The old woman rejoined the group, her expression now looking rather grim.
Under the influence of the unknown force, they couldn't call Lord Bai the Fourteenth out to back them up. It was as good as having no safety net.
If all they could do was borrow power by burning incense, then no matter how they looked at it, the situation was far from promising.
After all, in the old woman's eyes, there were only five people here, and two of them were apprentices. They clearly couldn't count on them.
She turned to Lu Bai. "Xiao Lu, what do you think?"
"Exactly. Since Lord Bai the Fourteenth said from the start that you'd be leading this expedition..."
Incense Master Shi instinctively rubbed the goosebumps rising on his arm. "You ought to come up with a plan, at least."
"Well, since they clearly don't intend to let us leave, we might as well take a look around the village."
Lu Bai seemed quite calm. He was even smiling as he spoke.
His composure put the two Incense Masters at ease.
"Come on. Let's see how the villagers are doing."
As he spoke, he headed toward Xiao Li's house at the entrance to the village.
The old woman and Incense Master Shi exchanged a glance but raised no objections. They followed behind Lu Bai, one after the other.
Even if the two remaining deathmatchers had other ideas, there was nothing they could do in this situation but follow along.
In any case, staying with the Incense Masters was safer than wandering around on their own.
They passed through the wooden fence around the house and came to the front door.
The door was ajar and opened with a gentle push.
But as soon as they pushed it open, a bone-chilling gust of