Chapter 144: Devour

My expression changed drastically.

Shi Changsheng’s words were already crystal clear.

Stepping in here had completely stripped away everything unrelated to my own soul.

On my soul, only the companion ghost remained.

Yet the companion ghost was blocked outside the Baihu Village.

My physical body, too, had completely and thoroughly separated from my soul!

At this moment, once Shi Changsheng returned to my body, he would be able to occupy it without encountering the slightest obstacle!

And Wang Erjun, Zhang Chang, Li Yue, and Granny Li—none of them would be able to tell that I was no longer myself...

If Shi Changsheng wanted to kill them, they wouldn’t even have the slightest guard up!

Thinking of the talisman techniques I knew, Shi Changsheng knew them as well. Not only did he know them, but he had mastered them hundreds of times better than I had. A single Character of Combat talisman from him would definitely kill Wang Erjun, Li Yue, and Granny Li.

Even if Zhang Chang could resist, he would undoubtedly sustain heavy injuries.

Back then, I had only borrowed the aura emanating from Shi Changsheng's clothes, and it was enough to injure Li Canshui.

I clenched my fists tightly and glanced back into the village.

My mother had already run so far away that she was out of sight.

Her Three Corpse Gods returning here probably meant she wanted to resurrect herself as well.

Yet I had no way of knowing if she harbored any other motives.

Catching her now was no longer an easy task.

Hesitating deeply in my heart, I finally made a choice that filled me with agonizing pain.

Dropping straight to my knees, I banged my head heavily against the ground several times facing the village, tears streaming down my face.

"Mother, your son is unfilial! At this moment, my son's friends are in grave danger, and the woman my son loves is having her soul devoured. Your son must go and save them! Once this matter is settled, even if you demand my son's life to repay your affection, your son will never hesitate for even a second!"

Without the slightest pause after finishing, I abruptly stood up and charged toward the village exit!

Boom!

At the village entrance, that invisible barrier didn’t just target the companion ghost or people outside—it targeted even me!

I was violently repelled backward for over a dozen meters. Staggering back to my feet from the ground, my expression turned unimaginably grim.

Unreconciled, I charged forward a second time, yet still failed to pass through...

*Can only enter... cannot exit...*

These six words suddenly drifted into my consciousness.

I clenched my fists tightly, my heart trembling violently.

Suddenly raising my head, I roared at the top of my lungs, "Why! Why won't you let me out! What the hell kind of monster are you! What did you do to Baihu Village!"

This barrier reminded me of the one at Wangjiaya, and of the words Li Canshui had spoken.

It made me think of that terrifying monster lurking beneath Baihu Village!

Yin monkeys had grown on both Wang Erjun and me.

That monster was using those terrifying creatures to bind the people of Baihu Village.

The sky was pitch dark, devoid of sunlight, unable to even reveal the faint light of a new dawn.

Baihu Village had formed a prison—a sequestered cage.

In my heart, a trace of bleakness and despair had already taken root.

I couldn't get out...

Whatever Shi Changsheng intended to do, I had no way to salvage or stop it now...

***

Thinking of this, my heart trembled once more.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in my eyes.

"I refuse to believe you can trap me forever! My soul is sealed by the Three Souls Destiny-Sealing Technique! Even if the Earth Soul and Mortal Soul are unsealed, it grants me the power to devour any ghost! If you won't let me out, then I will devour you!"

I closed my eyes and concentrated with all my might, trying to sense that monster of Baihu Village.

The aura of my soul continuously expanded and spread outward.

Yet I discovered that I could not sense any other presence; instead, I sensed my mother's Three Corpse Gods, which seemed to be in the direction of my home.

I even sensed my father's ghost, as well as Xie Yu and Sister Hui...

Opening my eyes, a feeling of trembling rippled through my soul.

On my father's body, there was the aura of a yin monkey. On Xie Yu—the former crossing-yin fetus—there was also a yin monkey.

Though Sister Hui's aura was faint and thin, a yin monkey still clung to her body.

Moreover, these yin monkeys had grown quite large...

They seemed to be attempting to devour my father and the others as well.

"I know why you're hiding; you're afraid of being seen! The more terrifying your actions, the more it proves how cowardly you truly are! I will definitely find you! Once I devour you, I'll be able to deal with Shi Changsheng."

I headed straight toward the direction of my home at full speed.

Being purely a soul now, my speed seemed to have multiplied countless times.

At this moment, I felt no discomfort whatsoever. Leaving my body actually gave me a sense of liberation—like a fish returning to the water, shedding all constraints.

Furthermore, there was a sense of power—a profound power originating from deep within the soul.

I could clearly sense that a chain was bound around my soul, tightly locking down one side of my body.

That was the seal of the Heavenly Soul within the Three Souls Destiny-Sealing Technique!

And I also possessed the confidence that I could shatter it!

Yet the most important thing right now was to see whether my father and the others were safe and sound.

Soon, I arrived at the doorstep of my home.

My consciousness clearly felt that my mother's Three Corpse Gods were nearby, as if searching for something.

I knew in my heart that what she was searching for was a corpse.

For her, it was the corpse of her true physical body.

Back when we left Baihu Village, we had set up many illusions to protect my mother's corpse.

For a short while, my mother's Three Corpse Gods wouldn't be able to find it, and even if she did, she could at best borrow the corpse to return her soul, unable to truly restore her life.

To return to life, seven ginseng roots were mandatory.

I reached out and shoved open my front door.

The next instant, my scalp went completely numb, and an extreme chill pierced my heart.

My father and Xie Yu were both sitting in the middle of the courtyard, right beside the well.

Their eyes were utterly vacant, and crouching upon their backs was a monkey covered in pitch-black fur!

Those monkeys looked spine-chillingly hideous, their slender limbs tightly gripping my father and Xie Yu's bodies.

Their heads rested on their shoulders, and their jaws were savagely clamped onto their necks.

Their souls were being continuously devoured by the yin monkeys.

The tails of the yin monkeys were swaying in a erratic rhythm.

"Father!" I roared in a hoarse voice.

***

My father did not show the slightest reaction.

Xie Yu's body trembled slightly, a flash of lucidity darting through his eyelids, but the yin monkey on his back seemed to go mad, biting down hard on his neck and sucking greedily.

Xie Yu's eyes instantly turned blank and lifeless once again.

Nearby, Sister Hui's soul was in an even more miserable state.

Back then, she had already burned her soul, and even though it was eventually extinguished before she completely perished, she was left extremely weak.

At this moment, only a tiny yin monkey clung to her body—its black fur not yet fully grown, wrinkled and plastered against its skin.

Yet Sister Hui's soul was already on the verge of shattering.

My expression turned gloomy and grim as I immediately stepped in front of Sister Hui.

Sister Hui was right on the brink of collapse.

The tiny yin monkey saw me, its eyes blazing with ferocious hostility.

Staring fixedly at it, I reached out without hesitation, grabbed its neck, and violently yanked it off Sister Hui's back!

It let out a miserable screech, appearing supremely furious, and swung its claws at my face!

My soul was no longer what it used to be; it couldn't harm me at all.

Instead, a deeper chill gripped my heart: underneath the yin monkey's bottom, a blood-red tendril was burrowing straight into Sister Hui's back!

This was that sinew.

Back when my own yin monkey was removed, as well as Wang Erjun's yin monkey,

a single sinew had run through the meridians and blood vessels of the tiny yin monkeys!

Getting rid of the yin monkey wasn't difficult; the hard part was pulling out this sinew!

My expression turned grim as I pulled outward viciously!

Sister Hui let out a miserable shriek, her soul nearly shattering.

Not daring to move further, I released my grip, and the yin monkey leaped down to the ground, glaring at me threateningly.

Simultaneously, the yin monkeys on my father and Xie Yu also jumped down.

They eyed me with hostility.

Suddenly, they raised their heads and howled like wolves.

My expression changed abruptly, and my hand swept forward in a fierce arc.

Two Characters of Combat talismans instantly materialized!

Earlier, when my soul left my body, it had been my own conscious action.

I had brought the talisman brush with me, and I was also holding the Thousand-Yin Rope.

It was only the soul-nurturing jar that remained at my waist in the physical world.

The Characters of Combat talismans struck the yin monkeys dead-on. Amidst their miserable screeches, a massive bloody gash opened on each of their chests.

Yet the very next instant, those bloody gashes healed themselves.

The physical forms of my father and Xie Yu grew significantly more translucent.

My expression changed drastically once again.

At that moment, a voice echoed beside my ear: "You can't kill them that way. How about we make a deal?"