Chapter 126: The Eerie Small Town

The restaurant was not large, furnished with a few simple wooden tables and benches. Perhaps because it was exactly lunchtime, it was nearly full, and Xu Chen and Lan You found a table to sit at.

A middle-aged man over forty hurried over to greet them: "What would the two guests like to eat?"

"What specialty dishes do you have here?" Xu Chen asked.

The shopkeeper quickly reeled off a few dish names. Xu Chen swept his Divine Sense over the tables of some diners in the restaurant and roughly understood the ingredients and preparation methods of these dishes, so he ordered a few light seasonal vegetable dishes and asked for a pot of fruit wine.

This was Xu Chen's second time traveling far from home, so he was not a complete novice to the world, but Lan You was actually even worse off than him. As a core Personal Disciple of a major sect, she never had to worry about food, drink, or daily necessities in her day-to-day life. Even when she went out, her food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all perfectly arranged by outer sect disciples. Let alone stopping to eat in such a dilapidated small town, she wouldn't even glance at such places when passing by in her usual high-flying manner.

However, because she was waiting to travel with Xu Chen this time, there was no one to make arrangements on the road, so she could only follow Xu Chen to do as the locals did and eat whatever was available.

Xu Chen was different from Lan You. He had been an orphan since he was young and grew up in the countryside, having suffered hardship, cold, and hunger. He had no interest in worldly power and wealth, but he still felt a strange sense of closeness to ordinary people at the bottom of society, which was why he liked to interact with ordinary folk whenever he went out.

While waiting for the wine and food, the two also secretly released their Divine Sense to listen to the diners' conversations, and in a moment, they roughly understood the reason why the townspeople were so panicked.

It turned out that a few days ago, many people had started dying or going missing in a nearby village, and this situation quickly spread to the small town. In the last two days, more than ten people had died or gone missing one after another.

Amidst the widespread panic, some rumored that evil ghosts were eating people, while others said that monsters were causing trouble, so the entire town was in chaos, and a large number of people had already begun to flee.

In shock and suspicion, the two shrouded the entire town with their Divine Sense. Although they collected more information about the topics of evil ghosts and monsters, and even saw a notice posted by the City Lord's Mansion offering a large reward for martial artists to drive away ghosts and catch monsters, they did not sense the presence of any dangerous aura.

Therefore, after the two exchanged a glance, they both shook their heads slightly, indicating that they had not found any suspicious targets.

At this moment, the shopkeeper brought the wine and food, and Xu Chen asked about the ghost haunting. The shopkeeper immediately shook his head with a panicked face and said: "Guests, don't ask. This humble one doesn't know either. I only know that many people have died in the last two days. I heard that some people have even gone mad and killed others for no reason. Seeing that you two guests are just passing through, you had better finish your meal and leave quickly!"

Having said that, the shopkeeper hurried off to attend to other guests.

Xu Chen felt helpless and had no choice but to continue listening to the diners' conversations while eating. Suddenly, he heard several screams and shouts of people running outside. He immediately released his Divine Sense to take a look and saw a burly man, as if he were a madman, brandishing a large saber and chasing pedestrians crazily on the street.

In the blink of an eye, he had already hacked down several people. The street was in chaos, and pedestrians were screaming and fleeing in all directions.

The diners in the tavern were also in a panic. Some threw down their bowls and chopsticks and ran outside, but among them, several martial arts heroes with impressive auras and swords on their backs stood up and walked out.

Another old Daoist wearing a patchwork robe with a gourd hanging from his waist laughed: "After waiting all day, it has finally appeared. Disciple, follow your master to subdue the demons and eliminate the monsters."

"Yes, Master!" A handsome young Daoist, about fifteen or sixteen years old, put down his bowl and chopsticks with an excited face, picked up a treasure sword wrapped in linen cloth, and followed.

Xu Chen also put down his bowl and chopsticks, casually tossed down a piece of silver, and said to Lan You: "Let's go out and take a look too!"

"Okay!" Lan You nodded and stood up to follow.

The shopkeeper, who had been hiding behind the counter, realized that only Xu Chen had paid. He hesitated for a moment, then ran out, grabbed Xu Chen's arm, and said: "Little Master, truly do not go. That evil ghost cannot be killed at all; it is contagious."

Xu Chen asked in surprise: "Didn't you just say you didn't know? How do you know the evil ghost is contagious?"

The shopkeeper said with a face full of terror: "Every evil ghost is different. I have only seen this kind of evil ghost that kills people and is also contagious. If you are targeted by the murderous evil ghost, it will possess your body, and then you will also become an evil ghost and start killing people."

"There is such a thing?" Xu Chen's eyes widened a circle.

Evil ghosts and the like were just terms used in the mortal world. To cultivators like them who truly practiced immortal arts and Daoist methods, so-called evil ghosts might be some monsters causing trouble, but these things were invisible and intangible, and mortals could not understand what they were, so they could only discuss them in terms of ghosts and gods.

And subduing demons and eliminating monsters to maintain the safety of the mortal world was also an important task for all Immortal Sect disciples when they went down the mountain to gain experience. If they didn't encounter it, so be it, but if they did, they certainly could not stand idly by.

Moreover, this was the first time Xu Chen had encountered such a strange event among the common people, so he naturally refused to let this opportunity pass. Thus, he ignored the shopkeeper's warning and followed the pair of Daoist master and disciple out the door.

At this time, there was no one to be seen on the main street. Apart from the burly man acting like a madman, there were only injured commoners lying on the street, bleeding and wailing, two of whom had already completely stopped breathing.

The few martial arts heroes with swords on their backs in front had already drawn their weapons, surrounding the burly man from seven or eight zhang away, but they all looked very serious and nervous.

After all, they were martial artists, not Daoist priests skilled in driving away ghosts and eliminating monsters.

However, the reward from the City Lord's Mansion was not low, a full three hundred taels of silver, and such a great temptation was worth them taking the risk.

Among this group, the one with the strongest aura was a slender man over forty, handsome and carrying an air of scholarly elegance. He used a long sword, and his aura was steady, at least at the Postnatal Realm of martial arts cultivation, which could be considered a top-tier expert in the mortal world.

"Su Qinghe, will you go first or shall we?" a burly man carrying a three-ringed broadsword shouted loudly.

The scholarly man snorted coldly: "If you want the reward, then hurry up and act. Otherwise, if I make a move, you won't get anything!"

The burly man's face turned ugly, and after hesitating for a moment, he greeted his companions and rushed up.

At this moment, the crazed burly man had also brandished his large saber and was howling as he rushed toward this group of people.

Xu Chen's facial muscles twitched slightly, and he glanced at the swordsman named Su Qinghe.

The mortal world was much like the Immortal World; the higher one's cultivation, the more cunning they were. They were all as crafty as ghosts, and not a single one was a good person.

This Su Qinghe had the highest cultivation and the best martial arts, but he was unwilling to take risks, using just one sentence to provoke the group of saber-wielders into going forward to test the waters.

Xu Chen did not move, and naturally, Lan You would not move either.

In her heart, Xu Chen was a miraculous figure she had to look up to. Although his realm was not as high as hers, Xu Chen possessed the ability to hide True Immortal treasures, an existence that even the Supreme Great Elder of Yuqing Hall, Chixia Zhenjun, could not hope to reach.

In no more than a few breaths, the five men led by the burly man surrounded the crazed burly man, and they began hacking and killing each other with a clatter.

The burly man was in a state of madness and delirium, using his large saber without any technique. Soon, under the siege of the five, he was covered in wounds and lost an arm. Finally, he was beheaded by one of them. Amidst the spraying blood, the crazed burly man became a headless corpse and fell to the ground, and a thick, bloody scent permeated the street.

"Haha, what kind of lousy ghost, it couldn't even take a single blow!"

One guy kicked away the shaggy head that was still rolling on the ground and laughed.

The other companions were also surrounding the corpse with excited faces.

Su Qinghe's brows furrowed slightly, and at the same time, his body slowly tensed up, and the precious sword in his hand was held upright in front of his chest.

At this time, the old Daoist and the young disciple walked up, holding an ancient copper bell in his hand, and said: "Good men, be careful. This evil ghost is not dead; it will possess and infect others. You must not get too close!"

A companion of the burly man raised his hand to stop the old Daoist: "Old Daoist, this credit is ours. Don't come and join in the fun. Take your disciple and go burn Paper Talismans elsewhere to play."

"Hahahaha!" The whole group followed with loud laughter.

Although Xu Chen did not make a move, his Divine Sense wrapped around the headless corpse and the head like flowing water, carefully sensing the movement. But because the person was already dead, the Soul had dissipated, and the aura was cut off, so he could not detect anything different at all.

But just as he was about to withdraw his Divine Sense, he suddenly felt a wisp of Black Mist emerge from the head, which then turned into a bat-like phantom about a foot in size and pounced toward the nearest man.

"Careful!"

Xu Chen's expression changed instantly as he warned, and at the same time, a surge of Divine Sense followed the black bat phantom and rushed into the man's body.

However, mortal martial artists had not opened their apertures, so their Sea of Consciousness was not open. After Xu Chen's Divine Sense entered the man's body, he unexpectedly lost his target in an instant.

And almost at the same time, the man's body suddenly twisted violently a few times, and he raised his hand and slashed at his nearest companion with his saber. Amidst the cries of alarm, the man's companion, who was bending over to examine the corpse, was directly decapitated by the blow and fell down with a thud.

"Jiang Laosan, what are you doing?"

Faced with the sudden turn of events, the group of saber-wielders still hadn't realized what was happening. Some of them even shouted at their companion, but before they could finish speaking, a bloody saber slashed into them.

"Ah!" Amidst the screams, another person fell to the ground.

Only then did the group of swordsmen realize that their companion had been possessed by an evil spirit, so they fled in panic, while Jiang Laosan had already brandished his broadsword and lunged at the nearest companion, hacking another one down in the blink of an eye.

Su Qinghe, who had been waiting for an opportunity on the side, saw his expression change drastically and retreated rapidly.

"Su Qinghe, why have you not made a move yet?" the burly man roared.

Su Qinghe's expression was hesitant, but he did not answer; listening to the screams of the burly man's companions, he sheathed his sword, turned around, leaped onto the roof, and disappeared from sight after two or three bounds.

Seeing that the situation was dire, the burly man also fled in a panic with his one remaining companion.

In the blink of an eye, only Xu Chen and his companion, the old Daoist priest and his disciple, and a few corpses along with the two swordsmen who were not yet dead remained at the scene.

(End of this chapter)