Mid-day, Manager Qin returned to inspect their work with WeiWei tailing him.

Bubai bowed his head, honestly hoeing away to not attract any attention.

Manager Qin briefly inspected the fields as usual. However, there was a sudden change different from normal today.

As Manager Qin lounged on his chair, fanning himself, WeiWei began to walk around to inspect the workers, speaking softly from time to time as if lecturing them. She went from one field to another, getting closer and closer to Bubai’s plot.

Soon, what Bubai feared finally arrived.

Stopping behind Bubai, WeiWei had a mischievous smile on her face as she silently stared at him working.

Her stare made it feel like there were ants crawling on his back, but Bubai acted as if she wasn’t there.

Alas, this only caused her to stay, as if she would not leave if he didn’t look at her. Her long stay seemed to have drawn the attention of the other workers and even Manager Qin, who glanced over from afar.

A drop of sweat rolled down Bubai’s forehead as he finally gave in, turning his gaze towards her. A beautiful smile bloomed on her face as she sensually licked her lips.

“Is there something Miss WeiWei?” Bubai asked, trying to keep the honest smile on his face.

“Hmm…” WeiWei blinked playfully, “You will know soon.”

Before Bubai could inquire further, he saw Manager Qin arriving behind WeiWei, “My dear WeiWei, what’s wrong?”

WeiWei gave Bubai a mischievous look before she turned around, sashaying to Manager Qin’s side, pressing herself against his arm, “Qin Ge, I was just telling the lowly servant about his farming duties in the future.”

“Oh?” Manager Qin glanced at the honest Bubai, “Xiao Chen here is one of my most honest workers. Did he do something wrong that I didn’t notice?”

“Hmm.” WeiWei hummed, causing Bubai’s heart beat to pick up as he tightened his grip on his hoe.

After a pause that left Bubai’s heart hanging, WeiWei continued in a cryptic tone, “I was just telling him to make sure to irrigate my field more this season. Last time, he didn’t irrigate it enough, so the harvest wasn’t that great. I hope the results will satisfy me next time.”

“Oh… kakaka,” Manager Qin didn’t suspect anything, laughing it off, “Well, it’s tough working in two fields, but I’m sure Xiao Chen can put more effort into it since he eats so much, am I right?”

Bubai, who understood WeiWei’s cryptic message, inwardly cursed. Seeing WeiWei blinking her eyes towards him, conveying an unseen threat, he knew he had no choice. So, he agreed, “Yes, Manager Qin.”

“Good. Good. Alright, my dear WeiWei, let’s go take a seat. I’m sure you are tired from the workout yesterday.” Manager Qin led the smiling WeiWei away, leaving Bubai alone.

Bubai watched them leave, bemoaning his future. It seemed even the strongest chess piece here was in her grasp.

Bubai’s gaze peered towards the face of Ah Niu, who was hung on the stake. “It seems I will have to make my move tonight.”

He then bowed his head, diligently hoeing the ground, concealing the storm of thoughts brewing within him.

Midnight.

The door to Bubai’s hut creaked open as he snuck out. “Everyone should be asleep by this time after being exhausted by an entire day of hoeing.”

Sneaking past a couple of huts and hearing the snoring come from within, Bubai nodded confidently as he turned his gaze towards the field, where the bloody corpse still hung alone on the stake, the faint moonlight glow revealing its horrendous condition, as if right out of a horror movie.

However, Bubai didn’t have any fear. That was his target.

Arriving before Ah Niu, Bubai closed his eyes, placing his hands together in a prayer gesture, “Ah Niu, we can be said to have known each other when you were alive. Now that you are dead, help out your brother a bit. If brother survives, maybe I’ll be able to find a way to avenge you in the future…”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Opening one eye, Bubai peeked at the silent corpse whose wide-opened eyes dully stared back at him. “No reaction, no resentful spirit. Good. Let’s start.” A special, small thin blade slipped from his sleeve and into Bubai’s palm.

Past midnight, Bubai returned home after washing away the blood that stained him. “Now that I have the skin in hand, I need to mix the concoction and thoroughly apply it to the mask.”

Taking out a pot with some spring water, some strange herbs, and a mortar, Bubai threw the herbs into the mortar, crushing them one by one with a pestle and adding them to the pot in the specified order, mixing in between, finishing it off by adding three drops of his own blood.

It took around an hour.

Now, Bubai stared at the concoction in the pot, sniffing it once, “Finished? The color and smell match. It’s that easy? No way… did that shopkeeper exaggerate the difficulty just to get me to buy a couple of extra sets of material?! Son of a gun, no wonder he had a smile on his face when I left the shop! And he was still saying he was making a loss!”

After letting out his frustrations in a soft voice, Bubai was about to take out the skin from his storage space, but a sudden interruption on his door disrupted his plan.

Tuk. Tuk.

Bubai swiftly shifted his concoction and tools, hiding them in the wooden box that served as his makeshift bed. He then calmly snuck towards the door, peering out a tiny hole he left as a peephole.

Outside, the faint moonlight shone down on the beauty in a white robe standing outside, her slender fingers twirling the ends of her long black hair as she silently gazed at the peephole with a playful smile, as if knowing Bubai was there.

Shoot! The disaster came sooner than he thought!

Bubai frowned, sweeping his gaze over his dim room to ensure he left out nothing suspicious before he slowly opened the door.

A delighted smile arose on WeiWei’s face as she slipped in, pressing herself against Bubai’s chest. After taking a sniff, her soft whisper echoed in his hut, “I knew it, Brother Chen was waiting for me.”

Bubai’s lips twitched as he stepped back, leading WeiWei in before shutting the door. WeiWei glanced up at him, showing a pitiful face, “Brother Chen, you missed me, didn’t you?”

Bubai didn’t know how to answer, so he began, wanting to persuade her, “WeiWei-”

“Shush.” WeiWei placed her finger on his lip, “I know what Brother Chen wants to say. WeiWei is also helpless, and WeiWei understands Brother Chen’s agony, watching WeiWei accompanying another man. But WeiWei promises, her heart will always belong to Brother Chen, and Brother Chen alone.”

Bubai furrowed his brow. What game is this evil fox playing now?

Seeing some tear leaking from WeiWei’s eyes and the slap mark on her face, it’s hard for normal men to not feel pity for her, and even Bubai felt some pity- No.

Bubai instinctively drew out a wisp of green qi, refreshing his mind and clearing his sense of pity. As he thought, this evil fox was charming him through some unknown method!

WeiWei’s gaze met Bubai’s clear eyes, her red eyes glinting mysteriously.

However, her words continued to flow in a soft voice, “I understand, Brother Chen may find WeiWei dirty, especially since that bad man had just used her down there. However, WeiWei did her best today, keeping her mouth clean just for Brother Chen. This time… Brother Chen can release it as many times as he wants.”

Hearing her words, Bubai sensed the throbbing below, and he quickly drew another wisp of Qi.

Moments later, Bubai found himself sitting on his wooden bed, watching the enchanting face close the distant below. Then, he began to constantly draw wisps of Qi as he resisted the heavenly force…

Foo! A pale-faced Bubai blew out the short candle that had burned for most of the night.

Glancing outside, the dull light of early morning had already begun to light up his dark hut.

Delving into his storage space and sensing the human skin mask lying inside, Bubai let out a sigh of relief, “Phew. If I missed the timing, the fresh skin would have gone to waste. Fortunately, I managed to satisfy that fox and send her away before morning… but the cost...”

Recounting the number of payments he made and the variety of positions she used to cater to his mask-crafting skill’s grinding, Bubai felt weak inside. A true succubus- he couldn’t resist.

Even now, he was still gradually recovering using his diminished green Qi.

Stepping out from his hut, Bubai noticed the crowd gathering before Ah Niu’s corpse once more.

As he passed by with his hoe, he heard the frightened and suppressed anger of the crowd.

“Poor Ah Niu, even his corpse wasn’t let go...”

“Outrageous! Who could have such a grudge with Ah Niu to do such a thing?!”

“This… it couldn’t be the good deed of the demonic cultivators, right?”

Not long after, Manager Qin arrived with WeiWei, staring at the corpse with a skinless face. A frown was donned on his face as if recalling some bad memories.

Angrily swishing his sleeve, he barked, “Get back to work! Don’t spread rumors, or your end will be just like him!”

Hearing his words, the crowd’s faces paled as they scattered.

WeiWei stared at the faceless corpse, her nose twitching slightly as she sniffed. Then, a knowing smile arose on her face as she glanced towards the working Bubai.

While he hoed the field, Bubai peeked over from time to time, watching Manager Qin command some workers to bag up the corpse of Ah Niu with a sack before he comforted the ‘timid’ and ‘panicking’ WeiWei.

Soon, Manager Qin left the farm carrying the sack, leaving WeiWei in charge.

Thus, WeiWei inspected the fields as usual, receiving the flattery of the men from time to time.

When she passed by Bubai, she softly mouthed “Tonight” to him and pointed in the direction of the forest.

Bubai did his best to keep his honest smile from faltering as he watched her gracefully walking away.

Are you kidding me? No way. This is an every night activity?!

He had to escape as soon as possible, or his cultivation would become completely stagnant, and maybe even fall!