Chapter 149: Qiongqi

The ground of Baihu Village was no longer ordinary rural soil; it had become an ash-white expanse, resembling the hide of some unknown creature.

Trees took root within this hide.

All the houses were likewise built upon this layer of skin.

The Yin monkeys surrounding the houses had also turned ash-white in color, their pupils a desolate gray.

Beneath every Yin monkey lay a single vein of blood.

These blood veins faintly touched the earth below, forming a complete and seamless connection.

An endless, suffocating aura of death permeated the entire Baihu Village.

This aura of death also originated from deep beneath the ground.

I remained silent for a very long time.

Everything in the whole of Baihu Village rested upon the back of Qiongqi.

Qiongqi was dead, and what rose from it was the aura of death.

Yet its soul was soon to return from the cycle of reincarnation.

With every cycle of reincarnation that Qiongqi underwent, its numbers increased by one; and with every additional form, its strength multiplied.

The corpse designed by Shi Changsheng had already undergone reincarnation dozens of times. Did this not mean that Qiongqi had also been reincarnated dozens of times?

Standing at the courtyard entrance, I quickly unraveled this chain of cause and effect.

A lifespan of just over forty days was designed precisely to restrict Qiongqi.

A lifespan is ordained by Heaven, and a destiny has its appointed end.

For those who met a violent death whose allotted span of mortal days was not yet exhausted, borrowing a corpse allowed them to return from the dead.

But for those whose mortal days were truly spent, they had to descend to the Underworld for reincarnation; otherwise, the Yin Messengers of the netherworld would come to harvest their souls.

My mother had employed a forbidden method to burn away her allotted lifespan.

After her death, her soul remained trapped within the corpse, borrowing it to linger in the world of the living.

Now, the Three Cadaver Gods also required the虚续命 of blood ginseng to prolong their existence.

If Qiongqi were to enter Xie Yu’s body, its lifespan would likewise be restricted to a maximum of forty-nine days.

And now, only ten days remained.

Faintly, my body felt a sense of rejection—a consequence of the vessel being forged from heart's blood, which prevented it from fully fusing with my soul.

Even though my destiny soul existed, it had already been deeply integrated into the fabric of my own soul.

What I needed to do right now was to force open a path out of Baihu Village.

Leave this place, find my own body, and return to it!

Otherwise, once Qiongqi returned, it would seize this body. At that moment, my soul would be devoured by it, and I would inevitably meet the very fate that Shi Changsheng had carefully orchestrated.

Yet once I left this place, upon the return of Qiongqi's soul, it would not remain in Baihu Village, but would instead pursue me relentlessly.

The absolute limit of its range was Wangjiaya.

This was the constraint imposed by the heart's blood; it was utterly impossible to venture beyond the boundaries of Wangjiaya.

Compared to holding me back, however, the restrictions of Baihu Village posed a far lesser barrier to this physical body.

With this realization, I resolved to cast aside my hesitation and leave this place to find Shi Changsheng. He was no longer my match.

Once I reclaimed my body, Qiongqi would only march toward its own destruction if it dared to usurp Xie Yu's flesh!

I began walking toward the outskirts of the village.

The Yin monkeys glared at me with covetous eyes on all sides.

They were all eager to close in, itching for a chance to strike, yet none dared to take a step forward.

I felt a surge of doubt. I had no intention of letting them off, merely waiting for the opportune moment to wipe out all the Yin monkeys in one fell swoop.

I could not possibly kill every single one of them scattered throughout the village, but at least within this immediate vicinity, I could manage it.

The soul energy consumed by the blood ginseng could be entirely replenished through this harvest.

Moreover, it would weaken Qiongqi to some extent.

By the time I reached the very center of the village, over a thousand Yin monkeys had surrounded me—virtually the entire population of Baihu Village gathered in one place.

A colossal Yin monkey blocked the path ahead.

This particular Yin monkey was exceptionally eerie. Standing three zhang tall, it bore a tiny, protruding lump right at the base of its neck.

A chill of dread gripped my heart. Could this Yin monkey have already undergone a single cycle of reincarnation? Was it transforming into Qiongqi?

Since the Yin monkeys were fundamentally fragments of Qiongqi’s soul, seeing this phenomenon did not entirely surprise me.

Its body was not the lifeless ash-white of the others, but a striking, mottled blend of black and crimson.

It stared at me fixedly, muttering in a low, rumbling voice: "Our lives are the life of our True Body. We shall await the return of our True Body's soul! Those who attempt to flee shall die!"

Without a moment's hesitation, I raised my hand and flicked out a Soul-Suppressing Talisman.

At the exact same instant, another protruding lump on the Yin monkey's shoulder stretched upward dramatically.

My expression shifted violently. This was no stranger; it bore an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Wang, who had previously stayed in our village.

Had his corpse and soul also been devoured by the Yin monkey?

Could the Yin monkeys devour even those who were not natives of Baihu Village?

In the brief moment I was stunned, Mr. Wang abruptly raised both hands, forming a bizarre hand seal.

Instantly, a black-and-red rune materialized before the Yin monkey, squarely intercepting my Soul-Suppressing Talisman.

The Yin monkey let out a fierce roar, and the black-and-red rune flared with immense power. My Soul-Suppressing Talisman began to slowly disintegrate under its pressure, failing to inflict the slightest injury.

Astonishment rippled through me. My Soul-Suppressing Talisman, cast with my soul completely intact, was actually proving ineffective?

The next moment, the Yin monkey roared once more.

The smaller Yin monkeys lingering around us all tilted their heads back and howled, echoing its thunderous cry.

Aside from the deafening noise, I felt my soul tremble violently. My body developed a strange adhesive quality, as if countless hands were rising from the ground beneath my feet, trying to drag me down.

My expression hardened dramatically as I rapidly traced several more Soul-Suppressing Talistans into the air!

Mr. Wang immediately countered by drawing his own runes.

Yet by the time I cast the third talisman, I noticed an unmistakable anomaly: the Yin monkey's physical form was beginning to shrink.

From three zhang tall, it dropped to two zhang, and the oppressive aura radiating from it plummeted by more than half.

"You are also drawing talistans with the power of your soul? Unfortunately for you, your talistans are far inferior to mine!"

I shouted sharply, suddenly unleashing a Combat Talisman!

With a dull, resounding boom, every single rune drawn by Mr. Wang was instantly shattered by the Combat Talisman.

I surged forward in a rapid charge, tracing a Fusion Talisman out of thin air.

The Fusion Talisman manifested a phantom clone of my soul, allowing me to instantly cast three more Soul-Suppressing Talistans.

The Yin monkey was forced back step by step. But right at that moment, the surrounding lesser Yin monkeys hurled themselves toward its body.

They fused with it instantly, restoring the giant Yin monkey to its previous formidable power in the blink of an eye. Even more horrifyingly, a third head was faintly sprouting from its neck!

My face drained of color. For this third head bore an unmistakable resemblance to Li Cangshui!

Though it could not possibly be Li Cangshui himself, the facial features were four or five parts similar!

And as this Li Cangshui lookalike slowly opened its eyes,

I felt an immediate sensation of being completely laid bare, as if every secret of my mind and body had been exposed.

A peculiar, exotic fragrance suddenly drifted into my nostrils. A wave of profound alarm washed over me. When I had first encountered Li Cangshui, he had used this very technique in an attempt to control me and extract the secret art of stealing lifespans.

Stealing lifespans?

The thought hit me like a thunderbolt, filling me with absolute horror!

Deep within my memories, the method for pilfering mortal lifespans was still vividly recorded.

If I were swallowed by Qiongqi, it would acquire the secret art of stealing lifespans. In that case, the ten-day limit would no longer pose any restriction upon it at all.

I was nothing more than a medicinal formula meant to unlock its eternal life!

A surge of intense terror and disquiet welled up within my chest.

Had Xie Yu truly surrendered his life to me with absolute goodwill?

Had Qiongqi’s heart's blood truly left no residual influence upon him whatsoever?

Was my occupation of this body, coupled with my possession of the longevity-stealing secret art, merely a coincidence?

Shaken to my core, I forcefully rallied a sliver of clarity and composure.

With no other viable options left, I had already deployed three of the four supreme talistans—Suppression, Fusion, and Combat—yet none had achieved the desired effect.

The talisman brush in my hand began to trace an entirely different, highly specialized rune.

Beneath the character for 'Corpse' lay the character for 'Death'!

The moment the rune was successfully completed, it hurtled directly toward the Yin monkey, stamping itself squarely upon the center of its head.

Instantly, I felt my own lifespan drain away at a terrifying speed, sacrificing a full third of my remaining days.

Conversely, the Yin monkey's body began to rapidly wither and decay.

On its left shoulder was Mr. Wang.

On its right was the entity resembling Li Cangshui.

At this moment, the expressions of both figures twisted into masks of furious agony, and they too began to age rapidly.

Feeling my mental clarity instantly return, I lunged forward toward the village exit without a moment's hesitation.

Sensing my escape, the remaining Yin monkeys lunged at me with suicidal frenzy.

With one hand I frantically drew talistans, while with the other I fought off the monkeys lunging directly at me, directly devouring their souls to fuel my own.

Alternating between consumption and expenditure, by the time I blasted my way to the village boundary, my soul was completely bloated to its absolute capacity.

It even felt as though I had absorbed too much, teetering on the verge of shattering apart.

Daring not to consume any more, I could only rely on frantic, continuous talisman casting.

Yet the sheer number of Yin monkeys and their berserk tenacity proved overwhelming; my body was soon covered in crawling figures. Still, draining my soul was no easy feat for them.

My soul was simply too vast; several Yin monkeys that tried to absorb me ended up exploding from the sheer overload of spiritual pressure.

Just before breaking through the final threshold, I let out a furious roar and burst completely out of the village.

The burden crushing my entire being instantly evaporated.

Dazzling, blinding sunlight washed over me. I spun around to look back.

The Yin monkeys frantically tried to charge out after me, but only managed to thrust a single arm past the boundary, with only a handful of the most powerful ones managing to force half their bodies through.

My heart hammered violently. My spiritual perception could feel the giant Yin monkey inside the village charging furiously toward the exit.

Daring not to pause for even a second, I broke into a frantic sprint toward Wangjiaya.