Malevolent Spirit

Evil, Hundred Infants!

Li Kefu and the others felt their skin crawl. Malevolent spirits were rarely seen in the city; they had mostly heard rumors of them appearing in the countryside, but they had never encountered such a bizarre monster!

Only a few bailiffs who frequently traveled through the rural areas had heard of this creature. Legend had it that the Hundred Infants appeared at night, were adept at mimicking human voices, and liked to hide in the woods under the moonlight outside villages, emitting the cries of infants.

If anyone from the village went to investigate, they would be captured and devoured, leaving only their skin, still dressed in their clothes.

The Hundred Infants would then control the skin, imitating the person's speech to lure more villagers out to investigate and devour more people.

Once, in Xinxiang County, a place called Jianyang Village encountered a Hundred Infants. Through deception, it lured out and devoured sixty percent of the village's population, leaving only the old, weak, sick, and disabled.

However, the Hundred Infants were extremely rare and were considered powerful monsters among evil things. Li Kefu and the others had never expected to encounter one on their first night traveling through the countryside.

"Kill it!"

Someone shouted, and the remaining bailiffs and Li family experts quickly activated their spells. The air in front of them vibrated slightly, and a clanging sound, accompanied by sparks, erupted from the Hundred Infants as the sword energy of the Zi Wu Zhan Xie Sword struck its scales, severing them!

The Zi Wu Zhan Xie Sword was invisible to the naked eye, condensed from true qi and divine power, making it impossible to guard against.

Several other strikes from the Zi Wu Zhan Xie Sword missed their target and struck the trees beside the Hundred Infants. Trees as thick as buckets were cut down with a single sword strike, demonstrating astonishing power!

Yet, such a powerful spell only managed to sever a few scales on the Hundred Infants, failing to injure it.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

As everyone unleashed their spells, the Hundred Infants, due to its immense size, was hit repeatedly. The sword energy plunged into its flesh, causing blood to splatter everywhere.

Some were struck in the neck, their heads severed. Upon hitting the ground, the infant limbs flailed, and it rapidly crawled towards them, wailing.

However, as it crawled, it slowed down, eventually losing its breath and turning into a pile of rotten flesh, emitting a foul stench.

The surrounding trees also suffered, with large trees toppling down with a rumble.

Unable to withstand the assault, the Hundred Infants' limbs sank, and it bolted, crashing through trees as it fled into the depths of the forest, leaving behind a trail of green blood.

The group, still shaken, felt a lingering fear.

Li Kefu surveyed the surroundings. After this ordeal, out of their more than fifty people, more than ten were gone.

Qu Ji whispered, "My lord, should we find a place to set up camp..."

Li Kefu shot him a grim look, and Qu Ji dared not continue.

"We press on. We must reach Huangpo Village tonight!" Li Kefu commanded.

The group surrounded Li Kefu and headed towards Huangpo Village.

The bailiffs walking at the very back felt uneasy, constantly looking around, suspecting that other malevolent spirits were hiding in the woods or that something was following them.

"Old He, stop being so jumpy and looking back all the time," one bailiff said to an older one beside him. "When you look back, it makes me feel uneasy too..."

Before he could finish, the old bailiff turned his head, and his neck let out a crack. His head drooped limply backward!

His neck seemed to have lost all its bones, his head hanging down his back, his occiput touching his spine.

The bailiff screamed in terror, turning around in panic. Suddenly, he felt as if a pair of powerful hands had gripped his neck.

"Crack!"

His neck snapped, and his head drooped backward onto his back!

The other bailiffs were even more terrified. They quickly activated their shrines, summoned their divine embryos, and prepared their spells, turning to look.

However, anyone who turned their head had their neck immediately snapped, their head drooping backward!

Evil, Head-Breaking Dish.

"Everyone, don't look back!"

Qu Ji, sweating profusely, shouted, "This must be another type of evil. If you look back, your neck will snap! As long as you don't look back, you'll be fine!"

The group walked forward fearfully, huddled together. Indeed, nothing happened.

One person let out a sigh of relief and said, "Lord Qu was right..."

"Whoosh—"

He was suddenly pulled into the sky by an immense force. The group looked up, only hearing screams from the air as he ascended at an astonishing speed towards the heavens.

Evil, Thread-Pulling Worm.

"The third type of evil!"

The group was drenched in cold sweat. Even Li Kefu, a Nascent Soul stage expert, couldn't help but regret his decision.

"What kind of wretched place is this countryside of Xinxiang, to be so full of evil?"

Just then, the sound of trumpets and suonas drifted from ahead, cheerful and lively. The group followed the sound and saw many fox-people standing upright under the moonlight, playing music and dancing with peculiar steps as they approached.

Behind them, a blood-red palanquin floated in the air, swaying to the music.

The wind blew the curtain aside, revealing a bride adorned with a phoenix coronet and robes sitting inside. Beside her was a terrified scholar, likely an unlucky soul who hadn't managed to hide in a village before nightfall.

When the wind blew the curtain aside again, the bride within was still radiant, but the scholar had vanished, leaving only a pile of white bones.

The bright red palanquin had become even redder.

"It's a malevolent spirit!"

Panic seized the crowd, and various spells were cast towards the fox-people and the sedan chair.

An eerie wind blew, and the sword qi dissolved into it. Suddenly, the sedan curtain was blown open, revealing the Recorder, Qu Ji, inside, sitting beside the ghostly bride with a look of terror.

Li Kefu let out a cold snort and activated his shrine. The Divine Embryo within the shrine suddenly grew immensely large, and it reached out to grab the large red sedan chair.

Suddenly, music erupted, and the fox-people were playing with gusto. Li Kefu's body trembled, his aura scattered, and the Divine Embryo's large hand could no longer grasp.

The crowd surrounded County Assistant Li Kefu, fleeing in disarray. However, no matter where they fled, the sound of trumpets and suonas always came from ahead. The fox-people troupe and the large red sedan chair were right in front of them.

Each time the sedan curtain was lifted, one person would disappear, only to reappear inside the sedan.

The people around Li Kefu dwindled one by one. When they fled to an area near a muddy slope, the ear-piercing sound of trumpets and suonas suddenly vanished, and the fox-people troupe and the large red sedan chair did not pursue them further.

They seemed to be greatly fearful of the village ahead.

Li Kefu, his soul still shaken, counted the remaining people. Only three were left by his side!

They had set out with over fifty people, and before even reaching Huangpo Village, only the four of them had survived!

"The hearts of the villagers have turned bad, giving rise to such evil things!" Li Kefu said with emotion.

At that moment, a deep voice came from not far away: "The appearance of evil things is related to the moon in the sky. What does it have to do with the hearts of us villagers? Lord Li, please do not place the blame unfairly."

"Who's there?"

The three yamen runners hurriedly activated the shrines behind their heads. Divine light shot out from the shrines, illuminating the source of the voice.

On Huanggang Slope stood a tall old man, his bluish-white beard fluttering in the wind. Only his eyes glowed red in the moonlight, like those of a hungry wolf.

Li Kefu snorted, his official authority evident. "Who are you? How do you know the evil things are related to the moon in the sky?"

The tall old man's gaze was peculiar, as if he were speaking to them, yet also murmuring to himself. "Because I sense a strange power within the moonlight that makes me unable to resist the urge to eat... every night."

He stopped speaking and cupped his hands. "I am Chen Yindu, the Talisman Master of Huangpo Village. I greet you, Lord Li."

"Talisman Master Chen Yindu? You are Chen Yindu?"

A glint flashed in Li Kefu's eyes. He took a step forward and shouted, "My son, Li Xiaoding, did you kill him?"

The tall old man shook his head. "It wasn't me."

Li Kefu paused slightly.

"My grandson killed him."

The tall old man continued, "I merely watched from outside the camp, guarding against any experts he couldn't handle. I watched him make his move and was very pleased. He finally has some self-preservation ability."

Li Kefu's eyes turned fierce.

To have his son killed, and for the old man to call it self-preservation!

To him, it was a direct insult!

The tall old man spoke unhurriedly, "Lord Li, you come here with such aggression. Are you here to avenge your son by killing my grandson? Since ancient times, a life for a life, a debt for a debt, is only natural. It is only right that you want to kill my grandson, and it is also reasonable for me to kill you to protect my grandson."

Li Kefu roared and took a step forward. The shrine behind his head buzzed, and its light flared. The shrine was like a divine temple, with the Divine Embryo seated in the center, its divine power vast and boundless like the ocean!

However, before he could prepare his spell, a ball of fire, the size of a fingertip, suddenly flew towards him.

Li Kefu used his qi to defend himself while activating the Li family's ultimate technique, the Six Yin Jade Wheel. Six streams of yin energy, like a wheel, spun towards the tall old man.

The Six Yin Jade Wheel was also intangible, invisible to the naked eye. One could only vaguely see six wheel-like objects rotating in the air, but not clearly.

His Divine Embryo's arms flew, his fingers danced, controlling the Six Yin Jade Wheel with even greater power!

However, the ball of fire, which seemed to have little power, collided with Li Kefu's protective true qi and exploded with a roar. In an instant, it transformed into a fireball covering an area of about an acre. The surging blast wave blew a pit three to four feet deep in the ground, melting the surface soil!

The other three people didn't even have time to grunt before they were torn to shreds, their flesh and blood evaporating in the flames.

The Talismans on Li Kefu, such as the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Talisman, the Supreme River Diagram Life Preservation Talisman, and the Supreme Longevity Life Preservation Talisman, were all activated at once.

These three talismans were inscribed on iron scrolls and were crafted by the elders of the Li family using their Nascent Souls. They were precious life-saving treasures for the important disciples of the Li family.

Each talisman could withstand a single blow from a Nascent Soul expert.

The three talismans were activated together, but in the flames, they only lasted for a moment before shattering!

The flames blazed, and Li Kefu let out a scream in the inferno, instantly turning to ash. His shrine and Divine Embryo were completely melted, leaving no trace!

His spell, the Six Yin Jade Wheel, was left without a controller and dissipated on its own.

"So hungry. I must destroy the corpse to stop my ever-growing cannibalistic urge!"

The tall old man looked up at the moon outside the sky, a look of dread on his face. Suddenly, his figure flashed, and he disappeared from under the tree.

"This moon is getting stranger and stranger..."

In a dilapidated temple in the desolate mountains, Chen Shi stood in the temple courtyard. His knees were slightly bent, his shoulders dropped, his elbows tucked in, his body upright, his neck extended, and he slowly exhaled and inhaled.

Around him, starlight, sunlight, and moonlight fell like scattered fireflies, dancing around him before gradually melting into his body, strengthening his physique.

After the Moon Festival, whenever he had free time, Chen Shi would come to the dilapidated temple in the desolate mountains to cultivate. Cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi here could attract the light of the sun and moon, allowing him to progress rapidly.

Suddenly, Chen Shi seemed to have crossed some marvelous threshold. He saw that the three streams of light pouring down from the sky had increased significantly!

The starlight and the light of the sun and moon gradually condensed around him, forming seven stars arranged in the shape of a dipper!

"Is this the Big Dipper mentioned in the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art?"

Chen Shi was greatly surprised, examining the seven stars.

He had never seen the Big Dipper, let alone the stars in the sky!

Ever since he could remember, the night sky had been empty except for the moon!

He had followed Scholar Zhu in reading ancient books, and when he read "Drunk, I know not if the sky is in the water; a boat full of sweet dreams presses the starry river," he wondered what this starry river truly was.

When he read "It seems these stars are not from last night; for whom do I stand in the wind and dew in the middle of the night," he would stare blankly at the sky, not knowing what stars were.

Reading the Thousand Character Classic, he didn't understand the meaning of "辰宿" (stars and constellations) in "辰宿列张" (the stars and constellations are arranged in the sky).

And now, the Big Dipper appeared clearly all around him!

These were not real stars, but manifestations of Star Power, yet they were enough to make Chen Shi inexplicably excited!

"So the books didn't lie to me; there really are stars beyond the sky, there really is a Big Dipper!"

He suppressed his excitement and moved his feet lightly. He saw that the position of the Big Dipper also changed with his movements!

As the stars shifted, Chen Shi felt streams of warm and cool, hot and cold air sweep over his body, tempering every inch of his flesh and blood.

"Hoo—"

Chen Shi exhaled a breath of turbid air. Like a bellows used to smelt steel, a gust of wind blew before him, scattering fallen leaves.

He inhaled deeply, and like the bellows drawing in air, a small vortex of air formed around him.

With each breath, there was even a foul odor, which was the impurities from his flesh, bones, and blood being refined out through the process of expelling the old and welcoming the new!

"Huh, this is..."

Chen Shi felt as if his body had entered a completely new realm. With each breath, a mass of blood and qi within him moved according to his will. If he concentrated his will, this mass of blood and qi would also concentrate.

His heart stirred, and his will guided the blood and qi to his arm. His right arm thickened at a visible rate, tendons and muscles bulging. The veins on his hand were all hidden beneath thick flesh and skin, which thickened and hardened, becoming tougher than iron.

He swung his arm and smashed it against the thousand-pound boulder blocking the door with a bang. A corner of the stone crumbled.

Chen Shi was startled. His strike could now shatter stone!