Unease

Zheng Que's expression turned solemn in an instant. This was the third time he had seen someone without a shadow in town!

The first time was right after he had passed his Dao Entry Tribulation. While going to see his Master in the morning, he had spotted a few passersby who lacked shadows. At the time, he wasn't entirely sure and suspected he might have misread the situation.

The second time was yesterday morning, on his way to pay his respects to his Master. He saw several townspeople heading out to work who also lacked shadows. This time, he had seen it very clearly; there was absolutely no mistake.

Moreover, the condition of those townspeople yesterday was exactly the same as Cui Ni'er now. Aside from the lack of a shadow, everything else was perfectly normal. Even under the vision of the Spirit Eye Technique, he couldn't detect any issues.

And now, this was the third time...

Zheng Que took a deep breath. He remembered clearly that when he rescued Cui Ni'er from the well yesterday and brought her into the room, her shadow had been perfectly fine.

But today... what on earth had happened?

At this moment, Cui Fugui was already scolding his daughter, "You silly child! Of course you slaughter both of them. Clean them up properly, hang them in a basket, and pick a basket of fresh eggs while you're at it. Go on!"

Cui Ni'er replied immediately, "Alright!"

As she spoke, she grabbed two chickens and headed toward the backyard, looking ready to slaughter them.

Zheng Que snapped back to reality and hurriedly said, "Wait!"

Cui Ni'er stopped and turned to look at Zheng Que, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Zheng Que stared at the young girl in front of him and asked earnestly, "Where is your shadow?"

Cui Ni'er's face immediately showed confusion. She instinctively looked down at her feet. The sun was shining brightly, casting its light squarely upon her, yet the ground beneath her was completely blank. Even the two chickens she held in her hands left no shadow on the ground.

Cui Fugui also noticed something was wrong. His face changed drastically, and he hurriedly asked, "Zheng Que, what, what is going on?"

"Did we not kill all the Water Ghosts?"

"I beg you! You must save my daughter!"

Zheng Que's brows were locked in a deep frown. The four Water Ghosts from yesterday only had cultivation at the second level of Tongue-Pulling Hell, and he had already dealt with all of them. This couldn't be the work of Water Ghosts!

Thinking of this, he continued to ask Cui Ni'er, "Have you been out today? Where did you go? Or, did you encounter anything unusual?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Ni'er shook her head immediately, looking bewildered. "I... I didn't encounter anything special... Just this morning, I changed my clothes and went to the small pond in front to wash yesterday's dirty laundry."

"I ran into Auntie Hua on the way and said hello to her."

Cui Fugui added from the side, "That's right! That did happen. Because of the trouble with the well, we haven't dared to use the well water for the past few days. For drinking and feeding the chickens, we've been carrying water from our neighbors, and we've been taking our laundry to the small pond... You know that small pond, Zheng Que. It's right outside Auntie Hua's courtyard wall. It's considered one of the cleanest water sources in town and has never had any issues before..."

The small pond next to Auntie Hua's house?

Zheng Que did indeed know that pond. It wasn't very large, and the water was very clear. Families nearby who didn't have wells would go there to wash rice and laundry. In his memory, nothing strange had ever happened there.

He quickly made a decision in his heart: he had to go and take a look at that place.

Also, keep an eye on Auntie Hua, who greeted Cui Ni'er...

Thinking of this, Zheng Que said in a low voice, "From now on, stay at home and don't go out."

"I'm going to check out that small pond."

With that, he turned and walked outside.

Seeing Zheng Que leave so abruptly, Cui Ni'er rushed up to him, "Zheng Que, if you don't have time to eat, at least take these two chickens with you!"

As she spoke, she had already run up to him, quickly gathered both chickens into one hand, and with her free hand, grabbed Zheng Que's arm to shove the chickens into his grasp.

Zheng Que was about to refuse, but the moment his arm was grabbed by Cui Ni'er, he was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable sense of alarm. A near-instinctive terror surged like a tidal wave, as if he had been targeted by something unimaginably horrific. In an instant, the hair on his body stood on end, and his mind was shaken to its core!

Without a moment's hesitation, Zheng Que violently flung his arm away!

Bang!

His strength was immense now. Cui Ni'er had no power to resist and was instantly sent flying, landing on the ground, dazed and confused.

Zheng Que regained his senses. The palpitations that had felt like needles pricking his back came and went as quickly as they had arrived, as if it had all been a mere illusion.

Looking at Cui Ni'er on the ground and Cui Fugui, who was staring at him in shock, Zheng Que steadied himself. For a moment, he couldn't be sure if he had truly experienced an illusion.

At this time, Cui Fugui finally snapped out of it. He hurried over to help Cui Ni'er up, scolding her in a rapid-fire tone, "You girl, what is wrong with you!"

"Always so clumsy, you can't even handle the smallest task!"

"I really ought to give you a beating today!"

While scolding his daughter, he hurriedly apologized to Zheng Que, "Zheng, Zheng Que, Ni'er is still young and doesn't know any better. She really didn't mean to offend you..."

As he spoke, the look in Cui Fugui's eyes as he watched Zheng Que clearly held a hint of fear.

He had no idea why Zheng Que had suddenly become angry, but since Zheng Que could now even kill ghosts and monsters, he dared not offend him.

Zheng Que shook his head slightly. Seeing that Cui Ni'er wasn't seriously hurt—only having scraped some skin on her hand—he didn't bother explaining anything to Cui Fugui. He took a deep breath and walked away quickly.

Once he was out of the Cui family's courtyard, he immediately asked, "Qing Li, did you notice anything about that Cui Ni'er just now?"

Qing Li replied without hesitation, "Her meat is quite tender. It would probably taste even more delicious than you human brats."

Hearing this, Zheng Que understood immediately that Qing Li, like him, hadn't detected anything wrong with Cui Ni'er.

Thinking of this, he no longer had the heart to investigate the small pond and headed straight back to his own home.

With his current level of cultivation, he couldn't solve the problem with Cui Ni'er!

He had nearly lost his composure just from being touched by her. If he were to force an investigation into the source of the issue, he feared he wouldn't even know how he died when the time came...

A moment later, Zheng Que returned home. Just as he was about to begin his cultivation, Qing Li immediately asked, "Human brat, do you have nothing else to do today?"

Zheng Que nodded. He had originally intended to visit the town mayor's house again today, but the events that had just occurred at the Cui residence left him feeling somewhat uneasy.

To prevent any accidents, he decided to spend the day cultivating and head to the mayor's house tomorrow instead.

Seeing Zheng Que nod, Qing Li spoke up at once, "Since you have nothing to do, human brat, stay here and behave yourself. This lady is going out."

Hm?

Qing Li was going out to slay ghosts during the day as well?

A Ghost Servant working overtime of her own volition—that was quite good!

Thus, Zheng Que replied immediately, "Fine, but you must return before dark."