Guan Anyan desperately rotated her eyeballs, trying every possible way to get her body to move, but to no avail.
Footsteps grew nearer and nearer. She could even hear the flapping sound of Zhuo Wenbai and his wife’s skin swinging back and forth, slapping against their necks.
Finally, the footsteps arrived at the bedside.
Guan Anyan’s eyes widened. She couldn’t see anything, but she had an intense premonition—Zhuo Wenbai and his wife were extending their twisted, pale hands towards her.
The surge of intense emotion caused two fingers on Guan Anyan’s right hand to twitch. She looked at her right hand as if a drowning person grasping at straws, crossed her fingers, and released her Spiritual Power without hesitation.
A warm light radiated from her fingertips, spreading outwards, illuminating the surroundings, the demon-like Zhuo Wenbai couple, and also Li Ang, sitting behind the desk.
The Ink Silk Clone suddenly stood up, its hands hooking firmly onto the shoulders of Zhuo Wenbai and his wife, and with a violent throw, hurled them away.
Zhuo Wenbai and his wife collided with the door frame, but their paper-thin bodies seemed to have suffered little damage. Both stood up almost at once, their faces wearing the warm and enthusiastic smiles of twilight.
The Ink Silk Clone silently stepped forward. Its hands suddenly extended further, grabbing Zhuo Wenbai and his wife who were attempting to scatter and flee, and again hurled them to the ground like tossing noodles.
One time, two times, three times.
Zhuo Wenbai and his wife endured a ruthless beating until, at last, they couldn’t take it anymore. Their figures turned into a liquid flow, bursting apart and seeping through the wooden planks below.
The Ink Silk Clone relentlessly tore off several planks and ground them into dust.
Only when the room returned to silence did Li Ang turn his head and ask Guan Anyan in a low voice, "Are you all right?"
After Zhuo Wenbai and his wife disappeared, Guan Anyan, who could gradually control her body, sat up from the bed. She lit a Fire Resistance Talisman to serve as a light source. "Just now, you..."
"Like you, I was conscious but couldn’t move my body until I saw the bright light you released."
Li Ang fell silent for a moment. He looked at the large hole that had appeared in the corridor and suddenly began to vomit, spitting out a bit of the fish soup.
The fish soup was as pure and white as when it was first ingested. The cold fish flesh remained crystal clear.
Li Ang crouched on the ground inspecting the fish, suspecting that the pot of fish soup had caused the Ink Silk Clone to temporarily lose control. He immediately took out a Liliang Talisman, affixed it to his stomach, and froze the remaining fish soup.
"Even if Zhuo Wenbai and his wife are not ghosts, they’re something similar."
Li Ang stood up and said to Guan Anyan, "Let’s go. We’ll explore the village."
Since they had already encountered a direct attack, there was no need to hide their identities anymore. Li Ang and Guan Anyan took their equipped talismans and went downstairs, beginning their search from the house of Zhuo Wenbai and his wife.
The entire house was normal. On the first floor, there was a hall, a kitchen, the couple’s bedroom, and their daughter’s bedroom. The second floor housed guest rooms and a storage room.
Judging from the style of clothes found in the rooms, their daughter was about fourteen or fifteen years old.
The pot in which the fish soup had been cooked was washed clean in the kitchen. No other fish were found.
In the rest of the rooms, there was nothing remarkable, nor were there any signs of Chu Haoman having been there.
Li Ang and Guan Anyan discussed for a while and then walked out of the side door of the house.
A mist hung over the street, limiting visibility. Side by side, they walked slowly forward, holding Fire Light Talismans.
The village was quiet and deserted. Not a single person was in sight. Li Ang casually pried open a household’s door and quietly pushed it open to enter.
Footsteps echoed back and forth inside the house. The homeowner—a farmer Li Ang had seen at dusk—had a contorted face and held a blade, tiptoeing and wandering around the room. He constantly emitted low, murky muttering.
Have they turned into ghosts...?
Li Ang squinted, observing for a while. Before the other party noticed him, he silently closed the wooden door, gestured to Guan Anyan, and they both withdrew from the bungalow.
They checked a few other households and found that it was all the same. It seemed as if all the village’s inhabitants had turned into ghost creatures at night, wandering and lingering in their own homes.
"So, the villagers supposedly having ’sleepwalking issues’ is actually them transforming into ghosts. Humans by day, ghosts by night. No wonder they insist on locking their doors and not going out."
Li Ang surveyed the entire Qi Shui Hollow—a mountainous area with probably over a hundred houses and at least four or five hundred people. If they were all ghost creatures on the level of the Zhuo Wenbai couple... Their rescue team would definitely not be able to withstand it.
Guan Anyan asked softly, "What do we do now?"
"...First, let’s try to find the others before we search for Chu Haoman."
Li Ang asked, "Do you still have the Communication Fireworks?"
Guan Anyan nodded and took out the Communication Fireworks from her bosom. Just as she was about to use them, Li Ang stopped her. "Go outside the village. The noise from the fireworks might awaken these ’villagers’."
The two of them traversed the fog and came to a slope outside the village. Just as they were about to set off the fireworks, they saw a very faint light flash across the distant night sky. It was barely discernible unless one looked closely—someone had already used them.
Seeing this, Li Ang and Guan Anyan immediately ran towards the source of the fireworks. In a forest clearing, they found Ji Xingwang from Lu Li Academy and the Puppet Master Yu Yong.
Neither of them had wounds or bloodstains, but Yu Yong’s face was pale, and his palms trembled.
"How come you’re here? And the others?" Li Ang immediately asked.
Ji Xingwang pursed his lips and answered, "After that big wind and earthquake, I arrived in this mountainous area. After firing the Communication Fireworks, I ran into the brothers Yu Yong and Yu Yuan. While the three of us were exploring, Yu Yuan was dragged away by something in the fog and vanished."
Li Ang exclaimed in surprise. Ji Xingwang was a Cultivator from Lu Li Academy, and Yu Yong and Yu Yuan were famous Puppet Masters from Lingnan Road. Even if they encountered an Alien attack, they should have at least been able to see the attacker’s face.
Ji Xingwang nodded slowly and said, "The attacker moved too quickly, and it seemed intelligent, directly bypassing the Warning Talisman I had deployed."
There was a tinge of guilt in Ji Xingwang’s voice. He and Wang Linian from the Taiyuan Wang Family were the Cultivators with the highest Cultivation in the team and were supposed to be the leaders.
Li Ang was silent for a moment. First, there was an entire village of ghost creatures, and then there was something hiding in the mist capable of suddenly attacking and dragging away Cultivators. This rescue mission had started off on a very disadvantageous note.
"I suggest we wait here a bit longer. Maybe some other members of our team will see the Communication Fireworks and come this way."
Li Ang briefly explained to Ji Xingwang and Yu Yong what he had seen in the village and suggested, "If we don’t meet up with anyone, then we should try to find Yu Yuan and see if we can rescue him."
Rescue was merely a euphemism. Being dragged away by an unknown Alien creature within the anomaly, the chance that Yu Yuan was still alive was very slim. It was most likely that they would only find his body.
In fact, given the situation in the village, Chu Haoman’s predicament was probably not much better—even though his life lamp was still burning, it didn’t mean he was "truly alive and well."
"No need to search. My brother... he’s already dead."
Yu Yong, his face pale, spoke after a moment of silence. "I can feel it. The connection between twins."
He showed a pained expression, held his head, and murmured, "Dismembered. He’s been torn apart."
Ji Xingwang opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. He just patted Yu Yong on the shoulder, attempting to offer some consolation. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novｅlfire.net
This mission was to rescue his student, Chu Haoman. But they hadn’t even seen Chu Haoman’s shadow yet, and already one team member was lost, with the fate of the others uncertain.
Li Ang sighed at Yu Yuan’s death and asked Yu Yong, "Can you feel where he is?"
Yu Yong composed himself, slowly got up, and pointed in a direction. "It seems to be... that way."
The four of them immediately set off, walking through the vast fog until they arrived at a building.
「Qi Shui Village’s ancestral hall.」