Chapter 41: The Ghost Village of the Yin Land

Hearing the dog bark, my expression changed. Something must have gone wrong over there.

"Let's go and take a look!"

I broke into a run, taking three steps in two, with the old man close behind.

The owner of the agritainment resort originally wanted to stop us to chat a bit more, but before the words could leave his mouth, the old man and I were already nearing Zhou Shunzi's doorstep.

The large iron gate outside his courtyard was left unlatched. We kicked the door open and rushed inside.

The courtyard was in utter chaos, and the main door had been smashed.

Rushing into the house, we found two people collapsed on the floor: the Taoist priest who had gone in earlier, and the woman.

I stepped forward and checked their pulse. They were still breathing, which meant nothing life-threatening had happened.

A dark bruise encircled each of their necks, evidently left by someone grabbing them by the throat and choking them into a brief fainting spell.

There was no sign of Zhou Shunzi anywhere in the house.

"Whimper..."

Suddenly, a whimper came from inside the room. The large black dog was cowering on the ground, trembling all over.

Though black dogs are naturally adept at subduing evil entities, if an entity becomes too powerful, it exerts a counter-suppressive effect.

This black dog must have run into a formidable adversary when it encountered the entity possessing Zhou Shunzi.

"Get up and take us to your master," I said to the black dog.

"Whimper..."

The dog let out a couple of low whines.

"Only you can catch the scent, and only you can track it down," I continued.

Urged on by me, the black dog finally got to its feet, staggered toward the door, and bolted out of the house. The old man and I followed closely behind it as it ran out of the town.

Tens of minutes later, the black dog and I had entered the Qinling Mountains.

The mountains were crisscrossed with narrow, winding trails. Following these paths with many twists and turns, the black dog led the old man and me on a grueling chase for about three hours.

Subduing demons and exterminating monsters is hard physical labor; this line of work is truly not for just anyone. If your stamina wasn't up to par, you'd likely collapse from exhaustion right here today.

After winding back and forth through the dense mountain forest, the black dog finally stopped before a cave entrance.

Unlike the caves we had encountered deep within the Qinling range previously, this one looked entirely natural. Judging by its behavior, the black dog wanted the old man and me to go inside.

"Let's take a break."

I dropped heavily onto the ground right at the cave entrance. If the entity possessing Zhou Shunzi was hiding inside, another fierce battle was inevitable before long.

Having chased after it for so long, if I didn't take a moment to urgently recover some stamina, the old man and I might end up being beaten to a pulp by the evil entity shortly.

My throat felt like it was on fire, but there was no water nearby—not even anything to quench my thirst—so we just had to endure it.

"Young Master Jiang, this is seriously bloody exhausting. I'm starting to think that if I kick the bucket one of these days, it won't be from an illness, but from sheer fatigue," the old man complained. "If that old shrew doesn't pay us extra for today's trouble, it really won't be fair."

"Just thirty thousand yuan, and it's worn me out like this. What a losing business."

The old man began to grumble under his breath.

"You can bring it up with her later. Today's job is indeed quite tiring," I nodded.

If Zhang Yuxuan wanted to ask for more money, let him do it. If he succeeded, great; if not, so be it. At least I wouldn't have to show my face.

"You got it!"

The old man instantly perked up.

I checked the time on my phone. It was almost eleven o'clock at night, the hour when Yin energy reached its peak.

"Be careful later, and don't drag me down."

I pulled a talisman from my inner pocket and handed it to the old man. "If anything goes wrong, turn around immediately and run back for help. Go find Li Yiran."

Within the capital's metaphysical circle, Li Yiran was about the only person I knew.

"Young Master Jiang, rest assured. Leave this to me." The old man patted his chest with absolute certainty. He might not be skilled at much else, but when it came to running away and calling for reinforcements, he was an undisputed expert.

"Then let's go in!"

After resting for a few minutes, the old man and I entered the cave one after the other, with the black dog scouting ahead.

This natural cave was quite narrow inside, wide enough for only one person to pass at a time.

I remembered studying a text in middle school called *The Peach Blossom Spring*, which contained a passage like this: *At first it was extremely narrow, barely allowing passage. After walking a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened up into a broad view.*

That description applied quite well here as well.

The cave entrance was extremely narrow upon entry, but after walking a few dozen steps, it truly did become somewhat more spacious.

The cave was not long. In about ten minutes, the old man and I reached the end of the passage, where a massive basin-like terrain suddenly opened up before us.

The surrounding terrain was extremely high, and right in the center of that basin sat a small settlement.

At that moment, the settlement was brightly lit, looking precisely like a scene from a historical television drama.

"Wait here while I go down to scout. If I haven't returned in an hour, use the method I just taught you to call for help."

I grabbed a nearby vine with one hand and slid down smoothly.

The settlement was roughly a couple of hundred meters away from the cave exit. Two guards, dressed like ancient soldiers and holding long spears, stood at the entrance.

Seeing me arrive, the two guards showed no curiosity whatsoever, their expressions indifferent as if they hadn't seen me at all.

And the settlement itself reeked of strangeness everywhere.

There was not a single person on the streets, yet the multi-story pavilions on both sides were brightly lit, with graceful silhouettes of women cast against the window paper.

Had an uninitiated traveler wandered in here, they might have marveled at a scene of peace and prosperity, but by now, cold sweat was breaking out all over my body.

I drew the sword engraved with bizarre inscriptions and gripped it tightly in my hand.

The settlement was not large. When viewed from the cave entrance earlier, I had thought it could hold at most a few dozen households. But once I actually stepped inside, I realized I could never seem to reach the end of it.

It felt like an endless loop, yet as I walked the entire way, I hadn't encountered a single repetitive landmark.

Could it be a ghost wall?

It didn't look like it!

I bit my index finger and smeared two drops of blood onto my eyelids, invoking my pure Yang vital blood in an attempt to pierce through the illusion.

Everything around me remained completely unchanged.

The settlement was still a settlement, and the pavilions were still pavilions, as though everything existed in absolute reality.

I knew I had run into a formidable entity today.

Its power was far beyond what I could fathom or measure.

As the saying goes, as the Way rises one foot, the devil rises ten!

I continued my investigation through the settlement. A moment later, I walked into an open area where a stage had been set up. Someone dressed in theatrical costume was performing up there, singing in a soft, warbling tone.

Seated below the stage were dozens of ethereal phantoms, watching the performer with unblinking eyes.

I glanced at the performer on stage a few times as well, and that single glance proved to be my undoing. I felt as though I were being drawn in by her, instantly draining every ounce of strength from my limbs.

The performer stared straight back at me, and I could even discern a wicked smile spreading across her heavily made-up face.