The white characters, stark against the crimson surface of the water, were jarringly conspicuous. Ming Mei stared blankly for a long time, only lowering Jian Xin back into the depths once the inscription had blurred and vanished with the shifting ripples. She then hauled herself onto the bank. A row of peach trees perfectly encircled the pool, standing sentinel. Beneath the nearest tree, right beside Ming Mei, lay a scythe, gleaming sharply on the ground. Barefoot, Ming Mei walked to the weapon and dragged the blade across the skin of her own foot. The flesh peeled away layer by layer, revealing pale muscle beneath, yet not a single drop of blood surfaced, nor did any sensation of pain register. Ming Mei knew, deep in her core, that she was no longer the same.

She picked up the scythe and swung it savagely at a nearby peach tree. The trunk, thick as a human head, was severed clean in two with astonishing force. The scythe’s reflection caught Ming Mei’s face, but it wasn't the beautiful visage reflected daily in the Linghua mirror; instead, it showed the withered features of extreme old age. Shock registered on Ming Mei’s face. She looked down at her hands—skeletal, the nails grown long and hooked like talons. She was utterly transformed, no longer who she had been. Turning back toward the pool’s edge, two bodies, one large and one small, slowly ascended from the depths: Jian Xin and her original corpse.

The realization struck her: the former version of herself and Jian Xin had drowned in the pool’s water, leaving only her consciousness to inhabit this new form. If the revelation offered by the water was true, she needed to slay ninety-nine people to secure this undying body and ensure her eternal existence.

As the saying goes, desirelessness breeds strength. If you asked an enlightened monk or someone deeply devoted to self-cultivation to commit ninety-nine murders for an indestructible body, they likely wouldn't even consider such an act in a lifetime. But switch the subject to someone consumed by resentment, someone who had suffered profound injustice—they might gladly accept the command to kill nine hundred and ninety-nine.

And so, Ming Mei, gripping the scythe, began walking out of the peach grove, each step deliberate. She began formulating the steps to execute her plan. Yesterday, the kitchen had been busy procuring incense, candles, paper money, and sacrifices; tonight should be the ancestral worship night. The eighteen brothers would be burning incense in the ancestral hall, while their wives and concubines gathered in the main house for their meal. She resolved to take them all in one sweep, ending the slaughter swiftly…

The old woman finished the long, long story, sighed, closed her eyes, and tilted her face upward, bathing her features in the dying light of the sunset. She murmured softly, “Do you remember what I asked you to do the first time we met?”

“I do,” I replied flatly. Having heard the tale, I felt a profound sense of disquiet, unsure how to comment on this world of ghosts and demons. Human nature, when confronted with avarice, proves so fragile, always exposing its ugliest facets without reservation.

“I want to leave. All these years, whenever I see the village performing the ancestor rites, the scene from that night surfaces like a curse, causing unbearable pain that I cannot shake. Hanging, beheading, drowning—I’ve tried it all. This is truly an imperishable body. Only the Man-Eating Nether-Worm can destroy it. You can obtain it, can’t you?” the old woman said in a low voice, her tone heavy with sorrow, almost like a plea.

I let out a sigh too, offering no immediate commitment, and turned to find Old He and Xiao Shu. The last time, on Jingyin Mountain, they had poured an entire bottle of Man-Eating Nether-Worms onto the postcard album. I wondered if any remained. Even if I had to search elsewhere, I needed to consult them both, because ever since Hou Dayong died, the path leading to the Sea of Souls—where the worms were—had vanished. Besides that corridor, I had no idea where else I might locate them.