Chapter 27 Guardian Hound

At this critical juncture, that seemingly ordinary Big Black Dog suddenly raised its head and let out a low, powerful roar.

"Awoo——"

The sound did not resemble a dog's bark; instead, it faintly carried the Aura of a mountain predator.

Following this roar, a golden halo suddenly appeared on the Big Black Dog's originally dull black fur, standing out remarkably in the darkness.

Its originally murky eyes instantly became sharp, and its gaunt body erupted with immense power.

Facing the pack of cats, it did not retreat but advanced, actively pouncing toward them!

The Big Black Dog charged left and right through the cat pack, pouncing, biting, and thrashing its head; it was precise and ruthless, not wasting time in skirmishes, but aiming straight for throats and spines, leaving flesh and blood flying wherever it went.

More importantly, the faint golden light on its body seemed to have a natural restraining effect on the cat demons.

However, the cat pack was simply too large, and they seemed to know no fear, stepping over the corpses of their companions, wave after wave.

It seemed they wanted to use a "cat sea" tactic to exhaust the Big Black Dog to death.

Gradually, the Big Black Dog began to lose its stamina, and deep wounds, visible to the bone, appeared all over its body.

Its black fur was soaked in blood, yet it still firmly guarded the area less than a meter behind it.

Where Blind Li was, it would not yield an inch.

The Big Black Dog tore open a door to survival with its body and life; Blind Li, stimulated by the bloody scent of cat howls and dog barks, had regained a sliver of consciousness and desperately stood up, scrambling and crawling as he fled toward the village.

He could not see the path and could only stagger through the Mass Grave, relying on his memory.

Whenever he fell, he would immediately get back up using his hands and feet.

Seeing his master fleeing, the Big Black Dog suddenly erupted with a burst of strength, violently throwing off the surrounding cat demons, and turned to chase in Blind Li's direction.

It used its body to nudge him and its head to push him, guiding him in the right direction while fending off attacks from the cat demons behind.

The golden light on its body grew dimmer and its wounds more numerous, yet it never gave up, never leaving Blind Li's side.

Finally, a disheveled and wretched Blind Li pushed open his own dilapidated gate and collapsed, exhausted, into the familiar courtyard.

The Big Black Dog followed closely behind, stumbling as it fell inside.

There was not a single patch of intact skin left on its body; it was covered in blood and filth, gaunt and withered, with a very faint breath.

Almost giving the two no chance to catch their breath, the cat demons arrived in the blink of an eye.

Just as the lead cat demon tried to follow into the courtyard gate, a low, humming sound suddenly rang out.

The ordinary courtyard walls, door lintels, and even the ground beneath Blind Li's home were instantly covered by a layer of complex, ancient golden patterns.

The golden light flashed and vanished, yet it formed an invisible barrier!

"Hiss——"

The lead cat demon, attempting to break in, instantly reacted as if it had struck a red-hot branding iron; with a shriek, it was sent flying, crashing against the wall!

Upon landing, it twitched twice before it could no longer move.

Seeing this, the other cat demons dared not rush forward again and could only pace anxiously at the entrance, hissing.

The courtyard was finally safe for the moment.

The Big Black Dog let out a low whimper from its nose, used the last of its strength to nudge closer to Blind Li, and pushed its head against its master's palm.

Blind Li, who had long since collapsed onto the ground, seemed to sense something, but it was as if he had been stimulated by the successive events to the point of completely losing his mind; he merely trembled all over, showing no reaction to the Big Black Dog's actions.

After a while, the Cat-Faced Old Woman arrived slowly, stepping with an eerie gait; she surveyed the courtyard, seemingly weighing and evaluating, or perhaps as if she had planned the layout long ago.

After a moment of contemplation, she raised her head and let out a roar filled with evil power toward the sky.

This time, even Chen Mu clearly felt the malice and command within the roar.

"My children... go back... crawl into their beds, slip into their dreams..."

"Consume their souls... devour their spirits..."

"Offer this village... to my master..."

Once the order was given, the cat demons hovering around immediately turned in unison.

They were no longer obsessed with Blind Li, the fish that had slipped through the net, but instead rushed toward the households of Sangye Village.

In no time at all.

"Ah!"

"What is that!"

"Help! Dad... Mom!"

"Meow——"

The dead-silent Sangye Village was instantly filled with screams of extreme terror and the painful wails of flesh being torn apart.

A horrific massacre was unfolding behind every door.

Not a single cat showed mercy to their former masters, hoping only to eat their flesh and sleep on their hides.

Blood mist rose from every household, gathering and thickening, gradually converging into a blood-colored haze that shrouded the entire village.

At the same time, the once-vibrant human presence in the village sharply dwindled, replaced by an increasingly dense Demonic Qi and madness.

At this point, the scene suddenly shattered like a mirror, breaking into countless pieces.

Chen Mu suddenly felt a powerful suction force, forcefully pulling his voyeuristic consciousness away from the carnage.

When his vision refocused, he found himself still floating in mid-air, but the scene was no longer the bloody massacre; instead, it was the day-to-day life within Blind Li's small courtyard.

At night, blood mist filled the area outside the courtyard, where demonized monsters roamed, while the days were completely silent.

He saw how the dying Big Black Dog, dragging its weak and weary body, laboriously crawled out of the small courtyard and stumbled toward those empty houses.

It nudged open doors, snuck in, and crawled into kitchens.

The Big Black Dog scanned the area, searching for food.

Fortunately, there was still old rice in the jars, or perhaps dried meat strips on the beams.

The black dog would either carry rice in its mouth or jump up to retrieve meat, then carefully carry the supplies back to Blind Li's small courtyard, stumbling all the way.

It would put down the rice and meat, then nudge Blind Li, who had hollow eyes and was trembling, with its head.

Blind Li would grope for the raw rice, stuff it into his mouth, and chew it with difficulty, or grab the raw meat and gnaw at it laboriously.

He could not see that the rice was infested with worms or that the meat had rotted, nor did he know its taste.

He simply swallowed mechanically, maintaining the most basic life requirements of his body.

The Big Black Dog watched silently and also gnawed on raw meat.

The wounds on its body were slowly scabbing over, but the lost spiritual power could not be replenished.

Its fur grew increasingly dry and withered, and its movements became slower day by day.

The scenes flowed, and the seasons changed.

The old dog went out to forage less and less frequently, with longer and longer intervals in between.

Meanwhile, Blind Li, deeply traumatized, spent most of his time immersed in his own inverted fantasies.

The rotten food the old dog brought back at the risk of its life was treated by him as fragrant rice and fresh meat brought by his filial children.

The dead-silent, desolate village and the heavy ghostly shadows were viewed by him as a peaceful and prosperous age where no one pocketed anything found on the road and doors were left unlocked at night.

He fantasized his miserable situation of being abandoned by his son and on the brink of death as a comfortable old age with children and grandchildren around his knees and a virtuous wife.

Only then did Chen Mu understand that the so-called "peaceful years" were actually an adventure where a loyal dog burned through its life, alongside the mental delusion of a pathetic old man who had completely broken down.

Chen Mu's heart stirred slightly, but it was not out of sympathy; rather, it was a realization that bordered on coldness.

The strangeness of this Sangye Village far exceeded his estimates, and the Karma was even more intricate and complex.

The Cat-Faced Old Woman consuming her own kin and commanding the pack of cats was a direct, evil means.

And the twisted symbiosis between Blind Li and the Big Black Dog was itself filled with sorrow.

This was but one corner of the reality here, Chen Mu pondered to himself.

Just then, the dream, which had only just stabilized, fluctuated violently again.

It was as if a more urgent and powerful pulling force had struck, dragging him into another scene.

The small courtyard of Blind Li before his eyes was gradually blurring and disappearing, and a cold, damp, and decaying scent surrounded him.

Crooked tombstones loomed in the darkness, and a half-collapsed cave dwelling appeared suddenly before him.

The Mass Grave; this was the dream where Liu Ziming was trapped.

Barely steadying his mind, Chen Mu heard the now-distorted cries for help from Liu Ziming.

As well as a hiss so familiar it made one's body turn cold.