Strange Black Smoke

No matter what Old Hu said, Su Fan still refused to let go.

Although he had no idea what that monster in the street was, it was definitely not something a Mortal World martial artist could deal with.

He swept it with his Spiritual Sense. It had neither the aura of a demonic beast nor that of ghosts, Evil Spirits, or a zombie.

Just then, a commotion arose outside.

The two of them returned to the window and saw several yamen constables leading a group of burly men over.

"Fire..."

The constable at the front shouted.

The burly men behind him raised their crossbows and fired a volley at the monster.

The monster was incredibly tough. The several bolts that struck its body were all knocked away.

The monster slowly turned its head. The sound of its chewing and the blood spraying from its mouth made one's hair stand on end.

It suddenly spun around and leaped forward.

"Demon... It's a demon! Run!"

The constables and the group of burly men threw down their crossbows and fled in all directions, howling.

The constable at the front roared and drew his saber as he charged. Before he could even swing it, the monster smacked him flying.

It then pounced on two burly men who had not managed to run far enough, knocking them to the ground and savagely tearing into them.

In a short while, the two men had been ripped into several pieces, and the entire street was dyed red with blood.

"Old He..."

Taking advantage of Su Fan's inattention, Hu Guanghai leaped from the building and ran several steps to the constable's side.

Su Fan hurriedly turned around, ran into a private room by the window, vaulted onto the roof, and then teleported several times in succession until he appeared on the roof of the neighboring building.

He glanced down, summoned the Shadowless Needle, and pointed downward with his right hand.

Whoosh!!

The flying needle shot forward and pierced straight through the monster's head.

"Ao Wu..."

The monster let out a miserable howl, abruptly raised its head, and glared at Su Fan with resentful eyes before leaping onto the roof.

Su Fan was stunned. Its head had been pierced through by the Shadowless Needle, yet it still wasn't dead. What in the world was this thing?

He hurriedly retreated, pulled a dharma sword from his Storage Bag, and fixed his gaze on the monster charging toward him.

At that moment, the dharma sword in Su Fan's hand began to glow with a faint light, flickering several times.

Unfortunately, all his attention was focused on the monster, and he failed to notice the sword's change.

The furious beast charged forward with a roar. Just as it was about to crash into Su Fan, his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood and appeared beside the beast.

"Whirlwind Slash!"

Using his right foot as the pivot, he swung the greatsword around in a full circle. Its violent momentum swept up the fallen leaves from the rooftop, and they spun wildly with the Sword Aura.

The razor-sharp Sword Momentum seemed to cleave through the void, unleashing a shrill sonic boom as it brutally slashed into the monster's neck.

Pfft!!

The monster's ferocious head shot into the sky.

Its headless body still lurched forward several steps before plunging from the building and crashing into the alley below.

Su Fan stood there, stunned. He had been prepared for a bitter battle, but he had never expected it to end so easily.

It was way too weak.

Su Fan walked over and lifted the monster's head. He discovered that there was no blood at the severed neck.

Moreover, the wound had already rotted, and the stench of corpses assaulted his nose, as if it had been dead for several days.

Su Fan jumped down from the building, covered his nose, and crouched beside the monster's corpse to examine it carefully.

Suddenly, a plume of black smoke rose from the monster's corpse and instantly drilled into Su Fan's body.

Caught completely unprepared, the Dao Seed within Su Fan's body exploded with a thunderous boom, sending countless streams of searing purple lightning roaring out.

Su Fan heard a shrill, hoarse wail beside his ear. The strange black smoke burst out of his body and was about to dart away.

How could Su Fan possibly let it escape? The purple lightning wrapped around the greatsword, and with one fierce sweep, he instantly cleaved the mass of black smoke apart.

The scattered black smoke slowly gathered together again, but it had already grown extremely faint.

Su Fan charged over and unleashed another flurry of savage slashes with the greatsword. Only after the black smoke had completely dispersed and vanished did he put away the dharma sword.

What the hell was that? It was far too sinister.

If not for the Dao Seed within his body, it would have been hard to say how things might have ended today.

Su Fan turned to glance at the monster on the ground and was instantly dumbstruck.

The monster that had originally been ferocious and terrifying had become a completely rotten human corpse.

Su Fan furrowed his brows. That strange black smoke had attached itself to a human corpse and could actually transform it into such a savage monster.

He had never heard of anything like this.

Just then, a commotion arose in the street. Su Fan's figure moved, and he drifted up to the rooftop.

Without making a sound, he returned to Wangjiang Tower and came to the window beside the street.

He saw dozens of soldiers carrying long spears rush past below, led by a military officer.

Su Fan went downstairs and saw Hu Guanghai supporting the constable as they sat by the side of the street.

Hu Guanghai saw Su Fan and shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Brother, give me a hand. Help me carry Old He to the clinic over there..."

Su Fan hurried over and helped Hu Guanghai carry the constable to the clinic across the street.

The constable had been lucky enough to survive.

But the bones on half his body had all been shattered. Even if he recovered, he probably would never be able to stand again.

Because of the monster's appearance, the city fell into complete chaos. Things did not settle down until nightfall.

Old Hu arranged for Su Fan to stay at an inn, then left.

That evening, Hu Guanghai returned with a dejected look and sat there without saying a word.

Su Fan poured him a cup of tea, then sat down across from him.

"Things in the city have settled down, haven't they?"

Old Hu lifted the teacup and took a sip before shaking his head.

"That monster escaped from the mortuary. According to the people there, it transformed from a corpse."

After hearing Hu Guanghai's words, Su Fan nodded thoughtfully.

"Does anyone know whose corpse it was?"

Old Hu gave a bitter smile and said, "That corpse drifted down the Qingcang River yesterday. The dockworkers fished it out and placed it in the mortuary."

At this point, he paused before continuing, "That corpse has already been found. The authorities burned it."

Su Fan had studied the Ghost Path True Understanding, and he also had more than a dozen ghostly souls and vicious ghosts in his possession.

He was fairly familiar with ghostly entities. He knew that the strange black smoke absolutely could not have been a Shade Soul or another ghostly creature.

Not only was its aura wrong, but even if a ghostly entity attached itself to a person, it could not possibly mutate into that kind of monster.

The next day, Su Fan and Old Hu arrived at the dock.

Hu Guanghai gave Su Fan a fierce hug and patted him on the shoulder.

"Brother, have a smooth journey..."

Su Fan smiled and nodded. He had just turned to board the ship when he saw someone at the dock pointing toward the river and shouting.

The two of them turned to look at the river and were instantly stunned.

Several corpses floated in the distance, drifting toward the dock with the current.

The news that the corpse at the mortuary had transformed into a monster had already spread throughout Luqu County the day before.

When the people on the shore saw more corpses drifting over, they immediately panicked, and the dock descended into chaos.

"More corpses are drifting over..."

A boatman standing atop a mast shouted loudly.

Su Fan and Hu Guanghai leaped onto the ship and looked toward the distant river. They saw countless corpses densely floating across its surface.

Seeing so many corpses drifting over, the dock fell into complete disorder.

Some ships that had already left the dock hurriedly turned around and moored again, while the people aboard them desperately fled toward the city.