Niu Family Village

The White Sun Sect demon-daoist risked the Gu poison entering his body, his incantations growing rapid and frantic.

Just then, the compound eyes on Liu Feng's face blinked.

In an instant, the scene before the demon-daoist shifted.

Liu Feng, who should have been a zhang away, appeared abruptly right before him, holding that hideous greatsword transformed from a strange insect.

"You..." The White Sun Sect demon-daoist shrieked, his movements subconsciously freezing.

In reality, Liu Feng was still standing within the mountain hollow; he had merely used the Evolution Pupil Gu technique to splice his vision onto the opponent's.

Above his head, seven human skins had already ignited, and over a hundred Human Skin Talismans fell like rain.

Seizing the split-second opening, Liu Feng let go of the Split-Tooth greatsword, its five insect legs driving straight into the opponent's body and pinning him to the ground on the spot.

At this critical juncture, he channeled his meager Buddhist energy into his legs, simultaneously activating Motion Vision Technique and Mind Eye Technique.

"Boom, boom-boom..." The Nether Fire plummeted wildly.

Behind him, the Bald Bandit's facial muscles twitched as he stared in shock at the falling, ghastly white rain of fire.

Centered on the seven human skins, the fire rain bloomed like a lotus.

Because the White Sun Sect demon-daoist had been interrupted at the last moment, the Nether Fire lost control and expanded to two zhang, engulfing the daoist himself.

Pinned to the ground, the demon-daoist became a human torch in the blink of an eye.

"Ahhh..." As the Nether Fire incinerated his body, his agonizing, inhuman screams echoed throughout the mountain range.

Liu Feng, also caught in the fire rain, took two rapid steps and dashed out of the two-zhang radius.

However, the Bald Bandit noticed that Liu Feng's left arm had been struck by the Nether Fire, with two clumps of ghastly white flames dancing upon it.

"Fourth Master." Seeing that the demon-daoist had died a miserable death, the Bald Bandit finally dared to show himself.

Liu Feng ignored him. Beneath the skin burned open on his left arm, his blood turned crimson and erupted into a blazing crimson Gu Fire.

One crimson, one ghastly white—in the blink of an eye, both vanished into nothingness.

Looking closer, a palm-sized, death-gray mark had appeared on Liu Feng's right arm, the skin and flesh there having lost all vitality.

So this is the Nether Fire of the White Sun Sect! My Buddhist cultivation hasn't reached a high enough level, but it helped me out just in time. Liu Feng felt a heavy weight in his heart.

If not for the reinforcement of his Buddhist energy just now, he would have certainly faced the situation where his movement speed could not keep up with his perception again.

Even with Mind Eye Technique and the Evolution Pupil Gu technique, it was difficult to avoid all the Nether Fire; had he lacked the Buddhist energy, it likely wouldn't have been just his right arm that was burned.

"Gu." The Split-Tooth, curled into an insect ball, rolled over to Liu Feng's feet.

Glancing at the Split-Tooth, he saw that only its canine teeth had been scorched black; the insect body within had not suffered any fundamental damage.

"Fourth Master, he still has quite a few talismans on him." The Bald Bandit rummaged through the demon-daoist's robes and fished out over twenty Human Skin Talismans.

When this demon-daoist had been cut down by the Split-Tooth, he still had a torn herb-gatherer's skin pouch hanging from his waist.

Liu Feng was about to examine the White Sun Sect's talismans closely when he suddenly turned toward the forest on the right.

"Fourth Junior Brother, it's me." Zhu Li's figure leaped toward them.

He arrived in the mountain hollow, first glancing at the demon-daoist who had been burned to ash, then looking at the one being looted.

He had heard the screams from this place from far away, but he hadn't expected that by the time he arrived, both demon-daoists would have already perished at Liu Feng's hands.

"Third Master, these two demon-daoists were taken out by Fourth Master the moment they met," the Bald Bandit said with a grin.

Liu Feng shot a cold glance at the loose-lipped bandit, climbed onto a stone platform, and turned his gaze to the night sky above.

Those human skins had arrived silently; had he not possessed the exotic Gu "Evolution Pupil," he likely wouldn't have noticed them immediately.

Standing at the high point now, he scanned the night sky and saw many more human skins floating in mid-air.

East, south, west, north—at a glance, there were at least thirty of them.

All the human skins were moving toward the same direction, and in the deeper darkness further away, there seemed to be many more.

"How many people have the White Sun Sect demon-daoists killed here in Shao Mountain!" Liu Feng withdrew his gaze.

He leaped off the stone platform and informed Zhu Li of his discovery.

"There is a Niu Family Village in Shao Mountain, and the direction you pointed to is exactly where it lies. Since they are acting this way, Second Senior Brother is likely over there."

"When I arrived, these two mentioned that their senior brother was dealing with Second Senior Brother."

Zhu Li and Liu Feng exchanged a look and hurried toward Niu Family Village. They could not let Shen Yushu die; otherwise, it would be difficult to bring back the Eldest Senior Brother according to the Valley Master's wishes.

Behind them, the Bald Bandit stuffed the twenty-plus Human Skin Talismans into his bosom and hurriedly followed.

Niu Family Village was located on the south side of Shao Mountain and consisted of about a hundred households.

The entire Niu Family Village sat on the rolling mountainside; the village of nearly three hundred people was now deathly silent.

In an inconspicuous stone pit outside the village entrance, three bandits clutching steel sabers huddled together.

It wasn't that they hadn't entered the village; they had just come out of it.

Previously, the three of them and four other brothers had followed Shen Yushu into the village, but they had become separated while walking, and after an hour or so, they had ended up back at the village entrance just like this.

"Second Master and the rest of the brothers have vanished without a trace. Should we wait here, or head down Shao Mountain first?"

"We clearly saw lights after entering the village, but looking back from the village entrance, not a single flicker of fire can be seen inside."

"This place is not somewhere we can barge into blindly. We had better wait for Second Master."

As the three bandits were trembling in fear, three figures appeared on the mountain path, walking straight toward them.

"It's Third Master, Fourth Master, and Lump."

Upon recognizing the newcomers, the three bandits were overjoyed. As for the "Lump" they spoke of, he was the Bald Bandit.

Zhu Li did not waste words, whispering, "The three of you, follow me into the village."

The two groups converged, suddenly becoming six.

Liu Feng walked at the very front. His gaze swept past the perimeter of Niu Family Village, and he discovered that those human skins had all vanished from the sky above the village.

Just like the mountain peak previously affected by the evil entity's tainted blood, Niu Family Village before them was the same.

Once anyone approached within a certain range, regardless of whether it was a person or an object that intruded, everything appeared to vanish for no reason when viewed from the outside.

With his previous experience, Liu Feng knew that those dozens or hundreds of human skins had not disappeared; rather, there was also evil entity tainted blood within Niu Family Village.

The area of Niu Family Village affected by the evil entity was even larger, which meant there was likely even more tainted blood inside.

"Second Senior Brother should be inside Niu Family Village." Liu Feng pointed toward a certain area on the mountainside.

As he spoke, the six of them left the village entrance and stepped into Niu Family Village.

In just half a moment, before they had walked very far, the Niu Family Village, which had been pitch-black a moment ago, instantly changed its appearance.

On the village path under the night sky, the six of them looked out, and what met their eyes were the sparse, flickering lights of the village.

"Third Master, Fourth Master, this is exactly how it was for us before!" the three bandits said, their voices trembling.

Just then, movement came from a nearby house, and the door opened.

The six of them looked over in unison and discovered that the ones emerging first were an elderly couple.

The old woman, her back hunched, asked curiously, "Outsiders? Coming to our village at this hour?"

Behind the elderly couple, a brother and sister also stepped out of the house, both pointing at the three bandits.

"It's those three uncles. They've come again."

"Don't run away this time; come inside and sit for a while." Under the dim, yellow light, the brother and sister giggled.

The three bandits on this side stared blankly at the siblings, their spines chilling.

Beside them, the Bald Bandit also felt a sense of dread; he had heard clearly that those two brats had said, "Don't run away."