Chapter 460: Slaughter

I kept Half-Immortal Liu's warning firmly in mind and called Wang Shi and Feng Minglong to join me by the old locust tree.

The Lu Clan Ancestors were locked in a chaotic melee with the Blood Fox. The strangely dressed villagers lay prostrate on the ground, not even daring to raise their heads, and no one noticed what we three outsiders were doing.

'The Blood Fox and the Lu Clan villagers are both fighting over the Good and Evil Sarira. Even if I intervene, my chances of getting the sarira are slim. I'm better off putting all my effort into finding the Dream Wing Gu—it's worth far more to me than the Good and Evil Sarira.' Since you cannot have both fish and bear's paw, I quickly made my choice.

The three of us stood beneath the old locust tree, gazing up at its dense canopy. It looked like a green castle suspended in midair—it was truly massive.

"Mr. Lu, why did you call us over here at a time like this?" Feng Minglong scratched his head, a lingering wariness still in his eyes as he looked at the locust tree.

When we first entered the village, he had been about to pat the trunk of the locust tree. Only after a warning from Lu Shan did he notice the countless tiny insects living on its bark. He pulled his hand back just in time, narrowly escaping disaster.

"I need to retrieve something from this tree," I said. Activating my Judging Eye, I examined the locust tree. Tiny black shadows darted across its rough, uneven bark. Overhead, dense layers of branches pressed down heavily, and countless white silk threads hung among the boughs like a river suspended from the sky—or a massive spiderweb.

A small white insect clung to the end of every silk thread. Some were already dead, while others were full of vitality, constantly fighting with the insects around them; they were extremely aggressive.

'If I were to fall in there...' Just running the scenario through my head made my scalp tingle. 'I wonder if these insects have an appetite for the living.'

I picked up a wooden stick from nearby and reached it toward the canopy. While it was still some distance from the branches, the fine white threads coiled around the wood. Startled, I immediately let go and watched as the threads dragged the stick up into the pitch-black canopy.

'What the hell are these things?' The canopy stretched over ten meters across and towered several times higher than the nearby earthen buildings. I didn't think I could possibly find one tiny Gu insect inside such a massive tree.

'None of the Underworld Live Show's tasks are ever easy.' Compared to destroying the Buddha statue or obtaining the Good and Evil Sarira, this objective was even harder.

'Should I go in or not?' The opportunity was right in front of me. Entering the Yin-Yang Boundary was already an incredibly difficult feat on its own. If I let this chance slip by, I would definitely regret it later.

While I was still hesitating, the chaotic battle at the edge of the village between the Lu Clan Ancestors and the Blood Fox finally reached its conclusion.

Under the Blood Fox's frenzied assault, trading wound for wound, the Buddhist light radiating from the White Jade Buddha Statue finally collapsed. Fissures spread rapidly across its surface until, with a soft crack, the jade statue shattered at the chest!

The Good and Evil Sarira—black and white, glowing faintly like yin-yang fish—tumbled out of the jade Buddha and landed right in Lu Shan's palm.

Lu Shan clearly hadn't expected this to happen. She clutched the Good and Evil Sarira, a hint of panic in her eyes.

To make matters worse, the moment the statue shattered, the Lu Clan Ancestors seemed to lose their souls. They collapsed to the ground one after another, completely unable to move.

'To think the Blood Fox managed to shatter the jade Buddha while besieged by so many corpses. It's just a fox immortal that underwent corpse reanimation—how is it this strong?' If all the people of Suolong Village couldn't handle the Blood Fox, there was no way we three outsiders could. 'There's been a change of plans. We need to leave immediately.'

I wanted to retreat, but looking up at the towering locust tree, I still felt a pang of reluctance.

At the edge of the village, the Blood Fox had shattered the jade Buddha. Deprived of the Good and Evil Sarira, the Lu Clan Ancestors had collapsed one after another, leaving Lu Shan in immense danger.

The few remaining male villagers stepped forward. Showing no fear of death, they took the farming tools their wives brought out from the stone houses. The oldest clan elder stood at the very front. Gripping a woodcutter's hatchet, he led the charge against the Blood Fox.

In my eyes, it was like striking a stone with an egg. Reality proved me right; in a single clash, a massive chunk of the elder's chest was torn away. The Blood Fox simply licked its claws and shook off the blood.

'Why are these villagers still struggling? They should just hand the sarira over to the Blood Fox and be done with it. If they keep this up, the Blood Fox might wipe out their entire village.' I was deeply shaken. The annihilation of an entire clan was unfolding right before my eyes. Even though I had no real ties to the Lu Clan, I couldn't help feeling some pity for them.

The villagers fell one after another. When the men could no longer hold the line, the women charged forward, throwing themselves between the Blood Fox and Lu Shan to drain the monster's stamina with their own bodies.

'To have kept their bloodline going in a bizarre place like the Yin-Yang Boundary, these villagers really are formidable.' I didn't know whether they were fighting to preserve their lineage or for the faith in their hearts. Watching them charge forward wave after wave as blood soaked the bluestone bricks at the edge of the village, I felt a complicated mix of emotions.

I originally harbored no goodwill toward this village, but now I couldn't help feeling a sliver of sympathy.

The dirt road was stained red. Ultimately, mortal flesh could not stop the Blood Fox. It bounded gracefully through the river of blood, its sharp fangs glinting with a ghastly white light as it flashed a cruel smile.

There was no one left to stand between Lu Shan and the Blood Fox. The beast wasn't in a hurry either; it seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the hunt.

Pushed to the brink, Lu Shan placed the Good and Evil Sarira inside the Soul Sedan Chair and fled, stumbling away barefoot.

The Blood Fox finally got what it wanted. It slipped into the Soul Sedan Chair and picked up the black-and-white sarira in its jaws. Raising its head amid the blood, it surveyed the scene with disdain before its crimson eyes settled on the three of us outsiders.

"Crap! It spotted us!" Feng Minglong scrambled to hide behind the locust tree, but he was only fooling himself.

Wang Shi's face turned pale as well. He had just seen the Blood Fox's strength clearly for himself—he stood no chance against it.

He shot a quick glance at the Deep Well and whispered to me, "Number Twelve? What do we do now? Fight or run?"

"We won't be able to outrun it..." If we jumped into the Deep Well now and something went wrong on the way back to the Yang Realm, we would just be throwing our lives away. I snatched up a nearby hatchet. It was the same weapon the clan elder had used, but the Blood Fox was so fast he hadn't even managed to land a single hit.

With the Good and Evil Sarira clenched in its jaws, the Blood Fox twitched its nose. As if it had suddenly discovered something interesting, it fixed its gaze on me.

"What kind of grudge do we even have that you won't stop chasing me?" I smiled bitterly. My chances of surviving a head-on clash with the Blood Fox were extremely slim, even after it had burned so much of its stamina fighting the Lu Clan Ancestors.

This livestream had been plagued by one unexpected turn after another. The sheer power of the Blood Fox had thrown off the balance of the entire broadcast. My biggest obstacle was supposed to be the Lu Clan, but now it was the Blood Fox.

'A Thousand-Year Fox Immortal that underwent corpse reanimation, combined with the Good and Evil Sarira containing the Buddha-nature of the Two-Faced Buddha... what kind of monster is this going to create?' The Qicun Maternity and Children’s Health Center had already unleashed a Ghost Mother, and now there was the Blood Fox. Jiangcheng would likely grow even more turbulent in the future.

After hunting me all night, the Blood Fox had finally found me, and it naturally wasn't about to let me go. With the Good and Evil Sarira still in its jaws, it launched a fierce attack.

It was swift and ferocious. Even with my Judging Eye, I could barely track its movements. I swung my hatchet to block, but my reflexes were far too slow for the Blood Fox's speed.

I blocked with everything I had to guard my vitals, yet within a dozen seconds, claw marks were still torn across my body.

The wounds multiplied, and soon I was drenched in my own blood.

'If this keeps up, I'll probably die here.' The pain shooting through my body made my mind intensely clear. The Blood Fox's assault was simply too fierce and too fast; it didn't even leave me time to pull out a talisman, let alone chant a spell to use it. As for Wang Shi and Feng Minglong, the two of them had already hidden off to the side in terror—I couldn't count on them at all.

'My vision is starting to blur. I can't let this drag on any longer—I have to find a way out of this!' My mind raced through every trump card I had on me, but I wasn't confident any of them could stop the Blood Fox. 'What do I do? What do I do?!'

'With the Good and Evil Sarira in its mouth, the Blood Fox can't use its sharpest fangs, but its claws can still easily slice through my skin. The biggest problem is its speed—it's just too fast! If I want to get out of this alive, I have to restrict its movements!' As I retreated step by step, a crazy idea suddenly flashed through my mind.

I glanced at the towering locust tree beside me, then charged straight toward it without a second's hesitation!