Chapter 151: Shedding the Serpent's Body

I kept my eyes fixed on Yun Mutian. After letting out a series of frantic, raving screams, the fellow suddenly lunged straight toward us!

Gu Sangong gave a sudden start and scrambled aside in a panic. Having seemingly witnessed Yun Mutian's terrifying power beforehand, he completely lacked the overbearing arrogance he had displayed while controlling Yun Mutian just moments ago.

The possessed Yun Mutian was indeed formidable, possessed of an unfathomable kind of terror. Even so, I braced myself and prepared to step in. It would spell absolute disaster if the three-headed serpent that had possessed him managed to return to its original body! I had no idea what impact destroying the formation core would ultimately have on it, but if it went berserk, we would be in deep trouble!

Just as I moved to intercept him, I watched Yun Mutian bypass the shriveled snake carcass entirely, paying it not the slightest bit of attention, treating it as though it had nothing to do with him whatsoever.

Was he not trying to return to his body? Then what on earth was he up to?

Ignoring us just the same, Yun Mutian bolted headlong in the direction of the exit. Reaching the base of the opening, he scrambled up with practiced agility and sprinted upward with effortless familiarity.

I was utterly baffled. What was wrong with this guy? Was such a frantic stunt just to run away?

"It worked!" Gu Sangong shouted in jubilation.

I looked over at him. What did he mean by that? Could it be that Yun Mutian had genuinely broken free from the serpent's body? How was that even possible? We hadn't done a thing!

"I get it! So that's how it is. That formation was meant not only to forge him, but also to trap it! Now that the formation is destroyed, it can finally leave!" he muttered excitedly to himself, and made to dash toward the exit.

I stepped directly into his path to block him. The old codger was far too excited and had completely forgotten his own predicament.

He glared at me with bitter hatred. "Step aside! Do you really think that with the surrounding yin energy holding me back, I can't deal with you?"

"Hehe, I wouldn't dare compare myself to an elder like you," I replied. "Besides, since your grand-master is here, there's no reason for a junior to run off first!"

The sound of panicked footsteps grew closer and closer. Old Man Ma, the village chief, and Yang Guangyu's group came running up. A few more followers were missing from their ranks; the large crowd they started with could now be counted on one hand. Bringing those people along like this was practically suicidal on Yang Guangyu's part—even if most of them were nothing more than societal scum like Ah Hao.

Catching sight of Old Man Ma, Gu Sangong's expression shifted once again. Though the old man put on a cold and haughty front, deep down he was a coward who bullied the weak and feared the strong. How utterly arrogant he had been when using Yun Mutian to deal with us earlier, but the moment Old Man Ma showed up, he immediately folded completely, not daring to let out even a single fart.

Old Man Ma surveyed the surrounding situation, his gaze landing on the snapped black wooden stakes. He let out a furious roar, "Which idiot destroyed the formation core?! Dammit all! Do you think the path to the netherworld is too long and want to take a shortcut straight to reincarnation? I am going to—*#$%&@*!"

It seemed the situation was indeed far from optimistic.

I hurriedly spoke up, "Master, I'll explain this once we get outside. There's an exit right here, let's get out of here fast!"

Old Man Ma's gaze locked instantly onto me, as if he had already anticipated something. Completely ignoring what I had just said, he unleashed a fierce torrent of abuse, "So it was you, you little brat, who caused this mess! Is this how I usually teach you? Did you stuff all your lessons down a donkey's throat?! Or was I too strict with you on ordinary days, so you harbored a grudge and deliberately wanted to take your old master's life, huh?! Look at how many people there were before! Now look at how many are left!"

"Now that the formation core is ruined and the damn formation is broken, all those oversized twin-headed serpents up top have been rudely awakened and are swarming down here en masse. It's lively as hell outside right now! Do you want to go take a look? Catch a sackful to make snake soup? Or should I drag you out there to be sliced into human cold cuts and let you see who eats who?!"

Old Man Ma was shaking with rage. I wanted to get a word in edgewise, but I couldn't even find an opening. I could only hear the dense, rustling sounds of crawling growing closer and closer outside—the twin-headed serpents were closing in.

"No matter what the reason, you're writing a hundred-thousand-word self-reflection report the moment we get out! If even a single punctuation mark is missing, you'll copy it out one hundred thousand times! Now, where is this exit you just mentioned?" Old Man Ma finally caught his breath.

I pointed toward the exit. "That's the opening through which the three-headed serpent's possessed body goes out every night, but the possessed Yun Mutian just ran up through it."

Old Man Ma looked toward the exit, a realization dawning on him. "So that's how it is. That's what this formation was... The one who forged this truly went to extreme lengths. Hmph! You've really brought a catastrophe upon us this time, kid. Even a hundred-thousand-word reflection won't cut it—you're writing a million words!"

*Holy crap!* That word count was shooting up at a terrifying rate! One million words? Was he planning to have me write an entire epic novel?!

Now was hardly the time to argue. I said, "Let's move out first, those twin-headed serpents are about to crawl over here!"

"Now you know to be scared, huh? Why weren't you scared when you were destroying the formation core?!" Old Man Ma cursed and sputtered. He was genuinely furious this time; in all the time I had known him, I had never seen him this angry—not even when he discovered the villagers were hiding the walking corpses.

Casting a glance over the group, Old Man Ma instructed me, "You two lads go first!"

I had no objections. With Yun Mutian already gone ahead, it was absolute common sense for an insider to take the lead and scout the path, and there was certainly no way we could let Gu Sangong go first. Tuer and I walked toward the exit. Finding my legs somewhat uncooperative, Tuer scrambled up first and reached down to pull me up.

Though this passage sloped upward, the ground wasn't slippery, making the climb relatively manageable.

Tuer held his phone and took the lead at the front. Glancing back, I saw the village chief and Yang Baoshu climbing up as well.

We continued upward. After a short distance, the passageway took a turn like a staircase, switching directions as it pressed onward. This feature only further confirmed that the passage had been artificially excavated.

The possessed corpse used this exact route to ascend to the surface every night, wandering through the mountains before returning to the depths below. Was this passage specially dug just to let it out for some fresh air? That was almost too "thoughtful"! Judging by Old Man Ma's expression, he seemed to have figured something out. I would have to ask him later what all of this actually meant.

Thinking of Old Man Ma inevitably brought back the thought of that million-word self-reflection report. I just hoped he wouldn't set a tight deadline, so that given a month or two, I might actually manage to finish it.

More people filed in behind us one after another. Judging by the voices, it was Yang Guangyu's faction. Old Man Ma had kept Gu Sangong and Yang Guangyu with him at the very rear.

I couldn't care less whether that old scoundrel Gu Sangong lived or died, but I was rather worried about Old Man Ma. His demeanor earlier indicated that the situation was extremely dire; I just prayed nothing went wrong with him lingering at the back.

I couldn't help quickening my pace and urging Tuer to walk faster.

Up ahead, Tuer suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. I immediately halted as well. Under these circumstances, why on earth was this kid stopping now?

"Why aren't you moving? Dammit, do you want us all to die?!" an angry voice barked from behind.

Those bastards! Without even looking at who was protecting them the whole way here, they still acted so insufferably arrogant!

Tuer didn't utter a sound. With a swift sweep of his hand, he grabbed something—a twin-headed serpent about the size of a half-grown child's arm, the very kind that burrowed through the soil!