Chapter 198: The Real Bad Guy
Yu Guang thoroughly cleaned the cabin and even reinforced the roof. He moved tirelessly, chopping firewood, and fetching water from a nearby spring.
When he returned from the spring, he was carrying a wild chicken in hand.
That evening, Yu Yin had wild chicken for dinner.
This “brother” displayed a subtle attentiveness in his care that contrasted with his otherwise straightforward personality. The pieces of chicken he gave Yu Yin were shredded into small, manageable pieces.
Without a tongue to aid him, Yu Yin found chewing much more difficult than most. In the basement, his meals had consisted of soft, barely chewable gruel.
Yu Guang had also prepared food for him in a similar way; if the meat was too large, he’d shred it to smaller pieces.
But no amount of attentiveness could hide the fact that the food tasted awful.
One sip of the chicken soup, and it felt as if the wild chicken’s lingering spirit had left a curse in it.
Stuck with distasteful human food, deprived of the sustenance he craved, and forced to sit under the sun, Yu Yin was hardly in a pleasant mood.
To make matters worse, Yu Guang climbed the trees around the cabin and chopped down every branch that provided shade, leaving Yu Yin unable to find a cool spot, moving around in frustration.
Watching this, Yu Guang laughed heartily as he rinsed the sweat and dust from his body, his laughter adding to Yu Yin’s annoyance.
That night, Yu Yin tried once again to control Yu Guang.
The result was that Yu Guang grabbed his wrist again, holding him tightly in his arms and forcing him to “sleep obediently.”
Many things in the cabin, including their bedding, had been sun-dried all day, ridding the place of the musty and foul smells from the day before. It was now dry and warm.
Especially in Yu Guang’s embrace—Yu Yin pressed close to him, and the heartbeat of another living being was loud and intense, its steady rhythm giving a strong sense of presence.
Yu Yin wasn’t used to this sensation; he was more accustomed to damp, cold, and lifeless places.
Knowing he was at a disadvantage, it would have been best to stay hidden and endure, but after years of freely moving about as the “Silk Nest”, he couldn’t tolerate it every single moment.
At his struggles, Yu Guang easily held him down with just his hands and legs.
They wrestled until well past midnight, but the next day, Yu Guang was still full of energy, while Yu Yin alone became increasingly worn out and gloomy.
A few days passed like this. Every morning, Yu Yin would be woken up and forced to exercise with Yu Guang.
They went back and forth along the mountain paths. On flat ground, Yu Guang would let Yu Yin walk on his own, but when the road got rough, he would carry Yu Yin and use him as weight training.
Yu Guang’s youthful body was strong, but due to long-term hunger, he was somewhat thin.
After gaining control over this body, Yu Guang tried daily to catch some wild pheasants or rabbits in the mountains to supplement their meals. Eating well every day improved his complexion significantly, and his strength also increased.
However, food was quickly consumed. The small bag of grain given by the villagers was nearly gone.
“We need to go down the mountain tomorrow to find a way to earn some money,” Yu Guang said.
Hearing that he was going down the mountain, Yu Yin, who had been behaving for a few days, started planning again.
As long as he went to work, Yu Guang wouldn’t be able to keep him close all the time. If he could just get out of Yu Guang’s sight…
…
Early in the morning, Yu Yin was carried on Yu Guang’s back as they headed down the mountain.
So he was actually bringing him along.
Yu Yin looked down at the brilliant golden light below. Once they reached a crowd, anyone could become his prey. Then what would Yu Guang do?
Daring to bring him along like this—he really was an overly confident guy.
By the time they were halfway down, Yu Guang began to hear noises coming from the village below.
It was loud and chaotic, with people shouting, cursing, crying, and some even heading toward the base of the mountain.
Yu Guang quickened his pace, and when he reached the foot of the mountain with Yu Yin, they saw two groups facing off.
On one side were the villagers of Green Creek, their faces filled with rage, each one holding hoes or sickles.
Opposing them was a group that looked weaker—elderly, women, and children.
“Get out! Get out of our land!”
“Yeah, leave now, or we won’t be so nice!”
The men from Green Creek Village shouted one after another.
The elderly, women, and children on the other side didn’t back down. Instead, they clung together, pushing forward desperately. They looked terrified, with some even holding children.
The cries of the children were shrill, and an elderly person at the front, trembling, begged tearfully, “You can’t just stand by and let us die! If the evil spirit in our village isn’t dealt with, everyone there will be dead!”
“Please, let the cultivator on the mountain come with us just once!”
They looked utterly pitiful, yet the villagers of Green Creek were only angrier, spitting and cursing back, “Shameless!”
“You lured that evil spirit to the mountain on our side and killed several of our villagers, thinking you could keep it from us. And now you want our help? No way!”
“Exactly! You brought this on yourselves, creating two evil spirits. Serves you right to lose so many!”
Some of the elderly and children in the group looked away with guilt, while others grew more desperate. A woman dressed in mourning clothes cried out,
“It’s come to this anyway! If you’re going to watch us die, then let’s all die together!”
As she spoke, she suddenly threw herself toward the blade of a sickle held by a man from Green Creek Village.
The people of Green Creek, though more numerous and appearing aggressive, ultimately did not dare to kill. They quickly backed away.
Amidst this chaos, Yu Guang stepped forward.
“What’s going on?”
His expression was serious and calm, his voice neither loud nor soft, but it instantly silenced the cries, curses, and sobs.
The elderly, women, and children were from Yangjia Village, a larger, wealthier village situated a bit farther away.
Recently, Yangjia Village had been plagued by two evil spirits. On the night they appeared, several villagers were killed.
The village chief, Yang Fu, a stingy man despite his wealth, was unwilling to spend money to hire a cultivator to exorcise the spirits. Instead, he devised a plan—to lure the two evil spirits out of the village and into other areas.
“How did they lure them?” Yu Guang asked.
The woman in mourning clothes, her voice hoarse from crying, explained, “Yang Fu forced each family to send one person to run ahead of the spirits as bait. When one person was eaten, the spirits’ hunger only grew, so he’d have another person cut themselves to lure the spirits forward, one by one, until they led them away from the village.”
This practice of using “blood bait” to lure spirits wasn’t unheard of. Usually, when the spirits reached a populated area, they would stop, drawn by the scent of people.
The evil spirit Yu Guang had killed in Green Creek had been one of those from Yangjia Village.
But Yangjia Village had two evil spirits, and only one had been successfully lured away. The other one remained in the village, refusing to leave.
The villagers who could flee had already done so, but some were too poor to leave and hid in fear, though many were still killed.
Upon hearing that a kind cultivator had come to Green Creek Village and had killed the spirit for free, the remaining people in Yangjia Village could no longer hold back and came here to plead for help.
Green Creek Village, knowing that the evil spirit had been lured to them by Yangjia Village, causing the death of their own people, held a deep grudge and had no intention of helping. They only wanted to drive them away, leading to the current commotion.
A group of elderly women from Yangjia Village knelt in front of Yu Guang.
“Please! We beg you, save us!”
“My father-in-law and husband are both dead, and I have two children left. How can we survive?”
Yu Guang showed no sign of reluctance. Holding his younger brother, he listened to them and then said, “Alright, let’s go take a look.”
Surprised that he agreed so readily, the people of Yangjia Village were momentarily stunned but soon became overjoyed.
The villagers of Green Creek looked disgruntled, but upon hearing his decision, they dared not say anything.
The elderly village chief, supported by others, approached and asked, “Benefactor, if you’re going to Yangjia Village, it may be inconvenient to bring your younger brother along. Perhaps we could help look after him here in the village?”
The chief had noticed that each time they’d seen Yu Guang, he was holding his younger brother close, suggesting there might be an issue with him.
“No need. It’s too dangerous to leave him here. I need to keep an eye on him at all times.”
Yu Guang gently pressed Yu Yin’s head into his chest, shielding him.
Yu Yin let out a faint chuckle, his gaze dark and mocking.
…
As they approached the boundary of Yangjia Village, Yu Yin, held tightly by Yu Guang, moved his fingers slightly, a hint of pleasure flickering in his expression.
There was so much despair and suffering hanging in the air here; it truly was an excellent hunting ground.
Yu Guang’s steps faltered momentarily as he looked toward a certain spot in the village, sensing a faint, unusual aura emanating from that direction.
There was also wailing—the cry of an evil spirit, sounding like countless curses, endless screams of pain and struggle.
“It’s… over there. That evil spirit has been lingering around the village chief’s house and refuses to leave.”
As Yu Guang moved toward that area, he asked, “How did these two evil spirits come about in your village?”
The group following Yu Guang fell silent, but the woman in mourning clothes spoke up bitterly, “The evil spirits are Lady Song and her daughter. It’s all because of Yang Fu and his sons’ sins!”
Lady Song and her daughter had come from elsewhere. After her husband died, they depended on each other, with no relatives in the village to support them. They were both quite beautiful, which caught unwanted attention.
The village chief, Yang Fu, was both stingy and lecherous, and his sons were just like him. One by one, they took advantage of Lady Song and her daughter.
Many villagers knew about this, but no one dared confront the chief over another family’s troubles. After all, Yang Fu had relatives in Zhuzhou who were government officials.
Lady Song’s daughter, humiliated and driven to despair by rumors from the villagers, eventually drowned herself in the well at the village entrance.
Poor Lady Song had always endured everything in silence for her daughter’s sake, never daring to speak out about the abuse. But after her daughter’s death, she took a pair of scissors and stabbed her own neck, painting the house with her blood.
The mother and daughter died in great agony, each becoming an evil spirit in turn.
The daughter’s spirit was more confused and was successfully lured to Green Creek Village. Lady Song’s spirit, however, remained in the village, unwilling to leave no matter how they tried to entice her away.
“That vile Yang Fu and his family! They ruined those lives, and when the spirits appeared, he ordered the villagers to lead them away!”
“He demanded that each family send someone to lure the spirits, and for those who couldn’t, he asked for money instead, saying it would be used to compensate the families of the dead. But when he saw that the spirit refused to leave, Yang Fu and his family took the money and fled. No one can find them now!”
“Why didn’t that evil spirit go after Yang Fu’s family instead?”
The woman broke into tears again, covering her face. “Why did it have to kill my Acheng? We didn’t do anything to harm her—where’s the justice in that?”
Yu Guang made no comment, and from Yu Yin’s perspective, he only saw the golden light flowing steadily around them.
On the largest blue-brick house in the village, a massive evil spirit clung, its grotesque and bloated body wrapping around half the mansion. A foul, black sludge oozed around it, filling the air with a nauseating stench.
This was the largest and strongest evil spirit Yu Guang had seen since arriving in this world. Who knew how many people it had consumed to grow to such an enormous size?
Upon seeing it, Yu Guang finally released Yu Yin from his arms.
“Stay here and wait for me.”
Yu Yin, too, gazed at the evil spirit. In his vision, it appeared as a chaotic mass of red light, seething with agony. In the past, these suffering-laden evil spirits were a source of sustenance for him.
His puppets would deliberately create evil spirits for him to feed on, though often he only needed to capture “wild” spirits. They were an ever-abundant source.
The moment Yu Guang turned his back, Yu Yin’s invisible web of silk was already spreading across Yangjia Village, silently capturing the waves of anguish and suffering to nourish himself.
Meanwhile, along the road to Yangjia Village, three young men in gray robes sat inside a carriage, looking toward the distant village with solemn expressions.
“Is that Yangjia Village? The ghostly aura there is incredibly thick. It’s likely already consumed dozens of people.”
“Do you think there are still any survivors in the village?”
Yang Fu, who was huddled in a corner of the carriage, quickly stammered, “Yes, yes, there are definitely survivors! Our village has many people!”
“Three immortals, is that evil spirit really that powerful?”
The youngest of the three gray-robed men rolled his eyes at him. “We’re cultivators, not immortals, as I already told you.”
“Yes, yes, I misspoke!” Yang Fu, drenched in sweat and growing more fearful as they neared Yangjia Village, couldn’t help wiping his brow nervously. “No matter how powerful it is, you three should be able to kill it, right?”
The most composed of the cultivators responded, “Not necessarily. We’ll assess the situation first. If we can’t handle it, we’ll need to return and request our elders’ assistance.”
The cultivator with a mischievous smile, noticing Yang Fu’s fearful expression, decided to spook him. “This evil spirit looks formidable. We’ve never faced one this strong—might be out of our league.”
Yang Fu paled with terror, nearly jumping out of the carriage to flee.
As he moved his plump body, the young cultivator’s sheathed sword pressed against his arm, and he scowled in disdain. “What are you afraid of? We’re here; the spirit won’t be able to devour you.”
