Chapter 146: Burial Mounds

"I... I don't know. When I came out, I didn't run into anything, and the whole journey was completely safe."

Zhang Tianbao looked nervously at the pig demon with blood-red eyes standing before him. Its sharp, curved tusks were enough to chill anyone to the bone.

However, Fang Yue's previous defeat of the monster pieced together from a rotting beast's carcass had given Zhang Tianbao confidence. Therefore, although he was nervous at the moment, he was not entirely terrified.

The pig demon grunted twice, scraped its front hooves against the ground, and then, baring its tusks, charged fiercely toward Fang Yue and Zhang Tianbao.

Its body was larger than several ordinary wild boars combined. As it ran, the momentum was astonishing, kicking up billows of dust.

"Boom."

Fang Yue made his move, striking out with a single palm that smashed heavily onto the pig demon's head.

The scorching force of the Blazing Flame Palm instantly shattered half of the pig demon's skull, leaving the flesh and blood charred black.

Possessing immense vitality, the pig demon did not die immediately. It fell to the ground, howling in agony.

Fang Yue delivered another blow to its head, finally ending its life.

"Merit points +5,680."

Fang Yue unhooked the purple jade gourd from his waist and absorbed the crimson gas drifting away from the pig demon's corpse.

"Let's go."

Fang Yue reattached the purple jade gourd and said to the somewhat dazed Zhang Tianbao.

...

The mountain path was rugged, and the mountain forest was silent.

The two of them walked on, venturing deeper and deeper into the remote mountain forests.

"Aside from this time, have you ever encountered any strange occurrences in your village before?" Fang Yue asked.

In this world plagued by ghosts and monsters, while one could not say that idyllic paradises far from the hustle and bustle did not exist, such places were hardly likely to endure for long.

Living in isolation, if a village encountered strange phenomena and the villagers possessed no means to handle them, the outcome would be total annihilation.

Along this mountain path, halfway through their journey, Fang Yue had already encountered ghosts and monsters twice. Clearly, the location of Anyin Village was no true paradise untouched by such entities.

Zhang Tianbao also looked perplexed as he replied, "For generations, spanning over a hundred years, our village has never encountered any strange events. It's only recently that these accidents have started happening.

Moreover, although the people in our village rarely go out, it's not as if we never leave. Occasionally, we venture out of the village to sell mountain specialties in the county town and purchase daily necessities at the same time.

The year before last, I went to the county town with my family elders, and we didn't run into anything strange. The other villagers who left the village experienced the same thing."

Fang Yue began to ponder the possible reasons behind this. He had restrained his aura along the entire journey, so he shouldn't have been the one attracting the ghosts and monsters.

He wondered if the two ghosts and monsters they had encountered were already lingering around this area or if they had appeared only recently.

After leaving the mountains, Zhang Tianbao had stayed near the county yamen for nearly ten days, and their previous journey had been completely safe. This suggested that these ghosts and monsters might have wandered over later or suddenly manifested afterwards.

He wondered if they had any connection to the bizarre events occurring within Anyin Village.

Of course, there was another, highly unlikely possibility.

That the ghosts and monsters along this route had always existed.

Meanwhile, Anyin Village and its villagers, due to some special reason, were immune to attacks from ghosts and monsters.

Fang Yue thought carefully. During their two previous encounters with ghosts and monsters, both seemed to have targeted him directly when they attacked.

"Could there be some hidden secret surrounding Anyin Village and its villagers?"

Fang Yue turned his head to glance at Zhang Tianbao beside him, remaining silent in deep thought.

...

As they drew close to Anyin Village, they encountered the third ghost.

"It's a ghost wall."

When Fang Yue and Zhang Tianbao had walked in a circle and returned to their starting point, gazing at the familiar scenery, Fang Yue uttered these words.

To be able to disorient Fang Yue and trap him within a ghost wall, this spectral entity likely possessed the strength of a century-old fierce ghost.

The expression on Fang Yue's face grew slightly stern as he used his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings.

"Y-Young Hero Fang, have we run into ghosts again?"

Seeing Fang Yue's serious expression, Zhang Tianbao panicked as well.

Fang Yue did not speak. Suddenly, his gaze shifted toward a spot in the woods where a grave had appeared out of nowhere.

It was a small earthen mound, covered in yellow soil and overgrown with green grass.

"Is this a grave from your village?" Fang Yue asked.

"No, our village's ancestral tombs are all located in the back mountain. This place is still some distance from our village. Why would anyone build a grave in a place like this?"

Zhang Tianbao swallowed nervously. In the desolate wilderness, the sudden appearance of a small grave mound looked rather ominous.

Aside from their Anyin Village, the surrounding area was entirely uninhabited. This grave felt genuinely bizarre, especially now that they were trapped by a ghost wall.

"This grave is overgrown with grass, so it must have been here for quite some time. When you came out earlier, did you pass by here and fail to notice this grave?" Fang Yue asked again.

"I didn't pay attention," Zhang Tianbao said.

Fang Yue stared at the grave. Wild grass grew densely over it, blending in with the surrounding underbrush; unless one looked closely, it was indeed difficult to recognize as a grave mound.

Suddenly, Fang Yue's gaze sharpened as he noticed that the dilapidated wooden tombstone half-hidden in the grass was oozing fresh blood.

The blood was a vibrant red, and it began to ooze faster and faster, dripping onto the turf and staining the green grass crimson.

"Blood... blood!" Zhang Tianbao pointed at the bleeding wooden tombstone, stammering.

In such a bizarre scene, anyone could tell something was terribly wrong.

"Tap, tap, tap."

From beneath the grass-covered grave, a muffled tapping sound suddenly echoed.

It sounded as though something beneath the tomb was struggling to crawl out.

Zhang Tianbao was instantly terrified to the extreme. If he hadn't noticed how calm Fang Yue remained, he would have already turned on his heels and fled for his life.

"We're almost at Anyin Village. I wonder if this ghostly thing in the tomb is related to the bizarre deaths of people in Anyin Village."

Fang Yue speculated inwardly, just as he was about to summon the brass mirror to investigate what kind of spectral entity lay within the grave, the tomb suddenly underwent a transformation.

The grave mound heaved violently, and a blood-dripping hand reached out from beneath the earth first.

"A hand! There's a hand!" Zhang Tianbao was struck with extreme terror. His legs grew weak and soft, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

For an ordinary mountain villager with little worldly experience like Zhang Tianbao, such a terrifying scene was something one would only encounter in nightmares.

Yet now, witnessing it in reality, the shock and fear can well be imagined.

"Clang."

Fang Yue drew the longsword from his waist and slashed down with a single stroke. Sword qi surged, enveloping the blood-stained hand reaching out from beneath the grave.

"Splat."

The dripping hand was torn to shreds by the fierce sword qi, and a massive torrent of fresh blood immediately gushed out from beneath the grave like a spring.

The blood flowed onto the grass, soaking a small patch of the surrounding turf.

"Young Hero Fang, is that ghost dead?"

Seeing Fang Yue shatter the blood-dripping hand extending from the grave with a single sword strike, Zhang Tianbao's spirits instantly soared, and he looked at Fang Yue with deep admiration.

"Not by a long shot."

Fang Yue shook his head.

Sure enough, after a short while, the grass-covered grave heaved again, and another blood-dripping hand reached out.

Fang Yue repeated his previous action, bringing his sword down. Amidst the swirling sword qi, the dripping hand was once again torn into fragments.

Fresh blood surged wildly from the dilapidated wooden tombstone once more.

To be precise, even if a corpse were completely drained, it couldn't possibly bleed this much.

Fang Yue had expected that after severing two hands, whatever emerged next from beneath the grave would be something different.

To his surprise, the third time, the appendage stretching out from beneath the grave was still a blood-dripping hand.

By the time Fang Yue had severed five hands, the blood flowing from the grave had crossed the grass and reached the feet of Fang Yue and Zhang Tianbao, who were standing two zhang away.

The Yin energy in the surroundings had also grown increasingly dense.