Chapter 36: Yin-Yang Blood Fiend

Back at the quiet courtyard in Xiyuan Village, Yang Rui did not disturb Mother Zhou. He closed the gate, leaned his back against the rough trunk of the old persimmon tree, and took out his phone. The screen displayed a message sent by Su Jin a few minutes earlier, accompanied by a playful smiley face.

Yang Rui's fingers hovered over the screen, pausing for several seconds. The scent of blood and the carnage by the mountain stream seemed to linger in his nostrils. Ultimately, he did not reply to the message; instead, he dialed Su Jin’s number directly.

The call was answered almost instantly.

"Hello? Yang Rui? Why didn't you reply to my message? Is something..." Su Jin’s clear voice was filled with concern, her trailing tone laced with a hint of anxiety.

"Su Jin," Yang Rui’s voice came through the receiver—low, steady, yet possessing a cold, metallic quality like grinding steel. "Listen. I need you to use all your connections and resources to help me investigate two things."

Su Jin’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately closed her laboratory notebook, her voice turning serious. "Go ahead."

"First, identify all independent properties owned by core members of Baishi or Hengtai that are located on the outskirts of the city, near mountains or water, or in proximity to abandoned mines or ancient riverbeds. The more remote, the better."

"Second, investigate 'Qu Tiankui'—that is, Old Man Qu. Track his movements and major transactions over the past ten years, especially the sources of any special feng shui artifacts he has recently acquired. Focus on one specific item: the 'Blood Fiend Attraction'."

"Blood Fiend Attraction?" Su Jin was unfamiliar with the term, but the gravity in Yang Rui’s tone made her nerves tighten instantly.

"It is a cursed feng shui artifact that requires the sacrifice of living essence and blood to be forged," Yang Rui’s voice remained calm, yet it sent a chill crawling up Su Jin’s spine. "It is shaped like a beast’s head, resembling black jade or obsidian. They usually come in pairs—one Yin, one Yang. The Yin head draws the fiend; the Yang head gathers it. Once the 'Yin-Yang Blood Fiend Formation' is set, it can draw out the foulest blood-fiend energy from deep within the earth's veins. Like a plague eroding life, it brings sickness to those nearby at best, and at worst... it results in the total annihilation of an entire bloodline!"

He paused, his voice growing colder as he began his crucial logical deduction. "This is not mere speculation. Su Jin, think back on Old Man Qu’s methods—the 'Greedy Wolf Swallowing Heaven Fiend' beneath the River-Suppressing Pagoda used twisted metal and infrasound to forcibly suck out the earth's energy; his methods were overbearing and sinister. Later, the 'Nail-Head Seven Arrows' he set at my home used my hair, coffin nails, and rotting wood to draw out decaying fiend energy, filled with resentment and curses, even tainted with the filth of living human blood. Each time he strikes, he becomes more vicious, more ruthless, and closer to crossing the line of forbidden taboos."

"My family’s ancestral classic, *The Compendium of Earthly Fiends*, explicitly records this inhumane 'Blood Fiend Attraction' sorcery. The book’s description of its characteristics and hazards perfectly matches the cold, resentful nature I sensed in the origin of Old Man Qu’s sorcery—a quality that feels as if it were condensed from the wails of countless living beings! Refining this object requires a specific site of intense malice and the heart-blood of a living creature as a catalyst; the process is inhumanely cruel!"

"Old Man Qu was injured when I broke his 'Nail-Head Seven Arrows,' and his foundation is damaged. With the vicious paranoia of a practitioner of the dark arts and the reckless desperation of Baishi, they know conventional methods cannot deal with me. They will inevitably take a desperate gamble! Deploying this ultimate evil, which is considered taboo by righteous feng shui practitioners and leads to mutual destruction once set, is their final and most likely choice! Their goal is to completely extinguish my life force, and perhaps... implicate everyone connected to me! The location must be somewhere that can provide a powerful source of blood-fiend energy—an abandoned mine, an ancient battlefield, or a site of past mass tragedy! Baishi’s old 'Black Stone' lead-zinc mine in the west of the city, plagued by frequent accidents in the past, deep resentment, and accumulated toxic waste, is the ideal breeding ground!"

Su Jin’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her phone. Abandoned mines, living sacrifices, Blood Fiend Attraction, total annihilation... Yang Rui’s clear and cruel chain of logic pushed a horrifying picture directly before her. She took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulent waves in her heart, and spoke with exceptional clarity and resolve: "I understand! The record in *The Compendium of Earthly Fiends* is the key clue! The 'Black Stone Mine' is the primary target! Give me three days! I will handle the database access and special channels! I will dig three feet into the ground to unearth Old Man Qu’s tracks and any records of the 'Blood Fiend Attraction'!"

"Good," Yang Rui replied with a single word, heavy as a thousand pounds.

"Yang Rui," Su Jin’s voice trembled slightly. "Is something happening on your end again?"

The terrifying scene by the mountain stream flashed through his mind. Yang Rui did not elaborate, saying briefly, "Safe for now. Focus on the clues. Stay in touch." He hung up decisively.

Listening to the dial tone, Su Jin sat motionless. The city lights outside the window could not dispel the chill and worry in her heart. She suddenly rose, a flame of determination burning in her eyes, her fingers striking the keyboard with the intensity of a rainstorm. To stop the coming blood fiend, she had to race against time!

At the top floor of the Hengtai Group, in the president’s office.

The curtains were drawn tight. The expensive agarwood could not mask the pervasive scent of rotting flesh, blood, and a strange, sulfurous, rusty odor.

Baishi slumped in his executive chair, his eyes bloodshot, looking like a madman. The string of misfortunes was tightening around his neck like a noose. There was no news from the assassins sent to Xiyuan Village; Yang Rui was still alive! Fear completely overwhelmed his reason.

"I can't wait any longer..." he growled neurotically, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the object in the center of the desk covered by a red cloth. With trembling hands, he ripped it away!

Under the red cloth lay a pair of pitch-black beast-head sculptures that seemed to absorb all light! The Yin head had a hideous face with exposed fangs, its hollow eye sockets swirling with dark red liquid, emitting a suffocating stench of blood! The Yang head had a bizarre, compassionate expression, yet its eye sockets were pits of soul-devouring darkness! It was the Blood Fiend Attraction!

Next to it, a sealed black pottery jar squirmed—it contained the heart of a living creature!

"Master Qu!" Baishi shrieked. "It's all here! Tell me! What do I do? I want his soul scattered! I want him never to be reincarnated!"

The shadows in the corner shifted as Qu Tiankui’s emaciated, corpse-like figure emerged. His aura of gray death was even thicker, his eyes burning with resentment and madness. He moved to the desk, his claw-like hands greedily caressing the beast heads, emitting a raspy, evil laugh:

"Boss... Bai... it is ready... the Yin head draws the fiend... the Yang head gathers it... use the heart-blood of a living creature as a catalyst... set the 'Yin-Yang Blood Fiend Formation'... within a ten-mile radius... nothing will survive! Yang Rui... will be gnawed to the bone by the blood fiend... he will die without a burial place! Hehe..."

He pointed to the squirming pottery jar: "The location... the old Black Stone lead-zinc mine! The toxic waste... the grievances of those who died unjustly... the best source of blood-fiend energy! Use this 'attraction' to ignite it... then use the Yin-Yang heads for a targeted strike... no matter where he hides, heaven or earth... he cannot escape this disaster! Hehehe..."

Hearing this hellish plan, Baishi was not afraid; instead, he erupted into a pathological, destructive ecstasy!

"Good! Good! Good!" he laughed hysterically. "Immediately! Go to the Black Stone Mine! Set the formation! I want to watch him be gnawed into white bones with my own eyes! Hahahaha!"

Inside the office, an evil aura permeated the air. The cold Yin-Yang Blood Fiend heads flickered with an eerie light, like the eyes of demons, staring at the bloody feast about to begin. Yang Rui’s precise prediction indicated that this final confrontation had finally reached its breaking point!