Chapter 1 Start

It was truly horrifying, a different kind of horror than the supernatural.

Zhang Yuanqing stared at the flayed cat carcass hanging from the rafters, silently muttering to himself.

Whether someone had slipped in or something had slipped out, neither was a good thing. The group exchanged silent glances, their eyes flashing with vigilance and solemnity.

Only "Lili on the Prairie" abandoned his usual quiet melancholy, his face filled with anger, and said in a low voice:

"Such a cruel and brutal act against animals is not to be tolerated. I will make her pay the price. Everyone, let's just kill Granny Wang."

Zhang Yuanqing glanced at him and said,

"Don't be impulsive. This Granny Wang is clearly part of the plot. Let's wait and see what happens and wait for a quest to trigger. Heh, based on my experience of clearing two S-rank dungeons, thinking more and doing less is the key to survival.

"Because the fault tolerance rate of S-rank dungeons is too low. A subtle action can cost you your life."

"Please Call Me Queen" turned to look at the wood sprite youth,

"The captain is right. The higher the level of the dungeon, the fewer the hints, and danger lurks everywhere. It's not like the C-rank and D-rank dungeons we encountered before, where the mission requirements and rules are clearly laid out for you.

"In this kind of high-difficulty dungeon, one wrong step can lead to total annihilation."

Li Chunfeng pondered for a moment and said, "The reverse is also true. Maybe if we kill Granny Wang now, we can successfully resolve an incident. Heh, it's like Schrödinger's cat."

Huode Xingjun was stunned. "Who is Schrödinger? Does he like abusing cats too?"

The knowledgeable Li Chunfeng froze, his expression strange as he opened his mouth. After some hesitation, he gave up trying to explain and said,

"More or less."

Huode Xingjun nodded, glanced at the room across the courtyard, and seeing that Granny Wang hadn't come out yet, he whispered:

"Have you guys thought about why it's a cat carcass that's hanging, and not a chicken, duck, goose, sheep, or dog? If it were the latter, we might even be able to have a meal here."

What he meant by asking this was that there must be a reason for hanging a cat carcass. Maybe it was a hint given by the dungeon.

Zhang Yuanqing gave his opinion from the perspective of a Night Wanderer, saying, "These cat carcasses are yin, they are yin materials. Extracting yin energy can nourish yin spirits, and can also be used to refine zombies." Li Chunfeng added:

"It can also be used to make props, hold special rituals, for witchcraft, and so on."

As they were talking, the wooden door creaked open, and Granny Wang hobbled out with a cane, her back hunched, carrying a white porcelain teapot with a bright glaze.

Li Xianzong led his teammates along the roadside, next to a small river that ran through the ancient town, with a stone slab bridge built over the river.

"What a crappy place. There's not even a shadow of a person, let alone a pretty girl," the skinny middle-aged man grumbled, looking around.

In the previous few multiplayer spirit realms he had experienced, one of the scenarios was a midnight hotel, where a cold-blooded killer was hiding. The dungeon's mission was to find and kill that powerful criminal.

The hotel was also inhabited by many "civilians," who were no different from people in reality. During the mission, the middle-aged man played with many of the women staying at the hotel.

Without deducting any moral values.

For evil professions, spirit realm dungeons are not only opportunities to upgrade and grow, but also havens for indulging evil thoughts. They can do anything inside without paying the price.

"Yin-Yang Town is a competitive spirit realm, not an exclusive spirit realm for professions like ours, so it's impossible to have an environment where you can do whatever you want." The bald burly man sized up the skinny middle-aged man and said with a sneer:

"Were you a rapist before you became an Illusionist?"

The skinny middle-aged man lewdly smiled and said, "I can only say that those peacekeepers were too incompetent. What about you?"

The bald burly man said indifferently, "Murder! Li Xianzong, we've already used up eight minutes. If we can't find the blacksmith shop, we're screwed."

As he was talking, they faintly heard the sound of hammering metal.

Li Xianzong looked ahead, the corner of his mouth rising. "Isn't that it?"

His teammates were overjoyed. "You guessed right. It's on this street."

"Guess?" Li Xianzong mocked:

"Use your pig brains and think about it. The blacksmith shop is open for business, it won't be in a deep alley. High-temperature smelting needs to maintain air circulation, so deep mansions can be ruled out. Quenching requires a lot of water, so the riverside is the best choice.

"Just look along the main road by the river, and you'll definitely find it."

As he was talking, they stopped in front of the blacksmith shop. A burly figure two meters tall, with his head down, was swinging a hammer, hitting the iron blank over and over again.

Li Xianzong examined the other party and asked, "Are you the blacksmith Wang?"

The blacksmith slowly raised his head, revealing eyes as scarlet as blood.

"Thank you, Granny."

Zhang Yuanqing held the teacup and glanced at the wood sprite youth.

Lili on the Prairie took a small sip and nodded slightly. Zhang Yuanqing immediately felt relieved and took a sip of the cool tea. As a restorative mage, the wood sprite was sensitive to toxins, so he wouldn't be able to hide it from him if there was a problem with the water.

Guan Ya and the others either drank water to moisten their throats or cautiously avoided touching it, pondering the next step in the plot. Then they heard the captain, Yuanshi Tianzun, ask familiarly:

"Granny Wang, why is the town empty? We haven't seen anyone on the way."

Granny Wang's old voice slowly said:

"The town used to be very lively, but something happened a few years ago, and everyone gradually moved away from Yin-Yang Town."

"Oh? What happened?" Zhang Yuanqing quickly asked.

Triggering the plot. The group immediately perked up.

"This..." Granny Wang seemed a little hesitant. She paused for a moment and said:

"Many years ago, suddenly one day, people in the town began to die one after another, their hearts and livers were dug out. Everyone was very afraid and said that there was an evil creature in the town. Zhao Yuanwai, the richest man in the town, hired a mage from outside.

"After the mage came to the town, it didn't take long for him to catch the culprit. It turned out to be a descendant of Yin-Yang Sanren, secretly harming the people in the town and using their hearts and livers to refine elixirs. Everyone worked together with the mage to eliminate the witch.

"Before she died, she cursed the people in the town, cursing that everyone would turn into cats."

Descendant of Yin-Yang Sanren... Zhang Yuanqing and his teammates exchanged glances and asked, "And then?"

Granny Wang sighed. "At first, everyone didn't care, but gradually, more and more people disappeared, and there were more and more cats in the town. Everyone was afraid and didn't dare to continue living in the town, so they moved away one after another."

This guy is good at chatting... Queen gave Zhang Yuanqing a smile and picked up the conversation:

"Then why didn't Granny leave?"

Granny Wang shook her head. "I'm old and don't want to leave my hometown. I'm already halfway into the coffin, so I'm not afraid of these things."

The wood sprite youth looked up at the flayed cat carcass hanging from the rafters and said in a deep voice:

"Then why are you hanging these cats here?"

Granny Wang said unhurriedly, "This is the method left by that mage. He said that hanging cat corpses in the house, with the skin peeled off, can prevent the curse."

The wood sprite youth sneered.

She just said she wasn't afraid of the curse.

Zhang Yuanqing asked again, "Granny, who is Yin-Yang Sanren, and why did his descendants dig out people's hearts and livers to refine elixirs?"

Granny Wang said with emotion, "Yin-Yang Sanren was a person who attained enlightenment, said to be like a god. He ascended to become a god not long after he established this town. That's what the elders told me when I was little, but I don't know if it's true or not.

"His descendants stayed in this town. Because of Yin-Yang Sanren, everyone respected her very much. Who would have thought she would do such a thing."

Zhang Yuanqing lowered his eyebrows and pondered. Why are the cultivators of the Ming Dynasty so evil? The temple priests of Three Dao Mountain massacred their disciples, and the descendants of Yin-Yang Sanren took people's hearts and livers to refine elixirs.

"Did Yin-Yang Sanren only have her as a descendant?" Zhang Yuanqing took a sip of cool tea.

"Yes, most of Yin-Yang Sanren's descendants died young, said to be because one person's ascension exhausted the family's fortune," Granny Wang said.

But in fact, Yin-Yang Sanren did not ascend, and his goal of achieving longevity failed. His descendants dug out hearts and livers to refine elixirs, could it be related to longevity? Zhang Yuanqing was thinking when he suddenly heard Guan Ya ask:

"Granny, besides us, have any other outsiders come to the town before?"

Granny Wang glanced at her and said faintly, "Yes." "Then what did they do here?" Guan Ya smiled.

Granny Wang hesitated and said, "This old woman doesn't remember..."

The others didn't know why Guan Ya was asking about this, but Zhang Yuanqing and Queen were stunned, and then fell into deep thought.

They had read several guides, and none of them mentioned the curse. Moreover, according to the content of the guides, Yin-Yang Town was not empty, otherwise, how could they solve the case in the inn?

Is it because the dungeons are constantly changing, and each batch of spirit walkers has different side quests?

If that's the case, can I still encounter the hidden quest that the Demon Lord mentioned? The side quests he experienced must be different from mine...

If the hidden quest can only be triggered by a fixed side quest, then that's too坑爹 and unfair.

Forget it, let's not worry about the hidden quest for now. What is the side quest that we triggered with Granny Wang? To break the curse?

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuanqing tentatively asked, "Granny, is there anything you need our help with?"

Granny Wang shook her head.

At this time, Li Chunfeng tentatively asked:

"Granny, besides you, are there any other people in the town?"

Granny Wang thought for a while and said in an old voice:

"Besides this old woman, there are six other people. One is Xu, the widow in the west of the town, one is Zhao Yuanwai, who lives in the center of the town. The biggest house is his. One is the blacksmith Wang.

"And then there is that mage that Zhao Yuanwai hired, I don't know where he lives."

The round-faced youth Chi Ou was stunned. "That's only five, what about the other one?"

Granny Wang glanced at him and said:

"The last one is this old woman's son..." Chi Ou said in surprise, "Your son? Where is he?"

Granny Wang looked back at the room she had just come from and said quietly: "He is inside..."

Saying that, she turned her head back to look at everyone, the old face full of wrinkles, revealing a strange smile:

"You'll see him soon."

For some reason, Zhang Yuanqing felt a premonition in his heart.

Immediately, he saw a terrible scene. Huode Xingjun, who was sitting across from him, had his pupils shrink into slits, turning into emerald green cat eyes. Thick black fur grew on his cheeks, neck, and the back of his hands.