"Act according to the original plan!"
At Golden Dragon Abbot's command, the four disciples each hoisted a gourd onto their backs and vanished into the night.
Jueming carried his gourd as he darted swiftly through the darkness, arriving atop a hillside.
He glanced around in every direction and, after confirming that no one else was nearby, opened the gourd on his back.
At once, a surge of Killing Intent shot skyward from the gourd.
"Whoosh~"
A chilling wind rose around him for no apparent reason.
Jueming took out a white-bone ritual implement and began chanting under his breath.
The Killing Intent all around was stirred, forming gust after gust of sinister wind that blew toward the charity mortuary.
What he did not know was that a pair of eyes had taken in every bit of it.
Inside the charity mortuary, Bai Yu lay on his bed, pretending to sleep.
Suddenly, the Soul-Suppressing Banner in the room began moving without wind, snapping and flapping.
Howling wind sounded outside. Mixed within it seemed to be the death cries of wild beasts and the sound of wood splintering.
If someone looked down from the sky, they would see that the charity mortuary and its surroundings had already been shrouded in a layer of white mist.
Within a radius of a thousand meters, a dense tidal wave of Killing Intent had formed.
With the charity mortuary at its center, countless streams of Killing Intent churned and formed a massive vortex!
Though Bai Yu could not see the vortex, he could clearly feel the Killing Intent growing stronger.
He sprang up from the bed, grabbed the things he had prepared, and headed to the front hall.
At that moment, Uncle Jiu, Zhu Tong, Old Zhang, and Little Wang arrived one after another.
Bai Yu spoke first.
"Uncle Jiu, this is bad. The Killing Intent inside and outside the charity mortuary has suddenly surged! And its concentration is still increasing!"
Uncle Jiu's expression was equally grave as he said in a low voice,
"I noticed it too. Something must have gone wrong somewhere."
"We can't stay here any longer. With Killing Intent this heavy, people will die if we remain."
Just then, roars erupted from the various courtyards of the charity mortuary, along with the sound of heavy objects slamming into wooden boards.
Bai Yu's expression changed drastically!
With the surge in Killing Intent, the corpses stored in the charity mortuary had begun turning into Baleful Corpses.
Uncle Jiu cried out in alarm as well.
"Not good! The Killing Intent is too heavy. Those clients are about to undergo corpse transformations."
He hurriedly pulled several yellow talismans from his robes and stuffed one into each person's hand.
"Go, quickly. The Killing Intent here is too dense. Ordinary people can't withstand it."
Zhu Tong hurriedly said,
"Yes, yes, yes, let's go, let's go. We'll leave together."
But Uncle Jiu said,
"You all need to leave. I can't."
Old Zhang added,
"Old Lin, have you gone mad? Even if you're a martial artist, something will happen if you keep staying here."
Uncle Jiu said in a deep voice,
"It is my duty. I will not shirk it."
"You aren't Yin-Yang Practitioners. Go quickly. Don't waste time here."
"If you're not here, I'll have more room to work."
Just as Bai Yu was about to speak, Uncle Jiu stuffed a talisman paper into his arms.
"Little Yu, you need to leave too. You've learned the Art of Zhuyou. I'll be at ease with you leading them out."
"And you are now the final inheritor of the Yin Talisman Scripture. The inheritance absolutely cannot be severed."
At that moment, wood cracked inside the charity mortuary. Baleful Corpses had already smashed through their coffins and emerged.
Uncle Jiu's face changed drastically at the sound, and he began driving them away.
"Damn it, go already! Stop dawdling!"
Seeing this, Bai Yu and the others could only grip their talisman papers tightly and hurry out of the charity mortuary.
The moment they left the main gate, they saw Killing Intent turned into white mist rushing straight at them.
Bai Yu took the lead, pulling out a Soul-Suppressing Banner and sweeping it through the air, scattering a mass of Killing Intent.
But after charging several meters, he immediately discovered that the Killing Intent ahead was far too dense. Some of the white mist had even taken on the shape of ghostly faces.
In the distant fog, wisps of ghostfire drifted about, and what seemed to be the sound of ghosts weeping carried over.
Bai Yu made a prompt decision.
"No. The Killing Intent on this side is too heavy. Even if we can force our way through, it'll enter your bodies and cut short your lifespans."
Zhu Tong hastily asked,
"Then what do we do? Little Yu, you're our last hope now."
Bai Yu said,
"Head southeast. The Killing Intent is much weaker over there."
Old Zhang said,
"But that's the Mass Burial Grounds!"
Bai Yu said coldly,
"We can't worry about so much. There's still a sliver of hope to the southeast."
He handed each of them three yellow talismans.
Fortunately, he had also practiced drawing quite a few talismans over the past few days.
"Hold the yellow talismans tightly in your palms. Do not lose them."
"Then stay close behind me. If anyone falls behind, they're finished."
With that, Bai Yu's vital energy and blood surged through his body, forcing back the Killing Intent around him as he charged forward like a horse at the head of the pack.
Zhu Tong and the others had no time to think further and hurried after Bai Yu as they pressed onward.
Whenever they encountered dense white mist of Killing Intent along the way, Bai Yu used the Soul-Suppressing Banner to disperse it.
Every so often, one or two wisps of ghostfire drifted toward them.
Bai Yu did not dare confirm whether there really were ghosts, so he could only throw out yellow talisman after yellow talisman to extinguish them.
Finally, after a short while, the four escaped the charity mortuary's range and entered the Mass Burial Grounds.
The Killing Intent in the Mass Burial Grounds was actually less dense than that around the charity mortuary. At least, it did not turn into white mist.
Bai Yu said,
"Go another mile or two. Once we're out of the Mass Burial Grounds, there'll be a town ahead."
Zhu Tong also relaxed slightly.
"I know it. That's Qinghe Town. There are plenty of people in town, so there shouldn't be any problems."
The group steadied themselves somewhat and began making their way through the Mass Burial Grounds by moonlight, carrying lanterns.
They walked several hundred meters without encountering anything strange and could not help but let out a breath of relief.
Just as everyone relaxed, Old Zhang, who was walking last, let out a scream.
The others hurriedly looked over, only to see Old Zhang fall to the ground.
A withered claw had appeared around his foot.
Immediately afterward, a figure burst from the earth. It was actually a Baleful Corpse.
Zhu Tong shuddered from head to toe.
"A Ba... Ba... Baleful Corpse!"
"Damn it, how did we run into a Baleful Corpse?"
Little Wang's legs went weak with fright, and he turned to run.
After taking two steps, he realized he was safer beside Bai Yu and instinctively ran back.
At that moment, the Baleful Corpse let out an inhuman roar and pounced toward Old Zhang.
When it opened its mouth, a rotten stench rushed at him, and two sharp fangs bit down toward Old Zhang.
Bai Yu snorted coldly. With a clang, he drew a steel saber from behind his back.
Soul Severing Saber Technique!
A flash of snow-bright saber light streaked past, and the Baleful Corpse's head was severed cleanly, tumbling to the ground.
Slash! Slash!
With two more strikes, the Baleful Corpse's limbs were severed as well.
Old Zhang looked at the Baleful Corpse on the ground, shuddered all over, and hurriedly scrambled to his feet.
"Damn it, I, Old Zhang, nearly fell into this thing's hands."
"Little Bai, I really have you to thank this time."
But Bai Yu's expression changed.
Old Zhang's leg had clearly been clawed. The wound had already begun turning bluish-green.
Bai Yu hurriedly took out two talismans from his robes and stuck them onto Old Zhang's leg.
"Once we reach town, make sure to buy glutinous rice and rub it over the wound."
Old Zhang laughed instead.
"Damn it, surviving a great calamity means blessings will follow. Little Bai, don't worry about it."
After this setback, the group once again hurried toward the nearby town.
Meanwhile, Uncle Jiu in the charity mortuary had long since begun to act.
Before you continue