From within the deep darkness of the night came the sound of a woman’s sigh, and it sounded mournful, cold, and filled with resentment. Inside the room, two members of Meng Hai’s caravan suddenly stared blankly ahead. Out of everyone in the room, only those two heard the woman’s sigh. People with bad luck were more likely to attract unclean things. Those two, it seemed, were just that sort. By now, several others in the room were already unable to hold on and had dozed off. When the chill wind swept in, even Meng Hai and Master Qi felt waves of drowsiness. Their eyelids were heavy, and their bodies were sinking toward sleep. The living carry three flames of yang atop their head and shoulders; those with strong blood and qi had bright flames, and ghosts dared not approach. Especially in a room full of grown men brimming with vitality, men like Master Qi and Duan Dali, who practiced martial arts, were like beacons of fire to ghosts, not something to draw near to lightly. But as the cold wind flowed in, the three yang flames on everyone’s bodies began to dim, like candles flickering in the wind. Faint footsteps drew closer and closer to the room. Something slipped in through the crack of the door! It was a woman, her face gloomy, her eyes gleaming with venomous resentment, her clothing that of the Kingdom of Qian. Yet her appearance made one’s scalp prickle, for she was nothing more than a flattened human skin. Her body was unnaturally pressed thin and distorted. Once inside, she suddenly inflated, as if air had been blown into her, taking on a full, three-dimensional form. She hooked a finger, and the two men with glassy eyes shuffled toward her. Their expressions were vacant and blank, like puppets on strings. A cruel smile crept across the flayed woman’s face. She reached out a hand, about to slice them open. To her, the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys of the living were the most exquisite delicacies. Her sharp nails could easily cut through human flesh. Suddenly, her hand was seized by a long, strong grip, like an iron clamp. The flayed woman jolted in shock and turned her head. It was a young man with a cold, severe face, his gaze sharp as a blade. The flayed woman tried to pull her hand free, but the cold-faced young man’s grip felt as though it carried the weight of a thousand catties. She couldn’t move at all! With a piercing, shrill screech, the flayed woman drove her other hand, capable of piercing wooden boards with ease, straight toward the young man’s throat. Hiss! Her five fingers hooked like claws, whipping up a fierce gust of wind. The young man wrenched her arm off in one swift motion. Then, with a shoulder strike, he sent her body hurtling toward the door with overwhelming force. “Ahhh!” The flayed woman let out a chilling low roar that shook the mind and soul. In midair, her body halted unnaturally, as if gravity no longer applied to her. Then, without warning, she pounced again! The young man stepped forward and drove a punch straight into her, sending her flying once more. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝘯𝘦𝘵 A wave of blistering heat visibly rippled through the air. The yin qi filling the room sizzled as it met the scorching vitality of a martial artist’s blood and qi, like ice and snow tossed into boiling oil. That single exchange was enough to snap the merchants out of their stupor. They regained their senses! The flayed woman’s twisted form looked even more grotesque now. Not only had her arm been torn clean off, but her body was being seared from within by the young man’s sharp, burning internal force. Her ghostly form, usually invisible to mortal eyes, was now warped and exposed. Gasps sounded all around as the caravan members took in the horrific sight. There was such a terrifying thing hiding in their room?! At the stump of the flayed woman’s arm, there was no bone or flesh, only an empty, hollow void that made one’s skin crawl. “What the hell is that?!” The caravan members blanched, backing away in fear. So this was the thing that had taken lives last night?! Whether ordinary men or martial artists, faced with such a vicious specter, the first reaction was fear, and the second reaction was... more fear! Such was human nature. Yet now, the flayed woman they feared looked at Li Yanchu with deep dread in her eyes. “Who are you? Why are you ruining my plans?!” Her voice drifted eerily, as if it carried its own surround sound. It sounded like it was coming from every corner of the room at once, making it impossible to pinpoint. It was bone-chilling, the kind of sound that made the scalp prickle. “I’m your bloody father!” Li Yanchu shouted. Before the flayed woman could react, he was already swinging his fist toward her. His punch was powerful and heavy, and as fast as lightning. The flayed woman’s body suddenly deflated, turning back into a flat sheet of skin, slipping past Li Yanchu’s fist. Like a puddle of water, she flowed along the ground toward one of the merchants. Her speed was unbelievably fast, and in the blink of an eye, one of the two merchants with the worst luck earlier was overtaken and possessed by her. His body shuddered once, then went completely still. His face turned ashen blue, and an eerie, stiff smile stretched across his lips. “You’re just a mere mortal martial artist... You’re overestimating yourself. Come on then, kill this vessel if you dare!” the flayed woman sneered. She loved preying on these so-called heroes of the jianghu, toying with their hearts. The crowd fell into chaos, scattering backward in a wave. Only two figures moved in the opposite direction, reaching for the possessed merchant’s shoulders. It was the caravan leader Meng Hai and the most skilled fighter among them, Master Qi. In the blink of an eye, both Meng Hai and Master Qi were sent flying. Their chest bones felt as though they were about to crack. Their vision went black, and they had nearly been killed on the spot! “The gap is that big?!” They had assumed this ghostly thing wasn’t so fearsome; after all, Daoist Master Li had torn an arm off her in one move. It had given them the illusion of, This small fry? If I step up, I can handle it too! The price of that illusion was being seriously injured in a single exchange. The possessed merchant now wore a smug smile, his eyes filled with venomous malice. Her arrogance grew ever more brazen. What an act... Li Yanchu’s brow rose. With a flash of movement, he appeared right in front of her. The flayed woman in her host’s body struck with ruthless, vicious intent, and she aimed straight for a mutual kill from the very first move. After all, this body was only borrowed. If it was ruined, she wouldn’t care in the slightest. Unfortunately, vicious, life-risking moves didn’t always yield miraculous results. To a martial arts master like Li Yanchu, the flayed woman’s attacks were full of openings. He suddenly struck with a powerful palm, and the force was deep and solid. In wuxia terms, this palm contained intricate variations, cutting off all possible counters from the opponent. In short, a merchant possessed by her had no way to dodge! The palm landed squarely on the possessed merchant’s chest. The dull thud made everyone think for sure that the merchant’s bones had snapped, that he was dead on the spot. They were colleagues, with good camaraderie, and the sight made them wince and turn away.