TBWE Chapter 35

Nuo Mask

What does it feel like to kill someone?

Chu Li had never contemplated this question before.

She never went into the kitchen, nor had she ever experienced the process of killing a living creature with her own hands.

The closest she had come to “killing” was during elementary school, when the school organized a spring outing to an agricultural learning base where students had to collect ingredients and cook for themselves.

While her classmates were covered in dirt digging sweet potatoes in the fields, wrestling with fish in ponds, or chasing chickens all over the hills, she was assigned the easiest task—washing vegetables.

A girl had caught a large fish, and the student responsible for processing ingredients couldn’t hold it down, so they asked Chu Li to lend a hand.

She tremblingly pressed down on the slippery scales while her classmate raised a small wooden stick and struck the fish’s head.

“Bang—!”

Blood splattered onto Chu Li’s cheek, dripping down her chin.

Warm, so hot it made her skin tingle.

Her vision, which had been wandering due to the memory, slowly focused. Chu Li looked down to see she was gripping a pitch-black blade in her hand, formed from shadows, gleaming with a cold, metallic luster.

Blood gurgled, flowing along the blade that had pierced through a heart, soaking the hand that gripped the knife.

Chu Li held it steady, not trembling at all.

Warm and sticky, it soaked through every gap between her fingers.

After gaining divine power, killing had become all too easy.

“Heh heh…” The Grand Nuo’s mask had long since fallen to the ground. She clutched the blade, her eyeballs hidden beneath sagging flesh, bursting with an intense will to survive. “No, no, you can’t kill me! You made a deal with the Nuo God, didn’t you! I can help you… help you become the new Nuo God, let you escape from Him forever!”

Bloodshot veins crawled up her aged, cloudy eyeballs as they bulged outward, filled with mad ambition. “The Chu family is cursed by Him, none live past fifty! Think of Chu Ruoying… your little aunt, and, and that little girl living with you—you care about them, don’t you want to help them escape the curse? The Nuo God won’t spare the Chu family, not a single one… You’re also surnamed Chu, can you bear to watch the Chu family perish? I’ve been planning for so many years, all for the entire clan!”

Chu Li watched the Grand Nuo in silence.

Without her mask, she looked no different from an ordinary old woman—layers upon layers of wrinkles covered her entire face, her hair dry and gray-white, heavy ceremonial robes pressing down on her withered frame.

She suddenly spoke, “The people chosen as divine attendants each year—they weren’t sent to the divine shrine, were they?”

The Grand Nuo’s pupils contracted.

Chu Li spoke to herself. “They all became nourishment for extending your life, which is why you’ve lived so long. You wanted to obtain me because you needed a puppet with divine power to obediently extend your life.”

With her dark inner schemes completely exposed, the Grand Nuo’s face instantly turned vicious. Ignoring the blade piercing her chest, she lunged toward the walking stick on the ground.

Her withered hand grasped the walking stick, about to strike the ground in a desperate final move.

“Splurt!” A bowl-thick tentacle pierced through the Grand Nuo’s back and through her heart, pinning her dead to the ground.

Crimson gradually spread, and the aged face soaked in the pool of blood, eyes filled with ambition and madness that never closed even in death.

Wispy red threads began floating up from within the Grand Nuo’s body.

Chu Ruoying had told Chu Li that the position of Grand Nuo in the Chu family was hereditary.

The Lesser Nuo would inherit all of the Grand Nuo’s techniques and memories without reservation. Generation after generation of inheritance had accumulated this power to a terrifying degree.

Unfortunately, the Chu family hadn’t produced any exceptionally talented individuals for a long time, so even with inheritance, they couldn’t fully comprehend this legacy.

Pale fingertips lightly touched the red threads.

A massive, ice-cold torrent instantly engulfed Chu Li.

Countless voices shrieked in her mind, while vicious or blurred human faces overlapped and pressed against her vision.

Memory fragments of fear, scheming, madness, and cruelty from countless generations of Grand Nuos surged toward her like a raging tide. Some from distant ancestors, some from the previous incumbent… but most from the corpse at her feet.

Another strange power brutally poured into her body, causing her very soul to tremble from the impact. Too much, too massive—it made her temples throb wildly.

If this body hadn’t drunk the Nuo God’s blood, it would probably have been torn to pieces by the foreign power by now.

After several breaths, the red threads completely merged into Chu Li’s body.

She knelt on the ground, hands braced against the floor, cold sweat dropping one by one, her gaze scattered and trembling.

“……”

Who was she?

Chaotic memories flashed randomly. Chu Li pressed one hand to her temple, feeling something cold and hard on her middle finger pressing against her skin. She opened her hand in a daze and stared at the platinum ring.

It served as an anchor point.

“Chu Li…” she murmured to herself, “I am Chu Li.”

She wanted to avenge her parents, rescue her little aunt, save those innocent branch family members, and destroy this corrupt family.

Her scattered gaze gradually focused, and the chaotic memories were temporarily set aside. Chu Li deliberately avoided reading them as she picked up the mask from the ground.

Red threads crawled out from her palm, weaving into new, solemn ceremonial robes.

The mask was ice-cold and hard, still carrying the lingering body heat and bloody scent of its previous owner. She raised her hand to wipe the blood from her cheek, then steadily and heavily fastened it onto her own face.

“Creak—“

The ritual hall’s great doors swung open, shadows writhing behind the slender figure, devouring all remaining traces.

The main family members waiting outside the ritual hall to welcome the Grand Nuo widened their eyes, staring in disbelief at the unfamiliar figure, beginning to whisper among themselves.

“Who is this? When did the Grand Nuo choose a Lesser Nuo candidate?”

“That’s not right—after Uncle Zhao came out just now, no one went in!”

“Then, then this person…”

A stern-faced man stepped forward, demanding harshly, “Who are you! How dare you play ghost here!”

Chu Li glanced at the middle-aged man through the mask’s eye holes, quickly retrieving information about him from the complex memories.

Chu Ping, one of those who participated in hunting down her parents years ago, deeply trusted by the Grand Nuo.

“Who am I…” Chu Li stepped forward, the heavy ceremonial robe brushing over the threshold, “The Chu family’s new Grand Nuo, Chu Li.”

A red thread suddenly pierced into the man’s neck.

“Ahhhhh—!!”

The Gu worm responded to the summons. The man collapsed as if all his bones had been extracted, writhing and wailing on the ground as bulging black veins crawled from the backs of his hands up to his face.

The screaming lasted less than ten seconds before abruptly stopping.

He was dead.

A twisted, strange pleasure surged in her heart. Chu Li calmly surveyed the crowd with their various expressions. “Any other questions?”

Deathly silence surrounded them.

Someone was the first to move—the main family members lowered their heads like a group of awakened marionettes, stiffly clearing a path.

They held their breath in silent attendance as the Grand Nuo passed, then clustered behind to follow.

As for where the original Grand Nuo had gone, no one cared anymore.

****

Dawn passed, and the sky gradually brightened.

Around the enormous plaza rose black buildings constructed by generations of the Chu family’s main branch, like a circle of silent beasts crouched on the mountainside. Below spread a broader basin with buildings extending into the distance.

In the center of the plaza stood a ritual platform built of black stone, covered with the marks of time. Scarlet patterns spread across the platform—the foundation that sustained all the Chu family’s ritual formations.

In front of the platform, dozens of young men and women were bound with ropes, kneeling on the cold stone ground. Some still had tear stains on their faces, others stared with vacant, despairing eyes.

Chu Queling’s face was among these terrified faces. Her complexion was deathly pale as she stared straight at Chu Li emerging from the ritual hall wearing the mask, her eyes full of fear.

She could never have imagined that “Chu Qingyu” would appear in this manner.

When Chu Li’s gaze swept past a certain spot, her steps faltered as if nailed in place.

Tied to a stone pillar on the high left side of the platform was a person.

Hair disheveled, covering most of her face, revealing only cracked lower lips. Dark bloodstains had congealed on her clothes, and her arms were hoisted high.

Two people with long whips stood guard beside her, their eyes cold.

“Little aunt…” her lips moved soundlessly behind the mask.

Hatred burned like fire within her, growing fiercer with each moment.

Over a thousand Chu family members—main branch and collateral—stood in black masses across the plaza, none daring to raise their heads to look directly at the new Grand Nuo wearing the blood-stained mask.

Mountain wind blew through, causing the bronze bells around the ritual platform to sway.

Chu Li climbed the platform step by step.

The Chu family members silently parted to make way, closing ranks again behind her like a moving shadow.

The view from atop the platform was excellent, taking everything in at a glance. Wind swept up from the mountain ravine, making the heavy ceremonial robes flutter and dispersing the fresh, pungent smell of blood.

Chu Li stood still, with no ritual text, no opening words from past ceremonies.

“Chu Ruoying,” she began, speaking each word distinctly, “is innocent.”

The crowd standing silently below the platform stirred slightly.

Chu Queling raised her head in disbelief, staring dazedly at the figure on the platform.

The two executioners standing beside Chu Ruoying were clearly stunned. They didn’t understand why the Grand Nuo had suddenly changed, feeling vaguely uneasy.

One middle-aged man frowned deeply, bowing slightly toward Chu Li while speaking in a hard voice tinged with doubt. “Grand Nuo, Chu Ruoying attempted to sabotage the ritual, assisting…”

“I don’t like repeating myself a second time.” Chu Li’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly across the plaza.

She raised her hand, casually lifting and pressing it in the man’s direction.

The man seemed to be struck violently by a giant hammer, his entire body arching upward as he burst into sharp screams, then collapsed like mud, only his chest weakly rising and falling.

Dead silence.

The thousand-plus people in the plaza fell silent as death, with only the sound of mountain wind whistling through.

“Release her.” Chu Li uttered two words, this time to the remaining person.

The other person dropped his whip, fumbling to cut the ropes. Chu Ruoying’s body lost its support and toppled forward in a disheveled heap.

A pair of hands steadily caught her. Having been suspended for a day, Chu Ruoying struggled to focus her vision to identify this familiar figure.

“Little aunt, I’m sorry I came so late.”

Moving red threads burrowed into Chu Ruoying’s skin, quickly mending her wounds.

Hearing the voice from behind the mask, Chu Ruoying’s pupils trembled as she squeezed out a whisper. “Xiao Li, you, you…”

After steadying her, Chu Li offered no further explanation, releasing her hand to face the platform.

“This ritual’s divine attendants are being replaced.” Her voice rang out again, this time addressing all the family members. “This ritual’s attendants—”

She clearly recited the names of dozens of young men and women, including Chu Queling.

“The above are relieved of their attendant qualifications.” Chu Li’s gaze swept over those young faces transitioning from despair to astonishment. “The new attendant list is as follows.”

A string of names flowed from her mouth, her pace steady without any emotional fluctuation.

As each name fell, someone among the kneeling crowd—belonging to the main branch—would violently shudder.

When the final name was announced, the crowd that had been stretched to breaking point finally exploded. From the direction of the main branch bloodline came heart-rending roars and voices of protest:

“We are main branch blood, why should it be us!”

“This doesn’t follow the rules—main branch blood cannot serve as divine attendants, this was established by our ancestors!”

“You’re not the Grand Nuo—where is the Grand Nuo? We demand to see the Grand Nuo!”

The dozens of main branch members whose names had been called charged straight at the platform. Not only them, but almost all the main branch bloodline surged toward the platform.

They understood all too clearly the fate of becoming divine attendants, and they also understood that this Grand Nuo before them was not of one heart with the main branch.

They would not allow a Grand Nuo with treacherous intentions to rule the Chu family.

Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from the crowd.

“Kill her! She’s in league with Chu Ruoying—she killed the Grand Nuo!”