376: 224 Strange 376: 224 Strange After a while, Fang Zhixing, well-fed and content, left the restaurant, leading Xigou by the leash.
Wang Jiayun and the Short Axe followed closely behind.
Soon, they found Cuizhu Pavilion and checked in without trouble.
Fang Zhixing booked three rooms, giving Short Axe a room to himself.
Then he closed the door.
Fang Zhixing sat in a chair, eyes closed in deep thought.
Xigou sat next to him, his head buried in contemplation.
After a long while, Fang Zhixing opened his eyes.
Xigou immediately asked, “What do you think?
Should I just go test that Short Axe, bite him to death maybe?”
Fang Zhixing shook his head firmly and said, “No, that’s too risky.
If he turns out to be an extraordinarily skilled master, we would be doomed.”
Anxious, Xigou asked, “Then what can we do, just let him bother us incessantly?”
Fang Zhixing stood up, meditating, “You stay here and keep watch.
I’ll go out for a walk.”
“…All right.”
Xigou replied helplessly.
Fang Zhixing approached the counter, asked the waiter about something, then had him hire a carriage.
The carriage arrived quickly.
Fang Zhixing got into the carriage and provided an address.
The coachman immediately set off.
About half an hour later, dusk was falling.
The carriage slowly stopped in front of a hall entrance.
Fang Zhixing got out of the carriage and looked up to see a plaque with the words “Blood Axe Gang” in golden lettering.
“Who goes there?”
At the entrance stood four burly men, chests bare, looking quite imposing.
Without wasting words, Fang Zhixing walked up to the stone lion at the entrance and gently tapped it.
The four burly men watched bewildered.
Shortly after, crash ~
The stone lion suddenly collapsed into a heap of rubble.
“Ah, this…
”
The four burly men froze, utterly shocked.
Then Fang Zhixing spoke openly, “I need to see your gang leader.”
“Please, please wait a moment!” One of them turned quickly and ran inside frantically.
Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps came.
From inside the gate, dozens of people emerged, all wielding axes—Flower Axes as well as long-handled axes and short axes.
The one surrounded by the crowd in the center was an old man over sixty, with silvery hair and a robust frame, dressed in a bright red brocade robe.
The red-robed elder examined Fang Zhixing closely and asked in astonishment, “May I ask who you are?”
Fang Zhixing, expressionless, did not answer but asked instead, “Are you the gang leader?”
The red-robed elder’s expression grew grave, and he promptly replied, “Indeed, I am Xue Bohua.
What brings you to me?”
Fang Zhixing nodded slightly and responded, “I’m looking for a quiet place.”
Xue Bohua hesitated for a moment, glanced at the shattered stone lion, and gestured invitingly, “Please, come inside for some tea.”
Soon, the two sat down in the living room.
“Everyone, leave…”
Xue Bohua dismissed his attendants, leaving only him and Fang Zhixing in the room.
Only then did Fang Zhixing speak, “Do you know Short Axe?”
At that question!
Xue Bohua shuddered, his face draining of color, and he sprang to his feet in alarm, “You, you’ve met him?”
Seeing his intense reaction, Fang Zhixing asked curiously, “Who exactly is Short Axe?”
Xue Bohua, however, was sweating profusely, countering with, “Have you spoken to him?
Did you make any requests to him?”
Fang Zhixing was momentarily taken aback and slowly said, “I did speak to him.
I made no requests, but my companion might have mentioned something unintentionally.”
Xue Bohua’s eyes widened as he urgently asked, “What was the request?”
Fang Zhixing replied, “She said, ‘go wherever you please.'”
Xue Bohua blinked, hesitating, “Were you followed by him, unable to shake him off?”
Fang Zhixing nodded and stated seriously, “I ask for your guidance, Gang Leader Xue.”
Xue Bohua slowly sat back down and wiped the sweat from his forehead, sighing, “Let me start from the beginning, as many things are unclear to me as well.”
He began to explain, “It all started half a year ago.
After a massive rainstorm in Xiahe County, a flash flood occurred, destroying a village.
A member of our Blood Axe Gang happened to be from that village, so he rushed back to deal with the funeral.
When he returned, he reported to me that following the flood, a tomb had been exposed on the mountain, apparently a large one.
I couldn’t resist the temptation, so I led people to excavate this great tomb.
It took a lot of effort to break through a stone passage to enter the tomb.”
Fang Zhixing listened quietly, deep in thought.
Xue Bohua’s voice gradually became sharper as he excitedly said, “There were no burial goods in the tomb, only a stone coffin, and we opened the stone coffin.”
At this point, boundless fear crawled onto Xue Bohua’s face.
He exclaimed in a choked voice, “Inside the stone coffin lay a young boy, the one with the small axe.
At first glance, he appeared to be a remarkably well-preserved corpse, flesh fresh and without breath.
But shortly after, he suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and nearly scared us all to death.”
Fang Zhixing listened with fascination, his face an expression of amused incredulity as he sneered, “Are you telling me that the boy with the small axe was unearthed from a grave by you?”
Xue Bohua spread his hands and said, “I know this is hard to believe, but if I am lying, may my Xue family be forever childless.
Even if I were making this up, why would I make up such a tale?”
Fang Zhixing pondered silently for a moment and then asked indifferently, “What happened next?”
Xue Bohua explained carefully, “I asked the boy with the small axe who he was, he said he couldn’t remember, then he asked me why I was there.
Offhand I replied that I was there to make a fortune.
The boy with the small axe then climbed out of the stone coffin and told me I would soon strike it rich.
Not understanding, but feeling that the boy with the small axe was no ordinary being and not wanting to leave empty-handed, I took him back with me, planning to present him to the Lord County Magistrate.”
Xue Bohua covered his face, rubbing it vigorously in frustration as he continued, “After I got home, I took a bath and went to bed with my wife, and when I woke up the next day, I found her completely stiff, turned into a golden statue.”
Fang Zhixing narrowed his eyes, the tale growing more preposterous by the moment.
Lost in his own story, Xue Bohua gasped for air and said, “At that moment, the boy with the small axe was standing by my bed, grinning at me, claiming that he had fulfilled my wish and that now it was my turn to fulfill one of his.”
Fang Zhixing pondered a moment and responded, “Is this what you recently referred to as ‘making a demand’?”
Xue Bohua nodded vigorously and said, “Yes, the boy with the small axe possesses a terrifying ability—he seems to be capable of doing anything, making your dreams come true.
But the price is, you have to fulfill his demand.”
Fang Zhixing scoffed and said, “Turning your wife into a gold statue counts as making your dream come true?”
Xue Bohua lamented, “To the boy with the small axe, he indeed fulfilled my desire.
When I went tomb raiding, all I could think about was various gold burial goods, and then…”
Fang Zhixing interrupted and asked, “What demand did the boy with the small axe make on you?”
Xue Bohua raised both hands, showing ten blackened fingernails, and answered, “He demanded my ten fingernails.”
Fang Zhixing looked sideways and asked, “Did you give them to him?”
Xue Bohua shook his head and said, “I had no choice, he would relentlessly pursue you for them.
At first, I was very angry.
I picked up an axe and killed him, discarding his body outdoors, but he quickly appeared again by my side.
The second time, I caught him and set a fire, watching him burn to ashes, yet that very night, he reappeared at my bedside, making a nuisance of himself incessantly.
After several attempts, I was nearly driven mad by him.”
Fang Zhixing wore an expression of disbelief, half-doubting what he heard.
Xue Bohua continued, “But that’s not even the strangest part; people around me told me that after I first killed the boy with the small axe, he vanished, meaning no one but me could see him.”
Fang Zhixing stroked his chin, at a loss for words.
Xue Bohua added, “I couldn’t sleep well for days and nights, no one could help me, so in the end, I had no choice but to pull out all ten fingernails.
It was from that moment that others suddenly could see the boy with the small axe again.”
Fang Zhixing understood and remarked, “Simply put, you and the boy with the small axe made a trade, and you lost twice while he won twice.”
Xue Bohua looked distressed and sighed, “At the time I didn’t fully understand the rules of the boy with the small axe; in a moment of anger, I made a second demand—I told him to get lost, never to appear before me again.”
Fang Zhixing was speechless and asked, “And the boy with the small axe’s demand?”
Xue Bohua inhaled deeply and said, “He told me I would lose my ancestral home and would never return to my roots.”
Fang Zhixing blinked and analyzed, “You are, in fact, displaced due to war, indeed having lost your ancestral home.”
Xue Bohua nodded, his expression grim as he said, “Yes, if his curse is true, then I will surely die in a foreign land, never to return in this lifetime.”
Fang Zhixing understood and mused, “Afterwards, did you ever investigate just what the boy with the small axe really is?”
“I looked into it.”
Xue Bohua spread his hands, smiling wryly, “To no avail; no one had ever heard of him, nor were there any records of such a being in the texts.”
Fang Zhixing pondered in silence.
Xue Bohua quickly advised, “Let me give you a piece of advice: don’t make any demands on him, better yet, ignore him entirely.
Ignoring him might be the only way to rid yourself of him.”
Fang Zhixing raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why would ignoring him definitely work?”
Xue Bohua lowered his voice and said, “Because I’ve observed a phenomenon— the boy with the small axe only speaks to people who can see him.”
He gave an example, “Back then, there was a blind servant in my home.
He was my bodyguard, blinded while protecting me, and I kept him at my house.
He passed by the boy with the small axe several times, but the small axe never bothered him.”
Fang Zhixing pondered silently, then asked, “Besides you, has anyone else made demands on the boy with the small axe?”
Xue Bohua hesitated, then smiled, “I once ordered a servant to make a demand on the boy with the small axe—he wanted to advance to the Hundred Cows Realm within a day.”
Fang Zhixing caught his breath, “And then?”
Xue Bohua spread his hands again, looking distressed, “That servant suddenly died from an explosion.”
Fang Zhixing spoke without a word, “Why did you test the Hundred Cows Realm?
Just improving a minor realm would have been enough, right?”
Xue Bohua responded, “At that time, I just wanted to verify whether the boy with the small axe was truly omnipotent.
I didn’t expect it to result in a servant’s wrongful death, so afterwards I dared not try again.”
Fang Zhixing thought it over and inquired about some more detailed questions.
But Xue Bohua repeatedly assured him that he had left nothing unsaid and no stone unturned.
Seeing that he couldn’t glean any more information, Fang Zhixing stood up and left, heading back to the inn.
By now, it was getting late.
Fang Zhixing went directly to find Wang Jiayun and knocked on the door.
Inside, a lamp was lit.
“Sister, who is it?”