"?"

Before he could react, more and more green vines broke through the soil, instantly wrapping around his hands and feet, even tightly covering his mouth.

"How dare you, you rat."

Lu Xiaowei’s eyes were bloodshot, and three short, black-glowing nails flew out from his sleeve, hovering in mid-air as he vigilantly surveyed his surroundings.

"Sheng Nian."

A figure appeared on the waterfall cliff, and a voice drifted down into the valley.

"Why are you looking for him?"

"Song Yesheng."

Lu Xiaowei gritted his teeth, enunciating each word.

"In the dead of night, ambushing my three Senior Brothers—is this how a renowned orthodox sect acts?"

Song Yan sneered, "Who told you my Cave Abyss Sect is a renowned orthodox sect?"

"I should be asking you... why are you still here now?"

"..."

Lu Xiaowei’s gaze froze, and he remained silent.

What truly horrified him was that the cliff was at least forty to fifty feet above the valley. Such control over a Spell from that distance... could this Song Yesheng be a Cultivator in the Late Stage of Qi Refinement?

"It’s getting late."

Under the clear moonlight, Song Yan’s voice sounded somewhat cold. A standard Flying Sword hovered by his side, its tip pointed directly at Lu Xiaowei, ready to strike.

"I’ll give you thirty breaths to explain."

"What is your Master’s intention?"

"Why are you looking for A Nian?"

"And... are the three missing villagers from Yunding Village related to you?"

Another Disciple beside Lu Xiaowei subtly reached into his qiankun bag, seemingly to retrieve something.

Hiss-

A strange sound came from his ear. He turned his head and saw a pair of blue-gold vertical pupils appear in his field of vision.

The back of his neck went numb, and a violent dizzying sensation surged, causing him to instantly collapse to the ground.

"..."

Lu Xiaowei turned his head to look, but the small snake was already gone. Song Yan’s voice came from behind him.

"You have twenty-five breaths left."

It wasn’t that Song Yan was unfeeling; it was just that although his Divine Sense was sufficient, with his Spiritual Qi intensity, controlling a Spell from this distance would only last him for about thirty breaths.

"You’re forcing my hand!"

A flicker of madness passed through Lu Xiaowei’s eyes. He swiped his fingertip across his Storage Pouch, and three blood-red Spiritual Lights flashed.

Buzz—

The counting from Song Yan’s mouth stopped instantly, and his Flying Sword shot out at the same moment, heading straight for Lu Xiaowei’s face.

Clang!

A dull thud sounded, and Song Yan frowned. A Spirit Stone quietly appeared in his hand, and he began to draw Spiritual Qi from it.

The blood-colored Spiritual Light dispersed, revealing three coffins made of spiritual wood standing upright in front of Lu Xiaowei.

Song Yan’s Flying Sword was precisely embedded in the middle coffin.

Bang!

The three coffins simultaneously cracked open, and a foul, black mist spewed forth. Three walking corpses slowly emerged from within.

Dressed in coarse linen, with withered appearances and flickering green ghostly flames in their eye sockets... these three walking corpses were likely the three missing villagers.

The expression in Song Yan’s eyes suddenly turned cold. At this moment, he had completely extinguished any thought of sparing these three.

He extended his right hand, making a remote grasping gesture.

The Qi Refinement Stage first-layer Cultivator behind Lu Xiaowei, almost completely wrapped in green vines like a zongzi, seemed to sense something and struggled violently.

Boom.

Blazing flames exploded and instantly spread across the green vines, but several vines still tightly wrapped his mouth, preventing him from even letting out a scream.

Song Yan no longer paid him any mind. He repeatedly tapped his fingers, about to recall his Flying Sword, when he saw the middle walking corpse suddenly leap high into the air and snatch the Flying Sword!

"?"

Song Yan’s expression stiffened, and he felt a pang of doubt.

In fact, the Spell for controlling walking corpses isn’t necessarily from the Evil Path. On the contrary, if one traces its origins, it actually began with the beautiful wish of the Nanzhang Wu Nuo tribe for their souls to return to their homeland after death.

Later, some within the Wu Nuo tribe, to punish extremely wicked Cultivators, refined their corpses into Yin Puppets to guard the tribe, thereby atoning for their sins committed in life.

From then on, the Spell for controlling Yin Puppets began to develop and evolve.

Although Song Yan had never seen the true Spell for controlling corpse-people, he had seen comments on such Spells by a Senior of the sect in a certain ancient text.

"In the Nanzhang region, there is a Spell for controlling corpse-people. However, the corpse-people that can be controlled during the Qi Refinement Stage are slow-moving and have fragile Physical Bodies. During battles in the Qi Refinement Stage, they often win by sheer numbers..."

Lu Xiaowei was only at the third layer of Qi Refinement... how could this corpse-person in front of him leap over ten feet high in the air like a Martial Forest Master?

Before Song Yan could think, the corpse-person gripped the Flying Sword in a reverse hold, swung it violently, and hurled the Flying Sword, coated in viscous black blood, towards him!

Song Yan used both Spiritual Qi and Divine Thought, regaining control, but the black blood on the sword seemed to hinder the manipulation of Spiritual Qi, making it less responsive when he tried to wield the Flying Sword.

However, Song Yan did not panic. He simply put the Flying Sword into his qiankun bag without a change in expression.

"Still too little experience in fighting people..."

In a moment of distraction, the three walking corpses swiftly climbed against the cliff waterfall, their joints emitting a grating, teeth-aching sound.

The foremost walking corpse suddenly opened its jaw, and a foul wind, laden with corrosive poison, sprayed directly at Song Yan’s face.

Fireball Spell.

Song Yan’s hand continuously changed Dao incantations, and three flames shot out, one after another, dispersing the poisonous mist.

"Hahahahaha... What if I’m in the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement? With the Yin Puppet Rebirth Nails my Master gave me... ugh... cough cough..."

Lu Xiaowei was no longer in any human form; his eyes were bloodshot, and the color in his face rapidly faded.

He knelt on the ground, coughing up blood repeatedly, and his protective Spiritual Qi became unstable, dispersing on its own.

"Kan position, reverse!"

Song Yan seemed to have anticipated this and did not dodge or retreat. He simply stared at Lu Xiaowei, sneered a few times, and made a Dao incantation with his hand.

Twelve pieces of Spiritual Artifact fragments, which had been scattered beforehand, flew backward from behind Lu Xiaowei, effortlessly piercing through his body.

The sound of several fragments tearing through flesh echoed through the valley.

Most of the fragments fell to the edge of the waterfall after passing through Lu Xiaowei’s body. Only three, without losing speed, continued to fly towards Song Yan.

Just as the three walking corpses were about to close in... *Puff, puff, puff*.

Three fragments pierced through the heads of the three walking corpses, extracting the three evil black nails from their foreheads, then rapidly decelerated and embedded themselves in the mountain rock behind Song Yan.

The leading walking corpse collapsed like rotten meat, falling at Song Yan’s feet.

The Fire Worker Village had plenty of Spiritual Artifact fragments, if nothing else.

"You’re about to die now... and you still won’t tell me? What exactly are you looking for A Nian for?"

"You, surnamed Song... *Hoh... hoh hoh hoh*..."

Lu Xiaowei’s face showed a complex mix of emotions: "regret," "relief," even "exhilaration"... but conspicuously, no "remorse."

"Master... will surely achieve a great and lasting legacy..."

"This Human Realm..."

"Is merely an item in my sect’s pocket!!!!"

"Hahaha... hahahaha... ha..."

Lu Xiaowei collapsed to the ground, his laughter growing weaker and weaker until, at a certain moment, he stopped breathing.

"..."

Song Yan didn’t waste any more words asking, just quietly watched him die.

Whoosh.

Two Fireball Spells were flicked out, landing on the corpses of Lu Xiaowei and the Qi Refinement Stage first-layer Cultivator who had already been killed by Xiao He’s poisonous fangs.

Watching the fiercely burning corpses, Song Yan pondered.

"The more I hear... the more they sound like Evil Path Cultivators..."

Hermit Xin Shan... a Loose Cultivator?

Song Yan had heard that Loose Cultivators would also establish a market similar to a village or mountain stronghold on a certain mountain to band together for warmth.

Usually, those who dared to name themselves after a mountain peak would be the leader of that mountain, right?

But Song Yan had never heard of a place called Xin Shan in the Chu Kingdom.

"Hmm?"

Song Yan’s thoughts were interrupted, and his eyes looked somewhat blank.

He saw three small, blood-stained paper figures slowly crawling out from the three incinerated remains in front of him... "This..."

The small paper figure from Lu Xiaowei’s remains waved its hands, sweeping away the ashes.

Its crimson "head" slowly lifted, looking at Song Yan not far away... seemingly wanting to remember his appearance.