Crooked-Mouth Daoist

Medicine Slave Li Si escaped unscathed, carrying Shen Yushu, at the cost of only minor burn damage to the insect carapace on his back.

Shen Yushu was startled at first, but reacted instantly, stowing away his Nightmare Gu Larva and completely releasing his guidance over the Medicine Slave.

"How is this possible?"

"With such movement techniques, how could we ever have a chance to corner him?" Both the thin youth and the fair-faced youth were struck with horror.

Had this Medicine Person been this bizarre from the start, they would never have dared to reveal their true selves.

The White Sun Sect disciples nearby shifted their gazes, sizing up the Medicine Person and hesitating over whether they should retreat.

Medicine Slave Li Si, however, gave them no time to ponder; he swung his arm and flung Shen Yushu toward a White Sun Sect disciple atop the courtyard wall.

He himself stomped against the wall, crashing toward the roof like a giant boulder.

The two men on the roof pinched seals simultaneously, and with a cacophony of cracking roof tiles, two hulking Evil Corpses lunged upward.

Yet, how could these Evil Corpses, refined from mere first-tier martial artists, be a match for a second-tier Medicine Slave?

Before Li Si even landed on the roof, he pressed both palms down, his true energy shaking the two Evil Corpses until they lost their footing.

Then, his figure flickered, his insect legs swept across, and the two Evil Corpses, sliced nearly in half, were smashed back onto the ground.

Seeing this, the thin youth and the fair-faced youth retreated in haste, manipulating the remaining Human Skin Talismans in the air to descend and envelop Li Si with Nether Fire.

At this moment, in a room just thirty yards from the Ancestral Hall.

The room was unlit, and a long-faced bandit leaned against the window, watching the slaughter at the Ancestral Hall with feverish excitement.

Beside this bandit stood another youth, who was none other than Liu Feng.

After being separated from Zhu Li and the other two bandits, it had taken Liu Feng over two hours to arrive here.

He glanced at that Second Senior Brother; had he not needed the man later, he would not have minded eliminating this hidden threat right then and there.

Without paying much attention to Shen Yushu's side, Liu Feng gripped his Nightmare Gu Larva, his gaze fixed on the roof.

Medicine Slave Li Si's true energy surged, shaking off most of the enveloping Human Skin Talismans, and then his eight insect legs unfolded, sweeping across like a spinning top.

The White Sun Sect's Second Senior Brother leaped down at that moment, intending to bolt into the swarm of Evil Specters below.

Although these wretched things were all refined from villagers, once ignited by talismans, they could at least delay the enemy for a moment.

But in the next instant, the White Sun Sect's Second Senior Brother's eyes split with terror; he realized he was charging directly into the path of the Medicine Person.

Not a hair's breadth off, the two met in mid-air, as if it had been precisely calculated by someone.

"Squelch..." Severed limbs and arms flew through the air as the figure of Medicine Slave Li Si spun past.

Before even landing, Li Si kicked off the wall, turning to slaughter the White Sun Sect's Third Senior Brother.

On the ground below him, the head of that White Sun Sect's Second Senior Brother rolled a long distance away, his eyes wide open in death.

In a fleeting moment, another scream rang out, and the White Sun Sect's Third Senior Brother perished alongside the Second Senior Brother.

One White Sun Sect disciple on the courtyard wall was already dead, and the two remaining, having been knocked away by Shen Yushu, saw the corpses of their seniors from afar and squeezed into the swarm of Evil Specters, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Medicine Slave Li Si dashed a few steps, then suddenly halted, stopping beside Shen Yushu.

Inside the room thirty yards from the Ancestral Hall, Liu Feng noticed Shen Yushu's slightly extended palm and knew he had likely left tracking methods on those two.

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 at his side.

"It is quite unexpected that the Exotic Gu 'Evolution Pupil' possesses such a marvelous use." The green light in his eyes receded.

Until this moment, Shen Yushu did not know where Liu Feng was hiding, and apart from Liu Feng, he could think of no one else capable of unleashing the might of a Medicine Slave to this extent.

It had been the same with the corpse refining last time, and it was the same now; it was clearly Liu Feng's ability.

At this time, the sixty-plus Evil Specters surrounding the Ancestral Hall fell into chaos, scurrying about like headless flies.

Without those White Sun Sect disciples to manipulate them, the Human Skin Talismans on the Evil Specters remained unactivated and could no longer pose a threat.

In the end, they were merely Evil Specters refined from ordinary mountain folk; once they lost the maintenance of a Daoist, they would collapse like rotting meat on the mountain trails within a month.

Seeing the Evil Specters gradually disperse, Shen Yushu leaped off the courtyard wall and said indifferently, "Fourth Junior Brother, you may come out now."

As his voice fell, Liu Feng and a bandit appeared outside a house thirty yards to his rear-left.

Shen Yushu's gaze was deep as he looked at this youth who had only recently become a Gu Master; he had no intention of thanking him for saving his life, feeling only deep wariness in his heart.

This Fourth Junior Brother was not old, yet his strikes were decisive and ruthless, and his "Evolution Pupil" Gu technique was something even he could not see through.

Liu Feng got straight to the point: "Senior Brother, are you confident in finding the Eldest Senior Brother?"

"I applied two methods to those two, both of which can track them, provided no accidents befall them on the way," Shen Yushu said with a light chuckle.

As for the specifics of the tracking, that was his Gu technique, and he naturally would not elaborate.

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

Shen Yushu glanced at the brightening sky and said, "With the White Sun Sect losing these disciples here, they will retreat soon. We shall wait an hour or so, and once the influence of the evil objects here dissipates, we will reunite with the Third Senior Brother and head down the mountain together."

Speaking of this, Shen Yushu couldn't help but feel fortunate; there were not many White Sun Sect disciples left on Shao Mountain this time, and not only had the White Sun Sect's Eldest Senior Brother not appeared, but the rumored second-tier Sect Master and Great Elder were also absent.

Hearing Shen Yushu mention the evil objects, Liu Feng took the opportunity to ask, "Is this not your first time encountering evil objects, Senior Brother?"

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

"Counting this time, I have encountered evil entities three times."

"The first time, the entity's vessel was a woman's skin; the second time, it was a stillborn infant. Both instances nearly cost me my life, and they were far more formidable than the tainted blood of the evil entity here."

Liu Feng understood what Shen Yushu meant: the true form of the evil entity possessed by the White Sun Sect was not located here.

Even so, the talismans stained with the entity's tainted blood had already caused them no small amount of trouble this time.

As the two spoke, their field of vision suddenly widened without warning.

Less than half a quarter of an hour had passed, yet the influence of the evil entity seemed to have dissipated, and the entire Niu Family Village came clearly into their view.

At a glance, on the village path just a hundred paces away, two bandits sat slumped on the ground, as if jolted awake from a nightmare.

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

But Zhu Li seemed off; he stood frozen in place, his head turned to stare in one direction.

It turned out that just ten paces from Zhu Li, a disheveled Taoist was squatting on the path, frantically digging at the ground with both hands.

The Taoist's mouth was twisted in what looked like a grin, yet his facial features remained completely stiff.

He unearthed a Human Skin Talisman stained with the evil entity's tainted blood and, without even looking at it, shoved it directly into his mouth and began to chew.

Back at the Ancestral Hall, Shen Yushu and Liu Feng were both shocked by the sight.

The influence of the evil entity here had not dissipated because the White Sun Sect disciples had taken the tainted blood away, but because someone had dug it up and eaten it.