Chapter 24: White Tiger Fetal Fiend

Through the translucent, bluish-white skin on Xie Sui’s chest, his heart could be clearly seen beating slowly within the birdcage of his greyish-white ribs.

Bright red muscle fibers contracted and relaxed. At some point, everything in the surroundings began to vibrate gently in synchronization with the frequency of Xie Sui’s heartbeat.

In this transitional zone between the underworld and the world of the living, in this void space constructed entirely of Yin Qi that should have been silent, a heavy thumping sound suddenly echoed.

‘Thump-thump, thump-thump…’

It was the sound of life being nurtured, as if something terrifying was drawing power from the entire space, preparing for its own birth.

It was the oldest ominous aura in the world, an immortal existence as old as heaven and earth. The shimmering light of the stars crossed endless space, ignoring the constraints of time and distance to descend upon this illusory Yin-Yang Gap, descending upon the body of a dying human.

“Death is rebirth,” Xie Sui said softly.

The purple bruises that had only existed on his chest just moments ago had quietly crawled onto his face. The marks spread recklessly across his bloodless skin like a spiderweb. His face looked like a white porcelain doll that had been smashed on one side; half the face was shattered, while the other half remained flawless, possessing a bizarre and eerie beauty.

Vibrant vitality and the grey decay of death intertwined upon his pale, nearly transparent skin. These two extremely fragmented and opposing forces appeared simultaneously on a single human body.

“The White Tiger Ominous Star governs bloodshed and violent death… The White Tiger Sha¹ is one of the Four Pillar Gods and Fiends.”

The skin and flesh on the left side of his body, centered around his heart, became transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dense network of blood vessels and pale bones beneath the skin were all revealed.

Xie Sui looked at the black stone statue in the shrine that was weeping tears of blood and chuckled. “Since you were created as a ghost-god based on the prototype of Shiduo Hariti, I wonder if you have ever heard of the White Tiger Fetal Fiend?”

The moment he finished speaking, the entire Yin-Yang Gap shuddered violently.

Red. A massive expanse of red, appearing from nowhere, began to frantically erode the space.

The space continued to pulse with the frequency of the heartbeat. The blood-red hue deepened, and irregular lumps of flesh rose one after another from the ground and walls, replacing the paper-made buildings and filling the entire Yin-Yang Gap.

A scarlet world composed of fleshy lumps enveloped all the humans and ghosts present. Every protruding lump of flesh was an unformed infant, and they all vibrated gently at the same frequency.

‘Thump-thump, thump-thump…’

The sound of the vibrations grew louder, and everything around them seemed to distort, becoming increasingly ethereal. In this blood-red space, only Xie Sui remained solid. He was the center of the world, the fulcrum supporting the existence of these illusory red nightmares, the source of all bad dreams.

Xie Sui’s current appearance looked more like a ghost than any of the spirits present. The blood-red color that had eroded the entire space also dyed his eyes red. A purgatory pool of blood capable of swallowing all fierce ghosts seemed to congeal in the depths of his gaze. Unmasked hostility and an ominous aura surged from him, suppressing every ghost on the scene.

“I truly hate this form of mine,” Xie Sui said softly.

“Fortunately, this is the Yin-Yang Gap. Otherwise, those people from the Xuanmen who want to find me would have sensed my existence.”

When the Heavenly Dao is in turmoil, disaster stars and ominous fiends are born in response to the tribulation.

Since ancient times, whenever there is a pregnancy, spiritual energy protects the pregnant woman to ensure the smooth development of the fetus. This spiritual energy is the Fetal God².

The Fetal God is a form of Feng Shui energy, possessing no sentience or physical form. It dissipates after accompanying the child until they reach the age of three.

The Fetal Sha, on the other hand, is the Feng Shui malevolence that leads to stillbirths and causes children to die young.

People say that the Fetal Sha and the Fetal God are incompatible Feng Shui fields, but they do not know that the predecessor of the Fetal Sha is the Fetal God itself.

Fetuses whose development was terminated before birth have resentment. Infants who were drowned before they could even open their eyes have resentment. Children who died unexpectedly young have resentment.

Their resentment is absorbed by the Fetal Gods who watched over their growth. When too much resentment is absorbed, the Fetal God becomes a Fetal Sha.

With the Spiritual Recovery, the ominous stars and gods descended into the world. Before Xie Sui was reincarnated, he was a White Tiger Fetal Fiend whose fate soul was possessed by the White Tiger Ominous Star.

To put it simply, a White Tiger Fetal Fiend is a Ghost Infant born from the resentment of countless children who died young, nurtured by heaven and earth.

As soon as the White Tiger Fetal Fiend took shape, people from the Xuanmen came flocking. The Xuanmen called him an evil spirit, claiming that if he wasn’t suppressed, he would bring disaster to the region and cause the deaths of many innocent people.

Well, in name they were eliminating an evil spirit, but in reality, they all wanted to keep him for themselves. This was because a White Tiger Fetal Fiend was a rare natural treasure that appeared only once in a century, and in its early stages of birth, it possessed no offensive capabilities.

Just as a Fetal God becomes a Fetal Sha after absorbing too much resentment, a harmless White Tiger Fetal Fiend only gravitates toward becoming a disaster star after absorbing excessive malice.

When Xie Sui was still a Ghost Infant, all that malice and hostility had been given to him by the Xuanmen practitioners who hunted him. He had nearly fallen completely into being an evil spirit because of them… but fortunately, at the most critical moment, someone found him in time and put an end to the farce of the hunt.

However, to conceal Xie Sui’s Fate Pattern and allow him to live peacefully in this world like an ordinary person, that person had even sacrificed their life.

Hunted by the Xuanmen for five full years immediately after birth, and still living in fear even after reincarnating as a human until the most important person to him gave up everything… this was why Xie Sui loathed the Xuanmen so much.

“The thing I hate most in this life are bastards who hurt children, whether they are human or ghost.”

Xie Sui waved his hand. Countless phantom images of unformed fetuses crawled out from the flesh on the ground, lunging toward the ghosts carrying the divine palanquin and the black stone statue in the shrine.

Because he knew how difficult it was to be reincarnated as a human, and knew how painful it was to become a Ghost Infant, he could not tolerate anyone harming children.

Blood shadows darted back and forth. Under Xie Sui’s control, the blood-red fetal-shaped fiendish energy instantly tore all the ghosts to shreds and dispersed all the black mist.

A black phantom, so faint it was nearly transparent, slowly rose from the statue.

Xie Sui looked at the weak shadow and let out a sneer. “Just a low-quality counterfeit deity. If you want to kill me, you’ll have to invite the real Hariti.” With that, he raised his hand, prepared to dissipate the black shadow entirely.

Just as the shadow completely detached from the statue, the female statue within the shrine suddenly shattered, revealing its true form hidden beneath the black stone.

Amidst the heap of black stone fragments lay the mummified corpse of a pregnant woman in a kneeling position.

Xie Sui’s movements stopped instantly.

It was actually a Flesh Bodhisattva³.

This ghost-god, modeled after the Shiduo Hariti, had not been refined directly from a vengeful spirit. Instead, an innocent soul had been tortured alive until it turned into a vengeful spirit before being refined.

To create a maternal nature similar to Shiduo Hariti and to trigger the ghost-god’s obsession with finding children, the creator had used a pregnant woman near her due date and cut the fetus from her womb while she was still alive.

The evil cultivator who created this Shiduo Hariti had committed such atrocities against his own kind for the sake of his own greed. He was more cruel than any demon.

Xie Sui lowered his eyes. The massive vertical scar on the woman’s abdomen was horrifying to behold.

Whether in life or death, she could not find her child, so she had treated Zhang Shengrui as her own.

The person behind this disgusting method of refining ghost-gods was more of a beast than he had imagined.

The aura around Xie Sui dissipated significantly. He looked at the weak black shadow with pity and sighed softly. “Forget it. We’re all just pitiful souls.”

He did not sense any bloodlust or murderous aura from this Flesh Bodhisattva. Since her creation, she had likely only clung to Zhang Shengrui and had not harmed any other children yet.

After a moment of deliberation, Xie Sui flicked a Blood Curse at the black shadow and then stuffed the weakened phantom into his own shadow.

After completing these actions, he let out a long breath. The surrounding bloody masses of flesh vanished at extreme speed, the black mist returned, and paper-craft buildings reappeared on both sides of the street. The Yin-Yang Gap returned to its original state.

The blue and purple bruises on Xie Sui’s face faded rapidly, and the blood-red color in his eyes receded, gradually restoring his clarity. The half of his body with transparent flesh slowly returned to normal, leaving only the skin over his heart still in a transparent state.

Finally, except for his bloodless skin, which was pale enough to resemble a corpse, Xie Sui looked no different from a normal person.

Xie Sui looked down at his chest with a distressed expression.

This was truly a losing deal; his physical condition had deteriorated so much all at once.

He had originally just wanted to find Horror Old Liu, but he hadn’t expected to have the bad luck of wandering into the Yin-Yang Gap and getting into a fight with a ghost-god for no reason.

Xie Sui could roughly guess why the Shiduo Hariti had attacked him. He had been holding Zhang Shengrui at the time… she probably mistook him for someone stealing her child.

This fight had been a complete misunderstanding.

Vengeful spirits with deep resentment were indeed volatile and lacked reason. If they could have just communicated properly, would things have ended up like this?

Xie Sui sighed again, tugged at his collar, and walked toward Zhang Shengrui.

His forty-nine Little Ghosts were currently with Zhang Shengrui. During the fight just now, Xie Sui had deliberately controlled the range so they wouldn’t be affected.

The position where Liu Wuyong and his companion were located happened to be in the direction Xie Sui was heading.

Liu Wuyong and his companion were crouching at the street corner like statues, stunned by the inhuman battle Xie Sui had just displayed. Even though the environment had returned to normal, they remained in their peeping posture, unable to recover from their shock.

As soon as Xie Sui turned around, he saw those two dull faces poking out from behind the wall at the corner. They were particularly conspicuous among the paper-craft buildings.

Seeing that weathered, decadent face, Xie Sui’s spirits lifted, and he strode toward Liu Wuyong.

Horror Old Liu had actually wandered into the Yin-Yang Gap as well. It seemed this wasn’t a losing deal after all. At the very least, he could ask if the man was related to those using the Life-Swapping Talismans.

Xie Sui didn’t know that Liu Wuyong was the culprit who created the Yin-Yang Gap, nor did he know that the ghost-god that caused his condition to worsen was created by Liu Wuyong’s boss, let alone that the boss was the one using Life-Swapping Talismans to persecute children. However, Liu Wuyong knew everything perfectly well.

Seeing Xie Sui suddenly appear before him, Liu Wuyong, who was still crouching, simply lunged forward onto his knees. Without a moment’s hesitation, he knelt down and raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

“I’m just an errand boy, a working stiff. I’ve never killed anyone. As long as you’re willing to spare my life, from now on, you’re my one and only boss. Whatever you ask, I’ll tell you everything I know without holding back.”

Liu Wuyong’s fluid sequence of begging for mercy left Xie Sui stunned. This man was fast to grovel… but based on his words, did this Horror Old Liu know he was looking for him?

Seeing this, Xie Sui didn’t speak, but merely looked at him expressionlessly.

“I’m Liu Wuyong, thirty-three years old, a finance management graduate. I have a securities license and an accounting certificate. I can manage a company and do financial reports. I also have eight years of experience in new media operations. I can do photography, editing, copywriting, and special effects. I have six million followers across all short-video platforms. I can use short videos to help you promote your livestreams, drive traffic to your room, or act as a moderator to manage your channel… In short, leave all the dirty and tiring work to me. Boss, you just need to lie back and collect the money.”

Liu Wuyong’s voice was loud and his breathing steady. If one only heard the voice and ignored the surroundings, it sounded exactly like a job interview.

The young man still crouching beside him stared at him, dumbfounded.

In the months they had known each other, this was the first time Xiao Wu had seen Liu Wuyong so energetic. It was also the first time he knew the man’s voice could be so loud and his speech so articulate… Truly, in the face of a death threat, human potential was limitless.

Wait, something seemed wrong.

A flash of realization hit Xiao Wu’s brain.

Liu Wuyong hadn’t let him finish off Xie Sui earlier, and he didn’t care about the life or death of the ghost-god… but the ghost-god was a task assigned to them by the boss! If the ghost-god died or was injured, there was absolutely no benefit for them.

He wondered why Liu Wuyong had stood by so indifferently earlier, watching the excitement from the sidelines. It turned out he had been planning to jump ship all along! Was he interviewing a new boss just now? Was he evaluating the new boss’s strength? After seeing that Xie Sui’s power could crush his former employer, he immediately begged for mercy and slid into a kneeling position to switch sides… Damn, is this the cunning of a worldly person who knows how to adapt to the circumstances?

Liu Wuyong didn’t care about Xiao Wu’s complex expression, which was shifting like a color palette. He continued to pledge his loyalty to Xie Sui: “My former boss collaborated with human traffickers to kidnap and sell children, ran underground clinics to trade organs, used Life-Swapping Talismans on children in orphanages, and even murdered pregnant women to create Shiduo Hariti… No matter why you want revenge on him, I will lead the way for you.”

“I know I’ve helped a villain and deserve a miserable death, but I swear I never participated in any of my former boss’s atrocities. I was just a runner, not a core member. I wasn’t qualified to be by his side.”

At this point, Liu Wuyong seemed too tired to keep kneeling. He simply gave up on formalities and shifted from a kneeling posture to sitting cross-legged. “Besides, I was forced. You should be able to feel the Death Curse on me, right? If I don’t listen to him, my life is forfeit. As long as you’re willing to spare me, I can act as bait to help you lure him out.”

Since he had already laid out all his value, what Xie Sui did with him next depended entirely on the man’s mood.

He had already tried his best to survive. If he still died after this, then it was just his fate to die, and it wouldn’t matter anymore.

Xie Sui was still processing the massive amount of information he had just received.

The person using Life-Swapping Talismans and the one creating Shiduo Hariti was actually the same person.

However, what Xie Sui cared about most was something else: “You recognize me, and you know I’m doing live streams… Your boss had you investigate me? How did he know I existed?”

Xie Sui found it strange. The Evil Cultivators who knew his identity were all dead, and he hadn’t done anything recently to expose himself. Why were those Evil Cultivators looking for him?

“I don’t know that. You can ask him directly.” The pledge of loyalty just now seemed to have exhausted several months’ worth of energy Liu Wuyong had stored up. He became decadent again, scratching his head listlessly.

“The boss only found out about your existence yesterday. He told me to keep an eye on you, and then we just happened to run into each other in Xiangcheng today.” After saying that, Liu Wuyong also told Xie Sui about the mission he had come to Xiangcheng to perform.

Since he was going to sell his boss out, he might as well do it thoroughly. Either way, he had no intention of going back to being a lackey for that scum.

“Is there really any difference between following me and following your former boss? Aren’t you afraid I’ll place a Death Curse on you too?” Xie Sui did not fully trust Liu Wuyong.

“It’s different…” Liu Wuyong’s eyelids drooped, looking like a battery that had completely run out of charge. He seemed to rarely talk to others for such a long time.

“Being dragged into the palace to be a servant against your will is completely different from actively supporting the person you value to ascend the throne.”

“My former boss used a Death Curse to force me to work, and he hasn’t given me a single cent in raises for eight years. He has countless subordinates. No matter how responsible or loyal I am, I’ll only ever be a dead servant who gets beaten and scolded, with no hope of ever getting ahead.”

“A fine bird chooses the tree it perches on, and a virtuous official chooses the lord he serves. Since my life is threatened either way, why should I rush to be a dead eunuch instead of just rebelling and joining you? After all, you’re on the opposite side of my evil former boss, so you should be a good person with a sense of justice. Plus, you’re strong enough to protect a defector like me. I feel very safe by your side.”

“Even if you want to kill me after you’re done using me, I’ll accept it. After all, you’re the best option I can find right now.” When talking about his own life and death, Liu Wuyong maintained an air of total indifference.

His parents were already dead, he wasn’t married and had no children, and he had no mortgage, no car, and no savings. He just lived day by day. Living an extra day was a gain, and living one day less wasn’t a loss.

Xie Sui looked at Liu Wuyong in silence, seemingly evaluating him.

Liu Wuyong seemed to know what Xie Sui was worried about and continued: “No one accepts a servant who constantly betrays their masters. Don’t worry about me being threatened by those Evil Cultivators into betraying you again. People who flip-flop never come to a good end. Evil Cultivators are all like my former boss, the type who seek revenge for the smallest grievance. My act of betrayal harmed their interests. I’m certain they would kill me the moment they were done using me.”

“Rest assured, from now on, I’m tied to your ship. We sink or swim together.”

Xie Sui was persuaded. He looked at Liu Wuyong and nodded slightly. “Fine, then I…”

“M-Me too!!” Xiao Wu seemed to have just recovered from his complex emotions. However, his education level was truly not high, and after struggling for a long time, he only managed to squeeze out those two words.

Liu Wuyong looked at him, somewhat speechless.

This guy was truly a greenhorn. He was the type to spin the lazy Susan while the boss was still picking up food, or start singing while the boss was talking.

Xiao Wu scratched his head, completely oblivious. He said to Xie Sui in a fawning tone, “Um, Brother Liu will be your lackey, and I’ll be Brother Liu’s lackey. How does that sound? Please don’t kill me.”

Translator’s Notes