Chapter Seven: The Tower

After reciting the Sutra Spoken by the Supreme Heavenly Worthy of the Mystical Treasure in the Cavernous Mystery of the Great Clarity for Deliverance from Suffering and Removal of Sins, Shen Chang'an buried the other bodies on the spot. He then lifted up the body of the man who had given him directions before, tore clothing from the others, made a sack of it, and put the corpse inside.

As for the rest, Shen Chang'an was not unwilling to help. It was only that they had died too soon, and none of them had said where they came from. He could not scour the world for them. All he could do was ease their souls and give them a new grave.

He also dealt with the black bear's body. The creature's corpse had been smashed beyond recognition by his blows, to the point that even Shen Chang'an could no longer tell what it had once been.

Still, it was a demon beast that had awakened into spirit. Shen Chang'an collected some of its blood of essence and found its demon core, then set a fire and burned the body to ashes.

The flesh and blood of demon beasts could easily give rise to grotesque mutations. Shen Chang'an did not want to bring on any trouble, so burning it clean was the simplest course.

When the black bear's remains had been reduced to ash, Shen Chang'an hoisted the sack onto his back and walked in the direction the man had indicated.

...

Two days later.

At dusk.

Shen Chang'an walked on in silence, the sack on his back.

The sky was a dim yellow touched with red, and it made him uneasy.

Then a stone stele came into view.

Clear River Village.

Shen Chang'an let out a long breath. He had finally arrived.

But...

He looked toward the village not far away. At dusk, there should have been cooking fires and a lively bustle.

Yet in this small village, not a single wisp of smoke rose from any chimney. No one walked the roads, and not a sound could be heard. Most unsettling of all was that his nose, which so often seemed to possess a god's senses, had already picked up the smell of blood.

"Ah..."

Shen Chang'an sighed, tightened his grip on the alloy staff, and walked slowly into Clear River Village.

What met his eyes next was a scene of such horror that it made the heart tremble.

Rows upon rows of severed heads had been arranged in perfect order, stacked into a tall tower. Countless wronged souls and vengeful spirits shrieked atop it, struggling desperately to break free of their bonds. Yet the tower seemed to hold some uncanny power, binding their souls tightly so that they were nailed fast upon it.

Beside each of those heads lay a corpse.

They had all been carelessly dumped by the roadside, dressed in the plain clothes of ordinary households. They must all have been the people of Clear River Village.

The entire village had been slaughtered, and their bodies thrown down heedlessly. If not for the dreadful yin energy radiating from that tower of heads, these corpses would likely already have been dragged away by wild beasts.

What kind of person could be so utterly mad, so heedless of human life?

Rage flared in Shen Chang'an's eyes, and a heat of fury surged up so fiercely it was hard to describe. His fists clenched so tightly that blood seeped out, yet he did not seem to notice.

After a long moment, Shen Chang'an loosened his fists and walked slowly to the side of the tower of heads.

He reached out, and the countless wronged souls instantly formed a great wall, blocking his wrist.

Shen Chang'an frowned in silence. If he forced his way through with brute strength, he could still break it open. But if he did, these souls would surely be left incomplete.

Moreover, if he used brute force, he would also be attacked by these wronged souls. There were so many of them that even Shen Chang'an could not be certain he would come away uninjured.

He thought for a moment, and suddenly an idea flashed through his mind. An invisible force spread out, and the topmost head fell into his palm.

"Just as I thought. It can't stop the transport art."

Shen Chang'an felt a little pleased. The transport art was not impossible to block; in fact, one could resist it with magic power. When he had once pursued Master Lu, he had failed to catch him because the other man had used his own power to block it, and breaking through the transport art had taken time.

But this tower of heads was clearly not meant to defend against Shen Chang'an. These wronged souls were bound by the tower; only if the tower itself were attacked would they resist.

And the transport art, which created a force from nothing, plainly did not count as an attack in the judgment of these souls.

Shen Chang'an used this loophole to pluck a head straight out of the tower.

No sooner had the head fallen into his hand than a bound soul burst out after it, then lunged at Shen Chang'an like a mad beast.

Shen Chang'an threw out a suppressing talisman, pinning it in place, then softly recited the Sutra Spoken by the Supreme Heavenly Worthy of the Mystical Treasure in the Cavernous Mystery of the Great Clarity for Deliverance from Suffering and Removal of Sins, slowly purifying its malice until clarity returned to its eyes.

"Many thanks, Daoist priest."

The soul floated up and bowed to Shen Chang'an, then pointed at a corpse on the ground and vanished.

Shen Chang'an smiled faintly, understanding that it had pointed to its own body. He searched the village and found some thread, then, guided by the transport art, quickly stitched the head back on.

After that, he found an open patch of ground, used the transport art again to dig, and buried the body within.

Suddenly, Shen Chang'an felt a strange lightness in his own body, and some unfathomable mystery flickered for an instant before disappearing.

He was slightly startled, not knowing what had happened. After a brief examination, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

He shook his head, then waved a hand and drew over another head. Using the same method, he purified that soul, sent it on to be reborn, stitched the corpse together, and buried it in the earth.

After doing this more than ten times in succession, even Shen Chang'an, with all his deep and refined power, began to feel unable to bear it.

Each time he chanted the scripture, a great amount of his magic power was drained away. In some unseen way, it was as though he were contending with something, using his own power to seize these people's souls.

Thus, the magic power consumed in purifying one soul was more than ten times what it had been before.

After repeating the process more than ten times, Shen Chang'an could no longer hold on.

By then night had fallen. Shen Chang'an simply pushed open one of the houses and moved in with great ease.

He had originally hoped to find some food, but the interior was already empty. To have left behind even two quilts was already fortunate enough. Many other households had lost their bedding altogether, or had had it cut apart.

Shen Chang'an had already guessed roughly who had slaughtered Clear River Village, but there was no way to do anything about it yet. For now, he could only purify the souls of everyone in the village and think about the rest later.