The Sect Leader’s Daughter Awakened - Chapter 4

Qili Town was neither too large nor too small. Several hundred residents lived there, and two long streets, one running north and one south, cut through the entire town. On both sides of the streets were rows of closely packed houses, along with a tangled web of lanes and alleyways.

Relying on their stronger overall strength, the Tianxing Sect group acted even more aggressively than the Zhengyang Sect disciples.

Not long after the two sects split up, the Tianxing Sect people encountered several “walking corpses.” With everyone swarming forward at once, they naturally dealt with them very quickly. After putting away their magical treasures, one disciple suggested, “Who knows how many evil beings are hidden in this gray mist? Let’s just cut them down as we go, so the townspeople won’t suffer any more. Once we’ve cleared out the evil beings, we can head to the center of town and meet up with those people from the Zhengyang Sect. We can help them out too.”

The words sounded nice, but in truth, they were extremely arrogant. However, because of their small victory just now, everyone’s confidence had also swelled. And so, almost without hesitation, most of them agreed with this plan and were eager to try.

Shu Yi was the only Golden Core cultivator in the current team. Seeing the young disciples’ reckless, youthful arrogance, she could not help revealing a somewhat troubled expression. However, this was the disciples’ training experience, so she did not try too hard to persuade them. She only said, “Act as you wish, but remember to be careful. The Zhengyang Sect side already had disciples suffer losses earlier. This gray mist is probably not simple.”

Some people took those words to heart, while others did not. Someone even muttered a rebuttal, “Those useless people from the Zhengyang Sect…”

Hearing this, Shu Yi glared back at them. Even someone as gentle as she usually was now carried a hint of sternness in her gaze. As a result, the junior brothers and sisters who were usually used to acting casually around her no longer dared say anything. They quietly shrank their necks and agreed.

After that, this group of people began searching the northern side of town like wild horses that had thrown off their reins. Still, they were not completely reckless. Even when they split up to search, they did not keep too much distance between one another. Once anyone found traces of an evil being, they immediately sent out a signal to notify their fellow disciples, then joined forces to strangle the evil being to death. Overall, their efficiency was good, and it looked quite effective.

…

While the Tianxing Sect disciples were busy killing enemies, someone would occasionally catch a fleeting glimpse of a blue-and-white figure standing on a rooftop opposite them. The familiar robes kept them from mistaking that person’s identity, so they did not pay much attention. In fact, they even felt more reassured.

Xi Wei openly observed everyone’s movements just like that. Her left hand rubbed the Bodhi prayer beads at her waist, which were growing hotter and hotter, while her right hand seemed to lightly tap the thin gray mist around her from time to time.

Her movements were far too subtle, and there was no one else nearby. But if someone were standing close at this moment, they would discover that the surrounding gray mist was being guided by her fingertips, gradually turning from barely visible into something thick and dense.

No one knew how much time had passed before a Tianxing Sect disciple below, who had just killed a “walking corpse,” withdrew his longsword and suddenly said, “Have you noticed? The gray mist around us seems to have gotten thicker.”

With his reminder, everyone looked carefully. Had the gray mist not thickened quite a lot? If not for the fact that everyone there was an accomplished cultivator with five senses far beyond ordinary people, then standing in the mist now, they might have experienced what it truly meant to be unable to see their own hand in front of their face.

And as everyone knew, the gray mist that shrouded all of Qili Town was certainly nothing good.

Those with slightly more experience immediately sensed that something was wrong and took the initiative to send out a signal to gather everyone together. After the killing stopped, the surroundings suddenly fell quiet. Only then did these sharp-eared, keen-eyed cultivators finally hear the strange rustling sounds coming from within the dense mist. If someone were to fly up on a sword at this moment and see past the cover of the gray mist, they would discover that several hundred “walking corpses” had already silently surrounded them and were closing in.

Xi Wei, standing on the rooftop, happened to have a clear view of this scene. Her motion of rubbing the Bodhi prayer beads did not change, and there was not a single ripple in her dark, heavy eyes.

Soon, following a beast-like roar from one of the “walking corpses,” the street below descended completely into chaos. Some called for everyone to meet the enemy. Some cried out in shock after discovering the number of “walking corpses.” Others struggled to speak up and calm everyone down.

The clamor, mixed with the sounds of battle and shouted killing cries, completely tore through the silence of the night.

The northern side of town had already become a battlefield, yet the southern side was unexpectedly peaceful.

The Zhengyang Sect people were a bit more cautious than those from the Tianxing Sect. However, because their manpower had gathered together, they were no longer as timid and restrained as before. The Zhengyang Sect people also did not want to lose to the Tianxing Sect, so they planned to speed up their actions as well. At the same time, like the Tianxing Sect, they also intended to kill as they drove the enemies forward, rather than wait until all the evil beings had been gathered before dealing with them.

The Zhengyang Sect group had planned things very well. But when they truly went to search for the evil beings hidden in the gray mist, they discovered that matters were not as easy as they had imagined. It was not that they could not beat them. It was simply that they could not find them!

The group searched cautiously several times, almost walking through every street and alley on the southern side of town, but in the end, they did not find even a single “walking corpse.” The entire southern side of town was so clean that it seemed as if no evil beings had ever appeared there. Even the gray mist shrouding Qili Town seemed to have become an ordinary fog rising in the middle of the night, completely unrelated to yin energy or evil beings.

The Zhengyang Sect disciples were utterly confused. After searching once more, they gathered together again. Only then did someone speak uncertainly. “This… There don’t seem to be any evil beings in the southern side of town. Could those ghostly things have all gone to the northern side?”

Someone immediately denied it. “Impossible. We were in the southern side earlier, and we also encountered ‘walking corpses.’”

Everyone present was from the same sect, so their words were naturally trustworthy. But in that case, the whereabouts of those “walking corpses” became a problem. Yun Sheng swept her gaze twice over the streets and alleys shrouded in gray mist, then turned and knocked on the door of the nearby residence.

The sound of “knock, knock, knock” carried far through the dark night.

The people who had still been arguing over where the “walking corpses” had gone unconsciously fell silent. Immediately afterward, their attention all turned toward the tightly shut doors and windows of the residences.

They had arrived in the afternoon. At first, they had not expected the “walking corpses” to be difficult to deal with, so they had only hurriedly placed a layer of restriction on the doors and windows of these houses. Defensive power was secondary. Generally speaking, those restrictions were used to cut off auras, allowing them to avoid being detected by evil beings that sensed living people.

After night fell, all the townspeople of Qili Town returned indoors. At night, they did not even light lamps. Those houses placed under restrictions seemed to turn into empty houses under ordinary perception, making it difficult for outsiders to detect the auras inside.

This did not only apply to evil beings. It was much the same for these cultivators as well. Because of that, no one noticed anything wrong at first, until Yun Sheng knocked several times without receiving any answer, and someone subconsciously released his spiritual sense to check the situation inside the house.

A cultivator’s spiritual sense was not all-powerful. The gray mist shrouding the small town had the effect of blocking spiritual sense. However, what stood in front of them now was not gray mist, but a thin wooden door. As a result, that person’s spiritual sense quickly and smoothly entered the house. Just as everyone sensed it, they heard him let out a surprised “Huh,” seemingly carrying a bit of astonishment.

Liu Jing had no time to scold him for using his spiritual sense to probe other people’s privacy. She hurriedly asked, “What is it?”

That person turned back, his face still carrying shock and suspicion. “This seems to be an empty house. There’s no one inside.”

They had personally placed restrictions on all these houses. Even if they were not especially familiar with them, they could at least confirm that no one would have placed restrictions on empty houses. Therefore, the moment that disciple finished speaking, Liu Jing and the others immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Yun Sheng moved the fastest. She had just been knocking on the door, and in the next moment, spiritual energy gathered in her palm before she struck the tightly shut door.

A faint light seemed to flash in the darkness. Immediately after, there came a dull crack, and the door blocking everyone’s path shattered with the sound. Broken wood clattered all over the ground, yet even such a loud commotion did not startle anyone. Everyone swept their gazes into the house and confirmed that it truly was empty. No one knew when the owner of the house had disappeared.

Liu Jing’s expression grew even darker and heavier. Without another word, she went next door. This time, she did not even knock beforehand. Instead, she imitated Yun Sheng and directly struck the door open with one palm. The result was the same: the inside was empty. She went to the next house, and it was still the same.

In an instant, an ominous premonition settled over everyone’s hearts.

The “walking corpses” were gone. The townspeople were gone too. The entire southern side of town was empty. But these people could not have vanished for no reason. After only a brief thought, Liu Jing said urgently, “Not good. Hurry, let’s go to the northern side and take a look.”

Hearing this, everyone also knew the situation was urgent. For the moment, they had no time to care about old grudges with the Tianxing Sect, and they all rushed toward the northern side of town.

…

Yun Sheng and the others were not slow, but they had been delayed for a while earlier. By the time they reached the northern side of town, the Tianxing Sect people had long since fallen into a sea of “walking corpses.” Yun Sheng only gave it a rough glance, but there were actually several hundred of them!

Even though the Zhengyang Sect group had mentally prepared themselves before coming, they still could not help sucking in a cold breath at this moment. What was even more frightening was that despite the town being small, the northern and southern sides had seemed as if they were separated by the Chu River and Han border.

They had not heard any of the sounds of slaughter from the northern side while they were in the south. Presumably, when they had been breaking open houses in the south, the northern side had not heard a single bit of it either.

“Attack!” Liu Jing shouted in a low voice. She immediately formed a sword seal, and her bonded spiritual sword shot through the air, charging toward the sea of people ahead.

The Zhengyang Sect disciples were not slow to react either. They immediately used their own methods, and streaks of spiritual light in all colors suddenly lit up, almost illuminating half the night sky. All kinds of attacks indiscriminately fell into the group of “walking corpses.” Strangely, however, these “walking corpses” seemed uninterested in them. They were single-mindedly attacking the surrounded Tianxing Sect group. Unless they were injured by the Zhengyang Sect disciples’ attacks, they absolutely would not turn back.