Chapter 63: The Barber's Cloakroom

In fact, after discovering the barber's ability, Wu Xian had no absolute certainty of victory.

Such evil spirits residing in mirrors might not possess overwhelming direct combat prowess, but they were exceptionally difficult to kill. After all, Wu Xian could not reach the world inside the mirror at all.

Therefore, he had no choice but to take a gamble.

First, the family of four inside his body possessed the ability to manifest their figures within mirrors.

Second, those four were extremely eager for Wu Xian to reunite with them.

Thus, Wu Xian bet that Dr. Xu's family would be willing to welcome him right before his death, and that their sudden appearance in the mirror would cause the barber to make an unexpected move...

This gamble was extremely perilous.

The probability of success was very low.

Fortunately, Wu Xian won the gamble in the end.

The distorted shadow gradually evaporated into black Qi, its color fading bit by bit, until it finally left behind only an ordinary-grade Joss stick and a sharp razor on the ground.

"It's here!"

Wu Xian clenched his fists, picked up the Joss stick, and his expression showed a slight trace of emotion.

In the previous Blessed Land, Wu Xian had acquired a Joss stick even before officially entering.

As for this Blessed Land—

Setting aside the worshipping opportunity with Judge Cui of the Underworld, which was essentially a freebie, this Joss stick was actually the first worshipping opportunity Wu Xian had truly earned.

Then, Wu Xian reached out toward the razor.

The moment he touched it, Wu Xian was suddenly startled. In that instant, he seemed to hear the wails of countless people dying!

This was a murder weapon!

Furthermore, it was a murder weapon that had killed many people!

In the previous instance, Qi Zhiyong had found many murder weapons, such as crowbars and pipe wrenches, but those weapons at most made one feel uncomfortable, and their threat to evil spirits was also limited.

Yet this razor was different.

Just from the sensation upon touching the razor, Wu Xian knew clearly that this thing was formidable!

Wu Xian carefully put away the razor and began searching the barbershop.

The moment he parted the thin gauze curtain, he beheld a scene that heavily assaulted his visual senses.

The entire compartment was filled with densely packed bookshelves, and resting upon every shelf were the "garments" of the barber.

There was soft hair with the scalp still attached, strong arms with well-developed biceps, a delicate face of a youth, and a young girl's legs severed at the knees...

Naturally, one could easily deduce:

Since the barber treated humans as clothes, it was impossible for him to have only one set. This compartment was his walk-in closet!

Wu Xian suppressed the urge to vomit.

He searched through the walk-in closet and finally found a divine statue in a corner.

This statue had the head of an eagle and a human body, entwined with countless ferocious venomous snakes of varying lengths and thicknesses. It was precisely the God of Water, Grand Supreme Lord Xuanming, whom Wu Xian had seen before.

The reward obtained by worshipping this divine statue was...

A Dharma artifact!

Because this divine statue was extremely difficult to find, Wu Xian showed a rare display of reverence, lit the Joss stick, held it with both hands, and bowed deeply to insert it into the incense burner before the statue.

The Joss stick emitted misty water vapor, forming three items before Wu Xian.

Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish: Crafted from the branches of the soul-returning tree, striking it can soothe the soul. Striking and chanting scriptures for the dead can increase karmic merit.

Demon-Illuminating Mirror: An ancient bronze mirror polished to a bright sheen. Rubbing the Daoist patterns on the back activates it, allowing the user to perceive the true forms of ghosts and monsters, and shatter demonic illusions. Each activation consumes spirituality, and once depleted, it becomes an ordinary object.

Sword Box: Eager to display its sharpness, it dares not fear toil; at the break of dawn, the box opens and the jade dragon howls. Contains a flying sword inside; opens immediately upon release, and guided by hand gestures, it can injure people from a hundred paces away. Each activation consumes spirituality, and once depleted, it becomes an ordinary object.

Among these three Dharma artifacts, although Wu Xian had seen two of them before, all of them would be helpful in his current situation.

Striking the Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish might allow him to deliver the four evil spirits lurking within his body and lift the curse, but Wu Xian had long been prepared for this family of four, and moreover, the Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish was simply too conspicuous.

The sword box was both handsome and immensely powerful. If Wu Xian were a few years younger, he definitely would not have hesitated at all.

However, in this Blessed Land, martial might was not paramount.

That nearly free Flying Blade Incantation could solve most problems requiring force, and having an extra flying sword would merely be icing on the cake.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Wu Xian reached into the water vapor and fished out the dripping wet Demon-Illuminating Mirror.

This Demon-Illuminating Mirror was only the size of a palm, polished to a high gloss, slightly inferior only to a mercury mirror. Its back was covered in copper patina and engraved with various Daoist texts and talismanic drawings.

As long as Wu Xian remained within the cycle, he would inevitably encounter the scene of when he originally slaughtered Wei Hao's entire family. With this Demon-Illuminating Mirror, he could see through the truth and avoid wrongfully killing humans again.

Having found everything he needed, Wu Xian set fire to the entire barbershop.

Just leaving those things in the walk-in closet made Wu Xian feel deeply unsettled.

After leaving Perfect Hairdressing, Wu Xian put away the Demon-Illuminating Mirror and the skin-ning razor, placing them alongside the special bloody garments sewn earlier with black dog blood. He drove through the night back to the road where the transport vehicle had been intercepted.

He searched around the vicinity for a while and finally found a spot cluttered with many obstacles, where he hid these three items.

Then he casually found an abandoned, empty house, waiting for Detective Wei Hao to come and capture him.

...

What happened next did not exceed Wu Xian's expectations in the slightest.

Shortly after dark, while Wu Xian was cooking hot pot inside the ruined house and had just dropped in a box of sliced mutton, he saw a blood-stained girl standing at the doorway of the ruined house, her bloody eyes staring at him with overflowing resentment.

"The murderer is right here!"

The voices of the detective and officers echoed from outside.

Wu Xian cursed in a low voice, cast a reluctant glance at his hot pot, and bolted.

He exerted every ounce of strength he had, churning his legs rapidly, and truly ran for his life as hard as he could.

However, humans simply cannot compare to monsters.

Wu Xian was quickly captured by these four eccentric detectives, and all his techniques were completely meaningless before them.

The four individuals led by Jin Mo gripped Wu Xian's arms with the stability of a forklift; no matter how Wu Xian struggled, there was not the slightest tremor or sway.

This gave Wu Xian a visceral understanding of their strength.

Earlier, he had thought that using the Flying Blade Incantation could kill these four fellows, but looking at it now...

That would be extremely difficult!

Subsequently, Wu Xian was gagged and escorted all the way to the police station.

Detective Wei attempted to strike up a conversation with him several times, only to be stopped by the four beastly detectives. He was interrogated in rotation throughout the night by old men who looked as though they had been copied and pasted. Wu Xian perfunctorily dealt with them, treating it as resting.

The next morning, Wu Xian was sent away for a psychological evaluation.

The person conducting the evaluation for him was a psychiatrist whose surname was Jia.

Wu Xian did not show off how much he understood; he simply imitated the previous two criminals, stating what he had seen as objectively as possible...

Because only by doing so would the plot develop along the same trajectory.

Only with identical circumstances could Wu Xian ensure that he would not be killed by the detective, thereby resetting his consciousness and starting all over again!