Song Yehai made no comments.
Wu Xingyu's attention shifted onto the woman in orange. Her smile was cold and unfeeling, her eyes looked as though they were sneering, and her brows were slightly raised as though she found everything incredulous. Her hair was in a single, long braid held together with metal rings and hung over shoulder. Sitting on the back of her hand was a scorpion with a shiny, reflective shell and dark grey claws that she had quite close to her face.
The last one was dressed in pink.
"Seven pearls," mused Wu Xingyu before turning to the lady Chen Qingxuan had tried to help and giving her a coin. "May I speak with the current manager of this establishment?"
"That would be me," a middle-aged lady with a steel-sharp voice and her hair in a tight bun stepped forward. She was quite short, even when she wore heels, but she held her nose high. "Gentlemen, how can I help you?"
"You are the current manager?"
"Yes, and the landlady. What, you think I don't look like it?"
"Uh, no, that's not what I mean," said Wu Xingyu.
"Hm, you men only know how to judge women," snorted the landlady. She appraised the two tall, handsome men in long robes and carrying weapons. "You're both cultivators I presume?"
"Yes."
"If you're here looking for dual cultivation services, our building stopped offering them fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen years ago?" Wu Xingyu noted the timeline.
"That's right. The founders of this establishment may have known a thing or two about cultivation, but under my management, we have no more spiritual energy to offer."
"Did you end up earning more or losing more money after that?" asked Chen Qingxuan snidely.
"What happened to the founders?" asked Wu Xingyu.
"If you want me to tell you, you have to pay," the landlady held out a hand. Wu Xingyu placed another coin on her palm. "Fourteen years ago they said they were going to leave and never come back, so they promoted me to become the owner of this building and said I was free to do as I pleased with it."
"Did they say where they were going, or why they had to leave?"
The landlady shrugged her shoulders and fiddled with the coin in between her fingers before storing it in her pouch. "Nope, nothing. I didn't ask either. I could care less what happened to them. They were horrible owners, only cared about themselves and always took away the biggest shares of profits and never thought of sharing with us or giving us bonuses when we were the ones working the hardest."
Wu Xingyu listened to her complaints without a word.
"But when they left I think there was only six of them," the landlady suddenly added.
"Six of them? Which one of the seven was missing?"
"The blue one."
"What happened to her?"
"No idea."
"Did the founders do business or frequent with outsiders?" asked Song Yehai.
"They often met up and drank with the teahouse owner next door."
"Next door?" Wu Xingyu distinctly remembered that on the left of the brothel was a store that sold wine and on the right was a fortune teller's shop that happened to be closed for the day. "So next door used to be a teahouse?"
"It got turned into a fortune telling business one year after the founders here left," said the landlady.
"Who was the manager?" asked Wu Xingyu.
The landlady shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I've never met him."
"Are you thinking that the Demon Lord did business here before?" asked Song Yehai.
"It's not an impossibility," said Wu Xingyu.
"Perhaps it was a subordinate of his. Should we pay a visit tomorrow?"
Wu Xingyu shook his head. "There's no telling whether he'll be open tomorrow or not. We should get to the Desert of No Return first, cure Wu Yi and then come back once we're done."
Song Yehai agreed to this arrangement. They thanked the landlady and walked out of the establishment with Chen Qingxuan towing closely behind. The sight of two upstanding gentlemen in respectable-looking cultivator apparels exiting a brothel attracted a number of onlookers and gossip. The landlady listened with amusement from the entrance.
"Look at their robes. They're definitely cultivators."
"Men these days have no principles anymore."
"Yeah, especially cultivators! They only pretend they're protecting us from demons while charging us with rip off rates."
"They look like they're masters of a sect, don't they? What kind of example are they setting for their disciples?"
Chen Qingxuan stopped in his tracks and scowled at the crowd.
"Qingxuan," called Song Yehai.
"Grandmaster Song, they spouting a load of nonsense!"
"Just let them."
Chen Qingxuan reluctantly turned back and went with Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu. Returning to Pine Inn, they packed their belongings and paid the innkeeper their expenses.
"You're not staying another night, Qingxuan?" invited Wang.
"I can't," declined Chen Qingxuan. "I need to head back before the wood master notices that I'm gone."
"Alright. Come back soon, or the rabbits will get pouty."
"Got it," Chen Qingxuan exchanged fist bumps with Wang before turning to say goodbye to Wu Xingyu and Song Yehai.
Before leaving for the Desert of No Return they rented a carriage pulled by two horses to take them out of the town. They travelled across pastures, over bridges built across rivers, and around several mountains before the coachman said it was the furthest his steeds could take them. The air became noticeably hotter and drier, as though they were on the edge of a cooking pot and about to walk into it.
"Are you sure you're ok with me dropping you off here? It'll be very difficult to make your way back on foot from here."
"We'll be fine," Song Yehai handed him a handful of coins.
"Alright then," the coachman, sensing that he could not persuade them otherwise, did not ask anymore questions as he accepted the travel fee. "Good luck to both of you."
"Thank you."
"Giddy up!" he reined the horses to turn the carriage around and flicked on the leash. The horses took off, retracing the route they took.
Arriving at the desert, the endless expanse of sand, soft, dirty yellow and fluid, stretched out before them in dunes and ridges under the sunlight. The sky above was hazy and blue, and the terrains were uneven, some parts hard and rocky, some steep and slippery.
As Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu walked through some rugged outcrops they were met with hovering eagles, lurking snakes, scaly lizards, large, hairy spiders and prowling wolves from every direction. The harsh environment nurtured an opportunistic cruelty in its natives, programming them to go after any potential source of food they could find, no matter how much blood would be drawn or if any limbs would be lost. A drooling wolf made the first pounce, growling wildly as it did with its tongue lolling out. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu both stepped aside, allowing it to land right in between them. An unfortunate jerboa that popped out of the sand was caught between its teeth. Though a very small catch the wolf was satisfied and took its leave.
"Look over there," Wu Xingyu pointed at some thorny plants, their branches twisted and gnarled by the constant wind. Scorpions crawled after the army of ants marching in orderly trails criss-crossing over the shrivelled roots.
"They're just ordinary scorpions though," observed Song Yehai.
"Mn," said Wu Xingyu. "Let's keep going."
A snake was the next to go for the kill. Again Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu made way for it to slither between them and snatch the largest scorpion it could snap its fangs on. Mustering enough jaw strength it pierced through the hard shell while evading the stinger. An eagle tried to catch the snake as it was preoccupied with its meal. Wu Xingyu's eyes lingered at the brawl for a while until they felt too dry to stay open. With a blink he steered his attention away from the bloodshed and his mind away from brooding how only the strongest could survive this unforgiving landscape.
Song Yehai noticed his forlorn expression. "Is something in your mind, Xingyu?"
"I'm just thinking how we can track the Iron-Clawed Scorpion. It's going to be tough since they're quite elusive. However it should be easier if we had some insects to use as bait."
The winds began to pick up and follow a circular motion as it carried sand and dust with it, obscuring the sky and casting the world in a sickly, yellowish haze.
"Looks like a sandstorm is forming," observed Song Yehai.
As the storm began to take shape all animals that were prowling nearby promptly scurried off. The thorny plants were on the verge of being ripped out by the intensifying winds.
"Let's find shelter as well," Wu Xingyu lifted his arm, shielding his face from being slapped by the sand.
"There's nothing nearby," said Song Yehai,
Wu Xingyu looked around for a bit. "You're right. I'll dispel the sandstorm then," he opened the Purple Feather Fan and created a whirlwind of his own. It spiralled in the opposite direction of the sandstorm, forcibly neutralising it. As the sandstorm dispersed and the air became more docile the sand remained airborne, keeping the sky yellowish.
"There's going to be a lot of things getting in our way," he sighed. "And the Iron-Clawed Scorpion is said to be in the innermost regions."
They continued their journey, evading or tackling any hazards the desert threw at them. As afternoon approached the temperatures soared and the dryness was substantial, sucking every drop and molecule of moisture out of the air. Parched, Song Yehai stopped to take a drink from his water bottle. He then removed his outer coat where wet blotches had dampened the collar. Wu Xingyu also removed his outer white robes. The grounds they were standing on had hardened quite a bit with patches of sun-baked vegetations growing out and a towering cactus growing in the centre.
Before they continued their journey they felt a tremor from the grounds.
"Xingyu!" called Song Yehai abruptly. "That cactus!"
The lone, arborescent cactus was almost as tall as an adult tree with five bulky arms that shuddered and convulsed. The air was still with no winds to rustle its spines. Gradually it increased its movements, swerving and thrashing erratically about before expelling its spines from its waxy skin. They shot out towards Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu, who leapt out of the way and the spines plunged into the sand.
"It's a demon cactus," exclaimed Wu Xingyu.
"Its spines can fly quite a distance too," noted Song Yehai.
They released their sash and whip, deflecting the spines and strapping around an arm each. The spines on those arms lengthened into stilettos that tore through its binds. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu promptly untied their weapons.
"Let's use sedatives," suggested Song Yehai.
"Sedatives?"
"I prepared some at the inn last night."
"Alright. I'll distract it," Wu Xingyu fanned a sandstorm around the cactus. Spines shot out from it in all directions but where ultimately caught in the winds and redirected right back at it. Wu Xingyu brought the sandstorm a little higher.
Song Yehai pulled out a needle that was thicker than his usual acupuncture needles with a rather shiny surface. He threw it very close at the cactus' roots, piercing into its flesh. It froze as all its spines began to tremble rapidly as though struck by lightning, leaving it frazzled. Its trunk was suddenly wrapped by a whip and a sash. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu pulled at the same time, their combined strength ripping the entire cactus of the grounds.
"What's that?" Wu Xingyu pointed up.
The roots of the cactus stubbornly clung onto mounds of soil, sand, rocks and long, white sticks that were all thrown into the air. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu took a closer look and discovered that they were bones.
"Which kind are those bones?" asked Wu Xingyu.
"Human bones," answered Song Yehai grimly.
"Are you sure?"
"Mn, I'm sure."
Song Yehai, being a master practitioner of medicine, was versed in anatomy. Wu Xingyu knew he could not be mistaken. He turned at the cavity from where the cactus was uprooted out of. A motley collection of random bones, all disjointed, was within. Some were cracked or broken, some still intact. There were also ribcages and skulls that were unquestionably that of primates. Song Yehai kneeled at the edge and scrutinised them carefully. "They're the bones of adults and children. The flesh is fully decomposed, so they've been dead for at least a week or two. But it could also be because they got fully absorbed by the cactus."
"Let me try and contact their souls," Wu Xingyu took out his bamboo flute and played a tune. Three wisps of souls emerged from the bones and hovered above them. Slowly they formed into the shape and outlines of a man, a woman and a little boy. All had faces distorted with terror and despair.
Wu Xingyu played a different tune. The man and the women fell on their knees. The man clutched his head while the woman hugged the boy, who started wailing in their arms. Song Yehai noticed cactus spines sticking on their back. He squatted down at the deracinated cactus, plucked out a spine and brought it close to his eyes and nose.
"There's nothing unusual on the outside." He then took out an extremely thin needle from his sleeves and, with great precision, pierced into the middle of the spine from the bottom end to its tip. Extracting it, the thin, silver needle was coated with an extremely thin but visible layer of viscous liquid. Song Yehai held it under the sun before taking a whiff. "What is this?"
"Let me take a look," said Wu Xingyu. Song Yehai passed the needle to him. Examining it carefully Wu Xingyu aimed the needle at his fingertip.
"What are you doing?" cried Song Yehai, seizing his wrist.
"Testing it out."
"You don't need to do it on yourself!"
"Just a little bit won't do any damages on me," Wu Xingyu wrenched his wrist free and pricked his finger. A painful sensation travelled down his hand.
"Xingyu!"
Wu Xingyu's head whizzed a bit and his heart raced. A faint wave of fear splashed all over him and he shivered a slight. Once the wave receded the aftereffects left him nervous and shaken. His hand unconsciously reached for something. Song Yehai grabbed it and gave it a squeeze, dispelling the anxiety.
"You alright Xingyu?"
Taking in a breath, Wu Xingyu placated his emotions. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just as I thought."
"What is it?"
"This is a Nightmare Cactus."
"Nightmare Cactus?"