Chapter 35

“Let’s check the room,” Ah Qiu reminded.

Cheng Hui thought of this too and quickly returned to the room, only to find… the shadow that had been lurking in the corner was also gone.

“Interesting,” Cheng Hui mused as he walked around the room. He noticed that the room was quite large. Previously, they had only focused on the remnant soul named ‘Xie Wan’ and had overlooked the room itself.

The room’s decor was quite simple, with dark tones on the wardrobe and wall decorations. It looked more like a grown man’s room than a little girl’s chamber.

So, here’s the question.

Xie Wan was a flawed girl, almost devoured by Meng Lang, leaving only a small remnant of her soul… Would she linger in a place filled with masculine energy?

Of course, another possibility is that Xie Wan’s remnant soul sought the protection of an adult man after being harmed, making this room likely to be that of Master Xie, the painter.

The old butler’s diary contained quite a bit of information, at least suggesting that Master Xie seemed quite abnormal.

Cheng Hui was quite aware of his own strength. His body was more agile now, but it hadn’t fundamentally improved much, still at the level of an ordinary wandering corpse. His strength and defense had increased a bit, but compared to Meng Lang, the gap was significant.

Ye Qi and Master Xuan Tan worked well together. If he joined them, he wouldn’t be able to cooperate effectively and might even become a burden. Instead of causing trouble, he might as well take the opportunity to find more clues.

Cheng Hui glanced outside. Meng Lang was evenly matched with Ye Qi and Xuan Tan. The ugly old Daoist lay on the ground, continuously vomiting blood, while Xin Erniang fed him a pill.

He quickly entered the inner bedroom and began searching everywhere. He rummaged through cabinets, boxes, and the bed but found nothing special.

Looking at the bed, an idea struck him. He lifted the dirty bedding and pressed down on the bedboard. Before long, he indeed found a hidden compartment.

Opening the compartment, he found—a book.

The cover was waxy yellow with a unique texture, looking somewhat familiar. Cheng Hui touched it, finding the texture strange.

The cover had five large characters: “Five Colors Essence Sacrifice.”

Upon opening it, the contents were about pigments, such as what materials could be used to make certain colors. It seemed like an ordinary book on painting techniques.

But the question is… would an ordinary book be hidden in a secret compartment?

“This book’s cover might be human skin,” Ah Qiu suddenly reminded.

Cheng Hui’s hand paused mid-flip, almost reflexively throwing the book away.

Thinking carefully, he realized why it seemed familiar—it indeed resembled skin texture.

This revelation made the book even more suspicious. How could an ordinary book have a human skin cover?

Suppressing his disgust, he flipped through it again. But as he read, he noticed something odd—the pages were unusually thick.

Upon closer inspection, he found that the pages were glued together to hide something inside.

Using a small knife, he pried open the glued pages, tearing them apart to reveal hidden pages.

These pages also described pigment-making methods, but the materials used were shockingly from different parts of the human body.

Green from the liver, red from the heart, yellow from the spleen, white from the lungs, black from the kidneys—using the five organs along with other body parts could create magical pigments.

Using these pigments would make one’s paintings irresistibly charming, gaining countless admirers.

Cheng Hui showed a disgusted expression. He remembered… Master Xie’s paintings were once highly praised. Now it seemed… the pigments he used might have come from this book.

He tore open other pages, finding mostly pigment preparation methods and material selection.

The use of the five organs varied—old people, women, children… each had differences. The last type was shockingly one’s own blood relatives. Using one’s relatives as pigments would make the paintings magical.

Cheng Hui immediately recalled the old butler mentioning that after the lady’s miscarriage, Master Xie was in a good mood the next day.

It’s not hard to imagine how Lady Xie’s accident happened and where the miscarried child ended up.

“Truly disgusting,” Cheng Hui frowned. “How could he do that? That was his child…”

“Why not? For some people, children are just their possessions. If they can exchange their children for greater benefits, they will,” Ah Qiu said with a hint of sarcasm.

He thought of his own parents and those in his village who, despite living well, were willing to sell their children to the Blood Slaughter Sect.

Such people are so greedy, and excessive greed often leads to bad outcomes.

For example… the child once sold finally returned home, but what he brought back wasn’t glory, but a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood…

They could sell him back then, so he could also take revenge. Fair, isn’t it?

Lin Qingqiu slowly closed his eyes, reaching out as if to embrace something.

Then, he smiled.

He truly was their son, with the same greed flowing in his veins.

He greedily desired that ray of sunshine, willing to embrace it even at the cost of everything!

What if the heavens don’t allow it? Lin Qingqiu had stolen everything in his life. If the heavens were unfair, he wouldn’t hesitate to fight for what he wanted!

Lin Qingqiu suddenly opened his eyes, a fierce glint flashing. Having finally returned to Cheng Hui’s side, no one could separate them!

Not even the heavens! If the heavens dared to make him unhappy, he would defy them!

Boom!

Outside, thunder suddenly roared, and a lightning bolt struck down. Meng Lang, terrified, scrambled under the eaves.

Cheng Hui was also startled, “Whoa, why is it suddenly thundering?”

Ye Qi and Xuan Tan were also shocked by the sudden change, but they quickly realized it was a chance to heavily injure Meng Lang, forcing him out into the open.

Meng Lang, under attack from both sides, could only curse and retaliate.

Boom!

Another lightning bolt struck, shattering the room’s window.

Cheng Hui had never seen such powerful lightning before and quickly hid in the corner, afraid of getting hurt.

At this moment, his interface suddenly opened. Xiao Tong, wearing a bunny pajama, crawled out, looking up at the sky in confusion, as if asking: What’s going on? Why is it suddenly thundering?

“Yaa!” Xiao Tong suddenly tilted his ear, listening to something, then looked at Cheng Hui in bewilderment.

“Why are you looking at me?” Cheng Hui was puzzled.

Xiao Tong scratched his head, looked Cheng Hui up and down, and shook his head. Cheng Hui could clearly see a hint of disdain in those eyes.

Cheng Hui: ??? What? I didn’t provoke anyone, why the disdain?

Xiao Tong babbled something, seemingly communicating with something, then reluctantly handed over something, and only then did the rain clear up outside.

“Yaa yaa!” Xiao Tong glared at Cheng Hui unhappily, pulling out a note from the interface. Cheng Hui had seen it before; it mostly listed the rules for acting in the small world.

Xiao Tong pulled over a ladder from outside the screen, placed it on the rules, and climbed up with effort. From his pocket, he took out a marker and highlighted a sentence.

“Respect the small world’s heavenly law, no defying the heavens.” Cheng Hui was dumbfounded, thinking he wasn’t even from this world, and it hadn’t wronged him. Why would he defy it?

“Yaa yaa!” Xiao Tong knocked on the sentence, indicating Cheng Hui should follow the rules. We’re a proper system with a contract with the heavenly law, no messing around.

Cheng Hui: …Alright, alright, you’re right.

Only then did Xiao Tong nod in satisfaction, dragging the ladder and yawning back outside the screen.

Cheng Hui couldn’t help but mutter, this small world’s heavenly law was too sensitive. He hadn’t done anything, so how was he defying it? It even struck with lightning… Could it be the heavenly law also had those few days every month?

In the sea of consciousness, Lin Qingqiu remained silent as a chicken…

Just, he didn’t expect the small world’s heavenly law to be so fierce. He only had a thought, and it struck with lightning. How petty.

Cheng Hui wanted to destroy the book, but Ah Qiu stopped him, saying it was evidence.

Cheng Hui thought that made sense, but he disliked the book’s material, so he tore a piece of cloth from the bed to wrap it.

Unexpectedly, this tear led to an unexpected discovery. The torn bedsheet had a few lines written on it.

I’m sorry.

I was wrong, forgive me.

I regret it!

Cheng Hui was surprised. To him, Master Xie, who could harm his own child, seemed inhumane. Who could make him repent?

He felt there might be more secrets hidden in this room and began searching again. The bedroom seemed to have nothing more, so he entered the adjacent study.

This study should be Master Xie’s workspace, with rice paper spread on the desk and pigments placed around.

Thinking of the book, Cheng Hui immediately felt the pigments emitted a foul smell.

“They should be ordinary pigments,” Ah Qiu said.

Cheng Hui realized that too. Master Xie wasn’t foolish. This world had many demons, so the management of them was strict. The Demon Suppression Division not only dealt with various strange events but also had the responsibility of capturing those using evil objects or worshipping evil gods.

The pigments Master Xie used were undoubtedly evil objects, so he wouldn’t leave them out in the open.

But since Master Xie usually painted here, the pigments wouldn’t be far. Cheng Hui searched again and indeed found the switch to a secret room.