Flee

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing was like some wretched soul in a horror movie possessed by a malevolent specter, his body contorting in a horrifying, inhuman twist under the evil spirit's control. His head was wrenched completely backward; with a downward glance, he could see his own shoulder blades. The joints of his limbs had also been twisted 180 degrees. Aside from his torso remaining unchanged, every one of his limbs was reversed. Suffering such extreme trauma would have killed any other class on the spot, save for Wood Demons and Water Ghosts. Only the Night Wanderer's formidable vitality and self-healing power kept him from dying then and there. "Tee-hee! So much fun! So much fun..." A child's crisp, sweet voice resonated from within Zhang Yuanqing's body. The next second, his upper body slowly arched backward. His legs were straight, heels locked in place, and his waist bent backward bit by bit like a fully drawn bow. His ribs jutted out one by one, and his spine groaned on the verge of snapping. *No, I can't take much more of this...* Zhang Yuanqing's heart seized. If his spine snapped, a Level 3 Night Wanderer's healing ability would never be able to mend it anytime soon. He would lose all ability to handle the dangers of the dungeon and surely die. At this moment, it felt as though he had returned to the first time he had used the Ghost Bride—his limbs numb and icy cold, devoid of strength, his body completely unresponsive to his brain's commands. As his waist continued to arch, he felt a faint pain in his cervical vertebrae. With his brain's sensory connection to his body so heavily dulled, feeling even a faint pain meant his spine was already beginning to fracture. Summoning the last dregs of his strength, a pitch-black, viscous power surged from the depths of Zhang Yuanqing's eyes, filling his sockets. Spirit Devouring! Spirit Devouring was the bane of all spirit bodies, the Night Wanderer's divine skill for dominating the spectral domain. Even if there was a vast disparity in power between the two sides, it could still briefly suppress and affect a vengeful spirit. "Ah!" A startled, frightened gasp from a young child came from within his body. Immediately, Zhang Yuanqing felt the chill inside him subside slightly, and his brain regained some degree of control over his physical body. Only now did he clearly feel the excruciating pain radiating from his waist—a pain so sharp it made him suck in a breath of cold air. Ignoring the injuries, he seized the opening and threw his head back in a long howl toward the sky. A beam of brilliant, pure moonlight broke through the clouds, hitting Zhang Yuanqing like a searchlight. Howl to the Moon! Howl to the Moon was an unparalleled Night Wanderer skill that could only be used at night. By drawing upon the power of the Taiyin, it drastically boosted the Night Wanderer's stamina and skills—a life-or-death, desperate technique. The price, however, was that for the next three hours, the Night Wanderer would enter a severely weakened, lethargic state. That was why Zhang Yuanqing rarely used it. His aura surged violently, slightly boosting Spirit Devouring in turn and further suppressing the ghost doll inside him. In an instant, Zhang Yuanqing reclaimed fifty percent of his body's control. He snapped his back straight. With a crack, his twisted right arm popped back into place. Reaching into the empty air, he retrieved the Yinyang Robe and a pair of boots woven from yellow silk and embroidered with exquisite cloud patterns. He would use the Yinyang Robe to break the ghost doll's killing rule. Zhang Yuanqing lifted his right foot and slipped it into the Houtu Boot, but when he tried to move his left foot, he discovered to his dismay that control of that foot was still in the ghost doll's grasp. "Hmph! Meanie! You don't want to play games with me! I'm going to kill you!" The ghost doll seemed to realize how he was responding. Her naive, tender voice turned sinister and cold, and the suppressed yin energy surged back in a furious counterattack, instantly retaking control of his body. Crack! His right arm twisted backward once more, and his waist arched back again—this time fast and violent, as if trying to snap his cervical spine directly in two. Just then, Corpse No. 1, who had twisted off the old man's head, charged over and kicked Zhang Yuanqing's right leg, knocking him to the ground and averting the snapping of his neck. Then, with a deft sweep of its leg, Corpse No. 1 kicked the other Houtu Boot onto his original body's left foot. Upon touching the sole of his foot, the Houtu Boot slipped on automatically. Finally, Corpse No. 1 grabbed the Yinyang Robe from the ground and whipped it into the air. Whoosh! The robe snapped open, revealing the taiji fish on its back. Rotating like millstones, the yang fish ground out blazing flames, while the yin fish sprinkled illusory water. The Grand Array of Water and Fire covered a thirty-meter radius. Zhang Yuanqing's original body vanished, replaced by two clay figures rising from the ground. They had rigid, stone-hard bodies yet remarkably flexible joints, resembling terracotta warriors, and their facial features were identical to Zhang Yuanqing's. Standing amidst the flames, the clay figure looked down at itself and said: "Quite... interesting... This body... not bad... But I feel strange... Can't put my finger... on what's strange..." The clay figure stepping on the illusory water said: "Why do... I feel... that you've... become stupider..." Meanwhile, standing on the dividing line between water and fire, Corpse No. 1 (Zhang Yuanqing) looked at his two avatars and couldn't help but frown. *Are these two idiots really me? Why do they act like half-wits?* The water and fire avatars were already expressionless, and now their speech was halting and stuttered, like simpletons with underdeveloped minds. *Uh, my soul was divided into too many pieces...* Zhang Yuanqing quickly realized. It wasn't that the water and fire avatars were mentally deficient, but rather that too little soul had been allocated to them. Half of his soul was in his original body and half in the yin corpse. After using the Yinyang Robe, the water and fire avatars split that half equally. Naturally, they appeared dim-witted and wooden. Just then, the small, shadowy figure—darker than the night itself—ignored the searing flames and rushing water, darting toward Corpse No. 1 as it let out a young girl's laughter: "Let's play a game~" Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing wasted no time. Before the small shadow could possess Corpse No. 1, he had the two avatars and the yin corpse form a triangle. "You clap one, I clap one, playing games before setting sun..." Amidst the thumping clap of the clay figures' hands, the interrupted game resumed. The ghost doll circled the three, pacing around them, complaining and weeping. She attempted to possess them several times, but failed every time. Zhang Yuanqing was having a hard time as well. The Yinyang Robe's array lasted only ten minutes; beyond that time limit, he would never be able to return to human form. So, if the ghost doll didn't leave within ten minutes, he would have no choice but to use the Demon-Subduing Pestle. When that happened, everything would slide into an uncontrollable abyss. Time slipped by like water. When nearly ten minutes had passed, the ghost doll stamped her foot and said: "Hate you! None of you will play with me! I'll come back for you tomorrow~" With that, the petite figure swiftly drifted away, melting into the deep night and disappearing completely. Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing immediately deactivated the array form, returned to his human body, and sprawled on the ground spread-eagled, gasping for breath. Corpse No. 1 stood guard beside him. *Thank goodness... Thank goodness the old man turned into a corpse right as the first watch was ending. Otherwise, this would have been really bad. Damn it, this dungeon is not a bit safer than Yinyang Town.* He lay in the thick darkness for nearly ten minutes before struggling to sit up. His fractured neck, leg, and arm bones had healed decently, but only enough for normal movement—strenuous exercise was out of the question. Zhang Yuanqing's physical condition was terrible, both from his injuries and the backlash of using Howl to the Moon. Fortunately, the yin energy here was extremely dense, and it was night—a veritable haven for nourishing a Night Wanderer, which greatly reduced his recovery time. The night was deep, pitch-black like ink. The mountain village was dead silent. Zhang Yuanqing sat in the pitch darkness where one couldn't even see five fingers held before the face, flanked by the yin corpse acting as his bodyguard, with the decapitated old man lying not far away. In such an oppressive environment, he felt not the slightest fear; instead, he was like a fish in water, feeling right at home. *If I remember correctly, the interval between the first and second watches is one shichen, which is two hours. For the next two hours, I'm safe.* *During the second watch, the paper figurine will appear. Logically speaking, the danger level should escalate over time. The ghost doll of the first watch was already this terrifying—what about the paper figurine of the second watch?* *I still don't know what anomaly appears during the third watch. Tsk, the old man turned into a yin corpse, and the other villagers must be the same. There's no way to gather intelligence anymore.* To verify his suspicion, he summoned Little Doubi and urged the infant spirit to crawl toward a nearby rammed-earth cottage. Little Doubi phased through the wall and entered the house. Zhang Yuanqing projected his consciousness into the infant spirit, peering through the darkness to inspect the scene inside. Inside were two yin corpses, a man and a woman, likely a married couple. Their eyes were bloodshot, thick saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths, standing blankly and motionlessly in the room. *They don't seem to actively attack people. At least, so long as no one enters the house, these villagers won't initiate an attack...* Zhang Yuanqing assessed internally. These villagers were normal people by day, but once night fell and yin energy coiled around the mountain village, they would transform into yin corpses. Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help recalling what the old man said when he transformed: *During the fourth watch, everyone died!* *Turning an entire village of living people into yin corpses must be the work of that commandery princess. I was wrong—she's not just fierce, she's ridiculously fierce. Is a boss like this really something someone in the Transcendent stage can handle?* Zhang Yuanqing felt something was amiss. The difficulty of this dungeon had already exceeded Grade A territory. This was clearly Grade S—no, even Grade S might not be this horrifying. *What am I overthinking for? Anyway, I've got the Demon Lord's experience to draw on. It'd be a waste not to fleece a senior.* Zhang Yuanqing fished the Cat King Speaker from his pants pocket, set it in front of himself, tapped its black metal casing, and asked: "How do I clear the next hurdle—the paper figurine?" This time, the Cat King Speaker cooperated. Static crackled through the speaker. A few seconds later, a shrill, terror-stricken scream rang out: "Run! Run away...!" The voice was steeped in dread and trembled violently, echoing through the pitch-black night and carrying a spine-chilling cold.