The dark shadow before him had no specific form, yet it seemed capable of taking any shape.
It was like a phantom.
Even when caught, and stared at by eyes filled with the aura of death, the dark shadow showed no tension beyond slight surprise.
It appeared utterly fearless,
And its malice deepened as Jiang Lin awoke.
Jiang Lin flung the dark shadow off him and wiped his face with a calm expression.
He didn't press his advantage but unhurriedly sat up and picked up a palm-sized black jar from beside the bed.
He had a guess he needed to verify.
*Bang!*
After hitting the wall due to inertia, the dark shadow quickly adjusted its body, rolled, and landed on the ground, steadying itself.
With a push of its feet, it charged towards the player before it.
Its movements were phantom-like, and within a few leaps, it arrived behind the player.
Preparing to coil around him from behind and choke him.
But its hand, halfway extended, braked sharply in mid-air.
A familiar, pungent scent wafted from in front of Jiang Lin.
Carrying an aura of destruction.
The dark shadow retracted its hand, leaped back two meters, and retreated in disbelief.
Its back bumped against a nearby bookshelf with a soft clatter. "You, how do you have this?"
Jiang Lin turned around, revealing the opened black jar in his hand.
Inside was the pond water from the summit of Yingying Mountain.
Before turning off the lights, he had transferred the water from the wooden bucket into the jar.
It was more convenient to use.
Jiang Lin didn't answer. As he stood up from the bed,
The dark shadow visibly flinched.
Then, it shoved open the nearby window and leaped out.
It fled swiftly, but Jiang Lin was faster.
The black jar was thrown out the window, drenching the dark shadow from above.
The next second, a pained roar echoed from outside.
The dark shadow rolled on the ground, and where the pond water touched its body, corrosion began.
*Sizzle.*
It wanted to touch its hands but dared not.
In its agony, it actually began to smash against the wall.
Suddenly, it looked upwards sharply.
Jiang Lin's upper body was extended out the window, looking down.
Their eyes met.
The malice in the dark shadow's eyes erupted to its extreme.
The surrounding Yin energy gathered towards it.
Jiang Lin glanced at it, then calmly picked up another black jar.
And opened its lid.
The unique scent of the pond water drifted out.
Those eyes, filled with malice, immediately shrank. A distorted expression appeared on its half-corroded face.
As if to say: How do you have more?!
Jiang Lin flicked his wrist and threw the jar.
The dark shadow, which had been gathering its strength, turned and fled.
A roaring wind swept past from both sides.
The Yin wind howled.
Carrying the pond water scattered in the air, it chased after the dark shadow.
The phantom-like form of the dark shadow weaved and leaped through the dark village…
The pond water, carrying a dangerous aura, continuously accelerated and turned.
And then hit its target!
*Puff—*
An intense corrosive sensation struck its pain nerves again. The dark shadow hugged its head with both hands and knelt on the eaves.
It opened its mouth wide, in so much pain that it couldn't even make a sound.
The black shadow became chaotic, with spikes of varying lengths intermittently extending from its body.
Jiang Lin followed not far behind, several black jars floating around him.
He watched the edges of the black shadow repeatedly collapse and re-form.
Re-forming and collapsing.
In this back and forth, the contents within the dark shadow were faintly revealed.
Human hair, ordinary fabric…
"Who is it?"
Jiang Lin stared intently for two seconds. Seeing the dark shadow re-form, covering the clothes within,
He opened two jars and tossed them over.
…
Upon seeing this action,
The barrage of comments in the sky became agitated.
[I report! This player is cheating!]
[He's clearly exploiting a bug!]
[The things on Yingying Mountain are too weak, they can't even guard their own pond water!]
Logically, the night shadows were incredibly powerful, almost unkillable.
Players would have a terrifying night struggling on the brink of death.
But with so much pond water, how could they fight?
Just throwing it would kill the monsters!
[Adding to the report.]
…
*Whoosh—*
Two jars of pond water were poured down from above.
Ahhh—
The dark shadow let out silent screams, as if trying to convey something.
The collapse on its body intensified.
Holes appeared, revealing the contents within.
Skin, arms, fingers, thighs…
But no matter how much it collapsed, the contents were not fully revealed until the dark shadow fainted.
Jiang Lin walked forward, observing the dark shadow whose vitality had clearly diminished, and another thought arose in his mind.
He tied up the dark shadow on the ground and then checked the other houses in the village.
In the village at night, the small animals were gone.
They were replaced by children, lying asleep in their bedrooms.
Only children.
No adults.
As expected,
Those dark shadows that had entered the players' houses were the villagers themselves.
Jiang Lin stood on the roof and murmured, "Night travel, aversion to Yingying Mountain's pond water…"
In Uncle Feng's account,
Only mountain spirits fit this description.
The reason the previous dark shadow was so fearless was because it knew only the pond water could harm it.
If the mountain spirits were the villagers…
Then what role did the forest ranger Uncle Feng play in all this?
…
"How can this be called cheating?"
Compared to the agitated comments in the sky, the viewers in the live stream were much calmer and more smug.
"The streamer obtained the pond water through his own strength, how is that against the rules?"
"Report dismissed, rejected."
The viewers immediately refuted the comments from the sky.
Then,
They saw the streamer searching the village, the camera shifting to focus on the children.
In an instant,
The mysteries from before gradually became clear.
"So those small animals really were transformed children. Children transform during the day, and adults transform at night…"
In the story,
The mountain spirits stole the mountain treasures, and the villagers managed to retrieve half of them by working together.
But now, the mountain spirits were clearly transformed villagers.
"This is a case of self-theft, isn't it? That's why they were cursed by the mountain spirit."
"Didn't the streamer guess something from the start, not fighting the dark shadows?"
"Where is Uncle Feng? Has he also turned into a mountain spirit?"
…
*Roar—*
Beastly howls echoed from Daqing Mountain.
Jiang Lin brought the bound mountain spirit back to the building he was in.
He simply threw it into his own bedroom.
His senses scanned the other parts of the house.
Although this world restricted his senses, this distance was still manageable.
It was on those two mountains that his senses were most restricted.
In the other bedrooms,
The four ordinary humans were asleep.
Dark shadows surrounded them, frightening them at close range.
But they did not cause any substantial harm.
It was likely a rule restriction, or perhaps, when they went to collect water from Yingying Mountain, something had been left on them.
As long as they slept until morning, they would be fine.
Jiang Lin pondered, left the house, and flew towards Daqing Mountain.
Behind him,
The two-story building was completely dark.
Only the kitchen on the first floor flickered with an almost imperceptible flame.
Accompanied by the sound of a whetstone grinding.
…