Weird Human Face!

The next morning, as the sun began to rise.

As spring approached, the accumulated snow showed signs of melting.

After resting for the night, Lin Guanhuo and the others woke up and immediately prepared to depart again.

And at this time...

Li Hu, amidst the crowd, suddenly noticed that besides Six-Fingered, who had been scared away last night, Xu Dadao was also missing.

"Where's Dadao??"

"Why is he gone??"

Lin Guanhuo heard this and looked around, indeed not seeing Xu Dadao anywhere.

Yesterday evening, Xu Dadao had slept on the pile of weeds right beside him.

Chen Jianxing of the Demon Suppressing Division heard the commotion, got up, and came to take a look.

Then he saw a trail of footprints leading towards the withered forest ahead.

After a moment of silence, Chen Jianxing finally shook his head helplessly, "Those two are probably done for."

"Let's go take a look."

Chen Jianxing took the lead, and Lin Guanhuo's group followed closely behind.

Everyone followed the footprints, passing through the withered forest, and emerged before a large earthen slope.

There were no trees on the slope, only dense, overlapping mounds of earth, like countless steamed buns piled randomly on the ground.

Some mounds had rotten wood stuck in front of them, while others had crooked gravestones.

An eerie wind howled, and paper money fluttered in the air.

It made one's heart pound with unease.

And not far ahead of everyone, two gray gravestones stood prominently.

On the gravestones, written in blood-red cinnabar.

Two names were neatly carved.

Tomb of Zhang Tie Zhu!

Tomb of Xu Dadao!

"Da... Dadao?!"

Seeing this, Li Hu's legs went weak, "He... why is his name on here?!"

"And Six-Fingered... his name is on here too!!"

Someone present who knew Six-Fingered knew that Zhang Tie Zhu was his real name...

Two people who were fine yesterday were now two cold gravestones.

This scene was utterly bizarre.

Someone incredulously stammered, "Are they... both dead??"

"Impossible!!"

At this moment, Li Hu, who had known Xu Dadao for many years, shouted, "If someone is alive, we see them; if they are dead, we see their body! Who saw them die??"

"Do demons and monsters kill and then bury them too?? This must be an illusion!"

"Dig!"

Saying that, Li Hu rolled up his sleeves and began digging up the graves.

The others present exchanged glances, clearly finding the situation suspicious, and then joined Li Hu in digging.

Official Chen of the Demon Suppressing Division and Lin Guanhuo stood aside, quietly watching it all.

In less than a moment...

The graves of the two men were dug open, revealing ancient coffins within, as if they had been buried for decades.

'Gulp...'

Although Li Hu had been defiant earlier, seeing the coffins before him now made him a little scared.

After swallowing, he directly flipped open Xu Dadao's coffin.

Creak!!

The coffin was opened.

And then they saw...

Inside the coffin, a corpse looked as if its entire body had been drained, twisted into a rope, and coiled within the coffin.

The person's expression was incredibly contorted, but it was still recognizable as the missing Xu Dadao.

This was clearly the result of demons and monsters draining his essence, leaving him in such a horrific state.

"Ah!!!"

Startled, Li Hu hastily retreated several steps, climbing out of the grave pit before slumping onto the ground.

As he backed away, he cursed, "Go to hell!! Go to hell!!"

The others opened another coffin, and inside lay Six-Fingered, his corpse as tragically mangled as the first.

Only then.

Official Chen of the Demon Suppressing Division, who had been silent for a long time, slowly spoke, "I already warned you yesterday. You didn't listen to my advice, and this is the consequence!"

There was no sympathy in Chen Jianxing's tone.

People like them would eventually die by the hands of demons and monsters; it was only a matter of time.

"Bury these two."

"Head up the mountain and carry the corpse!"

With that, Chen Jianxing left without looking back.

Lin Guanhuo and the others buried Xu Dadao and Six-Fingered's coffins and then departed.

After walking for another two hours, the group finally reached the mountaintop.

An ancient temple, weathered by time, appeared before them.

The plaque above the temple gate had long since rotted away halfway.

However, the three characters "Evil God Temple" could still be vaguely discerned.

This temple had been in Blackwater County for many years, dedicated not to any proper deities or Buddhas, but to two ferocious-looking evil gods.

In earlier years, some unconventional individuals came here to perform mysterious rituals, but after the demonic outbreak on Luoku Mountain, it had fallen into disuse.

"We're here."

Chen Jianxing walked ahead of the group.

Lin Guanhuo and the others behind him looked around. On the bluestone-paved ground beneath their feet, there were dried, black-purple bloodstains everywhere, accompanied by a foul, putrid smell.

The blood seemed highly corrosive, having eaten into the hard stone, creating pitted holes that hissed and emitted black smoke, releasing a nauseating, sour stench.

"This is the blood of that beast,"

Chen Jianxing said as he walked. "That dog demon's flesh and hide were as hard as refined iron, and it possessed immense strength. Even a third-grade Body Tempering martial artist would have had trouble dealing with it."

"My cultivation level was slightly higher than its. However, the beast had the advantage of size. If we had fought head-on, it would have been a stalemate. Fortunately, I found an opportunity and killed it by surprise."

"I severed its head and used several large trees to fashion a giant wooden coffin. I submerged it in the coffin to drain its blood and demonic energy. Now, it can't cause much trouble."

Chen Jianxing's tone was clearly tinged with pride as he spoke.

Between demons and humans of the same level, demons clearly had the advantage. Even when facing humans one or two levels higher, demons could still put up a fight.

He had indeed accomplished a great deed by slaying a third-grade Body Tempering demon beast.

"Let's go, we're going in to carry the corpse."

Chen Jianxing crossed the threshold first and entered the main hall.

The hall was dark and spacious.

On a stone platform at the front were two evil god statues. Although they were old and their paint had peeled, they still exuded a powerful malevolent aura.

And in the very center of the hall.

A massive wooden coffin was placed.

The coffin was two to three meters long and had been crudely pieced together from several thick, ancient tree trunks.

Drip...

Drip...

As the group approached, they could hear a dripping sound. Upon closer inspection, they discovered!

It was thick, black blood seeping out drop by drop from the coffin's seams.

"Gurgle... Gurgle..."

The sound of liquid flowing could be faintly heard from within the coffin, sending chills down their spines.

"This... this is that dog demon?"

Li Hu swallowed hard, his hand gripping the iron rod slick with sweat.

"What are you afraid of? It's dead and buried."

Chen Jianxing stood beside the coffin and patted its heavy lid.

"You few, lift the coffin lid, tie up the corpse with ropes, and carry it down the mountain. That's all there is to it."

"Open the coffin."

Upon hearing this, although the men were terrified.

They had come this far, and they dared not disobey Official Chen.

"Let's do this! The sooner we finish, the sooner we get paid!"

One of the braver low-ranking officials gritted his teeth and stepped forward first.

Lin Guanhuo also walked over, standing on the other side of the coffin.

The crowd exchanged glances.

Then.

"One, two, three! Lift!"

As several people shouted in unison, they all heaved with effort!!

Creak!!

A sound emerged. The few of them didn't need to use much force to lift the coffin lid!

The next second!!

BOOM!

The coffin lid landed, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Whew… scared the crap out of me."

Li Hu said, then leaned in to look inside the coffin. "Damn it, let me see what this cursed dog demon looks like… Ah!!!"

However, before he could finish speaking, he seemed to have seen something incredibly terrifying and couldn't help but let out a loud yell.

"What's wrong?!"

Everyone was startled by his shout.

Lin Guanhuo frowned, took a step forward, and his gaze fell upon the inside of the coffin.

Inside the coffin, there was indeed an incredibly massive corpse.

It was several meters long, and its black fur was like blades; an ordinary person touching it would probably be pierced with several bloody holes.

This was a dog's corpse.

But…

As Lin Guanhuo's gaze moved up along the dog's body, settling on its head.

Even Lin Guanhuo, with his indifferent personality, couldn't help but feel a bit shocked.

Because the thing growing on the dog demon's neck was not a dog's head.

But a huge, pitch-black human head!

The human head's eyes were tightly shut, its face was purplish-blue, and its features were contorted.

But this wasn't the most terrifying part.

The most terrifying thing was… this face was too familiar.

The dead face in the coffin…

Was exactly the same as the Demon Suppressing Division's Bronze-Ranked Agent, Chen Jianxing, Official Chen, who was standing behind them at this very moment…

Identical!