As I spoke, Feng Ruoxing quietly nudged me. Following his gaze, I looked towards the heated kang.

The kang cabinet leaning against the wall had a crack, for some reason. Through that crack, I could vaguely see a finger.

Someone had been stuffed into the cabinet. The corpse was too large, and the cabinet too small, so the dead man's hand had pushed the cabinet door ajar.

I asked, without betraying any emotion, "Didn't Uncle Yu and the others tell you anything before they went up the mountain?"

The woman choked back tears and said, "No, they never tell me about their men's business. All he said was to wait for him to come back."

As the woman spoke, I faintly heard footsteps outside the courtyard gate. The person entering seemed to be shuffling forward, dragging their feet on the ground.

My back was to the window, so I couldn't see who was at the door. Shen Qingbai, who was facing the window sideways, twitched slightly. Ye Yang smoothly pressed her back into the chair.

I said, "Uncle Wang isn't just an ordinary mountain herder, is he? That wolf skin at the door must have been quite a creature before it was skinned."

"I don't know. He doesn't let me ask," the woman said. "He only talks about mountain matters with the boy, not with me."

I was trying to get information out of her, but she wouldn't say anything. I could only ask directly, "Did he not tell you, or did he not tell the dead person in the cabinet?"

"Dead person!" As the woman cried out in surprise and turned her head, the hand in the cabinet suddenly pushed the door open and hung limply by the side, with a silver bracelet identical to the woman's on its wrist.

The woman panicked instantly. "The one in the cabinet isn't me! I'm not dead!"

As my gaze flicked back and forth between the cabinet and the woman, someone pushed open the door from outside. The person standing at the door was exactly the same as the woman inside, with a silver bracelet on her left hand as well.

The woman at the door saw us and cried out in alarm, "Who are you?"

The woman at the door froze for a moment, then reached out and grabbed the doorframe, tearing down a rope directly from the door and clutching it in her hand.

The already eerie room was instantly filled with murderous intent.

In the world of術道 (Shu Dao, esoteric arts), a mountain herder's home could be said to be filled with hidden dangers. The things mountain herders brought down from the mountains were all tainted with grudges. When the mountain herder was present, the other party might not dare to seek revenge.

But when the mountain herder was gone, strange things might happen, like a fox patting at the door, a yellow wolf calling souls, or a snake coiling around one's life.

Mountain herders' homes were also full of traps and pitfalls, capable of both slaying monsters and killing people.

The rope in the woman's hand was a deadly thing.

The woman clutched the rope and shouted, "Who are you people? If you're not with her, get out now!"

Shen Qingbai was the first to react, but she noticed that the three of us were all sitting still.

The three of us had already locked onto our targets, but none of us had made a move.

Only one of the three women was real. What the other wanted was for us to kill the real mistress of the house.

I said calmly, "You want me to help you kill someone? Since you're so afraid of getting involved in this karma, why don't you let go?"

The three women said in unison, "I don't want to get involved in the karma between you and the corpse demon. But I must avenge my grudge!"

"If you kill the person, I'll let you go immediately. Otherwise, this mountain will be your grave."

If we killed the mistress of the house, we would be making an enemy of her family. Saving an enemy meant risking one's own life. That was why the other party wanted me to kill the person.

I laughed, "Three choices, but you have to let me know who to kill, right? What if I accidentally chop your head off? We'd still become enemies!"

The three women fell silent at the same time.

I stood up and said, "How about we make a deal? Tell me the location of the snow mountain corpse demon, and I'll immediately withdraw from this business."

"You avenge your grudge, I'll take care of my business, and we'll all stay out of each other's way."

The three women's eyes widened simultaneously. "Aren't you a術士 (Shu Shi, occultist)?"

I laughed. "An occultist isn't a knight-errant. Why would I care about so many things? If I achieve my goal, why should I fight you to the death?"

The three women spoke at the same time, "But I don't want to offend the corpse demon."

I turned my head to look at the woman at the door. "It's not that you don't want to offend the corpse demon. You are the corpse demon!"

"Kill all three!" As I spoke, I leaped up, my twin blades like lightning, slashing straight towards the door. Ye Yang raised his sword and stabbed at the kang cabinet, while Feng Ruoxing attacked the woman in the room.

As the three weapons flashed with cold light and shot across the room, the three women revealed cold smiles at the same time.

"Stop!" Shen Qingbai, sensing something was wrong the moment I drew my blade, raised her sword to block my attack.

As the blades of the black and white swords were held in mid-air, I released my grip on the hilts and reached out to grab the woman's face.

It was too late for Shen Qingbai to block me. My right hand's five fingers were like five iron hooks, tearing down from the woman's forehead, grabbing a human skin in my hand.