Chapter 762: Black Jade Pixiu

Five Phantom Pigs had me surrounded. Aside from the massive one behind me, the other four seemed hesitant, merely crouching among the trees and staring at me without any intent to attack.

'What exactly are they trying to do?' The ferocious beasts of the Animal Realm were nothing like the animals of the human world. They fed on lone ghosts and wandering spirits, absorbed the true essence of heaven and earth, and were nourished by the local Yin Soil. Every single one was a monster.

The five Phantom Pigs radiated immense pressure. The surrounding air felt solid, and my body felt as if it were soaking in ice water; the slightest movement drew out their freezing killing intent.

'If this continues, I'm definitely dead.'

After forcing me to this spot, the largest Phantom Pig hadn't launched an attack. Its thick tusks hovered close to the ground, and its black-maned face remained pointed squarely at me as its eyes, clouded with black impurities, rolled in their sockets. It kept lifting its front hooves, seemingly forcing down the urge to charge and tear me to shreds. It was clearly hesitating.

For a predator to show hesitation before its prey was highly unnatural.

'Do I have something on me they fear?'

Phantom Pigs were intelligent, and the massive one possessed an intellect far beyond its kin. It never intended to fight alone. Instead, it had herded me straight into its pack's encirclement.

The disparity in strength between us was massive. It had no need to do this unless it sensed a threat from me. It knew it couldn't take me down alone, so it chose to hunt alongside its companions.

Junsheng was merely a remnant soul who posed zero threat to a Phantom Pig. What the beast feared had to be the three items I had brought from the Yang Realm.

Faced with this life-or-death crisis, I calmed down. Keeping my hand tight against my body, I reached into my pocket and slowly fished out the Reincarnation Mirror Fragment.

To my surprise, the damaged fragment still functioned on this side of reincarnation. The mirror's surface reflected the Phantom Pig, but it still couldn't reflect me.

Seeing me pull something out, the ferocious Phantom Pig slowed its advance. Once it saw clearly that it was just a broken mirror, however, it discarded its caution and continued pressing forward.

Four meters. Three meters. I could already see drool dripping from the corner of the Phantom Pig's mouth. Its yellowed, filth-covered teeth slowly pushed past its lips, its maw opening to exhale a foul stench.

'Not the Reincarnation Mirror.' I raised my hand and pulled the Black Jade Pixiu from another pocket. The moment I took it out, I knew my gamble had paid off.

The thumb-sized Black Jade Pixiu seemed to exude a fierce aura imperceptible to the living. The five Phantom Pigs halted simultaneously, as if pinned down by a massive, invisible hand. The four smaller Phantom Pigs instantly groveled on the ground, issuing low, beastly growls. Only the largest one held on. Its eyes, brimming with black impurities, looked ready to burst as the black spots within dilated outward, blooming with hints of scarlet.

'Is this guy preparing to fight until the fish dies and the net breaks? Is it going to risk its life?'

The Pixiu was a mythical beast in Huaxia legends, carved into many ancient buildings. Like the vast majority of ordinary people, I had never paid much mind to those stone carvings, treating them as nothing more than the beautiful wishes of ancient people hoping for household peace. But seeing monsters of the Animal Realm deterred by a tiny Pixiu statue made me suspicious. Perhaps the totems and beast motifs carved into ancient buildings weren't entirely decorative.

'There aren't any beast motif carvings in the Longchang Ancient Buildings. No wonder they were occupied by so many evil thoughts.'

This Black Jade Pixiu was connected to the peerless fiend suppressed beneath the Bridge No. 3 Crematorium. Corroborating this with the ancient texts from Qingtu Temple, I had previously deduced that the Black Jade Pixiu in my hand had to be a wisp of that fiend's evil thought.

Because the main body wasn't dead, the evil thought could not be extinguished, clinging instead to the black jade.

With the Pixiu statue in hand, the four Phantom Pigs blocking my retreat were groveling on the ground; only the Phantom Pig right in front of me was still hesitating.

Exactly how long this Black Jade Pixiu could hold out, I had no idea. After all, it was merely a wisp of an evil thought. If the Phantom Pig withstood the pressure and attacked me, I wouldn't be able to fend it off unless I forcefully used the Yellow Springs Token.

Entering the Animal Realm, I only had three trump cards. If I used them all up just to deal with the Phantom Pigs, what would I use to contend with the obsessions? The probability of returning to the Yang Realm with the girl would drop even lower.

Taking advantage of the Phantom Pig's hesitation, I made a prompt decision. I raised the Black Jade Pixiu, steered clear of the beast, and walked toward the side.

Visibility in the dense forest was severely limited. Fortunately, when the Phantom Pigs chased me, they had trampled out a rough path. I could just follow it to leave.

The moment I took a step, all five Phantom Pigs fixed their gazes on me. My calves went numb. Junsheng's remnant soul trembled uncontrollably; the pressure radiating from the five Phantom Pigs was simply too immense.

As my foot landed, the Phantom Pig remained rooted in place and didn't pounce. My pounding heart eased slightly. I lowered my gaze and watched from my peripheral vision, trying my best not to make eye contact with the monster.

With my life on the line, I was terrified that a single careless movement would provoke it.

As I moved step by step, the four smaller Phantom Pigs remained groveling on the ground, occasionally sneaking upward glances at the Black Jade Pixiu in my hand.

The massive Phantom Pig right in front of me, however, kept staring straight at me. Its posture made it look as though it might ram forward at any second and pierce my body with its tusks.

Its eyes grew redder as the red-black blood clots, which looked like impurities, merged together. The bristles on the Phantom Pig's body stood on end, and its whip-like tail twitched unnaturally.

The atmosphere was overwhelmingly oppressive. Trembling, it took me over ten seconds to skirt around to the side of the Phantom Pig. I had finally managed to temporarily escape the predicament of being flanked.

I didn't venture any further away, unsure if even more terrifying monsters hid in the depths of the dense forest.

Maintaining a safe distance, I was just passing by it when the monster suddenly lashed its long tail, striking the ancient tree beside it.

The massive tree shook, sending withered vines tumbling down. The agonized groans of a living person echoed through the dense forest, making my heart violently clench.

However, the Phantom Pig seemed to be lashing the tree purely to vent its frustration. It remained rooted to the spot, though a hint of slyness had crept into its blood-red eyes.

My entire focus had been locked onto the beast. I completely missed the ancient tree emitting those strange sounds, as well as the churning earth beneath my feet.

Having lost the Judging Eye, coupled with my extreme tension, I stepped toward the clearing I had chosen, only to trip over something. My body instantly pitched forward!

'Oh no!'

Whether Junsheng's remnant soul would get injured from the fall was no longer a concern. Right now, I only had a single thought—I had to keep a tight grip on the Pixiu statue!

In this world, things rarely go as planned. The more I wanted to hold on, the crueler reality proved to be. The black jade was smooth, and as I hit the ground, it flew straight out of my grasp.

'It's over...' Without the Judging Eye, trying to find a finger-sized Black Jade Statue in the pitch-black forest was practically impossible, let alone with five Phantom Pigs glaring at me like stalking tigers.

The instant the statue flew away, the four groveling Phantom Pigs shot to their feet. Meanwhile, the largest Phantom Pig eagerly reared its head, aiming its razor-sharp tusks squarely at me.

Its powerful hind legs kicked against the earth. Like a sharp sword cleaving through the night wind, its streamlined body shot forward. Glaring with scarlet eyes, the massive Phantom Pig charged at me like a maniac!

My brain formulated several countermeasures in a split second, but discarded every single one. Left with no other choice, I reached into my coat. But just as my fingers brushed against the White Bone Jade Box, the ground in front of me underwent a massive change!

The ancient tree that had just emitted human groans withered rapidly. Rippling out from a single point on the ground, all the surrounding vines and vegetation began to wilt and die.

Miserable wails and piercing screams rang in my ears. It was hard to believe these sounds were actually coming from the plants themselves.

The human face patterns etched into the tree trunks held agonized expressions as they cracked inch by inch. But the most absurd part came next—the ground within a five-meter radius of the ancient tree started to cave in. The damp earth seemed to have its Yin energy and essence entirely drained away. Countless strange insects I had never seen before surfaced from the parched soil, completely bereft of life.

Just as the withering spread further outward, a heaven-shaking beast roar echoed from the distant north.

The thick clouds in the night sky were shattered by the soundwave. In the distance, something utterly terrifying was rapidly approaching!

The five Phantom Pigs around me clearly sensed it. The four smaller ones immediately scattered and fled in all directions. Even the largest Phantom Pig was spooked; it slammed to a halt, turned around, and crashed into the dense forest, running in the exact opposite direction of the roar.

'They ran?' The local creatures' perception of danger was undoubtedly far superior to mine as an outsider. Didn't their frantic escape mean an even more vicious monster was about to appear?!

'What in the world did this Black Jade Pixiu attract? This is the Animal Realm—could it have actually lured over a real Pixiu?' My Adam's apple bobbed. I didn't have the luxury or the desire to provoke a mythical beast. Now that an opportunity to escape had presented itself, I quickly scrambled up and sprinted toward where the black jade had landed.

The ground caving in, the trees withering—all of this centered entirely around that inconspicuous Black Jade Statue.

Pushing aside the broken branches and fallen leaves, I found it at the very bottom of the crater. As I held it again, I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination, but the statue felt much heavier.

Holding it up to the light, its overall appearance hadn't changed much, except for an extra ink-black bead resting inside the Pixiu's mouth.

'This wasn't here before. Could it be formed from the life force of the surrounding plants and ancient trees, along with the essence of the Yin Soil?'

There was no time to examine it closely. This place was incredibly dangerous. I stowed the Black Jade Pixiu away and ran back the way I had come.

'With such a massive commotion breaking out outside Longchang, the big shots in the Ancient Building will definitely come over to investigate. I need to find a way to avoid them.'