It was a sunny afternoon when Xia Chu was brought to a small stone platform. On the platform was a round pillar, both the platform and the pillar stained with dark brown marks that were unsettling to behold.
Xia Chu was tightly bound to the pillar, her clothes stripped off, like a sacrificial lamb.
The young man suddenly appeared. They had never spoken a word to each other before, only gazed at each other from a distance. Now, they were close because of this cruel reality.
Tears streamed down Xia Chu's face as she wanted to call out the young man's name but didn't even know it. What was more shocking was that the young man was actually the executioner for the demonic man!
The young man might not have expected the volunteer sacrifice to be her, but he still silently approached her and took a sharp knife, sharpening it on a stone.
Xia Chu, with tears in her eyes, managed a final smile and said to the young man, "It's you. Can you do me a favor? My sister..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the young man understood.
The young man pressed his lips tightly, and Xia Chu saw tears and reluctance in his eyes. His hand trembled as he made a cut on her forehead. Blood flowed down Xia Chu's cheeks. She shivered with pain but did not scream, only showing the young man a sorrowful smile.
The young man took a container filled with mercury, made the wound larger, and slowly poured the mercury into it.
As the mercury entered her body, Xia Chu struggled violently, her body swelling with lumps that moved up and down. Her face and body were soon covered with countless wrinkles, making the fifteen-year-old girl appear as if she had aged fifty years in an instant.
Gradually, her skin, like a layer of clothing, began to slide off. Soon, a layer of human skin fell from her bloodied body. As she was dying, Xia Chu blinked in pain, seemingly confused about why she was still alive. She glanced back at the young man, then took a few steps forward. A thin stream of blood flowed from her feet, and she walked unsteadily. Without the protection of skin, her flesh instantly ripped apart!
At the moment Xia Chu fell, the young man spat blood onto the shed skin and then collapsed himself.
Afterward, Xia Chu's head was severed and, along with the intact skin, was handed over to the drum maker. The servants who retrieved Xia Chu's corpse found her abdomen was severely swollen, as if something were inside.
Was Xia Chu pregnant?
A stillborn fetus that had died before birth would be valuable to offer to the demon king! The servant carefully cut open Xia Chu's abdomen and discovered she was not pregnant. Instead, her stomach contained large, undigested pieces of dried human intestines and hearts, which were offerings to the demon king. It was unclear how Xia Chu had obtained them and swallowed them.
The servants paid little attention and buried Xia Chu's headless corpse hastily in the back mountain.
After everyone left, the young man appeared. He dug up Xia Chu's body, tearfully cut off the right lower leg, and burned the body to ashes. He cleaned the flesh from the severed leg and made it into a bone flute. Later, he often played the bone flute in secluded places. The sound of the flute was sharp and piercing, resembling the anguished scream of a young girl.
After Xia Chu's death, the man did not keep his promise. Yin Lan was still imprisoned in the small courtyard, mourning the loss of her sister, crying day and night.
The young man, wanting to fulfill Xia Chu's last wish, caused chaos to create an opportunity to escape with Yin Lan. Unfortunately, just as he managed to hand over the bone flute to Yin Lan, he was pierced in the thigh by the pursuing men in black.
Yin Lan escaped by a stroke of luck, and her last glimpse was of the bloodied figure lying on the ground.
Later, no matter how the man searched, Yin Lan was never found again. Some said she had escaped, while others said she had died. However, travelers on the empty plains often heard the mournful wail of the bone flute carried by the wind. Some claimed to have seen her wandering at night, but these were just legends, unconfirmed by anyone.
The skeleton drum made from Xia Chu's skin and bones was completed, its surface painted green. Although it was not large, it produced a stunningly resonant sound when beaten, which pleased the man greatly. This drum, as part of his collection, was kept in the inner quarters.
Later, many people came into contact with the drum, but strangely, everyone who touched it would see their own face on the drum's surface and soon die. Even the demonic man was not exempt. Servants said that because Xia Chu had swallowed offerings to the demon king before her death, she became a vengeful spirit empowered by the demon king's influence, wreaking havoc in the human world.
Due to the sinister nature of the event, the new owner of the estate eventually offered the skeleton and the demon king together, and no one knew if there were any more deaths afterward. However, under such bloodthirsty offerings, the malevolent energy of the skeleton drum would likely never dissipate.
Later, the terrifying mansion was set on fire by someone. The fire burned for a day and night before a heavy rain extinguished it. People found many small bodies among the ashes, and many truths were lost with the deaths of everyone in the mansion. Xia Chu's fate was somehow conveyed back to her hometown, where her parents had already passed away and could no longer grieve for their daughter's misfortune.