Chapter 138 Sudden Change

The coachman had long since vanished. In this vast expanse of heaven and earth, she seemed to be the only one left in this fleeting moment. It was dead silent, so quiet that she could hear her own slightly hurried breathing.

"This..."

Shivering, she felt an indescribable terror tightly entwine her!

"They... why am I the only one here..."

Right at that moment, two or three dim lights faintly appeared from the deep darkness ahead, as if someone was slowly approaching with a lantern.

Ding Jieyun instinctively wanted to cry out for help, but reason held her back.

Everything happening here was far too bizarre—so bizarre that she was on the verge of a breakdown.

When those points of light drew closer and she clearly saw who was coming, Ding Jieyun hastily lowered the carriage curtain, clamped her hand over her mouth for fear of making the slightest sound, her eyes filled with terror!

Deep within the profound darkness, four paper dolls, arranged in single file, were carrying a lantern and hopping slowly closer along the path.

The faces of these paper dolls were as pale as snow, yet a bizarre, bloody flush was painted on their cheeks. The pair of pitch-black eyeballs, which should have been merely drawn on, were now slightly spinning, matching mouths split open to an exaggerated curve—bizarre enough to make one's hair stand on end.

What terrified her even more was that the direction these paper dolls were heading was precisely her location!

Ding Jieyun curled her delicate body inward, not daring to look at these monsters a moment longer. She could only close her eyes, hoping they hadn't discovered her and would simply pass right by.

For a long time, there was no movement outside.

Ding Jieyun cautiously opened her eyes; nothing had changed. She tentatively lifted a corner of the front curtain, and indeed, the paper dolls were no longer visible on the path ahead.

"They must have passed by."

Ding Jieyun let out a slight sigh of relief.

Yet at that exact moment, a faint, ghostly chill coming from behind her made her entire body tense up.

Holding her breath, she stiffly turned her head, only to see with mounting horror that the curtains on both the left and right had somehow been lifted a crack from the outside. Several pale-faced paper dolls were peering at her through the gaps, the unvarying, split-curve smiles on their mouths seemingly mocking her foolishness!

"Audacious!"

Hu Qiuyuan channeled her demonic qi, shattering the paper dolls surrounding the carriage.

Behind Hu Qiuyuan stood several of the missing household servants.

"Sister-in-law!"

Seeing Hu Qiuyuan, Ding Jieyun finally felt at ease and stepped down from the carriage.

"I haven't married Xintian yet," Hu Qiuyuan said with a slight blush, acting coyly.

"It'll be soon enough. Sister-in-law, what on earth is going on here?" Ding Jieyun asked with a smile, knowing she was safe now that she had run into Hu Qiuyuan.

"I have no idea what's happening. I was clearly following the caravan, but then they all disappeared, and I knew something was wrong," Hu Qiuyuan replied, shaking her head as she remained equally clueless.

"We need to leave this place immediately," Hu Qiuyuan continued, sensing that something in the surroundings was lurking and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Meanwhile, Li Xintian had arrived at Brook Village.

In the dark shadows at the corners of several houses, air currents drifted, and ghostly yin qi began to slowly converge.

Li Xintian's gaze narrowed.

Something was about to emerge!

Accompanied by a pungent stench of decay, several figures on the verge of madness began to sway into view. Their gazes were dull and their expressions distorted, not resembling the living.

"Are these the villagers from earlier?"

Li Xintian sighed softly.

These villagers were no longer among the living, yet they could not truly be called the dead. With only a single soul and a single spirit remaining out of the three souls and seven mortal spirits, they were like marionettes manipulated at will.

Without breaking his stride, Li Xintian walked straight toward these human corpses, brushing past them lightly and channeling his righteous energy to easily subdue them.

The righteous energy surrounding Li Xintian possessed the inherent power to ward off evil and repel ghosts; direct contact for such entities was tantamount to a lethal poison, causing them to collapse without him needing to strike another blow.

Such a simple and brutal method was more than enough to deal with these creatures. Besides, these fellows were not yet worthy of forcing him to use his trump cards.

As the human corpses slowly slumped to the ground, Li Xintian marched forward like a proud and aloof swordsman, without even glancing back.

"There shouldn't be any living people left in this village..."

Thinking this, Li Xintian observed the empty houses around him.

The stagnant water on the ground was far more abundant than expected, as if a flood had just passed through not long ago. One could almost feel the soil sinking beneathfoot and shoes soaking through, a thread of icy chill creeping upward from the soles of his feet, only to be dispelled by a lively warmth glowing from his chest.

Li Xintian continued to utter provocative remarks, attempting to lure the adversary out, while remaining constantly vigilant, his gaze sweeping back and forth across his surroundings in search of potential clues.

At that moment, Li Xintian paused. By the faint light of the sky, he saw a human figure squatting in a nearby corner, head buried in its knees, seemingly muttering something to itself.

"Is someone there? Or another monster?"

His vigilance unabated, Li Xintian took another two steps forward, and the entity's form grew clearer in his vision.

It appeared to be a youth of about eighteen, drenched as though he had just been fished out of the water. His hands were tightly clutching his head as if trying to tear his hair out; his face remained hidden and obscure, but broken fragments of words filled with extreme agony issued intermittently from his mouth.

"They're all dead... everyone is dead... Father... Xiaoyun..."

Li Xintian slowed to a halt, stopping two meters away from the figure, looking down at him with an expression neither sorrowful nor joyful.

The next second, the youth abruptly raised his head to stare at him. His face was deathly pale, and blood streamed from his facial orifices as he hissed in a low, agonizing wail.

"Am I... am I dead too?!"

The youth cried out in a low voice, a lament shivering straight from the depths of his soul.

"Rest in peace," Li Xintian said softly.

He resumed his steps, walking past the youth. The young man made no move to attack; the veins on his arms bulged as though suppressing something, while the bloody tears welling in the corners of his eyes grew increasingly dense.

Li Xintian continued down the seemingly endless path. Ahead lay a blanket of darkness, free of any other monsters.

The distance he had walked by now far exceeded the actual diameter of the village, yet there was still no end in sight.

He began to doubt whether walking like this would ever lead him to the finish line.

Suddenly, four erratic points of light appeared ahead—someone was slowly approaching with a lantern, standing out remarkably against the pitch-black surroundings. A traveler in the wilderness might have rejoiced, thinking they had met companions.

But appearing within such a bizarre environment, they brought only terror.

Li Xintian did not rush forward blindly, pausing instead to observe.

Soon, as the light drew nearer, he finally caught sight of the newcomers.

They were four bizarre and horrifying paper dolls. Their feet did not touch the ground, yet they hopped along eerie trajectories, bearing grinning faces smeared in thick ink that chilled the soul.

Each held a plain white lantern in one hand, while their other hands jointly supported a square sedan chair. However, this sedan chair was not made of paper, but of genuine wood.

At a single glance, Li Xintian recognized it as the Chen family's carriage, and barring any accidents, Ding Jieyun must be inside!

"Another one! Another one!"

Approaching and spotting Li Xintian, the paper dolls split their mouths wide and began to sing in an ambiguous, gender-neutral voice akin to a nursery rhyme, accelerating their pace slightly.

Watching them beam as if they had found a new toy, Li Xintian felt no panic. Instead, a smile suddenly touched the corners of his mouth.

"Come on, let's play together!"

Li Xintian opened his arms wide in welcome, as if greeting the arrival of others. His smile was gentle and warm, just like someone warmly welcoming guests who had traveled from afar.

Such an abnormal action actually caused the paper dolls to slow their pace. They exchanged glances, their deliberately grotesque smiles growing somewhat rigid, as if encountering this situation for the first time and remaining uncertain whether to obey the stranger's invitation.

"Why aren't you coming over?" Li Xintian's smile slowly faded as his gaze turned icy. "Do you look down on me?"

The paper dolls tilted their heads, their painted smiles stiffening further. Remaining in place without moving forward, they instead began to slowly back away.

Sensing that this newly arrived human might be somewhat difficult to deal with, they prudently chose discretion.

"Wait, you want to leave? Since you're already here, won't you leave me a parting gift?"

Waving his hand, Li Xintian swept his gaze past the paper dolls and finally fixed it on what lay behind them: "For instance, this carriage!"

The moment the words fell, the paper dolls abruptly surged in speed, fleeing rapidly along the path they had come with the sedan chair in tow, without a single thought of answering him, acting as if pursued by a fierce tiger.

"Such bad manners! Don't blame me for being impolite, then!"

As he gently flicked his sleeve, the bloodstain upon it instantly radiated a pale blue glow. Resembling the rising sun, it radiated a heart-soothing warmth that seemingly banished the surrounding chill in an instant.

The righteous energy instantly obliterated the four paper dolls, rendering the execution blade at his waist entirely unnecessary.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the bodies of the paper dolls before rapidly dissolving into nothingness, while the dolls themselves slowly fractured and disintegrated into a shower of paper scraps across the ground.

"Thud!"

The carriage fell heavily to the ground due to the loss of support, splashing up a patch of muddy water.

"Hm? That's not right."

Noticing abruptly that the person inside the carriage was not Ding Jieyun, Li Xintian took several steps back.

Seated within the carriage was a rotting corpse, attired in the wedding garments of a bride who had passed away before her marriage. As a gust of wind swept by, one could even see that the bride's hands resembled withered tree bark.

"Putting on an act!"

With a flick of his sleeve, Li Xintian unleashed a pale blue flash of lightning that instantly blasted the carriage into fine powder. The corpse was hurled out from the vehicle, landing squarely before him.

Yet at that very instant, a dazzling golden radiance suddenly descended from above, brilliant as the midday sun, instantly banishing all surrounding darkness!

This golden light seemed to form an enduring, unbroken barrier around the perimeter, enveloping the entire area within its fold. A warm and harmonious sensation gradually emanated from the light, inspiring genuine joy and comfort that made one reluctant to leave.

A sharp alarm flared in Li Xintian's heart, prickling like needles against his spine. He abruptly raised his head to gaze at the sky, tracing the source of that golden light.