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Chapter 16: Walking Dead

Several figures surrounded a person lying on the ground. Upon hearing movement behind them, they all instinctively turned around.

Xia Chenyu clearly saw their faces—dark, ashen faces, pale eyeballs, and skin exposed from tattered clothes, covered with red marks, much like the child he had seen earlier.

They were no longer human. In fact, they were more like monsters.

The most terrifying thing was that each of them had blood dripping from their mouths, and the person on the ground was covered in blood and bite marks, already dead.

Xia Chenyu instinctively covered his mouth and took a few steps back. Before he could even step out of the doorway, the figures in front of him opened their blood-soaked mouths and rushed at him.

He quickly drew his sword and instinctively swung it to defend himself. After several dull sounds, the figures fell to the ground.

Xia Chenyu naturally thought they were dead, but not long after, the bodies on the ground shakily stood up and charged at him more fiercely.

Were these even humans?

He retreated in horror, eventually stepping back onto the small path outside the ancestral hall.

A familiar voice echoed in his ears: “Sever the neck.”

Following the senior’s guidance, Xia Chenyu steadied himself. After several swift sword swings, the figures on the ground were once again motionless.

The child not far away stared blankly at him, then suddenly rushed over, grabbing his wrist and running.

“Where are you taking me?” Xia Chenyu asked while running.

The child didn’t answer, only running ahead until they reached a large estate. The gates were tightly shut, and strange, terrifying screeches came from inside, as though something was locked inside.

Xia Chenyu glanced back at the child. “Wait here, stay far away.”

He then leaped onto the wall, looking down to see a shocking scene in the yard.

There were crowds of people moving like zombies. Some were banging on the estate doors, while others tried to climb the walls.

They all looked like the ones he had just killed—haggard faces, covered in bloodstains.

When those monsters saw Xia Chenyu on the wall, they became crazed, charging madly against the estate door and walls.

He jumped down and walked back to the child. “Is everyone in the village here?”

The child shook his head.

Xia Chenyu thought for a moment. “Did you bring me here to eliminate them?”

The child finally nodded.

Seeing this scene, Xia Chenyu began to deduce that the villagers must be controlled by demonic energy, which causes them to lose their sanity. The villagers likely locked away those who lost control.

That meant there were likely other villagers inside.

“Take me to find the others.”

The child hesitated but nodded and ran ahead.

They arrived at a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the village. The child dashed inside, and Xia Chenyu hurriedly followed.

Inside, people were coming and going, a stark contrast to the outside’s desolation. However, Xia Chenyu noticed that everyone’s eyes were covered with a white membrane, varying in intensity.

Each person was unable to speak.

Some, seeing him, ran off in fear, hiding in the back hall or behind stronger individuals.

An elderly man grabbed him, making incoherent sounds and gesturing with his hands. Xia Chenyu guessed, “You’re hiding here?”

“Do you want me to save you?” he deciphered the desperate gestures. “But how do I do it?”

He had never dealt with such a situation.

After feeling the elderly man’s pulse, Xia Chenyu frowned. Although it was faint, he could feel the old man’s vitality slowly fading, while the demonic energy grew stronger.

He also checked the child, who showed the same symptoms.

Was it due to the demonic energy? He recalled the exorcism methods from his books and tried to expel the demonic energy from the child.

He chanted a spell, his palm hovering above the child’s head. Visible, pure spiritual energy flowed into the child’s Baihui point.

Xia Chenyu could feel the spiritual energy clashing with the demonic energy inside the child, but for some reason, it seemed as though there was a force inside the child continually devouring the spiritual energy he was injecting—like an endless abyss. No matter how much energy he poured in, it was immediately consumed.

At this rate, he would be powerless once he ran out of energy.

He sighed and said to the child, “Sorry, I can’t expel the demonic energy. Let me think of another way.”

At that moment, the elderly man gestured again. After a long time of pondering, Xia Chenyu guessed, “Do you want me to take you out?”

The elderly man nodded.

Could it be that they couldn’t leave? But Xia Chenyu hadn’t encountered any obstacles on the way here. No strangers had been seen in the village. Who could be blocking their exit?

The child led him to the back mountain of the temple, signaling him to continue forward.

Xia Chenyu walked a few steps but suddenly ran into an invisible wall.

The instant they collided, a glowing arc appeared on the ground. Looking around, he saw that the arc extended as far as his eyes could see. Moments later, the glow disappeared.

He realized that the villagers couldn’t leave because a massive formation enveloped the entire village. The back mountain was at the edge of this formation.

The moment he stepped through the village gate, he had entered the formation. This formation only allowed entry, not exit.

He raised his fingers and cast a soul-identifying technique. When he opened his eyes, everything around him seemed covered by a red haze.

The once-transparent formation now glowed white under the soul technique’s influence, and above, a massive, translucent sphere covered the sky.

Fine streams of air moved slowly toward the formation wall. These were the life forces being drawn out and disappearing into the formation.

If this formation wasn’t broken, the villagers’ life force would be drained, and they would eventually become mindless zombies under the control of the demonic energy.

He began to break the formation by pointing to the sky. A beam of light shot upward, creating a circle that slowly expanded and fell, outlining the formation’s shape.

The light circle landed, outlining the formation’s boundary, and the entire village was within it.

However, his attempt to break the formation seemed futile. The formation remained intact.

Worse still, the child nearby showed pain and began clutching their head.

“What’s wrong?” Xia Chenyu asked anxiously.

The child continued to roll on the ground. Xia Chenyu checked the child’s pulse and was shocked. The demonic energy inside the child had become chaotic and violent, accelerating its attack on the body.

Could his attempt to break the formation have caused a backlash?

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