Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Imperial Prince

Zhao Shuihe had told me all about the historical figure named Zhao Huo in great detail.

Three hundred years ago, it was precisely this Zhao Huo who used a copy of the "Forbidden Laws of Zhou Diet" stolen from the Forbidden City to single-handedly create the first "King of Bright Lamps." He employed the power of that monster to defend his homeland and spare his descendants from the ravages of war.

Now, more than three hundred years later, the monster he created had broken free. Through a strange twist of fate, it had come under the control of a wicked Daoist priest, turning into a scourge of the Zhao Family Manor and converting Zhao Huo's own tomb into a warehouse and a base of operations.

I could only imagine what kind of sorrow and resentment he would feel if his spirit in heaven were to witness this spectacle.

Zhao Shuihe stroked the coffin and said, "To control the King of Bright Lamps, Zhao Huo used a secret technique to cast a batch of Five Emperors Coins. The one I used earlier to drive away the cat demon is one of only three that have been passed down to this day."

With the Five Emperors Coins, coupled with the King of Bright Lamps—a creature adept at commanding poisonous insects—the Zhao family suddenly acquired the means to defend themselves. In the turbulent times that followed, relying on this supernatural power, the Zhao family enjoyed several peaceful years.

During the catastrophe at the end of the Ming dynasty, Qing troops and numerous bandits and warlords coveted the wealth the Zhao Family Manor had accumulated over more than a century. They repeatedly sent troops to "attack," but could never succeed.

During their attempts to plunder the Zhao Family Manor, those wrongheaded soldiers either lost their way or mysteriously scattered on the outskirts of Shiren Gu. Many even disappeared in plain sight, turning into "stones" or being devoured by the "Yin Soldier Tomb." In short, they suffered heavy losses and failed to take even a single cent from the Zhao Family Manor.

Gradually, rumors spread that the Zhao Family Manor was protected by Yin soldiers, and anyone harboring malicious intentions toward the Shiren Gu Zhao Family Manor would meet a violent end.

Later, a Qing dynasty Beile who scoffed at these superstitions personally led a thousand Eight Banner soldiers, taking a local as a guide, and marched straight toward the Zhao Family Manor. However, they became lost for a day and a night in that patch of mixed woods along the Old Qi Road.

The strange thing was that whenever their army withdrew five miles beyond the Zhao Family Manor, they could clearly see the towering and overlapping structures of the manor from the hillside, and even the dark tiles on the roofs were faintly visible.

Yet once the Qing troops entered that woodland and the Old Qi Road, the entire army became like headless flies, utterly unable to distinguish east from west, let alone find a way into the manor.

In the end, the Beile came up with a plan: since they could not walk out of this woodland, he would simply burn it to the ground. That way, the formation of the Zhao Family Manor would collapse of its own accord.

Thus, he ordered the mixed woods on the periphery of the Zhao Family Manor to be put to the torch.

Who could have expected that as the fire blazed, an unexpected disaster would occur? Because of this fire, the Beile's entire army was nearly wiped out, and he himself barely escaped with his life.

As it turned out, the moment he ignited the woodland, a vast expanse of ghostly green "smoke" mixed with the sounds of wailing ghosts suddenly surged forth from the trees.

To the utter astonishment of the Qing troops, that cloud of smoke transformed into billions of poisonous insects, instantly swallowing up the Beile's forces.

Immediately afterward, countless soldiers were bitten and injured by the poisonous insects. Although the Beile wore golden armor, it was not completely airtight, and several venomous insects burrowed straight into the lining of his armor. They stung him all over until his body was covered in welts, and he fainted on the spot.

In the end, the Beile was carried back to Jinan by his surviving soldiers. From then on, no one ever dared to covet the wealth and descendants of the Zhao Family Manor again.

Hearing this, I could not help but nod and say, "That sounds pretty good. Zhao Huo achieved his goal. What does he have to regret?"

Zhao Shuihe shook her head slightly and said, "The goal of self-preservation was achieved, but the subsequent developments exceeded Zhao Huo's predictions."

As it turned out, once the Zhao family possessed the King of Bright Lamps, their confidence grew abruptly. Emboldened by this cat demon, they repeatedly used its power in friction and conflicts with neighboring villages, turning this protective beast into a destructive force that cowed their neighbors into submission.

Later on, the Zhao family went further and further. Some of the younger generation even used the cat demon to commit highway robbery, forcibly seize women from good families, and murder for wealth.

With the cat demon at their disposal, the Zhao Family Manor gradually transformed from the "utopia" envisioned by Zhao Huo into a den of thieves and bandits that everyone spoke of with terror.

Zhao Huo was heartbroken by this.

He repeatedly brought out family rules to urge his clansmen to abandon evil and return to righteousness, and he admonished the cat demon time and again not to commit heinous acts. Regrettably, no one listened to him, and the cat demon only recognized the token-like "Five Emperors Coins."

Faced with enormous material benefits and nearly irresistible supernatural power, the Zhao family succumbed to greed, betraying Zhao Huo's original intention of "using strange forces to protect the home" and turning the cat demon, the King of Bright Lamps, into a weapon for making money through murder.

Zhao Huo was heartbroken by his clansmen's duplicity and avarice.

He knew that although he was the patriarch of the Zhao family, everything was beyond redemption. In the face of readily available temptation, the Zhao family members had lost their minds.

Zhao Huo felt that only an extreme "awakening" could snap the Zhao family out of their madness and turn them toward goodness.

Thus, on New Year's Eve, in front of most of the villagers, Zhao Huo threw away the "Five Emperors Coins" he used to control the cat demon, and commanded the monster to "tear him to pieces" alive.

He used his own death to warn the crowd, to caution them against the cruelty and terror of this demon, and to tell them that what the cat demon feared and was loyal to was not the Zhao family, but merely the "Five Emperors Coins" in their hands.

Sooner or later, the Zhao family would be consumed by the cat demon's power and bring about an even greater disaster.

His death jolted the Zhao descendants into sudden remorse. From then on, they destroyed the methods for refining and controlling the cat demon, leaving behind only a small number of Five Emperors Coins for emergencies.

Zhao Shuihe sighed and said, "After Zhao Huo died, he left a final instruction saying that he was unworthy to face his ancestors in the netherworld, so he wanted his remains sealed inside a stone coffin, denying himself reincarnation for all eternity."

Upon hearing Zhao Shuihe's words, I was left momentarily speechless.

It turned out that what was happening today had already played out more than three hundred years ago. Back then, Zhao Huo had used his own death as a warning to awaken his clansmen. What kind of resolve and courage was that?

With this mixture of trepidation and enlightenment, I raised my head once more and looked around Zhao Huo's burial chamber.

Wherever my gaze fell, this chamber had been "developed" quite thoroughly by the Heaven-Cutting Master. Aside from the deceased's stone coffin, a large quantity of daily necessities, loose cash, and men's and women's clothing were piled up.

For some reason, I suddenly felt that this place looked much more like a thief's den!

Following this train of thought, a series of events suddenly became clear to me.

To verify these thoughts, I quickly began rummaging through the pile of goods in this thief's den, searching for items that could prove my theory.

After searching for a moment, I quickly discovered the target I was looking for among the pile of items—a set of clothes and gloves sewn from cat fur!

Everything fell into place instantly.

I suddenly understood everything!

So I said to Little A Si, "Starting from the Old Qi Road, the person directing the cat demon is this Heaven-Cutting Master! He used the King of Bright Lamps and ancient legends as a cover to commit robberies on the road leading to Shiren Gu! Everything in this tomb, especially this cat-fur suit, is corroborating evidence!"

Following that, I explained my detailed theories to everyone.

A long time ago, Zhao Hong had told me that starting over a year ago, taxis passing by the Old Qi Road would inexplicably break down. When the drivers got out to inspect, the passengers they were carrying would suddenly vanish, replaced by stones or dead mice.

Under such circumstances, the taxi drivers were naturally frightened out of their wits and fled in panic. Over time, this gave rise to the rumor that the Old Qi Road was haunted.

However, the truth was that the passengers those taxi drivers were carrying were none other than the Heaven-Cutting Master himself. This Heaven-Cutting Master must have used some kind of illusion combined with the cat to stage this farce, with the sole purpose of stealing valuables from the taxis.

He would spend whatever he could of the stolen goods, and store whatever he couldn't spend right here in this burial chamber. Over time, he simply treated this place as his home and lived quite comfortably.

I picked up the cat-fur clothing and told Little A Si, "The cat-man Wang Hou and Hongye saw down on the Old Qi Road was the Heaven-Cutting Master wearing this outfit. The cat tail you saw in the Heaven-Cutting Master's underwear was also part of this fellow's disguise."

Little A Si had a sudden flash of enlightenment, but then asked with lingering confusion, "Then why did he have to pretend to be a cat demon? Why did he have to eat raw meat?"

I tossed the cat-fur clothing aside and pointed out, "There are always taxi drivers who refuse to believe in ghosts. If he happened to run into someone like that, he would take off his outer coat and use this outfit to scare people—the exact same trick he used against Wang Hou and Hongye! It's just that when he tried it on us, it backfired, causing him to lose his men and nearly cost him his life!"

In an instant, all the clues in my mind connected, and the true face of the Heaven-Cutting Master became crystal clear.

If nothing else, the single charge of "highway robbery" was enough to sentence him to life imprisonment!

Without a word, I slammed my fist heavily against the lid of the stone coffin!

A dull sound echoed rapidly through the space.

Immediately afterward, the three of us suddenly heard a sound of panting coming from inside the heavy stone coffin, along with the sound of some creature grinding its teeth!

This stone coffin was actually not empty?!