Zhang Shi pondered to himself, the black tiger's death was extremely tragic, obviously not a natural death. So, who had such means to subdue and cruelly kill this black tiger with its powerful self-healing ability?
Ge Dalong stepped forward and removed the black tiger's corpse, carefully examining each of the four golden steel needles. Zhang Shi, helpless, had no choice but to take out the Soul-Releasing Bell again and summon Grandpa An.
As soon as Uncle An appeared, he noticed the black tiger's corpse lying to the side. His expression turned to one of utter astonishment, and he quickly scurried back into the bell.
"Get out of here immediately! No, get out of this village!"
Zhang Shi looked at Master An with a puzzled expression and asked, "I don't understand, but I'm impressed."
"What are you up to now?"
Even Grandpa An's voice sounded somewhat panicked, which was rare for him.
"It was the village's black tiger, and even it is dead. Do you think anyone who stays in this village will have a good end?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Shi surprisingly found it quite reasonable. Just as he was about to take action, Zhao Feng, who was guarding the door, shouted loudly.
"Damn it, a horde of zombies is coming!"
To confirm he hadn't misheard, Zhang Shi used Shadow Step to teleport to Zhao Feng's side. Sure enough, a large group of zombies had gathered on the distant hill, and they were now staggering towards the ancestral hall. Fortunately, their flesh was withered and slow, giving Zhang Shi and the others time to retreat.
Without saying a word, the three of them fled towards the gate.
Although the three of them should be able to easily deal with these zombies, there was no guarantee that something even more powerful might appear. Even the village's Black Tiger had been taken down, so Zhang Shi didn't dare to show off and simply led his companions away in a sorry state.
The three of them were fast runners and soon reached the gate. The dark red gate was tightly closed, indicating that something had happened there after they came in.
Without a word, Zhao Feng kicked the gate, but it seemed welded shut, bouncing him off without budging an inch. Enraged, Zhao Feng pulled out his battle axe and smashed it against the gate, only to be stopped by Ge Dalong's water wall.
"Don't be reckless. Don't forget that you suffered a loss in front of this gate the first time you came here."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Feng recalled being repelled by the inexplicably appearing protective shield, and tried to climb the wall again to scale it. At that moment, the invisible protective shield indeed appeared, preventing Zhao Feng from taking any further action.
"Damn it, who's behind this? Show yourself if you dare, don't hide like a coward!"
Enraged, Zhao Feng cursed at the village behind him.
Zhang Shi shook his head, took out Old Duan's sword, and slashed at the door.
Sure enough, Lao Duan never disappoints. The gate, which was as solid as a city wall, was as easy to cut open as a block of tofu when it met Lao Duan.
Zhang Shi then made a few more cuts, creating a large hole in the gate, big enough for one person to pass through.
At this moment, the person who had been secretly watching them finally couldn't sit still any longer and showed up.
Suddenly, a humanoid mud monster leaped into the air and landed in front of the three of them. It condensed its arm into a blade and then slashed at Zhang Shi in front of it.
Zhang Shi reacted quickly, shielding Lao Duan in front of him.
Old Duan's blade was so sharp that he instantly severed the mud monster's spikes, knocking them to the ground.
The mud monster gave a human-like, cold laugh. The half-spiked part on the ground transformed into a pool of black sewage that quickly flowed to its feet and was absorbed into it. Moments later, its severed arm returned to normal, reforming into a spike once more.
"So it was you who pulled the strings, wasn't it!"
Zhao Feng swung his axe, but the mud monster didn't move or dodge, and was instantly cleaved in two by the battle axe. Just as Zhao Feng was about to cheer excitedly, he saw the two halves of the mud monster's body re-coagulate like liquid, instantly returning to their original shape.
"You damn bull demon, are you trying to act tough with me?!"
Zhao Feng loathed this self-healing monster, and with a series of slashes of his great axe, he instantly chopped the mud monster into countless small pieces.
Unfortunately, this did not prevent it from healing itself. No matter how hard Zhao Feng tried, how many parts he cut it into, or even if he smashed it into dust with the axe, it could still restore itself to its original state.
Seeing that Zhao Feng's attacks were futile, Ge Dalong frowned. He quickly cast a spell, conjuring an ice storm in an attempt to trap the mud monster within and use the high-frequency attacks to deplete its regenerative abilities. However, the mud monster seemed to have a natural resistance to magic. Although the ice storm could temporarily trap it, keeping it in a resource-intensive state, it could not cause it any substantial damage, nor could it stop its regeneration.
Seeing this, Zhang Shi pondered to himself that the mud monster's self-healing ability was too amazing, and he had to find its weakness.
"Brother Feng, don't waste your energy."
Zhang Shi shouted.
“I remember Huo Linjian once controlled three small mud monsters, which were no different in appearance from this guy. I guess this thing was also being controlled by someone. We need to find its weakness or find the source of its control.”
Ge Dalong turned his head.
"Let's get out of here first, the blizzard is about to dissipate!"
The three nodded, then circled around from the side and crawled out through the hole in the gate.
At the same time, the ice and snow burst open, and the mud monster became visibly anxious when it saw the three people leave the village. Its body surface changed and gradually gained color.
A few seconds later, the mud monster transformed into Wu Qing, holding the Ancestral Staff and looking at Zhang Shi and the other two with a half-smile.
Zhao Feng immediately became anxious and asked.
"Who are you? What have you done to Wu Qing?"
The mud monster, mimicking Wu Qing, slowly spoke, but its voice carried a chilling quality that didn't belong to Wu Qing: "You bunch of overconfident fools, do you think you can escape my grasp? The village's Black Tiger is what happened to you. If you behave, I might give you a quick death!"
Zhao Feng was furious and was about to rush forward, but Zhang Shi stopped him. "Don't be impulsive. Look, it didn't chase after us. It transformed into Wu Qing's appearance to provoke us, which clearly shows it has some reservations," Zhang Shi calmly analyzed.
Ge Dalong chimed in, "Zhang Shi is right. Since it didn't chase after us directly, it means it's holding back or is wary of something. We can't fall into its trap."
Upon seeing this, the mud monster, imitating Wu Qing, showed a hint of annoyance on its face, but it restrained itself and did not make any further moves. It simply continued in its chilling voice, "Hmph, do you think you can escape like this? Let me tell you, this village is completely under my control. You can't escape even if you grow wings!"
At this moment, Uncle An, who hadn't spoken for a long time, said quietly.
"It's the mist. The beings in the mist feed on the villagers. Anything tangible in Huo Family Village that leaves the village's protection will be hunted by the mist."
After digesting what Master An said, Zhang Shi quickly put it into his system inventory and unleashed a Shadow Slash, instantly severing the mud monster's body in half.
The other party was not annoyed; after recovering, he simply looked at Zhang Shi indifferently.
"Don't waste your energy. Save it for crying and howling. When night falls, it will be your death day!"
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