Chapter 31: It Was You!

Wu Chang asked, "What do you mean?"

Liu Shan gazed into the distance, recalling:

"Two and a half years ago, a monk passed through the village. His skin was as black as charcoal, his nose flattened like a garlic bulb, his lips thick as sheep's intestines, his hair naturally coiled into a knot like the topknot of a Buddha statue. He stayed in the village for three days, claiming he had a method to eradicate evil spirits."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. Oh, so this instance was an international server—brought in a foreign monk.

"So the foreign monk really could chant sutras? You let him try just because he said so?"

"Everyone says strange appearances mean extraordinary abilities. That black monk was full of strange appearances, and he was also skilled in combat—we figured he must be no ordinary man, so we let him try."

Liu Shan regretted, "Many others had come before trying to subdue the evil spirit, but if they failed, they failed—no harm came of it. Yet that black monk held up a wooden cross with a small doll nailed to it, walked alone into the mountains, and that very night, the mountain shook violently."

"Not only did he fail to expel the evil spirit, he also drew out a rampaging mountain goblin that chased the black monk all the way here—and in front of everyone at the village edge, he snapped the monk's cross talisman and beat him to death."

Wu Chang sneered, "That's what happens when you overreach."

The cause of the instance pollution was found: Old Black, trying to complete his quest, attempted to eliminate the sealed boss evil spirit—but his actions were too drastic, drawing out other demons from the mountain.

Not only did he loosen the seal on the boss evil spirit, but his death also caused Baili Huaishan to be polluted by players, leading the instance to spiral out of control, gradually becoming what it is today.

Liu Shan continued, "Since then, the evil spirit has slipped out of control. Many mystics have come to exorcise it, but all ended in failure—even a few were corrupted by the evil spirit, went berserk, and killed several villagers."

"Until a year ago, a scholar passed through and helped us improve the Ex-Sui Ritual, restoring our control over the evil spirit."

"The scholar said the Ex-Sui Ritual must be performed at year's end, during the transition between old and new, for maximum effectiveness. But with demons emerging more frequently from the mountain, even the improved Ex-Sui Ritual struggles to hold. A month still remains until the scholar's prescribed date, yet the evil spirit has already begun targeting villagers repeatedly."

Wu Chang found this entirely normal: over the past year, the instance pollution level had risen sharply, so the difficulty naturally escalated, heading straight for B-rank.

Can a C-rank seal contain a B-rank boss? The logic is simple—but to make Liu Shan understand, Wu Chang had to translate it into terms the local world could grasp.

"With spiritual energy returning and the world undergoing great change, demons grow stronger under its nourishment. Binding today's demons with yesterday's methods naturally fails to hold."

Liu Shan suddenly understood: "So that's why. I feared repeating the black monk's fate, so I dared not disobey the scholar's instructions. But just now, the big hero saw Liu Wei—he believes we can't wait any longer and has been pushing me to perform the Ex-Sui Ritual early."

"Given what the big hero just said, is performing the Ex-Sui Ritual early not impossible?"

Wu Chang spoke slowly: "Subduing demons and expelling evils requires adaptability. I believe performing the Ex-Sui Ritual early is feasible."

Hearing Wu Chang's words, Liu Shan felt the heavy stone lift from his chest and immediately said, "Then I'll inform everyone tomorrow and discuss moving the Ex-Sui Ritual forward."

As Liu Shan was about to leave, Wu Chang suddenly remembered something and asked, "Ghosts and demons formed after tomorrow often have origins—do you, village chief, know what originally gave rise to the mountain's evil spirit?"

Liu Shan frowned and shook his head. "I've never heard. Liu Wei is the village's best hunter—he knows the mountain best. He might know something."

After Liu Shan left, Wu Chang lay on his bed, pondering his next move.

The Moonlight Sanatorium, his only previously experienced instance, had deeply affected him—especially its hidden time limit, which still haunted him.

His quest was only to attend the Ex-Sui Ritual; what happened afterward in the village was not his concern.

Time waits for no one; delay invites change.

The villagers aren't ready—and neither is the instance boss.

Another key reason supporting an early Ex-Sui Ritual came from the Moonlight Sanatorium: the First Law of the Occult.

The more people believe in its existence, the stronger its power becomes.

From Liu Shan's description, it was clear the evil spirit's original power was weak—before being bound by the Ex-Sui Ritual, it only made children and the elderly sick, targeting mostly these groups.

Yet now, even when suppressed by the Ex-Sui Ritual, it can still rob adult villagers of their souls.

The vast gap between then and now cannot be explained solely by instance pollution.

The villagers' long-standing fear of the evil spirit has only strengthened it further.

In the month before the Ex-Sui Ritual, as the seal weakens, fear peaks—every day delayed grants the evil spirit more power. From every angle, the Ex-Sui Ritual must be held early.

Wu Chang exhaled a long, foul breath and closed his eyes.

Without energy, activating the Purifying Soul Banner had drained him greatly—he needed sleep or the Chiyuan Sect's meditation method to recover.

Following the Chiyuan Sect's method, he closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and tried to peel his spirit from his body, sensing the spiritual energy drifting in the air, using it to nourish his spirit and replenish his loss.

With his high spiritual sensitivity, his insight was exceptional—he quickly entered a meditative state.

In a daze, his spirit left his body, rising higher, taking on the flavor of soul departure.

But lacking orthodox Daoist methods, he could not control his out-of-body spirit—he remained in a half-dream, half-awake state, letting his soul drift according to his intuition.

His soul drifted aimlessly; passing a patch of forest, he heard voices below.

"Big brother, this kid's different from the useless fools who came before—he's got real skill. Should we strike?"

"Not yet. Let him live until after the Ex-Sui Ritual."

"I'm worried he'll run off halfway…"

"You're too impulsive. He's so arrogant about his sect and abilities—he won't flee even if he fights the evil spirit to a draw. You're too impulsive, especially today's incident. Don't do it again."

"Understood."

Huh? Someone seems to be plotting against him.

The voices sounded familiar—but in his half-dream state, Wu Chang couldn't make them out clearly.

He tried to focus his spirit to look down—but over-concentrated, and under the effect of his Will stat, he snapped awake from meditation.

When he tried re-entering the out-of-body state, the conspirators were gone—nowhere to be found.

Who was that speaker? "Who was that speaker?"

"Big Hero Wu, you said my Stone's condition is serious?" asked a middle-aged female villager anxiously.

Wu Chang shook his head. "I was just thinking about something else—don't worry. Your child's soul is unstable, and he caught a cold. I've stabilized his soul—take him to a Physician for normal treatment."

No wonder many villagers supported moving the Ex-Sui Ritual forward—these days, many villagers had been possessed. Learning Wu Chang had real ability, they all came to him.

In just one morning, he treated seven patients—the longest possessed had been two months.

But none among them were as severe as Liu Ning, and none had shown the red fleshy ball of resentment during treatment.

Yet what concerned him now wasn't whether the evil spirit had broken free, but the voices he'd heard during his soul departure last night—who were they?

In his half-dream state, he hadn't heard them clearly, and those fragmented words were already blurring with time.

Had he not kept recalling them, he might have forgotten them entirely.

Fine, I'll let those two off this time. He's now on his guard, but there'll be plenty of chances to drag them out later.

After seeing off the villagers, before he could even catch his breath, Village Chief Liu Shan came knocking.

"Hero Wu, are you free now? Liu Wei and the others will be here shortly — they want to discuss with you the matter of moving the New Year's Eve Ritual forward."

"No problem."

As he spoke, Liu Wei arrived with several of the village's more respected villagers and greeted him: "Hero Wu, did you rest well yesterday?"

Hearing Liu Wei speak, Wu Chang clapped his hands with a *smack* and said joyfully:

"So it was you!"

(End of chapter)