Reborn As The Short-Lived White Moonlight of the Tragic, Powerful Male Lead - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Xie Lanting took a soft breath, speaking as if unruffled, “Is this the thing that’s been kidnapping the newlyweds?”

The skeleton was weaker than expected. The impact against the wall had caused it to mostly fall apart—both arms had popped off, a leg was fractured, and its spine was twisted at a highly unnatural angle. Its jaw clattered clack-clack, though no human voice emerged.

Xie Lanting endured his internal discomfort to study it closely, speaking almost simultaneously with Gu Yunqi: “A puppet?”

The Nian family guard prodded the bones with his sword. The skeleton snapped its mouth shut on the scabbard, chipping two teeth with a sound that made one’s ears ache. He nodded. “It’s a puppet. It seems this is just an errand-runner; the mastermind is someone else.”

The Town Mayor, who had long since shrunken into a corner, poked his head out from behind a chair. He stammered, “C-c-can you catch the mastermind? And… and the missing people?”

Seeing it was merely a puppet, Xie Lanting’s heart stopped racing and his legs stopped trembling. His “transcendent immortal” aura instantly returned. Just a puppet—think of it as a marionette specimen!

“We can find the master by following the puppet technique.”

Xie Lanting raised his sword to carve a tracking seal into the bone. He left one thought unsaid: anyone using the bones of the dead as puppets boded ill for the missing people who hadn’t returned.

The skeleton struggled to twist its body, attempting to flee. Gu Yunqi grabbed the end of the red silk and tightened it, binding the creature round. It could only stay still while Xie Lanting “etched” its bones.

As Xie Lanting finished the final stroke of the rune, a glint of red light flashed in the skeleton’s hollow eye sockets. The entire frame rattled violently, and its twisted foot-bones began to churn against the ground at high speed. In a blink, it lunged toward the door. If Gu Yunqi hadn’t been holding the red silk, it surely would have escaped.

“It’s heading back to its master,” Gu Yunqi pulled the silk taut. “It’s too fast to let go. We—”

Xie Lanting: “Easy. We’ll just ‘walk’ it.”

…

Consequently, a bizarre sight appeared in Purple Flower Town: five elegantly dressed people walking together, led by a masked man with a graceful posture. In his hand, he held a red rope. At the end of the rope was something running at high speed—on closer inspection, it wasn’t a dog or a cat, but a mass of broken bones!

The townsfolk scrambled to get out of the way in terror. However, once they realized there was no immediate danger, they couldn’t help but draw a little closer out of curiosity. People had seen dog-walkers before, but a “bone-walker” was a first!

“The immortals invited by the Mayor are truly amazing!”

“They’ll definitely find them! Immortal Lords, please save them!”

Baili Wuhen turned to the crowd. “Rest assured, everyone. I will surely drive out the evil and rescue your loved ones!”

In the crowd, several couples who had lost children leaned on each other, weeping and praying, treating Baili Wuhen’s words like a lifeline. Xie Lanting, walking the skeleton, only let out a quiet sigh.

Baili Wuhen’s words weren’t the problem; the speaker was. Baili Wuhen wasn’t trying to comfort the townsfolk; he was simply enjoying being placed on a pedestal. He glanced sideways to check Nian Wan’er’s reaction, only to find her staring at the backs of Xie Lanting and Gu Yunqi, paying him no mind.

A flash of displeasure rose in Baili Wuhen’s heart, though his tone remained soft. “Wan’er, you seem to have something on your mind?”

“Brother Wuhen,” Nian Wan’er’s voice was a bit flat and filled with confusion, “why didn’t it work when we pretended, but it worked for them?”

The six couples kidnapped from the town were all male-female pairs. Given that they did everything the same way, there was no reason she and Baili should fail while Xie Lanting and his partner succeeded. What was the difference?

Nian Wan’er couldn’t solve the puzzle. She and Baili Wuhen clearly had the advantage of mutual affection. From her observation, those two were mere acquaintances at best. Why?

Baili Wuhen also found it strange. Although his feelings for Nian Wan’er were faked, if the evil spirit could truly distinguish the truth from a distance, it wouldn’t be stuck in a small town harming mortals. He didn’t understand either, so he simply said, “We’ll know when we see the creature.”

…

The five followed the skeleton out of Purple Flower Town. Once outside, black mist swirled around the bones, and it began to fly. Xie Lanting held it like a kite. He intentionally loosened the red silk, and the group gave chase for several miles until they reached a mountain. The black mist dissipated, and the skeleton fell to the ground, slowly crawling up the slope.

The mountain was covered in a thin mist with an illusionary effect. It would have been easy to get lost without following the bones, and breaking the array might alert the creature inside.

To save time, Xie Lanting and Gu Yunqi hadn’t changed clothes. They were still draped in their red wedding robes, which looked remarkably vivid in the fog. Reaching a hollow in the mountain, the mist cleared to reveal a row of trees… and the things hanging from them.

Nian Wan’er gasped and covered her mouth. Hanging neatly from the trees were eight sets of wedding robes!

The piercing red clothes swayed gently in the mountain breeze, flashy and eerie. Xie Lanting drew in a sharp breath. What kind of mastermind is this? Why is he so obsessed with horror movie aesthetics?!

But he stopped mid-breath. A foul stench hit him. As the wind blew again, lifting the wedding robes, the dried, blackened bloodstains on the back became visible.

The smell was the stench of fermented blood.

The odor was so thick that Nian Wan’er nearly vomited. Gu Yunqi couldn’t help but lean closer to Xie Lanting. The scent of spiritual medicine on the Immortal Lord was at least enough to dilute the stench in his lungs.

The bitter scent Gu Yunqi usually disliked now felt exceptionally fragrant.

Xie Lanting covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. The shock of the eerie scene was replaced by dread. His heart sank. Looking at this setup, the missing newlyweds were likely long gone.

The skeleton clawed at the soil and jumped into the hollow. The group followed, finding a cave at the bottom. The skeleton dragged its mangled body and began to writhe at the cave entrance. The bones made an unpleasant cracking sound—it was a signal. The air outside the cave fluctuated for a moment.

Everyone instantly tightened their grip on their weapons. A drowsy, lazy voice drifted from inside, sounding listless and drawn-out: “Why are you back so late?”

The person spoke as if they had something in their mouth, slurring their words. The skeleton continued to rattle its bones. The voice spoke again: “You brought people… scared unconscious? There’s no crying from the captures this time.”

Along with the stench, a pitch-black head emerged from the cave. As soon as the tip showed, Baili Wuhen lunged forward and slashed with his sword.

“Wha—Who are you people!?”

Nian Wan’er threw out a talisman to back up Baili Wuhen, spitting, “You aren’t worthy of knowing!”

Xie Lanting released the red silk. The skeleton rolled twice on the ground and finally went still. He and Gu Yunqi stood to the side, letting the other side fight it out. Seeing how “sensible” they were being, the Nian family guard focused entirely on protecting his lady and young master.

The mastermind—he wasn’t just a “black hand,” his entire body was black. He had a human shape, but his eyes were a terrifying, pupil-less white. Every look he gave seemed like he was rolling his eyes.

“A ‘Skin-Peeler,’” Gu Yunqi frowned. “They love eating the flesh of beauties and wearing their skins. Years ago, their clan leader offended the Demon King’s youngest son. In a rage, the Demon King wiped them out. How can there be a survivor?”

Xie Lanting observed the surroundings and found several rows of small mounds on a patch of open ground, looking very much like graves. Xie Lanting flicked his sleeve, sending a gust of wind to blow away the soil, revealing what was buried beneath.

In the quiet forest, rows of fleshless white bones saw the light of day again. Paired with the bloody clothes outside, they silently told the story of their tragic fate. The blood and tears had long since run dry; only the bones remained to attest to the killer’s crimes.

Xie Lanting closed his eyes, whispered an apology to the bones, and waved his hand to pull the soil back over them.

Skin-Peelers only loved the skins of the beautiful; they wouldn’t bother with those they found plain. That was why some were allowed to escape. Furthermore, the survivors in Purple Flower Town had been driven mad by fear—the monster likely let them go just to watch their pathetic states for fun.

“You’re right,” Xie Lanting said. “The Skin-Peelers were taken out by the Demon King. Since they liked eating raw flesh, the Demon King, Zhuque (Suzaku), roasted them until they were well-done. To make sure they were thoroughly cooked, he let the fire burn for three days and three nights.”

The Skin-Peeler clan were extreme “visual-lovers,” cruel and twisted. Born without faces, they loved to strip the skins of beauties to wear. They weren’t particularly powerful, but their escape skills were top-tier, and they moved in large groups. Unfortunately, their leader was an idiot and finally couldn’t resist targeting the Demon King’s son.

Zhuque’s True Fire burned for three days. Even their ashes were scattered. Where did this charcoal-black Skin-Peeler come from? Did he crawl out of the barbecue pit?

The black Skin-Peeler was wearing a gaudy red and purple outfit. During the fight, he reached up to wipe his face, switching into a “beauty skin.” His black face instantly became beautiful, but the distraction caused him to step into Nian Wan’er’s talisman array, trapping him.

The beauty’s skin was hauntingly pale. Even trapped in the golden array, the Skin-Peeler showed no panic. Instead, he grinned. “If I’d known guests were coming, I would have dressed up before welcoming you all.”

“Shut up!” Baili Wuhen barked. “Where are the people you kidnapped!?”

The Skin-Peeler seemed very cooperative. He pointed to his face: “Part of them is here.” Then he licked his lips and patted his stomach: “Part of them is here.”

Finally, he turned his gaze toward Xie Lanting and Gu Yunqi. “The rest are in the dirt. My, what handsome grooms. Even though one is wearing a mask, this scent of beauty… I can’t be mistaken.”

Wearing someone else’s face, the Skin-Peeler showed an intoxicated expression. “Ah… you must be delicious.”

Despite the distance, Xie Lanting was thoroughly disgusted by that expression. Nian Wan’er, thinking victory was certain, couldn’t help but ask the question she’d been wondering about all along: “How did you know they were the real grooms?”

The Skin-Peeler gave her a coy look. “I just knew. We Skin-Peelers can not only smell beauty, each of us can distinguish a specific scent. I happen to specialize in ‘newlyweds.’ How could I be wrong?”

Nian Wan’er and Baili Wuhen both turned their gazes toward Xie Lanting and Gu Yunqi. Gu Yunqi’s shoulders instantly tensed. He hadn’t expected to be outed like this. His mind raced for a way to respond, but Xie Lanting suddenly spoke up.

“Specialize in newlyweds…” Xie Lanting mused.

Gu Yunqi’s throat tightened. “I…”

“Then it must be my problem.”

Gu Yunqi’s voice came to a screeching halt. “…Hm?”

Xie Lanting analyzed it for him: “I have a marriage contract. Although I’m a runaway, the wedding date hasn’t passed yet. If he can truly smell a ‘newlywed,’ it must be coming from me.”

It made perfect sense. Gu Yunqi, relieved to have his secret identity preserved, agreed unconditionally: “You’re right.”