More than a hundred li outside Xishou County, Danhe Prefecture, lay Shao Mountain.
Beyond the mountain was a village called Yi Family Village. In recent days, four madmen had appeared there.
Villagers carried firewood and raised torches, their voices rising in a cacophony.
At the front of the crowd, four men were bound hand and foot. The villagers escorted them toward the fields.
"Village chief, shouldn't we report this to the authorities?"
"Those officials couldn't care less about a backwater village like ours. We'll burn these four madmen to death and warn everyone not to enter the mountain."
"All of Niu Family Village in the mountains fell under an evil spell. Some survivors escaped and said an Evil Specter had been skinning the villagers..."
The old village chief led the way with a torch. The villagers quickened their pace, while the four bound men continued to howl madly.
The villagers had tied the four men up to burn them to death because they had murdered people, set fires, and defiled women. They had committed every evil under the sun.
The villagers who knew them well understood that before entering the mountain, the four had been decent, honest men. But after one trip into the mountains, every one of them had changed completely.
The four men were bound hand and foot, their expressions crazed as they still tried to bite people.
Just then, three carriages rolled up outside the village.
They were taking the main road through the village, and judging by their direction, they were headed for Shao Mountain.
"Quick, call out to them! Don't let them enter the mountain and fall under its spell, then come down and harm us," the old village chief called.
The villagers at the back of the crowd hurried toward the main road and shouted from afar.
"Outsiders, don't go into the mountains! There's a demon in there that skins people alive!"
"Everyone who goes up the mountain goes mad! There's an Evil Specter in there!"
They shouted at the top of their lungs, but the three carriages drove straight past without paying their warning any heed.
The carriages passed through Yi Family Village and turned onto the rough track leading to Shao Mountain.
On the first carriage, an old man and a boy were driving. They were Old Huang and Little Fuzi.
Both wore troubled expressions. They had heard the villagers clearly: there was a demon in the mountains that skinned people alive.
"Just focus on driving. Once we reach the foot of the mountain, you two only need to watch the carriages. You don't need to come into the mountains with us."
Second Master's voice came from inside the carriage, easing the old man and boy's worries a little.
Four people sat inside. Shen Yushu gazed out the window and said, "The villagers who entered the mountains met with disaster. It seems some of the White Sun Sect's people are still in Shao Mountain."
Zhu Li asked, "If they have people left in Shao Mountain, could Eldest Senior Brother still be there?"
According to the information they had gathered, Eldest Senior Brother had appeared in Shao Mountain nearly half a month ago, and word had spread that the White Sun Sect was hunting him.
Half a month had passed since then. He could still be there, or he might have left.
"Eldest Senior Brother may still be there, but most likely he escaped! The White Sun Sect left some people behind for one of two reasons: either to gather materials on the spot and refine talismans, or to wait for Eldest Senior Brother's fellow disciples—in other words, the three of us!"
"Should we spread out to search for clues, or act together?"
"Of course it's safer to stick together. Li Si is our only Medicine Slave, and the White Sun Sect has Daoists in the Second Realm, the Two-Polarity Realm. If we run into one alone, it'll be hard to get away."
Daoists refined qi. In the First Realm, the One-Qi Realm, they refined and nurtured qi. In the Second Realm, they opened the Two Polarities and refined Yin-Yang and water-fire.
Corpse Refiners were a realm above Walking Corpses. Once they had refined their Corpse Fire to maturity, they could cultivate it just like Daoists.
Liu Feng had little experience with this, so he sat quietly to the side and listened to the other two make their plans.
After they had covered the four- or five-li stretch of rough road, the carriages came to a stop.
Two people stayed behind to watch the carriages. Eighteen climbed down, and when they looked ahead, they saw a vast mountain forest.
Apart from Niu Family Village, Shao Mountain had several other scattered settlements of mountain folk.
Among the mountains, more than a dozen households clustered together on a slope.
As dusk settled, not a soul came out of any of the houses. Only one household had smoke rising from its chimney.
Halfway up the mountain, several mud-and-thatch huts stood close together. A noise came from inside one of them.
From the sound, it was a young woman crying, accompanied by an old man's angry scolding.
A moment later, the door opened, and a Green-Clad Elder stumbled out in disarray. His hair was half white, and he muttered curses under his breath.
"We spent three taels of silver to bring her into our family as a bride. My son is dead, so now it's only right she serves me."
The Green-Clad Elder's expression was crazed. Blood smeared his knuckles, though it clearly wasn't his own.
He took a few steps into the kitchen. Steam billowed from the pot, where a whole cauldron of skinned meat was boiling.
"It needs a little more time. Let it stew for another hour or two."
"If you keep wailing, I'll stew you along with it."
The crying continued in his ears, making the Green-Clad Elder increasingly agitated. He stormed out of the kitchen, about to teach his daughter-in-law a lesson.
"Oh? Some outsiders have come. The True Persons set up treasures in the mountains, and they still dare take the mountain road!" The Green-Clad Elder spotted a group on the path in the distance and immediately grinned wickedly.
On this stretch of mountain road was a group of eighteen who had been walking for over half an hour.
When the Green-Clad Elder looked at them, the eighteen were also looking up at him.
There was no other reason: of the dozen or so households in this area, only his had smoke coming from its chimney.
"That old man looks crazed. He may have some connection to the White Sun Sect," Liu Feng said. He had the clearest view.
Behind the three senior brothers, a scar-faced bandit stepped forward and said, "Fourth Master, I'll go drag that old bastard over and question him."
Liu Feng glanced at the scar-faced bandit and nodded calmly. Zhu Li and Shen Yushu did not object either.
But the next moment, something strange happened.
The scar-faced bandit had barely walked a short distance when he vanished without a sound.
All seventeen stared intently at the spot where he had disappeared, but none of them had noticed the slightest movement.
"Send someone else over," Shen Yushu said coldly.
The other thirteen bandits tightened their grips on their steel sabers. The bandit known as A-Bao gritted his teeth and charged toward the spot where the scar-faced bandit had disappeared.
In the dim light, he quickly reached that stretch of mountain path and did not disappear.
"Second Master, I'll go look for Scarface."
After speaking, he turned and had only taken a few steps when, just like the first bandit, he vanished without a trace.
In an instant, their numbers had fallen by two. The twelve remaining bandits all wore grim expressions.
They knew they had been brought along as expendable pawns. They weren't afraid of a quick death, but facing something supernatural still made their hair stand on end.
Among the twelve bandits, the Bald Bandit was a leader. A fierce glint entered his eyes as he said, "Sirs, let all twelve of us go over together. I refuse to believe we can't take down one old man."
Five branches of Green Vine extended from Shen Yushu's body. He said calmly, "Bind everyone together with the vines. We'll go over as one."
The sixteen of them, including their Medicine Slave, Li Si, were bound together.
Compound Eyes quietly opened on Liu Feng's face, but he saw nothing unusual.
Next, he used Dharma Eye Insight and Zen Eye Technique in turn, confirming that it wasn't an illusion.
Unable to fathom the trick, Liu Feng said gravely, "Why don't we go around and reach the mountainside from another direction?"
"As expected, the White Sun Sect has set up something at every place that might hold clues. It makes no difference whether we change our route or not," Shen Yushu said in a low voice.
The group said no more. The sixteen, connected by Green Vine, headed toward the mountainside.
As the distance between them steadily closed, Liu Feng could see more clearly. The Green-Clad Elder was grinning at them with a wicked look.
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