In the darkness, a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly opened, looking in a certain direction.
"Bai Po is actually dead?" a low voice sounded, tinged with anger.
It hadn't sensed any powerful beings arriving at Baimu Village. How did Bai Po die? Could it be related to the woman in the well?
In reality, it didn't particularly care about Bai Po's life or death; she was merely a discarded strand of its good karma. However, this was a critical period for Baimu Village's development, and Bai Po's involvement was indispensable in all aspects.
Bai Po's death directly impacted the overall functioning of Baimu Village.
Furthermore, Bai Po dying within its territory without its awareness was an absolute humiliation!
Roots, resembling giant pythons, erupted from the ground, indiscriminately covering the entirety of Baimu Village. Numerous Sha Zong were dispatched, nearly filling the entire village.
The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit attempted to locate anything that "did not belong" to Baimu Village through this method, seeking the truth behind Bai Po's death.
A root snaked towards the old well, and after a moment's hesitation, it extended inside.
The slumbering female corpse at the bottom of the well sensed the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit's presence drawing near. Her eyes snapped open, and she began to struggle wildly. The corpses at the bottom of the well stirred in unison, emitting wails.
"Old fellow, I didn't expect you to show up!" the female corpse sneered, looking upwards. Simultaneously, she waved her right hand, and a pile of corpses covered Zhao Xue, concealing her within the mound.
Moments later, the root reached the female corpse, and a human face emerged on its surface.
"Er Niang," the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit stared at the female corpse, "Did you kill my good karma?"
The female corpse let out a cold laugh, mocking, "I am sealed here by you. How could I get out to kill your so-called good karma? If I had that ability, I would have chopped you up for firewood long ago!"
"Hmph!" The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit snorted angrily, displeased with the female corpse's attitude. "You are truly seeking death!"
With that, it began to control the runes sealing the female corpse. Instantly, the runes flickered, emitting a powerful oppressive force.
"Ah!" The female corpse screamed. Her skin began to peel off piece by piece, revealing the rotten flesh beneath. Even by its shape, her body was a mere assemblage of shattered bones and decaying flesh, covered by a layer of human skin.
The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit watched the female corpse's plight with triumph, laughing heartily, "This is the consequence of your disobedience!"
The female corpse contorted her bloodied face, mocking, "Besides torturing me with these runes, what other abilities do you possess?"
"Insolence!" The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit, its weak point exposed by the female corpse, detached several vine whips, as thick as wrists, from its roots. It lashed out at the female corpse, each strike tearing away large chunks of flesh.
The female corpse offered no resistance, merely watching its clownish actions coldly.
In terms of strength, the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit and she were evenly matched. However, in terms of vitality, ten Ancient Huai Fierce Spirits could not compare to her! The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit could not kill her, only imprison her and perform rituals annually to weaken her power.
This was because the speed at which resentment accumulated naturally for the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit was far slower than for her, who was pure accumulated resentment. The Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit could only rapidly gain strength by devouring the power of other fierce spirits!
This was also one of the reasons why Baimu Village held ancestral worship ceremonies every year.
After lashing for a while, the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit grunted in anger and withdrew its roots back into the ground.
Seeing the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit leave, the female corpse closed her eyes again. The bloodied body, ravaged by the lashes, healed at a visible rate, restoring itself to its previous state in mere tens of seconds.
This old locust tree spent most of its time slumbering, yet it had appeared so suddenly. The female corpse knew that something major had happened in Baimu Village.
...
"I wonder if Bai Po is really dead." Fang Ming stealthily poked his head out from the white mist. It was already the latter half of the night, and he wanted to see if anything was happening in Baimu Village.
The diary had not updated with any useful content, so he had to come out and investigate himself.
"Holy crap! What are all these things? Tree vines?"
As soon as he poked half his head out, Fang Ming saw an endless expanse of tree roots covering the entire Baimu Village. The roads, the houses, all were covered in vines.
That wasn't all. Within a few steps of Fang Ming, several Sha Zong were wandering aimlessly. And as far as the eye could see, Baimu Village was almost entirely filled with Sha Zong!
Sha Zong of all sizes roamed everywhere, scaring Fang Ming into quickly retracting his head.
"My heavens, has Baimu Village triggered hell mode?" Fang Ming patted his chest, still shaken.
Given the current state of Baimu Village, if he had arrived earlier, he would have likely been torn to shreds.
However, on second thought, Fang Ming suddenly realized a blind spot.
"It seems I am also a Sha Zong modified by Baimu Village's well water. They won't attack me, so what am I afraid of?"
Fang Ming cautiously poked his head out from the white mist again. He furtively picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at a Sha Zong not far away.
"Bang!" A direct hit!
The one-eyed Sha Zong felt something attack it. It turned angrily towards the source, only to see a "sleazy" humanoid Sha Zong peeking out from the white mist with half its body exposed.
"Roar!" The one-eyed Sha Zong roared at Fang Ming, then turned its head and continued what it was doing.
"Huh? It's not fighting back?" Fang Ming was surprised. He picked up another stone and threw it at the one-eyed Sha Zong.
"Bang!" Another hit.
The one-eyed Sha Zong was a little annoyed. Was this guy relentlessly bothering it? But it glanced at the white mist, a flicker of fear in its eyes. Not wanting to provoke Fang Ming, it dejectedly ran away.
"It ran off?" Fang Ming was speechless. Where was the fighting spirit of these Sha Zong? They should have come to fight him, but they didn't. Unacceptable. He wouldn't be blamed for going out to stir up trouble.
Fang Ming swaggered out of the white mist and walked towards a smaller Sha Zong.
The Sha Zong thought it was one of its own and had no defenses. Fang Ming instantly wrapped its tentacles around its neck and dragged it into the white mist in a flash.
Fang Ming wanted to test the effect of the white mist on the Sha Zong of Baimu Village.
As the Sha Zong got closer to the white mist, it began to struggle frantically in terror. But its strength was far inferior to Fang Ming's. No matter how hard it struggled, it was still dragged into the white mist by Fang Ming.
Once inside the white mist, Fang Ming released its tentacles, wanting to see the Sha Zong's reaction.
It began to dart around wildly, like an ant on a hot pan. However, the white mist had strong sensory obscuring properties, causing it to immediately get lost upon entering. It couldn't find its way back at all.
"Strange, it can't sense the direction of the mist's surge?" Fang Ming wondered, watching the aimless Sha Zong.
In fact, this Sha Zong could sense the direction of the mist's surge. The problem was that its walnut-sized brain capacity was simply insufficient to process what that meant. It wasn't a native Sha Zong and didn't have experience with such patterns.
Furthermore, its inherent fear of the white mist made it panic and become even more disoriented, which led to it being unable to find its way back to Baimu Village.
A few minutes later, the villager Sha Zong was still running around frantically in the white mist. Fang Ming, following closely behind, also found nothing amiss.
"So, what exactly is it afraid of?" Fang Ming was perplexed. After thinking for a moment, he decided to continue watching.
Indeed, after a few more minutes, Fang Ming suddenly noticed a change in the Sha Zong.
Its arms were actually beginning to decompose and disappear!
"What is going on? How does the white mist have this effect on the Baimu Village Sha Zong?" Fang Ming was astonished. No wonder the people of Baimu Village feared the white mist so much. It turned out that as soon as they entered the white mist, their entire bodies would begin to decompose and dissipate.
In just half an hour, this villager Sha Zong, dragged into the white mist by Fang Ming, had completely vanished, not even a speck of bone dust remaining.
When they entered the white mist, they were like ice cubes dropped into water, quickly dissolving.
To verify if this was a coincidence, Fang Ming dragged another Sha Zong from the edge of the white mist. As expected, this time it was even faster. In less than ten minutes, this Sha Zong had decomposed and disappeared.
Fang Ming's limited knowledge was insufficient to understand this problem, and he was too lazy to think about it.
If in doubt, consult the diary!
He opened the diary.
"I discovered the restraining effect of the white mist on the villager Sha Zong. Although I don't understand the principle behind this restraining effect, I came up with a good idea. I found some bottles and jars in a nearby courtyard and wanted to collect some white mist to use as a weapon. To my surprise, these bottles and jars also decomposed and disappeared in the white mist!"
What?!
Fang Ming was surprised. If the Sha Zong disappearing in the white mist could be attributed to resentment, then what about these bottles and jars, which had no signs of life, also decomposing?
This completely overturned the faint conjecture Fang Ming had.
"Could it be..." Fang Ming, disbelieving, walked out of the white mist again and into Baimu Village. He collected various items from the village – soil, firewood, weeds, steamed buns, and so on – and brought them all into the white mist.
As expected, all these miscellaneous items gradually decomposed and disappeared in the white mist, leaving nothing behind!
Fang Ming suddenly realized that it wasn't just the villager Sha Zong who feared the white mist, but the entire Baimu Village!
Anything from Baimu Village that entered the white mist would be completely decomposed.
So, the question arose: could this white mist decompose the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit?
Fang Ming suddenly felt that he might have found a way to deal with the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit. If he collected a large amount of white mist and threw it onto the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit, could he kill it?
"I knew it! How could heaven give me an unsolvable problem? The breakthrough is here!" Fang Ming was somewhat excited. However, he still needed to verify it first; if it didn't work, it would be game over.
"The tree vines that suddenly appeared in Baimu Village should be the branches of the Ancient Huai. Perhaps I should steal a segment to test it?" Fang Ming stroked his chin, considering the feasibility of this action.
His primary concern was whether he would be discovered by the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit if he stealthily cut off a root. He was temporarily undetected because he shared the same origin as the Baimu Village Sha Zong, but if he took action, it was uncertain.
He decided to check the diary.
"Holding my doubts, I cut a section of vine from the edge of the white mist. The next moment, a human face appeared on the vine. Simultaneously, the severed vine suddenly came to life, transforming into a tree monster that attacked me."
"..." Fang Ming broke out in a cold sweat.
Forget it. He wouldn't court death. He would honestly follow the original plan. The diary was cut off midway again, which clearly meant he was killed again. Although the diary always showed him dying, he had never actually died in the end, but he had faced dire situations every time.
Moreover, judging by the diary, his actions after daylight tomorrow also needed to be extremely cautious, as the abilities of the Ancient Huai Fierce Spirit were rather peculiar.