In just this short delay, it had gotten completely dark outside, and the yard was now pitch black.

“My place is small, I don’t have that many beds…” The middle-aged man walked out beside Lu Huaizhou.

"No need for that trouble, just arrange a room for us," Lu Huaizhou said with a gentle smile.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man said nothing more, but directly arranged an empty room for them as Lu Huaizhou had instructed.

It was indeed a bit cramped to have ten people in one room, but fortunately, at their level, it wouldn't matter if they didn't sleep for a whole day.

Without thinking too much, everyone took out cushions from the storage container and sat down directly.

Lu Huaizhou walked over to Xu Yan, intending to discuss tomorrow's plans with him.

"Didn't you notice something was wrong?" Xu Yan sat beside Lu Huaizhou, his cold gaze fixed on the tightly closed door.

The doors and windows were tightly shut, and the room was pitch black, devoid of any candlelight. A dozen or so people huddled together, and you could hear each other breathing.

Xu Yan didn't speak loudly, but everyone present could hear him clearly.

"Senior Brother Xu, have you discovered something?" Qingyu took out the luminous pearl and, upon hearing this, quickly leaned over and looked at Xu Yan.

She sat on the other side of Lu Huaizhou, so that she could see Xu Yan.

As she took out the luminous pearl, the others also took out a number of glowing objects one after another.

The room was brighter now, and it wasn't as eerie and scary as it used to be.

“Something is not right,” Lin Jingge said.

"Just tell me what you've found. There are no outsiders here, so don't keep me in suspense."

“You haven’t developed. From the moment we stepped into Liujia Village, it was unusually quiet. In an ordinary village, there should be some noise from chickens crowing and dogs barking as evening approaches. Putting that aside, we didn’t even hear the insects chirping in the fields.” Lin Jingge said, sharing her observations from the journey.

These commotions were the most obvious, and she assumed that everyone knew, which was why they hadn't made a sound. But the current situation seemed to be different from what she had expected.

Lu Huaizhou nodded: "That's right, it is indeed too quiet, I've noticed that too."

After saying that, he looked at Xu Yan beside him and asked, "Was that what you wanted to tell me?"

Upon hearing Lu Huaizhou's words, the person who had just spoken felt his face burning and immediately turned away, no longer speaking.

Xu Yan, who was asked the question by Lu Huaizhou, shook his head: "It's not that."

"I'm referring to this family."

"In this situation where monsters roam freely, this family did not show any fear. Although the man initially acted quite convincingly, after he led us into the house, I noticed that he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief."

"And the people in the main room had rosy complexions and gentle smiles on their faces. The child the woman was holding was quiet and well-behaved. If I hadn't known from the beginning that this place was teeming with monsters, I would have really thought we had come to the wrong place."

While speaking, Xu Yan kept his eyelids slightly lowered, but when he said the last sentence, he looked at Qingyu, who had been watching him, and his cold expression revealed something different.

Qingyu hadn't expected the other party to say something like that at the end.

Thinking about what I said before, I wish I could find a hole to crawl into right now.

After hearing Xu Yan's analysis, Lu Huaizhou immediately understood.

His brows were furrowed tightly.

From the very beginning, he was on tenterhooks, constantly watching his surroundings, but he still couldn't see as much as Xu Yan.

If they hadn't just run into Xu Yan and casually invited him to join them on the mission, they might not even know how they died.

After Xu Yan finished speaking, the crowd, who had been whispering among themselves, suddenly fell silent.

Xu Yan's words have already made themselves very clear.

This family is haunted.

Thinking about this, some of the more timid ones couldn't sit still any longer.

"What do we do now?!" They felt like they had walked right into someone's trap, waiting to be killed.

"What else can we do? Let's just rush out, tie this family up, and ask them what's going on!" The speaker was a fire-elemental girl, who was always impatient and had a rather volatile temper.

Because she studied alchemy under the same teacher as Lu Huaizhou, and because this girl was quite skilled in martial arts, Lu Huaizhou also recruited her into his team.

They have done several team tasks together.

We've done this kind of mission before, helping villages to slay monsters, but never like this one.

The unknown is the most frightening thing.

As if he had heard a funny joke, Xu Yan suddenly chuckled: "Tie them up? How do you know those people aren't demonic beasts in human form?"

"impossible!"

The girl instinctively retorted.

Others were also internally refuting this.

Only demonic beasts of level six or above can withstand the tribulation of earth-born humanoid form. In other words, demonic beasts that can transform into human form are only level six or above.

Monsters of level six and above have developed intelligence and generally do not antagonize humans, let alone harass a village so poor that even the spiritual energy in this place is much thinner than elsewhere.

Lin Jingge, who hadn't uttered a sound, suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

If what Xu Yan said is true, and the middle-aged man is a level six demonic beast, then there must be a treasure they are eyeing in this place.

And this treasure is one that they have not yet obtained.

This was the only reason Lin Jingge could believe that a level-six monster would appear in this place.

The only thing that Lin Jingge found a little strange was that the spiritual energy in Liu Family Village was too thin, almost as thin as that of the barren Canglan Continent.

How could such a place produce treasures?

“Why not?” Xu Yan’s eyes revealed a mocking look: “Maybe they’re watching us right now.”

As soon as he said that, everyone got goosebumps all over their bodies, felt a chill in their hearts, and couldn't help but look around.

"No, no way, this is clearly just a level three mission..." someone said, clinging to a sliver of hope.

“No, what Xu Yan said is very likely true.” Lu Huaizhou, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

He didn't want to believe what Xu Yan said, but thinking about everything that happened after he got off the flying boat, he began to believe most of what Xu Yan said.

Why couldn't they use their divine sense to know the situation of the entire Liu Family Village from the outside?

Besides the shielding effect of the formation, there are also beings here whose cultivation levels are higher than theirs.

How could such a poor village possibly possess a shielding formation?

That leaves only one possibility.