The Immortal Emperor Returns

Chapter 331 Monster

At the hospital, Chu Xun was shown to the woman who was driven deranged by the ordeal of her colleagues being brutally murdered.

During her fits, she would be screaming and physically thrashing violently around, and she had to be sedated so that she could sleep.

Chu Xun approached her, but Tang Rou stopped him. “Let me.”

She sent a spurt of True Energy into the sleeping woman to dispel the effects of the sedative and the woman slowly roused.

Suddenly, her face twisted into horror and she began shrieking, “Monster! Monster!”

But slowly, she started to calm down; Tang Rou’s funneling of True Energy into her helped keep her soothed.

“It’s all right! You’re safe now! Don’t worry!” Tang Rou placated her.

That seemed to work and the woman became more relaxed.

Tang Rou gestured tacitly, motioning Chu Xun that he could question the woman now.

“Do you remember what happened last night, lady?” asked Chu Xun carefully.

The question sent a jolt right through the woman and her eyes quivered with fear revisiting her again as she began to look distraught and terrified again.

Tang Rou quickly send another spurt of True Energy into her to assuage her and she cooed softly, “Don’t worry, lady. You’re safe now. No one will harm you here.”

It took the woman several moments until she could regain her composure enough to speak. With her lips still shaking, she mumbled, “We worked and stayed together. Last night after work, we were walking back home like normal. Then I remembered I left something at the club we were working at and so I headed back. But after retrieving my item, I caught up to the girls, only to find that...”

Her voice broke and she began shaking wildly.

“It was a monster... No... A ghost... A black ghost... It’s very tall – three to four meters, I think... And its eyes were red like blood... Then I saw its claws... Its long razor-sharp claws that it used to rip open the girls’ chests and dug out their hearts... Then... Then it shoved them into its mouth and began chewing on the raw meat...”

Intermittent and indistinct, her words sounded just as blotchy as her mood.

Nevertheless, Chu Xun heard enough to understand what happened as his expression turned grim. He did not yet know what it was that attacked the women, but he knew it was dangerous enough to warrant more precautionary measures. “Perhaps it’s another new species of monsters from somewhere,” he mused.

He wanted to know more about this “ghost”, but with the woman only repeating what she said, there was only so much he could hope to glean from her.

With that, he took Tang Rou and Jiu You with him and set off for the Sanctuary of Tetrachy.

Yue Fandie was delighted when he heard Chu Xun arrived.

“Gods in Heaven, Chu Xun, how have you been?” he yelled, “You’re finally here! I’ve been having such a headache for the past few days!”

Yue Hongbo and his brothers were present too with each of them wearing worried frowns. Still, they did not neglect any courtesies and they quickly greeted Chu Xun, “Uncle!”

Tang Rou and Jiu You shared an amused grin. It looked so hilarious to them for Yue Hongbo and his brothers – each of them nearing the age of 150 – yet they addressed Chu Xun as “Uncle”.

Chu Xun introduced Tang Rou to his godbrother, who had earlier met Jiu You before.

“Do you know how terrible I have been lately, Brother?” grumbled Yue Fandie.

“I know. It’s those bloody murders, ain’t it?”

“You know about it?!” yelped an amazed Yue Fandie.

“I encountered some of your men on the way here,” nodded Chu Xun as he recounted what happened.

“So, what are your findings so far?” a troubled Yue Fandie rubbed his forehead. The string of murders had struck fear into the entire city that no one dared to roam outside in the dark anymore.

“Not yet, at least for now,” Chu Xun shook his head and said, “Are ordinary women the only ones being killed so far?”

“Warriors too,” added Yue Fandie, “But all of them women.”

“Tell me what you know then. Let’s match it all up together and see if we can spot any clues,” said Chu Xun.

Yue Fandie nodded in agreement.

“It all began a week ago. The first victims were a bunch of college students. They were killed in their dorm bathrooms,” reported Yue Hongbo, “The manner of their deaths were gory enough that I immediately sent some of our men to join in the investigations, but we found nothing.”

“Then more women died – all of them in similar tragic manners with their hearts been dug out. Slowly, more victims included even warriors. At first, we thought that this was the aftermath of some savage beast attack. But with all the entries into the city tightly-manned, no beasts should be able to come in. Moreover, beasts usually have large sizes which would make it impossible that no one saw them.”

With a dismal smile, Yue Fandie groaned, “For all my life, Brother, this is the first time I encounter something so bizarre. Until now, we don’t even know who the murderer is. It’s like having a fistfight with air!”

“If only I know who it is,” growled Yue Changle impetuously, his face fraught with murderous rage, “Or I’ll butcher him with my own hands!”

“What a bloody head sore,” grumbled Yue Fandie again, “Up until now, we can do almost nothing except to increase our patrols.”

Suddenly, very quietly, Chu Xun murmured, “What if this is not the handiwork of any person, but it’s not anything done by any wild beasts either.”

“What do you mean?” gasped Yue Fandie incredulously, “Not human, and not beasts either? Wait, don’t tell me... Ghosts?!”

“It’s a possibility,” said Chu Xun.

Yue Fandie, and Yue Hongbo and his brothers stared at Chu Xun with disbelief.

Chu Xun repeated what the young woman at the hospital told him.

“Damn,” Yue Changle exclaimed, “We have a survivor?! But how?!”

“We’ll leave that for some other time,” dismissed Chu Xun, turning to face Yue Fandie, “Look in the Lost History tome, Brother. There might be something useful there that describes that we’re looking for.”

The Sanctuary of Tetrarchy keeps a chronicle called the Lost History that recorded many secret historical facts unknown to most people. In fact, the last time Chu Xun had glanced through it, he saw entries about the Subterranean Devils Clan.

Yue Fandie nodded and motioned for Yue Hongbo to go retrieve the Lost History.

The huge tome of more than ten centimeters thick was so ponderous a volume that it required all of them to take turns riffling through its pages to look for any details pertaining to the murders.

“Shouldn’t we let the woman have a look?” suggested Tang Rou.

“Nope,” muttered Chu Xun with a cryptic grin.

“Brother,” Yue Fandie noticed Chu Xun’s mysterious look and asked, “Are you hiding something from me?”

That startled Chu Xun a moment before he broke into a benign smile, “It’s too premature to make any assumptions yet. But I’ll tell you once I’m certain.”

“Uncle,” called Yue Hongbo suddenly, “Look at this.”

Chu Xun took over the thickset tome and saw the opened page depicting a hideous monster resembling a horned-unicorn with sharp fangs and a coat full of fur as hard as needles. Its hind limbs were thick but strong while its forelimbs were short, but clawed.

“Horned Nightmarish Beast,” Chu Xun read the name of the monster out loud.

This race of powerful monsters was known to be bloodthirsty predators with an unquenchable yearning for carnage. But as far as he knew, Horned Nightmarish Beasts had been extinct for millennia.

“It doesn’t look like it.” Chu Xun shook his head. “According to the young woman, the monster is black and tall with long arms and sharp claws. The Nightmarish Beasts’ forelimbs are too short to fit her description.”

Yue Changle took the large tome over and continue flipping through its pages.

Before long, he came back again with the tome and showed it to Chu Xun.

“What about this, Uncle. Do you think this is the one?”

The “Uncle” gave Chu Xun a back full of goosebumps.

“Zombies.”

Chu Xun stared at the ugly monster with long razor-like fangs.

Towering at several meters taller than humans, the monster, in a hide of deep purplish-green, looked like a lumbering stone monolith, its abnormally-long and gaunt arms growing nails as sharp as daggers.

“It really looks like zombies, if my guess is correct,” said Chu Xun.

Tang Rou craned over and peered, “Well, it matches what the woman described it.”

“I fought against monsters of this race before,” said Chu Xun suddenly.

Every head in the room jerked in Chu Xun’s direction with shock.

Chu Xun began his tale slowly. It was during his annihilation of the Demon King Sect, in the maple forest valley where the Fire Dragon Palace was now located, he fought and was gravely injured by the Demon King and he was saved by Emperor Ao.

Everyone mistook him being dead, they raced quickly to Qianlong Mountain to get hold of the grimoires containing the training instructions for the most powerful magical discipline and enchantments.

The Demon King was away when the Demon King Sect was utterly destroyed, and thus he survived the massacre. He would later join the siege of Qianlong Mountain and it was then when he released a Zombie King which had been slumbering, a creature with terrible might.

“So, how do we find this thing, Brother?” asked Yue Fandie. Having not the slightest interest in what this monster was, all he ever wanted was to drive a fist through the very foul creature which had haunted his sleep for days.

Chu Xun shook his head. Even he could not think of any ways at the moment for he was still uncertain if the string of murders were the handiwork of zombies.

“I have an idea, Big Brother,” said Tang Rou, “We should try it.”

“And what might that be?” muttered a genuinely curious Chu Xun.

Yue Fandie and his sons too looked at Tang Rou.

“The monster loves eating the hearts of women, right? I can be a bait, then...”

“No,” said Chu Xun flatly, cutting Tang Rou before she could finish. It was too dangerous and he just could not let her risk it.

“Just let me have a try. With you keeping me safe, nothing will happen,” egged Tang Rou coyly like a spoilt little girl.

But Chu Xun was adamant, for he would never say yes to such a reckless idea.

Yue Fandie and the others thought that it could be a viable idea, but no one dared speak a word. The notion of how Chu Xun had razed the entire stronghold of the Brotherhood of Seven Stars at Xiacheng to the ground all because of Tang Rou and Jiu You were still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Tang Rou opened her mouth, hoping to persuade Chu Xun again, but with a darkened expression, he snapped, “We’ll talk no more of this anymore.”

That made her pout with annoyance. She only wanted to help, and she griped quietly.

“Why don’t we find another woman?” squeaked Yue Fandie hesitantly.

“No,” Chu Xun said sharply, waving a hand, “Let me try locating this monster first.”

It was useless to use any other women – even if they are warriors. Being able to kill so many people and up until now, no one had seen it before only showed that this monster must have some unknown methods or means to ensure a safe retreat.

One reason Tang Rou volunteered, was due to her ability to detect unseen foul auras because of her magical cultivation of immortal magic.

“You’ve found an idea, Brother?” exclaimed Yue Fandie with joy.

“I’m not sure whether it’ll work,” admitted Chu Xun. “Have the young woman who’s our only survivor watched and followed, Brother. I want to know the first moment she steps out of the hospital. Most importantly, she mustn’t know.”

A puzzled Yue Fandie stared at him.

“Rest assured, Uncle,” said Yue Hongbo, “I’ll keep an eye on her myself.”

The next few days passed with not a word about any murders.

“Why don’t you brew your elixirs first, Brother?” offered Yue Fandie. Chu Xun had mentioned to him the purpose of this visit.

“It’s better that we solve this matter first,” declined Chu Xun, jesting, “Or else, you’ll have your beard all plucked out at this rate.”

Yue Fandie could only smile weakly. The string of murders had indeed bothered him greatly.

One day, Yue Hongbo sent word, reporting that the female survivor was just discharged from the hospital.

Leaving Jiu You and Tang Rou at the Sanctuary, he bade Yue Fandie to be ready and wait for his signal.

Chu Xun left alone to meet up with Yue Hongbo.

“Uncle, she went straight home since she left the hospital. I’ve confirmed that this is the unit she shared with the other girls,” said Yue Hongbo, his finger pointing at an old apartment building.

“How long has she been in there?”

“About four to five hours.”

Chu Xun nodded, the curling of his lips into a grin portending that his plan was working well so far.

“You feel there’s something wrong with this woman, is it, Uncle?” asked Yue Hongbo.

“Well, I was not sure at first, but now...” Chu Xun chuckled. “Think. Put yourself in her shoes. Would you go back to the same place and stay here for four to five hours when every single housemate of yours has died?”