Ling Tian approached the soldiers blocking the way.
"Excuse me, little brother, could you please find your leader!"
"It's no use looking for our leader. Without orders from above, you won't be allowed to take another step forward!"
The soldier's attitude was very firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
Ling Tian took out a document and handed it to the soldier.
"This is my identification. Please find your leader. He will verify the authenticity of this document with his superiors."
The soldier took Ling Tian's document and opened it. It was indeed an identification from the Special Operations Division, but he didn't recognize it. He immediately took the document away.
A few minutes later, a major appeared with Ling Tian's document.
"Hello, Mr. Ling Tian. I am Jiang Tao, the person in charge of this operation!"
"Hello, Mr. Jiang. May I ask if I am qualified to enter Hantan Village now?" Ling Tian asked with a smile.
"Yes, I have already reported to my superiors, and you are qualified to enter Hantan Village. However, the situation in the village is very complicated right now, so please be careful!
We have dispatched a commando team to search the village. Although we haven't found anything unusual, we can feel that the situation in the village is somewhat eerie..."
"Alright, thank you for telling me the truth. Leave the rest to me. I'm a professional!"
After speaking, Ling Tian took the document back from Jiang Tao, stuffed it into his pocket, and it entered the spiritual realm space.
Then, Ling Tian bid farewell to the disciples of Longhu Mountain, telling them to return to the mountain. Afterward, Ling Tian got into a car and drove into Hantan Village.
The closer he got to Hantan Village, the more Ling Tian felt that something was wrong. The village exuded a chilling aura that made him very uncomfortable.
There was a small square at the village entrance where the car had to stop. To go further, there were only small paths, and one had to walk into the village.
Ling Tian got out of the car and took out his compass. As expected, the needle on the compass immediately began to spin wildly.
Ling Tian frowned. He released the Sea Eagle from his spiritual realm space. The Sea Eagle soared into the sky, reaching an altitude of over a thousand meters, and the entire terrain of the village came into Ling Tian's view.
The climate here was very strange. Although it was clear and sunny outside the valley, within the Hantan Village area, there was thick fog and a gloomy atmosphere.
Through the overall observation by the Sea Eagle in the sky and the abnormal swing of the compass needle in his hand, Ling Tian determined that this village was a natural large-scale Yin gathering formation!
It was just that this formation was very cleverly integrated with nature. If Ling Tian hadn't had the inheritance from the spiritual realm space, it would have been difficult for him to recognize it immediately.
A man-made formation would show traces, but this formation was so deeply hidden that it could only mean one thing: this formation was ancient and had a long history.
It was precisely because of this that the formation was not easily discovered.
Ling Tian frowned. An ancient natural Yin gathering formation converted the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into Yin energy, continuously feeding it into the cold pond. Over the years, it was not surprising that anything could form in such an environment.
Ling Tian walked into the village. As soon as he entered, he saw a small river flowing past the village.
This small river was only about ten meters wide, and its deepest point was no more than two meters. The current was also quite gentle. However, this small river had claimed more than a dozen lives recently!
With a flash of thought, Ling Tian took out an infrared thermometer and pointed it at the water surface. The thermometer showed that the water temperature was close to 0 degrees Celsius.
Although it didn't look frozen, the temperature was close to freezing. Once a person fell into this water, their body would quickly become numb at this low temperature. Therefore, even if the water was not very deep, it was not impossible to drown someone!
It was almost 4 PM, and the sky was getting dark. Ling Tian decided to find a place to stay in the village and then explore the secret of Hantan Village at noon tomorrow.
This was a very wise choice, as night was the time when evil spirits were most active and powerful.
Going to find those evil spirits at this time would be pure self-inflicted trouble. Even great masters who performed exorcisms would choose midday, when the sun was at its strongest, and the energy of ghosts was at its lowest ebb.
Ling Tian walked along the river towards some houses in the village, wanting to find a house to hide in and then enter the spiritual realm space.
However, at that moment, a figure appeared about fifty meters behind Ling Tian.
It was a woman, wearing a pink pajama with white flowers and slippers on her feet.
This woman had a beautiful face, a very alluring figure, and fair skin. Most importantly, this woman, who was less than 30 years old, had a very seductive expression on her face. She was definitely a stunner.
Ling Tian heard footsteps, turned his head, and saw this woman. His heart skipped a beat because he had just seen information about this woman in the Taoist temple last night.
This alluring woman in pajamas was named Wang Xiuhua. She was a villager of Hantan Village. Her husband worked outside and only returned during the Chinese New Year.
However, this woman had a poor reputation. The village chief often visited her home, under the guise of helping the left-behind women, and would often stay until dawn.
Just half a month ago, this woman's body was found by the river, along with the village chief's body. The reason why these two went into the river in the middle of the night was an unsolved mystery. At the time of her death, she was wearing this same pajama.
Now, this woman appearing on the riverbank could not help but make Ling Tian vigilant.
"Handsome, hello. Where are you from? Look, it's getting late. Why don't you come to my place to rest for a while..."
The woman's almond-shaped eyes were full of affection, and she approached Ling Tian with a seductive demeanor, trying to lean on him.
Ling Tian sniffed and frowned. This woman had no feminine fragrance at all. Instead, there was a fishy smell, like rotten fish soup dried in the summer.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you before?" Ling Tian feigned curiosity.
"I am Wang Xiuhua. I am from this village. It's getting dark now, and you won't find a place to stay elsewhere.
Come to my house. My husband is never home, and I'm very lonely..."
"Okay, that's great. I was just worrying about where to stay tonight."
Ling Tian smiled and walked directly towards the woman.