Chapter 6 - Headless Town.

“This is just my luck!! Damn it!!” Looking at the mountain shrouded in thick fog, Xu Xuan couldn't help but exclaim. After all, he had made up his mind to stay hidden in the mountains, to be a leisurely mountain dweller. Yet, in the end, he was driven down the mountain.

Xu Xuan had heard a lot about Demon-Ghosts and other evil entities. Coupled with the fact that he had no cheat-like abilities as a transmigrator and limited talent, Xu Xuan had always tried to avoid such terrifying things as much as possible. In the past, disciples in the sect often went down the mountain to fight Demon-Ghosts, and Xu Xuan had always kept his distance from such matters.

“What is this? If I don't go to the mountain, the mountain comes to me? I had already given up on going down the mountain, planning to stay in the sect for life, and this is the result.” Recalling the strange and bizarre events he encountered that night, and looking at the mountain wrapped in mist, Xu Xuan couldn't help but shiver.

He carefully looked around, and after confirming that he didn't see any other senior or junior brothers on the nearby official road, Xu Xuan knelt down towards the misty mountain and slowly bowed: “Your unfilial disciple Jianxuan thanks Master for saving his life. If I gain the ability in the future, I will definitely return and reclaim the Sword Hall's mountain gate.”

After speaking, Xu Xuan bowed towards the location of the mountain gate.

This was, after all, the place where he was adopted and raised in this life, and where he was taught the methods of Qi cultivation. Xu Xuan would naturally not forget this kindness, especially since Master Ouzi undoubtedly sacrificed himself in the end so that his disciples could escape. If it weren't to protect them, Master Ouzi probably wouldn't have met such a tragic end.

Thinking of this, a scene inexplicably came to Xu Xuan's mind. It was something he had just seen in a dream: a wriggling metal mountain, and Master Ouzi, whose body was only half-present, pierced by a long sword. And that Red-skirted Woman.

He walked continuously through the fog for three days and three nights, and when his spirit was extremely weak, the woman seemed to have said something to him. However, these memories now seemed to have become blurry.

“What exactly was that woman?” A brand new question surfaced in Xu Xuan's mind. But then Xu Xuan's stomach rumbled, and with the sound from his belly, all his thoughts were interrupted at that moment, and an indescribable hunger surged over him.

In fact, it wasn't just hunger; once his mind relaxed, all sorts of negative feelings began to amplify. It was fortunate that he had cultivated for over ten years, and his physique was already different from ordinary people, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to endure it.

“Forget it, I'll go to the nearest Jianxia Town first. Get something to eat and rest well. Maybe I'll see other surviving senior or junior brothers there.”

Mumbling to himself, Xu Xuan walked towards Jianxia Town. Although Xu Xuan was somewhat of a homebody, he often came to Jianxia Town to exchange mountain game for some wine or other things. So he was quite familiar with the town's location.

After walking for not too long, Xu Xuan saw a small town in the distance, and at the entrance of the town, a stone tablet engraved with the name Jianxia Town. What surprised Xu Xuan, however, was that half of the stone tablet was clearly missing. And the town itself was eerily quiet.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan drew the long sword from his back and cautiously walked into the town.

After entering the town, Xu Xuan was once again shocked by the scene within.

“Damn, this is possible...” Looking at the scene around the town, Xu Xuan couldn't help but exclaim.

All around him, in the town's market, people came and went, with pedestrians everywhere, and a small vendor was making selling gestures. A waiter in the inn was wiping a table, and several customers inside were picking up food with chopsticks, about to put it in their mouths.

However, all of it was in a state of stillness.

It was as if time had stopped, and what Xu Xuan found most eerie was that there wasn't a single head in the entire town!!!

That's right, all the residents of Jianxia Town maintained their actions from before, but what was terrifying was that none of these people had heads. Walking on the town's main street, Xu Xuan actually felt as if he was walking on a street where time had stopped. Of course, it would have been better if the pedestrians' heads hadn't disappeared.

Now, the entire Jianxia Town had completely become a Headless Town.

“Hey, hey, this development is a bit too exciting, isn't it?” Looking at the surroundings, Xu Xuan momentarily fell into thought: “Should I just burn the whole town down?”

As he spoke, Xu Xuan poked the thigh of a headless passerby with his sword. The long sword entered the flesh, but the headless passerby remained motionless.

“Can't move? That's really interesting, but I need to test it again.” Looking at the thigh of the person he had poked with his sword, Xu Xuan couldn't help but say. If anyone else had been there at that moment, they would have noticed that in such a terrifying place, Xu Xuan's expression showed no fear; instead, the corners of his mouth were unconsciously turned up.

“I've decided to test it again. If there's no harm, I'll bury everyone in the town... No, forget it, I'll just burn the town down directly with a fire. There are too many people for me to bury alone.” As he spoke, Xu Xuan came to an inn where he used to eat.

He remembered the proprietress here as a well-figured and still charming young woman. Sitting down at a spot in the inn, Xu Xuan glanced at the headless person standing at the counter, making a gesture of manipulating an abacus. Xu Xuan's gaze moved downwards, carefully examining the person's chest.

“Huge and plump, it's definitely the proprietress.” As he spoke, Xu Xuan took down a wine gourd hanging on the side of the inn, then went to a nearby wine vat and filled the gourd with wine for himself. After that, he snatched the food from a customer's hand at a nearby table and began to devour it.

By this point, Xu Xuan was extremely hungry. He no longer cared how long the food had been sitting there or whether it was edible. He gulped down a few mouthfuls of rice wine, then took a large bite of food. Unconsciously, the sky also began to darken.

“Thanks, brother. You don't have a head anyway, so you can't eat. I'll eat this meal for you.” As he spoke, Xu Xuan reached into the person's clothes and pulled out a money pouch: “You probably won't need this either, these coins. Don't worry, I won't waste your money.”

That's right, facing the residents and merchants of this Headless Town, Xu Xuan's first reaction after eating was to get some money. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Putting the money pouch into his embrace, Xu Xuan's gaze once again fell upon the proprietress's chest. A certain otaku heart from his past was acting up again.

“Even without a head, just looking at that figure, I feel like I could still go for it! How about a quick one? No, now's not the time to think about such things. Although I don't know what happened in this town, this is definitely not a place to stay long. I should leave as soon as possible... But what if I could finish in a few minutes...? No, what if I'm more 'durable'? And wouldn't doing something like that be too inhumane? But if you think about it, don't men think with their 'little brother'? And I've been eyeing this proprietress for years...”

Just as Xu Xuan was caught in his dilemma, he didn't notice that the fingers manipulating the abacus at the counter subtly moved. It was at this moment that the sky completely darkened.

“Forget it, I'll just find a way to burn this place down. It wouldn't be fun if it turned into a cursed land.” Just as Xu Xuan was speaking, a hand landed on his shoulder. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Xu Xuan instinctively turned around and saw the customer, whose appetizers and wine he had snatched, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“No way! Is it really that big a deal just for eating some of your food?” Seeing the headless customer in front of him suddenly move, Xu Xuan was startled. He instinctively grabbed the long sword placed nearby and slashed at the person's arm. With one strike, the person's arm was cleanly severed. And yet, no fresh blood flowed from the arm; rather, the blood had already congealed into black clots.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan didn't hesitate and leaped out of the inn. When he reached the street, he noticed that, at some point, all the headless people who had been on the street had completely surrounded the inn. A large number of headless townspeople had encircled his position, leaving no escape.

And from the surrounding houses, people kept emerging, but regardless of gender, age, or youth, everyone had the same appearance: they were headless. Even within Xu Xuan's sight, not far away, a headless person dressed as a soldier was leading a dog, and even that dog had no head.

“Holy crap!! What kind of weirdness has my town encountered!! They didn't even spare the dog's head!!” Just as Xu Xuan was exclaiming, he felt a pain in his shoulder. The hand he had previously severed was still resting on his shoulder, and its fingers were trying to dig into his flesh.

This sight startled Xu Xuan, who quickly used force to remove the hand, then flung it onto the ground beside him. At this point, Xu Xuan could clearly see that after being thrown to the ground, the hand actually gave him the middle finger.

Xu Xuan also unhesitatingly returned the middle finger.

It was at this moment that almost everyone in the town surrounded him, even the pigs, ducks, geese, and dogs raised by every household gathered around. And all these animals were also headless!!

“This is trouble!!” Holding the long sword in his hand, Xu Xuan's expression became solemn: “I forgot to check the time. I didn't expect these things to all come alive at night, and without their heads.”

It was at this moment that the townspeople began to swarm forward, attacking Xu Xuan. Seeing this, Xu Xuan immediately ran back to the inn, and while grabbing the wine gourd, he bisected two customers and the proprietress who were blocking his way. Then he ran towards the inn's back door.

“Sorry, proprietress!!!” After apologizing loudly, Xu Xuan rushed towards the inn's back door. However, as he burst out the back door, Xu Xuan ran into an alley. What made him frustrated was that both ends of the alley were completely blocked by the headless people.