Chapter 252 The Legend of Bai-Hu Gou

While I was still racking my brains over Ye Yang’s arrangements, Old Liu called, “Li Po, I’ve found it. I’ve found both the Yellow Springs Secret Archives and the past files.”

“According to the Yellow Springs Secret Archives, there once appeared in the art of术道 (shu dao, the esoteric world) a secret technique specifically used on human skin. It is said that the secret technique came from the *Human Skin Scripture*.”

“As for who originally created this secret technique, and how it appeared in the Jianghu (martial world), there is no definite conclusion. The Yellow Springs Secret Archives only recorded one sentence: ‘Suspected work of ghosts and gods.’”

“Because of the saying in the *Human Skin Scripture*, ‘Subdue a ghost, kill a person,’ it has always been regarded as a forbidden technique in the art of 术道 (shu dao). Even if someone masters the *Human Skin Scripture*, they will not use it easily. The *Human Skin Scripture* is not widely circulated in the art of 术道 (shu dao), and there are very few legends left!”

I interrupted him, “Wait a minute. What did you just say, ‘Subdue a ghost, kill a person’?”

“Yes!” Old Liu replied, “According to the Yellow Springs Secret Archives, the *Human Skin Scripture* is a secret method specially created for subduing demons and eliminating evil. However, to subdue ghosts, you must use human skin as a Dharma artifact. And the stronger the opponent, the more human skin you need.”

“Whether the *Human Skin Scripture* is righteous or evil, the Yellow Springs Secret Archives has not made a final conclusion.”

I asked again, “Wait a minute. Does the human skin Dharma artifact have any requirements for the raw materials? For example, what kind of human skin can be used to make the Dharma artifact?”

Old Liu said, “The Yellow Springs Secret Archives does not record these. It only says that if you want to uncover the secrets of the human skin Dharma artifact, you must find the *Human Skin Scripture*. However, there is another sentence in the secret archives: ‘The *Human Skin Scripture* is suspected to be not in the human realm.’”

“Not in the human realm?” I frowned, “Not in the human realm, could it be in the netherworld? What kind of messy records are these?”

Old Liu said, “Don’t doubt the Yellow Springs Secret Archives casually. The things recorded in the secret archives are absolutely true. Even if there are some speculative elements in them, they have been rigorously scrutinized.”

I didn’t feel like arguing with Old Liu about these things, “Continue.”

Old Liu paused and said, “That’s all about the *Human Skin Scripture*. I think the other two skinning cases are somewhat related to the *Human Skin Scripture*.”

“The two cases are sixty years apart, and the incidents both occurred on the first day of the tenth lunar month.”

I interjected, “Sixty years apart on the same day, are you sure?”

“I’m sure!” Old Liu said, “It’s recorded very clearly in the files. Moreover, the number of deaths is exactly the same, thirty-six people, half men and half women.”

“The bodies are arranged in pairs of men and women! The victims of the first skinning case should have been skinned after death.”

“The second time it was live skinning, and the bodies were all sitting on the ground, with the skin on their backs peeled off. Each piece of skin was the same size.”

“When the police found the victims, some of them hadn’t even died yet. The second skinning case seemed more like revenge.”

“Revenge! Revenge!” I repeated those words a couple of times before saying, “Where were the two skinning cases located?”

Old Liu replied, “The second incident was not far from Liangjie Tang (Two Worlds Hall). Yun Shang and Feng Ruoxing have already rushed over there, and they will notify me as soon as they have any news.”

I frowned, but then felt relieved. Feng Ruoxing’s injuries hadn’t fully healed, but just surveying the location without fighting shouldn’t be a problem.

Old Liu continued, “As for the location of the first incident? I can only say that what was found at the time was just the place where they buried the bodies.”

“The place where the bodies were buried is very close to your current location, in Wancheng!”

I immediately became interested, “Where in Wancheng?”

“That place was called Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully) in the former Qing Dynasty, I don’t know what it’s called now. I can draw you a rough location.”

Before Old Liu could send the location, Zhao Yuezhu said, “I know where Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully) is! I’ve been there.”

“You!?” I looked at Zhao Yuezhu in surprise. The latter said, “When I was studying folklore at the university, I went to Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully) with my tutor. At that time, my tutor told me that he had heard a legend about the feng shui of Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully), so he took me there.”

“However, we wandered around there for a long time and didn’t find anything wrong.”

I pulled Zhao Yuezhu and ran outside, “We can talk on the way!”

Zhao Yuezhu said after getting into the car, “At that time, my tutor heard from somewhere a saying that ‘No one should be buried in Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully), or their descendants will be cut off.’ He thought it should be an extremely ominous place in terms of feng shui, so he took me there.”

“A few of us searched up and down Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully) for a few days, using all the feng shui and geomancy methods we knew, but we couldn’t see any problems.”

“At most, the feng shui of Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully) could only be considered neither good nor bad. There would definitely be no problem with burial. However, there are many graves on the mountains outside Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully), but there isn’t a single grave in Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully).”

“My tutor studied it for a long time before concluding that the legend was nonsense. That’s about all I know.”

I turned my head and asked, “Did you see any ghosts in Bai-Hu Gou (White Tiger Gully)?”