Crooked-Mouth Daoist

Medicine Slave Li Si escaped unharmed, paying only for it with a slight burn to the insect armor on his back, while carrying Shen Yushu.

Shen Yushu was startled at first, then instantly reacted. He recalled his Nightmare Gu Larva and completely released his control over the Medicine Slave.

"How is that possible?"

"With movement like that, how could we possibly have had a chance to surround him?" The lean young man and the fair-faced young man were both aghast.

If the Medicine Person had been this bizarre from the start, they would never have dared reveal their true forms.

The White Sun Sect disciples nearby exchanged glances as they sized up the Medicine Person, hesitating over whether to retreat.

Medicine Slave Li Si gave them no chance to think it over. He swung his arm and hurled Shen Yushu toward a White Sun Sect disciple on the courtyard wall.

He himself stamped on the courtyard wall beneath his feet, then smashed toward the roof like a boulder.

The two men on the roof formed hand seals at the same time. The roof tiles clattered wildly as two hulking Evil Corpses leaped up.

But how could these two Evil Corpses, refined from first-realm martial artists, possibly match a second-grade Medicine Slave?

Before Li Si even landed on the roof, he slammed both palms down, his true qi jolting the two Evil Corpses off balance.

Then his figure blurred. His insect legs swept through, and the two Evil Corpses, cut nearly in half, crashed back to the ground.

Seeing this, the lean young man and the fair-faced young man hurriedly retreated. They controlled the remaining Human Skin Talismans overhead to descend, carrying Nether Fire as they wrapped around Li Si.

At that moment, in a house less than thirty zhang from the Ancestral Hall.

The house was unlit. A long-faced bandit crouched beside the window, watching the battle at the Ancestral Hall with feverish excitement.

Beside the bandit stood another young man—Liu Feng, naturally.

After getting separated from Zhu Li and two other bandits, Liu Feng had spent more than two hours making it here.

He glanced at Second Senior Brother. If he hadn't still needed the man later, he wouldn't have minded eliminating this threat right then and there.

Without sparing another glance at Shen Yushu's side, Liu Feng gripped the Nightmare Gu Larva and focused his gaze on the roof.

Medicine Slave Li Si's true qi surged around him, shaking off most of the Human Skin Talismans as they wrapped toward him. Then his eight insect legs spread wide and swept around like a spinning top.

The White Sun Sect's Second Senior Brother leaped down at that moment, intent on diving into the large mass of Evil Specters below.

Though these worthless creatures had all been refined from villagers, once ignited by talismans, they could at least buy him a little time.

But the next instant, the White Sun Sect's Second Senior Brother's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. He realized he was charging straight into the Medicine Person's path.

The two met in midair, neither a hair too soon nor too late, as if someone had calculated it all perfectly.

"Pfft..." Limbs flew through the air as Medicine Slave Li Si swept past in a blur.

Before he even hit the ground, Li Si planted a foot against the wall, turned, and charged at the White Sun Sect's Third Senior Brother.

On the ground below, the Second Senior Brother's head rolled far away, his eyes still open in death.

In the space of a few breaths, another scream rang out. The White Sun Sect's Third Senior Brother died alongside the Second Senior Brother.

One White Sun Sect disciple on the courtyard wall was already dead. Shen Yushu had knocked the only two remaining disciples flying. When they caught sight of their senior brothers' corpses from afar, they plunged into the Evil Specters and vanished in an instant.

Medicine Slave Li Si charged forward several steps, then suddenly halted beside Shen Yushu.

Inside the house more than thirty zhang from the Ancestral Hall, Liu Feng noticed Shen Yushu's hand extended slightly forward at a glance. He knew Shen Yushu had most likely planted some tracking method on those two men.

Watching the direction in which the two White Sun Sect disciples had disappeared, Shen Yushu withdrew his gaze and turned to the Medicine Slave Li Si beside him.

"The Exotic Gu 'Evolution Pupil' has such a marvelous use. That's unexpected." The blue gleam in his eyes faded.

Even now, Shen Yushu still had no idea where Liu Feng was hiding. Apart from Liu Feng, he couldn't think of anyone else who could bring out the Medicine Slave's full power like this.

It had been the same with the Corpse Refiner last time, and again today. That was proof enough that Liu Feng was the one behind it.

Just then, the more than sixty Evil Specters surrounding the Ancestral Hall fell into disarray, scurrying around like headless flies.

With the White Sun Sect disciples no longer controlling them, no one could activate the Human Skin Talismans on the Evil Specters. They could no longer pose much of a threat.

In the end, they were nothing more than Evil Specters refined from ordinary mountain villagers. Once the Daoist stopped sustaining them, in less than a month they would collapse like rotting meat along some mountain path.

Seeing the Evil Specters gradually disperse, Shen Yushu jumped down from the courtyard wall and said coolly, "Fourth Junior Brother, it's time to come out."

As his words fell, Liu Feng and a bandit appeared outside a house more than thirty zhang behind him to the left.

Shen Yushu gave the young man, who had only recently become a Gu Master, a long, deep look. He offered not a word of thanks for being saved; his heart held nothing but deep wariness.

This Fourth Junior Brother was young, yet decisive and ruthless. Even Shen Yushu couldn't see through his "Evolution Pupil" Gu technique.

Liu Feng got straight to the point. "Senior Brother, are you confident you can find Eldest Senior Brother?"

"I planted two different tracking methods on those men. As long as nothing happens to them along the way, we can track them." Shen Yushu chuckled.

As for how exactly he tracked them, that was his Gu technique, and he naturally wouldn't explain it in detail.

Liu Feng nodded and asked, "Should we wait for Third Senior Brother, or head down the mountain first?"

Shen Yushu glanced at the brightening sky. "The White Sun Sect lost this many disciples here. They'll retreat soon. Let's wait an hour or two. Once the influence of the Evil Objects here has faded, we'll meet up with Third Junior Brother and head down the mountain together."

As he said this, Shen Yushu couldn't help feeling fortunate. The White Sun Sect had left few disciples on Shao Mountain this time. Not only had their Eldest Senior Brother failed to show up, but the rumored second-realm Sect Master and Great Elder were also absent.

Hearing Shen Yushu mention the Evil Objects, Liu Feng took the opportunity to ask, "Was this not your first time encountering an Evil Object, Senior Brother?"

Having survived the ordeal, Shen Yushu was in a fairly good mood.

"Including this time, I've seen Evil Objects three times."

"The first Evil Object I encountered had a woman's skin as its vessel. The second had a dead infant as its vessel. Both times, I nearly lost my life. They were far filthier than the Evil Objects here."

Liu Feng understood what Shen Yushu meant: the White Sun Sect's Evil Object itself wasn't here.

Even so, the talismans tainted with the Evil Object's filth had caused them plenty of trouble this time.

As the two spoke, without warning, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

Less than half a quarter of an hour had passed, yet the Evil Object's influence seemed to have already faded. The whole of Niu Family Village came clearly into view.

At a glance, on a village path barely a hundred zhang away, two bandits seemed to snap awake from a nightmare and dropped heavily onto their backsides.

In the faint light of dawn, Zhu Li was also on another village path, not far from the Ancestral Hall.

But something was wrong with Zhu Li. He stood rooted to the spot, turning his head to stare in one direction.

As it turned out, barely ten paces from Zhu Li, a disheveled Daoist was squatting in the village path, furiously digging at the ground with both hands.

The Daoist had a crooked mouth, as if he were smiling, but his features were stiff and lifeless.

He dug up a Human Skin Talisman stained with the Evil Object's filth, didn't even bother to look at it, and stuffed it straight into his mouth, chewing greedily.

At the Ancestral Hall, Shen Yushu and Liu Feng were both startled when they saw this.

The Evil Object's influence had faded here not because the White Sun Sect disciples had taken away its tainted blood, but because someone had dug it up and eaten it.