Immortality: Grinding Experience Starting as a Paper Craftsman

Chapter 75 Clay Sculpture Weeps Blood, Horror in the Ghostly Town

Xiao Chen pushed a thick stack of files in front of Gu Yan, tapping his knuckles lightly on the table, producing a dull sound.

"Lord Gu, please take a look. This is the trouble we are about to face."

Gu Yan put down his teacup, but did not immediately start reading. Instead, he first glanced at the expressions of the two people.

Xiao Chen's face was ashen, while Song Hong's brows were furrowed, clearly indicating that this case was quite troublesome for them.

He then reached out and opened the file.

The first page features a somewhat hastily drawn portrait of a seven- or eight-year-old child with a stiff face and an exaggeratedly wide grin. Although it is drawn with ink, it exudes an indescribable eeriness and chill.

"This is..." Gu Yan feigned hesitation.

"Guanyao Town".

Xiao Chen explained succinctly, "Located thirty miles west of the county seat, it gets its name from its abundant porcelain clay and numerous kilns. Half a month ago, children began to go missing from the town."

"At first, the townspeople thought it was the work of kidnappers who preyed on beggars, and after reporting it to the authorities, we also sent constables to investigate. But the strange thing is that these children would all return on their own after being missing for three days."

"You're back?"

Gu Yan raised an eyebrow, his fingers tracing the edge of the file. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Good thing?" Song Hong sneered, pulled a shard the size of a fingernail from her pocket, and slammed it on the table. "Take a look at this."

Gu Yan looked closely and saw that it was a grayish-white fragment, which looked like a piece of porcelain. It had sharp edges and dark red patterns on it.

He stretched out his long, slender fingers and carefully picked up the fragment.

The moment my fingertips touched it, a cold, sticky sensation crept into my skin, like some kind of mollusc crawling on it.

For an ordinary person, it would just feel disgusting and make them want to throw it away.

However, in Gu Yan's perception, the material composition inside this fragment resembled flesh and blood altered by some kind of evil magic.

"This is... human skin?"

Gu Yan pretended to turn pale, as if he was frightened, and his hand trembled, causing the shards to fall onto the table.

Song Hong's eyes flashed with approval. Although the new commander looked timid, he had good eyesight.

"That's right, it's human skin, and it's porcelain-like human skin."

Xiao Chen picked up the conversation, his tone chilling, "Those children who came back didn't eat or drink, didn't cry or make a fuss, they just smiled at their families. At night, they would stand at the head of the bed, staring straight at their parents. Until the seventh day, their skin began to harden and crack, and finally... they turned into lifeless clay dolls."

"This fragment fell from the body of the first child who died."

Gu Yan pondered for a moment, then murmured, "This is too eerie. Could it be demonic possession?"

"We checked, and there was no demonic aura or ghostly energy."

Xiao Chen shook his head, his eyes full of confusion. "My junior sister and I tried it with the Demon-Revealing Mirror. Those children's bodies were empty, one of their three souls and seven spirits was missing, and the remaining souls were sealed by some kind of earth and stone energy. We tried to force it open, but the child shattered on the spot and turned into a pile of mud."

At this point, Xiao Chen clenched his fists tightly, clearly still resentful about that mistake.

Gu Yan remained silent.

He outwardly feigned shock and uncertainty, but inwardly he was rapidly calculating.

There was no demonic aura, no ghostly aura, only the aura of earth and stone.

This doesn't sound like orthodox demonic cultivation methods; rather, it sounds like some long-lost curse technique or a variant of animal creation techniques.

The saying goes that all things have a spirit, and paper-making is to give spirit to inanimate objects, while the method of clay sculpting is to transform living people into vessels.

It seems to be some shady dealings among colleagues.

However, from a technical standpoint, the mastermind behind Guanyao Town is also involved in the creation process, which is different from his paper-making technique.

"My lord, the fact that you, the Flowing Cloud Sect, have come must be because of your great fortune."

Song Hong looked at Gu Yan, her tone slightly provocative, "More than a dozen children have already died in this case. The people of Guanyao Town are in a state of panic. If this isn't resolved soon, there could be major chaos. What do you think…?"

Gu Yan wore a bitter expression, picked up his teacup and took a sip to calm his nerves, as if he were having a fierce internal struggle.

After a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "One should fulfill one's duties in one's position. Since the sect sent me here, I cannot sit idly by. However..."

He changed the subject and looked at Xiao Chen and Song Hong, "My cultivation is low. If I really encounter the mastermind behind this, I hope you two senior brothers and sisters will take good care of me."

"That's natural."

Xiao Chen nodded in agreement, "You are an inner disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect. If you die here, we will have a hard time explaining ourselves."

"That's good, that's good."

Gu Yan patted his chest, seemingly relieved, and then stood up:

"Let's not delay, shall we go to Guanyao Town tonight?"

"tonight?"

Song Hong was somewhat surprised, not expecting that this seemingly timid commander would be so efficient.

"The file says that the children all underwent the mutation after midnight."

Gu Yan pointed to the pitch-black night outside the window, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes, "Since it's something sneaky, we should catch it when it's most active, so it's easier to expose its true colors."

In fact, Gu Yan's real idea was that it would be better to send out his paper figures and horses to scout the way under the cover of darkness.

If a real fight were to break out, many of his methods would be even more powerful in the dark.

……

Half an hour later.

Three riders galloped out of the gates of Changning County and disappeared into the vast night.

The official road leading to Guanyao Town had been in disrepair for many years and was full of potholes.

Gu Yan rode on the horse, his body rising and falling with the horse's back, seemingly bumpy, but actually as steady as Mount Tai.

He took a breath and quickly noticed the increasing humidity and earthy smell in the air.

The smell was like a mass grave after a rain, mixed with the sulfurous smell unique to firing ceramics.

"Sir, Guanyao Town is just ahead."

Xiao Chen reined in his horse and pointed to a patch of shadow not far ahead.

By the dim moonlight, Gu Yan saw a small town built against the mountain.

It was less a town and more a huge brick kiln.

Hundreds of earthen kilns of various shapes are scattered about, resembling a series of raised mounds.

It was already late at night, but the town was not completely dark. Instead, it was lit by many eerie red lights, which were from the kilns that were still burning.

The red light flickered, illuminating the entire town as if it were a ghost town.

Seeing this, everyone had doubts.

This Guanyao Town is so quiet.

In such a large town, there wasn't even a single bark from a dog.

"That's interesting."

Gu Yan narrowed his eyes, his fingers gently rubbing together inside his sleeve. A palm-sized, pale yellow paper figure silently slipped down and disappeared into the ground along the horse's hoof.

Through the paper figure's perception, Gu Yan heard a soft and orderly sound.

"Thump, thump, thump."

It sounded like a heavy object striking the ground, or like countless stiff footsteps.

"Gentlemen, it seems we've arrived just in time."

Gu Yan pulled on the reins, and the honest look on his face disappeared.

"Did you hear that?"

Although Xiao Chen and Song Hong are at the peak of Qi Refining, their perception is clearly inferior to that of Gu Yan, who has a cheat code.

The two looked blankly at each other, grunted in response, and looked at Gu Yan on horseback.

Gu Yan pointed to the ground beneath his feet and said softly, "The soil is crying."

Before the words were finished, a small figure suddenly swayed and walked out from under the archway at the entrance of the town.

It was a little boy wearing a red bib, holding a rattle drum in his hands.

He raised his head, revealing a face as pale as paper, his mouth split open, the split extending all the way to his ears, and gave the three people in front of him a stiff smile.

"Hehe... Sir/Madam... Would you like to buy a clay figurine?"

The sound was dry, like two tiles rubbing together.

The next moment, the boy's cheeks suddenly peeled off piece by piece, revealing the grayish-white clay figure underneath.