Pollution by an Evil Object

On a wild road outside the outer city of Danhe Prefecture, two carriages rolled up in a cloud of dust.

There were six people in each carriage. The party of twelve stopped as they neared the outer city.

"Old Huang, Little Fuzi, you and your grandson wait for us here." Four men climbed down from the first carriage. Shen Yushu was at their head.

Behind them, six bandits hurried after them, not daring to dawdle.

With Shen Yushu leading the way, they soon reached a secluded old neighborhood in the outer city.

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

The inn was in a terrible state of disrepair, and nearly half the staircase on the right had collapsed. Few displaced people passed through the area; only a handful of children were playing there.

"Those two White Sun Sect disciples are inside. You three go in and scout ahead." After confirming where their targets were hiding, Shen Yushu beckoned to the men behind him.

The three chosen bandits gritted their teeth and started forward.

But then, the unexpected happened.

Before the three of them could even step out from around the corner, the abandoned inn suddenly changed beyond recognition.

"Rattle, rattle..." A sound like countless scraps of cloth flapping in the wind rang out across the street.

The six children playing nearby suddenly burst into tears. They scrambled to their feet and fled in a panic.

Not far away, the dilapidated inn's walls turned as pale as human skin in the blink of an eye. Fine lines like skin creases ran across them, complete with scalp and limbs.

At a glance, the inn's walls appeared covered in human skin, as if dried corpses were crawling all over them. They all swayed in the wind.

The entire inn had become a house of human skin. Several of the skins were plastered with talismans stained with the Evil Object's blood.

At the sight, Shen Yushu and Zhu Li's eyes darkened. They realized they had nearly walked into a trap.

"So they set an ambush here and were waiting for us to show up."

"But it looks like their trick has fallen apart on its own. I wonder why."

As the group stood perplexed around the corner, every talisman stained with the Evil Object's blood fell from the abandoned inn's walls and shot through the air toward the North District of the outer city.

Soon, three people emerged from the abandoned inn one after another.

Besides the two men Shen Yushu had marked, the third was a long-haired young man—the White Sun Sect's Eldest Senior Brother.

When the two men arrived, the Eldest Senior Brother had sensed something amiss. He noticed the faint scent of medicinal herbs on them and immediately realized they had been marked.

So they had set an ambush there, waiting for their pursuers to come. But who could have guessed that the crucial item, the Evil Object's blood, would be summoned away?

The three White Sun Sect disciples gazed up at the sky, their eyes flickering with uncertainty.

"The Evil Object's true body is in the Sect Master's hands. He must be calling back the talismans."

"Not necessarily. Don't forget that half of our White Sun Sect's Evil Object was stolen."

"Enough talk. Let's go after them together."

The three White Sun Sect disciples fixed their eyes on the talismans streaking through the sky. Talismans at their ankles stirred the wind, and they glided off toward the north.

As soon as they had left, ten people emerged from the street corner behind them and followed at a distance.

A short while later, in the northern part of the outer city.

Under the bright midday sky, the vast North District seemed plunged into a nightmare.

The displaced people and down-and-outs nearby had no idea what was happening. All they could hear were the frenzied noises coming from inside the North District.

Roars mingled with screams of unbearable agony. Beyond those came the sound of countless footsteps, as if great crowds were chasing one another.

In less than half an hour, more and more displaced people and down-and-outs gathered. They all stopped outside the streets of the North District, their faces stricken with terror.

One displaced person mustered the courage to approach, but the noises in his ears abruptly vanished.

Normally, things grew clearer the closer one got. Yet here, the closer they came, the quieter it became.

Unable to hear anything, they tried to look instead.

The boldest among them peered into the North District, but couldn't see a single ghost.

The crisscrossing streets and alleys lay empty, as if everyone had vanished from the world all at once.

"There's an Evil Specter! Something's happened—there's an Evil Specter! Hurry and report it to the authorities in the inner city!"

Even the displaced people who had ventured closer weren't foolish enough to court death by going near an Evil Specter.

Just then, three White Sun Sect disciples wearing human skins taken from displaced people arrived. They shoved through the onlookers and charged into the North District without hesitation.

The nearby displaced people stared in stunned silence, unable to believe anyone would dare go in and throw their lives away.

"They've vanished! They went in and disappeared!"...

Amid the cries of alarm, another group of ten arrived. It was Shen Yushu and the others. They stopped in unison while still a street away.

They had only just come from Shao Mountain, and this bizarre sight was all too familiar. The six surviving bandits were especially shaken.

"What we heard earlier, before we got close, must have been real. Everyone inside has gone mad. The situation here is even worse than it was on Shao Mountain. It may well be that the White Sun Sect's Evil Object is here in its true form," Shen Yushu said gravely.

Liu Feng's heart grew heavy at his words. If he had to venture inside, it wasn't an Evil Specter he feared. He was afraid the Evil Object would corrupt him and turn him into a demon who recognized none of his kin.

Then, forget searching for his younger brother and parents—if he saw them, he might end up slaughtering his family with his own hands.

Liu Feng had long heard of such utterly deranged atrocities. He had even witnessed them with his own eyes on Shao Mountain.

As he hesitated, Zhu Li suddenly spoke. "Eldest Senior Brother is inside. He and I have the same Exotic Gu, the 'Ox Eater.' Even if an Evil Object is affecting the place, I can still find him."

"In that case, we'll go straight in and bring Eldest Senior Brother out. The White Sun Sect is truly brazen, daring to unleash an Evil Object right under the authorities' noses." With that, Shen Yushu charged into the North District.

The Medicine Slave, Li Si, and Zhu Li followed close behind. The six bandits went after them, their eyes bloodshot.

Only Liu Feng lagged behind, his expression dark as a storm.

"Looks like the two of them still don't know how to break free of Insect Valley's restriction. They don't even know that the thing Eldest Senior Brother stole may be the Evil Object itself!"

Liu Feng strongly suspected that the one who had unleashed the Evil Object wasn't a member of the White Sun Sect at all. It was that Eldest Senior Brother Pang Gang, the man he had yet to meet.

If that was true, then they might be facing a Gu Master who had already gone completely mad!

But however unwilling he was, he still had to give Valley Master Lu Huai an answer about the task he had assigned.

As the displaced people watched, another ten people charged into the streets of the North District. Just like the three before them, they disappeared one after another before getting very far.

"Pluck his eyeballs out and have them with wine! Then butcher his old man too!"

"There are poisonous insects everywhere! Why can't I get out?"

"I've put up with you long enough! Let's see if you're still alive today!"...

As the frantic howls rang out, the scene changed.

Everywhere he looked, madmen careened wildly about, while tens of thousands of Gu insects swarmed through the air, snatching the vital essence from people's hearts.