The Demoness Pickup Truck's presence drifted from the village, faint and steady, like a little beast curled up in its den.
The soil beneath his feet was soft, rustling faintly underfoot.
The village lights flickered in the distance.
Cao Xianming and the others were probably still waiting for him.
Yang Yong clenched his fingers.
His knuckles cracked.
That pair of Twin Demons. Mang Dabiao. Zhao Hu. Jiang Chen's schemes. The ancient tomb underground. Yezi. The Earth Dragon.
All the clues wove into a web in his mind.
And he was the spider at its center.
Every strand connected to something, and each of those things could be prey-or a venomous barb.
Yang Yong licked his lower lip.
The tip of his tongue tasted a trace of the night wind's chill.
He walked into the village's shadows.
His steps were unhurried.
But every footfall landed firmly.
The night wind blew from behind him, lifting the corners of his clothes.
Above the village, a layer of Array Patterns invisible to the naked eye slowly circulated, sealing this area off from the Eerie outside.
But Yang Yong knew full well... the Array Patterns could keep outside things out, but they could not stop pieces planted long ago by someone on Jiang Chen's level.
Those pieces might already be starting to move, one by one.
The scent of pine smoke mingled with a rank stench, spreading through the village.
Lao Zhang and Xiao Ma packed more than a thousand people into vacant houses throughout the village.
There were enough houses, but that smell the immortals had left behind...
Fishy, musky, rotten, with a trace of indescribable, cloying sweetness...
It clung to cracks in the walls and seeped into the dirt floors, like water soaking into a sponge, impossible to shake off.
Everyone fumigated their