Chapter 296: The Monster Beneath the Moonlight

"I agree!"

Wu Xian had just finished speaking.

Du E immediately answered the call, her small hand raised high—she felt that if she kept glaring like this, her eyes were about to go blind from it.

Wen Chao, Jian Lingyu, and Su Xuan also nodded one after another.

Through the experience of the past stretch of time, they had all realized this was not a good method.

Only Jiang Chun's face instantly went pale.

Being teleported into the urn and facing the pale ghost shadow was the most terrifying thing she had experienced in her life; she did not want to go through it again no matter what.

So she instinctively grabbed Wen Chao's sleeve.

Since entering the blessed land, Wen Chao had been taking special care of her, so much so that Wen Chao had now become her mainstay.

Wen Chao patted her hand.

"We're scared too, and we don't want to go back into the coffin either, but we can look at each other for an hour, we can't look at each other for a whole night. Even if we can get through tonight this way, what about tomorrow? After staying up all night like this, will we still be in any condition to do other things tomorrow?"

Wu Xian added: "Don't forget, the thing in the moonlight hasn't come over to bother us yet."

"Mm… and Yang Bin—if I'm not mistaken, he'll definitely come looking for us tonight." Du E said, following up.

After everyone's analysis.

Jiang Chun knew she had no other choice.

After reaching a consensus.

Wen Chao was the first to leave everyone's sight.

Whoosh! Wen Chao vanished into thin air.

The remaining five felt a chill in their hearts; it seemed that unless the source of the teleportation was dealt with, this sort of thing would happen every night.

Next.

The others vanished one after another, until finally only Du E and Wu Xian were left.

Wu Xian asked, somewhat surprised: "Why haven't you left yet?"

"Heh, aren't you still here too?"

Du E's movements were the same as Wu Xian's—she kept staring at the reflection in the clay bowl in her hands, and even while replying she did not look up at Wu Xian.

"Then shall we go out and take a look?"

"Remember to bring the bedding, close the door but don't lock it."

The two of them had once cooperated inside a blessed land, and in the real world they had also worked together to make money, so upon seeing the other's choice to stay, they guessed each other's intention.

Outside at this moment was pitch black.

The two of them, each holding an oil lamp, moved in parallel; after walking out of the thatched hut they closed the door, neatly folded the two ragged bedding rolls in front of and behind themselves, and watched each other to make sure the other stayed in sight.

After sitting down.

The two of them exchanged information with practiced ease.

This included their respective judgments of the others, as well as speculation about the later course of this blessed land, and so on.

Although they had not originally planned to cooperate, since they had happened to run into each other, cooperation was still called for.

"That old man Wen—is he your friend?"

Wu Xian nodded: "I wouldn't call him a friend, I've only cooperated with him once, but don't be fooled by his age—when things come up, he's very dependable."

Du E was somewhat surprised: "Looks like you trust him quite a bit."

Wu Xian was taken aback: "What did you see?"

"I'd advise you to be careful when cooperating with him." Du E weighed her words: "What you see of him may not be the real him; a person like him couldn't possibly have such low merit of virtue."

Wu Xian narrowed his eyes.

Back at the Liu Mansion, Du E had already demonstrated her ability to probe merit of virtue, so Wu Xian did not treat this piece of information lightly; instead he sealed the warning away in his heart and felt a trace of wariness toward Wen Chao.

As the two of them talked.

The dark clouds were blown apart by the wind, and a full moon floated up into the sky once more.

This moon looked much larger than the one in the real world, and the patterns of light and dark on its surface looked somewhat like a giant eyeball.

Whoosh! Five eerie human figures abruptly appeared in the center of the village.

All five figures were draped in green clothing; the skin exposed was either yellow or white; they had only the outline of a person, with no details whatsoever.

They simply stood in the center of the village, motionless, no one knew what they were thinking, giving off an inhuman, terrifying air.

Finally.

One of the figures moved.

He walked toward the room where Old Tang was; at first his movements were somewhat like floating, then they became normal walking, and later he had already taken on the appearance of an old woman, softly calling out at Old Tang's door.

"Old Tang, I'm back, I…"

Inside the thatched hut.

Another old man was snoring away in his sleep.

These old folks' survival rule was: at night, no matter what happened, they absolutely would not go out—eating, drinking, and relieving themselves were all handled inside the room—so no matter how the monsters tried to lure them, they could remain safe and sound.

There were also old folks unwilling to do this.

But not a single one had lived until now.

Old Tang, on the other hand, was puffing on his pipe; usually he too would be like that old fellow, burying his head in the sand like an ostrich and pretending he wasn't awake.

But during the day.

He had seen Wu Xian and the others slay the water ghost, and bury their two deceased companions in different ways…

He suddenly had a feeling.

Perhaps these strange outsiders might be the cure for this twisted world; the moment he thought of this, Old Tang's heart turned into a tangled mess.

After hearing the call of his deceased wife outside.

Old Tang shed tears, murmuring softly: "If these young people succeed, you… will finally be able to rest in peace."

……

Wu Xian and Du E.

While watching each other, they took in everything with their peripheral vision; the two gazes complemented one another, enough to cover a wide range, and they wouldn't miss any danger.

Seeing the entire process of the monster's transformation, a faint smile appeared on Wu Xian's face.

"So this is what's in the moonlight."

The two of them had chosen not to get into the coffin precisely to see the world under the moonlight; although it was risky, the risk was worth taking.

Du E whispered: "We're just sitting out here, and they still haven't noticed us — they look pretty stupid…"

"Going to Old Tang's door to transform and call out, they also look very stiff, as if driven by something else… maybe these five things aren't the main bodies, and there's something else remotely controlling them."

Perhaps because they spoke too loudly.

The old woman by Old Tang was still pleading, while the other four suddenly turned their heads in unison to look at Wu Xian and Du E.

Then…

Their faces split open! Not like a smashed watermelon, but splitting from the nose as the origin point, like petals unfolding; inside the red flesh grew rows of sharp fangs, and transparent slime dripped from their mouths — a terrifying sight.

Next.

The four monsters, without any warning, lunged at Wu Xian and Du E.

They were very fast, moving almost like a sliding translation, neither human nor ghost — a type Wu Xian had never dealt with before.

Outnumbered and lacking the ability to worship gods.

So even Wu Xian wasn't confident of surviving in front of the monsters.

But the two of them had never intended to fight head-on; before coming out, they had already made their preparations.

One monster's head unfurled and attacked Du E.

If caught by this thing, Du E's delicate head would be easily squeezed like a tomato, but Wu Xian and Du E closed their eyes at the same time.

And flung up the tattered quilt in front of them!

Whoosh! Whoosh! The quilt was torn to shreds, but the people behind it vanished into thin air…

(End of this chapter)