The eerie sound of a cat's meow cut through the stillness, making the atmosphere even more unsettling. After all, where could a cat come from in the middle of this desolate wilderness? The moment Wu Luo heard the sound, his body trembled slightly, and he muttered in a low voice, "Not good, both of them are in trouble…"
Before he could finish, both the corpse herder and the soul tamer shouted simultaneously, "Who released the cat?"
"Oh no, my corpse spirits…" the corpse herder cried out in alarm, followed by the rapid and chaotic sound of "thud-thud-thud," which clearly came from the hopping of startled corpses.
"Damn it, my ghost escorts! Hey... you little brat, stop right there!"
The forest erupted into a cacophony of chaos. We couldn't resist our curiosity and craned our necks to peek out. All we saw were dark shadows flitting through the forest. It was hard to make out the details. I desperately wanted to catch a glimpse of what the controlled corpses looked like or how the spirits in the ghost escorts were being transported. Were they sealed inside something, or were they roaming freely?
"Meow…" The cat cried again, as if adding fuel to the fire, and the noise in the woods escalated further.
"Damn it, the corpse spirits have been startled. Who the hell released a cat spirit? I'll castrate whoever's responsible!" the corpse herder cursed furiously.
"It's all your fault! Now two of my ghost escorts have escaped... Wait, they seem to have fled toward the deserted village!" the soul tamer shouted in frustration.
The two men shouted back and forth, their voices echoing through the pitch-black woods. In the beam of a flashlight, we finally saw three corpses, each with a yellow talisman stuck to its forehead. Their faces were pale green, with lifeless fish-like eyes, and they hopped rapidly downhill. Meanwhile, faint black shadows flitted past us, vanishing into the direction of the desolate village.
I couldn't help but gape in shock. So this was what corpse herding looked like—terrifying and surreal. The ghost escorts, on the other hand, were far more erratic than I'd imagined. Unlike the spirit contained by Wu Fenglong back then, these spirits seemed unsealed, free to scatter and wreak havoc.
Wu Luo nudged me urgently. "Quick, lend me a sealing talisman! I need to deal with the cat spirit before it causes even more trouble!"
"Oh!" I stammered, pinching my nose with one hand while fishing out a sealing talisman with the other. Wu Luo grabbed it, and without wasting a second, darted toward the campsite.
"Who's there?" both the corpse herder and the soul tamer shouted angrily.
"I'm here to deal with the cat spirit for you! Go chase after your 'business'!" Wu Luo retorted while performing a sword gesture with his left hand and brandishing the talisman with his right, heading toward a clump of bushes.
"You bastard! Are you the one who released the cat spirit? I'll kill you!" the soul tamer snapped, mistaking Wu Luo's actions for sabotage. Judging by his tone, it seemed he knew the corpse herder.
"Big Mouth Rong, I can't deal with this now—I have to chase my corpse spirits!" the corpse herder replied hastily. Flashlight in hand, he sprinted downhill after the corpses. Soon, his light disappeared into the woods, occasionally flickering against the sky.
Darkness engulfed us once again, but Liu Ying turned on a headlamp, illuminating the scene. The soul tamer, whom Wu Luo had referred to as "Little Rolling Knife," was now grappling with him on the ground, the two of them rolling in the grass. Liu Ying ran over, kicked Little Rolling Knife hard in the ribs, and forced him to let go of Wu Luo. The soul tamer cried out in pain, clutching his ribs.
"You wild girl, are you trying to kill me?!" The guy, who looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, dressed in a traditional Tang suit, certainly had the air of a wandering vagabond.
Liu Ying was fuming. Without a word, she delivered another powerful kick—this time to his crotch. He immediately stopped cursing, curling up on the ground and writhing in agony. It was clear she hadn't held back. Watching her swift and ruthless moves, I couldn't help but stick out my tongue. Thank goodness I hadn't offended her. Otherwise, I'd have a pretty high chance of becoming a eunuch myself.
Wu Luo, catching his breath, told her, "Forget about him. The cat spirit has already escaped, and I need to help the corpse herder retrieve his bodies in the village!" With that, he snatched the headlamp from Liu Ying and dashed downhill like a leopard, disappearing in an instant.
Only now did Xie Chen dust off his clothes, stand up, and stroll out of hiding. I followed him to Liu Ying's side. Looking down at the writhing Little Rolling Knife, Xie Chen sneered, "Serves you right, ungrateful fool! You deserved that beating."
I couldn't bear to watch this anymore. The guy was already in this sorry state—wasn't it time to cut him some slack? Liu Ying stepped in and stopped Xie Chen. "Enough, let's not waste time with him. We should head to the village to check things out!"
Xie Chen's facial muscles twitched as he bent down and rubbed his ankle. Liu Ying's earlier block had clearly caused him some pain. But he didn't dare show any dissatisfaction and obediently nodded. "Let's go to the village."
We left Little Rolling Knife behind and quickly returned to the campsite to grab our gear before heading downhill.
The distance we had gauged earlier was about two or three kilometers, and since it was a descent, we reached the outskirts of the village fairly quickly. As we ran, I couldn't help but notice a massive tree entwined with vines off to the side. A chill ran down my spine. Could this be the true form of the tree spirit that possessed Mo Xi?
Liu Ying tapped my shoulder and gestured toward the village, signaling me to move forward. Xie Chen didn't dare to take the lead, so he and I followed Liu Ying, pushing through the tall grass and trudging toward the deserted village.
Under the faint light of our headlamps, the abandoned village seemed just as desolate as the photos had depicted. The first structure we encountered was an old house perched on a small hill, its dilapidated state betraying its age. Grass grew between the bricks and tiles, and the weathered doors and windows seemed to whisper tales of abandonment and sorrow.
When we reached the house at the village entrance, we realized there was no sign of Wu Luo or Big Mouth Rong. They had a flashlight and a headlamp, yet the village remained pitch-dark. Not a single glimmer of light was visible in the direction they had gone.
The eerie stillness of the village amplified my unease. Even the hopping sound of the corpses and the footsteps of the ghost escorts had vanished into thin air. It was as if the village had swallowed them whole, leaving only an unsettling silence broken occasionally by the rustling of the wind through the grass.
"Wooo… return my child…"
Suddenly, the mournful cry of a woman drifted through the wind.
My heart nearly stopped. The unexpected sound sent shivers racing down my spine, covering me in goosebumps from head to toe.