Chapter 127: Investigation

"Evil ghost, do not flee! This poor Daoist has come to subdue you!"

The old Daoist raised the copper bell in his hand and shook it with a clanging sound; sure enough, Jiang Laosan's body suddenly jolted and his movements slowed down.

The old Daoist muttered incantations, paced out the Big Dipper steps around Jiang Laosan, and shook the bell in his hand rapidly. At the same time, he wiped his waist, produced a yellow Paper Talisman, pinched a magic seal, and threw it. The yellow Paper Talisman turned into a streak of yellow light and stuck to the center of Jiang Laosan's brow, and the still-restless, twisting Jiang Laosan immediately quieted down.

"Disciple, fetch the magic sword. Let your master slay this evil ghost!" The old Daoist stopped his movements, hung the copper bell at his waist, and reached out his hand.

The young Daoist hurriedly handed over a long sword wrapped in linen cloth. The old Daoist reached out and drew a sword that was crimson all over, muttered incantations again, and then thrust the sword toward the center of Jiang Laosan's brow.

However, before the sword could reach him, only a "bang" was heard; the yellow talisman stuck to Jiang Laosan's brow actually exploded out of thin air, and a wisp of Black Mist darted out and lunged straight at the old Daoist.

Xu Chen, who had been observing from the side, was already prepared. The moment the Black Mist darted out, he suddenly swirled his Yuan Qi and tossed the old Daoist behind him. The bat phantom formed by the Black Mist lost its target, and perhaps sensing that he was a more suitable host, it lunged straight at him instead.

Xu Chen did not care in the slightest, letting the bat phantom rush into his Sea of Consciousness. At the same time, he condensed his Divine Sense into a small sword and, with a few quick slashes, shattered the bat phantom into a mass of Black Mist, which was instantly dissolved into nothingness by the light of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

"Thump!" Jiang Laosan collapsed to the ground, his breath already cut off.

"Master, are you alright!" the young Daoist exclaimed as he rushed to the old Daoist's side.

"Quick, help me up to pay respects to the Immortal Master!" The old Daoist was both shocked and delighted. With the young Daoist's support, he struggled to stand up, then limped over to Xu Chen and knelt down in excitement to pay his respects: "Zhu Youshun, a Daoist from Changchun Temple on Heming Mountain, pays respects to the Immortal Master. Many thanks to the Immortal Master for your help."

Xu Chen opened his eyes, gave a light wave of his hand, and a gentle stream of Yuan Qi lifted the old Daoist up. He nodded with a smile and said, "Old Daoist, there is no need for such formalities. I did not expect that you, a mortal, would have such decent Magic Spell foundations. However, this is not an evil ghost, nor is it an ordinary Demon Beast; it is a Nether Beast from the Underworld, which cannot be easily slain by ordinary mortal Magic Spells."

Upon hearing this, the old Daoist was terrified and said with a face full of fear, "So that is how it is. I was wondering why my Spirit Talismans and Magic Spells had failed; I have rarely missed when catching ghosts or eliminating demons in the past."

Xu Chen pointed at Jiang Laosan's corpse and said, "The Nether Beast that possessed him just now has already been eliminated by me. There is no more danger here, but you cannot deal with this kind of Nether Beast. You had better take your disciple and leave quickly. In the future, if you encounter such things, try not to get involved, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable!"

The old Daoist bowed repeatedly to express his gratitude. After collecting the dropped copper bell and sword, he prepared to leave, but Xu Chen called them back: "I have heard that many people have died inside and outside this city recently. It is possible that these Nether Beasts are the cause. Do you know of any other suspicious places, Daoist?"

The old Daoist thought for a moment and said, "The city is quite chaotic, and the situations have only appeared within these last two or three days, with no fixed locations. However, I heard that the first disappearances of people and livestock occurred in a village five miles north of the city. Some people guessed that these missing people and livestock were dragged away by wild beasts, so the villagers went up the mountain in groups to encircle and suppress the beasts, but only two out of more than ten people returned alive. Then, those two also went mad soon after and began killing people crazily in the village, causing a huge tragedy. After that, people possessed by evil ghosts slowly began to appear in the surrounding villages and inside the city..."

After listening to the old Daoist, Xu Chen's brows knitted together. He turned to look at the quiet Lan You and said, "Daoist Friend Lan, it seems that the Soul Beasts have already escaped from the vicinity of Black Wind Ridge to here, and this Soul Beast seems to have mutated; it is actually able to control ordinary people to kill. The situation is becoming somewhat uncontrollable!"

A look of gravity also appeared on Lan You's face as she nodded and said, "Indeed. There are many types of Soul Beasts. Although those that can invade the Soul are few in number, this type of bat-like Soul Beast is indeed the most difficult to deal with. Back then, when I was in the underground cave, it was this kind of Soul Beast that invaded my Sea of Consciousness. If it hadn't been for Daoist Friend Xu's timely rescue, I fear Lan You would have died long ago!"

When it came to the best understanding of Soul Beasts, none could compare to Xu Chen.

And the strangest and most difficult one he had encountered was not the Black Spider Soul Beast with strength exceeding the Danyuan Realm, but rather this bat-like Soul Beast, which was small in size and not very strong in itself.

Because only this kind of Soul Beast could invade the Sea of Consciousness and launch a direct attack on a cultivator's Soul, even experts of the Danyuan Realm could not guard against it. Once the Soul Beast invaded the Sea of Consciousness, one could only resist it head-on.

And for a group of cultivators at the Refining Essence into Qi stage, the Soul was the most fragile part. Their Primordial Spirit had not yet formed, their defenses were weak, and there were few Magic Treasures for the Soul, making them even harder to deal with.

Fortunately, this time, when the arrays at Spirit Fox Valley and Black Wind Ridge were breached and released Black Mist, a total of tens of thousands of Soul Beasts of various sizes were spewed out, but this bat type was very rare.

Yet, it was this rare and strange Soul Beast that had caused the most casualties among cultivators.

Among the more than fifty dead cultivators, almost half had died because this kind of Demon Bat had invaded their Sea of Consciousness and devoured their Soul.

And they died extremely quickly, with almost no power to parry.

Therefore, as the news spread, whenever cultivators at the two locations encountered these Demon Bats, they would immediately flee. Aside from Xu Chen, the only ones who could deal with this kind of Soul Beast were a few Danyuan Realm experts or Zhenyuan Realm cultivators holding soul-type Magic Treasures.

Because this Demon Bat Soul Beast was not very strong in itself—basically only having the strength of a First Stage Demon Beast—and the kind of two-headed bat that helped Xu Chen fight the Black Spider Soul Beast last time had not appeared, most of them were eventually trapped and killed in the array. However, there were still fish that slipped through the net, and now they had actually run a thousand miles away to wreak havoc on the mortal world.

What worried Xu Chen most was that this Soul Beast, in the absence of a physical body, could actually parasitize a mortal body like a ghost, and it could spread repeatedly; killing one would soon lead to it invading another person's body to continue living.

Xu Chen did not yet understand the infection and parasitism method of this Soul Beast, because he could not carefully distinguish the aura of the Soul Beast through his Divine Sense in the mortals who were possessed, and therefore could not use his Divine Sense to search and hunt them on a large scale.

Although the Soul Beast before him had been dealt with, he still felt uneasy in his heart. According to his deduction, the bat Soul Beast he had just slain did not seem complete; it was very weak, as if it were only a part of a bat Soul Beast.

Then this matter became even more complicated.

If the bat Soul Beast could really split itself and infect mortals, then as time went on, the situation would become increasingly uncontrollable, eventually leading to the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people.

What worried Xu Chen most was whether the Soul Beast would continuously increase its strength through this method, eventually becoming completely uncontrollable!

Therefore, after careful consideration, Xu Chen said to Lan You, "Daoist Friend Lan, this matter is of great importance. We cannot ignore it; we must investigate it thoroughly. Otherwise, I fear we will leave behind a huge hidden danger, and more people will die in the future!"

Lan You nodded and said, "I support whatever Daoist Friend Xu wants to do; in any case, I am not in a hurry to return to the mountain!"

Xu Chen breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. After the two discussed it briefly, they had the old Daoist and his disciple lead the way to the village north of the city where the first disappearances and deaths occurred to check the situation.

Everything has a source. Although so many days had passed and the bat Soul Beast might have already left the place where it first appeared, if they could find some clues, it would still be very beneficial for the subsequent investigation.

After the four left the city, Xu Chen released his Divine Sense to find the village mentioned by the old Daoist, then directly threw out his Flying Sword. With his Yuan Qi wrapping around the master and disciple, a streak of Escape Light broke through the air, and they soon arrived at the foot of a barren mountain.

There was indeed a small village here, with more than ten farming households scattered sparsely, and the crops in the fields were growing quite well. However, not a single person could be seen in the entire village; the doors and windows of every house were wide open, and a stench of rot drifted in the air.

While still in the air, Xu Chen's Divine Sense had already seen the situation inside and around the village clearly. There was indeed not a single person in the village; all the houses were empty. In addition, there were corpses of people and livestock that had fallen in various places, which had already begun to rot.

The entire village exuded a thick sense of eeriness and silence; it was truly like a ghost village.

The four landed. The old Daoist and his young disciple had not yet recovered from their shock and were still shivering as they stood on the ground.

Xu Chen carefully searched the entire village and a radius of two miles inside and out, but found no aura of any Soul Beast. He then expanded the range of his Divine Sense again, covering the entire barren mountain behind the village, and searched it like a sieve. Suddenly, his Divine Sense jumped, and he felt a familiar aura in a cave in a gully on the side of the barren mountain.

Lan You had also found this cave almost at the same time. The two's Divine Senses touched, and then quickly retreated.

Xu Chen felt a ripple in his heart, while Lan You's cheeks suddenly turned red to the roots of her ears.

This inadvertent touch of Divine Sense was like two people without clothes meeting and greeting each other; it was stimulating to an extreme degree.

Under normal circumstances, when cultivators communicate via Divine Sense, they release Yuan Qi to protect their Sea of Consciousness, just like a person wearing clothes.

But if one forgets, they will see each other's Soul.

Of course, this so-called "seeing" is actually a subconscious feeling, as if one can see through the other's heart. This is purely a touch of intent, the deepest level of soul communication, which is far clearer than pure physical contact and will be instantly engraved in the memory to form a brand.

"Ahem, Daoist Friend Lan, it seems we did not come in vain; we should have found the location of the Soul Beast!" Xu Chen coughed a few times to cover his embarrassment.

Lan You lowered her head and said softly, "Indeed. That Soul Beast should be in the cave. There is no time to lose; let us take action to slay it, so we can be on our way as soon as possible!"

"Good!" Xu Chen nodded and said to the old Daoist and his disciple, "We have found the location where the Soul Beast is hiding and are going to slay it now. You two stay here and wait; if you are afraid, you can return to the city first!"

Upon hearing this, the old Daoist was full of excitement and said, "Could the two Immortal Masters take this old Daoist along to broaden his horizons? The founder of my Changchun Temple was also an Immortal, with a cultivation reaching the Zhenyuan Realm. I heard he even went to the Taiyuan Sect to visit and learn Immortal Arts."

Xu Chen was full of surprise upon hearing this and said, "A cultivation of the Zhenyuan Realm is already quite good. To think he even went to my Taiyuan Sect; it seems that meeting you this time is indeed a bit of fate."

The old Daoist was full of pleasant surprise and said, "So the two of you are also Immortal Masters from the Taiyuan Sect."

Xu Chen shook his head and said, "I am a Disciple of the Taiyuan Sect, but this Daoist Friend Lan is a high-ranking disciple of Yuqing Hall."

The old Daoist was stunned for a moment and said with a wry smile, "Forgive me, Immortal Masters. This old Daoist only knows of the Taiyuan Sect and did not know there was a Yuqing Hall."

Xu Chen smiled and said, "It does not matter if you do not know. Let us go and slay this Soul Beast first, lest it notice us and escape. Since you want to go and see, that is fine, but do not get too close when we arrive, otherwise I fear an accident might occur. Let us go!"

As Xu Chen spoke, he swirled his Yuan Qi, wrapped it around the old Daoist and his disciple, and stepped onto his sword. Lan You followed closely behind, and two streaks of Escape Light shot into the sky, heading straight for the gully on the side of the barren mountain.

(End of chapter)