"Go? Where to!" Jiang Yuan panicked a little; this village was eerie everywhere.

"The cemetery!" the old woman said, and walked ahead on her own.

Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow. Compared to those inhuman and ghostly figures, this old man in front of him was perhaps more trustworthy. As for whether or not to go to the cemetery, to be honest, he had no other choice.

To find Ning Yanlan, Jiang Yuan would have to brave not only cemeteries but also hell.

The village became unusually lively at this moment. A figure would rush out from the houses with lit candles and join the restless army in the darkness.

Seeing Jiang Yuan follow, the old woman's expression returned to normal, and she slowly said, "I didn't expect you to be so bold!"

"What can we do! Old man, what exactly is going on here?" Jiang Yuan pressed.

"Here! Hehe!" The old woman gave a meaningful smile, then suddenly asked, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"

"I'm not afraid of living people, so why would I be afraid of ghosts!" Jiang Yuan said dismissively.

"Actually, I'm the only living person left in Tieling Village!" The old woman said calmly, as if life and death meant nothing to her.

"Impossible, how could those people move?" Jiang Yuan asked in surprise.

"A week ago, a disaster struck Tieling Village. It wasn't a monster, nor an earthquake or a strong wind, but another kind of invisible terror!"

"At that time, the villagers discovered that killing monsters could drop items that would enhance their strength, so they gradually started going out to hunt monsters. But from some point onwards, some people in the village began to feel unwell. No one paid any attention to this, but that was just the beginning of the horror!"

"Someone discovered that those people who said they weren't feeling well would inexplicably leave home every night and then all go to a cemetery, not returning until the next day!"

"And once you get back, you'll immediately become a corpse, without exception!"

"This strange situation spread to the whole village in just three days. Everyone except me became a living dead. During the day, they were corpses, and at night they turned into walking corpses and went to the cemetery."

The old woman fell silent after speaking, which was unusual for her.

"Then, old man, why didn't you become... um, I didn't mean to curse you, I was just curious!" Jiang Yuan asked awkwardly.

“One of my ancestors was a renowned Taoist master. Although I didn’t receive his true teachings, I always carried his ancestral artifacts, which is why I was able to survive that great terror!” the old woman said, shaking her head.

"Then why don't you leave Tieling Village?" Jiang Yuan was very curious. There was clearly no one left in this village, so why did she still stay here?

Having witnessed countless deaths, Jiang Yuan couldn't understand the old woman's actions; leaving Tieling Village would at least allow her to live a few more years.

"Alas, what good will leaving do? I'll still end up in the jaws of beasts. All I want now is to settle the score in Tieling Village so that all the villagers can be laid to rest in peace and not suffer the torment of enslavement after death!" The old woman shed a single, cloudy tear.

Jiang Yuan fell silent. He didn't know what had really happened in Tieling Village, but his intuition told him that Tieling Village must have touched some taboo.

"Quickly lower your head!"

When the two reached a certain point, the old woman said in a trembling voice, "Imitate the actions of those villagers. Remember, no matter what happens, don't look up. Go back to your house immediately after the ceremony."

Jiang Yuan had no doubt that he had no choice in this bizarre environment.

Jiang Yuan, who had his head down, heard a chilling sound, like fingernails scratching a hard object or a wild beast gnawing on flesh. But because he had his head down, Jiang Yuan couldn't pinpoint the source of the sound.

Behind the chilling sound was a deep, hollow whistling sound, which at first sounded like a strange melody brought by the wind blowing through the valley, but Jiang Yuan heard a different kind of charm in it.

This is coming from the throat of some kind of creature!

Jiang Yuan couldn't help but want to look up at the person who started all this, but the old woman gently nudged his arm with her cane, and he managed to suppress his impulse.

Not only Jiang Yuan and the old woman, but everyone else stood there for a full ten minutes before they began to walk toward the 'instigator'.

Then came a series of unpleasant sounds, a kind of desperate crying, from men, women, the old, and the young, as if only after experiencing endless torment could one utter such a miserable cry.

"This isn't a ghost, it must be a special monster!" Jiang Yuan became increasingly certain that the thing that caused the tragedy in Tieling Village must have come from the Golden Gate.

This world is now filled not only with holy spirits, but also with monsters everywhere, and countless other mysterious items.

After each cry, there would be a thud as the body fell to the ground, then it would stand up again and begin to wander aimlessly in the vicinity until morning when it would return to its former home.

Jiang Yuan looked down at the feet of the walking corpses nearby, and he finally understood why so many 'people' had appeared at dusk; the walking corpses were taking a stroll.

"Squeak—squeak!"