Chapter 90: Changhe Hospital
“Changhe Hospital?”
“Yes, it’s a hospital in the neighboring city. Many demons have appeared there, and the people there can’t handle it, so they’ve asked me to go.”
Yu Shi paused what he was doing and looked at Feng Xuexiang with an encouraging gaze. “You have such a powerful and unique ability. It’s great that you’re willing to use it to help others.”
Feng Xuexiang smiled, knowing that he had achieved what he wanted: to see Yu Shi’s appreciative and approving expression, and to receive more of his affirmation.
“Then I’ll head over there today. Will you accompany me?” Feng Xuexiang asked, though his intention was clear—he wanted Yu Shi to go with him.
“Of course, as long as you need me, I’ll be by your side.”
…
Since this mission was on behalf of the Feng family, it wasn’t suitable for the two of them to simply drive themselves. Feng Zaiyin arranged for a plane, a convoy, and even brought along some of the Feng family’s exorcists.
After hearing about these arrangements, Feng Xuexiang smiled and asked, “Zaiyin, aren’t you planning to go?”
Feng Zaiyin’s heart skipped a beat. He lowered his head, trying to maintain his composure as he replied, “With Ninth Uncle there, I’m afraid I won’t be needed.”
Feng Xuexiang chuckled and casually made a decision. “You’ll come with me as well.”
Feng Zaiyin knew he couldn’t refuse, so he could only reply, “Yes.”
…
Changhe Hospital had already been sealed off by the exorcists using a formation, making it inaccessible to ordinary people, who were also kept unaware of what was happening inside.
To prevent public panic, all information about Changhe Hospital was completely censored online.
The personnel from the Crisis Bureau’s branch were responsible for handling this incident, and over a hundred vehicles surrounded the hospital, stationed outside the formation.
Since the incident began, several exorcists sent by the Bureau had disappeared inside the hospital, and the second group they dispatched also went missing.
Then, a large-scale outbreak of demonic energy erupted within the hospital, turning most of the hospital into a domain that one could enter but not leave.
In total, the branch had lost over a dozen exorcists to this incident, including three high-ranking exorcists.
An event of this nature was already classified as a severe public hazard, and the higher-ups had ordered them to resolve it within three days. With no other options, they had to seek help from the Four Great Families of the South.
The official in charge of the incident felt a sense of relief upon seeing Feng Xuexiang, as if he had found a savior. He quickly explained the situation and eagerly asked when they could begin.
He didn’t even bother with formalities, showing just how desperate he was.
Feng Xuexiang looked at the dark and ominous Changhe Hospital before him. The official noticed that Feng Xuexiang seemed troubled and felt a sinking feeling in his chest, thinking that if a spirit demon showed such an expression, the situation might be even worse than they had anticipated.
With a troubled expression, Feng Xuexiang said to Yu Shi, “Ashi, could you wait for me outside?”
Yu Shi, having the Five Yin Fate, would be negatively affected if he entered such a place.
“Alright, I’ll wait for you here,” Yu Shi agreed.
Feng Xuexiang’s expression relaxed.
Yu Shi leaned in and whispered a few instructions in his ear.
Feng Xuexiang looked slightly puzzled but obediently nodded in agreement.
“I’ll be out soon,” Feng Xuexiang then told the Crisis Bureau official. “Please take care of him for the time being.”
“Rest assured! We will definitely protect this person. When you return, not a single hair on his head will be missing!”
The official in charge escorted Feng Xuexiang and the others from the Feng family into the formation’s range and then turned back to Yu Shi with a warm expression, saying, “Standing here is tiring. Why not sit in the car over there and wait?”
Yu Shi also looked at the Changhe Hospital, which was obscured by the formation, and pointed to a spot, asking, “What’s going on there?”
Next to Changhe Hospital was a temporarily suspended construction site, with overturned yellow earth and piles of sand and stones nearby.
The official in charge was surprised. This man didn’t seem like an exorcist, yet he could see through the barriers of the formation and detect what was happening inside?
He speculated about the young man’s identity in his mind but answered calmly with a friendly attitude, “That’s a new building that Changhe Hospital is planning to construct. They’ve only just dug the foundation.”
At the same time, Feng Xuexiang, who had walked into the formation, also noticed the construction site and glanced at it thoughtfully.
As they entered the hospital, the usually bustling and clean lobby was now empty, with blood stains dragged across the tiled floor and splattered on the glass ahead.
A foul stench filled the air, and the exorcists from the Feng family who were following Feng Xuexiang quickly took out their talismans to block the scent that could affect a person’s mind.
When too many demonic entities appear in one place, it can influence the people within, causing them to experience an illusion that the environment and space around them are changing.
This was very similar to the illusions created by Feng Xuexiang.
While the others were more or less affected, Feng Xuexiang showed no reaction. Most of the time, the world he saw was already distorted, so he didn’t care about these minor anomalies.
He stepped on the bloodstains, lifting his head to sense the demons lurking in the hospital.
Behind him, Feng Zaiyin remained vigilant of the surroundings. He discreetly observed Feng Xuexiang’s back, also cautiously on guard against him.
He didn’t understand why Ninth Uncle insisted on having him come along and suspected that he might have figured something out and was planning to kill him.
However, Feng Xuexiang didn’t show any unusual behavior along the way and was the fastest to locate the demonic entities in the building.
Each time a demon was found, the exorcists from the Feng family would surround it, trap it with a formation, and then kill it.
Feng Xuexiang did not participate in the fighting; he seemed to be lost in thought. The others couldn’t guess what he was thinking and didn’t dare to ask.
In this manner, they dealt with three demons in two buildings, yet the demonic barriers around them still hadn’t weakened.
Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Just how many demons are there?”
There were many.
The butterflies released by Feng Xuexiang were chasing the eerie presence in the air, revealing that these demons were all ghosts that had been transformed into demons. They had been recently converted, still carrying traces of ghostly energy.
The hospital was a unique place, filled with patients suffering from pain, despair, and the brink of death.
Someone had cruelly murdered these people and then accelerated their transformation into demons, and the process was ongoing, resulting in an endless supply of demons.
If they couldn’t find this person, the demons would never stop appearing.
Suddenly, Feng Xuexiang turned his head and said to the Feng family members, “You all continue dealing with the demons. Zaiyin, come with me.”
When Feng Xuexiang placed his hand on Feng Zaiyin’s shoulder, Feng Zaiyin’s alertness spiked, causing his body to tense up.
He heard Ninth Uncle chuckle softly as if amused, “Why are you so nervous?”
In the blink of an eye, Feng Zaiyin found themselves in a hospital room. A twisted, pitch-black demon was coiled around a corpse, growing jagged black teeth as it gnawed at the body’s abdomen.
But Feng Xuexiang merely glanced at it before leading Feng Zaiyin out of the room.
Frowning, Feng Zaiyin asked, “Ninth Uncle, aren’t we dealing with that demon?”
“Leave it,” Feng Xuexiang said just as they arrived at an operating room. The place was splattered with blood, and another demon was devouring a person.
The person was still barely alive, and when they saw Feng Xuexiang and Feng Zaiyin appear, they suddenly lifted a hand.
Feng Zaiyin wanted to step forward, but Feng Xuexiang held him back with one hand.
“Ninth Uncle, this person is still breathing.”
“There’s no saving them,” Feng Xuexiang replied without a change in tone. “Don’t waste time.”
Before being led away, Feng Zaiyin saw the person’s hand fall limp as they died completely, and he couldn’t help but clench his fist.
After several similar incidents, Feng Zaiyin finally realized that Ninth Uncle seemed to be searching for something.
Suddenly, Feng Xuexiang stopped.
Feng Zaiyin immediately looked around as well, but this time he didn’t see any demons. Instead, he noticed a figure ahead.
“That’s—” Feng Zaiyin said in surprise, “That looks like Zaixing?”
Feng Zaixing, his cousin.
The two of them had never been particularly close. In the past, Feng Zaixing would sometimes look at him with jealousy, but after Feng Zaiyin left him far behind in cultivation, Feng Zaixing started avoiding him.
Recently, Feng Zaiyin hadn’t seen Feng Zaixing around the Feng family and hadn’t paid attention to him. So how was he here?
“Feng Zaixing”, who was actually Xin Liu, had arrived earlier than Feng Xuexiang and his group.
After discovering that the disciple tomb in Jinxi Snow Mountain had been raided, Xin Liu had been sensing the locations of other disciple tombs, trying to collect the jade scrolls ahead of anyone else.
He had already obtained two jade scrolls, and of course, had destroyed the soul cores from the two disciple tombs.
The disciple tomb at Changhe Hospital had been uncovered due to construction work on the site.
When he discovered it, he rushed over immediately, but it was already too late—the soul core from the tomb had been consumed, and the human soul within, like him, had returned to the mortal world through another’s body.
Moreover, the disturbance caused by the other person made Xin Liu immediately recognize who it was.
It was a junior named Wei Ke, who had always been skilled at refining ghosts and raising demons. He allowed these demons to devour people, nurturing them until they matured, at which point he would use his magical artifact to absorb the demons, thereby increasing his own power.
If he succeeded, Xin Liu would no longer be a match for him.
Therefore, Xin Liu hurried over to stop him, hoping to find an opportunity to kill him and snatch the jade scroll he possessed.
Originally, he had planned to meet Wei Ke under the guise of being a senior brother and then ambush him, but as soon as Wei Ke saw him, he attempted to turn him into one of his refined demons.
Xin Liu realized that Wei Ke, like him, probably had his own hidden agenda.
The body Xin Liu was possessing, Feng Zaixing, had limited potential. To escape from Wei Ke, Xin Liu had to forcefully utilize the power of two jade scrolls, placing a significant strain on the body. If he continued to push it, this body wouldn’t last much longer.
While Xin Liu was bitterly hiding and planning his next move, he was suddenly grabbed by someone.
Startled, he thought Wei Ke had found him and immediately lashed out with a fierce attack—only to realize, as he turned around, who had caught him.
It was Feng Zaiyin, who looked at him with suspicion, and behind him stood Feng Xuexiang, smiling.
Xin Liu quickly withdrew his power and forced a smile. “Cousin,… Ninth Uncle.”
“Zaixing, what are you doing here?” Feng Zaiyin asked.
“I was passing by yesterday and noticed something strange, so I came in to check. But I couldn’t find my way out,” Xin Liu replied, feigning embarrassment.
Feng Zaiyin was half-convinced. His cousin was known for being weak and fearful of death, so it didn’t make sense for him to venture into such a dangerous place willingly.
Moreover, that strike just now carried a lethal intent and dangerous energy, something his worthless cousin shouldn’t have possessed.
However, this wasn’t the time to delve into the matter, so Feng Zaiyin temporarily buried his doubts.
“This place is too dangerous. Stay close to us.”
Xin Liu nodded repeatedly, his gaze briefly passing over Feng Xuexiang as he began to formulate a new plan.
Feng Xuexiang listened to the two brothers exchange a few words and then asked, “You’ve arrived early. Have you discovered any special people or places here?”
Xin Liu’s mind stirred. He had been thinking of using Feng Xuexiang to deal with Wei Ke, and now that Feng Xuexiang had asked about it, he immediately said, “Indeed, there’s a place with a strange formation that gives off an eerie feeling, and there’s a person inside it.”
Wei Ke had only recently taken on a new body, and his magical artifact was still incomplete. Xin Liu had hoped to lead Feng Xuexiang to deal with him, but he couldn’t locate Wei Ke at the moment.
“He was here before, but now he’s gone,” Xin Liu thought. Wei Ke might have sensed the threat and hidden himself temporarily.
The demonic barrier in the hospital was growing thicker, making it increasingly troublesome for Xin Liu. He could only hope that Feng Xuexiang, the spirit demon, could help.
Unexpectedly, Feng Xuexiang placed a hand on Feng Zaiyin’s shoulder and said, “Zaiyin, you should search for him. Where do you think he might be?”
Feng Zaiyin was at a loss.
He didn’t understand why Ninth Uncle would say this and had numerous guesses in his mind, but he could only search aimlessly in the hospital.
“Changhe Hospital is so large; if that person can hide himself, it would be impossible to find him by just searching randomly.”
Xin Liu hoped that Feng Xuexiang would take direct action, not believing that Feng Xuexiang was truly helpless.
As Feng Zaiyin walked ahead, he noticed a trace of ghostly energy and instinctively threw a talisman.
Normally, such faint ghostly energy would be instantly purified by the talisman, but when the talisman was thrown, the ghostly energy rapidly surged and transformed into a demon.
Feng Xuexiang, who was following behind, instantly appeared in front. A radiant light, resembling a bright moon or a shimmering lake, shone beneath his feet.
He waved his finger, and the demon was swiftly drawn from above the “mirror” into the “mirror” itself.
The reflection in the mirror showed Feng Xuexiang, while the shadow beneath the mirror suddenly dispersed into a swarm of butterflies, which engulfed the demon trapped inside.
As the guarding demon vanished, the surroundings shifted to reveal a spacious conference room.
A gaunt man, seated within a blood-red, eerie formation, looked at them with malevolence.
Feng Xuexiang, standing on the illusory mirror, glanced at Feng Zaiyin with a strange expression. “We really found him.”
…
Outside Changhe Hospital, night had fallen.
The official in charge accompanying Yu Shi, who had been chatting and drinking tea, was now pacing restlessly, unable to sit still. He was constantly making phone calls and requesting more demon exorcists.
The results seemed less than ideal, and with a worried expression, he returned and asked Yu Shi anxiously, “Do you know when the Feng family’s person will come out? Do you think he can solve the problem?”
Yu Shi looked at the dark, unlit hospital building and replied, “It should be soon.”
“Really? But it’s been so long already…” The official in charge’s tone suddenly brightened. “They’re coming out!”
The demonic barrier enveloping the hospital had significantly diminished, and the formation used to trap the demons no longer emitted a buzzing sound. The pressure on the demon exorcists maintaining the formation had eased considerably.
Yu Shi saw Feng Xuexiang leading two people out and stepped forward to approach them.
The official in charge was quicker than him and ran up a few steps to inquire, “How did it go inside?”
“We’ve mostly taken care of it, just a few stragglers left. The Feng family’s demon exorcists are still cleaning up,” Feng Zaiyin answered.
Feng Xuexiang then approached Yu Shi with a look of apology. “It’s already dark. I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t really feel the passage of time while waiting, so it didn’t seem like a long wait,” Yu Shi said, inspecting Feng Xuexiang for any injuries.
“Ashi,” Feng Xuexiang leaned in and said softly, “Before we went in, you mentioned that if it was very dangerous inside or if we encountered difficulties we couldn’t solve, bringing Feng Zaiyin along might make things go more smoothly.”
Yu Shi asked, “Was it not smooth?”
Feng Xuexiang replied, “No, it was very smooth. So, why do you think that is?”
Meeting his curious gaze, Yu Shi said, “Do you believe in intuition?”
“I do,” Feng Xuexiang said, leaning against him and smiling as he placed a kiss on Yu Shi’s forehead. “I believe whatever you say.”
