Chapter 1 The Sunken Road

As spiderweb-like cracks spread from my feet towards the mountain peak, the mountain path also collapsed layer by layer.

In just a few minutes, the mountain road leading directly to the outside of the village turned into a smoke-filled ditch two meters wide.

Rolling dust and smoke drifted away with the wind. Zhao Zhuang and the others gasped in unison. Old Liu Tou couldn't help but curse, "Is this still a human being? A beast! Worse than a beast!"

The villagers of Yuanshan Village were not relocated outside the mountains, but were buried under this mountain road.

From my position, I could see that the corpses wrapped in reed mats were like railroad ties, neatly arranged in the ditch, stretching from our feet to the top of the mountain.

It was impossible to know how long those bodies had been buried. From the twisted angle of the reed mats, it could be seen that they must have been buried alive in the mountains. Otherwise, some people would not have torn open the reed mats covering them before they died.

Old Liu Tou's lips trembled with anger: "The Wang family is insane! They don't care about anything for the sake of becoming a marquis or a prime minister. How many people have they killed!"

I said in a deep voice: "Ding Zhong, Ding Yi, you two walk ten steps to my left and right, and dig the ground open to see what's buried underneath? I want to see just how deep the Wang family's old ghost's Dao is."

The Ding brothers quickly dug up two water vats sealed with yellow mud from the ground.

Ding Zhong raised his axe and smashed one of the water vats. Immediately, white bones, a mixture of human remains and poisonous snakes, slid out of the vat.

Zhao Zhuang slashed at the pile of bones with his knife a few times: "Did the Wang family's old ghost throw people and snakes into the vat together? To make them kill each other?"

People were buried alive in the water vats and slowly suffocated to death, while the snakes struggled desperately in the water vats. Before their death, both the person and the snake would have to go through a painful struggle. After they were covered in blood and breathed their last breath with wide, unseeing eyes, they were bound to be filled with resentment. The Wang family's old ghost then used secret methods to force their souls to merge into one, creating this kind of half-human, half-snake ghost.

Dragon and tiger guarding the door, it would be better to say it was vengeful spirits killing people.

Ding Qiang's face was a little pale: "The Wang family's old ghost is so powerful? Mr. Li..."

I shook my head slightly and said, "The Wang family's old ghost shouldn't have such abilities."

Although the secret methods of sorcerers are mysterious and unpredictable, they can't accomplish everything. Minor spells are like street tricks, while major spells can steal the sky and replace the sun. Sorcerers also have high and low ranks. Minor sorcerers are only worthy of negotiating with ghosts and pleading softly; great masters can control ghosts and gods and reverse the secrets of heaven.

If the Wang family's old ghost had the ability to merge souls, it would mean that he had reached the peak of the art of sorcery. Would such a person be unable to break through the underwater palace?

The Wang family's old ghost used a ghost cauldron to merge souls!

Yuanshan Village was not only the Wang family's old ghost's escape route, but also his testing ground for researching the ghost cauldron.

At this moment, Zhao Zhuang glared fiercely at Ding Qiang: "No matter how powerful the Wang family's old ghost is, we have to go up. If we can't find the dragon fish, our village will be finished. Mr. Li, I'll take the lead this time."

I turned my head with a smile and said, "Are you afraid that I'll retreat at the last moment?"

Zhao Zhuang's face turned red from my words, but I said in a deep voice: "I've already said that dragons and tigers guard the door, and the road is divided into Yin and Yang. What you see now is the Yin-Yang Road. I'm afraid it won't be so easy to step over it. Who among you will go and catch a living thing? Be quick!"

"I'll go!" Ding Qiang turned around and left. After a while, he ran back with two field mice in his hands: "Mr. Li, this is the only living thing that can be caught nearby. Do you think it'll work?"

"It'll have to do!" I grabbed a field mouse from Ding Yi's hand, reached for the steel needle pinned to my body, and stabbed it into the back of the field mouse's head. The field mouse, which was still struggling desperately just now, suddenly stiffened and fell into my palm, its eyes rapidly bloodshot. After a few seconds, only a bloody light remained in the field mouse's eyes, with no pupils or irises left.

After biting the tip of my tongue, I quickly pried open the field mouse's mouth and spat a mouthful of blood into the mouse's mouth before grabbing its tail and throwing it into the ditch filled with corpses.

As soon as the mouse landed on the reed mat wrapping the corpse, it ran forward like crazy.

I don't know how to control beasts. The needle stuck in the mouse's body was just to make it go crazy. Only a crazy animal would run wildly regardless, even if it knew that it would be crushed to pieces in the next moment, it wouldn't stop for a moment.

As for the mouthful of blood I spat into its mouth, it was just to give it a bit of human Qi. At the very least, I had to make the corpses in the ditch feel like someone was running on them.

The crazed mouse ran more than 30 meters in just a few seconds, but the corpses in the pit still didn't react at all.

Zhao Zhuang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "It seems that this Yin-Yang Road has been broken by Mr. Li!"

I said with a solemn expression: "Take a close look at what exactly is running forward?"

Zhao Zhuang was dumbfounded after just one look. The field mouse running on the corpses was actually flying, sticking closely to the corpses and moving forward rapidly. However, on the body of a dead person not far from me, there was a corpse of a mouse lying there.

Zhao Zhuang stammered, "Is it the soul of the mouse that ran out?"