Dark Force Strikes Ghosts

After hearing Xie An's words, Uncle Shui fixed his gaze on the scene for a moment and said, "This incantation should be a sacrificial chant commonly used by Returning Dragon Abbey. That old Daoist likely had some connection to Returning Dragon Abbey as well and learned a few of its incantations. It isn't anything strange."

Although Xie An still felt somewhat uneasy, with Uncle Shui here, there was nothing he needed to worry about himself.

Xie An sat on the carriage board and watched Li Yunfeng perform the rite.

The ritual process was extremely complicated: chanting spells, lighting human candles, splashing dog blood...

"Young Master, want a piece of flatbread?"

Zhou Ji came over holding a hard, dry flatbread.

Xie An had no appetite. "I'm not hungry. You eat it."

Zhou Ji was not good with words, so he said nothing. He went some distance away and gnawed on the flatbread with water.

He did not know the truth about Li Family Village, nor did he know that the tax collectors at the village entrance and the farmers delivering grain had long since died. He merely took this for an ordinary ritual, with nothing worth watching.

After finishing the flatbread, Zhou Ji went somewhere deserted and began practicing his saber techniques.

At some unknown point, the air around them turned hot, damp, and stifling.

Dark clouds blanketed the heavens. Muffled thunder rolled faintly across the distant horizon, and then a torrential downpour came crashing down without warning.

"Nothing to see. Go wait in the carriage." Uncle Shui nimbly returned to the cabin.

Xie An glanced at the guards around them, then at Zhou Ji practicing his saber in the distance. "Zhou Ji, stop practicing. Come drive the carriage."

With that, Xie An climbed into the carriage and lifted the side-window curtain to look toward the village entrance.

The farmers lined up to hand over grain stood with their heads lowered beneath the curtain of rain. Not one of them thought of taking shelter.

The tax collector at the village entrance was still striking the tax-demanding bronze gong with a clang, clang, clang.

Li Yunfeng was still circling as he performed the rite, while the old Daoist beneath the tree was performing one as well.

Not only were their voices and rhythm identical, even their hand gestures and footwork matched. Amid layer upon layer of overlapping shadows, the two seemed to have merged into one.

Xie An feared that Li Yunfeng would follow in that old Daoist's footsteps and die in Li Family Village, unable to escape.

But fortunately...

About half an hour later, Li Yunfeng stopped performing the rite.

Yet the old Daoist beneath the ancient locust tree continued.

At last, there was a discrepancy.

Xie An let out a small breath of relief, though his eyes remained fixed on the village entrance.

Li Yunfeng tidied up his belongings, then took down the yellow lantern hanging from a dead branch. Turning around, he left the village and walked toward the convoy.

The tension drained from Xie An's body. "Uncle Shui, Daoist Li has completed the sacrificial rite. He has left the village and is coming toward us."

Uncle Shui did not seem surprised by this outcome at all. He merely cast a glance through the side window, then took another large gulp of Peach Blossom Brew. "It seems Daoist Li truly has some skill."

Xie An nodded in deep agreement. "He is, after all, a disciple of Returning Dragon Abbey."

Uncle Shui suddenly reminded him, "After Daoist Li gets into the carriage, no matter what he says to you, Mingxi, remember... do not answer."

The tension that had just left Xie An's body instantly returned. "Why is that?"

Uncle Shui said, "Treat it as a taboo of the sacrificial rite. Do you remember?"

Seeing that Uncle Shui was not joking, Xie An nodded in assent.

Before long, Li Yunfeng, drenched from head to toe, arrived before the carriage.

Splash.

Li Yunfeng lifted the carriage curtain and climbed inside. Sitting across from them, he wrung the accumulated water from his Daoist robe sleeves as he said:

"This Li Family Village is truly sinister. Earlier, there was actually some rotten Daoist who, for the sake of amassing money, impersonated a disciple of our Returning Dragon Abbey and went in to perform a rite. He ended up meeting with disaster. He deserved it!"

Keeping Uncle Shui's instructions in mind, Xie An did not respond.

Uncle Shui simply drank his Peach Blossom Brew, seemingly speaking offhandedly. "Zhou Ji, drive us back to the city."

"Got it!"

Zhou Ji answered from outside, then immediately set the carriage in motion. The mounted guards also spurred their horses and followed.

The grand convoy smashed through the rain curtain and raced madly toward the city.

Inside the carriage, Li Yunfeng was still wringing rainwater from his robe, muttering, "Luckily, this sacrificial rite was completed smoothly. From now on, everyone in the Xie Residence can remain safe and sound. Young Master Mingxi, don't forget to give this poor Daoist some tea money."

By custom, when a household hired someone to do work, they really should give some tea money.

For instance, when farmers hired harvest hands to cut their rice, aside from wages, they would also provide extra pastries as hospitality.

Xie An still said nothing.

Li Yunfeng did not mind Xie An's attitude. He took out a safety talisman tied with a red cord from his robe. "This is a safety talisman this poor Daoist obtained while performing the rite. It can protect Young Master Mingxi from encountering evil again and keep you safe and sound for your entire life."

Before Xie An could refuse, Li Yunfeng came closer with the talisman, making as if to hang it from Xie An's belt.

Just as Li Yunfeng's hand was about to touch Xie An's belt—

Crack.

A withered hand shot out first and seized Li Yunfeng's right hand holding the talisman.

Li Yunfeng froze. "Uncle Shui, what do you mean by this...?"

Uncle Shui lifted the wine jar in his left hand and took a drink, while his right hand clasped Li Yunfeng's wrist. "Daoist Li, you should not have come out!"

The instant those words fell, Uncle Shui's right hand suddenly swelled up like a balloon, expanding an entire circle, before squeezing down viciously.

In an instant, Uncle Shui's swollen right hand rapidly shriveled, as though all the air in that "balloon" had been poured into Li Yunfeng's wrist. A low humming sound, like muffled thunder rolling, suddenly rang out.

Immediately afterward came a thunderous boom.

Li Yunfeng's body convulsed violently, as though his five viscera and six bowels had been struck by an invisible force. There was not the slightest abnormality on his body's surface, but the side of the carriage cabin against which he leaned exploded with a boom, shattering into pieces.

The two-horse carriage jolted violently. Its wheels sank three inches into the ground, and even the horses could not pull it forward, sending a broad ring of water splashing up.

"Hah... hah..."

Li Yunfeng sat motionless where he was. Blood began flowing from his seven apertures, but though he tried to speak, no words came out.

Li Yunfeng blanked for a moment. His cloudy eyeballs shifted as he looked at his hands. At last, with a bang, he fell to the floor and went still.

Xie An's pupils contracted sharply.

He had clearly felt a terrifying force pass through Li Yunfeng's body and crash into him.

This was... Dark Force's Strike the Ox Through the Mountain!?

Uncle Shui was actually a Dark Force Martial Master!

A mere registered outer disciple of Returning Dragon Abbey... had been crushed to death by Uncle Shui just like that?

Xie An's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. "Why did Uncle Shui kill him?"

Uncle Shui withdrew his hand, lifted the wine jar, and tipped back his head for a gulp. "From the moment Li Yunfeng walked out of the village entrance, he was already dead."

A numb itch instantly crawled across Xie An's spine. "But he was speaking perfectly normally just now..."

Uncle Shui said, "He was possessed by something filthy. I merely sent Dark Force through his body and scattered that breath of resentment attached within him."

Just as Xie An was about to ask more, he suddenly smelled a faint stench of corpses coming from Li Yunfeng's body.

It was exactly the same as what had happened to Li Degui.

While possessed, he had appeared perfectly fine, and no corpse stench could be smelled. Once the resentful energy possessing him dispersed, the corpse stench emerged.

Suddenly, a thought that made Xie An's scalp prickle surfaced in his mind:

Li Yunfeng had died the moment he walked out of the village!

Then what about himself and Zhao Hu, who had walked out of the village?