Chapter 39 - 38: The White Dog
"Quick, keep ringing the bell! Nobody is allowed to stop!"
In Sha Tao Village, Zhou Pingchun, sweating profusely, bellowed, commanding the villagers to lift heavy mallets and strike the Haotian Copper Bell repeatedly.
CLANG—CLANG—
The resounding bell echoed vibrantly through the mountains, and a streak of morning light pierced through the dense forest ridges, casting its rays down upon the Human World.
Zhou Pingchun’s pupils abruptly constricted as a group of figures appeared on the distant mountain path. The garrison’s men had returned.
Zhou Pingchun shuddered, bowed deeply, and approached to welcome the party, shouting loudly, "Shangguan, this humble one is guilty, deserving of death a thousand times over! Shangguan entrusted this humble one with the Haotian Bell, but these accursed, ignorant peasants from the backwoods used too much force and knocked the bell off its stand..."
Cheng Juxiu raised his hand to stop Zhou Pingchun from continuing, glanced at the damaged bracket that had held the bell, then turned to look at Li Ang.
Li Ang stepped forward expressionlessly and slowly said, "Zhou Pingchun, do you know who he is?"
Zhou Pingchun followed the direction Li Ang indicated, looking at the child in ragged clothes, sallow and emaciated. His expression turned ugly as he said, "He... he’s from our village, Gan Xiao’er."
"And do you know who the Corpse Evil are?" Li Ang asked, his tone calm. "His parents."
Zhou Pingchun’s face turned various shades of green and purple. Before he could say anything else, the hunter Wang Liubao took several steps forward from the crowd, fell heavily to his knees before Li Ang, tears streaming down his face, and cried out, "Shangguan, it’s all my fault, all my fault!
Four days ago, while I was chopping wood in the mountains, I saw Zhou Pingchun’s white dog lying beside the creek, bitten on the leg by a snake and poisoned to death.