With the aberration before them, the three tacitly agreed not to mention what had happened during the day.
Silence fell. Fei Shan stayed behind to handle any surprises.
Jiang Yan and Tang Long headed back to the village together.
They didn't look for Sheng Fuwu. Jiang Yan knew they wouldn't find him even if they tried, while Tang Long thought there was no point looking.
They crossed the square and entered Yuyang Village.
Knock, knock, knock.
The dull knocking rang clearly through the quiet night.
A sliver of firelight shone through the crack beneath the door, and footsteps approached.
The door opened, and an imposing, muscular old man in his fifties peered out. "Oh? Captain Tang, what brings you here so late?"
The old man had an honest, kindly face, but his voice was hoarse, carrying a note of distance.
Tang Long acted as if he hadn't noticed. His expression was solemn. "Master Chang, a Sha has appeared in the rapeseed fields. Headman Sheng is unwell and unable to act..."
The meaning was clear.
They needed the old man to step in.
"A Sha."
The old man surnamed Chang didn't change expression, but spoke faster. "Do you know what kind?"
"Immortal Flower!"
Tang Long spat out the two words.
Chang Chi nodded at that. He seemed to relax a little, then appeared to remember something. "How many people have been cursed by the flower's fragrance?"
Tang Long's face darkened. "About twenty."
"Then we'd better hurry. If we're late, they'll all die!"
Chang Chi said, then strode out ahead of them.
Jiang Yan's gaze flickered. He noticed a small pouch hanging from Chang Chi's waist and fell into thought.
Chang Chi was a Talisman Master, so the pouch at his waist must be full of talismans. The old man looked as though he hadn't prepared anything, but in truth, he'd had everything ready before Tang Long even knocked.
He lowered his head and said nothing, hurrying after them. This time, he'd probably get a chance to see how a Talisman Master fought.
The rapeseed fields lay some distance from the village. From Chang Chi and Tang Long's conversation, Jiang Yan had already learned a fair bit about the great aberration they'd encountered.
The Immortal Flower was an aberration, but if one set that aside and simply admired it, it was a plant of peerless beauty.
An Immortal Flower aberration usually took root in one place and grew there, releasing a fragrance that gathered curses. Anyone who smelled it would sprout an Immortal Flower seedling from the top of their head, and it would feed on the essence of their flesh and blood.
When the flower bloomed, the person died!
After the person died, the Immortal Flower withered in an instant, bore fruit, and dropped its seeds. Then, in a way no one could understand, it passed the essence of its flesh and blood to the parent plant.
The parent plant grew stronger, and the range of its fragrance expanded. Once it had killed and consumed every living creature within reach, the Immortal Flower aberration would turn into seeds like those of a dandelion and drift on the wind until it found another place teeming with life. Then it would land and bloom.
For ordinary people, this aberration was utterly impossible to deal with. They'd be infected by the curse before they even had a chance to approach, becoming its food.
Fortunately, this curse was relatively mild. Some aberration curses killed their victims instantly.
There was no way to save them.
All three were martial artists, and they moved quickly.
When they reached the rapeseed fields, the atmosphere was heavy. "What happened?"
Seeing something was wrong, Tang Long asked.
"Old Tang." Fei Shan walked over, clasped his hands in greeting to Chang Chi, then said, "Ten flowers have bloomed already!"
Ten flowers!
Fei Shan's expression was grave, and his eyes were bloodshot. He'd put it tactfully, but everyone understood: ten flowers meant ten people had already died.
Jiang Yan looked over. Amid the disarray, all that remained on the ground were ten empty gray cloth garments, mixed in with the muddy water.
Hm? Even the bones had been dissolved.
This aberration was truly terrifying.
Chang Chi showed no reaction at all when he heard the news. He'd seen countless aberrations in his life, and plenty of people had died in their jaws.
"Hmph!"
He looked up. In the lush green rapeseed field stood a flower more than three meters tall, its round bloom radiating an eerie beauty and a faint red glow. It stood firm, as if breathing, while countless tiny streams of red qi sprayed from its flower head and drifted in every direction. Now and then, a red glimmer flashed within a fifty-zhang radius.
Jiang Yan, too, stared coldly at the Immortal Flower, which looked like something out of a divine vision. The aberrant flower was steeped in a contradiction and evil so intense it made him want to vomit blood.
He felt not the slightest admiration for it. Instead, a chill seeped into his heart.
He had no idea how many lives had been sacrificed to create the flower's beauty. It fed on the flesh and blood of the Human Race.
Thud, thud, thud.
Chang Chi didn't hesitate. He wasn't even carrying a weapon; he simply walked into the area within fifty zhang.
It seemed to sense that Chang Chi had entered its territory without being contaminated.
The red flower swayed. Its enormous bloom bent down, and its center suddenly split open, revealing a blood-red eye!
Fury surged, and an utterly vicious malice locked onto him in an instant.
Whoosh!
A thick column of red qi blasted out, swallowing Chang Chi the next moment.
The onlookers hadn't even had time to catch their breath when—
A thunderous boom rang out.
Boom! The red qi burst apart, blowing the unripe rapeseed seedlings around it off the ground before melting them in an instant.
Chang Chi strode out, a visible layer of white film flowing over his body. This thin membrane, which seemed as if it could be pierced by a touch, had easily blocked the aberration's massive attack.
Body-tempering protective Inner Qi.
Streams of red light flowed against the white protective Inner Qi, sizzling and vanishing on contact.
"You're just a little Fierce Sha. Why are you so hot-tempered?"
Chang Chi's body swelled. His muscles bulged, his skin turned bright red, and white steam rose with every breath.
Now die, you bastard!
Countless roots burst from the ground, writhing like venomous snakes with their fangs bared, ready to devour their prey.
Chang Chi seemed not to see them.
He stamped down hard.
Rumble! The smooth rapeseed field seemed to suffer an earthquake. A pit one meter across opened up, spraying mud and water everywhere.
Thicker protective Inner Qi swirled around him. Chang Chi's body became like a stone shot, smashing the roots rushing at him to pieces. Then the air seemed to explode.
Trailing a violent torrent of air that seemed to burst around him, Chang Chi crossed dozens of zhang in just a few breaths.
He spread his hand, tearing through the air with a sharp hiss, and seized the aberration before it could react. With a fierce swing—
Centered on the aberration, a massive clod of earth five meters across spun through the air. Chang Chi had torn out the aberration along with the soil clutched by its roots.
Holy crap!
Who exactly was Chang Chi?
How could he be so terrifying?
Tang Long, Fei Shan, and the others came from the Dahe Gang and had seen their share of things, yet even they were dumbstruck.
They were absolutely certain that Sheng Fuwu wouldn't last ten moves against Chang Chi!
Rumble! Chang Chi swung the aberration straight into the sky. Countless clods of earth scattered and pattered back down.
Chang Chi set his feet wide, bent his arm, raised his fist, and punched.
The next moment, amid the dim darkness and fine rain, a rolling wave of pure white Inner Qi slammed into the sky, roaring as it shattered the Immortal Flower aberration!
Weird Value: 15
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