Even if he were the bravest person, goosebumps instantly covered his entire body. A shiver ran down his spine as he retreated in panic, heart pounding with fear.
However, both he and the uncle retained a shred of rationality, not completely overwhelmed by terror. When the aunt, in a daze, walked toward the corpse, muttering incessantly, “Old Zhao, my Xiaoran, he… he isn’t dead…,” the two of them simultaneously grabbed her tightly.
“You can’t go over there, aunt! It’s dangerous!”
“My child! Old Zhao, that’s our child! He isn’t dead, he isn’t dead! Have you gone mad? Are you just going to abandon him?”
Grief-stricken by the loss of her son, the aunt had completely lost her senses. Her strength was immense, and Cheng Jun and the uncle struggled to hold her back. She fought desperately, biting and clawing, charging forward as if her life depended on it. The uncle slapped her, shouting, “You’re the one who’s gone mad! Xiaoran is already dead! Do you want to die too?”
Cheng Jun and the uncle pulled the aunt back urgently.
“Could it really be corpse transformation?” Cheng Jun asked.
The uncle furrowed his brow, his expression complex. “Probably not…”
“Then what is it?”
Before the uncle could answer, at that moment—pop, pop, pop—the three violently trembling corpses burst open simultaneously in multiple places. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—swarms of white flying lice, shaped like moths, surged out in a chaotic tide.
A series of bell-like ringing sounds echoed incessantly in the air.
“Ah! This? It’s just like 15 years ago… Flying Louse-White Moths…” Even the white-haired elder, who had seen the most in his life, suddenly turned pale, his lips trembling, his body shaking. Panic-stricken, he nearly lost his footing, gasping for breath, “Quick, quick, quick, or it’ll be too late…”
But everyone thought it was a sudden case of “corpse transformation.” The entire scene had already descended into chaos. Villagers fled in all directions, screaming and shouting. No one dared to approach.
Throughout the entire village, pigs, dogs, chickens, and ducks ran wild, scurrying and shrieking madly. Even the birds in the forest fled in flocks through the sky, a dark, oppressive mass. Dozens of startled birds plummeted to the ground as if a torrential rain had fallen.
The gray-haired woman acted again. In her hand, a ball of flames swiftly shot out like a fiery serpent, instantly igniting the oil-soaked dry firewood.
The firewood abruptly erupted into towering flames. The three corpses also caught fire simultaneously, emitting crackling and popping sounds as they burned. The air filled with the foul, unbearable stench of charred flesh.
Many of the flying lice were incinerated in mid-air by the blazing firewood and the fiery serpent-like flames unleashed by the woman. Some of the white moths that escaped flew toward the crowd but were suddenly pierced one by one by a drizzle-like shower of bamboo leaves. Several gusts of fierce wind swept through, stirring up dust everywhere.
Terrified and ashen-faced, the crowd realized that if the gray-haired woman hadn’t acted in time, and if someone hadn’t later sent forth the drizzle-like bamboo leaves, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Now, everyone feared for their own safety, desperately fleeing for their lives. Amidst the chaos and panic, with chickens flying and dogs leaping, no one knew who had intervened afterward.
Both Cheng Jun and the uncle were astonished. If the gray-haired woman was called a witch doctor and had some unusual methods, that was one thing. But the person who acted later, with just a few gusts of fierce wind, had made each fluttering bamboo leaf as sharp as a blade, instantly wiping out swarms of flying lice. Such a scene had only been seen in movies or television.
“How profound must that level of power be?” Cheng Jun looked around but, aside from ordinary villagers, found no particularly unusual person present. “Could it be that this person was launching bamboo from a hundred paces away?”
At this thought, Cheng Jun gasped in shock. The events of today far exceeded anything he had ever witnessed.
Pop, pop, pop—the three burning corpses exploded completely. A torrent of white moths surged out like a rainstorm, wave after wave, forming a dense, foggy white mass resembling swarms of bees. Neither dry wood nor fierce flames could fully incinerate them. The air filled with a foul stench and white dust that scattered like flying sand.
The first wave was burned to death, but even more white moths escaped afterward. As they fluttered, layers of white dust scattered with them, spreading through the air like misty waves and frosty fog, sweeping toward the crowd.
Three people were enveloped in the dust, instantly bleeding from all seven orifices before collapsing dead on the ground!
Witnessing such a terrifying scene firsthand, all the villagers were frightened out of their wits, screaming and fleeing in panic.
The white-haired old man and the woman wore extremely grave expressions. “Ah! This is bad—these are the adult forms of the flying lice, the Frostwing Moths!”
As she spoke, the gray-haired woman let out a sharp cry and suddenly flung her dark black hemp garment forward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—a sudden gust of eerie wind arose. A dark shadow swept past, startling Cheng Jun and the villagers. Who could have imagined that, in the blink of an eye, the gray-haired woman would float mid-air like a ghost, swiftly forming several hand seals while chanting incantations under her breath.
Simultaneously, the black hemp garment she had thrown expanded infinitely, sweeping through like the shroud of death, flapping loudly in the eerie wind. Layers of strange, misty black light spread like ink, enveloping everything like boundless leaden clouds.
Dark mist filled the sky, and dust flew everywhere. For a moment, Cheng Jun could barely keep his eyes open, only vaguely seeing that nearly all the Frostwing Moths were being drawn into the black hemp garment.
The black hemp garment abruptly contracted, forming a massive cloud-like mass. From within the cloud came violent sounds—bang, bang, crunch, crunch—as if countless insects were fiercely colliding and devouring each other, sending shivers down everyone’s spines.
Terrified beyond measure, fleeing birds in the sky fell like rain, while several village dogs barked in panic, spitting blood before crashing headfirst into electric poles and dying.
“How could this be?” Cheng Jun shielded his eyes from the flying dust, peeking through his fingers at the scene, and stared in shock at the uncle. “What on earth is the origin of this witch doctor auntie?”
The uncle also wore a look of bewilderment. “Aside from the Elder, probably no one in the village can explain it!”
“Oh?”
Just as Cheng Jun was puzzling over this, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—suddenly, several streaks of green light flashed by. A few bamboo leaves sliced through the air like sharp blades, aiming directly at the hemp garment.
The gray-haired woman continued forming hand seals, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead, clearly having expended a great deal of inner energy.
When the bamboo leaves flew toward her, her expression turned grave, and a cold gleam flashed in her eyes. She spat out several streaks of fresh blood, pointing and tracing in the air. The garment suddenly erupted with a blinding black light, and the bamboo leaves shattered instantly, unable to advance even an inch closer.
Bang, bang, bang—but the moment the bamboo leaves shattered, three holes were torn open in the dark hemp garment. Three white moths, each as large as bats, abruptly burst out, their white afterimages slicing through the void in an instant.
“Instant growth?” Cheng Jun’s jaw dropped. “How sinister!”
Everyone fled in panic, but wherever the grown white moths passed, a layer of frost-like powder swept across.
Several people were unable to dodge in time, their bodies stained with bloody powder. Immediately, their faces turned pale, their lips darkened to a purplish black, their eyes widened like bronze bells, and their entire bodies convulsed. They soon bled from all seven orifices and died; quickly, corpse fluids spread, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into white bones.
Seeing such a terrifying scene, both Cheng Jun and the uncle turned ashen-faced.
At the same time the dark hemp cloth was torn open, the gray-haired woman was also suddenly struck, violently coughing up several mouthfuls of stagnant blood. As she fell from mid-air, she flicked her fingers, igniting the dozen or so white corpses; with her other hand, she clawed at the void, and the dark hemp cloth suddenly howled with a gust of black wind, dispersing the **** scattered by the white moths.
The witch doctor Huang Si Po, exhausted, fell to the ground. Pale-faced and disheveled, she retracted the hemp cloth, saying, “Elder, I… I… I have done my best…”
“Huang Gu…” The white-haired old man and the last person beside him helped the woman up.
“Give… give… give these pills to everyone…” Huang Si Po’s breath was weak. She pulled out a medicine pouch from her waist and fainted.
Zzzzzz… At that moment, the three white moths emitted a sharp, cicada-like cry, wailing mournfully.
Cheng Jun and the uncle looked over simultaneously and saw three golden needles, brimming with killing intent, flying from an unknown direction, swiftly piercing toward the white moths. The moths panicked and fled in terror.
The gray-haired woman, as if suddenly resurrected, abruptly opened her eyes, furrowed her brows tightly, and with great difficulty recited an incantation. Following this, the three white moths violently tore into each other, and finally, one moth overpowered and devoured the other two. Its speed surged, and with a flutter, it vanished in an instant.
Seeing the white moth fly away, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just as they were about to take the pills, a strange, twisted sound wave swept through, shaking the pills from their hands. Out of nowhere, several strands of white hair drifted through the air, as pure and ethereal as silk.
“You were born before me, I was born after you grew old. You regret my late birth, I regret your early birth…” A faint, sorrowful voice echoed in the air. “Black Robe, oh Black Robe, I have waited for you for so long…”
“Ahhh, it’s someone from Savage Mountain…” The witch doctor showed immense terror, painfully uttering these words.
“What? Someone from Savage Mountain?” The uncle and the villagers instantly turned pale, all staring at Huang Si Po. But the woman gasped for breath and, once again exhausted, fell into a deep faint.