Evil Contamination

On the wild road outside the outer city of Danhe Prefecture, two carriages kicked up dust as they approached.

Each carriage carried six people, and the group of twelve halted their vehicles as they neared the outer city.

"Old Huang, Little Fuzi, you two stay here and wait for us." Four men stepped down from the lead carriage, the one in the lead being none other than Shen Yushu.

Behind them, the six bandits did not dare to delay, following closely on their heels.

With Shen Yushu leading the way, it was not long before they arrived at a secluded, dilapidated old district within the outer city.

At the corner of an old street, three men and the Medicine Slave stood at the front, pointing toward an abandoned inn in the middle of the street.

The inn was in a state of utter ruin, with the right side of the staircase having collapsed halfway. There were few refugees passing by, save for a few children playing nearby.

"Those two White Sun Sect disciples are inside. You three, go in and scout first." After confirming the target's hiding place, Shen Yushu beckoned to those behind him.

The three chosen bandits gritted their teeth, their feet shifting as they prepared to move out.

However, an accident occurred suddenly.

Before the three of them could even move past the corner, the appearance of the abandoned inn changed abruptly.

"Swish, swish..." A sound like a vast quantity of rags fluttering in the wind spread across the street.

The six children playing nearby suddenly burst into loud, wailing sobs, scrambling away on all fours before turning to flee in a panic.

Not far from them, the structure of the ruined inn turned as pale as human skin in the blink of an eye. The skin was covered in fine, detailed pores, with scalps and limbs clearly visible.

At a glance, the walls of the inn were draped in human skin, as if covered in dried-out corpses that swayed with the wind.

The entire inn had transformed into a house of human skin, with several of the skins plastered with talismans stained in the foul blood of an Evil Specter.

Seeing this, Shen Yushu and Zhu Li's eyes darkened, knowing they had nearly walked into a trap.

"So they had already set an ambush here, just waiting for us to arrive."

"But it looks like their method has collapsed on its own. I wonder why."

At the corner, as the group stood in confusion, all the talismans stained with the foul blood of the Evil Specter peeled off the walls of the abandoned inn and shot off toward the North District of the outer city.

Soon, three figures flashed out of the abandoned inn one after another.

Aside from the two whom Shen Yushu had marked, the other long-haired youth was none other than the Eldest Senior Brother of the White Sun Sect.

After arriving, the Eldest Senior Brother had sensed something amiss, discovering the faint scent of medicinal herbs on the two men, and immediately realized they had been marked.

They had decided to set an ambush here to wait for their pursuers, but they never expected the key item—the foul blood of the Evil Specter—to be summoned away by someone else.

The three White Sun Sect disciples gazed into the distance, their eyes flickering.

"The main body of the Evil Specter is in the hands of the Sect Master. It must be the Sect Master recalling the talismans."

"Not necessarily. Don't forget that half of our White Sun Sect's Evil Specter has already been stolen."

"Why waste time talking? Let's chase after them."

The three White Sun Sect disciples locked onto the talismans streaking through the sky, talismans at their ankles whipping up a wind as they drifted toward the north.

No sooner had they left than the group of ten at the street corner emerged, trailing far behind them.

A short while later, in the north of the outer city.

Under the bright, clear sky, the vast North District seemed to have fallen into a nightmare.

The nearby refugees and destitute residents had no idea what was happening, hearing only the frenzied sounds emanating from the North District.

The roaring was interspersed with agonizing, inhuman screams, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps, as if a great crowd were chasing one another.

In less than half an hour, more and more refugees and destitute residents gathered, stopping outside the streets of the North District, their expressions filled with terror.

Some of the bolder refugees dared to approach, but the sounds they had been hearing suddenly vanished.

Logically, one should hear more clearly the closer they get, yet now, upon approaching, there was only dead silence.

Unable to hear anything, they turned to look.

These daring refugees peered into the North District, but they could not see even a ghost of a shadow.

The intersecting streets and alleys were completely empty, as if everyone had evaporated from the world in an instant.

"There is an Evil Specter, it must be an Evil Specter! Quickly, go to the inner city and report it to the authorities."

Even the boldest of these refugees were not foolish enough to seek death by approaching an Evil Specter.

Just then, three White Sun Sect disciples disguised in human-skin cloaks arrived, shoving aside the onlookers and charging into the North District without hesitation.

The nearby refugees were left dumbstruck, unable to believe that anyone would dare to walk in there to their deaths.

"They've vanished! They disappeared the moment they went in!"

Amidst the exclamations, another group of ten arrived—it was Shen Yushu and his men. They stopped in their tracks while still a street away.

They had only just come from Shao Mountain, and the eerie scene before them was all too familiar. The six surviving bandits, in particular, felt their hearts tremble.

"What we heard before we got close must have been real; everyone inside has gone mad. Compared to Shao Mountain, the situation here is even more severe. It's highly likely that the main body of the White Sun Sect's Evil Specter is here," Shen Yushu said in a low voice.

Liu Feng felt a heavy weight in his heart upon hearing this. If he were to venture inside, he didn't fear encountering an Evil Specter; he feared being corrupted by the main body of the Evil Specter and turning into a monster who recognized no kin.

By then, let alone searching for his younger brother and parents, he feared that upon meeting them, he might instead slaughter his own family with his own hands.

Liu Feng had long heard of such deranged atrocities, and he had even witnessed them with his own eyes back at Shao Mountain.

As he hesitated, Zhu Li suddenly spoke up, "Eldest Senior Brother is inside. The Exotic Gu he and I were implanted with are both 'Ox Eaters'; even if there is some evil entity influencing things, I can still track him down."

"In that case, we shall head straight in and take Eldest Senior Brother away. The White Sun Sect is truly audacious to dare trigger an evil entity right under the nose of the authorities." After Shen Yushu finished speaking, he charged into the North District first.

Medicine Slave Li Si and Zhu Li followed closely behind, and the six bandits, their eyes bloodshot, trailed after them as well.

Only Liu Feng lingered at the very back, his expression extremely grim.

It seems those two still do not know the method to break free from the Insect Valley's restrictions, nor do they realize that what Eldest Senior Brother likely snatched is an evil entity!

Liu Feng highly suspected that the one who triggered the evil entity was not a member of the White Sun Sect at all, but rather that Eldest Senior Brother, Pang Gang, whom he had yet to meet.

If that were truly the case, they were likely facing a Gu Master who had already become a deranged demon!

Yet, no matter how reluctant he was, he still had to provide an account for the task entrusted to him by Valley Master Lu Huai.

Under the watchful eyes of a crowd of refugees, another ten people stormed into the streets of the North District, and just like the three before them, they vanished without a trace before they had gone very far.

"Gouge out his eyeballs to go with my wine, and slaughter his old man right along with him."

"There are poisonous insects, poisonous insects everywhere! Why can't I walk out of here?"

"I've put up with you for long enough; let's see you die today."

Accompanied by these sounds of extreme madness and howling, the scene shifted.

Everywhere the eye could see were lunatics crashing and colliding into one another, along with thousands upon thousands of Gu insects in the air, snatching the heart-blood of the living.