Chutian originally wanted to remind him to be gentle, as he feared the formation might be altered.
But it was too late. Zhao Lei's body vanished with a thud.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Otherwise, with his brute force, his head might have been smashed open.
The four of them returned to the mountain and quickly ran towards the altar.
Zhao Lei was incredibly fast. All of them, including Chutian, possessed considerable skills.
Zhao Lei shot out with a whoosh.
In the blink of an eye, he had turned the corner into the corridor they had passed earlier.
Chutian and the others had only covered half the distance.
Bang...
A gunshot echoed.
Chutian's heart sank. Hadn't he told Zhao Lei not to shoot?
The three of them accelerated their pace and rushed over.
After turning the corner, they saw Zhao Lei holding a pistol, aiming at the altar.
In the ninth spot without remains, the night狸猫 lay there.
Unsure if it was alive or dead, Zhao Lei, upon seeing Chutian and the others arrive, said without looking back, "She was about to disembowel the狸猫, so I shot her knife away!"
Chutian's divine sense swept over and he found the狸猫 was still alive.
He looked at Ye Ling with a cold expression and said, "Are you Xu Duoduo now, or are you Ye Ling?"
"Hehehehe..." Ye Ling let out a silvery laugh.
Ye Ling's original voice was a neutral, magnetic tone. Now, her voice had changed.
"When did you find out?" Ye Ling's voice now was neither her original voice nor Xu Duoduo's.
It felt very strange. Zhao Lei anxiously asked, "Who are you, and what have you done to Ye Ling?"
"Oh my, you little virgin, don't tell me you like her. I bet you have no chance. I know for a fact she only likes women!"
Hearing this, Zhao Lei's anger erupted, and he was about to lash out.
Chutian placed a hand on his shoulder from behind and then looked at Ye Ling, saying, "Actually, your disguise was perfect.
Up until this point, I still wasn't sure if you were behind all this, Senior Xu Duoduo!"
Ye Ling looked at Chutian with amusement and said, "Then tell me, what have I done?"
Chutian looked at her and said faintly, "If the story you told earlier was true, then the incident where the seven members of that courtyard family hanged themselves from the rafters should have been your doing, right?
The reason was to create panic and the illusion of a haunting, so that the villagers would be afraid to approach that courtyard, because the exit was located there.
Later, the drilling team arrived, disrupting your plan, and even drilled out water from that spot. The underground river below should lead to some secret place.
To prevent the drilling team from digging further, you resorted to the same trick, possessing those soldiers and making them hang themselves.
That secret place, I presume, must be beneath this altar, where you raise your ghost-faced worms, right?"
"Hahaha... I have to say, you little fellow have quite a rich imagination, but you've only guessed half of it correctly."
Ye Ling said with a smile, then extended her finger, "Firstly, the worms weren't raised by me, and secondly, these are not worms, but Zhujiu."
"Zhujiu?" Chutian frowned.
"Perhaps you've all heard of Zhujiuyin? It's said to have dragon bloodlines, hence it's also called Zhulong. It also has a name that everyone doesn't know, which is 'Yin.'
And what you call 'Shade-Devouring Ghost Worms' are actually 'Zhujiu.' They coexist with 'Yin,' which is why the name Zhujiuyin came about.
The mythical Zhujiuyin is actually a combination of two creatures.
Legend has it that Zhulong had a son named 'Gu.' This altar you see was built to nurture 'Gu.'
And Gu is truly just a drum. You didn't expect that, did you? It's just that Gu wasn't Zhulong's child.
It was the essence it transformed into after death. By obtaining the drum, one could re-nurture a Zhulong.
It's a pity that when I obtained it back then, it turned out to be a dead drum."
As she spoke, she actually shook her head and sighed.
Awooo...
At this moment, the狸猫 lying on the ground miraculously woke up.
But before anyone could look, they heard Ye Ling laugh, "Haha, time's up. The Nine Yang Fetal Spirit Sacrifice is almost complete. You don't have time anymore."
Chutian and the other three knew that the Nine Yang Fetal Spirit Sacrifice she mentioned likely referred to this altar.
And at this moment, the狸猫 began to give birth. A small, golden-hued狸猫 had already poked its head out.
"Heh heh, little one, are you waiting for your protector to save you? Don't even dream of it. Even if he can get past the Bewildering Formation, he can't enter here.
The last time he scared me, I heard his voice. He should be some ancient being on the verge of death, right?
The formation at the entrance that requires fire on the head to activate is perfect for such an ancient being. As one ages, their fire power diminishes, and they'll have no chance to open the gate!
Even if he knows where the entrance is and tries to break it by force, it will only damage the foundation of the formation, and no one will be able to enter again."
Chutian was stunned by her words. What delay?
I really can't do anything about it, can I? If you have the guts, come out of Ye Ling's body, and I'll blast you to death with my divine sense.
And what is a protector? What is that thing?
"You're the one who's ancient and on the verge of death! You've angered this old man to death! I originally wanted to watch the show peacefully! Chutian, you kill her for me!"
Dao Tian's furious voice suddenly transmitted into his mind.
Chutian was stunned and instantly understood. It must have happened the last time he was gathering his qi.
He never expected Dao Tian to have scared her.
"Old... uh..." Chutian almost blurted out "ancient being" himself. If it were any other time, he would have.
But now that he needed Dao Tian's help, he quickly corrected himself, "How? She's inside Ye Ling!"
"I'll scare her out in a moment, and you just blast her with your divine sense, turn her into dust!" Dao Tian was clearly furious.
However, Chutian didn't know why he was so angry. It was because he himself had often called him an old fossil, an old geezer, and so on in the past.
If he knew that, if he weren't the only "waste body" in the myriad worlds, he would have likely been killed by Dao Tian long ago. He wondered if he would still dare to be so arrogant in the future.
"But if I blast her with my divine sense, it requires compression! Why don't you just kill her directly!"
"If I could kill her directly, why would I need you? You start compressing now, and open the divine gate later," Dao Tian said.
Chutian obediently began to release his divine sense, compressing its scope and aiming at Ye Ling.
At this moment, Chutian looked at the altar and thought to himself: You actually courted death when you had a good life. Your mouth is really too cheap.
"Oh... little fellow, you want to hit me with this bit of soul power you just recovered?
Heh heh... I should thank you. Your soul power has helped me activate 'Gu'!
I've been tricking that little fellow Xu Chen for so many years, and he's always been unwilling to come here with me again.
Consider him lucky. Otherwise, I would have used his soul to feed Gu.
This time, if I hadn't heard that Ye Ling had found such a soul-powerful kid like you, I wouldn't have personally... Ah..."
Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden scream was heard.
Then, Ye Ling was seen suddenly clutching her head, and a phantom separated from her body.
This phantom was none other than Xu Duoduo!
[Author's Note]
First update. There should be a small burst of updates today.