Chapter 245: Nightfall
While the three held their breath observing Qingxi Village, Chen Chang'an in the void channel was experiencing an unprecedentedly awkward situation—he was stuck!
Yes, the clone of a dignified Immortal Venerable powerhouse was at this moment unable to move, just like a giant beast stuck in an ant nest.
Previously, when he leapt into the teleportation light sphere, he thought he would teleport smoothly as usual.
However, he did not expect that the moment this clone's cultivation base broke through the shackles of the Saint Realm within the channel as the distance expanded, the entire teleportation channel suddenly trembled violently.
The surrounding void channel presented a magnificent yet bizarre scene. Countless seven-colored flowing lights shuttled outside the transparent barrier like swimming fish, occasionally condensing into star patterns and occasionally scattering into sky-filling points of light.
Liquid spatial power resembling mercury flowed along the inner walls of the channel; every fluctuation would stir up dazzling spatial ripples. Further away, one could faintly see twisted space-time turbulence flickering in a crisscross pattern like the sharp teeth of a giant beast.
"This..." Chen Chang'an's clone was currently stuck in the exact center of the channel in a comical posture.
He attempted to move forward but discovered that the channel walls ahead seemed to have been reinforced ten million times over by an invisible force. He wanted to retreat, but the path behind had long since been completely sealed by disordered spatial laws.
This feeling was just like an ant walking inside an ant nest while constantly expanding, eventually stuffing the entire channel full.
What annoyed him most was that with his current cultivation base, he only needed to exert a little force to burst this fragile channel.
But the problem was that once the channel collapsed, his daughter and Han Yu's group, who were at the other end of the channel, would completely lose their way back.
This thought forced him to suppress the impulse to go berserk and sullenly maintain this awkward posture.
"No, I must think of a way..." Chen Chang'an's clone sat cross-legged in the void, the seven-colored flowing lights reflecting on his furrowed brows.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed in his eyes, and he reached out to pluck a strand of hair. The instant this seemingly ordinary black hair separated from the main body, it actually emitted a faint golden light.
As the hair drifted lightly into the channel, a marvelous scene occurred. Although the movement speed was as slow as drifting in thick honey, this strand of hair was indeed advancing bit by bit toward the other end of the channel.
The spatial ripples along the way gently held it up, as carefully as if escorting a feather.
Chen Chang'an let out a long sigh of relief.
As long as this strand of hair containing his Natal Dao Rhyme could reach the end of the channel, his main body could use it to lock onto the coordinates of the secret realm.
At that time, whatever spatial barriers or secret realm restrictions there were, they would be nothing more than thin paper before him that could be broken with a casual wave of his hand.
Even if it was an Ancient Secret Realm claimed to be able to isolate heaven and earth, as long as he found the location, he could tear apart the void with his bare hands!
The hair drifted slowly in the channel overflowing with light and color, occasionally grazing condensed spatial crystals and emitting crisp sounds.
Chen Chang'an's clone looked at this scene, and a trace of a smile finally appeared at the corners of his mouth.
However, this smile quickly froze again. At this speed, he feared he did not know how long he would have to wait for the hair to drift to the end.
He could only pray that the two brats Han Yu and Jiang Che would be a bit more capable and successfully carry his daughter to an easy win...
...
Night finally fell, and the mist shrouding Qingxi Village was gradually dyed the color of ink.
The three, who did not know the slightest bit about their Master's (Dad's) awkward predicament, finally waited until this moment.
The three lay prone on the high slope with bated breath, staring intently at the movement in the village below.
At first, everything was just as seen during the day. The villagers wore those uncomfortable, tranquil smiles as they slowly returned to their respective homes.
The sound of wooden doors closing one after another was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.
Jiang Che could even see the candlelight shining through the window paper, projecting the villagers' silhouettes swaying like shadow puppets.
However, in less than half an incense stick's time, a sudden change occurred.
"Creak—" The sound of the first door being pushed open pierced the night sky. Immediately following was the second, the third... The villagers filed out one after another, but the current them were completely different from the daytime.
Under the pale moonlight, web-like black patterns emerged beneath their exposed skin. Those patterns wriggled beneath the skin like living things, occasionally bulging and occasionally sinking.
The most terrifying thing was their eyes—the whites were completely dyed pitch-black, leaving only needle-sized pupils emitting a strange red light.
Those villagers walking out of the houses finally tore off their daytime camouflage at this moment. They hunched their backs, and the black patterns beneath their skin wriggled like living things, glistening with a strange oily sheen under the moonlight.
Compared to those stiff, puppet-like smiles during the day, the current them actually appeared lively—if such liveliness could be applied to such terrifying existences. Their movements, although twisted, carried a strange fluidity, as if they had finally broken free from some kind of restraint.
Black patterns spread from their necks to their cheeks, bulging and sinking beneath the skin as if countless tiny insects were burrowing underneath.
"They look... more like living things than during the day," Chen Xingcai said in a whisper, her voice carrying a tremor that was hard to conceal.
"However... whether they are human is hard to say," she added another sentence.
Indeed, compared to that marionette-like sluggishness during the day, the villagers at this moment radiated a disgusting vitality from their whole bodies—if this twisted, malice-filled activity could also be called vitality.
"They are forming groups..." Han Yu lowered his voice.
He saw those mutated villagers spontaneously splitting into small squads of three or five, moving toward the village's eastern exit with stiff movements but clear objectives.
The moonlight stretched their shadows very long; those shadows twisted and wriggled, seemingly even more hideous than the main bodies.
Jiang Che suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air. "They should be searching for us; they believed Miss Xiao Luo's words from yesterday."
Yesterday, Xiao Luo had told the people outside the house that they had left from the east side of the village.
He pointed to one of the squads—three villagers were currently bending over the ground, sniffing the footprints they had left during the day like hounds.
One of them suddenly raised his head, cracking an exaggerated smile on his face covered in black patterns, revealing ghastly white teeth.
Even more hair-raising was that the three clearly saw another three villagers break away from the search party and walk straight toward Xiao Luo's house.
Walking at the very front was precisely that strange old man from the daytime. At this moment, the black patterns under his skin had already spread to his neck; with every step, black mucus would drip from the corners of his mouth, corroding the ground and producing tiny wisps of white smoke.
The silhouette of the wooden house appeared exceptionally fragile under the moonlight. When those three villagers stopped in front of the door, the entire village suddenly fell into a deathly silence; even the insect chirps vanished.
The three held their breath by coincidence, watching helplessly as the leading old man raised a hand like a withered branch and slowly knocked on the wooden door—
"Dong, dong, dong."
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