Chapter 478 - Weird Puppets

“Are you moving or not?”

A voice suddenly rang out behind Xiao Chen. It turned out that the man behind Xiao Chen bumped into him because Xiao Chen suddenly stopped moving.

“Sorry, please go ahead of me.”

Xiao Chen smiled at the man, walked out of the line, and went to Yi Tong. When he saw Yi Tong, his expression became serious. “Brother Yi, that man said…” he whispered to him.

“Sh…” Yi Tong made a hush gesture and said in a low voice, “Let’s talk about it when we get into the city.”

When Xiao Chen and his companions entered the city, they went separate ways so as not to draw attention from others. Many people in the city were talking about the recent strange death cases. “It’s Soul-consuming Evil Flower,” Yi Tong whispered in Xiao Chen’s ears.

Xiao Chen’s heart skipped a beat. It was indeed Soul-consuming Evil Flower. The two people he met just now said that flowers bloomed all over the village and all the villagers died in one night, just like what happened in Mu Family Village a hundred years ago. According to the words, Xiao Chen guessed that the “Mu Family Village” should be Mu Chengxue’s hometown.

Yi Tong looked around before continuing, “To tell you the truth, Sister Bai once told me to investigate Soul-consuming Evil Flower. When I met you in Burg of the Feral Phoenix, I was investigating Soul-consuming Evil Flower there with None-flower. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any information on Soul-consuming Evil Flower in Abyss of Devil’s Aura.”

Xiao Chen furrowed his eyebrows even harder. Soul-consuming Evil Flower not only showed up in Violet Manor but also in the Human World. Back when Xiao Chen’s grandfather, Perfected Immortal Zixu, who was the leader of the Three Pure Sect, and Master Lingjue from Sanctum of the Arcane Spring went out to investigate Soul-consuming Evil Flower, they were missing since then as if they had disappeared from the world.

Actually, Xiao Chen knew that his grandfather was very powerful, just that the old man always hid his power. Besides, Xiao Chen believed that his grandfather must know something about Violet Manor and the cultivation world. Both his grandfather and Perfected Immortal Zixu were very strong, just like Jade Qing Seven.

Because of what happened in the Human Realm a thousand years ago, the Barrier between Violet Manor and the Human World almost collapsed. Thus, in the last several hundred years, as long as the Annihilation Times did not come, most people could not exert their power fully no matter how powerful they were, just like they were suppressed by the law of heaven and earth and could not break free bit by bit until the Annihilation Times came.

Seeing Xiao Chen preoccupied, Yi Tong asked, “Why did you care about it so much as well, Brother Xiao?”

Xiao Chen shook his head and sighed. How could he not be concerned? His grandfather and Perfected Immortal Zixu were missing and it was unknown whether they were alive or not. Though Senior Sister Luo had joined the Jade Qing Sect, Perfected Immortal Zixu would be her only master forever in her heart, just like Ling Yin would always be Xiao Chen’s master.

“What exactly is this Soul-consuming Evil Flower…” Xiao Chen could not help but wonder.

Yi Tong sighed and said, “It was over a hundred years ago that Soul-consuming Evil Flower first appeared. Until now, Soul-consuming Evil Flower is still traceless and nowhere to be found. How powerful it is!”

While talking, they walked into a tavern. Given their current power, Gu Feng and Xiao Ning didn’t need to eat anything in a short period, but Ziyun’er, Yang Qing, and others had to eat.

The group of people dared not to be in a high profile. They sat separately, ate some foods casually, and left in a hurry. After that, they went to a commercial house which offered service of transporting customers with Flying-cloud Stones. Gui Xian wanted to visit one of his old friends in Pingxi Village in the eastern territory of the North Continent, so as to reattach Xiao Chen’s broken arm.

They arrived in the eastern territory at the noon of the following day. Because Flying-cloud Stone didn’t go to remote areas, they had to transfer to a carriage when they were about 20 kilometers eastwards from Pingxi Village.

They sped up all the way and arrived at the outside of Pingxi Village in half an hour. At the moment, in front of them were balks and narrow paths that carriage could not pass, so they had to get off the carriage. Looking from afar, they saw crisscross footpaths between fields, streams, and many mulberries beside the balks.

It was midsummer, and mulberry leaves were luxuriant. Normally, there should be many farmers collecting mulberry leaves to feed silkworms; however, Xiao Chen and his companions only saw a bleak sight, and no smoke rose up from the village in the distance. Ziyun’er asked in a low voice, “Grandpa Gui Xian, does your old friend really live here? Why is this place so desolate?”

Gui Xian answered with furrowed eyebrows, “My old friend has a strange temperament, so remain quiet when you see him. Let’s go and have a look in the village.”

The group of people immediately headed to the village. It was always cool in the North Continent, so they did not feel sultry walking on the path among the fields even in midsummer. However, the closer they were to the village, the more they felt an unspeakably strange atmosphere.

Gu Feng and Xiao Ning were on guard with fixed attention. After a moment of walking, they gradually sensed a suppressing aura of death from the place in front of them. The closer they were to the village, the stronger the aura was.

Xiao Chen was very sensitive to Yin Qi and Qi of the dead, so he had a bad foreboding. It was impossible for a normal village to have such a strong aura of death unless all the people in the village died with resentment and caused Rancorous Qi to gather there. “Something bad might have happened there,” said Xiao Chen in a low voice.

Gui Xian shared his feeling and frowned. The group of people sped up and when they arrived in the village, Ziyun’er let out a scream of horror. Levitating Dark Fragrance and other girls all looked pale and frightened. Though they had killed many people, they were still terrified by what they saw.

Some buildings wrapped by thick tree vines scattered in the village orderly; however, the ground was covered with… compared to corpses, they looked more like weird withered puppets.

These puppets included men, women, the old, and the young, and each of them had a vivid terrified expression on their faces. Judging from their looks, it was very likely that they were the villagers of Pingxi Village instead of some puppets someone carved to kill time.

After taking a closer look, Xiao Chen and his companions found that most of these puppets were dark and cracked. Besides, they looked like human beings so much that they formed an extremely terrifying scene. The fact that all the people in the village were turned into horrible puppets was really chilling. Ziyun’er’s face turned pale with fear as she murmured, “What… what are these?”

Xiao Chen also found it unbelievable, and the scene in front of them was so weird. Yi Tong kept his composure and said in a calm tone, “It’s Soul-consuming Evil Flower who killed them. If one’s soul was swallowed by Soul-consuming Evil Flower, he will become a withered puppet. Soul-consuming Evil Flower slaughtered this village last night.”

On hearing the words, Yang Qing, Ziyun’er, and others were shocked and showed an expression of disbelief. Gui Xian patted his own head and yelled, “Oh, no, my old friend!” After saying this, he flew toward a big tree in the distance.

The tree was extremely tall and big, and a tree house was built on it. Gui Xian landed in front of tree house, which was covered by leaves, and pushed the wooden door open, but he only saw several dust-covered pots and pans in the empty house. He let out a sigh of relief and went back to Xiao Chen and his companions.

“My old friend seemed to have left home many days ago. It’s so lucky that he is fine, but I don’t know where he has gone. Alas…”

As Gui Xian was speaking, a black figure flashed quickly. Yi Tong was the first one to notice the figure and shouted, “Who is there?” After saying this, he chased after the figure like a purple light. None-flower Dust went after him. Gu Feng, Xiao Ning, Xiao Chen, and others reacted quickly and chased after the black figure in no time.

“Stop running!” Yi Tong growled. He jumped up and punched toward the black figure. With his attack, leaves and broken branches were sent flying in the air, and there were endless thundering sounds.

Xiao Chen, who chased after him, was surprised. The Yi Tong he knew was always calm, and he had never seen him as agitated as at the moment. Just as he was about to go forward and lend him a hand, Gui Xian stopped him and said, “Kid, you’re injured and should not run your cultivation method.”

Gu Feng caught up with the black figure as well and shouted, “You sneaky guy, who are you?” He held his Raging Dragon Blade in his hand instantly, and as he brandished the blade, black saber radiance over 30 meters long rushed forward. The black figure turned back quickly and met Gu Feng’s powerful blow with one hand, causing a booming sound.

“Have I been found…” the black figure’s voice was hollow and low. After taking a careful look, Gu Feng found that the black figure was, in fact, a human being in a black cloak. The man was enveloped by a strange black mist, with his face hidden in the cloak.

Yi Tong’s expression changed, and he was no longer as calm as before. “Who are you? Do you have something to do with Soul-consuming Evil Flower?” he asked in a cold tone.

Xiao Chen looked sober at the moment and wondered why Yi Tong cared about Soul-consuming Evil Flower so much. Those who went after them were also shocked after hearing the words. Soul-consuming Evil Flower had appeared for over a hundred years, and even Immortals’ League failed to find the whereabouts of it. Xiao Chen and his companions could not help but wonder if the man in the black cloak was the man behind Soul-consuming Evil Flower.

“Soul-consuming Evil Flower? So you call it Soul-consuming Evil Flower…” the man in the black cloak laughed coldly, turned back, and was about to leave. Gu Feng took a big step forward and shouted, “Stop there!”

Gu Feng was a warlike man. Since he had met a well-matched opponent, he would not let him go easily. Xiao Ning took out his weapon and rushed forward as well. Yi Tong would not let the man go either since the man had something to do with Soul-consuming Evil Flower. He turned into a purple light and charged at the man.

The man in the black cloak was at ease even when facing quick attacks from the three men. He tossed his sleeves, and two black veils of mist spread out and transformed into two black-robed men with the same figure as the man.

“Embodiment Duplication Skill!” None-flower Dust was slightly shocked. He had been studying about Embodiment Duplication Skill for many years, but he had never seen such a superb Embodiment Duplication Skill. He waved his feather fan and created two doppelgangers before rushing toward one of the black-cloaked man’s doppelganger.

“You’re teaching fish to swim!” the doppelganger of the black-cloaked man roared and threw out a punch. Two black veils of mist immediately dived forward and shattered the two doppelgangers None-flower Dust created.

“Puff!” None-flower Dust spat out a mouthful of blood and seemed to be seriously injured. He was sent flying backward and was caught by Yi Tong, who shouted at him, “None-flower!”

None-flower Dust covered his chest with his hands and spat out another mouthful of blood, which stained his feather fan. Obviously, he was badly injured. Yi Tong gnashed his teeth and helped None-flower Dust rest aside. After that, he ran his True Energy inside his body quickly and hastily recited a spell.

In an instant, his body was shining with dazzling purple light, and his hair fluttered wildly behind his back. His eyes became even more bloodshot, and his power increased several times in a second.

“Ugh!” With the loud shout, Yi Tong seemed to have changed into another person. His body bulged a lot, his eyes became dazzling red, and his arms transformed into two strong claws.

A wild wind blew over the place, and a breathtaking Demon Qi spread around, at which, Yang Qing and others all looked astonished. “Demon, Demon… he is a Demon!”