Chapter 153: Brewing a Catastrophe

After managing to return to the village, the people from other villages who had come to help had all left. However, the supplies prepared beforehand were still there.

Without pausing, we immediately called upon the villagers to slaughter a dog and collect its blood. After smearing the dog's blood on our bodies, we swiftly headed in the direction of the snake den. A large group of us marched imposingly into the woods. Because my legs were in poor shape, I stayed behind in the village. Tuer stayed back with me, which could also be seen as a way to protect the elderly, women, and children in the village in case any stray creatures ran over, and also out of concern that Yun Mutian might come this way.

I still found the matter regarding Yun Mutian quite inconceivable. What on earth is he considered to be now?

A faint vibration came from my body. I was momentarily stunned, then reacted, and following the vibration, I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a talisman—the one containing Sister Yan. The talisman paper was vibrating, and the Yin energy inside was becoming chaotic. How could this be?

"What is going on? What happened to Sister Yan?" I hurriedly asked Tuer.

He took the talisman, examined it, and muttered a few incantations under his breath. The vibration of the spell stopped, and the chaotic Yin energy stabilized as well.

"She was struck by evil Qi," he said.

It was the evil Qi from that snake pit! The Yin and evil energies down there were intense, and Sister Yan had been affected! This guy always had a nonchalant attitude even if the sky were to fall! Heaven knows what the consequences will be.

I asked in a panic, "What happens when someone is struck by evil Qi? Will she be alright?"

Tuer thought for a moment. "She is already a ghost with an incomplete soul. This will intensify her Yin energy, making her even harder to redeem."

Guiding Sister Yan's soul to transcendence was already extremely difficult to begin with; making her even harder to redeem meant that the hope had become even more negligible!

Tuer added, "Actually, the spiritual energy in these mountains is quite abundant. It can nourish her."

I knew that, but I didn't want to do it right under Old Man Ma's nose. In his eyes, this was already straying onto the wrong path, and I didn't want to blatantly perform such actions behind his back.

Besides, if Old Man Ma discovered Sister Yan, he would definitely scatter her soul.

Tuer, that fellow, failed to notice the inner conflict I was going through and continued, "The longer this is dragged out, the harder it will be to handle."

I looked at the talisman in my hand. I genuinely hoped that Sister Yan could recover and go to where she rightfully belonged. This was what I owed her.

The twin-headed snakes did not appear, nor did Yun Mutian show his face. Old Man Ma and his group wandered through the woods for the entire night and only returned close to dawn. Everyone was utterly exhausted, and the black dog blood brought along had been entirely used up.

"Is everything settled?" I asked.

Old Man Ma was exhausted to the bone. "Dead and gone, not a single one left. However, that patch of woods has far too much evil Qi; don't go in there for the next year or year and a half. I'm going to get some rest, so don't disturb me."

Old Man Ma couldn't even be bothered to say much more and walked straight toward his room.

Guo Sangong also went to rest at another villager's home. Everyone was exhausted. Tossing and turning for this long had been thoroughly grueling.

After resting for nearly a full day, we woke up as dusk approached. Guo Sangong was about to leave. Yang Guangyu and his group did not follow him, nor did they come out to see him off. They weren't fools; since Guo Sangong didn't care about their lives, their business venture was probably ruined as well.

Before leaving, Guo Sangong left a warning for Old Man Ma. He would let us have a good New Year and not reveal Old Man Ma's whereabouts here, but after the New Year, things might not be so certain.

From the bottom of my heart, I didn't trust this old fellow. At first, I thought he operated with a code of thieves' honor, but after witnessing his ability to spout utter nonsense, this old guy's credibility had been completely spent.

Old Man Ma showed no particular reaction.

Once Guo Sangong had walked far away, I asked Old Man Ma, "What should we do? There's no way we can trust what that old fellow said."

Old Man Ma's aged eyes flashed with shrewdness, clearly not taking Guo Sangong's parting words to heart either.

He said, "Rest assured, at least for the next few days, he won't blab. Why do you think he was in such a rush to leave?"

"Why?" Wasn't it because the business deal fell through, leaving no reason to stay, so he departed early?

Old Man Ma glanced at me sideways. "Tsk tsk, you kid are usually quite sharp, so how come you've become more and more clueless lately? I've repeatedly told you to be on guard against that fellow Tuer, but you insisted on getting close to him. Look at you, you've been infected by his foolishness so quickly."

"I'm not as smart as you, old master, so just spit it out," I said.

Old Man Ma shook his head, his mind seeming even more convinced that I had been heavily infected by Tuer's foolishness.

"He's in such a rush to leave precisely to search for the possessed Yun Mutian. Given his personality, how could he possibly let go of such a 'treasure' easily?" Old Man Ma said. "How could he possibly let anyone else come here and snatch it from him?"

"Does that mean you knew about his actions beneath the snake pit all along?" I said.

Actually, Old Man Ma was extremely cunning and fundamentally distrusted Guo Sangong's character, so there was no way he would have believed him. My saying this wasn't to verify whether Old Man Ma knew or not, but rather served another purpose.

Old Man Ma squinted at me sideways, as if he had seen right through my thoughts. "When I saw you two together back then, I knew that fellow harbored no good intentions. Do you think I don't know his character? You really take me for a senile old man! However, even if you did it for self-preservation, destroying the array eye and causing a massive blunder, a one-million-word self-reflection report is indispensable. I'll give you three months—submit it to me punctually, or the word count doubles!"

Three months! Averaging it out, that meant writing over ten thousand words every day. I wouldn't need to do anything else, just spend all my time writing self-reflection reports!

"Master, it was my fault, and I accept this punishment of writing a self-reflection, but three months is simply too rushed." I attempted to bargain.

"Then one month! It's settled!" Old Man Ma declared decisively.

I was startled. This old man didn't play by the rules at all! Without even coercing me further, he directly shortened it to a month!

"If you fail to hand it in after one month, you will be expelled from the sect, and from this day forward, don't ever consider yourself my disciple!" Old Man Ma stated firmly.

It seemed he was genuinely furious about this matter. Although I didn't know how he and Guo Sangong managed to deal with those snakes, it must have been extremely tricky. Moreover, quite a few people had died because of it, and by a twist of fate, the final step of forging the three-headed snake had even been completed.

I said no more, lest I anger Old Man Ma further and prompt him to devise some other punishment. In any case, he hadn't specified that the self-reflection had to be written in my own hand. Since it was the New Year now, all the young people in the village had returned, so I would just consider it spending money to avert a disaster.

Old Man Ma's anger grew even more intense. "Do you have any idea how huge of a disaster you've caused! Yun Mutian alone is a menace. If that three-headed snake had simply stayed down below, the problem wouldn't have been quite so severe. Now that it has escaped and possessed a corpse, walking around looking human, heaven knows what kind of havoc it will wreak! If that fellow surnamed Guo manages to track it down, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

Had I known this would be the outcome, I wouldn't have done it. But saying anything now was just hindsight; the deed was done, and all I could do was try my best to make amends.