Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Evil Meets Its Match
Wu Chang tied his horse outside and stepped into the fog alone.
Visibility within the fog was very low, and a damp smell immediately hit him, mixed with a faint burnt odor and a slight scent of blood.
All around was deathly still; he could only hear his own breathing, as if the fog had already turned into a land of the dead.
He held the Silver Dawn in one hand and the Soul Cleansing Banner in the other, vigilant of the surrounding fog.
Under normal circumstances, when the temperature drops to a certain point, the moisture in the air would condense, causing the humidity in the environment to decrease.
Near Chen Family Village, the cold was bone-chilling, with temperatures likely below twenty degrees below zero; at this temperature, dense fog could still form in the air, suggesting something odd in the fog.
As he ventured deeper into the mist, subtle noises began to appear beside his ears.
A dull creaking sound, like a foot sinking into snow, the sound was right beside him, but when he followed it, there was nothing there.
Only a series of sporadic footprints appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly.
Still quite shy.
Wu Chang did not entangle with the follower behind him, continuing into the fog, and before long he saw the silhouette of Chen Family Village.
Chen Family Village was built on the mountain, and the overall building layout was distributed in gradients. To facilitate trade, the villagers built a small town at the foot of the mountain.
At its most bustling, the popularity here was comparable to normal towns outside the mountains. However, following the ravages of the mountain bandits, Chen Family Village fell quiet, and the previous prosperity could only reappear at the end of the spring and autumn seasons each year.
The town was in a dreadful state, as if it had experienced warfare.
The town gate was violently broken, with the four-meter-high solid wooden door splintered into three pieces; from the break marks, it appeared to be shattered by a massive blunt force.
Nearly half the houses were burnt to charcoal, and each time the mountain wind blew, it would stir up a cloud of black soot.
Chen Family Village was known for its martial culture and resisted fiercely during the surprise attack.
The streets and the walls of the houses were marked with spattered bloodstains and scars from swords and knives.
Strangely, compared to the chaotic battle condition of the town, it was too clean inside the town, with not a single corpse in sight.
Who was so conscientious as to stay behind and clean up after the battle?
He followed the street forward, checking each house, and upon searching the seventh household, he found a patch of faint red resentment in the backyard.
Below the resentment was a concealed root cellar, with its door completely frozen from the outside.
Smashing the ice shell open, he had just opened the door when he found a corpse dressed as a traveling merchant collapsed behind the door.
The traveling merchant did not starve to death, nor did he freeze to death, but lay on the ground with his face covered in blood, seemingly having harmed himself to death.
Let me see what’s going on.
A scene unfolded within the resentment, showing him a glimpse of what happened to Chen Family Village.
The battle occurred at midnight; that night, the traveling merchant had just lain down in bed when he heard shouts and cries of killing outside.
He hurriedly dressed and opened the door, seeing the sky outside lit by flames, and from afar, he saw a dozen young and strong men from Chen Family Village surrounding a four-meter-high ghost-faced ape in the center.
The ghost-faced ape bore a resemblance to the mountain demon mentioned by Liu Shan; the mountain demon’s body flickered with yellow light, impervious to blades and spears. It swiftly slaughtered the surrounding young men of Chen Family Village within a few exchanges.
Seeing the demon’s terrifying form, he dared not step outside, quickly hiding in the root cellar, praying to escape the disaster.
Before long, the shouts of killing outside grew weaker, as if everything had passed.
But suddenly, fog arose in the village, creeping into the root cellar through the cracks.
In the fog, the traveling merchant’s mind became exceptionally sensitive. He began to fear his surroundings, only daring to sit by the root cellar door holding a fire stick.
He did not dare to look back, as if in the darkness behind him hid the most terrifying thing in the world.
As time passed, his body began to tremble, his expression turning from tense to uneasy, uneasy to panic, and finally to collapse and madness.
He desperately wanted to escape, even if it meant being discovered and killed by the demon outside.
He tried to open the door to escape, only to find it frozen shut. He pounded the door forcefully, but it did not budge.
When his hand was too damaged to pound anymore, he began ramming the door with his body, and when he was too exhausted to charge, he lay behind the door, continuously pounding with his head, biting, rubbing his face...
It was only after he exhausted his last bit of strength that he died in terror, unclear whether from fatigue or fright.
The scene went black, and Wu Chang withdrew from the visions of resentment.
The fog enveloping Chen Family Village indeed had something strange, as the traveling merchant merely prolonged exposure led him to mental collapse and death.
It was only because of his will, which was dozens of times stronger than an ordinary person, and the Soul Cleansing Banner in his hand, that he did not realize the eeriness of the fog.
In subsequent investigations, he found another seven or eight bodies; their deaths were similar to the traveling merchant’s, all dying from self-inflicted harm under the influence of the fog.
Unfortunately, these people did not generate resentment, so he could not obtain more information.
Estimating the nearing darkness, he abandoned a thorough search, released his perception, entered a near-meditative state, trying to find clues using inspiration stronger than will.
In a trance, he felt the Soul Cleansing Banner flutter slightly, as if attracted by something.
Following the guidance of the Soul Cleansing Banner, he came to the side of the town close to the mountain.
This place used to be Chen Family Village’s warehouse and trade ground, where mountain villagers would transport hoarded goods for sale to traveling merchants entering the mountains.
But now the trade ground had turned into a slaughterhouse.
What was originally for storing mountain goods was now piled with dead villagers from Chen Family Village, with thousands of young men arranged neatly, surrounded by bone-chilling icy fog, turning it into a giant freezer.
Oh no, even the demon is here to seize the mountain goods.
While lamenting the demon’s extravagance, Wu Chang quickly noticed a problem.
When watching the traveling merchant’s resentment, he hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Chen Family Village. But now, the more he looked at the thousands of Chen Family Village villagers lined up, the more unlike good people they seemed.
The dead in the village were all young men, which could be explained by Chen Family Village having sent women and children away.
Each young man was robust and muscular, which could be explained by frequently traversing the mountain roads, ensuring thorough training.
Seventy percent of them bore knife scars or other injuries, which could be explained by fierce mountain beasts.
But how to explain the plethora of swords, spears, and halberds strewn across the ground?
Even if this were a parallel plane, hoarding a thousand weapons is still rebellion, right?
Moreover, considering the physical prowess of Chen Family Village villagers, this level of force far exceeds self-defense, making it not too much to say they were private soldiers raised by some force.
Considering these points, a bold idea appeared in Wu Chang’s mind.
Could it be that the so-called Chen Family Village is actually the Black Mountain Bandits who fled into Huai Mountain?
If Chen Family Village were indeed the Black Mountain Bandits on the wanted list, then as bandits being slaughtered by a demon, it reflects the saying "evil will be met with evil."
The villagers of Chen Family Village were all robust, with vigorous energy; after death, the likelihood of generating resentment was extremely high.
Through the villagers’ resentment, Wu Chang fully understood the dramatic changes Chen Family Village experienced.
Five days ago was the day to return the palace lanterns to Huai Valley Village.
The villagers and traveling merchants in town linked arms, eating meat and drinking in large mouthfuls, discussing whether, given the recent government relaxation towards Huai Mountain, they should increase the biennial trade fairs to four times a year.
As everyone drank heartily, suddenly, the formation for dispelling demons in the village ruptured, and the lights on the surrounding towers extinguished simultaneously.
Amidst the chaos, the mountain demon suddenly broke in at some unknown time, along with five or six demons, massacring the entire Chen Family Village.
Among them were two demons Wu Chang had seen before, the gate-guarding demon couple he encountered at the black inn upon entering the plane.
No wonder it looked like a meat-storage freezer here; seems the gate-guarding demons’ professional compulsion acted up.
Recalling the five or six demons that appeared in the resentment, Wu Chang felt a headache.
From needing to deal with one evil spirit, it became necessary to eliminate an entire team of demons — is this the difficulty fluctuation caused by the plane’s contamination?
However, from the time he entered Chen Family Village until now he had not been attacked, indicating these demons likely had already left.
While they were away, he needed to act quickly.
Having collected enough information through the resentment, he left the trade ground, only to see the fog enveloping the village swirling into a vortex, condensing into a body in the clearing in the town center.
Sharp cold and murderous intent rushed toward him.
Wu Chang shrugged; it seemed the demons left one behind to guard the place.