Chapter warning: Mutilated Corpses and Horror Alert
The fisherman docked his boat and wiped his brow.
Whew! He caught a good load of fish today.
He lugged the sack of fish over his shoulder, walking on the path back to his village.
Some dust got into his eyes, making him wipe them with his arm.
He blinked.
Huh?
The fog crept in, seemingly out of nowhere.
Damn! Why did the fog have to get heavy now?
This was bad. It was sunny and clear that morning so he didn't even think to bring his lantern with him!
Wait! What was that?
The fisherman squinted.
An orb of light shone in the distance.
Oh! One of the villagers must've come with a lantern to help guide him back!
Relieved, the fisherman called out, "Hello friend!"
That was strange. Why wasn't his companion answering him back?
Ah! He must be keeping silent because there was a predator near!
The lantern light continued moving up ahead and the fisherman followed after it.
The lantern light stopped.
The fisherman caught up to the lantern holder. He panted. "Dear friend! At least wait for me to catch my brea-"
The fisherman's blood ran cold.
By the time he realized what was in front of him, it was already too late.
"No! No! Please no!"
His screams went unheard.
Pan-shifu was out again.
Meng Yao studied the booklets intently, deep into his self-study session.
The door to Meng Yao's room opened.
"So how is my little cultivator doing?" Meng Shi hovered over his shoulder.
Meng Yao smiled. "Wonderful. I'm learning so much, Mother."
Meng Shi laughed. "You are learning so quickly. At this rate, you will impress LanlingJin sect in no time. A-Yao is so intelli-"
She coughed harshly into her handkerchief.
Meng Yao shot up from his seat in alarm. "Mother?!"
Meng Shi took in some breaths as Meng Yao held her. "I am fine, A-Yao. It's merely a cough. Do not worry about me," she said shakily.
Meng Shi had gotten dangerously ill after Meng Yao turned ten.
Pan-shifu used his spiritual energy and money from his cultivation outings to heal his mother and provide medicine. But he can only keep her alive for so long.
Panic and turmoil broiled in Meng Yao.
No! He couldn't let his mother die! He couldn't!
He needed-!
He needed…
He knew what he must do.
"People in our village have been going missing lately."
"Have you found any traces of them?"
"Only some of their personal belongings. - A sack of rotting fish. A shoe. And some other things."
The villager shook his head, troubled. "None of them left letters saying they were leaving the village to go anywhere. I fear the worst, Pan-xiushi."
Pan Wukun looked over the missing people's items.
No leftover residue from the culprit. No sword marks. Nothing.
Considering that these villagers' personal belongings were left behind, there must've been some kind of struggle. Wherever they went, they didn't go willingly.
"I'll head out into the forest to investigate."
"Good luck, Pan-xiushi. Return safely."
As Pan Wukun gathered her cultivation gear, the door to her room burst open.
"Pan-xiushi! Pan-xiushi!" A little girl ran into the room and bounced onto Pan Wukun's lap.
"A-Mei!" A woman, Xiang Bi, rushed over to the little girl, picking her up. She turned to Pan Wukun. "Apologies, Pan-xiushi."
Pan Wukun chuckled. "It's all right, Xiang-nushi[1]. Can't blame a kid for being excited about meeting a cultivator for the first time."
"You're going to go out and beat up some meanie ghosts and monsters, right? Right?" Xiang Mei waved her arms up and down excitedly.
Pan Wukun nodded. "Yup! That's my duty as a cultivator!"
"You might even run into Father while you're out there!" Xiang Mei grinned. "Father will come back soon! I just know it!"
Xiang Bi rested her hands on her daughter's shoulder, sending Pan Wukun a sad smile.
Pan Wukun understood Xiang Bi's message. "Of course! I'll be on the lookout for him!"
Xiang Mei cheered as Xiang Bi ushered her out of the room. Xiang Bi turned her head back to Pan Wukun. "Be careful, Pan-xiushi."
"I will." Pan Wukun set off for the forest.
Hopefully, the culprits were bandits. Wouldn't be the first time she had to deal with them.
All she had to do was track them down, kick their asses, and rescue the hostages. Problem solved.
With her luck though, she should know better…
Dense fog shrouded the forest.
Pan Wukun held up a light talisman, illuminating the surrounding area.
No signs of any bandits around. No footprints. No hoof prints. No wheel trails.
It was more and more likely that she was dealing with something supernatural.
Damn it.
This was a given for cultivators. What did she expect?
Wait. What was that?
Up ahead, a light bobbed up and down.
A lantern?
One of the missing people?
"Hello?"
No response.
Pan Wukun inched closer to the lantern.
She squinted and blinked to clear her vision.
Damn. The lantern light was too bright. She still couldn't make out the other person's face.
As she got closer to the lantern, her instincts screamed with unease.
Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong.
The lantern was moving, but where were the footsteps?
Pan Wukun tightly gripped Yuyun.
Once she was near enough, the lantern holder turned to face her.
The lantern holder's face wasn't visible. But the stump of their neck certainly was.
Just the stump.
The other person didn't even have a face at all. Or a head.
Giời ơi! Giời ơi! Giời ơi! [2] .
Dried blood caked the stump of the ghost's neck.
Pan Wukun took a step back - No! No! Anything but this one!
The headless ghost - wutou gui[3].
The ghost floated above the ground, its feet nonexistent. Its clothes were in tatters, a remnant from some bygone era.
Was that a face inside the lantern?!
The flaming head inside the lantern grinned at her.
As if I didn't have enough nightmare fuel already!
The wutou gui lunged and swiped at her with its hand.
Pan Wukun deflected its blow with Yuyun and leaped back.
Why couldn't it be a peaceful wutou gui?!
Blink. - The wutou gui was now mere inches in front of her!
"Gah!" A deep gash cut into Pan Wukun's arm.
Shit! If I blink, it just moves closer to me!
No good. She had to get out of here fast!
She turned to the side and rushed forward, putting as much distance between herself and the wutou gui as possible.
Once she was far enough, she stopped and studied her surroundings.
She was still in the forest.
The trees looked the same as before.
She didn't even get anywhere!
Shit! This fog's got me running in circles!
Pan Wukun looked back.
The wutou gui was still keeping up behind her. The trees didn't slow it down at all!
Oh great. It's able to phase through solid objects!
The wutou gui wasn't going to let her escape so easily.
I can't use an explosive talisman on this thing. It would deal some damage to the wutou gui, but it would also collapse some trees in the process. In this dense fog, I wouldn't be able to see a tree before it crushed me.
Damn wutou gui kept flitting in and out of sight, hiding in the thick fog.
Sinister cackles echoed from around Pan Wukun, sending shivers up her spine.
She couldn't see shit in here!
Her eyes were no good in this situation.
I have to cut off my sense of sight. - Pan Wukun tied a piece of cloth around her eyes.
Total darkness.
The humidity of the fog drifted across her skin.
Nothing but the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.
Her throat was dry.
Her hands held onto Yuyun in a vice-like grip.
Fuck. Her arm hurt.
Idon'twanttodieIdon'twanttodieIdon'twanttodie.
A rustle of grass to her left.
There!
Yuyun swung at nothing.
Something scratched at her back.
Behind me!
A missed attack again.
This wutou gui was toying with her.
I'm thinking too much. - Her panic and jumbled thoughts were just interfering with her focus.
Calm. Calm.
Her breathing slowed.
I need to wait for it to strike at me.
Pan Wukun stood still, bracing herself for whatever came next.
A sharp pain erupted up her leg. "Argh!"
No doubt the wutou gui was up close to her!
Now!
There came the sound of paper being sliced apart.
Something hit the ground with a thud.
The malicious aura vanished.
The feeling of being preyed upon and cornered faded away.
Pan Wukun pulled the blindfold off.
The fog dissipated.
The lantern was sliced in half, a chipped and battered human skull near its side.
On the grounds around Pan Wukun lay a gruesome sight.
She had never seen a corpse before.
Animals, yes. But a human?
Yes, there was body viewing in coffins at funerals. But her loved ones' bodies were cleaned up. Any grimy details were wiped away. They looked like they were sleeping, which brought Pan Wukun some peace of mind.
But the corpses scattered around her now?
She crouched down, studying them.
Their sunken eyes were wide open in fear and their rotted mouths opened in silent screams. Their skin shriveled and decomposed.
Their life forces must've been drained.
Fuck. She couldn't imagine going out like that. And she didn't want to.
Pan Wukun took out her dizi.
Her fingers moved along the dizi, its melody echoing through the forest.
Soothe the souls of the lost.
Serenity.
Peace.
Tranquility.
A heaviness lifted from the forest.
The dizi's song came to a close.
Nothing but calm silence.
Pan Wukun hissed.
The wutou gui had taken a good chunk of skin off her arm. Her back and leg had scratches but were light compared to her arm. She had disinfected the wounds with water and herbs. Then she sutured her arm wound. Now she was wrapping bandages around her wounds.
Before returning to the village, Pan Wukun placed talismans on trees around the area, creating a beacon so that she and the villagers could extract the victims' bodies for proper burial during the day.
She closed the corpses' eyes and mouths shut with her hand. Their families shouldn't see them frozen in their last horrific moments.
As for the wutou gui's skull, she burned it into ashes with a fire talisman. She purified and scattered the ashes to prevent the wutou gui from ever rising again.
She managed to limp back to the village with the support of her wooden staff.
Pan Wukun wrapped the last bit of cotton around her leg.
She walked outside to where the villagers gathered around a line of shrouded bodies.
"Pan-xiushi. We've finished retrieving-" A villager took a deep breath, shaking. "-all their bodies."
Gasps of horror and anguish were released as each victim's body was uncovered.
"No! No! This can't be!"
"Why?! Why?!"
"What did they do to be punished like this?!"
Xiang Bi placed a hand to her mouth with a sob, falling to her knees. "There's no doubt. This is my husband."
Pan Wukun left them to grieve. She needed to finish her investigation.
"The perpetrator was a wutou gui. Are there any cases of beheadings or decapitations that you know of?"
The villager placed a hand to his chin in thought. Then he gasped. "Of course! It has to be him! Over a century ago, there was once a heinous man who lured lost travelers deep into the forest to murder them for his sadistic glee. He deceived them, saying that he was leading them to safety with the light of his lantern. The authorities managed to catch up to him eventually, sentencing him to execution by beheading. His decapitated head and body were cast out, buried, and hidden somewhere in the land. The recent heavy rainstorms must've caused his headless corpse to resurface."
"Thus, the wutou gui, in its resentment, sought to continue its killing spree," Pan Wukun concluded.
"Pan-xiushi! Pan-xiushi!"
Oh no.
Xiang Mei tackled Pan Wukun from behind.
Pan Wukun winced. Well, that tackle put some strain on her back wound.
"What?! What's a child doing here?!" a villager cried.
"A-Mei!" Xiang Bi rushed over to Xiang Mei.
"Mother! Why is everyone out here? Is there a party?" Xiang Mei chirped excitedly.
Xiang Bi moved to block Xiang Mei's view. "No! No party! The adults are doing important business! This is no place for children!" She tugged on Xiang Mei's coat. "Come, A-Mei. You need to go back home to Auntie. Mother will be done here soon."
But Xiang Mei wouldn't budge. "No! I want Pan-xiushi to tell me how he beat up the big bad monsters!" She grinned up at Pan Wukun. "So Pan-xiushi, did you find Father?"
Pan Wukun didn't respond, biting her lip and turning her head away from Xiang Mei. What could she say? How the hell was she supposed to tell a kid her father was horribly murdered?
Xiang Mei's smile dropped. "Pan-xiushi. Where's Father?"
"A-Mei! Please! Be a good girl and follow Mother home!" Xiang Bi tugged on Xiang Mei harder with desperation.
Tears welled up in Xiang Mei's eyes. "Did something bad happen to Father?"
Pan Wukun still refused to look at Xiang Mei. - Please. Please don't make me have to do this.
Turns out Pan Wukun didn't have to do anything.
As Xiang Bi was too focused on pulling Xiang Mei in the direction of their home, Xiang Mei managed to maneuver her body around to catch a glimpse of the gathered corpses.
"Those-those are Father's clothes! Then-then that means-"
Xiang Mei broke into a fit of heavy sobs. She glared at Pan Wukun. "Why didn't you come sooner?!" she shouted. "If you did, Father would still be alive!"
"A-Mei!" Xiang Bi rushed after Xiang Mei as the little girl ran off, sobbing and calling out for her father.
"I'm…I'm sorry," was all Pan Wukun could say.
Pan Wukun washed her face with a bucket of water from the well.
She rubbed a hand across her face, sighing.
How many times have I almost gotten killed already?
Could I keep this up? Being a cultivator?
Traveling around as a rogue cultivator felt good, helping people, living out the fantasy of being a wandering hero she only used to ever dream of.
But no one actually got killed before.
Pan Heng warned her about the perils of being a cultivator. Not just the physical dangers of murderous entities and cutthroat cultivators, but the emotional burdens as well.
"You've told me there's a lot to be proud of about accomplishing superhuman feats and helping the common people. But…what about when you fail to save someone?" Pan Wukun asked him once.
Pan Heng looked at her, a saddened faraway expression in his eyes. "What's done is done. Sometimes, fate works against us and things happen out of our control. All you know is that you did your best to save them."
All those poor people. Poor Xiang Bi. Poor Xiang Mei.
Pan Wukun's eyes grew moist, but she held back her tears.
She kicked at the dirt irritably.
What kind of cultivator was she?
Cultivators took on cases like these all the time. They bravely stared death in the face, laughing all the while afterward. It was normal for them to realize people were killed, that there were victims without batting an eye.
Was she not cut out to be a cultivator?
Was it too late to quit?
Was she caring too much?
Was she just weak?
Pan Wukun curled up to her knees, covering her face with her arms.
Fuck. She was so stupid.
She was the one who chose to become a cultivator. She couldn't just back out now.
Even back home, she was always second-guessing, always being indecisive.
Even here, she had not changed.
How frustrating.
What the hell was she doing teaching Jin Guangyao anyway?
Jin Guangyao still became a cultivator in the original story. And he ended up just fine...wait.
At the end of the story, Nie Mingjue snapped his neck, dragging him into a coffin with him. Trapped and sealed away, Jin Guangyao transformed into a fierce corpse, battling Nie Mingjue for over a hundred years or so.
Even in death, he remained vengeful.
No. She couldn't risk abandoning everything and angering Jin Guangyao.
She gazed into her reflection inside the water bucket.
Her dark brown eyes were unsure, unsteady.
Was there even any point to what she was doing?
"Pan-xiushi, it's not your fault," Xiang Bi placed a bowl of warm porridge in front of Pan Wukun.
"You found my husband's body. We were able to give him a proper resting place. Now his soul can be at peace.
If that wutou gui was left to roam the woods freely, who knows how many more people would've been killed before help arrived. The wutou gui would not have been stopped without you, Pan-xiushi."
Pan Wukun took a spoonful of porridge. She shut her eyes, mulling over Xiang Bi's words.
Xiang Bi glanced over at Xiang Mei's room. The door was shut. "A-Mei and I will take good care of each other. We shall be all right."
"Pan-xiushi!" Xiang Mei's shout startled Xiang Bi and Pan Wukun.
Xiang Mei ran out of her room and over to Pan Wukun, making a little bow at her. "Pan-xiushi, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you! You're not the bad guy! That evil ghost who killed Father is!
Mother told me that thanks to you, Father's soul is happy now. You're the hero that saved Father!"
Xiang Mei wrapped her arms around Pan Wukun in a hug. "So don't be sad anymore!"
Nope. Pan Wukun was not going to cry. She was an unfeeling strong cultivator. "O-ok. I won't-won't be sad anymore." Damn it, her voice still cracked.
Xiang Mei puffed her cheeks. "Good! Don't worry about Mother and me! I'm a strong girl! I'll take care of Mother just fine!"
"A-Mei." Xiang Bi laughed and pinched Xiang Mei's cheek.
"Mother!" Xiang Mei whined.
Pan Wukun ruffled Xiang Mei's hair. "That you are, xiao-Mei. You take good care of your mother now, okay?"
Xiang Mei grinned up at Pan Wukun. "Someday! I'll become a brave and strong cultivator, just like you, Pan-xiushi!"
No. Don't. Being a cultivator is dangerous. You don't know what you're asking for. And me? Brave and strong? Don't make me laugh. - Pan Wukun sent a quick disapproving glance to Xiang Bi before smiling at Xiang Mei. "Well, whatever you decide to become, just be sure that you're proud of it."
Pan Wukun managed to return to Yunping in one piece.
She pulled the thread through the needle, mending her clothes that got damaged during the fight with the wutou gui.
A knock sounded on her door.
"Hm?"
Meng Yao stood at the doorway.
"What is it, Meng Yao?"
"Pan-shifu. I ask that you escort me to Golden Carp Tower."
Glossary
[1] nushi: "miss" - can be used to address a woman, whether she is married or not.
[2] giời ơi: "My God" in Vietnamese
[3] wutou gui: Chinese headless ghost
A/N: I got inspired since some Chinese paranormals are known to lure unsuspecting victims into the woods and they go missing, never to be seen again. It appears unassuming from a distance, but once you get close enough to realize what it truly is, it's already too late. If you hear a voice calling for you in the woods, don't answer it.
I also listened to headless ghost stories on Youtube. There's something about a ghost lacking a head that gives me the heebie-jeebies, probably because there isn't even a face or defining features you can look at. Creepy stuff.
I hope I set up the horror vibes in this chapter properly. What do you think?