Li Feng did not wait for Wu Hong to recover before anxiously asking, "Quick, tell me, what exactly did you see at Qing Lake?!!"
He did not dare believe that Madam Yin had appeared in Cailian Town.
"I..."
Wu Hong gasped for breath and muttered with lingering fear, "Lord Li, Qing Lake was full of long hair. We did not dare approach it. We could not even... could not even look directly at it."
He could not help retching again, but only sour fluid came out.
"One of the soldiers traveling with us merely glanced at Qing Lake, and countless strands of black hair filled his eyes. He stopped breathing within moments."
Wu Hong knew full well that the evil entity was beyond his ability to handle. He had kept his eyes shut from beginning to end, yet he could hear bloodcurdling screams throughout.
Li Feng fell silent, unsure what to do for a moment.
Song Kuo patted Wu Hong's back, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably.
Wu Hong covered his face and broke down. "We found the corpse of a Lotus Root Harvester covered in black hair halfway up the mountain. I suggested taking the body back to the Yamen, but they insisted on going to Qing Lake!"
"They're all dead!"
"They're all dead!!"
Li Feng's mind was in turmoil. The situation had already spiraled out of control.
He suddenly remembered something and hurriedly searched Wu Hong's body. His expression darkened as he pulled out a family letter.
"Lord Li, I... I didn't know about this letter."
"It has nothing to do with you."
Li Feng picked up the letter. The paper was slightly yellowed, with dried bloodstains visible upon it. The envelope read: Sent by Yin of the Li Residence, Chentang Pass.
"It really is Madam Yin."
He opened the letter to find a blank sheet of paper inside.
And a wisp of black hair.
Li Feng felt utterly suffocated. Before escorting the coffin, the General's Mansion had Yang He painstakingly all the postmen. How could there have been an oversight?
The others did not understand, but they quickly realized how inexplicably strange the matter was.
The black hair wriggled like a living thing. Before long, it had multiplied into over a hundred strands, their ends still clinging to scalp.
Li Feng knew that if the black hair continued multiplying, it would sooner or later become Madam Yin's incarnation. No one would be spared.
"Immortal Venerable Taiyi... Only Immortal Venerable Taiyi can save us!"
He hurried toward the rear courtyard, trying to contact the missing Grandmaster Taiyi through Yang He. Yet just as he neared the entrance, he caught a whiff of corpse stench.
Li Feng froze in place, seeing that Yang He no longer showed the slightest sign of life.
The corpse hung in midair, large patches of flesh rotting away. The Yang energy it gave off flickered faintly, making him almost indistinguishable from a dead man.
"Daoist Yang, you..."
Yang He suddenly opened his eyes. A Ghost Eye appeared on his forehead, sending a chilling wind sweeping through the rear courtyard as the fourth blood vessel in the whites of his eyes finally took shape.
His injuries were severe, but fortunately, his half-human, half-ghost constitution did not hinder his movements.
"Forgive the sorry sight, Lord Li. I nearly died by accident."
Yang He spat out the bloody water in his mouth. Instead of immediately taking a Great Replenishing Pill, he tried to break free of the red silk while his Yang Fire was dim.
His Yang Fire grew ever weaker, and Nezha gradually stopped paying attention to Yang He.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen shriveled mummies had piled up in the corner of the rear courtyard.
Crack.
A ghostly hand grabbed the red silk binding Yang He and yanked hard.
"Lord Li, is the black hair in the family letter a sign that the evil entity is about to descend?"
"Yes."
Yang He landed lightly and left the rear courtyard, swallowing a handful of Great Replenishing Pills along the way. "My master and I encountered a black-haired evil entity on the road. It seemed to originate from a dead old postman."
His Yang Fire reignited, the corpse transformation vanished completely, and the ghostly hand disappeared beneath his flesh.
When Li Feng heard that Grandmaster Taiyi knew of Madam Yin's existence, he could not help steadying himself. "The evil entity is called Madam Yin. It is not her true body, but even its incarnations possess strength comparable to the Dantian Sitting stage."
Yang He understood that the Dantian Sitting stage corresponded to the Fierce Ghost stage.
"If I'm not mistaken, that black-haired evil entity is senior brother's birth mother, right?"
"Yes."
Li Feng explained, "Madam Yin can send incarnations through letters. Her true body should still be in the ancestral hall at Chentang Pass..."
Yang He secretly cursed at the wickedness of it all. In the original work, an ordinary woman could actually become such an evil entity.
"Daoist Yang, do you have a way to contact Immortal Venerable Taiyi?"
When the others saw Yang He shake his head, despair immediately appeared on their faces.
Yang He frowned. "My master has fought Madam Yin before. He is also an incarnation, so he had me wait first in Cailian Town."
Li Feng muttered gravely, "So Immortal Venerable Taiyi most likely went to Qing Lake?"
"Yes. I imagine he was the one who temporarily sealed Madam Yin in water."
The others digested Yang He's words, while Li Feng had already made up his mind. "Daoist Yang, you decide what we do next."
Yang He did not speak at once, carefully sorting through the entire sequence of the Lore 'Ghost Lotus'.
He did not know Grandmaster Taiyi's plans, but clues could be seen when combined with the original work. Qing Lake was clearly meant to revive Nezha.
In the original work, Nezha was revived in the Five Lotus Pond of Qianyuan Mountain. In the Lore World, it was Qing Lake's ghost lotus roots.
"Nezha becoming a ghost... If that happens, his resentment may well pierce the heavens."
Yang He's scalp went numb. Then Huang Tianhua saw that if he wanted to complete the Lore 'Ghost Lotus', he had to turn passivity into initiative.
"Lord Li, I think continuing to wait at the Yamen will only lead to death."
"Why not escort the coffin to Qing Lake!"
Grandmaster Taiyi definitely could not be relied upon. After all, as long as nothing happened to Nezha, even if every resident of Cailian Town died, it would not affect the greater plan.
Yang He also had one advantage: Madam Yin happened not to kill children.
Li Feng did not hesitate too much. "Daoist Yang, then let us give Third Young Master his final send-off. This journey will not have been in vain."
Yang He pointed at the tangled mass of black hair. "Yes. Find a way to send the family letter somewhere far from Qing Lake. Delay it for as long as possible."
Li Feng swept his gaze over the few remaining soldiers. "I will personally carry the coffin up the mountain. As for the letter, someone needs to ride hard with it."
"Who will do it?"
"General, let me do it."
"General, among the men under your command, I'm the fastest rider!"
Li Feng chose one man. The soldier tucked the family letter close to his body, mounted his horse, and rode off in the opposite direction, soon vanishing into the dust.
Yang He secretly sighed. Li Jing truly deserved to become such a ruthless figure after being invested as a god.
The soldiers of Chentang Pass were no ordinary men either.
"Lord Li, senior brother has already absorbed enough Yang energy. He will not awaken anytime soon."
Nezha's current state was extremely strange. Though he still could not be born, Yang He felt as if he was about to be delivered.
Li Feng took a deep breath and slowly approached the coffin.
"There is no time to lose. We must reach Qing Lake before nightfall."
"Hah!"
Li Feng lifted the coffin onto his shoulder. The living people hanging halfway in the air all fell to the ground. Their Yang energy had been damaged, but at least their lives were safe.
"Daoist Yang, I'll have to trouble you with the affairs of our General's Mansion."
"It's nothing."
Yang He drew the Copper-Coin Sword from his waist and followed Li Feng with the remaining soldiers, watching as the swaying coffin left the Yamen.
"Senior brother, I'm already acting as your midwife, so you'd better behave yourself."
Before you continue