Su Yan's Heavenly Eye pierced the veil. The truth staggered him.
Not all Reapers were true Reapers.
True Reapers were underworld spirits—corpses animated by vengeful souls, creatures of yin given divine status by mortal worship. Their soul-essence wandered chaotically within their bodies, fragmented and formless.
But mixed among them were others. Their bodies had been reshaped by Masks of the Reaper—human skeletons stretched and twisted, face-edges showing seams where flesh-grafting had occurred. Their souls were human.
Nuo masters wearing masks.
Veyon saw it too. "Impostors among the Reapers. Half are fake."
"We should leave," Elder Xiao said. "They reek of ill intent."
"We know their secret," Veyon said. "They won't let us walk away."
Already, the false Reapers drifted closer. Su Yan moved faster, trying to break through their encirclement before the true Reapers joined the hunt.
"Why kill witnesses?" Yuan Qi asked, bewildered.
"Because secrecy is their currency. We saw them harvesting yang from ghost-children. They'll silence us permanently."
A false Reaper pointed its spirit-staff. The white wrappings uncoiled like striking serpents, lashing toward Yuan Qi. The coarse hemp—woven from gravecloth, saturated with yin energy—pierced his scales and locked around his soul, dragging it outward.
Yuan Qi thrashed. His physical strength was monstrous, but against soul-targeting artifacts, muscle meant nothing.
Elder Xiao intercepted, qi surging. His hand passed through the gravecloth as if grasping smoke. He roared, pushing his cultivation to the limit, finally seizing the wrappings. "What foul art is this?!"
More Reapers closed in. Fresh gravecloth shot out, wrapping the old man until he looked like a mummy. His soul tore free, dragged screaming into the open.
"Elder Xiao!" Yuan Qi cried.
The serpent had consumed a Myriad Spirit Pill. His soul was too powerful for a quick extraction. But Elder Xiao, for all his opened paradises, had never cultivated his soul. He hung in the air, spirit bound tight, face frozen in horror.
Sword-qi flashed. Veyon struck—not with raw power, but with impossible precision. Her blade split the air, forcing every false Reaper to defend simultaneously. Each felt her full attention directed solely at them.
They blocked, spirit-staffs crossing. The impact shuddered through their bodies.
Yuan Qi and Elder Xiao dropped free.
"I see it!" Yuan Qi crowed. "They only know soul-arts! Hit them physically and they fold!"
Elder Xiao gasped, recovering his soul. Then his face went pale.
True Reapers descended from above—not impostors, but actual underworld spirits. They wielded the same gravecloth-wrapped staffs, and they moved as one. The false Reapers smiled behind their masks and renewed their attack.
Even Veyon faltered. True Reapers possessed immortal bodies protected by incense power. She could manage one, perhaps two. Not dozens.
Su Yan stepped forward.
Gravecloth shot toward him, dozens of strips piercing his body, latching onto his soul, pulling. He flew toward the Reapers—but his soul didn't leave his body. Instead, his entire body flew with it, crashing among them like a cannonball.
He'd consumed over a dozen Myriad Spirit Pills. His soul had compressed into an indestructible true spirit, stronger than his flesh. When they pulled his soul, they pulled everything.
The bell followed, ten zhang of bronze hurtling like a mountain.
*Clang!*
The impact sent hundreds of Reapers staggering. Su Yan landed, grabbed a false Reaper by the face, and tore.
The mask ripped free. The false Reaper shrank, body collapsing back to human form—a gaunt middle-aged man, eyes wild with panic. He turned and ran.
"Exposed!" a voice commanded. "Kill them all!"
Su Yan moved. The bell swept through the grove like a tidal wave, crushing everything in its path. False Reapers flew, bones breaking. He darted among them, tearing masks free. Each exposed human was immediately shredded by their own companions' gravecloth—no witnesses allowed.
A massive Reaper caught the bell, stopping it cold. The impact shuddered through Su Yan's body—his flesh and the bell moved as one.
"A great Nuo among them!" Elder Xiao shouted.
The masked Nuo grinned, sensing the connection between Su Yan and the bell. "Foolish."
Su Yan smiled. Sword-qi erupted. He rose into the air, the bell rising with him, then plummeted in a blinding arc. The Nuo raised both hands, caught the bell, and was driven into the earth. Blood sprayed. Bones cracked.
Su Yan descended again. *Clang!* The Nuo stopped moving.
The surviving false Reapers scattered. Su Yan tossed masks to Veyon and Elder Xiao. "Wear them."
Elder Xiao donned his. Flesh-grafting surged through his body, stretching him to two zhang tall, face whitening, tongue lengthening into crimson horror. Veyon transformed similarly, though shorter.
Su Yan climbed onto Yuan Qi's head and attempted to fit a mask on the serpent's snout. "A-Yan, I'm too big!"
The mask touched his scales. Flesh-buds erupted, burrowing deep. Yuan Qi's body twisted, limbs sprouting from his serpent form, until he became a crawling snake-faced monstrosity.
"I turned into a Reaper too!" Yuan Qi squeaked.
A fleeing false Reaper relaxed as another Reaper drifted alongside. Then another appeared on his right. Behind that one loomed an oversized Reaper. And behind that...
A snake-faced Reaper, twenty zhang long, crawled on its belly.
The false Reaper's face twitched. A cold voice whispered in his ear: "Lead us out. Or die."
He nodded frantically.