Chapter 91: Essential for Romance, but Quite Useless
On the grass directly ahead, cattle and sheep were scattered about.
In the background, there were many silhouettes among the village houses. Men dressed in coarse linen clothes were slaughtering chickens and sheep, women were picking vegetables and washing clothes, and children were playing and chasing one another. It was a scene of great bustle and activity.
A natural secret realm being opened for only the second time shouldn’t have any indigenous inhabitants. So where did these people come from?
Judging by the number, there were quite a few of them.
“This…” Zhou Rurong’s face was slightly pale. Not knowing what she had seen, she took a step back, standing between Feng Shi and Xie Anhui, her gaze flickering.
Feng Shi found her reaction strange. He looked at the people around him and discovered that every single one of them had an odd, even ugly, expression. They were staring intently at the group of people ahead, their breathing becoming rapid.
“Did you all discover something?” Feng Shi asked directly, his heart filled with doubt.
He was too lazy to ask the system. He knew the system would appear on its own when it truly wanted to give him information; asking now would likely only yield an answer telling him to explore on his own.
Feng Shi’s voice snapped the group out of their daze.
Everyone lowered their heads, all of them hesitating to speak. Only Xiang Fang, the guide with the mustache who had been the first to speak, had already returned to a normal expression.
He explained with a forced laugh, “It’s nothing. We’re just surprised that people are living in this secret realm. But these indigenous people are usually unwelcoming to outsiders. It’s better if we bypass them, haha.”
Xiang Fang’s eyes crinkled as he gave a simple smile, but Feng Shi could see the tiny beads of sweat seeping from the roots of the hair on his forehead.
Nervousness, fear.
He was lying.
Feng Shi narrowed his eyes, cradling Wucheng. Two slender fingers tapped rhythmically on the sword’s body as his gaze drifted across the slightly guilty faces of those around him.
“I have no objection,” a young female disciple from the Hehuan Sect spoke up timidly.
“Neither do I,” Wang Xin from Duanqi Peak immediately echoed.
He was built like a bear, but at this moment, a flash of terror actually appeared on his face, as if he couldn’t wait to escape this place.
Xiang Fang gave a cynical laugh upon hearing this and turned to leave. He was stopped by Feng Shi, who pressed his sword against him. “Don’t be in such a hurry, Senior. We’re here to find treasure. How can we leave without even trying?”
Shen Songhe had been walking on the ground since entering the secret realm, no longer resting on the flying carpet. He approached and whispered into Feng Shi’s ear, “They recognize those people.”
Feng Shi had naturally discovered this as well. He raised an eyebrow. “You all recognize them, don’t you?”
After speaking, he turned his head to ask Xiao Yuhui, who had remained relatively calm. “Is that right, Shixiong?”
Xiao Yuhui didn’t want to deceive Feng Shi. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. “There are indeed people I recognize.”
The others lowered their heads and remained silent.
Feng Shi looked into the distance. The busy people there had clearly noticed them as well and were walking toward them with beaming smiles.
“However,” Xiao Yuhui’s tone shifted. “The people I recognize… should already be dead.”
As soon as these words were uttered, the atmosphere instantly became eerie.
Feng Shi scanned the group. He saw that some of their faces were slightly pale with disbelief, while others had tight jaws and sweat on their brows. He then looked back at the “indigenous people” walking toward them.
He scrutinized them carefully.
Hiss…
There did seem to be two faces that looked familiar to him.
Suddenly, two more figures walked over from the back. This time Feng Shi saw them clearly, and his pupils couldn’t help but contract.
These two were actually Elder Qi’s son, who had been killed by Feng Shi in the Monster Mountain Range two years ago, and Yan Ze.
Counting the big ones and the small ones, every single person who had once died at Feng Shi’s hands was here.
At this moment, he finally understood what the group before him was afraid of.
“It seems everyone has seen the people they once killed.”
So, their previous fear must have been guilt, because they had killed people they shouldn’t have.
Feng Shi, on the other hand, felt there was nothing to be afraid of. Anyway, the people he killed were all people he believed deserved to die; he didn’t feel guilty.
Thinking this way, those few people—except for Yan Ze—all had very punchable smiles…
“Everyone, there’s no need to be afraid. The dead cannot be brought back to life; their previous deaths were also their fate. Such a strange phenomenon here must be hiding a treasure. Wouldn’t it be better if we all worked together to kill these people and then took the treasure?”
The mustached Xiang Fang was very good at judging the situation, and even better at stirring up trouble. Seeing that Feng Shi had exposed the truth, he immediately changed his tune, drawing his sword and pointing it directly at the black mass of people whose numbers were growing as they approached.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that there were only a dozen of them; the number of people they had killed was actually countless—a fully-fledged “zombie army.”
The other four rogue cultivators and Wang Xin from Duanqi Peak immediately voiced their agreement.
Even though their necks had been shrinking in fear just a moment ago, now that they heard there was treasure, their courage had returned.
Feng Shi gave a faint smile and followed his lead. “Alright, then let’s each kill our own.”
With so many dead people, including the elderly, women, and children, he, Feng Shi, hadn’t contributed many. If they truly each killed their own, he might even be able to see the true nature beneath the skins of this group.
Xiang Fang wiped his sweat and was indeed the first to charge forward, swinging his sword down at a leading man in his prime.
The man being attacked didn’t even try to dodge, smiling as he allowed himself to be killed.
Blood splattered everywhere, but as the man stopped breathing, both the body and the blood transformed into a pile of dry grass and fell to the ground.
Xiang Fang wore a smile as he turned back to greet everyone.
Seeing this, several rogue cultivators also stepped forward and began to kill the “people.”
The Chongshan Sect disciples were undecided and turned their heads to look at Feng Shi.
Feng Shi didn’t move. Only the Wucheng he was cradling suddenly unsheathed itself, moving as fast as a line before everyone’s eyes. With a few side rotations, it killed all the people Feng Shi was supposed to kill.
“I’m finished,” Feng Shi said with a smile.
Seeing this, the Chongshan Sect disciples also hesitated before stepping forward.
Feng Shi watched from the back. He discovered that Xiang Fang, who looked the most kind-hearted, was the one killing with the most effort. He was fast, and his numbers were high.
By the time everyone had retreated, many women and children were still left on the field.
Xiang Fang, who still hadn’t stopped, looked back and shouted, “Why have you all retreated? Continue! Don’t let this old man face the enemy alone!”
Everyone: “…”
They had already killed everyone they were supposed to kill. They hadn’t expected that Xiang Fang had killed so many people—even women and children.
These people clearly weren’t cultivators; how they died didn’t need to be said out loud.
At this point, Xiang Fang also realized he had been exposed. He still wanted to make excuses and blame others for hiding things, but unexpectedly, the remaining people suddenly had a blood-red light in their eyes. They all charged toward him.
Xiang Fang broke into a cold sweat. He mobilized his spiritual power, intending to suppress them, but these people suddenly became invulnerable. Their faces were pale and green, no different from dead people seeking their lives. They opened their mouths, drinking blood and eating flesh.
Even though Xiang Fang was a cultivator with a powerful physical body, he was eaten alive in this manner.
The screams vanished, and the group of dead people transformed into dry grass as if their eyes had been closed in peace.
“Pah, he got what he deserved!” The Hehuan Sect disciple crossed her arms and spat with a face full of disdain.
At this moment, above Xiang Fang’s corpse, a piece of lustrous jade reflecting iridescent light suddenly emerged.
The jade was as large as a human fist and shaped like a waning moon. It was naturally formed and was actually the artifact that had dropped.
[Host! A mid-grade artifact, Yueque, has been detected. I strongly suggest you take it into your possession!] Qingqing finally appeared.
Feng Shi thought to himself that it must be a powerful treasure. He immediately opened the details for Yueque and read them carefully.
The first part was all blah blah blah—it could create solid illusions, confuse enemies, and so on.
However, the last sentence read:
[It can also strengthen the connection between you and the person you care about most in your heart. Once bound, it cannot be changed!]
Feng Shi: “…” Well, then.
Essential for romance, but quite useless.
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