Chapter 204: A Mountain Suspended, A River Submerged (18)
As soon as Yan Shixun felt the cold wind blowing from behind him, he immediately realized that there were corrupted corpses trying to sneak up on him from behind.
He quickly adjusted his posture, attempting to dodge.
However, with the same layers of corrupted corpses surrounding him from the front and all sides, Yan Shixun found himself with little room to move.
Even though he relied on his powerful combat intuition and experience, twisting and weaving through the encircling enemies, he still couldn’t escape the horde of corrupted corpses entirely.
The space around him was too narrow.
Yan Shixun felt the wind on his back, and he could not avoid it. He could only lean forward to dodge.
Then, he swiftly turned and twisted his body, relying on the sound of the wind to pinpoint the location of the attack. Without even looking behind him, he thrust the branch in his hand.
The branch accurately pierced through the crown of the corrupted corpse behind him.
The corpse’s eyes, bloodshot and red, opened wide in disbelief. Its hollow eyes, once vacant and dead, now seemed to convey a single thought: “How could this be possible?”
At such close range, how did he dodge it? Is this person even human?
But no matter how it felt, the corrupted corpse, with its skull shattered, could only watch as its decaying body collapsed quickly. Its bones shattered, and its flesh spilled out like a plastic bag torn open, leaking everywhere.
However, although Yan Shixun’s quick movements allowed him to dodge the fatal strike from behind, it also exposed his own vulnerabilities.
A nearby corrupted corpse, which had been eyeing Yan Shixun the entire time, seized the opportunity and pounced on him.
Before he could catch his breath, Yan Shixun swung the branch in his hand again, raising it and bringing it down, splattering blood across the ground.
But he soon realized that his efforts were in vain.
The bones and blood that had fallen to the ground began to tremble and slowly rise up again, standing as if they had been revived.
The human skin that had landed in the blood pool seemed to inflate like a balloon, with all the blood that had fallen to the ground being wrapped back up, transforming into the same corrupted corpse he had seen before.
Yan Shixun was shocked, but he immediately understood why the riverbank he had just seen appeared so clean, as if nothing had happened.
It was likely the same for the corrupted corpses he had previously slain, trying to charge into the cottage.
The blood and flesh hadn’t been cleaned up.
Instead, those corrupted corpses had never truly died.
After understanding the truth, a storm surged inside Yan Shixun. He looked at the corrupted corpses before him with even greater caution.
These corpses, whose skulls had been crushed, could still “resurrect” and appear no different than before.
What exactly were these corpses?
Or perhaps, was there something wrong with the river?
Yan Shixun’s gaze fell on the river nearby.
In a split second, he made a decision.
Several things the guide had mentioned — the river, the upstream area, and the chrysanthemums — all pointed to the same conclusion.
After all, when the villagers had welcomed them into the village, they had mentioned that the villagers believed their health came from the river, which flowed from the upstream area where chrysanthemums were grown.
Thus, the abnormalities in Longevity Village were not rooted in the village itself.
Rather, the source was upstream from the village.
Yan Shixun didn’t know what lay upstream, but his intuition told him that whatever it was, it was connected to the fact that these corrupted corpses couldn’t truly be killed.
At this point, he had no choice but to go upstream.
Otherwise, the corrupted corpses would continue to arise, and even if they were killed, they would simply “revive” again, with no end in sight.
If he didn’t make a decisive decision now, by the time he was worn out from a battle of attrition, it would be too late to investigate the upstream area.
As for the safety of the production team…
When Yan Shixun thought about Zhang Wubing and the others, he suddenly realized that he hadn’t worried about them at all.
When he left, he entrusted the safety of everyone in the cottage to Ye Li. Subconsciously, he had truly trusted Ye Li, believing that Ye Li, as his companion, would help him clear any concerns behind him.
When did he start trusting Ye Li? At first, he had treated Ye Li as a potential threat, keeping him around to observe and be on guard.
Yan Shixun, who rarely allowed himself to be distracted during battle, found himself momentarily confused. He couldn’t remember when that shift in attitude had occurred.
Ye Li’s presence was subtle, like the way water quietly nourishes everything. Even though Yan Shixun had never liked much contact with others, he gradually accepted Ye Li’s existence little by little.
First, Ye Li had gotten closer to him, walking alongside him.
Then, Ye Li had entered his home, sleeping in the room next door.
When Yan Shixun had gotten used to having Ye Li around, he hadn’t even realized that he had slowly grown accustomed to his presence. Especially since they had begun traveling together from the Family Tomb Village, Yan Shixun had naturally accepted Ye Li as a part of his journey.
Only now, in the middle of this crisis, did Yan Shixun realize that he had subconsciously come to see Ye Li as someone he could trust.
Yan Shixun didn’t like to form connections with others. The only ones he had allowed into his inner circle were Li Chengyun and Zhang Wubing.
But now, Ye Li had to be added to the list.
Yet, Li Chengyun was his master, and Zhang Wubing was his friend.
What was Ye Li, then?
Relying on muscle memory, Yan Shixun continued to strike down the corpses. With just a branch, he made sure that the rotting corpses aiming to attack him couldn’t even touch the corner of his clothing.
On the surface, he still maintained his cold, stern appearance, intimidating anyone who saw him.
But inside, Yan Shixun was filled with confusion.
This was the most difficult problem he had faced: determining Ye Li’s place in his heart.
Yet, even though his mind was calm and composed when facing the most dangerous and brutal crises, it faltered now, stuck in place.
It was as if a large cat had played with a ball of yarn, tangling it into a messy, unmanageable mess.
Was Ye Li… a comrade to fight alongside?
Yan Shixun slowly blinked, and his movement froze for a moment, almost allowing a corpse to get too close.
Realizing his distraction, he quickly pushed the thought of Ye Li to the back of his mind, steeled his focus, and prepared to head upstream to the river.
Once he returned, perhaps he could visit the Haiyun Temple again and ask Lan Ze what his words had really meant.
Or maybe when he came back, he could ask Ye Li directly.
Thinking about the possibility of someone standing beside him from now on, Yan Shixun, who had always been used to traveling alone, felt a flicker of expectation rise in his chest after the brief awkwardness.
Yan Shixun gave the cottage one last glance before decisively stepping into the river.
In an instant, all the corpses on the shore seemed to fear something, retreating several steps and pulling back from the water.
The corpses that had been submerged in the river disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The river wasn’t deep; during the day, it even looked like it only reached to his calves.
However, the moment Yan Shixun stepped into the river, the calm waters suddenly surged into massive waves, fiercely rushing toward him.
From his perspective, while the river appeared to have a normal width from the shore, once he stepped in, it expanded to an endless, sea-like expanse.
His consciousness told him that he had just stepped in, and the riverbank should have been right beside him.
But when he looked around, he found himself surrounded by an endless ocean, like a lonely island in the middle of the sea, unable to leave.
Perhaps this was also why the corrupted corpses couldn’t be detected earlier at the riverbank.
Because the world above and below the river were entirely different. It was only after the sun disappeared and the yin energy surged dramatically that the true nature of the scene was revealed upon entering the river.
This discovery made Yan Shixun’s lips curve into a slight smile.
Since he was aiming to eliminate the true source of danger threatening the village and the show’s crew, the more bizarre and strange the situation was, the more it proved he was heading in the right direction.
A massive wave slammed toward him.
Yan Shixun turned his gaze calmly, silently reciting a spell.
No matter how the waves surged, he remained unmoved, standing firm.
In the center of the river, a giant and fierce whirlpool formed. The water crashed down from mid-air, engulfing all the flower petals and the struggling corrupted corpses that had tried to escape, pulling them into the whirlpool.
When the water began to calm again, Yan Shixun’s figure was gone from the river’s surface.
The corrupted corpses on the riverbank stood frozen, as though they had lost their purpose, appearing confused.
But they seemed to avoid the river, as though they were afraid of it. Although they had come out of the river, after Yan Shixun stepped into it, they tried their best to retreat, unwilling to let the river touch them.
The corrupted corpse closest to the river couldn’t avoid it in time, and with the sound of splashing “plop!” it was sucked into the massive wave.
Now, the river surface gradually calmed, with only ripples emanating outward from the center.
Even without the cover of petals, there were no longer any submerged corpses at the bottom of the river, nor any of the corrupted corpses that had fallen into it earlier.
The same fate had caused even the dead corrupted corpses to instinctively try to avoid the river.
Along the walls of the cottage, white and yellow chrysanthemums quietly bloomed, gently swaying in the breeze brought by the mist.
The corrupted corpses suddenly seemed to remember something. Their hollow, blood-red eyes sluggishly turned, now filled with the liveliness of anger.
They slowly and deliberately turned, staring at the village behind them.
The entire Longevity Village had fallen silent. No sounds could be heard from the small wooden cottages of the villagers, as if they were following the traditional routine of rising with the sun and resting with the night, already fast asleep.
If it weren’t for the two small wooden cottages along the river, everything seemed peaceful and leisurely.
But the corrupted corpses seemed to have seen something they hated. Their faces, already soaked to the point of their skin separating from their flesh, trembled violently, as though the chunks of flesh barely hanging on their faces would soon fall off.
Their faces twisted with rage as they slowly walked toward Longevity Village.
The darkness became the perfect concealment for the hundreds of corrupted corpses, and the villagers didn’t notice their approach.
Only in the small wooden cottage by the river did the old woman, who had hanged herself from the beam, suddenly twitch violently, her eyelids shaking.
Then, her eyes snapped open.
…
At the same moment, Ye Li, inside the cottage, raised his gaze.
He stopped in his tracks, his sharp, cold eyes fixed directly on the river behind the cottage.
He could feel it—Shixun’s presence… had vanished.
Ye Li immediately stretched out his long legs, ready to head to the riverside in search of Yan Shixun.
But just as he was about to take action, he heard a scream coming from upstairs.
It was from the female guest in the production crew.
Almost at the same moment, a man’s cry for help mixed with the sound of something heavy toppling echoed from upstairs.
Ye Li froze mid-step.
Should he go after Yan Shixun, or stay behind in the cottage to protect the living?
As a deity long disillusioned with the human world, he had long since given up on bearing the burden of life, only ever coldly watching from the sidelines with indifferent eyes.
But now, something had changed.
Ye Li should have remained apathetic, but another thought occurred to him.
—If Shixun were by his side, what would he want him to do?
He remembered the brightness and determination in Yan Shixun’s eyes, and the trust they held for him.
He didn’t want to lose that.
From hundreds, even thousands of years ago, Ye Li had feared nothing—not even the great laws of heaven and earth could shake him.
But only now did he suddenly realize—he did have something to fear.
—He feared seeing disappointment and wariness in the eyes of the exorcist he loved.
So, Ye Li only paused for a moment before making his decision.
Black mist rose from beneath Ye Li’s feet, condensing in the darkness into a ferocious beast that roared and lunged toward the upstairs.
The wind stirred by the beast’s charge brushed across Zhao Zhen’s face like a blade, bitterly cold, causing a stinging pain as though he had been cut.
Under the howling wind, Zhao Zhen instinctively closed his eyes—but then he heard a bloodcurdling shriek: “Ho! Ho!”
He quickly opened his eyes to see that the rotting corpse that had been pouncing toward him was now sprawled on the floor, pinned down by a mass of darkness.
The beast’s claws slashed through, and the corpse instantly turned into a mess of blood and human skin. Without any flame, it ignited on its own, burning into a thin wisp of ash.
Meanwhile, the staff member who had attacked him from behind suddenly fainted, collapsing to the ground with a loud thud.
Zhao Zhen stared in stunned silence at the life-and-death crisis that had been resolved in an instant.
Just a moment ago, he had been full of despair, sure that he would die under the pincer attack. But now, he was still standing here without a single scratch—while the evil entity that tried to harm him was dead.
What… just happened?
Under the flashlight’s beam, Zhao Zhen saw the majestic black beast and was momentarily speechless.
A similar scene was playing out in Bai Shuang’s room.
She had just watched helplessly as the rotting corpse at her bedside reached out toward her, and the fear and helplessness had nearly driven her mad.
But in the very next instant, the corpse was suddenly tackled by something from the shadows, and the wild gust of wind that followed made Bai Shuang instinctively turn her head away.
When she looked back again, the corpse was gone.
All that remained was the stench of scorched flesh filling the room—and the towering black beast looking down at her with a cold, indifferent gaze.
The beast flicked its tail, and once it confirmed she was safe, it dissolved into black mist and vanished into the darkness.
Bai Shuang sat frozen on her bed for a long while, as if her brain had been struck by a sledgehammer, before finally snapping back to her senses.
She hurriedly threw off the blanket and rushed to the door, not even caring whether there might still be danger outside. She just wanted to see whether Zhao Zhen and the others were okay.
But Zhao Zhen had moved faster than her. He was already outside, knocking on her door. “Bai Shuang, are you alright? Are you safe?”
Bai Shuang quickly opened the door.
Tears still clung to the corners of her eyes, but she forced herself to hold them back, trying hard to stay composed. “I’m fine. What about the others?”
But the trembling in her voice betrayed her.
After exchanging their experiences, Zhao Zhen also realized something was wrong.
“Those evil spirits… they’re hiding inside the building.”
His expression tensed, and he turned to dash downstairs.
There had been no noise from the first floor—very likely, they hadn’t encountered danger yet. He had to go down and warn them!
But just as he reached the stairwell, Zhao Zhen saw a tall figure standing at the landing.
Ye Li stood there, his black feathers slightly drooping, his expression cold and silent.
He hadn’t said a single word, and the platform he stood on was just an ordinary structure.
But in that moment, Zhao Zhen felt as though he were looking up at a divine being standing atop a high altar, coldly overlooking the mortal world, passing judgment on life itself.
For an instant, Zhao Zhen’s knees nearly gave out, and he almost fell to the floor.
Ye Li had already heard the faint sounds from upstairs. He lifted his eyes, his gaze distant and indifferent as he looked upward.
At his side, streams of black mist were gathering once more from every direction.
Inside the small wooden cottage, the stench of burnt decay slowly spread through the air.
In a shadowed corner where no one was watching, only the ash stains left on the walls remained to prove something had once existed there.
Hearing the screams from upstairs, the guests and staff in several rooms became alert. They quickly opened their doors to check on the situation.
Ironically, the one who had intended to sleep on the first-floor sofa to protect everyone—Lu Xingxing—turned out to be sleeping the soundest of them all.
It wasn’t until he felt a cold, oppressive gaze press down on him, even in his dreams, that he shuddered and woke up.
Then Lu Xingxing saw Ye Li standing above, looking down at him with what seemed like utter disdain.
Lu Xingxing: QvQ?
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