Of course the ones who make these poisons know how terrifying they are; they definitely don’t want to end up neither human nor ghost.

Seeing Yang Cheng about to make a move, the few of them turned around and tried to run. He snatched the dagger from Da Shan’s hand and rushed forward at once.

The dagger wasn’t particularly sharp, but his strength was tremendous—one thrust could run straight through a person’s body, blood spraying out like a fountain. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Run! Hurry, run!"

The crowd scattered in all directions, but their speed was no match for Yang Cheng’s killing speed.

In the blink of an eye those underlings all became souls under his blade; only a scar-faced man was left. He was different from the others—rather than running outward, he ran toward the pile of grass where the camel had first been lying.

Yang Cheng came back to his senses and guessed the punk had another escape route, but it was already too late.

After a thunderous boom, a large hole appeared where the grass pile was, and the scar-faced man jumped straight down, vanishing without a trace.

"Fuck! We actually let him get away!"

Yang Cheng felt some regret; had he known, he would’ve taken him out first. Who could’ve thought there was a mechanism here.

He obviously couldn’t go chasing after him, so he hurried over to untie Kong Lingwen and Ni Qingyao.

Da Shan hurried over to untie Old Man Pan, but no matter how hard he shook him, the old man just wouldn’t wake up.

He was anxious and turned to Yang Cheng. "Benefactor, can you see what’s wrong with Uncle Pan?"

Yang Cheng raised his brows. This was the first time anyone had called him "benefactor." Seemed this kid knew how to repay a debt.

And to avenge his brother he was willing to risk his own life—also a loyal sort, worth befriending.

He strode over, bent down, and felt Old Man Pan’s wrist, then said, "It’s fine, he’s just been poisoned a little."

As he spoke, he took out the Silver Needles he carried with him and pricked a few acupoints—Shanzhong, Tianfu and others—to let out the blood.

In no time, Old Man Pan came to, weakly opening his mouth. "Da Shan...?"

"Uncle Pan, I’m here."

Da Shan hurried close and grabbed his hand tightly.

"Hu Zi is dead, you shouldn’t blame yourself anymore. When we get back, don’t say much. I’ll explain it to his parents."

Old Man Pan spoke with some difficulty, but his tone was full of concern for Da Shan.

"No, you’ll just take all the blame on yourself again; who knows how they’ll curse you this time."

Da Shan refused to agree, the burly man so anxious he was almost in tears.

"This isn’t the place to talk. We’d better get out of here."

Yang Cheng bent down to help Old Man Pan up, and he and Da Shan supported him one on each side as they brought him out of the cave.

Once they stepped out of the entrance, he asked curiously, "Lin Wen, how did you end up getting caught? Didn’t I tell you not to get out of the car?"

"They pretended they’d gotten lost in the mountains and wanted some food. Godmother has a soft heart, so she opened the door to give them some, and they grabbed her right away and tied all of us up."

Kong Lingwen looked helpless. She’d warned her godmother again and again not to trust others, yet they’d still been tricked.

"Xiaochen, I’m sorry. They looked so weak at the time, I thought they were about to starve to death. I didn’t expect they were just putting on an act."

Ni Qingyao was full of remorse. Thankfully they’d merely been kidnapped; if Kong Lingwen had died because of her, she’d never forgive herself for the rest of her life.

"Auntie, there’s nothing wrong with being kind, but you can’t be without caution—especially deep in the mountains like this. The slightest carelessness could cost us our lives. Next time we run into something like this, we have to be more careful."

Yang Cheng gently reminded her, with not a trace of blame in his tone.

"I’ll remember."

Ni Qingyao let out a breath of relief, but she still felt deeply guilty inside.

Before long, they returned to their original spot. Luckily, those guys had taken a fancy to Yang Cheng’s car and hadn’t damaged it.

Yang Cheng had Kong Lingwen drive, Ni Qingyao sit in the front passenger seat, and he squeezed in the back with Old Man Pan.

Don’t be fooled by Kong Lingwen being a woman—her driving skills were perfectly fine. She could handle driving through the mountains with ease, even more deftly than Yang Cheng.

The car rolled forward slowly. Yang Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, lost in thought.

Judging from the scar-faced man’s character, there was no way he’d just disappear for good. He could pop out at any time to deliver a fatal blow.

"Old sir, be honest—you’re from Hidden Cloud Village, aren’t you?"

Yang Cheng suddenly asked.

He already had his suspicions; he just wanted a definite answer.

Earlier, Old Man Pan still hadn’t wanted to talk, but his and Da Shan’s lives had been saved by Yang Cheng, so he could only answer truthfully.

"Yes, we’re from Hidden Cloud Village. Actually, the village doesn’t allow outsiders in, and people from our village rarely go out. Every few months we send a few people out to buy food, clothes, and daily necessities."

Old Man Pan sighed and went on, "This time I came out with Hu Zi and Da Shan. We’d just gotten to the city when our money was stolen. That money was all given by the villagers for me to buy supplies to bring back. Once it was gone, I could only make the trip for nothing, and I had no way to compensate them."

"I saw you seemed to have money on hand, and you wanted to go to Hidden Cloud Village anyway, so I thought I’d have you buy the supplies for me. After I took you to Hidden Cloud Village, I could only let you gather herbs near the village entrance. As long as you didn’t enter the village, it wouldn’t count as breaking the rules."

Yang Cheng smiled and nodded. "So that’s how it is. Living in Hidden Cloud Village really isn’t easy for you."

Confirming they were from Hidden Cloud Village put him much more at ease, and after spending some time together, he could see this old man and this young man were definitely not bad people.

"How far is it to Hidden Cloud Village?"

Yang Cheng asked.

"We’re close. Another hour or so and we’ll be there. But you can’t just go in on your own. I have to report to the village chief first. Only if he agrees can you enter."

Old Man Pan didn’t dare bring outsiders in at will, so he didn’t directly agree to let the three of them into the village.

"All right."

Yang Cheng didn’t object. Everyone has something they want; if the village chief refused, he could offer money or goods—something would move him.

The Tome of the Ghost Doctor recorded that the Purifying Spirit Spring was the sacred water of Hidden Cloud Village. They didn’t usually drink it themselves; they only partook of it on one specific day each year.

He couldn’t demand the Purifying Spirit Spring the moment he set foot in the village. It’d be best to first get familiar with the villagers before making that request, so he wouldn’t be thrown out immediately.

Just then, rain began to fall from the sky, the drops pelting down fast and drumming against the car windows with a crackling sound.

The light was already dim, and with the sudden rain, even with the headlights on, Kong Lingwen couldn’t see the road ahead clearly and had no choice but to stop the car.

"Lin Wen, let me drive."

Taking advantage of the fact that the rain hadn’t yet gotten too heavy, Yang Cheng decided they should leave this troublesome place as soon as possible. He pushed the door open and got out.

Right then, a sharp whistling sound reached his ears. He tilted his head slightly and saw a silver-glinting hidden weapon slice past by his ear.