The deep darkness enveloped the entire courtyard like fog in an instant.
The courtyard walls rapidly decayed, covered in dark red stains, and everything in the vegetable garden at the corner withered and rotted.
Frightened rats scurried out from the courtyard walls, and after only a few steps, collapsed, turning into a puddle of foul-smelling corpse fluid.
The noisy barking of dogs and the chirping of insects also vanished instantly, leaving the surroundings eerily silent and chillingly cold.
The young boy collapsed to the ground, trembling all over, the light from the talisman paper in his hand was suppressed by the darkness to only illuminate a two-meter range.
"Get away, don't come near, get lost!!"
The young boy's face was deathly pale, he scrambled backward with his legs, frantically scanning his surroundings, as if encountering something extremely terrifying.
A small figure appeared at the gate along with the darkness.
It was a little girl who looked no more than ten years old, with bluish skin, cold and stiff.
She had no eyes, only two hollow, bleeding sockets.
She was missing her right arm, and there was a large hole in her abdomen, with several bluish-black fingers protruding out.
Sang Que keenly noticed that the young boy kept scanning the surroundings but couldn't see the child.
The darkness had already enveloped the entire courtyard, the young boy gave Sang Que a glance, gritted his teeth, and ran to the door of the earthen house, kicking open the two old wooden doors.
Sang Que hurried over, just about to reach the door when her wrist tightened suddenly.
Countless sharp, tragic cries exploded in Sang Que's mind, a bone-chilling cold enveloped her whole body instantly.
The Ghost Child appeared behind Sang Que, extending a dry, shriveled bluish-black hand from its abdomen, gripping Sang Que's wrist tightly.
Fortunately, it was just for a moment, as the warm light of the talisman shone from inside the house, the cold and screams disappeared immediately.
"Why are you not coming in quickly!"
The young boy stood at the door of the earthen house, holding the talisman paper, his voice trembling and urgent.
Sang Que dared not hesitate, rushed into the house in a few steps, and the eerie coldness outside immediately diminished significantly.
The young boy forcefully closed the door, quickly taking out a few sheets of talisman paper, sticking them on the door and windows.
After sticking them outside the hall, the young boy walked into the inner room with the remaining talisman paper.
The light from the lamps inside brought some warmth, but Sang Que's wrist was unusually cold.
She wiped away the nosebleed that was about to flow, rolled up her sleeve, and saw a bluish-black handprint on her wrist.
Clang... Clang...
The eerie wind battered the wooden door, and the talisman paper on the door and windows began slowly burning from the edges. The Ghost Child stood outside the door, silently watching inside through the two-finger-wide crack with its hollow eye sockets.
Everything happening at the moment made Sang Que feel panicked and frightened inside, confused and full of questions.
But with the situation unclear, she tried her best to suppress her fear from showing, appearing relatively calm.
To figure out this bizarre situation, she needed to address the immediate crisis first and reach a place of absolute safety.
"You two old foxes dared to hide here!"
"Little Daoist, spare us, Little Daoist, spare us!"
The young boy's exasperated voice came from inside, alongside the sound of elderly pleas and items shattering.
Sang Que raised her wrist; the fitness tracker, which had just been fully charged, was unresponsive, and she didn't know what time it was now.
Bang!
Something fell, prompting Sang Que to turn her head at the sound. She saw an old book suddenly appear on the ground in the distance, its cover stained with fresh blood.
Sang Que frowned, and cautious, she didn't dare to go near, pulling down her sleeve to cover her wrist, heading into the inner room to find the young boy.
As soon as she stepped inside, she saw the young boy kicking an old man to the ground.
An elderly woman was kneeling nearby, weeping bitterly and accusing.
Intending to ask the boy where they were and what was outside, the thought of the boy's earlier escape attempt and the current scene suppressed her curiosity, deciding to watch quietly and see how things unfolded.
"We only have one daughter, now she's hanged herself on the tree outside, what more do you want!!"
One daughter, Sang Que's eyes widened, outside on the tree, weren't there two people hanging!
Sang Que frowned, recalling carefully, indeed, something was wrong with one of the two female corpses on the tree; the legs beneath the skirt seemed like straw ropes. At that moment, she was so shocked that she had overlooked it.
"My Master saw her as her fortune, and you are simply ungrateful!" the young boy roared.
The older woman wept louder, "If Master Yan said he wanted to marry Cai Feng, we would have accepted it, but Master Yan wanted to kill her to raise Evil Spirits, how could we stand by and watch her be tortured to death, she's only fourteen!"
The old man lay beside, eyes bloodshot, face full of indignation.
"Now she's hanged herself, are you satisfied? You're simply ungrateful wretches! Don't you ever think, before my Master came to Black Mountain Village, how many people died every month?" the young boy snarled.
"My Master risked so much taming Evil Spirits to protect Black Mountain Village. In the Corpse Nest incident, if not for my Master risking his life, over a hundred people in Black Mountain Village would have long been dead!"
"Now my Master is injured because of it, and needs your help, and this is how you treat my Master? Not willing to offer even one life?"
"Today, if it weren't for my good luck, I would've been tricked to death by you; you're simply malicious! Aren't you afraid that if you anger my Master, he might wipe out your entire village?"
The young boy couldn't help but rage at the thought. He had driven from the county to fetch a letter for his Master, and just at dusk, he planned to pick up someone from the Liu Family and return before nightfall.
Even though all three members of the Liu Family looked like they'd been crying, they didn't resist, Liu Caifeng even prepared food for him, asking for a moment of leniency to bid farewell to her parents.
He thought, with his Master's renown, no one in Black Mountain Village dared to say no, so he didn't overthink it. Little did he expect, Liu Caifeng harbored such malice, drugging his meal and knocking him out.
By the time the drug wore off, it was nighttime when evil spirits roamed, and they had thrown him into the courtyard. Upon awakening, he saw Liu Caifeng summon the Suicide Rope, hanging herself beneath the tree.
One of the Suicide Rope's rules of killing is to look up directly; at that time, he was unprepared and fell into the trap, too late to take out a talisman and nearly lost his life on the spot.
In essence, the Liu Family deliberately wanted him dead!
Liu Caifeng must have resented being chosen by his Master, and with no help from the village, she intended to drag the entire village down with her at such a young age, so malicious!
If he were to die, his Master would surely be enraged, maybe not wipe out the village, but he would certainly kill a few as a warning.
Fortunately, he encountered some woman from who knows where and was saved.
At this point, he glanced at Sang Que, who was standing quietly in the distance, his eyes flickering, holding other thoughts.
This woman had no trace of Evil Spirits on her and was not someone who could tame Evil. Yet, she could use a regular axe to cut the Suicide Rope, she definitely had some treasure to deal with Evil Spirits.
If not, he wouldn't have let her into the house.
Liu Caifeng was dead, and this woman was even more beautiful, just perfect to hand over to avoid punishment from his Master.