Who else!

Ye Wuyou caught one of Tu Su's ducks, tied a rope around its leg, and tossed it into the well.

Ducks could swim, so it did not panic too much in the well, merely quacking a few times.

The Man in Brocade and Ye Wuyou both stood beside the well.

The memory was etched deeply into Ye Wuyou's mind.

When he had fallen into this well, something below had tugged at him. Otherwise, even if he fell in, he would never have drowned here.

This was information he had paid for with his life.

"Brother Ye, are you certain this well is where that thing is?"

At that moment, the well seemed perfectly normal, without the slightest unusual aura.

Ye Wuyou's gaze swept over their surroundings bit by bit before finally settling on the well, and he nodded.

He had searched the entire village. Aside from decay and deathly silence, there was nothing left but their group of living people.

Amid that deathly silence, however, the well seemed perfectly normal.

And that was the greatest abnormality of all.

"Quack, quack... quack!"

Under the Man in Brocade's terrified gaze, the duck swimming in the well suddenly seemed to be seized by something and dragged straight underwater.

After a flurry of splashing, the well water slowly grew still.

They pulled up the rope, but the duck's corpse never appeared. Instead, the rope had snapped.

The turn of events made the Man in Brocade's gaze tremble, but he quickly calmed down. Raising his hand, vital breath coiled around it as he called out.

"Whatever's in there, I'll test the waters first!"

Vital breath stretched out like a long rainbow and plunged straight into the water.

The Man in Brocade froze, then withdrew his hand, letting the vital breath dissipate.

"Something's wrong. It's empty down there. Does this well have no bottom?"

No bottom?

Then how had someone hauled me out?

A complicated look appeared in Ye Wuyou's eyes, but after considering the Uncanny within his body, he felt anything was possible.

Back in the Heavenly Prison, the Uncanny had also divided up their territories, avoiding contact with one another unless necessary.

Was it because Ghost was inside my body that this well couldn't do anything to me?

"I think we need to go down and take a look." Ye Wuyou pointed into the well.

Originally, he had wanted to tear the well apart to see whether there was anything unusual.

But now that he had discovered another space within it, even smashing the well into rubble would be useless.

And after searching the village without finding that "eyeball," the only place it could be was inside the well.

The Man in Brocade considered it for a while. In truth, he did not want to go down the well.

But perhaps because several days of searching the village had turned up nothing unusual, they could only pin their hopes on this well now.

"All right. Let's go down and look."

He rolled up his sleeves and was about to jump when Ye Wuyou caught hold of him.

"I'll hold on to you, and we'll go down together. Otherwise, we might get separated."

"All right." The Man in Brocade thought that made perfect sense.

Ye Wuyou had actually said that because he was worried that if he jumped in alone, he would merely end up at the bottom of the well again, just like before.

The two drew close together, then jumped down.

"Splash, splash."

The instant he entered the well, Ye Wuyou noticed something in the surrounding water winding toward his body.

This was exactly how he had drowned before.

He would not make the same mistake twice.

He was just about to act when the things coiling toward him were instantly sliced apart. The Man in Brocade had made his move.

As a Third Realm cultivator, the Man in Brocade far surpassed Ye Wuyou in both the solidity and control of his vital breath. Even though his attacks sent water splashing everywhere inside the well, Ye Wuyou suffered no accidental injuries.

The two kept sinking until, at a certain point, the Man in Brocade stopped.

Or rather, the Man in Brocade had not stopped. Ye Wuyou had been forced to stop.

Ye Wuyou clung tightly to the Man in Brocade's leg. Opening his eyes underwater, he saw that half the man's body had vanished into the pitch-black water.

He had not been severed in half, nor had he been killed. His upper body seemed to have entered the space at the bottom of the well, but Ye Wuyou still refused to let go of his leg.

Ye Wuyou reached out with his other hand, only to feel a barrier like a thin membrane. This was what kept him from entering.

It was as though the membrane were rejecting him.

Ye Wuyou could sense a trace of a familiar aura upon it.

It was the aura he had sensed back on the Eighth Layer of the Heavenly Prison.

But it was very faint, no more than a tiny trace.

Xia Anmeng's words echoed in Ye Wuyou's mind. Unless there were special circumstances, the Uncanny would not come into contact with one another.

Was it because of the Uncanny within me?

Steeling himself, Ye Wuyou circulated the vital breath throughout his body along a particular route. Astral energy cloaked his fist, and a pocket of vacuum seemed to form in the surrounding water.

The martial technique Zhao Changhe had taught him came into play at that moment.

He smashed his fist hard against the membrane.

There was no reaction whatsoever.

The Man in Brocade's tightly gripped leg moved, then began trembling continuously. Had his upper body encountered something on the other side?

To hell with it.

With a thought from Ye Wuyou, Ghost manifested from his body, then formed an arm and smashed a fist hard against the membrane.

Boom!

At last, Ye Wuyou broke through the membrane.

Immediately upon entering, Ye Wuyou felt an enormous pulling force.

No, it was not suction. It was gravity.

Up and down had reversed.

Two figures emerged from the other side of the well-or rather, were spat out by it.

Ye Wuyou fell from midair, but Ghost extended a huge hand behind him to catch him, allowing him to land safely.

The Man in Brocade was not so fortunate. Although vital breath coiled around his body to form a protective barrier, he still slammed hard into the ground.

He spat, then struggled to climb to his feet, looking around as he spoke.

"Where does this well lead? This, this..."

They were still in the village.

Unlike the other side of the well, however, this village was ruined and charred black.

Compared to the Man in Brocade's astonishment, Ye Wuyou accepted all this calmly. He had already seen the village's true appearance earlier.

Ye Wuyou knew that "eyeball" had to be here.

Because he could sense that Uncanny aura.

"Let me ask before we go any further. Can that method of yours really seal that thing temporarily?" Ye Wuyou asked.

The Man in Brocade recovered from his surprise and nodded. "Don't worry. That thing has no arms or legs. However frightening it is, it can't move. Once we find it, everything will be easy."

The two walked slowly through the village, carefully examining everything around them.

The patter of footsteps drew their gazes to the side.

A decaying figure emerged, clad in a Daoist robe. His entire body resembled a dried corpse, without the slightest sign of life. Clearly, he had been dead for a long time.

Ye Wuyou studied the face, of which only the outline remained, and noticed a resemblance to one of the old men in the village on the other side of the well.

Before Ye Wuyou could act, the Man in Brocade pointed a finger, and his vital breath sliced off the dried corpse's head like a sharp, invisible throwing knife.

"Hah. A trifling trick."

Ye Wuyou felt that bringing the Man in Brocade along had been an exceedingly wise decision. At least the man had been eager to act throughout their journey.

The Man in Brocade flicked his sleeves, their edges faded white, and watched the decaying old Daoist slowly topple over. He was just about to speak.

A mass of black shadow shot toward them. Both dodged sideways. The shadow was a glob of slime, which landed on a rock behind them with a sizzling hiss of corrosion.

"There's someone else?"

These people must all have been cultivators when they were alive... Ye Wuyou thought.

Disdain filled the Man in Brocade's eyes. No matter how many of these fellows came, he would kill them all.

His Third Realm cultivation erupted, vital breath raging as it sliced off their ambusher's head.

The Man in Brocade's presence was fierce and imposing.

"Who! Else! Is there!" he roared.

Yet, as though answering his voice, one figure after another emerged from the surrounding street corners, slowly encircling the two of them.

Their bodies were all decayed. Clearly, they were dead.

But wisps of vital breath gradually began to manifest around them.

Among them were more than a few Third Realm auras...

The Man in Brocade immediately wilted.