I Could Tell at a Glance That You Weren't Human

"Where did you come from?"

"Have you eaten?"

The candle flickered. In the faint light, three corpses sat around the living room, showering Su Ti with concern.

If not for their rotting bodies, it might actually have seemed somewhat heartwarming.

But when he thought of three corpses that had soaked in water for a month, the stench that rose to the heavens, and the dim surroundings, the warmth instantly became pure horror.

Su Ti answered each of the Yu's questions with a smile.

Judging from the conversation, they were probably playing the roles of a family of three: an old man, an old woman, and a young, able-bodied man.

But none of that mattered.

"I'd like to ask, how many people are left in this village?"

"Not many. Other than us, there's only one household next door and one about a hundred meters ahead. But we rarely interact with them."

As one of the Yu spoke, drool began to drip from its mouth.

Like humans, they had greedy and selfish sides. It was rare for such a living person to come to a secluded mountain village like this, so naturally, they did not want to share him with their other neighbors.

The first household Su Ti and the others had encountered earlier had been the same. If there had not been only two Yu there, unable to swallow up Su Ti's group by themselves, they would not have wanted to notify their companions either.

Unfortunately for them, Su Ti had killed them before they could inform anyone else.

"Oh, then I can rest easy."

With a strange smile on his face, Su Ti rose to his feet. The three Yu watched him, utterly confused.

"What are you relieved about?"

Boom!

A huge hand like a giant python shot out and seized the Yu in front of him by the head.

Su Ti grinned viciously.

"I'm relieved to send you on your way!"

The Yu had barely opened its mouth before it could speak when, in the next second, its head slammed into the floor with a thunderous crash.

Its head smashed through the floorboards and blasted out a hole. After its brains burst, Su Ti grabbed its body and hurled it fiercely against the wall!

Boom!

The Yu's body made intimate contact with the wooden wall as well!

The tremendous force shattered the wooden wall, sending it flying out of the house!

The remaining two Yu gaped, unable to react for a moment.

Then a furious roar rang out.

"You ghosts and monsters, I could tell at a glance that you weren't human!"

Two flushed, massive fists then grew larger and larger before the two Yu's eyes, followed by another thunderous crash!

The two Yu had no time to react. One punch sent their feet flying forward and their heads whipping backward, smashing them heavily into the wall. They crashed through it and flew out the door!

One of them had its head burst apart midair and died instantly. The other lay on the ground with its limbs twisted and neck bent at an angle, still struggling.

The violent commotion disturbed the last household. Two Yu poked their heads out from the main gate and witnessed this scene.

"Run!"

The twisted Yu stretched out an arm and shouted with all its strength. But before it could finish, a massive foot descended from the sky and stomped on its head.

With a crack, its head was crushed like a watermelon.

"Run?"

The owner of that foot wore a savage, strange smile as he tilted his head at the two terrified Yu peeking out from the doorway.

"Can you run?"

When Xu Lao and the other four emerged from the room, this was the sight that greeted them.

The two monsters resembling floating corpses screamed and fled back into the house. Then a black blur crashed through the front door with a boom and rushed inside.

After a burst of violent impacts and screams, the house soon fell silent.

Su Ti emerged shortly afterward, carrying two Yu with broken necks and twisted limbs. He casually tossed them onto the open ground in the middle.

"Help move the two corpses from the first house out too. Start a fire and burn all this stuff. It stinks to high heaven."

Su Ti spoke.

By then, he had absorbed all the energy from these Yu. Other than giving off a foul stench, the corpses were useless to him.

"Oh, right." Everyone froze for a moment before coming back to their senses and getting to work together.

More than ten minutes later, Xu Lao and the others stared at the blazing bonfire before them, still feeling dazed.

That had ended far too quickly.

A mountain village, elderly people, corpses, hallucinations, a ghostly domain—those keywords alone were enough to make a horror movie!

Yet barely ten minutes into the film, before the first act had even ended, they had already reached the conclusion.

Still, Xu Lao and the others had seen much of the world. They quickly shook off that strange sense of familiarity.

In the end, it was because Su Ti's addition had dramatically increased their team's combat strength. If ordinary people encountered these Yu, it would definitely be a horror movie. But when the Yu encountered Su Ti, it became their horror movie.

By the firelight, Xu Lao said gravely, "It seems my judgment was correct. This tomb is truly extremely dangerous. We encountered Evil Spirits even outside the tomb itself—something that never happened in my previous tomb-raiding career!"

"Because we had never encountered such a thing before, we had no guard against it and nearly fell for their trick. Fortunately, Brother Su Xiu was cautious, or we might have caused a grave disaster!"

The others nodded slightly, all of them still shaken.

Although these Yu were not much stronger than ordinary people, perhaps not even as strong as Tongli Stage martial artists, their true strength did not lie in their bodies. It lay in the hallucinations that could deceive even Su Ti.

Once someone fell into an illusion, they could be toyed with at will. Poisoning, splitting people apart and defeating them one by one, framing others, causing accidental killings—Yu could use all sorts of tricks. That was what made them truly terrifying!

"This place is very strange. We've only just arrived. Although this batch of Yu has been wiped out, there may still be other Evil Spirits."

Xu Lao spoke softly as he looked around.

At those words, although everyone was sitting around the bonfire, a chill ran through their bodies. It felt as though other eyes were watching them from the dark mountain village.

"Many Evil Spirits can create hallucinations, especially in old mountain forests and villages like this. I'm sure you've all heard plenty of legends and stories."

"Don't we have Feng You Jing?"

Su Ti shook the bottle of Feng You Jing in his hand. Before today, he would never have imagined that Feng You Jing could ward off evil. He would definitely buy a few extra bottles in the future in case of emergencies.

Xu Lao shook his head.

"Feng You Jing isn't a cure-all. It only works against Evil Spirits that use smell to cast illusions. Many Evil Spirits do not confuse people through smell."

"Take Skinning Monsters and Corpse Puppet Worms, for example. The former can disguise themselves by changing skins, while the latter can parasitize someone and take on that person's appearance. Feng You Jing cannot distinguish either of them."

"So we cannot split up again from now on. The five of us must stay together when we eat, dress, sleep, and travel. At the same time, I suggest we use some special methods to verify our identities."

As Xu Lao spoke, he took out several tools.

"First, we all need to tie one of these red strings around our wrists. Second, I've made some code phrases. Come over and compare them. Before making any important decision, we must confirm the code phrase before trusting one another."

Earlier, Xu Lao had let down his guard because they had not entered the tomb yet. Now that he knew there were Evil Spirits outside the tomb as well, his professionalism came into full play, and he formulated a meticulous plan.

On the first night, they kept the bonfire burning all night and set up tents in the clearing around the wooden houses. Two people stood watch at night, taking turns on guard duty.

Only when the sun rose the next morning did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.

After getting up, everyone gathered together. Xu Lao looked over the group and said, "The vast majority of Evil Spirits do not appear during the day. Ghosts fear sunlight, while monsters are not directly harmed by it but still loathe it intensely."

"So daytime is much safer. We can use the opportunity to investigate the area around this mountain village."

Although it was daytime, they still did not split up. Under Xu Lao's lead, they investigated together.

The mountain village was not large. Because of the fire more than a decade ago, only three households remained. Everyone soon searched the entire area and found no other houses.

They then thoroughly searched the houses where the Yu had lived.

In the kitchens, they found plenty of smoked meat, sausages, and similar food.

When they opened up the ground beneath the houses, they discovered many human skeletons.

"These bones are all old. The newest are seven or eight years old, while the oldest are more than a decade old. It seems no one has visited this mountain village in many years."

"Yu do not build houses. I estimate these homes originally belonged to people. Just as those Yu said, the residents were survivors of the fire, elderly people unwilling to leave the village. Later, for some unknown reason, the Yu came, killed the owners of these houses, and took over their nests."

"The later bones may belong to young adults who returned to the village to visit the elderly, or perhaps tourists."

"In any case, they were all bewitched and killed by the Yu, and no news ever got out."

As he sifted through the bones, Xu Lao spoke with practiced expertise.

"Not all of that smoked meat and sausage is human, either. I estimate they finished eating the human flesh long ago. The smoked meat and sausages now are made from animal meat."

"Do Evil Spirits need to eat like normal people too?"

Su Ti asked curiously.

"Yes and no."

Xu Lao stroked his beard and began explaining.

"When they are on a Yin Meridian, they can survive by absorbing only yin energy. But once they leave the Yin Meridian, many Evil Spirits must live by consuming flesh and blood with souls. As for eating dried animal corpses, that is probably just a hobby of theirs, like snacks rather than a main meal."

Afterward, everyone started a large fire and burned down all three houses.

It was not that they did not want to stay inside, but the Yu had occupied the houses for too long, leaving behind an overpowering corpse stench. Burning them down was the only option.

After the houses were destroyed, the group set out again.

They had come to survey the tomb and raid it. The first task, naturally, was finding it, and that was left to a professional like Xu Lao.

Xu Lao took out a compass, a map, and various special instruments they could not understand, then began taking measurements.

"If my guess is correct, based on the direction of this Yin Meridian, our current position should be downstream and close to its end. Although some yin energy still gathers here, there is not much left."

"For ancient tombs built on a Yin Meridian like this, the tomb is generally constructed directly at the Meridian's starting point—the source of the Yin Meridian. That is where yin energy is strongest and where Evil Spirits are most likely to be born."

"Come on. Stay close to me. We're going to find that source now."

Thus, everyone followed Xu Lao over mountains and across rivers as though following a tour guide.

Su Ti discovered that the tomb-raiding profession was far from simple.

Xu Lao spent a full week merely measuring the approximate location of the Yin Meridian.

During that time, the group crossed mountains and valleys around Mu Family Village, stopping and starting along the way. They even went down to the city once to replenish their food and water before returning to continue measuring the location.

At last, their efforts paid off. At noon on the seventh day, they found the source of the Yin Meridian on a mountain peak about two li to the left of Mu Family Village.

The peak was more than two hundred meters tall and shaped like a right triangle. Its slope had soft soil and dense forest, which they crossed as they climbed the mountain.

Its vertical face, however, was a steep cliff of hard rock, barren of even a blade of grass.

At that moment, they stood atop the mountain. There was a large platform at the summit, with bare hard rock beneath their feet, and at the end of the platform lay the steep cliff.

"If I'm not mistaken, King Mu's tomb is directly beneath our feet."

Xu Lao paced around the platform once before finally stroking his beard and speaking.

"Right beneath us? Xu Lao, just point out the spot, and I'll start digging."

Lao Li chuckled as he carried a military shovel over his shoulder. After so many days of surveying, they could finally begin digging the tomb. His hands had been itching for it.

Lao Li's role in the tomb-raiding team was that of a construction specialist responsible for digging tunnels, commonly known as a Ground Dragon or Pangolin.

Unlike Xu Lao, who had yin-yang eyes, one was responsible for surveying while the other was responsible for digging.

Xu Lao shook his head slightly.

"You won't be able to dig it up. The location of this tomb is unusual. It was buried within the mountain using cliff burial methods. If you dig straight down from here, you would have to carve through at least a hundred meters of hard mountain rock before you might reach it."

At the mention of a hundred meters, Lao Li quickly shook his head. No matter how confident he was in his tunneling skills, he was not confident enough to dig a hundred meters with a military shovel. Even drilling machines could not bore that deep underground.

Besides, this place was so remote, deep in the mountains and forests. There was no way to haul a drilling machine up here.