Chapter 200: I Am the Golden Immortal of the Dao, Driving Away Phantoms to Save the Innocent

The sky has already turned dark!

The village is bustling with noise, and the area in front of and behind the house where the incident occurred is packed tight with villagers.

The walls and trees are covered with children watching the excitement, chattering and playing, forming a stark contrast to the sorrowful atmosphere inside the house.

A series of startled screams rings out, "Sanya is biting people again, hurry and pry her teeth open."

"The iron sheet has been bent; what kind of human teeth are these? They are simply a wolf, a leopard, a tiger!"

"Ouch, a piece of flesh is missing from my left palm; she bit in and ate it."

The young girl who met with the incident goes by the nickname Sanya and is just over ten years old; she usually goes out to gather reeds to help supplement the family income.

Her parents are kneeling before the ancestral tablets, kowtowing desperately to beg for protection, trembling all over in terror.

Their daughter is possessed, throwing the entire village into chaos, and it is clear the situation is escalating.

There are even village elders who have spoken up, saying that if the madness spreads to others, they will tie Sanya up and send her to the village entrance fire pit to be burned in a fire.

The few sturdy men helping inside the house are all well-known in the village for their strong arms and physical strength, yet they are gradually unable to hold down the increasingly manic Sanya.

"Sanya is acting up again; even the rope used to tie the bull was snapped by her. Where does a little girl get such great strength?"

"It has been many years since I have seen such a formidable martial maniac."

The crowd lets out another exclamation, "Hurry and lend a few more arms, we can't hold her down."

A report comes from outside the house, "The Village Guardian is here, hurry and clear a path."

The local Village Guardian is a man of fifty, with a dark purple complexion, large hands, and lean bones wrapped in extremely developed meridians, as if he were draped in a fishing net.

He strides into the crowd, and the surrounding villagers are pushed aside as if by ocean waves, involuntarily giving way to both sides.

The Village Guardian spreads his arms like a door bolt and shouts, "Everyone move aside."

The few strong men whose faces are flushed red let go upon hearing this, and with a few thuds, they are flung 7 or 8 meters away.

The crazed young girl has blood vessels bulging all over her face, blood flowing from the corners of her mouth, and not a shred of clarity or spirit can be seen in her eyes.

She breaks free from her restraints with all four limbs, turns, and grabs the nearest woman, opening her mouth to bite.

The woman is broad and fat, and being lifted diagonally into the air, she begs for mercy incessantly, crying out for her mother and grandfather! The scene is just like a little girl holding a giant-sized Gourd of candied fruit!

Qi and blood surge on the Village Guardian's face, and he raises his fist to strike the girl's stomach; her small body is ejected like a cannonball, crashing and collapsing a mud wall.

What is terrifying is that despite such a violent collision, Sanya is not only unharmed but becomes even more manic and strong.

She roars, flips over a pile of dirt weighing several hundred catties, and springs more than ten meters with all four limbs, about to pounce on her prey to tear and bite.

The Village Guardian is quick-eyed and nimble-handed, pulling over a bundle of iron chains; these were left behind from when the village previously tied up a madman.

The iron chains clatter as they weave, and in a few moments, they bind the crazed girl into a bundle, with her hands and feet tucked against her chest.

"This madness is contagious and cannot be cured; carry her to the fire pit at the east entrance of the village and burn her to ashes."

The girl's parents weep loudly upon hearing this, and the surrounding villagers are all urging them to restrain their grief and hurry to have another child.

There are also villagers who have been bitten by the girl who are uneasy, asking if they will be infected.

The commotion lasts until the latter half of the night, when the girl is transported to the east entrance of the village and placed in a dried-up fish pond.

"Spare my life, I was just confused in my mind, but now I am better."

The girl seems to understand that her death is imminent, weeping and begging, reaching out toward her parents in the crowd.

"Father, Mother, save me, I don't want to die, the fire burns, it hurts!"

The childish voice carries a fear of death that makes it unbearable to listen to any longer.

Her parents, however, are held by the arms by the surrounding villagers, crying loudly and unable to say a word.

The Village Guardian's heart skips a beat; this is bad, the Void Phantom has almost occupied this physical body.

He sees at a glance that the girl's begging before him does not come from her own heart, but is a deceptive word manipulated by the Void Phantom.

"Burn, burn."

A large bucket of tung oil is poured around the girl, and the Village Guardian holds a torch, about to throw it into the oil-soaked ground.

Suddenly...

An aged voice rings out, "Wait, wait, don't be in such a hurry to burn."

Who is it?

The villagers turn their heads one after another and see an old man with white hair drifting toward them on the small path at the village entrance under the night sky.

This entrance is so elegant, he must be an expert! "What business does this gentleman have?"

The Village Guardian hands the torch to a villager beside him and bows to the old man with cupped hands.

Zhou You's current appearance is his second persona, Yan Ping, created by using some beard and white hair for makeup.

He chuckles and says, "Just passing by outside the village, I heard you are burning someone; what kind of fierce Plague is it?"

"Sir, it is not a Plague, it is a madness, a contagious madness."

The villagers explain in a jumble, "This illness came fiercely; a little girl of ten or so is crazier than a tiger and has bitten many people."

Zhou You touches his fake beard, mainly fearing it might fall off midway; he used very little fish glue because he is afraid it will hurt to tear it off.

He muses, "That's not right, madness is rarely contagious."

Hearing this, the Village Guardian knows the other party is an expert, not a quack.

He steps forward and pulls Zhou You to the side, "Sir, I will not hide it from you, this child is possessed, and medicine cannot save her."

"Possessed?"

The Village Guardian nods and bows in apology, "Sir, if it were an ordinary illness, I would not dare to trouble you, but this illness is dangerous, and if things go wrong, it could harm my family, please forgive me."

Having said this, he thinks he has persuaded Zhou You and reaches for the torch to continue the burning.

Unexpectedly, he hears the old man mutter, "Possessed? Could it be that she is possessed by a Void Phantom?" This sentence is like a thunderclap on dry land, shaking the Village Guardian's hand until it trembles, and he almost fails to hold it steady.

He is shocked in his heart and subconsciously asks the other party, "Do you have a way?"

He regrets it as soon as he asks; since ancient times, once a Void Phantom enters the body, it is a dead end, and no means can do anything about it.

Unless...

A Martial Saint in the human world!

A term appeared in the Village Guardian's mind.

The absolute pinnacle existence at the end of the Martial Dao, the supreme and strongest in the human world, possessing all sorts of means to turn the impossible into the possible.

Unless a Martial Saint were present, perhaps there might be a possibility of saving this poor little girl.

But could the elderly apothecary before him be the legendary Martial Saint? Of course not! Zhou You nodded, "This old man is just a foot soldier of the Golden Immortal Dao, I know a trick or two for Drive Away Charm, may I give it a try?"

Try, he must try; even if it's treating a dead horse as if it were alive, he must try! Although the Village Guardian had a hard heart, he was not a cruel person; if not for having no other choice, he would not have personally burned an innocent little girl to death.

It was truly because the Void Charm was too dangerous; if one were not careful, the entire village would be destroyed in an instant, so he had no choice but to do it.

Since there was a way, even if it were a straw to save a life, he had to try.

"Sir, please go ahead; even if you cannot cure her, we will have absolutely no complaints."

The Village Guardian glanced at Sanya, "In short, it is this child's bad luck."

In the fish pond, the pungent smell of tung oil lingered, and the little girl's gaze shifted uncertainly, scanning the faces of the many villagers around, as if wanting to memorize everyone's face.

Zhou You jumped into the fish pond; the soles of his feet were covered in air-dried silt, fine and soft, saturated with tung oil.

He arrived in front of the little girl and asked, "Will you crawl out yourself, or do you want me to do it?"

The Void Charm inside the little girl was stunned; he had not yet met such an arrogant living person.

She opened her mouth and roared, a foul, fishy breath rushing toward him, "Old thing, I want to rip out your intestines and chew them raw."

Upon hearing this, Zhou You did not get angry; he nodded. Since they couldn't reach an agreement, let's start training! He sized up the little girl's condition: her eyeballs were covered in dense blood vessels, and the muscles of her limbs were writhing and twisting.

It had been nearly a day since she was possessed by the Void Charm, and there was only one final step left before the Void Charm completed its "dove occupying the magpie's nest."

Once the Void Charm swallowed her skin and bones and completely occupied this body, there would no longer be a little girl named Sanya in this world.

The first person a Void Charm eats is often the target it possesses.

From now on, even if the face remained the same, it would no longer be the original owner under the human skin.

"Did you hear me?" Zhou You asked softly.

"Hear your grandmother's leg."

The Void Charm roared, foul, fishy saliva splashing everywhere, sizzling as it landed on the ground and corroded it.

"Talent: Hunger."

Zhou You stood with his back to the Village Guardian and the many villagers, opening his mouth to inhale toward the little girl.

Whoosh, whoosh—the night wind blew past the torch in Zhou Laiwei's hand, the flame flickering uncertainly toward Zhou You's direction.

The Void Charm still wanted to be arrogant, but suddenly, the ink-like night in front of him writhed, and a drooling, hungry tiger suddenly lunged out.

The tiger opened its bloody maw and bit down toward his head—*Crack! *

The little girl fainted on the spot, all her violence and cruelty vanishing without a trace, her thin body collapsing onto the ground like an emptied sack, soft and limp.

The Void Charm had been completely pulled out from her body and disappeared into Zhou You's mouth.

A sense of satiety welled up spontaneously.

Zhou You focused on the prompt on the panel:

"Trial Project (Three-Star Level): Use Talent: Hunger to eliminate a newly possessed charm entity—Completed, Experience Points +1200."

Done!

Since the panel confirmed that this Void Charm had been completely eliminated, the girl had been thoroughly saved.

Goal achieved, Experience Points obtained, time to leave!

On the dirt road surrounding the fish pond, the villagers gradually grew impatient, and noisy chatter began to rise.

The clash between Zhou You and the Void Charm was thrilling, but it all happened between the two of them; outsiders could not see anything.

Under the gaze of many, they only saw Zhou You with his back to them, seemingly busy with something.

Someone couldn't help but mutter, "What are they doing? Even a shaman dance would be better to watch than this."

Suddenly, an aged voice rang out, "Mission accomplished, the person has been saved."

The next moment, a figure flashed, turning into a white light that plunged into the vast night, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The Village Guardian's eyelids twitched; this apothecary was definitely an expert among experts, and this display of Lightness Skill left him far behind.

He took a few quick steps down into the fish pond and saw the unconscious Sanya, who had completely returned to the appearance of a little girl.

He still felt uneasy, channeling his Qi and blood to his fingertips to pinch the little girl's wrist pulse, checking her carefully and thoroughly.

The Qi and blood flowed through the little girl's body without obstruction; he sensed the weakness following the depletion, which was the aftereffect of the Void Charm's possession.

It was empty and hollow, unlike the chaotic, dangerous, and ominous aura that had filled her when the Void Charm was possessing her.

The Village Guardian withdrew his hand, still unable to believe his own judgment, "She is healed."

"For such great kindness, Sanya will repay you even if she has to work like an ox or a horse."

The little girl's parents wept with joy, hugging the unconscious girl and kowtowing toward the direction where Zhou You had disappeared.

By now, the lingering night had faded, and light descended upon the earth, illuminating all things with vitality.

Golden Immortal Dao...

The Village Guardian recalled the sect the old man claimed to be from, his heart filled with shock that would not subside for a long time! (End of chapter)