The village was utterly deserted. Some houses were visibly ruined and collapsed, some although still fairly well maintained, stood utterly abandoned. There was an eerie silence in the air, and Annu knew that whatever disaster befell this place, it must have happened quite a while ago.

However, ultimately, he was just a regular person. Unable to see or sense what a cultivator may, he was understandably on the edge, but overall still fairly calm. Scanning the surroundings for immediate threats, and detecting none, he eventually calmed down and gave Wen Fengli a questioning look.

The wolfgirl was seemingly paralyzed, her shaking hand clenching the handle of the sword, and her wide-opened eyes shooting panicked glances left and right as if she was expecting something to lash at them at any moment.

That’s because, on that day, in these most unfortunate circumstances, Fengli discovered that she now possessed the rare ability to detect resentful energy. And this village was literally soaked in thick, black mist. In fact, the reason she charged ahead in the first place was that she saw the thick, dark cloud looming over her childhood home, and overcame with worry, senselessly ran to investigate it.

Of course, the worry was quite needless, and her hurry was unwarranted. After all, if there was this much lingering black energy here, that meant that there is certainly no one left to hurry for.

Not just that- the human corpses gathered at this location surely counted in dozens, and most of them were not given a proper burial. That’s what allowed resentful energy to gathered over time in such quantities.

This, of course, posed a lot of questions. From “who killed these people” to “why didn’t the sects send anyone to exorcise this place”. However, none of these questions truly mattered right now. The most important thing right now was that all her senses screamed danger, and it was in her rational self-interest to retreat immediately.

But humans- or yaren, for the matter- were usually the opposite of rational, and were willing to compromise their safety in the name of their emotionally motivated desires. Wen Fengli was no exception from this norm- she came here to find something out- and she was willing to take risks to find that truth…

However, this didn’t mean she was willing to risk Annu and the donkey.

“You should…” she started slowly, her voice hushed “leave immediately. This entire place is soaked in resentful energy, and that means there are probably undead nearby. Follow the main road northwards….around a day travel from here, there is a guard outpost, we will rendezvous there”. Or at least there used to be an outpost.

“No way, I’m staying with you” said Annu, his voice calm and confident.

She sighed. If she was alone, it would have been easier- she’d only need to worry about her own safety.

“Fine, but take out a dagger and stay close”

Drawing out the sword, she cautiously made it through the main plaza, heading towards the largest building in the village- the Plum Blossom Orphanage. Even if there was no one left to tell her, there got to be some records or information about her and wherever she came from.

Going inside, the first thing one would see was a large reception desk and the receptionist, whose skeleton was now resting on an armchair behind it. There was an arrow still sticking out from his chest, which made the cause of death quite obvious- being shot in the heart, he died on the spot where he was sitting. Although Fengli never liked the guy, she stilled grimaced seeing the shriveled skeleton wearing faded green robes, immediately recalling the face of the owner from the time when he was still alive.

The orphanage was quite a wealthy establishment, and before Wuyun took over it enjoyed gracious patronage from the minor sect that used to oversee these lands. Thus they could hire a proper receptionist, and record everything in an administratively efficient manner- which records were then sent further, and used to calculate taxes and donations.

These very records were what Fengli was hoping to find right now.

Clenching her teeth, she gently pushed the skeleton to the side. However, it seemed the deceased sack of bones found her light push rather disagreeable….for rather than politely moving to the side, it plummeted down at an astonishing speed that one wouldn’t quite expect from a person its age, and crashed against the wooden surface of the floor, falling apart into countless tiny pieces.

…Well, that worked too. Stepping over the bones, she opened the drawer and flipped through the papers and parchments stored there.

Unfortunately, the oldest record was from four years ago, and the youngest…February 103. In other words, this place got attacked eight months ago. Eight months without exorcism..what were the sects thinking!? Nevermind, it didn’t actually concern her. The only thing she wanted to find, was the record book from 10 years ago, when she was admitted to the orphanage….

“Found anything?”

“Not yet” she barked, not looking up at Annu “it seems the older records aren’t here…I’ll have to search the rest of the building, even if they send them forward, there must be some copy, anything…”

Annu actually had no idea what she’s talking about or what she’s looking for, but he figured out from his answer they were going to spend quite some time in this building. Leading the donkey in, he immediately got to work.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise echoed through the reception hall and knocked Fengli out of her daze.

“What are you doing?”

“What else? Barricading the front door. You’re afraid of the zombies, right? If I do that, they won’t be able to enter!”

Annu was usually quite smart. In fact, despite being two years younger, she considered him smarter than herself.

Thus, this ridiculous answer caught her totally off balance.

“This building…has an inner courtyard and an upper floor…”

“Well then, I’ll barricade them too.”

What kind of idea of ‘undead’ was he subscribing to? What kind of undead would be stopped by a makeshift barricade? Who fed him these ideas, Zhanzhan!?

On the other hand, as long as it gave him peace of mind… the last thing she needed was Annu freaking out when she, herself, was on the brink of panic.

At least the donkey was calm.

The ass looked at her and made an audible noise when their eyes crossed. Yup, same as ever.

“Ahaha…” she finally responded “then I’m counting on you, Annu~ B-barricade this place well~”

Leaving the sheepboy behind(and hoping he’d be well) she made her way to the storage room, located on the other side of the building- beyond the courtyard, surrounded from every side by the walls of the orphanage.

Frankly speaking, she never liked this place, and could never recall any kids playing in there at any time. Being in there felt like….being observed by the people looking down and judging you from the surrounding windows…so most orphans preferred to hang around in the village or around the cliffs.

And right now, this oppressive feeling of being watched, alongside the omnipresent, thick, black mist was almost suffocating. For the first time in her life, she regretted becoming a cultivator- if she wasn’t able to perceive it, the search would have been so much easier!

Not to mention that undead feed on qi. Thus, they are naturally attracted to targets that give out stronger life energy. Thus, that made her an especially juicy target for whatever monsters lurked in this place….

On the other hand, that also meant that they were unlikely to target Annu..and the donkey..and that gave her some peace of mind.

Finally, she made it through withered grass and flowers(she wasn’t sure if they were such because of the coming of autumn, or omnipresent black energy) and arrived at the gates of the warehouse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were locked. Now she needed to find the key…

…No, there is no need for that.

She waved her left hand dismissively and summoned a small ball of energy…

Or at least, it was supposed to be small. However, as soon as it appeared, it started sucking up the resentful energy from the surrounding air and grew exponentially.

-What?

She lost her focus, and the ball disappeared instantly.

However, the implications of what just happened didn’t elude her.

The ‘qi blasts’ she summoned…feed on resentful energy?

But that’s…

She always knew that what she was doing was considered ‘demonic cultivation’ by the sects. Demonic here meaning a blanket term for all kinds of unorthodox cultivation practices. But harnessing resentful energy and impurities left by the souls that couldn’t pass onwards in the cycle of reincarnation…any proper cultivator would consider that abhorrent, and brand her a heretic on spot!

…So much for returning to Chenfei and cultivating alongside others.

Fengli always had a foreboding feeling that her journey south was one of no return- however, she always thought it was so because of the risks associated with it. To think she wouldn’t be able to come back because she wasn’t herself anymore….to be branded as a heretic and persecuted by her former friends and foster family…

An annoying sound started playing in her head.

*You are alone*

*All power demands sacrifice*

*…and pain…*

She didn’t hear the voice-music ever since Kiyi, and thought that was a one-time affair- but now, surrounded by dark mists, it returned, stronger than before.

She attempted to form a frog or some other repulsive creature and destroying it like before, but this time, it didn’t work, the voice grew stronger and louder…

*In the darkness, there waits….*

But before she could learn what, the voice went quiet, and instead, all her senses screamed danger. She looked up, instinctively sensing the direction the overwhelming killing intent came from- it was on the top of the nearby roof.

There stood….a person. Their long, black hair was disheveled, their skin unusually pale, and the robes tattered…

With both arms stiffly outstretched forward, it was silently gazing at her, a thick stream of saliva dripping down its chin….

The worst-case scenario came true. An undead was here after all. And not just some average type- it was the hopping vampire, Jiangshi!