In the car.
Lin Wanrong called her husband.
“Our daughter is at the hospital. Come quickly.”
When the paternity test results came out, Lin Wanrong had already called to tell him.
Though shocked, they had still raised her all these years.
The two didn’t hesitate much before deciding.
After all, their family wasn’t short of money—raising one more child wouldn’t be a problem.
Now, hearing news of their biological daughter, Father Shen immediately put aside his work and rushed over.
The two met in the hospital lobby.
“Excuse me, was a little girl with two buns in her hair brought in today? She was with a white cat and a white fox.”
Lin Wanrong hurried to the emergency room, her voice trembling.
The nurse thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. No, and pets aren’t allowed in the hospital anyway.”
Lin Wanrong nearly lost her balance.
“Then were there any injured people brought in by police cars?”
The nurse nodded.
“Yes. May I ask who you are to them?”
Father Shen spoke up: “We’re family. Can you take us to see them?”
“Follow me.”
Of course.
They met the waitress, but Xiao Tuanzi was nowhere to be found.
And at that moment, Xiao Tuanzi…
…was at an abandoned slaughterhouse.
Back then, due to funding issues, the place had been shut down very abruptly.
So no one had bothered to clean it up.
The wind carried the stale scent of blood, mixed with a faint odor of decay.
【It smells awful in there.】 Lingfeng covered his nose.
Xiaobai also lowered his body, his fur slightly bristling.
【It’s not just the smell. Something is watching us.】
Zhengyin took a string of prayer beads from his sleeve, his fingers moving swiftly as he chanted softly.
As he recited, a faint golden light enveloped the group.
“A Blood-Fiend Array has been set up inside to nourish something evil.”
He opened his eyes: “Little Benefactor, wait here. I’ll be back soon.”
Xiao Tuanzi shook her head.
If Eldest Senior Brother came later, he’d just destroy it with one sword strike—she had to go in and play first.
She pulled out a Yellow Talisman from her bundle and clenched the sandalwood prayer beads Zhengyin had given her in her palm.
Seeing her insistence, Zhengyin said nothing more.
He pushed open the slaughterhouse’s iron door.
It was broad daylight, and light from the windows illuminated the ground.
Piles of animal bones lay heaped like mountains.
From a corner came the sound of dripping water.
“Is anyone home?” Xiao Tuanzi hopped in, splashing through the water.
She called out, but naturally, there was no response.
Zhengyin signaled for her to be quiet.
He himself walked forward slowly, the prayer beads turning in his hand as runes appeared.
When he reached the center of the space, he stopped.
“There’s something here.”
Xiao Qingxuan moved closer to look.
On the ground, drawn in blood, was a sinister array.
In the center of the array stood seven clay jars, each containing a black feather and emanating dense Blood-Fiend Qi.
“This is the ‘Seven Fiends Soul-Locking Array.’”
Zhengyin explained to Xiao Tuanzi.
“It uses the souls of seven wrongful deaths to feed the Blood Fiend. Once the array is complete, the Blood Fiend can be commanded to do as it pleases.”
As soon as he finished speaking…
…the seven clay jars suddenly began shaking violently, black smoke billowing from their openings.
The smoke coalesced in the air into seven blurry human figures, emitting piercing shrieks as they lunged toward the two!
“Watch out!” Zhengyin shielded Xiao Qingxuan behind him.
The prayer beads in his hand shot out, transforming into a beam of golden light mid-air that repelled the shadowy figures.
Xiao Qingxuan didn’t hesitate either. She pinched a talisman and flung it out, immobilizing one of the shadows.
Xiaobai had transformed into a white tiger and bit down with a single snap.
The black shadow let out a miserable scream before dissipating into the air.
At that moment, a chilling laughter echoed from the roof of the slaughterhouse.
“I never expected someone to deliver themselves right to my doorstep. Such fine cultivation—it would be a shame not to refine you into a Blood Fiend.”
Looking up toward the sound, they saw a man in black robes standing on the roof beam.
He wore a bronze mask on his face and held a bone flute in his hand, gazing at them with an eerie intensity.
【These are his creations.】 Lingfeng bristled toward the man.
Zhengyin’s eyes turned cold. “May I ask your name, sir?”
The black-robed man chuckled softly and blew lightly on his bone flute.
New black shadows emerged from the jars.
More frenzied than before, they lunged recklessly toward the two.
“You’ll know once you become my Blood Fiends.”
Xiao Qingxuan recalled the fierce ghosts from the foot of the mountain.
He was the one who captured them.
She said to Zhengyin, “Great Monk, he has killed many people.”
Zhengyin nodded.
“Amitabha. All beings possess spirits—how innocent they were. Why did you harm them?”
The black-robed man seemed to have heard a joke.
“Innocent? How many truly innocent people exist in this world? It’s merely the strong preying on the weak.”
He blew on his bone flute again.
Thick Blood Fiends rose from the center of the formation, coalescing into a massive ghostly claw that lunged toward Xiao Qingxuan.
“Little child.”
Zhengyin shouted and rushed forward, extending his hand to block the ghostly claw.
This man was clever—targeting the seemingly weak first, dismantling them one by one.
Unfortunately for him, he had miscalculated.
Xiao Tuanzi formed hand seals.
“Five Thunders, Five Thunders, swiftly gather at Huangning… Hear the call and arrive at once, unleash the yang voice, swiftly as the law commands!”
A bolt of heavenly thunder instantly descended.
Zhengyin watched as the ghostly claw before him was instantly blasted away.
He turned his head in astonishment.
Five Thunders Incantation?
This child… isn’t she from the Beast Taming Sect?
There was no time to ponder further, as several more ghostly claws gathered on the opposite side.
It seemed this time, the man was going all out.
Zhengyin considered the child’s abilities.
He sat down cross-legged, took out his ritual implement, and began chanting.
The white tiger hurried over, ready to pounce and bite.
Just as the ghostly claws were about to strike, they all retracted.
“Great Monk, you’re this powerful?”
Zhengyin ignored her, focusing intently on his chanting.
Xiao Tuanzi watched as, after a while, the ghostly claws began to advance again.
“Great Monk, how long will you chant?”
Zhengyin spared a moment to reply.
“Three days and three nights will suffice to liberate them all.”
Xiao Qingxuan was stunned.
“Are you… trying to annoy them into killing themselves?”
Immediately, she bit her fingertip.
She smeared the blood on the bronze dagger Eldest Senior Brother had given her.
The dagger, stained with blood, began to glow.
Xiao Qingxuan charged straight toward the formation’s core.
The black-robed man hurriedly exclaimed, “Not good!”
The bone flute spun in his hand, and all the ghostly shadows on the field turned toward Xiao Qingxuan.
Zhengyin, quick-eyed and swift-handed, released his prayer beads.
Instantly, they wove into a golden light net behind Xiao Qingxuan.
The black shadows crashed into the net, emitting piercing screams, and three of them dissipated instantly.
“Little child, do not ruin my plans.”
The black-robed man descended swiftly, his bone flute aimed directly at Shen Qingxuan’s face.
The flute was carved with eerie runes, which now seeped with dark red droplets of blood.
But Xiao Qingxuan neither dodged nor flinched, gripping the bronze dagger tightly.
Spotting the seven clay jars at the formation’s core, she ducked low and slipped right under the black-robed man’s arm.
“Xiaobai, bite him,” she called without looking back.
Xiaobai, unable to hold back any longer, lunged fiercely at the black-robed man’s hind leg.
Sharp tiger claws tore through the black robe, revealing a patch of skin covered in talismans.
The black-robed man cried out in pain, turning around to kick the white tiger away.
The bone flute sounded once more, and the remaining four shadowy figures converged into a single mass.
They transformed into a massive ghostly hand, slamming fiercely toward Xiao Qingxuan.
“Five Thunders Righteous Law, vanquish evil!”
Shen Qingxuan stood at the center of the formation, plunging his dagger into the ground as thunder roared in response.
This time, the thunderclap was fiercer than before, with purple-blue lightning coiling around the dagger. The seven clay jars were instantly shattered to pieces.
The black feathers inside the jars ignited with green flames, and the souls within revealed human forms in the firelight.
Some old, some young, all wore expressions of agony.
They then transformed into specks of white light, dissipating into the air.
“My Blood Fiends!”
The black-robed man’s eyes widened in fury, his face beneath the mask contorted with rage. “I’ll make you pay with your life!”