Chapter 79: The Sky-Burial Sand River

The gates swung open, and I rode my horse slowly inside, only to see that the guards flanking the entrance were all women.

The women of the Yuezhi tribe certainly had no lack of beauty, I thought to myself.

“Tie him up,” Hongye suddenly called out.

In an instant, the female Yuezhi warriors on either side drew their curved blades, and a few heavy crossbows aimed at me from the watchtower above.

I immediately raised my hands and looked toward Jasmine.

“Sorry, but for safety’s sake, we’ll have to inconvenience you for a bit,” Jasmine said apologetically.

Yet, I thought I caught a glint of cunning in her expression.

Alright, it seemed I’d been tricked. Neither of them was confident they could capture me outright, so one played the good cop and the other the bad, luring me into their tribe.

Women—indeed, the more innocent they seem, the deeper their schemes.

Soon enough, I was tightly bound and delivered to a stone cell.

“This filthy man dared to watch me bathe—dig out his eyeballs first!” Hongye shouted, planting a foot on a stone bench.

A female warrior picked up a dagger and leveled it at my eyes.

“Hey, hey, you can’t do this! I’m a government official—this is extrajudicial punishment!” I protested loudly.

“Extrajudicial? Our tribe’s laws come first. The state allows us to enforce our own tribal code,” Hongye retorted.

The dagger’s tip was nearly pressed to my eyeball.

“I’m a friend of Guli Jinsha—you know her, surely?” I said.

The female warrior paused and glanced at Hongye.

“Nonsense! As if you know our princess. If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. Cut out his tongue first!” Hongye snapped.

Screw it, I thought. I wasn’t playing anymore. The ropes around my hands loosened.

But just then, a Yuezhi woman rushed in, flustered. “Hongye, Amu’s having another episode!”

Hongye jumped up and dashed out as if her feet were on fire.

Meanwhile, in a spacious, luxurious chamber, a middle-aged woman whose face was covered with swirling tattoos lay bound to a bed, growling like a wild beast.

A tribal witch muttered incantations, her ritual staff emitting ghostly lights that seeped into the woman’s body.

Hongye rushed in, biting her lip and standing to one side, worry clouding her eyes.

“The intervals between Amu’s attacks are getting shorter. It used to happen every few days; now it’s almost daily,” Jasmine whispered beside Hongye.

“Isn’t there any other way?” Hongye murmured.

“The witch says there’s nothing else we can do,” Jasmine said, shaking her head in despair.

Suddenly, Hongye remembered something. “Let’s go find the princess. I heard she’s Master Mo’s apprentice. If we can get Master Mo to help, Amu will surely be saved.”

“We only saw the princess once at the Yuezhi tribal council years ago. How would we find her?” Jasmine sighed.

Hongye felt hope slipping away. The Yuezhi had twenty-three sub-tribes in Xiliang, and theirs was one of the more remote ones.

Just then, the middle-aged woman suddenly raised her head. A dark green light flashed, and the ropes binding her snapped.

She sprang up with a howl, knocking the witch to the ground and biting his neck.

“Amu!”

Hongye and Jasmine cried out and rushed over, pinning the woman to the floor. The witch’s carotid had been torn; blood spurted like a fountain.

Several Yuezhi women dashed in, trying to stem the bleeding, but nothing worked.

“Step aside,” came a deep male voice. The women felt a force push them aside.

Raising my hand, I drove several needles into the witch’s neck, and immediately, the torrent of blood slowed.

Then, I dug out the shattered artery and stitched it together with the needles.

“Is there any suture thread? Bandages, disinfectant?” I asked.

Someone quickly brought a medical kit.

I opened it—well stocked, including sutures.

After treating the witch’s wound, I glanced at the middle-aged woman pinned by Hongye and Jasmine.

She struggled fiercely, a dense aura of evil radiating from her.

At first, I thought she was possessed by a demon spirit, like the old woman in Xiaoyuan Village, but now it seemed she’d been demonized.

I stepped forward and plunged a soul-stabilizing needle into her forehead. Her head slumped, and she fell asleep.

“How did you get out?” Hongye asked, but made no move against me. I’d saved the witch and Amu, and my skills had left her awed and respectful.

“Oh, you mean those ropes? I broke them with a little effort. Do you want to tie me up again?” I asked with a smile.

Hongye and Jasmine exchanged glances. Jasmine spoke softly, “I was too impulsive. I apologize. Can you save Amu?”

“I don’t work for free,” I replied.

“What do you want, then?” Hongye asked.

“Two million—if you insist, I’ll help.”

“Two million? We rarely use money. Not even twenty thousand, let alone two million,” Jasmine said.

“What else do you have?” I asked.

“We have cattle, sheep, horses. Curved blades, crossbows…” Hongye began, counting on her fingers.

I rolled my eyes and waved her off. “Enough, what would I want with any of that?”

“Then… what do you want?” Hongye twisted her hands, nervous.

“You say you have nothing, but you do have plenty of beautiful women. How about you two spend a night with me?” I teased.

“You—!” Hongye’s hand went to her blade, but after thinking it over, she suppressed her anger.

Jasmine looked at me. “Uncle, stop joking. You’re obviously a heroic soul, a true champion. Surely you won’t just stand by while Amu suffers.”

I laughed. “That’s where you’re wrong. I can assure you—I absolutely will!”

With that, I strode out.

Many Yuezhi female warriors eyed me with a mix of awe and curiosity, but no one dared approach.

I wandered through the tribe and found that men were present, too.

Most were tending livestock, some washing clothes, cooking, or caring for children.

Looking at these men, I suddenly felt that modern men were so lucky. Though their status at home might not be high, at least they lived like human beings.

The men of the Yuezhi tribe were practically slaves—aside from chores, their main value seemed to be breeding.

I’d heard that at every tribal council, women of childbearing age would choose men for breeding.

The higher a woman’s status, the more options she had—even choosing two or three at once.

During breeding, men had to be blindfolded and bound…

After pregnancy, the men would be forced to take a drug that rendered them infertile.

Thinking of this, I felt a pang of sadness—nothing but sympathy.

Just as I was thinking about breeding, Hongye and Jasmine found me.

“We’ll spend a night with you—just save Amu,” Hongye said fiercely.

“Uh… never mind. Jasmine wasn’t wrong—I really am a hero, saving people without asking for reward,” I replied. I liked beautiful women, but I had no desire to be a breeding boar.

Thinking of Guli Jinsha someday picking strong men for breeding, I resolved to abolish this inhumane custom and rescue the Yuezhi men from their misery.

I returned to the chamber and removed the soul-stabilizing needle from the woman’s forehead.

When she began to relapse, I subdued her with a soul-calming seal and used my power to drive the evil energy out of her body.

The expelled energy materialized as a faint wolf-shaped shadow.

My heart stirred; I took out my compass and guided the evil energy into it.

Immediately, the needle on the compass began to quiver.

“Hm, the frequency and direction match the source of the Yin pulse I calculated earlier,” I mused. And this place wasn’t far from the source.

At that moment, the middle-aged woman with tattooed face opened her eyes.

“Amu!” Hongye and Jasmine rushed over, ecstatic.

The woman smiled faintly, but the tattoos twisted her smile into something eerie.

I glanced at her face—was that a wolf?

“This is the Moon Fox totem, the Yuezhi’s faith,” she explained gently, noticing my attention.

“Oh? What about wolves?” I asked.

“Wolves are our enemies. Foxes and wolves are rivals—sworn foes,” she replied.

“I’d like to ask, what’s about ten kilometers northwest from here?” I recalled the compass’s direction and inquired.

The woman thought for a moment, her eyes darkening. “That’s the Sky Burial Sand River of our tribe.”

Sky burial?

It turned out that the Yuezhi tribe practiced sky burials after death.

The Sky Burial Sand River was a drifting sand river; bodies placed in it were quickly swallowed and carried away.

Just then, a Yuezhi female warrior rushed in, holding a rolled-up painting. She glanced at me, visibly trembling.

“What is it?” Hongye asked.

The warrior cast another furtive look at me and hesitated.

I shrugged. “I’ll step outside.”

Once outside, I focused my hearing, gathering my energy to eavesdrop.

“Chief, look at this painting—it was just delivered by the people from the Daoist temple,” the warrior said.

“Ah, isn’t that… the miracle doctor?”

“Blood Fiend Demon Doctor. This demon is addicted to killing, gouging hearts, drinking blood, raping women, committing every atrocity. If seen, immediately fire the Daoist signal flare!”

The painting was unfurled—a portrait, unmistakably my likeness.

Hongye and Jasmine looked at each other, fear reflected in both their eyes.