Evil Sorcery

Liu Feng's figure flickered as he darted out of the kitchen.

He first scanned the entire hilltop, but Shen Yushu, Zhu Li, and the others were still nowhere to be seen; it seemed the influence of the evil object persisted.

There must be other talismans stained with the evil object's foul blood buried beneath this hill!

The hill was not particularly large, but digging three feet deep to search inch by inch was clearly not something that could be done in a short time.

"Fourth Master, hurry and finish off that evil Daoist!" The two bandits abandoned the Green-Clad Elder and crowded around Liu Feng.

Liu Feng's expression was cold as he stared at the human skin drifting in the wind above.

"A fellow cultivator from the White Sun Sect? Why not come down and have a word?"

The moment he spoke, the face on the human skin rippled, and a dozen human skin talismans suddenly dropped from its mouth.

Liu Feng's compound eyes captured the opponent's move instantly; he could not allow those dozen talismans to unleash their power.

Ignoring the need to hide his second exotic Gu, Liu Feng drew his thumb across his index finger, slicing open a wound.

"Poof..." The crimson blood vaporized into a blood mist, igniting a massive burst of Gu fire.

The two bandits standing nearby watched with wide eyes as a serpent of crimson fire surged into the sky, colliding with the falling human skin talismans.

The two bandits could not see clearly, but Liu Feng's twenty-two eyes saw everything with perfect clarity.

There were fourteen human skin talismans in total, none stained with foul blood. As they fell, faint white light flickered on their runes, and two of them had already ignited, transforming into two balls of Nether Fire.

However, whether they had been activated or had yet to turn into Nether Fire, all were scorched to ash under the crimson Gu fire.

As the Gu fire dissipated, before the human skin in mid-air could cast another evil technique, Liu Feng shook both arms simultaneously.

Thousands of Gu insects detached from his arms; some shot out like arrows, while others spread their wings and swarmed upward.

In front of the house, the crazed Green-Clad Elder stood with his mouth agape, watching helplessly as the "True Person" was swarmed by Gu insects and devoured until his body was riddled with holes in the blink of an eye.

"True Person! My True Person!" The Green-Clad Elder shrieked hoarsely and charged at Liu Feng.

Before he could reach him, one of the bandits backhanded a steel saber, hacking open the majority of his neck.

"Die, you bastard!" the other bandit cursed, stepping forward to deliver another strike.

These two bandits had not been on the mountain long, but their minds had already been affected by the evil object's foul blood, and their innate violent energy had grown immeasurably.

At this moment, the Bald Bandit inside the main room had regained some clarity.

He stepped out of the room clutching his steel saber, only to see a human skin drifting down from the air, which terrified him into retreating repeatedly.

The human skin landed on the ground, still covered in a mass of Gu insects, and was chewed into tatters in an instant, losing all human shape.

After the Gu insects finished devouring the skin, they crawled back onto Liu Feng's body. Liu Feng, however, was unwilling to let them back inside, so he left them out to be expended in future combat.

This shouldn't be the main body of the White Sun Sect Daoist! Liu Feng glanced at the tattered skin and turned his gaze toward the empty hilltop.

Evil objects were manifestations of worldly resentment attached to physical items; the stronger the resentment, the stronger the evil object, and the nature of the object determined the specific nature of its trickery.

The human skin talismans placed inside the Goat Head were not the main body of the evil object; they merely shared a portion of its foul blood to influence the area around this hill.

A mere piece of foul blood is likely insufficient to remove the influence of the Insect Valley's restrictions.

The White Sun Sect possesses the evil object. I wonder if Eldest Senior Brother snatched a piece, or if...

Liu Feng ignored the sobbing woman inside the house, knowing that while she looked fragile, in reality, her sanity was likely already shattered.

He beckoned to the three bandits and immediately took a different path down the mountainside.

Under normal circumstances, it would take half a quarter of an hour to walk from the mountainside to the foot of a single hill.

Yet, Liu Feng walked for a good hour, and by the time he stepped out of the region where the hill was located, night had completely fallen.

Behind him, of the original three bandits, only the Bald Bandit remained.

"Fourth Master, let's hurry and find Second Master and Third Master. I'm afraid I'll turn into a madman myself at any moment."

The Bald Bandit was terrified, looking back from time to time toward the mountainside where the cooking smoke had risen.

From here, the path to the mountainside was vaguely visible in the night, yet the two brothers from earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Liu Feng glanced at the Bald Bandit and fished a pitch-black Gu insect from his robes—it was the Nightmare Gu Larva.

Even the Medicine Slave Li Si cannot sense the larva!

He stood in the mountain wind for a moment, but no one arrived. He did not know if they were too far away or if Li Si had completely lost his mind.

Looking out over the mountains, the night was like a curtain; it felt as if he and the bandit beside him were the only two people left in the vast forest.

As for Shen Yushu, Zhu Li, and the others, Liu Feng had no way of knowing if they were still trapped on that hilltop or if they had left after coming down.

"Move."

Liu Feng gave the order, took the last remaining man with him, and the two figures soon vanished into the depths of the night.

West of Shao Mountain, in the forest.

A figure as burly as a Spirit Monster darted through the trees, his eyes flashing with green light like a wild beast, nimbly avoiding the trees in his path.

This person was Zhu Li, who was currently employing the "Ox Eater" Gu technique. His muscles were bulging, and his arms were as thick as an adult's waist.

"I wonder if Second Senior Brother and Fourth Junior Brother are still on Shao Mountain. I shall find some useful clues and then descend the mountain at once."

As Zhu Li sprinted wildly, he suddenly let out a ferocious roar and snapped a small tree beside him with his massive hand.

Snap, snap...

With a backhand motion, he stripped away the twigs and tender leaves, then hurled the trunk with all his might as if throwing a spear.

The tree trunk, jagged with sharp splinters, shot out like a lance and pierced through a Human Skin Talisman hidden in the bushes in the distance.

Under the immense force, the Human Skin Talisman was dragged backward for several yards by the trunk, pinning it fiercely amidst the withered branches and fallen leaves.

Compared to the Exotic Gu that Liu Feng had only recently hatched, the "Ox Eater" Exotic Gu within Zhu Li had been hatched for nearly two years and had undergone two molts; in terms of raw strength alone, even a first-realm martial artist who had refined Qi into their marrow would be no match for him.

"White Sun Sect demon, if you have the guts, show your true form and fight me!"

As Zhu Li spoke, he casually snapped off another tree and gripped it in his palm like a spear.

"You haven't even finished the appetizer, yet you're already craving the main course! Your freakish strength is not even as good as your Eldest Senior Brother's, so why the rush to seek death?"

The bright moon cast dappled light through the forest as a cold, eerie cackle drifted from not far away.

"What has become of my Eldest Senior Brother, Pang Gang?" Zhu Li scanned his surroundings and demanded in a shout.

"Your Eldest Senior Brother is no longer the man he once was. Like us, he has been enlightened, but he must still die. A master from our sect has already gone to claim his head..."

"Enlightened like you? What do you mean! Speak clearly!"

At these words, Zhu Li followed the sound and lunged toward a large tree like a wild beast.

Bang. He smashed his fist down, sending broken branches and leaves flying in all directions.

Yet, the tree fork was empty, save for a single Human Skin Talisman that was burning into ash.

Just as he prepared to search elsewhere, Zhu Li suddenly looked toward the nearby bushes, hearing a series of "snap" sounds; something with equally astonishing strength was approaching.

Squinting through the night, he saw an evil spirit with exposed flesh and not a shred of skin charging out of the brush.

Its frame was not only hulking but also resembled that of a martial artist, and its entire body was plastered with no fewer than a hundred Human Skin Talismans.