Chapter 66 - Returning With Growls

Du Qingsan came to us in a flash and suddenly attacked Hao Gosai. However, his attack passed through the young man's body by giving no damage at all. Hao Gosai was in an immaterial state.

'Then how did he drink the water earlier?' I thought, confused.

''Be careful, he is a Yin ghost!'' Qingsan shouted.

Hearing him, the merchants panicked as well as the guards. How were they supposed to fight against a ghost now?

''He doesn't seem like a ghost to me,'' I said. I knew what a Yin ghost was. Hao Gosai wouldn't be able to roam under daylight if he was one. However, there was no denying that he was made of Qi.

The compass was strongly pointing at- wait, it was pointing behind him. When he sidestepped seeing Du Qingsan attack him, the indicator's tip still pointed at the direction he lay earlier.

Hao Gosai didn't stop asking for water and kept shouting. I couldn't figure out what type of Qi his body was made of with my half spirit sense. I then remembered that steam had come out of his body sometime after we continued the journey. Others hadn't seen it because it was subtle but I had been paying close attention to him.

Other than the unknown immaterial man, this forest itself was weird. We increased our pace and some even rode their horses to see if we had somehow circled the same way. After another two hours, we reached the same place and Hao Gosai was waiting for us,

He asked for water just like the last two times. Du Aini got irritated and tried hitting him. Of course, her attack was just a waste of energy. Lou Shila freaked out when Chunu told her that there were more bones behind the bushes now. She had gone to check on it.

Feng Yi was calm and told us that we might have been drugged by some dangerous plant. She even argued that this might be some kind of illusion we were having due to that.

I half agreed with her while my other half thought that this might be a formation instead. Things would get real tricky if that was the case.

I actually hoped that we were affected by some plant. Though some wandering beast may feast on our body as we could all be lying unconscious.

I didn't share my thoughts as that would make Lou Shila and others freak out more. Chunu went on alert seeing that Hao Gosai was coming to us. The beast tried smelling him when he reached near, something within this immaterial man attracted it.

However, he suddenly disappeared before the beast could touch him. It seemed confused just like us.

We went ahead, trying to search for the mystery of this man. Everyone was unsettled. Shila dismounted and walked with us.

Time and time again, we met Hao Gosai on the road. The same trees, the same winding paths, more bones, not just of birds, but also of animals we couldn't recognize… Hao Gosai's cries had begun to frighten even the guards. He was just too creepy.

The sun was starting to set and we hadn't stopped at all. We were tired and thirsty. If we had been drugged, we should've awoken by now. That meant we were stuck in a formation.

"Tsk, just when I thought the journey would be smooth."

I was prepared for demon beasts, scarce supplies and any other troubles a travelling group would get. However, formations were beyond our capabilities.

'Well, if I can find the key to this, maybe I can break it.' I thought, sipping some water. The amount we allotted for today was about to finish, what were we to drink at night?

"Mommy, that man came again!" It was no wonder that children had long since noticed what was going on by now.

The people were going crazy. They shouted at Hao Gosai but he repeated the same words and said we shouldn't roam the forest.

"H-he really is a ghost!" Du Miao stuttered. 

'Now who told her that?' I looked at Ule and found him unable to come up with anything to say.

"I think we should just stay here. This forest is creepy, maybe… maybe there's some magical Qi making us go around in circles." Du Aini was at first really hostile towards Hao Gosai, but now even her energy was dwindling, and she finally considered what the man was saying.

'Do not roam, maybe that has something to do with this formation,' I stroked my beard.

The fading sunlight dyed the ground orange, over which shadows of trees and bushes were getting longer… and longer…

"My son isn't here!"

"LuLu, where are you!?"

First the children and then even some adults, they started disappearing. Panic spread and a few of the travelers were about to run off to different directions to search for their dear ones.

"Don't go, you stay where you are!" thundered the chief. She then said, "We will look for them, but we won't separate."

She had sweat all over her face. Her old body wouldn't be able to keep up and she knew it.

We did not walk at all after that and quickly ate some dry food we had. Two people suddenly disappeared during this time. I only had a rough idea on just what was happening.

There were various types of formations. The most common among them was the type that affected those inside.

These usually had a central source of energy. Below Core Condensation, it was difficult to create a formation that was not bound to anything and that directly used the surrounding energy.

The key might be Hao Gosai himself. I tried remembering everything he had said but couldn't find any hint about our situation.

Night came and we lit the emergency lamps we had. We decided to camp here instead of fruitlessly searching for those who disappeared. However, we didn't have the time to make a fire when they came.

"Big brother, I don't see sister Shila." I became alarmed when Chunu said that. No one from our group had disappeared yet. But now…

I suddenly heard voices! No, they were growls!

'Just what in the world?' I jerked my head to the left. They were coming from the direction Chunu had gone to pee earlier.

Others also heard the growls which sounded sometimes human and sometimes not. The lamps we were holding illuminated the horror on our faces as we saw people instead of monsters.

In the dark night, 12 bulbs of yellow lights shone. With their help, we could see those who had disappeared.

Growling, with slow unsteady steps, they had come back to take us with them.. They were zombies.