Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Mantis and the Yellow Bird
Looking at the chaotic scene before him, Wu Chang asked Liu Shan uncertainly:
"Village Chief, is this also part of the Year-banishing Ritual?"
Liu Shan stared blankly ahead, his lips trembling, and shouted to the villagers:
"Quickly scatter! The Evil Qi is out of control!"
Wu Chang: "Uh..."
It seems the transformation of the Year-banishers wasn’t part of the ritual’s program.
The reaction of Huai Valley Village villagers was swift, as if they had undergone related training. Seeing the ghost emissary being killed, the onlooking villagers immediately scattered.
Blocking in front of the crowd, the villagers responsible for defending against demon attacks quickly gathered with special vine shields and raised wooden spears.
The villagers responsible for guarding duty were mostly hunters from the village, skilled and familiar with the characteristics of beasts.
Grouped in fives and sixes, using special calls and potions, they quickly separated the three clustered Year-banishers.
The most noticeable among them was Liu Wei, the leader of the hunters.
Liu Wei wielded a wide-blade hunting knife in his hand, the blade measuring four feet long, covered with irregular serrations, swinging with great force.
The scales that grew on the Year-banishers upon transformation were hard, making the firewood knives and wooden spears difficult to penetrate, but if the wide-blade hunting knife touched them, it would leave scales shattered and flesh torn.
Relying on his superb martial arts skills, Liu Wei single-handedly held off a defending Year-banisher without losing ground.
Wu Chang, referencing his own attributes, judged that Liu Wei’s power might reach 30, agility almost 20, life not lower than 20, and as a hunter going into the mountains, endurance was naturally not lacking.
Perhaps the actual attributes might be lower, but through support of his martial arts, performance even exceeded expectations.
No wonder Liu Wei and Liu Wu could repeatedly succeed in ambushing players—they had no means to resist demons’ spells, but were adept at dealing with humans or beasts.
The three Year-banishers seemed possessed by the Mountain Guardian Beast.
Seeing the villagers surrounding them layer by layer, it reminded them of being kept within Hollow Mountain; they opened their mouths and roared like tigers.
Negative emotions like agitation, anxiety, and fear transformed into tangible black ripples, sweeping through the whole valley.
In an instant, a shadow was cast over the villagers’ eyes, causing them to feel woozy and their limbs growing increasingly heavy.
Not only that, a destructive urge hidden deep in their souls filled their hearts.
"Liu Lin owes me three jugs of wine, delayed for three months without repayment—I’ve wanted to teach him a lesson for a while, now’s the perfect time..."
"That scumbag Shunzi encroached on my family’s land again this year for farming, what if..."
"That kid Shitou, claiming close relations with Liu Wei, dared to hunt standing over me several times. You claim to have a head as hard as stone, right? I’d better see if your head is truly as hard as stone."
The villagers affected by the ripples glared wickedly at the backs of their teammates.
It’s unclear who moved first, but as soon as the first "Damned bastard, dared to ambush me" rang out, it ignited Huai Valley Village like a giant powder keg.
Even near the ordinary villagers’ hiding direction could be faintly heard shouting and killing.
The valley was in chaos, except Wu Chang and Liu Shan standing beside the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp remained unaffected.
Looking at the chaos in the valley, Liu Shan said helplessly:
"Hero Wu, the Evil Qi has likely spread into the village; please be so kind as to check the situation over there."
Wu Chang nodded in agreement and left along the edge of the chaotic battle.
He reached the place where the villagers lived, discovering the Evil Qi had indeed spread there but caused limited harm.
Those who distanced themselves from the Year-banishing Ritual site first were mostly the old, weak, women, and children.
Even if their evil thoughts were provoked by the Evil Qi, it amounted to pulling each other’s hair, at most pushing and shoving on the ground—not nearly as dangerous as the other side’s real blades and spears.
Seeing the villagers unharmed, he chose not to show himself and instead turned back into the darkness.
If he appeared now, he’d surely be seen as a savior by the villagers and surrounded.
He’s a player, here to clear the dungeon, not to be a nanny.
Now, he had more important things to attend to.
In a sense, the Year-banishing Ritual was already over.
The sessions welcoming the year, banishing the year, and guarding the year all finished safely; although the final banishment met trouble, simply eliminating the three demonified Year-banishers could still be regarded as cleansing the Evil Qi.
The three demonified Year-banishers were powerful in battle but had lost their senses under the influence of Evil Qi and could only act on instinct.
In individual combat, as long as Liu Wei stayed strong, resolving the three demonified Year-banishers was merely a matter of time and sacrifice.
Yet no one anticipated that the village’s primary force, Liu Wei, actually slipped away.
Relying on his strong suppression power, Liu Wei relentlessly pushed one Year-banisher towards the village edge, telling others there was enough with just him and instructing them to deal with the other two Year-banishers.
Once most people had left, he put on a white half-face mask, calling forth ghost slaves.
The ghost slaves emerged from the mask, restraining the Year-banisher’s limbs; taking advantage of the Year-banisher’s distracted struggle, Liu Wei approached and plunged the knife into the Year-banisher’s heart.
As the blade went halfway into the flesh, Liu Wei twisted his wrist, stirring and tearing the knife in the Year-banisher’s chest, shattering the organs within, including the Mountain Guardian Beast’s heart it swallowed.
Before the Evil Qi could escape from the defender’s body, the ghost slaves swarmed together and devoured the Evil Qi clean.
What a feast!
Feeling the explosively increasing Spiritual Power inside the mask, Liu Wei patted his stomach behind the mask to show satisfaction.
Just as Liu Wei was about to remove the mask, he noticed a villager in the distance staring at him blankly.
"Jinfu, didn’t I tell all of you to go back? I can handle it alone," Liu Wei said softly.
Liu Jinfu trembled and said, "I worried something might happen to you, wanted to ask if you needed help. Brother Wei, just now..."
Liu Wei shook his head, slowly raising his knife.
"We’re all family here; why make it difficult for your brother?"
Liu Jinfu wanted to flee but found his limbs unbearably heavy, being restrained by several ghost slaves.
Liu Wei quickly approached, raising his knife and dropping it down.
After tossing Liu Jinfu’s body onto the Year-banisher, he was truly alone now.
He did not return to the Year-banishing Ritual site but instead turned down a small path leading out of the village.
Unlike Wu Chang, he was a native of the dungeon plane; he needed not just the completion of the ritual to succeed but to weaken the Evil Qi through the ceremony, seeking the chance to devour the evil influence.
In his view, the Year-banishing Ritual was a complete failure.
The Evil Qi ignoring the banishment array and the Age Fire, using its influence to control the Year-banishers showed it was only a matter of time before breaking free from the seal.
Even if they managed to resolve the Year-banishers, what significance would it have?
As the head hunter of Huai Valley Village, Liu Wei’s vision was long-term; while others were still thinking about how to deal with Year-banishers, he had already begun researching opponents after the seal broke.
If Liu Wu were still around, they both could maneuver the ghost slaves; things wouldn’t be this dire.
Right now with only him, to lead the ghost slaves to engulf the evil influence would take quite an effort.
The more this was the case, the more he needed to conserve strength.
Things had reached this point, and all he could do was hope Hero Wu was reckless enough to fight the evil influence head-on, injuring each other gravely, allowing him to be the victorious sparrow waiting.
As for the villagers’ fate?
That was never his concern.
Although he seemed righteous on the surface, he was actually indifferent; anyone blocking his path would be removed without him batting an eyelash.
Even with his own wife and children, there was always a distance beneath the surface intimacy.
The only person he truly trusted in this world was his blood brother Liu Wu.
Exiting the village, he then headed straight toward Ghost Cry Forest.
For this opportunity, he aimed to bring along all of the ghost slaves.
Halfway along, he noticed a dark figure standing by the roadside forest.
Looking closely, it was a horse tied by the road, and the red bridle on its body looked very familiar.
The Peace Talisman hanging on the bridle was personally enlightened by the host of Jingyuan County’s largest temple, Longqi Temple.
Initially, the host refused, forcing him to capture the whole temple’s monks until one in four was killed before agreeing to cooperate.
He certainly wouldn’t mistake that special Peace Talisman—it belonged to Brother Wu’s horse.
Additionally, the half-face mask on his own face trembled, indicating the other half of the mask was nearby.
Could it be Brother Wu had calmed down, refrained from reckless action, and was hiding around the village waiting for a perfect chance?
Liu Wei felt somewhat excited; the brothers had ventured together since childhood, understanding each other and cooperating seamlessly.
If the two brothers combined their blades, they might have the strength to challenge the evil influence.
He approached Liu Wu’s horse, softly calling out: "You brat, always coming up with new tricks for me."
"New, huh? Let me show you something newer."
"Who’s there!"
Bam!
The response was only the sound of gunfire piercing through the night’s silence.