142: Evil spirits attack

Night fell.

It was just past seven, but every household in Pingan Village had tightly shut their doors and windows, as if delaying even a moment would mean being targeted by something.

“This...”

Uncle Li noticed their confusion and explained, “The village isn't peaceful right now. Strange things keep happening. The elders say it's Evil Ghosts claiming lives, but we don't really know what it is. So, as soon as night falls, we close the doors and windows to keep any dirty things out.”

“Ghost Brother is a good ghost...” Le Le was sleeping soundly, but she replied in her dream, leaving Uncle Li with a mixed feeling of emotions.

Just then, a strange phenomenon occurred.

A strong wind picked up outside, followed by a howling sound like ghosts weeping and wolves wailing. The wooden windows rattled, the hanging lamp swayed back and forth, and the dim yellow light flickered.

Then, the sound of marbles suddenly dropping onto the floor came from the roof, startling everyone, followed by the 'clack-clack' sound of high heels walking.

“This...”

“Y-you, you heard it... that sound...”

Uncle Li stammered when he got nervous, but luckily, no one paid attention to what he was saying right now.

Xie Ning glanced at Qin Tianyu, who nodded, transformed into a streak of black light, and flew out through the crack in the door.

“Su Qin, you and Light Cat guard this place.” After speaking, without waiting for a reply, Xie Ning rushed to the second floor. After a thorough check, he found no traces, and the System gave no warning sounds.

He flipped out of the second-floor window and onto the roof, then, gripping Little Mantis's claw, he flew high up.

A quick look confirmed his suspicions.

Under the hazy moonlight, Xie Ning saw a group of hundreds of blurry figures walking into the village from the entrance. They bypassed a dilapidated house, ignored the obstruction of other buildings, and marched forward in neat formation.

Immediately, screams of terror erupted from the houses that these figures passed through.

At the same time, Xie Ning saw the group from Yuzhang Academy he had encountered earlier that day. Five people, controlling their Yao Beasts, were rushing toward the source of the commotion.

They were fast, but Qin Tianyu was faster.

As Xie Ning dropped from the air, Qin Tianyu, a dagger of black light, pierced a blurry figure and said without turning back, “Physical attacks are ineffective, use elements!”

Xie Ning nodded, summoned White Fang, and activated a Beast Taming Skill. As the man and the wolf landed, two streams of dazzling golden flames roared, sweeping across the ten meters in front of them and defeating dozens of the blurry figures.

Seeing this, Qin Tianyu decisively turned and headed toward another street.

Facing hundreds of enemies, Qin Tianyu, who could only perform single-target attacks, was at a disadvantage. His hard-earned damage output couldn't match Xie Ning's single skill wave.

Xie Ning smiled, and at the same time, a notification sound came from the System.

[Yao Beast Name] Wandering Soul

[Yao Beast Rank] Elite

[Yao Beast Level] Black Iron Rank 1~5

[Yao Beast Attribute] Dark

[Yao Beast Weakness] Light

[Yao Beast Description] A summoned creature of the Fierce Demon, weak in strength.

There really is a Fierce Demon here.

Judging by this, could the information Fei Shanqiu received earlier have been a misunderstanding? Perhaps the Fierce Demon here isn't the one he was looking for?

Xie Ning looked around but couldn't detect the Fierce Demon's attributes; it was clearly not nearby.

At this moment, the Yuzhang Academy team also arrived. They saw Xie Ning attacking the Wandering Souls from a distance but paid it no mind.

Wu Tian rode his Thunder Rhino up next to Xie Ning and said with a look of displeasure, “Kid, you're quite arrogant. Few people dare to cross me in a region City. Among our generation, you're the first.”

“Oh, thanks for the reminder, or I would have forgotten. But don't take it to heart, and don't feel upset, because,” Xie Ning paused, smiled, and maintained his indifferent expression, “I didn't take it to heart either.”

Wu Tian immediately became furious and shouted, “Nonsense! I'm the one who was crossed, not you!”

“Boss, don't forget our mission.”

Hearing the words of the person next to him, Wu Tian gritted his teeth and snorted, “Shang Wu, you're right. I'll deal with him after the mission is complete!”

“Kid, you better get lost first thing tomorrow morning. If you dare mess up my affairs, no one in the entire a region City will be able to protect you!” Having said that, Wu Tian changed direction toward the other side. “Let's go! Clear them out separately!”

Xie Ning watched the figures scatter and shrugged. “Perhaps in your eyes, a region is the entire world.”

“Let's go too!”

With that, Xie Ning and White Fang unleashed flames. White Fang cleared the streets, while Xie Ning entered the houses to kill. The powerful golden flames were an absolute weapon against the Wandering Souls; anything they touched was instantly destroyed.

Midway through the fight, Xie Ning looked back and saw Little Mantis sitting comfortably on White Fang's back. He couldn't help but stare, his face filled with disbelief.

Did someone steal my spot?

The response was Little Mantis shaking its head, followed by its 'hehe' laughter echoing in his mind.

While Xie Ning and Little Mantis were joking around, they quickly reached the village entrance. Arriving almost simultaneously was Wu Tian, riding his Silver Rank 2 Thunder Rhino.

The latter saw Xie Ning, sneered, and continued clearing the Wandering Souls on his own.

The others also fought their way through the streets and houses, completely eliminating the Wandering Souls and gathering at the village entrance.

Wu Tian spoke to Xie Ning again: “Kid, I'll remind you one last time. Take your poker-faced classmate and scram. My team, Wu Tian's team, is enough for this mission.”

Hearing this, Qin Tianyu's expression turned cold. He was about to make a move but was stopped by Xie Ning. Not only that, but Xie Ning also pulled him back several steps.

Just as Qin Tianyu felt confused and Wu Tian was feeling smug, a cry of alarm rang out.

“Captain! Watch out!”

“Heavens, what is that?”

Wu Tian's teammates exclaimed in shock. Xie Ning and Qin Tianyu rapidly retreated, Little Mantis vanished into space, and White Fang closely followed Xie Ning.

The Wandering Souls, which had been moving forward, suddenly vanished collectively. Immediately afterward, a dense black mist appeared above everyone, swirling and churning, dozens of meters wide, obscuring the sky and the moon. The entire world darkened, like the end of days.

“This, this is...”

From within the black mist, a massive bone claw, easily ten meters wide, reached out and struck toward Wu Tian.

“What the f*ck!” Wu Tian had just turned around when the bone claw enveloped him.

Boom!

The ground shook violently, and the shockwave even reached houses dozens of meters away. The next second, the bone claw shattered, and surging lightning scattered, completely destroying the claw and revealing the scene beneath it: Wu Tian was lying beneath the Thunder Rhino's belly. The Thunder Rhino had taken the hit for him and was covered in blood, clearly suffering serious injuries.

“Damn you! How dare you hit me! Kill it for me!” After Wu Tian scrambled up, he pointed at the black cloud. The Thunder Rhino unleashed a burst of lightning, hitting the black cloud, which then rapidly shrank, approached, and deepened in color.

When the black mist shrank to only five meters wide, it landed on the ground. The mist surrounding it was so dense it resembled an abyss, with no visible churning. Then, six scarlet eyes opened within the mist, followed by a pair of scaly, black Qi-shrouded demonic claws.

“What in the world is this thing?!”

“This Aura is actually stronger than the Thunder Rhino's!”

“What should we do? This looks quite troublesome...”

The people from Yuzhang Academy frowned and discussed, and even Wu Tian couldn't help but feel nervous, unsure how to handle the situation.

Qin Tianyu looked toward Xie Ning.

“Unless this layer of black mist is cleared away, I can't see its information.” Xie Ning shook his head, scrutinizing the black mist, and said thoughtfully, “But the strange thing is, this mass of black mist—or rather, this Fierce Demon—doesn't seem to hold any killing intent toward us.”