I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 38: Between Gods, Ghosts, and Human Hearts, Who is More Evil?

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Between Gods, Ghosts, and Human Hearts, Who is More Evil?

"Looks like he’s finally preparing to descend the mountain. Qian Lao must have discovered something," the Empress asserted mightily.

Before Heavenly Immortal could utter a word, another voice broke in.

"It doesn’t matter what he’s discovered; I’ve already set his house on fire."

In the thick fog, a figure holding a potted plant in his right hand drew near.

"You’re not dead?" Heavenly Immortal recognized Gu Shanhai at a glance.

Upon hearing this, Gu Shanhai’s face was streaked with black lines: "I just went to solve a puzzle; how did I end up dead?"

Heavenly Immortal was slightly embarrassed.

"Damn it, you guys didn’t go around saying I was dead, did you?" Seeing their reaction, Gu Shanhai felt a bit speechless, thinking that his two teammates seemed to be somewhat unreliable.

"Anyway, let’s set that aside for now. You said you went to solve a puzzle? Is it really possible to just solve puzzles? Aren’t we supposed to be at the part where we fight the BOSS? Why are we still solving puzzles?" the questions from the Empress came out fast like a Gatling gun.

"Our combat strength is not nearly enough to take on a BOSS," Gu Shanhai retorted before explaining, "If we really followed the process, we’d have to face a level 20 BOSS and thousands of level 10 elite monsters. Even if you whipped out a Gatling gun with unlimited ammo, it would be a tough fight."

The two were curious indeed—it sounded like a terrifying instance.

While they were talking, all of a sudden, they heard a terrifying roar from the top of the mountain. Infused with resentment and anger, it swept over instantaneously, even clearing the clouds and mist trapped between the mountains.

"Is that the BOSS?" the Empress inquired.

"For now, it’s an ally," Gu Shanhai corrected him.

And then, they saw a massive twisted red apparition rolling down from the mountain amidst the clouds and mist.

Upon closer scrutiny, the exterior was a layer of bright, vivid bridal attire, while the interior was composed of a lot of meat and bone twisted grotesquely together, with broken faces and features still distinguishable.

"Ever heard of a mountain ghost? When a person dies by a tiger, their spirit becomes what’s known as a mountain ghost, bound to serve the tiger," Gu Shanhai stated.

"These mountain ghosts, however, are different. They are a creation of obsession and resentment. It would be less accurate to say they are driven by the Black Tiger than to say they are cooperating with it for revenge."

Gu Shanhai’s explanation only deepened their confusion, but he did not elaborate immediately. Instead, he went on, "The story the village chief told earlier was true, but, well, it was missing several things."

"Things that probably even he wasn’t aware of. Take a guess at what I dug up behind the ancestral shrine of the Qian Family."

"What did you find?" Heavenly Immortal followed Gu Shanhai’s lead.

"A mural of the mountain ghost and a tiger corpse sealed within it. A skinned tiger corpse," said Gu Shanhai.

"Mountain ghost? Isn’t that..."

"A malevolent ghost? Actually, that’s not quite it. Mountain ghost here means the goddess of the mountains, who could also represent the Mountain God," Gu Shanhai clarified Heavenly Immortal’s implication.

The quick-minded Empress suddenly connected the dots: "Are you suggesting that Fengtai Village sent the mountain ghost to become the Empress and then killed her mount, the Black Tiger?"

"That’s right. The overall story matches what the village chief said, but the difference is, the person who became the Empress was the mountain ghost, and she even assumed the identity of Qian Fengsheng’s daughter."

"Qian Fengsheng was indeed a General, but under what circumstances would he return to Fengtai Village to live as a recluse?"

"That’s right, he had made a grave mistake. Not only was he stripped of his rank, but he was also sent back to his hometown. Afterwards, he tried to regain favor by offering a concubine to the Emperor."

"As expected, he must have failed. If he had succeeded, he would not be staying here as the Mountain God but would have returned to the royal court to serve as an official. I even doubt whether the mountain ghost ever made it into the palace at all."

Gu Shanhai completed some missing parts of the story.

"But that doesn’t make sense, why the skin flaying?" asked Huang En with great consideration, and then he added, "However, speaking of skin flaying, we have to mention the mountain ghost descending the mountain..."

Huang En relayed the information he had acquired from Qian Lao to Gu Shanhai.

"It’s simple, the mountain ghost is not human, but a naturally born spirit. How could an ordinary person so easily inherit the position of the Mountain God? Therefore, they flayed the skin of Black Tiger and draped it over Qian Fengsheng’s body, and they bound the soul of Black Tiger to the tiger skin to suppress the rebellion of Black Tiger."

"Put yourself in the place of a loyal subject. Could you stand by as your enemies killed your liege and then flayed you alive and imprisoned you?"

"However, the people of Fengtai Village back then had some clever ones among them. They worshipped the transformed deity of Qian Fengsheng beneath the temple and used the image of the mountain ghost riding the tiger to contain the flayed corpse of Black Tiger. If Black Tiger were to resurrect and attempt to break out, it would first have to destroy this image."

"So... this is why Qian Family’s spirit tablet has suppressed it for so long."

"What a pity, they waited all these years, not for wealth and honor, but instead, they incurred an accumulating debt of wrongdoing."

Gu Shanhai looked down at the surging sea of fire in the village below the mountain and couldn’t help but express his feelings.

The evil debt he mentioned was naturally the girls who had died over the years being married off as brides to the Mountain God.

"Of course, this was not a stable solution, because as time went by, the soul of Black Tiger trapped in the tiger skin grew increasingly restless. After Qian Fengsheng’s death, no one was willing to take on the role of Mountain God; Black Tiger had never forgiven them after death, so those who wore the tiger skin were tormented ceaselessly."

Don’t ask how Gu Shanhai knows; he’s tried it himself.

"Therefore, they thought of another temporary, not cure-all solution," he said with a mocking expression. "They used other women to impersonate the mountain ghost herself, and, believe it or not, it actually worked. They first imbued these women with the essence of the Mountain God through sacrificial rituals, and Black Tiger, blinded by resentment, naturally couldn’t recognize them."

"Over time, there came to be thousands of these specters. Tell me, how do we fight against so many elite monsters?"

The terrifying specters rolled down from the mountain top, reaching out their arms to constantly snatch the villagers.

"And I, I only helped with an insignificant little favor, returning to Black Tiger its physical body to resurrect it."

"Although it’s called Black Tiger, it’s a Spiritual Beast born alongside the mountain ghost, under the command of the Mountain God, and the norms of this mountain cannot be measured by ordinary standards."

"Now take a guess, after a thousand years and endowed with the mountain ghost’s Divine Power, what level Black Tiger has."

Gu Shanhai looked at the tiger shadow near the mountain peak, nearly as tall as a ten-story building taking steps down the mountain.

"I’m not too keen to guess," said Heavenly Immortal with a gulp. He dared not speak out. If it were just the soul of Black Tiger, he would estimate, based upon Gu Shanhai’s saying, that it would be just a level 20 Boss.

But with such a terrifying presence now, he’d believe even if it was level 100.

"Shall we just watch the CG for the rest?" Huang En also asked.

"Exactly."

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