Ye Zhou and Lin Chubai saw the old man standing there like a statue from afar. Only a layer of skin tightly wrapped around his bones, his flesh and blood entirely gone, with his fingertips touching the runes on the stone.
The runes seemed restless, almost greedily devouring the human vital essence.
The older woman ran over like a madwoman: “Father! No!”
But it was already too late. The greedy runes, like a gluttonous monster after a full feast, glowed with a faint red light, and the old man’s previously upright body dropped to the ground like a cloth doll.
Suddenly, the bloody water on the ground floated upward, instantly flying toward the center of the village like bullets, striking them before they could react.
Lin Chubai hurriedly pulled Ye Zhou to roll behind a nearby stone, but stray blood droplets still sliced open their skin, drawing blood that they could not tell was theirs or not.
The two looked out from along the stone and saw the older woman kneeling on the ground, tightly cradling the old man’s corpse in her arms while muttering incoherently to herself.
Meanwhile, those blood droplets actively avoided them, causing not the slightest bit of harm. Some even landed right beside them, blossoming into blood-red roses.
A hoarse and shrill roar came from behind, and a massive shadow enveloped them. Turning around, they saw the blood from the center of the village converging into a chaotic entity more than ten meters tall.
The blood flowed continuously, gradually outlining distorted facial features and slender limbs. One could vaguely tell from the mounds on its chest that it was a woman.
That name surfaced in Lin Chubai’s mind once again. Dianxiang. And these facial features looked somewhat familiar.
Dianxiang raised her hand and waved it, and the houses in front of her suddenly collapsed. As she took a step forward, the roof tiles fallen on the ground instantly turned into fine powder. Thunder and lightning flashed behind her, the blinding white electric light making her already distorted face look even more terrifying.
The pattering bloody water wetted the crows circling in the air, and the tainted crows flew toward the windows of every household like they were possessed.
“I’m sorry. Ahhhhh.” Those who failed to retreat back home in time, and those who failed to reinforce their windows with wooden planks, were dragged forcefully into the air one by one by the crows.
More crows gathered together, tearing apart and feeding on the person in the air.
Lin Chubai had just punched away a crow flying straight toward him to gouge out his eyes, when several more crows tried to peck at the back of his head, only to be slapped away by Ye Zhou with a sweep of his arm, crashing straight into a tree.
Yet these crows were like vines growing out of hell, refusing to give up until they sucked away their bones and marrow, instead gathering in ever-greater numbers.
“Careful! Behind you!” Lin Chubai turned his head just in time to see a crow flashing toward Ye Zhou from behind at extreme speed, instantly lunging in his direction.
Ye Zhou’s gaze shifted slightly as he watched Lin Chubai’s movement, and he summoned his wings once more. In an instant, the fierce wind whipped up by his wings blew the crow away like a piece of paper, and he scooped up Lin Chubai, flying toward the center of the village.
This was already the last opportunity Ye Zhou had to use his wings today. That is right, his wings could only be used three times a day, and each time could not exceed 10 minutes.
The ground emitted bursts of strange sounds, as if screaming, applauding, and reveling in this revenge delayed by thirty years.
The two flying in the air clearly saw that the layout of the houses in the center of the village formed a Bagua formation, and Dianxiang was standing right in the center, causing their hearts to sink heavily.
“Dong, dong dong, dong.” The sound of drums came from the eight sides of the formation, forcefully suppressing Dianxiang’s shrill screams.
A man dressed in a long robe stood before the formation. Looking closely, it was the village chief!
He opened his mouth and was speaking at a rapid pace. Tendrils of black-and-red smoke emerged from his lips, covering the interior of the formation.
Rhythmic flute music came from behind the village chief, and a group of dazed villagers walked forward carrying various odd-shaped ritual instruments, tightly surrounding the edge of the formation.
Dianxiang seemed to realize something. With sharp fingernails extended, she lifted her foot intending to take the village chief’s head, but for some reason, Dianxiang could not move even half a step, and her fingernails could not pierce through the formation.
As the formation was covered by the black-and-red smoke, the earth trembled even more violently. Four horned serpents drilled out from beneath the ground, binding Dianxiang’s four limbs without a word, with a faint trend of dragging her down.
The village chief sped up his chanting once more, and the smoke was on the verge of covering the entire formation. Once the formation was completely blanketed, this scene resembling a hellish painting would vanish.
Dianxiang twisted her limbs in a frantic struggle, but she seemed unable to break free from the binding of the horned serpents, lifting her head to roar an even more miserable lament while emitting a faint golden light.
Lin Chubai saw in the air that within those eyes full of blood and tears, a sea of deep hatred and misery that could not be washed away for thirty years seemed to surge.
It made him recall Dianxiang’s past once again. Clearly, she shouldn’t have ended up like this. She shouldn’t have.
Thinking of this, a flash of determination flickered in Lin Chubai’s gaze, and then he shot a cold glance toward the village chief.
Having just recovered, Lin Chubai gently patted Ye Zhou’s shoulder: “Put me down.”
Ye Zhou understood tacitly, calculating that his skill duration was almost up, and immediately flew downward.
The sound of the breaking-dawn wind rushed into the ears of everyone present, and the wings sliced through beads of blood. The low murmur of spell-chanting stopped abruptly, replaced by the heavy sound of bones colliding with the ground.
Taking advantage of the momentum of the descent, Ye Zhou used a single wing to knock the village chief down, then grabbed Lin Chubai’s hand and began to sprint wildly.
The moment the village chief fell, the black fog over the formation quietly vanished along with the cessation of the chanting, and the horned serpents returned beneath the earth.
However, before they could run far, a massive shockwave swept across the area, and the two were instantly blown away.
The village chief had a hard time as well. Before he could even climb back up, he was sent rolling several more times, and an old wooden box tumbled out from beneath his all-encompassing long robe.
Lin Chubai’s gaze trembled, and he sprang up violently from the ground, racing toward the box.
The village chief’s reaction was also swift. He hurriedly stood up and lunged forward, the facial features on his face beginning to twist.
“Squelch.” The sound of sharp claws piercing through flesh and blood echoed, and the village chief was stabbed straight through from behind.
Black blood burst open like a disgusting lotus seed pod, and the gushing black blood splattered all over Lin Chubai’s face just as he grabbed the box.
In an instant, Lin Chubai acted as if he were possessed by an evil spirit, his once-clear eyes gradually replaced by a thick black fog.
In a trance, he seemed to see many sorrowful memories.
The southern plum rain season carried its characteristic dampness, intertwining with garbage bins that had not been cleaned out for a long time, breeding dark green flies.
A woven bag about half a person’s height was casually discarded inside the garbage bin. Faintly, low weeping sounds could be sensed coming from inside, but the weeping did not last long before a sharp utility knife slashed open the woven bag.
An emaciated boy crawled out from inside, raised a hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of his eyes, and turned to plunge back into the garbage bin, searching frantically for something.
It felt as though a long time had passed, or perhaps just a few seconds. The small garbage bin finally revealed what the boy wanted to find. He carefully pulled another small woven bag out from the pile of garbage, gently slicing it open as if terrified of harming the contents inside.
At the moment the black blood burst open, Ye Zhou instinctively rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the disgusting substance.
Yet before he even had time to pull Lin Chubai back, he watched with his own eyes as Lin Chubai collapsed straight to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut, causing his heart to skip a beat.
He hurriedly got up, reached out to hoist the prone Lin Chubai onto his shoulder, and ran back, not forgetting to take that damn box with him.
He saw that Lin Chubai on his shoulder seemed to have lost his soul, his gaze hollow and empty, gradually turning blood-red with wind at the soles of his feet.
Yet for some reason, the person on his shoulder was trembling slightly. Looking down, he saw the corners of Lin Chubai’s eyes tinged with a slight red flush, layers of moisture covering his eye sockets, while his hands tightly grasped his lapels.