31: Clearing the clouds to see the sun

"I don't know."

The boy seemed a bit delirious, his head shaking back and forth like a rattle-drum.

"I only know that fog suddenly appeared in the village, and then..."

"And then?" Chen Heng frowned, looking at the boy.

"I don't know, I don't know..."

The boy curled himself into a ball, returning to that puppet-like state from before.

"It seems I won't be able to get anything out of you."

Chen Heng stood up, left the boy where he was, and went to investigate alone.

He had originally thought there were no survivors in this village, but he hadn't expected one lucky person to have lived.

According to the files, Tugou Village was wiped out by a cat demon and an evil ghost.

The gang members who came to investigate discovered the cat demon near the old locust tree in the center of the village.

The evil ghost had suddenly emerged from the old well beside the locust tree.

Now, Chen Heng's objective was very clear: go to the center of the village and take a look.

Chen Heng slowly groped his way forward; the fog here was simply too thick.

Even his five senses were somewhat obscured.

Fortunately, his nose was still quite sharp, and he could faintly smell a fishy, gamey odor in the fog.

If he guessed correctly, that fishy, gamey odor was the scent from that cat demon.

However, there were simply too many dead people in the village, and the stench of decay masked most of the other smells.

Even Chen Heng could only concentrate his mind to search for the source of the scent.

As he walked, Chen Heng discovered that he had actually reached the old locust tree mentioned in the files.

But the source of the scent was not here.

That was normal, though; the cat demon was a living creature, after all, and couldn't just stay in one place forever.

But just in the blind spot of Chen Heng's vision, a pair of emerald-green pupils locked onto him.

"Hm?" Chen Heng suddenly discovered that the source of the scent had disappeared.

No, that's not right—it didn't disappear!

It was right behind him!

Chen Heng turned around abruptly, just in time to meet the fishy gust rushing toward his face.

Clang!

Chen Heng lifted the black fiend blade to block the fishy gust, and sparks flew everywhere!

Then, twisting his waist, he slashed the black fiend blade horizontally toward the fishy gust.

With a ripping sound, fishy, foul-smelling blood sprayed out.

The fishy gust let out a miserable howl and retreated repeatedly.

Taking a closer look, the true form of the fishy gust was indeed that cat demon.

"This thing is a cat?"

Chen Heng looked at the two-meter-tall monster before him and fell into deep thought.

Compared to this cat demon, tigers were just little kittens.

"Roar..." The cat demon let out a low growl, cautiously circling Chen Heng.

"I don't have time to play with you."

Chen Heng didn't intend to give this cat demon any chances; he directly relaxed his compressed muscles, and his entire physique surged in size.

"It's more comfortable when I loosen up."

Chen Heng twisted his neck and sighed.

"Holding it in for the past two days has been really uncomfortable."

Seeing the person before it suddenly grow larger, the cat demon was also startled.

Chen Heng gripped the black fiend blade in his hand, staring intently at the cat demon before him, his knotted muscles tensed all over his body.

The cat demon let out a low hiss, its body leaping into the air as it lunged toward Chen Heng, its sharp claws glinting with cold light.

Chen Heng did not dodge or evade; he wanted to test just how strong his current defensive power was.

The sharp claws landed on Chen Heng's body, sparking a flurry of embers, but they couldn't injure Chen Heng in the slightest.

Chen Heng touched the few white marks on his chest and grinned.

Next, Chen Heng danced wildly with the black fiend blade; its five-hundred-jin weight tore through the air, flashing with whirlwind-like sword light.

The cat demon dodged repeatedly, but it was still struck by the black fiend blade, severing one of its legs.

The cat demon limped as it stared at Chen Heng, seemingly searching for a weak point on him.

"Second Form, Tiger Roar!"

A golden flash of Saber Qi swept past, and the cat demon narrowly avoided this strike.

Unfortunately, in order to dodge this strike, it revealed a vulnerability.

Chen Heng pushed off with his feet, rapidly closing in on the cat demon.

Before the cat demon could react, the black fiend blade in his hand had already sliced through the middle of its crown.

The cat demon froze in place, and the next second, its entire body split smoothly into two, spilling its intestines and stomach contents all over the ground.

"Not bad. I'll take the cat penis back to soak in wine, and the heart back to stir-fry. It's just a pity about this pelt."

Chen Heng rummaged through the parts on the ground, cutting off everything that could be used.

"It seems this fog was created by that evil ghost."

After putting away the spoils of war, Chen Heng stood by the old well and looked down.

"How about I go down and take a look?"

But before Chen Heng could jump in, a black shadow crawled out from the well.

"A fierce ghost?"

Chen Heng looked the black shadow before him up and down.

It was entirely crimson, with no facial features whatsoever, save for a pair of lantern-sized eyes.

Its figure was tall and thin, like a skeleton.

This fierce ghost floated slowly in the air, and the surrounding atmosphere began to turn heavy and eerie.

It locked its gaze onto Chen Heng, its eyes filled with hunger.

Chen Heng only felt a wave of icy chill wash over him, and the black fiend blade in his hand moved involuntarily.

The fierce ghost was forced back by the Geng Metal Qi on the black fiend blade, and plumes of black smoke began to rise from its body.

"I was careless!"

Chen Heng should have realized just now when he slew the cat demon that a monster of that strength couldn't possibly be the main force behind the village massacre.

It seems it was just a low-level monster attracted by the rotting flesh.

The true culprit behind the village massacre was right in front of him.

The fierce ghost opened its large mouth and let out a shrill scream, the sound like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts.

"First Form! Tiger Roar!"

"Trying to see who's louder, huh!"

The roar of a fierce tiger instantly drowned out the fierce ghost's shrill scream.

The Geng Metal Qi contained within the roar even split the fierce ghost directly in two.

The fierce ghost, now only a torso, screamed as it lunged toward Chen Heng, its resentment soaring to the heavens.

Chen Heng's black fiend blade flashed repeatedly; the black fiend blade, wrapped in Geng Metal Qi, was the natural enemy of such ghostly entities.

Swish, swish, swish!

Four strikes were unleashed, and the fierce ghost was sliced into eight pieces like a cake, turning into a stream of cyan-black resentment that dissipated into the air.

"That's it?"

Chen Heng wiped the blade and shouldered the black fiend blade.

"Then again, an incident that even Xu Lang could solve would only have this level of difficulty."

Just as Chen Heng was talking to himself, the thick fog around him slowly disappeared.

Sunlight spilled onto the ground, revealing the appearance of the surroundings.

Under the old locust tree, one corpse after another had been arranged into a circle.

The corpses' limbs were twisted, and there were Anomaly patterns painted in fresh blood on the ground.

"This is..."

Chen Heng walked over and squatted on the ground, studying the patterns for a while.

But in the end, he couldn't figure out anything from them.

"I'll record them first; maybe Qi Longhu will recognize them."

Chen Heng shook his head, took out paper and pen, and drew the patterns here onto the paper.

As for the corpses, Chen Heng didn't intend to move them.

Afterward, people from the White Tiger Hall would naturally come to clean them up.

"Work's done, time to go home!"

Not long after Chen Heng had left, two sneaky heads poked out from the old well.

"Has that fierce man left?" one little ghost looked into the distance, unable to see Chen Heng's back anymore.

"I think so," the other little ghost nodded.

"He's too terrifying for ghosts; even the Blood Ghost was chopped into eight pieces by him."

"Yeah, yeah, the Qi and blood on his body are too scorching hot; I didn't even dare to get close to him."

"And also, that blade of his seems to specifically suppress us too..."

Just as the two little ghosts were whispering to each other, Chen Heng's voice rang out above their heads.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"I think I'm actually quite amiable."