When I looked over, it was still baring its fangs and hissing at me. That lit a fire in me too.
I let out a loud "Ah!" and ran over, crushing its head beneath my foot.
Like that, I ran while leaving talismans on the ground.
Once I got a little farther away, I triggered the talismans to attack them. For a time, I fought these corpses blow for blow.
Along the path I had run, there were explosions, the ring of swords, and giant fireballs five or six meters across...
As I ran, I suddenly felt like a wild horse that had slipped its reins.
I kept charging forward, and no matter what obstacles lay ahead, nothing could hold me back.
At that thought, I abruptly paused. Wait, "wild horse?"
That's right, I had a Yin Horse—a high-grade Yin Horse, at that. Why was I running like this?
I pulled out the Yin Horse from my bag and chanted, "Red Hare in hand, a journey of a thousand miles becomes as smooth as level ground. Urgently, as the law commands."
Just like last time, a tall chestnut horse instantly appeared beneath me.
It was far faster than running on my own legs. Before long, I had widened the distance between myself and the corpses chasing me.
Now that I had the Yin Horse, I no longer planned to head for that huge rock.
I simply circled around the areas where the corpse horde was thinner, throwing talismans as I rode.
During that time, I had no idea how many corpses I killed. A glance showed countless bodies sprawled across the ground.
Yet these things seemed impossible to finish off. Wave after wave came, endless and inexhaustible.
I looked around, and there were too many—far too many.
Despair rose in me. I remembered Master-Uncle saying he would use a major spell, but there had been no movement for ages.
So I searched everywhere for Master-Uncle. The scene was too chaotic, and I looked for a long time without finding him.
After circling the area once more, I spotted Master-Uncle at the very center of the site.
His hands were formed into sword fingers, one raised before his chest and the other pointing toward the ground.
His body slowly floated upward, and before long, he had risen into midair.
Then he muttered an incantation under his breath before suddenly opening his eyes and shouting:
"At the first breath of spring, sweet dew descends; ten thousand bamboos burst from the earth—Bamboo Kill!"
His voice carried far and wide, echoing through the underground space for a long time before fading.
It was like demonic music pouring into my ears, deafening and soul-shaking.
The moment his words fell, I felt waves of trembling rise from underground.
Even atop the horse, I swayed as if I were about to fall. I hurriedly gripped the reins tightly and steadied myself.
Suddenly, sharp bamboo stalks shot violently out of the ground one after another.
Each bamboo stalk was at least four or five meters long, and many corpses were pierced straight through.
Some were skewered from the middle of their bodies all the way through their heads.
Others were pierced through the abdomen.
Some had their heads, legs, and feet pierced, while a single bamboo stalk impaled several corpses in succession.
I thought I would be caught in the attack too, but when I looked around, I found that I wasn't.
The bamboo bursting from the earth seemed conscious. Not a single stalk emerged from beneath the spot where my horse stood.
After I breathed a sigh of relief, Master-Uncle flew toward me and asked if I was all right.
I said I was fine. My back and leg had only been scratched, nothing serious.
Master-Uncle said it was good that I was fine. Then, with a wave of his hand, all the bamboo turned into white smoke and vanished.
Next, Master-Uncle landed beside me and examined my wounds.
He took out a talisman and slapped it onto them. I saw that it was a Yin Dispelling Talisman.
Before long, the stabbing pain in my wounds faded away, and I put the Yin Horse away.
Then I sat on the ground and briefly treated my injuries. For the places on my back that I couldn't reach, I had Master-Uncle help me.
After finishing, I stood up and looked around. Corpses lay everywhere as far as the eye could see.
I looked at Master-Uncle in surprise and asked, "Are they all dead?"
Master-Uncle said the corpses had been dead to begin with. The reason they could move was because something was controlling them.
I didn't understand, so I asked what that thing was.
Master-Uncle frowned tightly as he stared in one direction and said,
"I saw a well emitting Yin energy while I was in the air just now. If nothing unexpected has happened, it should be there."
After saying that, he said we should take a look. I answered, "All right," and followed behind him.
I followed Master-Uncle all the way to the well he had mentioned, the one emitting Yin energy.
At the well, I saw streams of black mist pouring out. Master-Uncle said we had to seal or destroy it immediately.
Otherwise, those corpses might come back to life again soon, and that would be even more troublesome.
I asked Master-Uncle how we could seal it.
Master-Uncle said sealing it probably wouldn't work. We didn't have enough materials.
For now, we could only use the simplest and most brutal method—destroy it. With that, Master-Uncle prepared to strike it with his palm.
I hurriedly said, "Wait."
Master-Uncle looked at me suspiciously and asked what I was doing.
I said that if this was Yin energy, could my Yin Horse absorb some of it?
Master-Uncle's eyes lit up. He said it could, then told me to give him the Yin Horse.
I handed over the Yin Horse, and Master-Uncle directly tossed it inside.
I was startled, thinking it might fall to the bottom of the well, but I had worried for nothing.
Before long, the Yin Horse floated back up, and the Yin energy streamed endlessly into it.
Master-Uncle said it would take some time, so we sat down on the ground to wait.
Then Master-Uncle sighed slightly and said, "What a pity those soybeans weren't brought here. Otherwise, we'd have struck it rich."
Thinking about it, I realized he was right. Those beans needed Yin energy too.
If we had brought them and left them here for a while, they could have recovered to their peak state. But what was done was done, and there was nothing we could do about it.
I sprawled on the ground like a heap of mud, not wanting to move at all.
Even when the wound on my back was pressed against the ground and sent waves of stabbing pain through me, I didn't turn over.
To hell with it. Right now, all I wanted was a good sleep.
I was exhausted. First, I had turned back midway to the small platform, and then came the fighting and fleeing for my life.
One thing after another had left me utterly drained, body and soul.
I glanced sideways at Master-Uncle and found that his lips were a little pale.
His gaze was blankly fixed ahead. He probably wasn't feeling any better either.
Lying on the ground, I weakly asked Master-Uncle if he could explain what had happened in the village.
Master-Uncle said yes, then began to tell the story in detail. He said that when he left Bamboo Forest that day, he had probably been lured away in a trick to draw the tiger from the mountain.
I immediately asked Master-Uncle, "What exactly happened?"
Master-Uncle pondered briefly. "That day, the descendant of an old friend of mine came looking for me.
"He said he had run into a bit of trouble and needed my help dealing with it.
"I agreed at once. Only when I got there did I learn that it was an ordinary haunting.
"I dealt with it quickly, then planned to return to Bamboo Forest. But he said he wanted to treat me to a meal.
"I tried to decline several times but couldn't refuse, so I went with him.
"By the time I returned to Bamboo Forest, I discovered that something had happened in the village. So I went to the village, then headed to the back mountain.
"After arriving, I felt there was a problem with the back mountain too, but I couldn't find where the problem lay at the time.
"Later, when I returned to the village, I saw some wandering ghosts with very low cultivation.
"I didn't even make a move before they scattered in all directions, fleeing for their lives. Not long after I returned to Bamboo Forest, you arrived."
I said that didn't make sense. With his abilities, he should have noticed me when he went to the back mountain that day.
At the time, my father had buried me in the dirt. There was no way Master-Uncle should have failed to notice me.
"That straw effigy completely replaced your aura, so I couldn't sense you at all.
"Besides, that straw effigy might have been made by your grandfather long ago. It had reached the point where it could pass falsehood off as truth."
After hearing Master-Uncle's explanation, I nodded, then asked whether the person who had come looking for him was called Xie Yun.
Master-Uncle looked at me in surprise and asked, "You know him?"
I said I didn't know him. It was just that they had come to my house that day.