Chapter 41

The cry echoed far into the silent night sky, like a bolt of lightning piercing through the gloomy clouds. After a moment of silence, the heavy rain was about to pour down...

Sure enough!

After a brief pause, the entire Qin family residence erupted in a flurry of activity:

"What's happening..." "Where..." "Follow me..."

There were countless exclamations, and the clamor woke everyone up!

Someone in the inner courtyard shouted loudly, "What's the panic for! Everyone listen to me!" That voice, like a stabilizing force, suddenly calmed the chaotic crowd. Then the voice continued:

"All the women and maidservants wait in the main hall, a few of you stay here to protect them; you two go open the corridor doors to let the people outside in; Second Brother, where is Second Brother? Go find him—everyone else, take your weapons and follow me to check it out!"

The voice belonged to the eldest son, Qin Ming.

Everyone responded in unison, "Yes!" The courtyard was filled with hurried footsteps, gathering in the inner room. Then Qin Ming lowered his voice slightly and said respectfully, "Father, I'll go check it out. You stay in the main hall with the younger brother and the concubines, and wait for me to return..."

"What are you waiting for!?" Suddenly, a thunderous roar came from the sky: "Why aren't you all coming out to catch the monster? Do you want to wait until it escapes into its lair?" The voice from the sky startled everyone.

Glancing up, they saw that the speaker was Kong Feng. He stood on the high wall, his hair and headscarf fluttering in the wind, his wide sleeves moving with the breeze. On his back was a long wooden box, one hand held a yellow cloth bag, and the other held a double mountain celestial disk. His eyes seemed to be spitting fire...

"Master!" Qin Ming hurried forward a few steps and called out, "Something has happened at home..."

"I already know, no need to explain!" Kong Feng shook the yellow cloth bag and poured out a pile of gray-black objects, like a heap of charcoal. The women and maidservants in the crowd let out a low gasp of shock, but were quickly silenced by others.

Kong Feng was quite pleased with their frightened expressions, which was why he had brought the bat corpses. He then gracefully descended from the wall and pointed at the objects, saying, "These are the Yin Corpse Bats I burned, the minions of the Ten Stiff Corpses and Nine Strange Beasts—no need for more words, follow me, and you'll see the exorcism techniques of the Yin-Yang Five Rings Sect!"

The doors of the corridor were already open, and all the women and maidservants had rushed into the inner courtyard. A few fierce guards with weapons gathered around the courtyard gate. Seeing the young master and the master leading the way, they all followed without hesitation.

Exiting the courtyard gate, two or three guards with newly lit torches hurried over. The torches were distributed, and the light provided some comfort. Zunzhibao and Laoye Bage secretly followed behind, and Zunzhibao couldn't help but ask:

"Master, are they going to look for the people killed by the monster? What about... what about the second young master?"

Laoye Bage stared at the backs of the people ahead, thinking for a moment before answering, "With all this commotion, the ghost probably won't continue to haunt him. He should be with everyone now—let's check this out first. If Kong Feng and the others don't go, we'll go to the back ourselves."

"Okay..."

While the two were chatting privately, the people ahead had already noticed something. By the light of the torches, there were scattered bloodstains on the ground, small and sparse, as if they had dripped. A few drops were on the corridor floor, then they had flipped over the cover and onto the wooden beams.

A few guards were about to climb up to check, but Kong Feng suddenly spoke, "No need to go up there!" He pointed to the front of the corridor, "These are just the bloodstains left by the monster as it fled. We'll go later... for now, we need to find the bodies!"

His eyes fixed on the darkness ahead, he chuckled and suddenly snatched a torch, shouting, "Everyone step back, watch me exorcise the monster!"

Everyone retreated, making a large space. They gripped their weapons tightly, feeling their scalps tingle and cold sweat pour down their backs, their hearts racing with fear!

Kong Feng stuck the torch in the ground, wiped his hand over the torch post, and a spark appeared in his hand. He flicked his fingers, and the sparks flew out, landing on the ground and illuminating the path ahead.

Only then did everyone see two people lying on the ground in the distance, covered in blood, moving slightly in the blood pool, their mouths and noses opening and closing weakly, breathing heavily.

"Big Brother Li! Zhang Zhuzi!" A sharp-eyed guard recognized the two as the night watchmen and called out. A few men who were close to them immediately rushed forward to help them up...

"Stop!" Kong Feng suddenly stepped in front of them, shouting, "They are already dead! These are corpses turning into zombies, everyone step back!"

"But..." the men protested, "They are still moving!"

"Step back when I tell you to, the master has his reasons!" Qin Ming quickly pulled them back, "Everyone watch, no one is to go near them!"

Seeing the young master's command, the men reluctantly complied, stepping back and exchanging glances, thinking of the families of the two men, they couldn't help but sigh and feel a tear in their eyes.

Their fingers gripping their weapons had turned white!

Kong Feng flipped his wrist, and a foot-long peach wood stake appeared in his hand. He held it in reverse and took a talisman paper, waving it in the wind, igniting it, and then roasted the entire peach wood stake.

Laoye Bage secretly explained to Zunzhibao, "Drying and roasting the stake is used to deal with undead zombies and rotten corpses. It must remain dry to pierce the heart and absorb the yin energy, residual blood, and decayed fluids, thus killing the creature instantly—this is a habit of our sect, remember it well!"

Zunzhibao nodded repeatedly, focusing on Kong Feng's actions.

Kong Feng strode forward to the corpses, stepping on the shoulder of one, and then grabbed his hair, pulling him up. The man's neck was black and blue, with four tooth marks swollen around it. The peach wood stake pierced through, emitting a foul, putrid smell, and with a little more force, it was deeply embedded...

The corpse under his foot let out a groan and tried to grab him with its hands!

Kong Feng quickly withdrew the stake and, using the man's arm, snapped it with a crack!

He held the hand high, his eyes fixed on the hands... They were black and blue, the nails long and sharp like ox hooves or dog teeth, the entire palm covered in blue veins, looking like the roots of an old tree, terrifying.

There was naturally another round of murmurs in the crowd.

"See that?" Kong Feng shouted to the crowd, "This man has been dead for a long time and is now turning into a zombie! Now I will seal this creature, find some oil and wood, and burn it here!"

Qin Ming gave a few orders, and his subordinates immediately ran off.

The zombie under Kong Feng's foot was not just groaning but also writhing, but with its spine pinned, it couldn't get up... but!

A shadow was slowly rising behind him!

Qin Ming looked up and saw the shadow growing larger, just as he was about to shout a warning, Kong Feng, without even looking, raised his hand and thrust the stake backward—crack! It pierced the neck of the zombie behind him!

"Ah!" someone couldn't help but cry out.

These two zombies were not yet fully transformed and were not a big deal to Kong Feng. He was deliberately showing off his skills, and hearing the cry, he took the opportunity to turn around, waving his hand and saying, "No problem! I've dealt with many such creatures!"

He then withdrew his foot, pulled back his hand, and kicked the zombie, sending it rolling on the ground.

He then took out a talisman and chanted:

"Forward! By the command of Yin and Yang! By the order of the Spirit Treasure! Command!"

The talisman paper burst into flames, and he let it fall onto the back of the zombie, which was trying to rise. He then thrust the peach wood stake downward with force!

Crack!

The entire zombie was pierced through, its body collapsing like a deflated bag, and a surge of yin and decayed poison gas emerged!

Kong Feng extended his fingers like a sword, shouting:

"By the command of the three fires, burn the body!"

The talisman paper sizzled and exploded, and the entire zombie was engulfed in flames!

Kong Feng pulled out the peach wood stake and repeated the process on the zombie that had just risen—two piles of flames burned on the ground, the bodies crackling and emitting a foul odor, making everyone almost vomit!

Wood and oil were brought over, placed on the bodies, and doused with oil, the flames quickly spreading. In the fire, the two bodies gradually turned to black ash, shrinking and becoming smaller, eventually turning into a pile of ashes!

Everyone watched the burning bodies, feeling a mix of emotions—sadness, grief, and relief at having the master's help. But in the firelight, Laoye Bage noticed a strange expression on Kong Feng's face!

It was like... like... like the flush of a wine lover after a drink, excited and satisfied!

Though the expression was fleeting, Laoye Bage caught it!

The expression quickly disappeared, and Kong Feng resumed his calm and composed demeanor. He pulled out the peach wood stake, wiped it clean, and walked to the initial bloodstain, muttering to himself:

"Alright, alright! The little things outside are dealt with, now it's time to find you!"

He took out his double mountain celestial disk and pointed at Qin Ming, "Find a child to help me!"

"A child?"

Kong Feng, impatient, said, "A child! I need to use the technique of chasing yang and seizing yin to find the direction of the zombie that bit them, and I need the pure yang energy of a child—come here, child!"

He pointed at Zunzhibao! [bookid=3037075, bookname=《迷墓仙踪》]

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends