Chapter 22 A Shocking Turn of Events in a Dream

What appeared before his eyes was not a grave, but a dilapidated kiln cave, about half a person's height, with the entrance haphazardly blocked by rubble and withered branches.

Vaguely, he could see a figure curled up inside, back turned to the entrance, shoulders heaving with sobs.

Chen Mu felt alert and narrowed his eyes to look.

This time he saw clearly; it was an Old Woman inside.

She was dressed in rags, with a full head of white hair, holding a broken bowl with a chipped rim, which seemed to contain something inside.

Chen Mu frowned, feeling a vague sense of unease.

The surroundings seemed to be permeated with an indescribable odor; it was not the stench of a corpse, but a complex smell mixed with old grime, medicinal herbs, and disease.

"Hungry... so hungry..."

The Old Woman muttered to herself while crying, her voice hoarse and shrill.

Watching this scene, Chen Mu's thoughts raced, and an idea exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

This was no ordinary cave; it was a Death-Abandonment Kiln!

It was a kiln cave where elderly people who had lost the ability to work waited for death!

Farmers relied on the heavens for their living; harvests were unstable, and in disaster years, it was hard to even fill one's stomach, so elderly people became a burden.

To save a mouthful of food, children would dig these kiln caves early on, waiting until the elderly were completely useless before carrying them into this Death-Abandonment Kiln.

They euphemistically called it "going up the mountain to cultivate," but in reality, it was naked abandonment of the elderly.

On the first day, they might still bring three meals, but with each passing day, they would reduce the meals until the food ran out, leaving them to fend for themselves!

"Hungry... want to eat..."

The Old Woman suddenly lowered her head, burying her face in the bowl, making slurping, swallowing sounds. The noise was sticky and rapid; it didn't sound like eating, but rather like a wild beast devouring something.

Chen Mu felt something was off and silently stepped forward a few paces.

Then, his pupils suddenly constricted.

He saw that the broken bowl did not contain food, but a blood-soaked child's head.

The head was small, with purplish-blue skin and eyes tightly shut.

The Old Woman's withered fingers were digging out the eyeballs bit by bit, scooping out the semi-congealed red and white matter from the sockets, putting it into her mouth, and closing her eyes to eat with relish, seemingly enjoying it immensely.

"Crunch!"

With one bite, she crushed something—it was the skull.

Chen Mu stood in the desolate, mournful winds of the Mass Grave, his hand on his sword hilt, feeling his blood run cold.

The sounds of chewing, sucking, and bone-cracking mingled together like a red-hot branding iron, searing straight into the depths of his consciousness.

"Not enough, not enough, still hungry..."

The Old Woman's voice became increasingly shrill. She picked the last bits of flesh from the child's head, popped them into her mouth, and casually tossed the skull out of the kiln entrance.

The head rolled on the ground a few times, covered in dirt, and finally stopped at Chen Mu's feet, staring at him with the black, hollow sockets of its eyes.

The next moment, the Old Woman's figure slowly turned around.

A face—a face that was definitely not human.

Its skin was grayish-blue, stretched tight like a drum surface, yet covered in short black hair, with features twisted and misaligned.

The eyes were long, narrow, and upturned, while the pupils had shrunk into two vertical slits, glowing faintly with a dark red light.

The corners of the mouth stretched all the way to the ears, revealing two rows of sharp teeth stained with blood.

It was a cat face—a bizarre cat face identical to those of the demonized villagers in Sangye Village.

The only difference was that this face was older, more distorted, and even more evil.

"Fresh... flesh..."

The Cat-Faced Old Woman grinned, saliva stretching in strings from the corners of her mouth. She dropped to all fours, arched her back, and her fingernails had long since turned into pitch-black sharp claws, digging deeply into the mud.

The next second, she moved.

Her aged body leaped into the air, sharp claws striking like lightning, straight for Chen Mu!

A dense Demonic Qi rushed toward him, carrying extreme greed and a crazed appetite; her strength was several times greater than the demonized villagers in the blood mist of Sangye Village!

Chen Mu's eyes sharpened; instead of retreating, he advanced.

In this bizarre dream, fleeing was meaningless; since that was the case, he would slay her!

His mind was set, his sword was unsheathed, and the "Heaven-Severing Sword Technique" was suddenly pushed to its limit.

A Sword Intent of nirvana tore through the dreamscape, striking straight at the Old Woman!

The Cat-Faced Old Woman let out a long howl, kicked off the air with her four limbs, and actually changed direction mid-air, turning into a dark shadow that narrowly dodged the fatal sword strike.

She landed immediately, legs pushing against the ground to gather strength, arms slightly raised, abdomen pressed close to the ground, hair standing on end—a posture of ready attack.

"Boom!" A loud crash sounded behind her. The Old Woman looked back; the ground where she had previously stood had been split open, revealing a bottomless crack.

"Good lad... you have some skill."

The Old Woman's vertical pupils locked onto Chen Mu, the bloodthirsty greed in her eyes growing more intense. Suddenly, she stopped crawling and stood up, swaying, her bones clicking and clacking all over.

Her figure remained hunched, but that ferocious air was rising steadily, surrounded by swirling blood energy that was of the same origin as the blood mist in Sangye Village, yet far more refined!

"Let me show you... my ability... Hahahaha..."

The Old Woman's clear voice, along with her wild laughter, gradually became blurred and overlapping. The sounds of children, old men, young men, and young girls rose and fell; it was as if ten thousand voices were speaking in unison!

And the Old Woman's cat face also changed drastically at this moment. Her features twisted and squirmed, and amidst the hazy blood energy, she instantly changed into a different appearance.

It was a young girl, her face like a peach blossom, yet her eyes were filled with horror, and blood tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.

Immediately after, the girl's face changed again into that of an honest-looking young man, but his face was hollow, a scene of utter deathly stillness.

Changing again! A cute, naive child with a bizarre sneer on his lips. Changing again! A sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked Old Woman, but her eyes were full of sorrow...

The Old Woman's face rapidly switched between one countenance after another, regardless of age or gender; between their brows, all carried extreme pain, whether hollow or sorrowful.

Every face had once belonged to a villager of Sangye Village! Every face held the imprisoned vengeful spirit of a villager!

With every face change, the Old Woman's ferocious air surged, and the blood energy around her grew thicker.

"Hehehe... Hundred-Phase Soul Devouring... Die, brat!"

Countless noisy, chaotic voices merged into a wave of sound, rushing headlong toward Chen Mu!

Chen Mu stepped back two paces, his Sea of Consciousness slightly shaken. He knew well that the danger of this resentment was not in tearing the body, but in corroding the spirit.

He immediately steadied his mind, guarding his spiritual center, and stomped his foot down hard.

"Divine Void Step!"

The sound wave impact rippled like water. Chen Mu's figure instantly split into eight, and eight indistinguishable figures rushed toward the Old Woman from different directions, surrounding her completely, while simultaneously raising their swords!

The Cat-Faced Old Woman's rapidly switching faces suddenly stopped, finally settling into the face of an Old Woman filled with extreme terror.

She clearly had not expected Chen Mu's movement technique to be so bizarre. Eight figures locked onto her simultaneously, all with chilling killing intent; for a moment, she couldn't tell which one was the real body!

"Playing god and acting the devil!"

The eight figures shouted coldly in unison, and the next moment, they launched their attack without hesitation!

Seven were phantoms, distracting the enemy's vision.

One was real, striking straight for the fatal point!

"Ah—"

The sound the Cat-Faced Old Woman emitted was not like human speech, shrill and abnormal, and then that scream stuck in her throat.

The Old Woman's face that finally settled on hers froze instantly, the terror and venom filling her eyes seemingly overflowing, staring fixedly at Chen Mu, as if wanting to carve his appearance into her very bones.

As a cold wind blew by, the Old Woman's figure shuddered and rapidly became transparent and dissipated, finally extending her sharp claws, pointing directly at Chen Mu, and uttering her final murmur.

"I won't... let you... go..."