Near the altar, Zhao Feng was intently examining the relics.
Zhang Shi noticed that a cloud of black mist surged from his body, gradually condensing into an evil spirit without a lower body.
Zhang Shi was shocked, not expecting that the culprit who caused his teammates to disappear inexplicably had already infiltrated their ranks.
The evil spirit floated behind Zhao Feng, its blood-red maw wide open, poised to devour him.
The evil spirit was invisible to the naked eye, and the group of four paid no attention to it.
Zhang Shi's only goal was to find his teammates and lead them to safety. As for this strange dungeon, let whoever wants to explore it explore it; Zhang Shi had no intention of continuing.
Now that the culprit has been found, Zhang Shi has no intention of hiding anything any longer. He grabbed Lao Duan and rushed to the evil spirit in one stride, slicing it in two with a single stroke.
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!"
Zhang Shi sheathed his sword, only to discover to his surprise that the evil spirit had transformed back into black mist and returned to Zhao Feng's body.
The four continued exploring the altar, each busy with their own tasks, completely unaware that they had just faced a life-or-death crisis.
Zhang Shi frowned and stared at Zhao Feng for a long time. To the naked eye, he couldn't detect the presence of the black mist.
"Things have changed now, and I just need to stay by their side as a bodyguard."
The situation in this village is too complicated for him to handle right now. Zhang Shi made up his mind to stay with his teammates, figure out his current situation, and leave immediately if he could find a way to evacuate.
After some exploration, the four-person team discovered the existence of the secret passage once again.
The group worked together to push aside the stone slab and then carefully crawled into the secret passage to explore.
As expected, the phantom appeared next to the altar, staring at the spot where Zhang Shi had just been, as if searching for something.
Why are you looking at your dad?
Now that the impact had been made, Zhang Shi was no longer afraid of being exposed and swung a cleaver at the head of the phantom.
The phantom figure did not react to Zhang Shi's words and actions and was beheaded by Lao Duan with a single blow.
"ah!"
The phantom's head fell to the ground, letting out a scream, and it stared in terror in Zhang Shi's direction. Zhang Shi crouched down and sliced its head to pieces, until it turned into a pool of dirty water.
Zhang Shi tried to collect the sewage with a container, but the sewage still seemed to have its own consciousness, avoiding Zhang Shi and quickly reorganizing itself in the distance.
"Who's lurking around like that? Show yourself if you dare."
The phantom was pressed against the side of the altar, cautiously peering in this direction.
Zhang Shi was now absolutely certain that the voice belonged to the strange creature he had fought in the secret room, only its appearance was somewhat different from before, and it wasn't as solid as the one he had seen last time.
Knowing that these monsters possessed extremely strong self-healing abilities, Zhang Shi stopped wasting his energy on futile efforts. Instead, he took out the holy silver crossbow bolt he had obtained from the well from his backpack.
With the arrow nocked and the bow drawn, Zhang Shi was right in front of the strange creature, but it couldn't see or hear it. Even when the holy silver crossbow bolt flew towards its head, it didn't notice at all. It was pierced by the crossbow bolt and turned into a puddle of dirty water once again.
Similar to the Black Tiger's reaction, wisps of black mist also emanated from the sewage formed by the strange creature. The black mist pierced through the cave and drifted towards the village.
The sewage wasn't completely stagnant yet; it slowly gathered in one place, seemingly about to reform. Zhang Shi stepped forward, picked up the Holy Silver Crossbow Bolt, intending to strike while the iron was hot.
The strange creature seemed to be on guard; this time, it didn't even reassemble its body, but instead seeped into the ground and disappeared.
Seeing this, Zhang Shi abandoned the pursuit and quickly slipped into the secret passage to rejoin the group of four.
The four people inside the secret room had already been disturbed by the noise outside.
The strange creature had been beaten so badly by Zhang Shi that it was screaming and howling. The four-person team was already guarding the entrance to the secret room, holding weapons and staring intently at the direction of the secret passage.
Zhang Shi guessed that the strange creature was severely injured and would not easily show itself again for a while, so he squatted in the secret room, waiting for the four-person group's next move.
The four remained on guard for a while, and seeing no unusual activity, they put away their weapons, opened the treasure chest, and successfully obtained two [Soul-Binding Bells].
As the light faded and the treasure chest disappeared, the group of four focused on the bell and failed to notice anything unusual about the base where the treasure chest had been placed.
Zhang Shi was visiting the palace for the second time, and he immediately noticed that the patterns on the stone platform were exactly the same as those on the stone platform where the memorial tablets were placed in the underground palace of the ancestral hall.
After the group of four left, Zhang Shi carefully tapped the stone platform, following the rhythm of the phantom's tapping on the tombstone.
"Smack!"
A hidden compartment appeared in the stone platform, and as Zhang Shi had expected, it contained a memorial tablet and a porcelain pot.
Zhang Shi glanced at the owner of the memorial tablet, named Huo Xiuxiu, who appeared to be a woman. Then, Zhang Shi carefully examined the porcelain pot, but to his surprise, the moment his fingers touched it, he felt an icy chill.
Zhang Shi quickly withdrew his hand, noticing a layer of frost clinging to his knuckles. Realizing something was amiss with the porcelain pot, Zhang Shi dared not touch it any further and tried to close the hidden compartment before leaving.
Zhang Shi glanced at it and unexpectedly found something else inside the cover of the hidden compartment.
Zhang Shi took out an oil lamp, and by its light, he saw strange symbols, resembling runes, engraved on the cover.
After studying them for a while, Zhang Shi felt that some of the runes were similar to the Taoist soul-suppressing talismans, and he had some further guesses in his mind.
Without making any rash moves, Zhang Shi, adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry," closed the hidden compartment, quickly left the secret room, and caught up with the group of four.
This time, without the interference of the strange creatures, the journey was smooth and unimpeded.
Zhang Shi, one of the four, still managed to destroy the stone cover with Lao Duan's help. The four of them walked out of the cave unharmed. The black mist outside had dissipated, and the four of them excitedly headed towards the ancestral hall.
Zhang Shi did not return immediately, but instead went to the highest point of the low mountain and looked towards the cave. What he saw made him realize something.
From a high vantage point, the densely packed graves are arranged in a regular pattern, surrounding Huo Youming's tomb in the very center. Judging from the arrangement, it resembles the placement of memorial tablets in the ancestral hall's underground palace, as if it were arranged in some kind of formation.
Zhang Shi felt that the village was becoming increasingly unusual and dared not get involved. He hurriedly caught up with the group of four and returned to the ancestral hall in the village.
Inside the ancestral hall, Black Tiger was clearly surprised to see the four of them return unharmed. His copper-bell-like eyes showed a hint of surprise.
"You're back so soon?"
Zhang Shi, one of the four, handed one of the Soul-Binding Bells to Black Tiger.
"Here's what you wanted."
Black Tiger swallowed the bell whole and paced back and forth in front of him, seemingly deep in thought.
Without lingering, Zhang Shi quietly entered the underground palace of the ancestral hall and took out the porcelain bottle belonging to Master An.
Seeing that Black Tiger was acting strangely and sensing danger, the four of them took a few steps back and spread out their positions.
Finally, as if he had made up his mind, Black Tiger let out a long roar.
The ancestral hall's gate suddenly slammed shut, and a black wind swept through the courtyard for no apparent reason.
"Since you're here, don't leave!"
Black Tiger moved with lightning speed, pouncing towards Wu Qing, the only woman in the arena, its sharp claws aimed straight for her throat.
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