Spirit Vessel

“What are you waiting for? It’s getting dark already.” Feiyun’s voice came from afar.

“Well… fine.” She had thoughts of escaping before remembering his absurd speed and obediently followed him.

This was an old town next to the shore of Jin River and a black mountain.

Who knows how long these streets have been here for? There were many potholes around but at least the eaved roofs of the buildings on the side were still intact. When Feiyun got there, he could sense something strange in the air.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of an intersection with fires moving in his eyes. His phoenix gaze observed the qi image of this small village and noticed that there was a yin-yang energy concentrating above in the form of a fish. It engulfed the entire village.

Of course, this was only a qi image, something invisible, that ordinary eyes couldn’t see.

Only cultivators versed in reading these qi images could see them.

This was… a qi image established by an Enlightened Being.

This village that couldn’t seem any more ordinary was actually visited by an Enlightened Being. Something strange was happening here.

“What are you looking at?” Ye Xiaoxiang stared at the place Feiyun was with her pretty eyes and long, curving eyebrows but couldn’t see anything.

“Nothing.” He withdrew his gaze and continued on the street ahead.

Even before nightfall, all the villagers have closed their door. Outside of a fat rooster, there was no other living creature on the street.

Eventually, the old woman that had visited the statue returned. She was surprised to see the pair and commented: “Looks like the young is still faster.”

Under her determined request, the two had to go stay at her house for one night.

Night finally came. The entire village was devoid of light outside of this old woman’s house.

“The village isn’t peaceful right now, why did the two of you still come here?” She was worried and felt that the lamp could bring some dirty things here.

Feiyun smiled and said: “Aunty, the truth is that I’m an exorcist. Why don’t you tell me about the strange things happening here and maybe I can solve the problem.”

He thought that she would become very excited after hearing this but it was the opposite. She became worried and said: “It’s useless, even the immortals from Faith Convent didn’t return. Young man, don’t risk your life for no reasons.”

“Oh, really? Thank you, Aunty, I won’t try then. But why don’t you tell us what is going on anyway so we can at least know.” He replied.

“I’ll tell you if you don’t go.” She was still worried.

Feiyun smiled brightly and said: “I won’t.”

She was relieved and said: “There is a ghost village next to us. It has been around for a long time now. Every several hundred years, it would come out before disappearing again.” Several days ago, Old Yang from up the street on his way back saw the ghost village appearing again. It had lamps and buildings everywhere so the old man ran back and told everyone. On the second day, people came and only saw an empty field so they said that he was drunk and didn’t know what he was saying, but, but…”

A chilling wind blew by in the night.

Xiaoxiang was slightly pale and leaned her soft body closer to Feiyun.

“But what?” Feiyun asked.

“On the second night, Old Yang screamed and ran like a madman around his yard about a ghost wanting to take his life. His scream was even scarier than a ghost and frightened everyone in the village. No one got any sleep last night.”

“At dawn, someone found him dead in his yard, he had swallowed his own tongue.” The old woman’s voice was trembling.

Feiyun commented: “This ghost village appeared again later on.”

The old woman nodded: “Several nights later, someone saw the well-lit ghost village again at the same place. Who knows what actually happened later but it was another miserable death. From then on, no one dared to go outside at night again.”

“Is there really a ghost village killing people…” Xiaoxiang thought that she was a brave person but she still shivered after hearing about this bizarre matter.

Feiyun became interested. A village disappearing by the Jin River that would occasionally appear again with some strange things inside causing mysterious deaths?

It was similar to the Yama’s Decaying Blood. Even strongest Giants would die mysteriously after having contact with the blood.

A disappearing ancient village and a qi image left behind by an Enlightened Being… all of these signs showed that this village was not ordinary. Perhaps there was a great secret hidden here.

The old woman was asleep late in the night. Feiyun sneaked out of his room without issuing a single thud. He planned on checking the ghost village nearby, perhaps a discovery was waiting there for him.

“You swindler.” Xiaoxiang was already standing outside as if she knew that he would try to go there.

Feiyun wasn’t surprised at all. After all, her shabby cultivation couldn’t escape his divine intents at all.

“You want to go too?” He quietly asked.

“If you’re going, why can’t I?” She replied.

“As long as you don’t piss your pants, you can… Wait, something is happening.” Feiyun gazed towards the horizon and saw three white rays flying towards the river shore. They were three monks wearing white buddhist robes. Their powerful aura showed that they were at Heaven’s Mandate.

“Looks like the monks from Faith are also paying attention to this ghost village.” He murmured.

There was no moon tonight, one couldn’t see their fingers in front of them. They could still hear the sound of Jin River in the distant and saw a tiny village on the other side with bright lamps. However, it was eerily quiet.

The three monks from Faith were standing outside of the village with all kind of artifacts such as a buddhist mirror, wooden bead, and a vajra scepter.

They were digging randomly while using the mirror to illuminate the village.

Feiyun was even further away. He became a bit anxious after seeing the ghost village.

He leaned closer to the ground and listened. There were faint screams and waves of nefarious laughter coming from below. They were intermittent and quiet, as if hell was right below.

However, when he used his divine intents to scout, there was nothing down there but the noises were certainly audible.

Ye Xiaoxiang copied him and slowly lied on her stomach to listen with her ear. She heard the same horrifying noises.

“Master said this ghost village had appeared six hundred years ago. Our seniors back then have also entered but no one came out.”

“It happened more than one thousand years ago too. An Enlightened Being came by on coincidence and used a supreme technique to enter. He never appeared in the cultivation world afterward…”

“If we can find the path that Enlightened Being used, maybe we can get in too.”

One of the monks suddenly shouted: “I found a trace of that senior, he certainly came from the northeast.”

“Come, let us search.”

The three powerful disappeared into a thicket near the village by the northeast.

Ye Xiaoxiang’s eyes lit up as she whispered: “We’ll follow them too.”

Feiyun shook his head and said: “Wait a minute.”

A bit later, three wails came from the village, followed by three red rays flying out of the thicket like pillars of blood. The night sky became even more horrifying.

“We’re leaving now!” He quickly dragged her towards the horizon whether she wanted to or not.

On the next morning during breakfast with the old woman, Feiyun planned on visiting the village again. Even if it wasn’t around, there should still be some strange things left behind.

However, once he got one foot out of the door, he quickly went back in and hid his aura then closed the door.

He just saw two familiar people just now on the old street, Dongfang Jingshui and Dongfang Jingyue. Why were they here at this tiny village?

He didn’t want them to know of his location, especially Dongfang Jingyue. He had complicated feelings for her because each time seeing her, it was as if he was seeing Shui Yueting again...