Fish-Dragon Guillotine

【Earth Fire Sword (Blue Quality): A sword forged with Underworld earth fire, slicing through iron as if it were mud, exceptionally sharp. (Combat Power +50, Agility +15)】

Nan Zhi saw how sharp the longsword was, plucked a strand of hair, placed it against the edge, and blew softly. Sure enough, the long strand split in two. Intrigued, she said:

“Vendor, I’m used to weapons built for bold, sweeping movements. As fine as this sword is, it doesn't quite suit me! Do you have anything else I could take a look at?”

“Of course.”

The female Rakshasa picked up a horse-slaying saber that stood more than half a person tall, swinging it effortlessly as if it weighed nothing:

“This ‘Gale Horse-Slaying Saber’ weighs one hundred thirty-seven jin. Mixed with wind-sand and fine iron, forged around a core of top-grade Yellow Light Essence, and honed daily by Yellow Springs gales, it took all that to yield such a fine weapon. If you cultivate Earth-element techniques, customer, pairing them with this weapon will surely give you wings!”

【Gale Horse-Slaying Saber (Blue Quality): A painstaking creation of a Rakshasa artisan, featuring dual Earth and Fire attributes, dominant and fierce. (Combat Power +50, Constitution +25)】

Nan Zhi took the saber, which reached nearly up to her shoulder, weighed it in her hands, and still shook her head:

“This saber has plenty of weight, but lacks agility. If I were pursuing an enemy or trying to escape, it would be rather unwieldy. Do you have any weapons suited for pairing with Five Elements Escape techniques?”

“We do, but...”

The female Rakshasa pondered for a moment, turned back to rummage around, and after a while brought out an oddly shaped weapon to present before her:

“Customer, what do you think of this dragon-head guillotine? This weapon weighs one hundred fifty-six jin. It was forged using earth, stone, and iron essence from beside the Naihe Bridge as its core, carefully hammered in the furnace for eighty-one days to yield this precious blade. In ancient times, there was the Great Chun Divine Tree, where eight thousand years were its spring and eight thousand years its autumn, standing tens of thousands of zhang tall. This hilt is made from a Chun tree as well, though only from a Small Chun tree whose spring and autumn last merely sixty days. That Small Chun tree grew beside the Yellow Springs, watered day and night by its stream. Once mature, its heartwood was taken for the hilt, giving this blade a natural Yin Water attribute!”

Nan Zhi saw that the guillotine possessed a unique shape—a dragon’s head and a fish’s tail, half wooden hilt and half thin blade, looking like a bow longer than a human body.

—Except where the bowstring should be was a razor-sharp blade.

Dark patterns were etched onto it, resembling a waterspout. The blade was icy cold to the touch, exuding a natural chill.

【Fish-Dragon Guillotine (Blue Quality): A dual Yin Wood and Yin Water weapon, a painstaking creation of a Rakshasa artisan, dominant and fierce. (Combat Power +65, Agility +20)】

This blade could actually increase Agility by twenty points?

Nan Zhi immediately put her father’s slaughtering knife out of her mind and gripped the blade, which was half her height, to put it through a few test swings:

“The weight is just right, and it feels remarkably comfortable in motion. Twisting, chopping, and slashing all come smoothly. In attack, it commands sweeping power to strike unprepared foes; in retreat, its blade stance forms an airtight defense. Vendor, I’ll take this blade. What is your price?”

“The blades at my stall are for trade only, not for sale. If you have high-quality ores or spiritual flesh and blood, bring them to exchange with me.”

Knowing that a critical examiner makes the true buyer, the tall, imposing male Rakshasa looked down at Nan Zhi, his bright red eyes rolling as he spoke in a muffled, heavy voice:

“My wife and I want to conceive a Rakshasa cub, but for some reason, the Underworld has grown colder and harsher over the years. Ice stretches for ten thousand li and snow drifts for a thousand li, making it harder and harder to quarry stone. And as for blood food, often we won't see a single living creature for over a decade. Even when we extract blood, we only get a tiny bowl.”

“...What does having a child have to do with stone and blood food?”

Nan Zhi couldn't help asking aloud. Beside him, the female Rakshasa hopped up lightly to sit on her husband’s shoulder and said with a smile:

“You might not know, customer, but we Rakshasas are born of heaven and earth, unlike birds, beasts, fish, or insects. We are of egg-born and moisture-born origins. The Rakshasa Kingdom has a Blood Pool, which is the filthiest place in existence. If a couple wants a child, both husband and wife must cast enough blood food and stone into it. For the stone, fecal stones that have soaked for years in filthy places in the mortal realm are best. For blood food, the flesh and blood of people burdened with deep resentful energy and tainted flesh are ideal. The filthier the materials and the heavier the resentful energy, the stronger and braver the child born from the Blood Pool will be.”

At this point, the female Rakshasa looked Nan Zhi up and down twice before clapping her hands in delight:

“Customer, you carry the scent of a human, so you must have come from the mortal realm. We aren't greedy either—as long as you can bring eighteen extremely filthy items from the mortal realm, why shouldn't we just give this dragon-head guillotine to you?”

???

Fecal stones soaked in filthy places in the mortal realm?

Weren't those literally stones from a latrine pit?

What kind of miraculous creatures were Rakshasas, anyway?

Nan Zhi's eyes were wide with wonder.

Rumors said they lived in the filthiest places between heaven and earth, relishing the flesh of humans, cattle, and horses, and sometimes even devouring lesser ghosts, possessing violent tempers.

But no book ever recorded that the Rakshasa race had a hobby of collecting latrine stones!

Just listening to it felt like she could smell it.

Haven and earth were truly full of wonders for such beautiful creatures to be born from places of pure filth.

The female Rakshasa wriggled her toes, sensing what Nan Zhi was thinking, and said with a beaming smile:

“What's so strange about that? Within you humans lies the cycle of the five grains, making those fecal stones the absolute height of filth. We Rakshasas are ghost-demons born from the filth of heaven and earth to begin with, so don't look at us through human notions.”

“My apologies, I was out of line. However, I currently have important matters to attend to and cannot leave Ghost Buddha Temple for the moment. Is it possible to trade using paper ingots instead?”

Nan Zhi truly liked that guillotine and was reluctant to give up:

“I really like this blade. Please, consider parting with it. If that truly won't work, I only ask that you two hold on to it for me until I gather enough filthy items and return to buy it!”

The red-eyed male Rakshasa shrugged his shoulders, and the female Rakshasa replied promptly:

“The Gates of Hell open only once a year, so my husband and I can only try our luck here during this time. If you're sincere about buying this blade, customer, you can take it with you right now. Next year, once you've gathered enough filthy stones, just return to this Yin Yang Road and hand them over to us.”

“It can work like that?”

Touched by the artisan couple's straightforward generosity, Nan Zhi smiled and asked:

“Aren't you afraid I'll take this blade and run?”

“Hmph! Run where? Even if an immortal descended from heaven, the day would come when your soul returns to the Underworld. Very few have ever been bold enough to deceive a Rakshasa on the Yin Yang Road.”

The male Rakshasa exhaled heavily, his two sharp fangs gleaming with cold light, while the female Rakshasa greedily licked her lips with a blood-red tongue:

“I'm actually hoping you'll deceive us! It's been so long since we tasted human flesh! Hehehehe.”

—Though a cub was important, if they could eat human flesh, that would be well worth it too.

Nan Zhi: “...”

The guillotine in her hand suddenly felt a bit too hot to handle.

How could she almost forget that on the Rakshasa race's menu, humans were actually one of the ingredients?

...

Having agreed to meet the Rakshasa couple again next year, Nan Zhi surveyed the paths around Ghost Buddha Temple, gathered some clues regarding Ruyi Pavilion, and returned to her lodging with her newly acquired weapon.

On the Yin Yang Road, day and night blurred together. By the time she made it back, the bells of Ghost Buddha Temple had tolled several more times.

By her estimate, it should have been late at night by now, yet the surroundings of Ghost Buddha Temple remained a hazy, dismal gray.

Whether it was just Nan Zhi’s imagination or not, throughout her walk back, she felt as though something was stirring restlessly within the surrounding mist.

...