Xu Muchan’s words sent chills through everyone present. They all looked toward the sheep that had already been hollowed out, leaving only a skeleton threaded onto the iron skewer.
Only then did they realize that there was indeed something wrong with the sheep everywhere they looked.
The sheep alone was much larger than a normal sheep. Judging by its length, it was probably more than 1.7 meters long, very close to Sun Qing’s height.
Moreover, if one observed carefully, one would discover that the sheep looked extremely bizarre. Ordinary sheep have all four limbs growing beneath their torsos, with the limbs forming roughly ninety-degree angles with the body; they don’t have the straight, human-like angles of arms and legs. And the sheep’s hooves were also extremely strange. At the ends, they didn’t look like animal hooves at all, but more like human hands clenched tightly into fists.
The scene was like an extremely crude AI-generated image, with human limbs attached to a sheep’s body. It was so shoddily made and full of flaws that anyone could distinguish it at a glance.
Yet before Xu Muchan pointed it out, none of them had noticed.
The chicken-headed people were still gathered around the roasted sheep. The aroma of the lamb, roasted with spices, filled the air. The chicken-headed person responsible for roasting held a sharp, narrow knife and cut the cooked lamb into portions for the others.
The sheep was so large that even after every chicken-headed person received a portion, there was still plenty left.
The chicken-headed person in charge of roasting therefore cut off a large piece and carried it toward Xu Muchan’s group. His face was filled with a smile as he generously held out the roasted lamb. “There’s still plenty of lamb left. I saw you all watching from the side, so I thought I’d give you some.”
Looking at the glistening roasted meat, someone could no longer suppress their nausea and quietly turned their head away, covering their mouth.
Xu Muchan politely declined. “Didn’t you say this is a blessing from the Immortal? We’re mortals, after all. We wouldn’t dare casually eat something bestowed by an Immortal. We’re already very honored that you’ve allowed us to stay here for a few days. We wouldn’t dare accept the Immortal’s food as well. It wouldn’t be good if we displeased the Immortal.”
Seeing how respectfully he spoke, the chicken-headed person thought about it and felt that what he said made sense. He took the remaining meat back and asked the other chicken-headed people, “There’s still some left. Divide it among yourselves.”
Watching the chicken-headed people devour the roasted lamb, everyone wore expressions of discomfort.
Jin Qingqing gave them a look and led the way farther away.
Only after they had gone far enough from the chicken-headed people did she frown and say, “This village looks peaceful on the surface, but there’s actually danger lurking everywhere. We don’t know what will happen tonight. We’d better find a way to leave as soon as possible.”
Xu Muchan said, “Those chicken-headed people came out of the wooden tower this morning. I also heard movement coming from the wooden tower at night. I think we should investigate it.”
The wooden tower stood behind the village, almost blending into the forest behind it. Jin Qingqing and the others, who didn’t know about what had happened before, hadn’t paid much attention to it.
After Xu Muchan mentioned it, everyone agreed that they should investigate.
“But there are monsters at night, so we can only hide inside the houses. During the day, those chicken-headed people are everywhere. The wooden tower is inside the village, so it’ll be difficult for us to get past the chicken-headed people outside,” Chai Ming said.
“I can draw Concealment Talismans, but this place is too strange. I don’t know whether a Concealment Talisman can fool the eyes of these chicken-headed people.”
Xu Muchan said, “Let’s try first. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go alone.”
These chicken-headed people each had their own things to keep busy with. After turning into a ghost, he might be able to use the cover provided by the houses and find an opportunity to approach the wooden tower.
Jin Qingqing took out a brush and talisman paper from the bag she carried with her and began drawing. The Concealment Talisman was an extremely basic talisman, so she quickly finished two.
“I’ll try.”
Clutching one Concealment Talisman in her hand, Jin Qingqing casually walked toward a nearby house.
A chicken-headed person was sewing feathers beside the house. When Jin Qingqing walked past, he didn’t even glance at her, as though he hadn’t noticed anything.
Jin Qingqing was delighted. If the other party couldn’t see her, then perhaps she could walk farther inside.
But the moment she took a step, Chai Ming suddenly called out, “Jin Qingqing!”
Jin Qingqing turned around and saw everyone frantically signaling to her with their eyes. She didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew something must have gone wrong. So she didn’t take the risk and returned.
As she passed the chicken-headed person, it seemed to turn its head and look at her.
Jin Qingqing frowned and lowered her voice as she asked the others, “What happened?”
Chai Ming glanced warily at the chicken-headed person. “The Concealment Talisman didn’t work. He can see you. When you walked past that chicken-headed person just now, that chicken-headed person and all the other nearby chicken-headed people turned their heads to look at you.”
At that moment, every chicken-headed person who had been busy stopped what they were doing. Their heads turned toward Jin Qingqing, their pale-red eyes coldly fixed on her.
Yet Jin Qingqing had acted as though she hadn’t noticed at all. She had even been preparing to continue farther inside. Chai Ming had called out to her in desperation only because of that.
Jin Qingqing was stunned. “I didn’t notice any chicken-headed people looking at me.”
“There are too many strange things about this place. Let’s think of another way. Don’t take the risk,” Ouyang Mu said worriedly.
Seeing this, Xu Muchan said, “I’ll try. If it doesn’t work either, we’ll have to look for clues somewhere else.”
As he spoke, he looked toward Wei Xilou and pulled him a little farther away. In a low voice, he said, “Gege, I’ll go take a look at the wooden tower. You stay here and wait for me to come back.”
Wei Xilou lowered his eyes and played with his fingers. He didn’t agree, but he didn’t object either.
Xu Muchan took that as tacit approval.
After settling Wei Xilou, Xu Muchan deliberately wandered around the outskirts of the village, planning his route. After turning into a ghost, his speed was fast enough, and his aura was difficult to detect. If he went around through the blind spots in the chicken-headed people’s field of vision, he should be able to avoid being discovered.
Xu Muchan waited for the right moment, then flashed behind a house and hid.
Chicken-headed people were moving everywhere throughout the village. He couldn’t stay in one place for long and could only move at extremely high speed, constantly searching for his next hiding place.
Fortunately, those chicken-headed people really didn’t notice him. After circling around seven or eight houses, he arrived near the Ascension Tower.
There was an open space in front of the Ascension Tower, with no cover whatsoever.
To avoid the chicken-headed people’s line of sight and enter the wooden tower, he had to patiently wait for the right opportunity.
Just as Xu Muchan was concentrating on observing the chicken-headed people’s patterns of movement, a cold aura suddenly pressed against his back.
Xu Muchan’s body instinctively tensed. Then he turned his head and saw that Wei Xilou had somehow followed him. At that moment, he was bending down, resting his chin on Xu Muchan’s shoulder.
Xu Muchan frowned at him and whispered, “Didn’t I tell you to wait outside for me?”
Wei Xilou gave him a deep, quiet look. Before Xu Muchan could react, he had already grabbed him and flashed into the interior of the Ascension Tower.
Xu Muchan was pressed against the side wall of the Ascension Tower. He was just about to speak when the corner of his eye caught sight of two chicken-headed people passing by the entrance of the Ascension Tower. If they came any closer and happened to turn their heads and glance inside the tower, they would discover the two of them with ease.
He immediately held his breath and didn’t dare move at all.
But the person holding him down took advantage of the moment to lower his head and capture his tightly pressed lips.
When Xu Muchan realized that he was trying to pry his lips apart with his tongue, he reacted immediately. He parted his lips and bit down hard on the invading tongue, glaring angrily at the person in front of him.
A metallic, rusty taste filled his mouth, but the culprit was completely unapologetic and did not seem to feel any pain. After briefly pulling away, he leaned in again.
Xu Muchan wanted to struggle, but he was worried that too much noise would alert the chicken-headed people nearby. In that moment of hesitation, Wei Xilou quickly caught his wrist and pinned it above his head. He did not dare struggle and could only press his lips tightly together, gritting his teeth as his voice slipped through them.
“Gege!”
Wei Xilou, however, was completely uncooperative. He pressed his lips against Xu Muchan’s again, slowly and thoroughly licking away the remaining taste of blood in his mouth.
Their noses brushed against each other, their lips and tongues entangled. Even the extremely slow heartbeat he had after turning into a ghost became rapid and intense. Xu Muchan could only let out a suppressed moan.
After holding him down for quite a while, Wei Xilou finally seemed satisfied and pushed him away.
Xu Muchan’s lips were swollen and red, his eyes bright with anger. Yet the culprit did not seem to think he had done anything wrong at all. He even reached out to wipe away the silvery strand remaining at the corner of Xu Muchan’s mouth, then even stuck out his tongue and licked it.
“……”
Apparently, he wasn’t stupid again after all.
Xu Muchan pressed his lips together angrily and turned around without saying a word, beginning to examine the inside of the wooden tower.
The inside of the wooden tower was indeed exactly the same as the Ascension Tower in the Wei family’s old residence. Even the lotus seat on the altar had been replicated. The only difference was that there was no statue enshrined upon it, only an empty seat.
The five walls inside the wooden tower were covered with brightly colored but extremely abstract patterns. Vaguely, they resembled the Five Wuchang Gods.
Other than that, there were no other clues.
Xu Muchan frowned. Last night, he had clearly heard that thing coming from the direction of the wooden tower. Could he have guessed wrong?
Or was there something else hidden within this wooden tower, something that would only reveal its true nature at night?
Just as Xu Muchan was resting his hand on the divine seat and thinking, his fingertips suddenly felt a warm, wriggling sensation.
He lowered his head and looked at the divine seat, but everything appeared completely normal. That fleeting sensation of warmth and movement seemed almost like an illusion.
Xu Muchan tried placing his palm on it again.
After a moment, his palm indeed felt something warm and wriggling, as though some warm thing were trying to crawl out from beneath the divine seat.
Even the cushion laid across the divine seat was being pushed upward by the movement underneath.
Xu Muchan instead examined the area beneath the divine seat. The entire seat had been constructed from earth and bricks, with no opening through which he could see inside.
In just that short time, the movement beneath the divine seat grew stronger and stronger. A dark-red, foul-smelling liquid slowly seeped through the surface, followed by red chunks of flesh wriggling their way out.
The chunks of flesh intertwined with one another, mixing with blood and water as they made wet, squelching sounds.
It was that thing from last night.
Xu Muchan’s expression changed slightly. He was about to pull Wei Xilou away when he keenly noticed that the outside of the wooden tower had suddenly become extremely quiet.
The faint sounds made by the chicken-headed people moving around had disappeared.
It was getting dark.
That thought surfaced in Xu Muchan’s mind.
Just as he hesitated over whether he should risk staying behind, Wei Xilou, whom he had been holding by the hand, suddenly wrapped an arm around his waist and carried him onto the beam above the wooden tower.
The beam was extremely narrow and thin. Supporting both Xu Muchan and Wei Xilou was already a considerable strain.
Since they were already up there, Xu Muchan stopped hesitating. Holding his breath, he looked down—
The flesh that had grown out of the divine altar was actually made up of corpses.
A layer of viscous red membrane covered the surfaces of the corpses. At first glance, it looked like exposed muscles and tendons.
At that moment, the corpses were piled one on top of another, tangled together, gradually piecing themselves into a tall and grotesque monster.
When the red membrane covering their surfaces peeled away, the monster’s snow-white body was revealed. It looked very similar to the chicken-headed people, yet was even more twisted and revolting.
Behind its pure-white, slender body, countless deformed arms tore through its skin and emerged. They extended from its shoulder blades all the way down to its coccyx, resembling some kind of many-legged insect.
The surfaces of those deformed arms were covered in feathers. Yet because the feathers were not large enough, they instead looked more like bristles growing from an insect’s legs.
The arms stretched outward, dragging heavily behind it.
The monster slowly raised its swollen head. Countless pale-red eyes embedded in its skull blinked as it slowly walked out of the wooden tower.
Its body was so enormous that when it left the wooden tower, its head nearly had to bend all the way down to the ground.
Every heavy, cumbersome step was accompanied by wet, squelching sounds.
By then, the sky outside had already become completely dark.
Amid the pitch-black night, the snow-white monster straightened its body. Its excessively pale skin seemed almost to glow against the heavy darkness. The many arms behind it spread out like a fan, their irregular, ugly feathers swaying in the wind.
It somehow created a contradictory feeling of holiness and corruption.
Accompanied by those strange squelching sounds, the monster walked toward the nearest house.