Suddenly, the villager heard Lu Jixing's footsteps and turned sharply.
The moment he saw Lu Jixing, his expression instantly turned ferocious, and he rushed towards him.
Despite his stiff movements, the villager seemed to have gained sudden strength. Though he stumbled as he ran, he reached Lu Jixing in a few steps and lunged to grab him.
Boom!
Lu Jixing paid no mind and countered with a punch, easily knocking the villager to the ground.
"Not much..."
But before he could finish speaking, all the surrounding houses opened, and more than ten villagers emerged. Their faces were contorted, and they wielded clubs, cleavers, and other weapons, stumbling towards them.
The man at the front raised the cleaver in his hand and, with his neck slanted and eyes bulging, slashed at Lu Jixing.
Lu Jixing dodged, and as he seized the man's wrist, intending to break his bones, Li Tianjue said in a deep voice, "Don't be too heavy-handed. They are all ordinary people, perhaps savable. Don't take their lives yet!"
Only then did Lu Jixing stop in time, pushing the man away with a palm strike.
Although Su Luo and the other two acted with mercy, these villagers with incomplete souls did not hold back. One by one, they frantically swung clubs and cleavers at them, as if they held a deep-seated grudge, and their strength was astonishing.
A single cleaver strike cut through the air with a whistling sound. How could they be ordinary people?
However, Li Tianjue and Su Luo were cultivators, and dealing with these people was not difficult. In just a moment, they subdued all the villagers, sealed their acupoints, and left them immobilized on the ground.
"Kill... kill you..."
These villagers still had ferocious expressions, their skin twitching continuously, veins bulging, like vengeful spirits.
Lu Jixing was somewhat startled. "Eldest Senior Brother, why are they like this? Are they possessed? No wonder the other villagers dared not enter."
Su Luo knew some reasons, but she didn't reveal them yet as the situation was unclear.
Her biggest worry was that Second Senior Brother might have also turned like this.
The three allowed the villagers to remain on the ground, not attending to them for the moment, and continued forward.
This time, they did not intentionally tread lightly but deliberately made noise. Soon, more "frenzied" villagers were drawn out, all of whom they subdued.
By the time Su Luo and the other two had broadly "swept" through Yunmeng Village, the sun had begun to set. Although they had subdued dozens of frenzied villagers and seen countless rotting corpses, they found no trace of Chu Tianshu.
"This scoundrel, could something have really happened to him..." Lu Jixing became worried.
No matter how much he bickered with Chu Tianshu, their brotherhood was a way men expressed friendship.
If Chu Tianshu were truly in trouble, he would be more anxious than anyone.
Li Tianjue surveyed the surroundings, his pupils deep. "No frenzied villagers have appeared for now, but that doesn't mean the village is safe. We haven't searched inside all these houses. Perhaps we can find some clues within."
Su Luo nodded. "Alright, then let's check these houses one by one. But to speed things up, it's better if we split up."
"Junior Sister, why don't you come with me? Otherwise, if something happens..."
Su Luo smiled slightly. "No need to worry, Third Senior Brother. I'm not that weak. Besides, this village is not that big. If there's real danger, I'll shout loudly, and you can come to my rescue."
Li Tianjue looked at her confident expression, knowing she had many tricks up her sleeve. "Very well, we'll split up to search. If we find anything, we'll call out to each other."
As the sky grew darker, the three wasted no more time. Each lit a torch and began searching every house.
Su Luo skirted a vegetable patch and walked towards a mud-brick house about five zhang ahead.
She stood at the doorway and knew whether there was anyone inside without entering.
As long as the Divine Eye did not indicate any special items or anomalies within, she would simply open the door to confirm and then leave.
After a short while, Su Luo had checked five houses with nothing found.
Just as Su Luo reached the doorway of an adjacent house, before she could even use her Divine Eye to scan its interior, a cold gust of wind blew through the crack in the door, making her shiver.
Immediately, something white emerged from the crack.
It had no physical body, twisting and gradually growing like smoke. It soon emerged completely, transforming into a figure with only an upper body before her, its lower half blurring.
Its face was indistinct, with only two dark, empty eye sockets and a gaping black mouth. It lunged towards Su Luo.
"So this is a ghost!"
Su Luo smiled and casually cast a hand seal.
The spiritual light shot from her fingertip pierced the ghost's body. It let out a piercing shriek and tried to lunge again. Su Luo struck a second time, hitting its head, and completely dissipated it.
In her previous life, Su Luo was the sect leader of Xuanmen, having experienced countless crises and seen all sorts of strange phenomena.
A mere minor ghost was nothing.
"My cultivation is insufficient now; it's a bit weak," Su Luo sighed. If it were her past life, dealing with a ghost of this level would be as easy as blowing on it, not requiring two strikes.
After dispatching the ghost, Su Luo checked the room and found a decaying corpse.
"Could the ghost just now have been this villager after death? But after dying, they should go to reincarnation. Why would their soul linger here and attack people?"
Su Luo suddenly thought of something. Not good!
She ran out quickly and looked at the pitch-black village, from which spirits were emerging.
They were like blurry white shadows, drilling out from the fallen corpses, wandering everywhere like smoke. One floated near Su Luo, as if sensing her presence, and swiftly lunged at her.
Now, more than ten spirits had detected her and were all flying towards Su Luo.
A strong chill washed over her. Su Luo formed a hand seal and rapidly shot out streams of spiritual light, scattering the spirits one by one. However, the number of ghosts was too great. Although they could not cause her substantial harm, their piercing shrieks were extremely bothersome.
"Junior Sister!"
Not far away, Lu Jixing heard the commotion and quickly rushed over.
Upon seeing Su Luo surrounded by so many spirits, he waved his torch at them. The spiritual energy refracted by the flames instantly burned the ghosts to ashes, finally giving her some relief.
After dispatching the last ghost, Lu Jixing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So it was just some minor spirits causing trouble. Too bad they're not alive, otherwise I could have tried my newly refined poison..."
Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud boom!
The ground erupted, and tree roots shot out from beneath the earth, twisting like tentacles and coiling towards Lu Jixing and Su Luo.
At the same time...
Li Tianjue, who was inspecting a house, had also dispatched two spirits. As he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a strange laugh from behind him: "Heh heh heh heh..."
"Who!?"
Li Tianjue spun around abruptly but saw nothing.
He cautiously scanned his surroundings. The room was empty, with only two nearly decomposed corpses. There was no one else.
"Heh heh heh..."
"Come on~"
The indistinct, ethereal laughter came from behind him again. When Li Tianjue turned, there was still nothing. The voice was clearly female, but far from charming or pleasant, it was hoarse and ancient, sending chills down his spine, like a crow that had transformed into a spirit.
Li Tianjue's face turned grim. He stood still, even holding his breath.
Suddenly, spiritual light shot from his fingertip, landing on a spot in the corner of the room, instantly slicing in half something that was slowly reaching for him.