The sound of bones snapping and tendons tearing resounded as the axe struck the elderly woman in the back, causing her own momentum to carry her forward several meters before she fell to the ground, rolling over a few times before coming to a halt, looking like a sack of potatoes lying still.
Old Gong approached me, appearing full of excitement: "Grandpa, when you don't run, this is what it is!"
He stretched out his Hu Zhenxian's hand, only to find himself with a bare palm.
I didn't argue with Old Gong. Instead, I hurried over to the dwarf woman.
First, I picked up the Gao Tianchu. By the time I reached her, there was a huge indentation in her back, and she had long since ceased to live. Her head was tilted to one side, and that deformed face like a mouse's still had its eyes wide open as if it couldn't close them in peace.
Moreover, there was a white mouse on her body, but it had disappeared at that moment.
"Out-ma Xian is very annoying, there are few in our area, and I don't know much about it. I thought that Chang Xin and his master, the old Xian, were already very dirty, but I didn't expect that these dead rats are even more repulsive," Hu Zhenxian's tongue was bitten off, and Old Gong only possessed him. His tone was his own, with the rhythm of up and down showing his strong dislike for the out-ma Xian.
I remained silent, about to cast a spell with the talisman paper to extract the soul from the old woman.
At this moment, her body suddenly shuddered, and she straightened up, standing upright. A gray shadow shot out of her face, which was her soul. It made a sharp roar, as if it were about to attack my face!
"Wow!" Old Gong was startled.
My hand gestures changed abruptly, and through the talisman, I reached for the soul!
The unusual change has regenerated.
She let out a mournful scream, and her body abruptly collapsed. It wasn't scattered by ghostly energy but instead seemed to rise like smoke, eventually disappearing completely.
Her soul has been summoned away.
Everything around, became quiet.
The smell of blood and excrement kept spreading, making it especially unpleasant.
Fortunately, Hu Zhenxian was still okay. She had already been possessed before she died, so she didn't wet her pants. The old woman's smell was too obvious, however.
On the other side, no one came out of the rat hole.
"Let's go back and take a look," I said, my voice slightly heavy.
"Only those with some cultivation and skills in dealing with these strange creatures can handle them. Otherwise, they are evil and hard to deal with. Hu Zhenxian is too careless," said Lao Gong as he controlled Hu Zhenxian's head to lower it: "Look, it's all like a sieve."
I walked straight to the rat hole.
Lao Gong was right. Master has indeed suffered at the hands of these creatures. Without a powerful method, they don't fear feng shui and won't engage in verbal sparring or manipulate the hearts of others.
Even if there were skilled Taoist cultivators, they would still be at a disadvantage because these aren't just regular out-ma Xians. They also know Taoist weaknesses and can use more cunning methods.
In certain situations, they are even more bothersome than the Doushi in the Ba Zhai school.
Those Taoists rely on feng shui and fight you openly.
Out-ma Xian Taoists can use Hu Huang to confuse people's minds, eyes, and snake to poison, mouse to extract the Yin. While there are only the three Xians - Hu, Huang, and Gray - on display here, I am completely sure that it's not just these few Xians, there is information asymmetry.
In 2006, the only thing that happened on the north mountain was the departure of a major figure from the Nine Dings Iron Mountain.
It was only Han Jin and Bai Fu Zhong who fled back to Si Gui Mountain in a panic, and this information was not communicated with the Iron Carriage Mountain. When they arrived, they cleared up the remnants but did not discover anything else unusual, thinking they had gained a free advantage.
The troubles we encountered are absolutely more than what we imagined!
Soon, we returned to the front of the rat hole.
The ground was covered with rat carcasses, all the result of Old Gong taking over Hu Zhenxian's body. They were all missing limbs and legs, some with stomachs torn open or heads cut off halfway.
Hu Zhenxian was bitten to death, and the same fate awaited these creatures.
The inside of the hole was empty, and there was no one there.
Wu Jinlan and others, Ke and another Taoist, as well as Mao You San, had all vanished.
However, the mouse Taoist statue in the center was moved aside, revealing a hole in sight.
There were footsteps, as well as faint pleading noises coming from inside.
We had heard this kind of sound before when we first entered the cave.
The footsteps must be those of Wu Jinlan and the others.
"Let's go inside and have a look. There are people alive in there," said Lao Gong, leading the way.
I looked at the outside of the cave behind me and raised an eyebrow, then followed Lao Gong.
We quickly passed through this cave passage and reached the deep part.
The inside was much larger than outside, with dirty copper lamps hanging on the walls, whose candles flickered on and off. The ground was covered with dried grass and all sorts of bones.
The white bones were completely desiccated and had no flesh left, just dry and clean.
There were three people in the corner on the left, two women and one man, huddled together.
They were in a state of extreme distress, all without eyes and even no fingers.
Their sockets were dark and empty, their faces covered in blood crusts, and in front of them were some dirty wild fruits.
It seems like their bodies were in great pain, causing them to emit weak moans, the same sound we heard.
On the other side of the corner, there were two people sitting opposite each other, none other than He Linan and another gentleman.
They seemed to have lost their minds, just staring at each other blankly, showing no reaction even when we arrived.
Several people around Wu Jinluan immediately came forward to help support He Linan and the other gentleman, but they showed no reaction and their mental state was unclear.
Mao You San looked at the three people in the corner and sighed slightly.
"Hu Zhenxian really should have died," Lao Gong said, his voice much grimmer.
He rarely gets this emotional, it's unusual for him.
The bones on the ground and the people in the corner all represent that this rat hole is a terrifying human-eating cave. Hu Zhenxian, along with the fox spirits he brought, ignored such a place just because they were afraid of their urine.
For decades, these escaped fish that were not eliminated in the past have been taking advantage of their negligence to thrive and breed.
Perhaps after emerging from this mouse hole, Hu Zhenxian would still have to smile and gesture towards those mice, thinking that the area of Jiu Ding Mountain is good and could allow other Xian leaders to grow in strength.
Perhaps they would have to bow down to those of higher rank, such as the white-haired mice on the dwarf woman's body.
"These people won't survive, not just because of their injuries but also because they've been contaminated by the zombie poison and the plague's toxins. If Master takes them, he could be infected himself, or he could infect others after we leave, leading to another disaster. Lao Gong, your evil prison isn't empty, is it? You can take these people in there; at least they'll have a place to go when they die. It'll prevent those beasts from coming back later and leaving nothing but bones, and there's a high chance their souls won't be saved either."
"I have a vague understanding that in this area, out-ma Xians also refine ghosts. Female ghosts become smoke souls, and male ghosts become clear winds. The more miserable the death, the stronger the effect," said Mao You San.
"The Xian family isn't afraid of ghosts, and they not only refine ghosts but also study Taoism. What else can they not do?" Lao Gong said in a sinister tone.
