Dusk Returns to the Ruined Building

The Yunu River is a very common river in the Manghuang Mountains. It originates from the depths of Manghuang, flows southward through Tuoliang City, and flows to the plains in the south of Manghuang. The water flows slowly and clearly. In the summer in Manghuang, many young women or children can be seen playing in the water on the banks of the Yunu River outside the city.

Shen Yichen walked northward along the Yunu River for about three hours and saw a small villa on the river bank ahead. This was the first place he saw where he could stay.

Outside the gate of the villa, there is a stone lion on each side, with fierce eyes and fangs, looking particularly ferocious in the night. Facing the stone lions, there are five cypress trees facing each other, lush and green. In the night wind, the shadows of the trees are swaying, which looks a bit desolate and weird.

Shen Yichen looked at the cypress trees in front of the door and thought to himself, "Is this a haunted house? Who would plant cypress trees in front of their house?" But he had no choice but to prepare to stay overnight. The Manghuang Mountains are sparsely populated, with only a few ancient tribes scattered among the mountains. It is rare to have a villa here.

When he walked outside, he saw the three words "Xiangyun Manor" written on the high hanging plaque, in a vigorous and majestic manner. Just as Shen Yichen was about to knock on the door, the door opened without wind.

"What's going on? Shouldn't I knock on the door and ask, 'Is anyone here? I'd like to stay the night!'" Shen Yichen muttered to himself. After hesitating for a moment, he walked in. Shen Yichen thought to himself: "I'm a cultivator, I should be braver!"

Walking into the courtyard, Shen Yichen realized that this villa should have been abandoned for many years. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, some of which were more than one meter tall. The largest main room in the middle of the courtyard had no gate, and there were a few lights inside.

Shen Yichen walked quickly to the front of the main room and saw four groups of people in the room, sitting around the campfire, some with their eyes closed and some talking in low voices. They should all be travelers like him, and of course they are all immortal cultivators, but he didn't know if these people were heading to Lingxu Mountain!

Shen Yichen didn't say a word. He found a corner, leaned against a wooden pillar, sat on the ground, and closed his eyes to rest. In fact, he was using his spiritual sense to explore the surroundings. When he walked into the villa, he felt the gloomy atmosphere. Since the Sky Burial Mountain, he has been able to mobilize part of his spiritual sense in the sea of ​​consciousness at will.

Shen Yichen used his spiritual sense to find out that there were a total of twenty people in the main room, including him. Among them, there were five people on the left side of the two bonfires near the window, all men in green-brown clothes; there were four people on the right side, three men and one woman, the men in light yellow long gowns and the women in light yellow light skirts; there were only two women in purple clothes at the bonfire in front of Shen Yichen in the room; and the eight young men in white clothes were the farthest away from him.

In addition to the main room where they were, there were more than a dozen rooms on each side of the villa, all of which were empty; there was a large rockery at the back, and behind the rockery there were two rooms, one was a ancestral hall, and the other had a black coffin. The eerie atmosphere was the heaviest here.

Shen Yichen opened his eyes and looked at the two women in front of him. At this moment, one of the women was waving at him and signaling him with her eyes, "Come and sit down!"

Shen Yichen hesitated for a moment, but still walked over and sat next to the girl who waved to him.

"Hello, my name is Lv Jiayao, and this is my senior sister Yang Jiarui, we are from the Manghuang Zixia Sect."

The woman who waved at him took the initiative to say hello.

"Hello everyone, my name is Shen Yichen, I, I, I am a casual cultivator!" Shen Yichen thought about it, not knowing how to introduce himself as coming from a certain sect or school, because he didn't know either. If he said he was from the Guanxing Mountain, he didn't know where the Guanxing Mountain was!

Seeing that Shen Yichen was unwilling to reveal his sect, the two of them did not ask further. How could they know the hesitation in Shen Yichen's heart?

The three of them began to chat casually, but it was basically the two women who talked, because Shen Yichen knew nothing. He had just come down the mountain and didn't understand anything.

Through chatting, Shen Yichen learned that these people were indeed heading for Lingxu Mountain. The eight young men in white were from Cangxing Sect of Yingzhou, led by a man named Zhou Shuman. The three men and one woman in front of the window were disciples of Yinghai Sect of Manghuang. Yinghai Sect was located on a strange peak near Daihai. The other four were from Luofeng Sect, which, like Lu Jiayao's sect, Zixia Sect, were small sects in the western part of Manghuang.

Lu Jiayao told Shen Yichen that the purpose of going to Lingxu Mountain this time was, firstly, to gain experience, and secondly, to try his luck, maybe he would encounter something extraordinary!

The night is as cool as water, and the moon is above the cypress trees.

A disciple of Cangxing Sect was awakened by the urge to urinate. Seeing that his fellow disciples were sleeping with their eyes closed, he went to the flower bed in the corner of the courtyard to urinate alone. As he was peeing comfortably, a black shadow flashed by and the disciple of Cangxing Sect disappeared.

"Hey, you two haven't had any adventures yet, but you're going to have one today!" Shen Yichen thought secretly in his heart.

Shen Yichen did not sleep from beginning to end. The gloomy atmosphere was always there. He did not dare to sleep. He just closed his eyes and rested, while his consciousness was always on alert.

When Shen Yichen's consciousness followed the black shadow to the black coffin in the backyard, he saw the black shadow throw the Cangxing Sect disciple into it, and it instantly turned into blood mist, which was absorbed by a round porcelain jar in the black coffin. Shen Yichen was shocked that there was such a thing in the world, and the porcelain jar absorbed blood and flesh. Even though he thought his cultivation was very high, he was still terrified.

About a quarter of an hour later, the people from Cangxingmen discovered that they were missing one person, so Zhou Shuman sent two people to search for him in the courtyard.

"Ah!" A scream broke the silence of the night sky and woke up everyone in the room. "Ah!" Another scream was heard. Lu Jiayao was still young, timid, and had little experience. After hearing the second scream, she stood up and came to the side of her senior sister Yang Jiarui.

When everyone saw that three people were missing from Cangxing Gate, they knew something had happened.

"My fellow Taoists, there is something strange about this villa. Would you like to go and investigate it together?" Zhou Shuman asked. He knew the cultivation of the three missing people. Although he was stronger than them, he didn't know how they disappeared. Zhou Shuman was still a little scared.

No one paid attention to him. They were from the Yingzhou sect, and the disciples of the various Manghuang sects were still a little wary. Who knew if this was a play directed and acted by them themselves. When they went out, they had to be on guard against others.

Seeing that no one answered, Zhou Shuman had to take the remaining four people out to check. The villa was not big, and after a while, they arrived outside the ancestral hall behind the rockery.

After everyone entered the ancestral hall carefully, a dark shadow attacked them. After hearing some fighting sounds in the hall, Zhou Shuman ran out covered in blood and ran straight to the main room. He ran to the door and shouted: "Save me!" The dark shadow flashed by, and Zhou Shuman died in front of everyone.

Everyone in the room also discovered the black shadow at this moment. They all set up their own camps and remained cautious and vigilant. After a long time, there was no movement from the black shadow. Looking at Zhou Shuman's miserable condition, everyone wanted to leave.

A man from the Yinghai Sect stepped forward and said, "My fellow Manghuang Daoists, I think we should unite against the common enemy at this moment. Let's leave the villa together."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Shen Yichen did not move. He was not familiar with them. Moreover, he had sensed with his spiritual sense that the black shadow was holding a porcelain jar at the gate of the villa, waiting for the rabbit! And the rabbit was the people in the room.

Shen Yichen was not afraid of the black shadow. The black shadow didn't even kill Zhou Shuman instantly, so he should have no problem dealing with the black shadow. What Shen Yichen was afraid of was the porcelain jar. His spiritual sense could not detect what was going on inside.

Seeing that Shen Yichen didn't move, Lu Jiayao ran over and took his hand and left without saying anything.

"You will follow behind my senior sister and me. My senior sister's Zixia Sword Technique is already at the eighth level. She is very powerful. She will protect us when we get out."

Shen Yichen felt a little touched.

He thought: "The black shadow's cultivation should be at the Spirit Transformation Realm. No matter how powerful your Core Formation Realm magic techniques are, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defeat him."

Shen Yichen didn't say anything, but just followed behind Lu Jiayao silently.

"Why has she been so friendly to me since I entered the room? Is it because of my handsomeness?" Shen Yichen looked at Lu Jiayao in front of him, thinking proudly in his heart.

Everyone walked out of the main room together. The three sects, three teams, walked hand in hand and walked cautiously towards the gate.