just then, a drizzling rain suddenly began to fall, the fine rain falling like cow’s hair, covering the entire mountain forest with a thin layer of mist.

Liu Ke’s speed did not slow down because of the rain; he was like an agile Monkey, moving easily on the slippery mountain path.

Soon, the two saw a horrifying scene—a person who had been stripped of all their skin, naked and nailed to a large tree.

The person’s blood dripped onto the ground like broken beads, forming a pool of dark red blood. Judging from the freshness of the blood, this person should have died not long ago.

Liu Ke had personally skinned himself before, so he was very familiar with this skinning method.

He knew that this cruel method would not kill a person immediately, but would cause them to slowly suffer in extreme pain until their last moment of life.

Liu Ke expressionlessly walked to the corpse and carefully examined it. Xu Liang, however, was scared pale; he turned his head away, not daring to look directly at the terrifying corpse.

Liu Ke reached out and gently touched the bloodstains on the corpse, then rubbed them in his hand. Relying on the experience he had accumulated as a Blade Catcher, he judged that the person’s death could not have been more than two days ago.

Just then, the clear bell sound suddenly rang out again, sounding particularly abrupt in the quiet environment. Liu Ke’s nerves instantly tightened; he did not hesitate to quickly draw the long sword from his waist, the blade flashing with cold light under the moonlight. At the same time, Xu Liang quickly opened the sword case and took out a sharp sword, preparing to deal with possible danger.

The Mantis’s voice softly came from the darkness, with a hint of tension: “Be careful, it’s a Pipo.”

Liu Ke’s heart tightened, and he quickly asked: “What is a Pipo?”

“A Demon,” the Mantis’s reply was concise and direct.

“What are its characteristics?” Liu Ke continued to ask, wanting to learn more about this unknown enemy.

“This Demon will die.”

The Mantis’s words left Liu Ke somewhat doubtful. He couldn’t help but say: “What kind of characteristic is that? I’ve killed Demons before.”

However, the Mantis’s tone became serious: “No, this death isn’t the kind of death you imagine, but a deadlock.”

“Deadlock? What deadlock?” Liu Ke’s curiosity was completely aroused; he eagerly wanted to know more about this deadlock.

“Once a Pipo dies, it will set up a deadlock. This Demon itself does not have very strong combat power, but the deadlock it forms after death has a high probability of trapping a person to death.” The Mantis’s explanation caused Liu Ke to frown tightly.

“Then what kind of deadlock is this deadlock?” Liu Ke pressed, his voice revealing a hint of anxiety.

“I don’t know.” The Mantis’s answer made Liu Ke’s mood even heavier. “I only know that this deadlock is very terrifying, so you and Xu Liang should try not to kill the Pipo.”

“Okay, so the mission is to kill the Pipo.”

“What does this have to do with Yueqing Temple? It’s definitely not that simple. Perhaps these Pipos are raised by Yueqing Temple.”