Chapter 137: Sudden Change

My expression changed completely.

The man inside the coffin had come out?

Staring into the pitch-black tunnel, I clenched my fists tightly.

Or could it be that some other unexpected change had occurred here?

That man indeed had breath, but he shouldn't have any lingering soul left; all of his souls had already been devoured by me.

Otherwise, Old Master Wang wouldn't have pinned all his hopes on me.

Otherwise, why would he have made Chanshu wait for so long?

Having witnessed many other things during the time I was away, I made a judgment in an instant: most likely, some other change had taken place here.

Just like inside the Suppressing Yin Mountain, where that group of people died within the Sage's Cave.

There was also a very slim possibility that the corpse had indeed woken up, and he had truly left some preparations behind.

Preparations that neither Old Master Wang nor Chanshu knew about.

I slowly forced my breathing to steady.

Regardless of which outcome it was, I had to face it.

The talisman brush appeared in my hand.

Taking a deep breath, I walked straight into the tunnel.

The interior of the pitch-black cave walls was exceptionally bone-chilling, far colder than the last time by who knows how many times.

I did not walk fast, remaining prepared at every moment.

When I reached the end of the tunnel, the stone wall had already been opened.

The stone chamber was completely empty, with nothing left inside, and that coffin had vanished into thin air.

Quiet—silence to the extreme, so quiet that even the drop of a pin could almost be heard.

The sound of my own breathing became exceptionally clear.

After carefully searching the stone chamber once, I found no useful clues or traces.

A sense of gloom began to sink into my heart.

Things, I feared, were not as easy or simple as I had imagined.

Even if a group of people like the one in the Suppressing Yin Mountain appeared, it would be nearly impossible for them to move the coffin away.

Without pausing any further, I left the stone chamber directly and prepared to return to Wang Erjun's house.

The changes that had taken place here were something I had to report; we needed to make thorough preparations.

The weather outside was fine and the sun was bright.

The sunlight felt exceptionally warm shining on my face.

Yet my heart could not warm up; it was shrouded entirely in gloom.

If he had truly awakened, and if he truly possessed a backup plan, then it was bound to be a life-or-death struggle between him and me.

Had he entered the Ghost Granny's house, and had Chanshu been rescued?

Touching the jade pendant against my chest, my face turned somewhat pale.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

If Chanshu had been rescued, it meant they had reunited.

What if he hadn't gone to save Chanshu?

Then what choice should I make?

Should I kill him, letting all of this vanish into thin air, keeping Chanshu completely ignorant of the matter?

Or... should I make a different choice?

I stood rigidly in place, gripping the jade pendant tightly.

Having been constantly on the road, this question had actually existed ever since I discovered that man's coffin and found that he still had breath.

It was just that I kept stalling and hadn't made a definitive decision yet.

Give up Chanshu, or disregard everything and choose another way to stay with her?

A way that would make Xie Yuan vanish into the dust forever.

I no longer had any time to stall; not only for my own safety and the safety of Wang Erjun and the others, but also for the sake of saving my mother.

Making a decision immediately was the only choice.

My breathing shifted from steady to extremely rapid, and I gripped the jade pendant even harder.

A faint coolness suddenly came from the position of my arm.

The companion ghost crawled out from my arm. The lines of blood on its body had grown significantly, and a layer of fascia had even appeared over its bare bones.

It quietly looked at me. Although there was only a ball of soul fire within its eye sockets, I could still clearly sense its consciousness.

It was asking me what was wrong.

Over this period of time, I had also grown used to the presence of the companion ghost.

When all was said and done, the companion ghost had saved me many times.

Yet what made my heart constrict was that the companion ghost did not belong to me either; it belonged to that man.

I had merely stripped away everything that was his.

The decision was far too difficult.

At that moment, a terrified roar suddenly echoed in my ears.

The voice belonged to none other than Gama, who had just parted ways with me!

My expression changed drastically.

Had Gama not already left the village?

Why hadn't he left, and why was he back?

The terror in that roar was genuine and raw, leaving me no time to overthink. I immediately broke into a sprint toward the mountain pass.

Within a few minutes, I reached the mountain pass.

Gama hadn't left...

Or rather, his car was still parked near the outer exit of Wangjia Pass.

I didn't see Gama himself, only the jeep.

The roaring sound had already vanished.

Lowering my breathing, I walked up to the jeep.

What caused my expression to change slightly was the realization that I could no longer walk out.

At the exit of Wangjia Pass, there was an invisible barrier blocking my path.

Turning my head to look at the jeep, I noticed that the front end of the vehicle looked as though it had collided with a rock, badly dented.

There was blood inside the car.

Gama was not inside.

Grasping the subduing talisman in my hand, I shouted loudly, "Gama!"

The ominous churning in my heart erupted completely.

Yet the mountain pass was silent to a terrifying degree. In such a vast expanse, even the chirping of birds seemed absent.

My heart skipped a beat.

I violently whipped my head around to look at the nearby woods.

Birdcalls!

A chill crept up my spine, and a sudden feeling of dread surged within my heart.

The one thing never lacking in mountain forests was the sound of birds and insects.

Only then did I realize what was wrong.

Ever since I returned to Wangjia Pass, the sound of birdcalls along the way had completely vanished, and not even the chirping of insects had sounded once.

In a village, such a thing was simply impossible.

I shouted Gama's name out loud once more.

Still, there was no response.

I did not linger in place. Something had happened to Gama, and Wangjia Pass definitely had a problem!

I quickly walked toward Wang Erjun's house.

Within a dozen minutes, I arrived outside the courtyard of Wang Erjun's house.

At that moment, Aunt Wang and the others were no longer in the courtyard.

Wang Erjun, Zhang Chang, Li Yue, and others were walking out of the courtyard.

Besides them, there was one more person.

Granny Li!

Granny Li was leaning on her walking stick, and she was visibly much older than before.

When she raised her head, our gazes met. Granny Li smiled and said, "Child, you're back."

My heart skipped a beat once more, for I had an indescribable feeling.

It was as if this Granny Li also gave me a slightly unfamiliar sensation.

"It's good that you're back, good that you're back. Some matters must eventually be resolved, and a period should finally be put to them."

Granny Li did not linger; instead, she walked toward Ghost Granny's house.

Wang Erjun and Li Yue quickly walked up to my side.

Wang Erjun whispered in my ear that they had just been discussing some matters regarding Ghost Granny's house.

Granny Li was going to prepare to lift the talisman array and thoroughly deal with Ghost Granny.

I shook my head and said, "Something is wrong with the village, and something has happened to Gama."

As the words fell, Wang Erjun's expression changed.

Li Yue's expression shifted slightly as well, and she asked, "What happened to Gama?"

Zhang Chang also halted, his brow furrowing slightly as he said, "Didn't you send him out? The village currently appears very clean—so clean that not a single ghost is to be found."

I truthfully recounted how, after seeing Gama to the village entrance, I had gone to another place.

I discovered that unexpected changes had occurred there, and other events must have transpired in Wangjia Pass.

Just as I was investigating inside and preparing to come out to warn everyone to be careful, I heard Gama's screams.

And after I found Gama's jeep, I discovered that Gama himself had vanished, leaving behind only a pool of blood.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Zhang Chang and said word for word, "Wangjia Pass can no longer be left."

Zhang Chang's expression suddenly turned grave as he asked, "What do you mean?"

I recounted the invisible barrier at the village entrance once more.

Wang Erjun and Li Yue exchanged glances.

Zhang Chang was silent for a moment before suddenly saying, "I'm going to the village entrance to take a look."

I furrowed my brow and said, "No, going alone is too dangerous."

Zhang Chang smiled and said, "No ghost can harm me."

I paused for a moment, raised my hand, and drew a talisman on the back of my hand—a talisman to block the perception of the companion ghost.

Shaking my head at Zhang Chang again, I said, "If that thing is not a ghost, it can harm you, and even kill you. None of us present can block it, nor can we escape it. Therefore, we cannot separate; we must gather together now and figure out what on earth has happened here."

With that said, I turned my head to look at Granny Li.

I always felt as though Granny Li was no longer herself.

At that moment, Granny Li had already arrived in front of Ghost Granny's house, standing quietly as if lost in thought.