Chapter 1689: Flood Dragon Roars, The Living Is Butchered

Whoosh...

A gust of yin wind blew, and the withered corpse dissolved into a pile of ash. It quickly disappeared along with the wind.

This wasn’t the scariest part though. It was the fact that the guard’s soul hadn’t disappeared with his mortal shell. It was screaming in the yin wind, never to be freed.

The arrival of the yin riders had already shaken the merchant group. The guard’s screams only worsened their fears.

This was doubly true for those closest to the guard. His bloodcurdling screams were too close for comfort to put it mildly. Because they were closing their eyes, looking down, and withdrawing their spirit, they could not know what had happened. The inability to find out what was going on inevitably worsened their fears.

So, some of them put keeper Zhou’s advice out of their heads and cracked their eyelids a little. They snuck peeks at the yin riders. Some were also using their spirits to probe the yin riders.

When they looked at the yin riders, the yin riders also looked at them as if sensing their gaze.

The next moment, they followed in the first guard’s footsteps and turned into a withered husk in the blink of an eye. Their mortal shells dissolved into ash under the wind, and their souls were permanently trapped in the yin wind. Their bloodcurdling screams joined the first guard’s and created a worse cacophony of screams.

The only silver lining was that the yin soldiers withdrew their gazes and resumed their march after the offenders had dissolved into ash.

The guards’ deaths worsened everyone’s fear and anxiety as a matter of course, but the good news was that the large majority of the merchant group were experienced, battle-hardened veterans. They did not lose their sense of reason and discipline, nor did they forget keeper Zhou’s words. They all clenched their teeth and endured the screams and illusions, not moving a muscle.

As mentioned before, it was impossible to completely get away from the riders because the road was only so wide. So, the riders inevitably ran into some of the guards.

Strangely, the guards weren’t bowled over. Instead, the riders passed right through them as if they existed in different spacetime.

It wasn’t harmless though. The victims that came into contact with the yin riders instantly turned deathly pale and weak as if something had sucked their qi, essence and spirit dry in an instant.

There was a silver lining though. They didn’t lose their lives despite abruptly losing most of their vigor and spirit.

No one else died besides the unlucky fools at the beginning. It wasn’t long before the yin riders had moved past the caravans and continued to heavens-know-where.

“Phew... we’re safe... we’re finally safe!”

It wasn’t until they couldn’t hear the brays of the yin horses that the merchants finally dared to let out sighs of relief. They all collapsed to the ground and cracked smiles.

“Is that all?”

The young man beside Old Guan looked at the departing yin riders with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Duh? What else do you think should happen?” Old Guan wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead.

The young man rubbed his nose and replied, “I just think that the Blood Sun Yin Riders aren’t as scary as the rumors claim.”

“This isn’t scary?” Old Guan stared at the young man with wide open eyes. He looked a bit frightening as the scar on his left eye squirmed menacingly. “Must everyone die before the Blood Sun Yin Riders live up to your standards?”

The young man shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. Didn’t the rumors say that the Blood Sun Yin Riders leave no survivors alive and no corpses behind in its wake? But we’re mostly alright, aren’t we?”

“Ah. I get what you’re saying.”

Old Guan replied, “But if we haven’t warned you beforehand, how well do you think you would fare? Every last person here would have dissolved into dust. Their souls would have been stolen by the yin riders and be tormented for eternity!”

“Sigh. You kids are all like this, disobedient and unwilling to listen to their elders. How sad would your parents and your families be if you perished on your very first adventure?”

Old Guan took one look at the youngsters’ faces and knew that they didn’t take his warning to heart. So, he added, “You shouldn’t disregard my advice, youngsters. It took countless lives to figure out the rules and taboos regarding the Blood Sun Yin Riders, you know?”

“Also, we were lucky that we didn’t run into the Blood Sun Yin Riders in their most terrible form.”

The young man voiced his puzzlement, “Not in their most terrible form? What do you mean?”

“The yin riders have two forms. The first form is the one you just encountered. As long as you bow your head, close your eyes, speak not, move not, and spy not, then you will be fine. Even if you unfortunately ran into the yin riders and lost most of your qi, essence and spirit, you will eventually recover. Its second form though...”

A hint of pure terror shone out of Old Guan’s eyes then, and he began trembling unconsciously. “Its second form is most horrifying. They would be like ghouls from the deepest depths of hell. They will massacre every living soul on the Golden Road and consume their souls.”

“‘When the blood sun rises, the yin riders will appear. When the flood dragon roars, the living is butchered.’ That is how the saying came to be.”

The young man said softly, “You went through this once, Uncle Guan?”

It was phrased like a question, but it wasn’t one.

“Yes, I have.”

Old Guan lit his pipe and took a deep drag. His eyes had this faraway, fearful look as he recounted his past, “It was over thirty years ago, I think. I was traveling with a caravan. I remember the weather being exceedingly beautiful that day. The sun was round, bright, and warm. It was a comfortable day.”

“Then, everything changed. The sun suddenly turned blood red, the entire world was dyed red by its rays. Then, the yin riders appeared.”

“It was fine at first. The yin riders acted like they had today. Nothing bad happened since no one spoke, moved, or peeked at them.”

“We thought it was over, but... but then a bloody flood dragon flew out of the bloody sun and let out a long roar...”

Old Guan was shaking all over and deathly pale at this point. His pupils had contracted into pins from how frightened he was. “The yin riders’ eyes suddenly turned blood red in color, and they started butchering everyone like they had gone insane. Anyone who was killed by the yin riders would swiftly wither and rot away.”

“The yin riders weren’t done even after they butchered the people. They consumed their souls as well. Everyone in the caravan was dead... dead... no. No, it wasn’t just us. Everyone on the Golden Road was killed. The yin riders consumed all of their souls... dead... all dead...”

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Old Guan was almost fully consumed by his fear at this point. He could barely string together a coherent sentence.

The young man gave him a pat on the shoulder and consoled him, “It’s all in the past, Uncle Guan. You shouldn’t dwell on it.”

The young man’s voice was like a refreshing stream. Slowly but surely, Old Guan felt his fear being washed away bit by bit until he was calm and fully conscious once more.

“Yes, yes. You’re right. It’s all in the past.”

The young man asked, “Oh right. If everyone died, then how did you survive, Uncle Guan?”

“I played dead and hid myself in a hill of corpses. That was how I miraculously survived.” Old Guan sighed. “I was the only survivor as well.”