Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

Zhang Shi pondered in his heart, the death of this black tiger was extremely tragic, and it was obviously not a natural death. Then, who had the means to subdue and brutally kill this black tiger with powerful self-healing abilities?

Ge Dalong stepped forward and removed the Black Tiger's body, pulling out the four golden needles one by one and examining them carefully. Zhang Shi had no choice but to take out the Soul-Removing Bell again and call out Master An.

As soon as Mr. An appeared, he noticed the body of the black tiger lying beside him. His face became extremely surprised, and then he quickly got back into the bell.

"Leave here quickly, no, leave this village!"

Zhang Shi looked at Master An in confusion and asked in a stern tone.

"What are you up to?"

It was rare for Mr. An to even sound a little panicked.

"It was the black tiger of the village, and even it's dead. Do you think you can have a good ending staying in this village?"

When Zhang Shi heard this, he unexpectedly found it very reasonable. Just as he was about to take action, Zhao Feng, who was guarding the door, shouted loudly.

"Damn it, the zombie tide is coming!"

To confirm he'd heard correctly, Zhang Shi used Shadow Step to flash to Zhao Feng's side. Sure enough, a large group of zombies had gathered on the distant hills, staggering towards the ancestral hall. Fortunately, their flesh was withering, slowing their progress, giving Zhang Shi and the others time to evacuate.

The three of them fled towards the gate without saying a word.

Although the three of them should be able to easily get rid of these zombies, there might be more powerful ones appearing. Even the village black tiger was killed. Zhang Shi did not dare to show off and ran away in shame with his companions.

The three of them were very fast and soon they reached the gate. The dark red gate was closed at this time. It was obvious that something had happened here after they came in.

Without a word, Zhao Feng kicked the gate, but it seemed to be welded shut, repelling Zhao Feng's attack without moving. Furious, Zhao Feng pulled out his battle axe and smashed it against the gate, but Ge Dalong blocked it with a wall of water.

"Don't be reckless. Don't forget that you suffered a loss in front of this gate the first time you came here."

Zhao Feng heard this and remembered being repelled by the inexplicably appearing protective shield. He tried to climb the wall again and try to climb over it. At this moment, the invisible protective shield appeared as expected, preventing Zhao Feng from taking any further action.

"Damn it, who's behind this? If you have the guts, come out! Don't hide like a coward!"

Zhao Feng was furious and cursed at the village behind him.

Zhang Shi shook his head, took out Lao Duan and slashed at the door.

Sure enough, Old Duan never disappoints people. The gate that was as solid as a city wall was like a piece of tofu when it met Old Duan and was cut open with one knife.

Zhang Shi then chopped down a few more times, opening a large hole in the gate, large enough for one person to pass through.

At this moment, the person who was stalking in the dark finally showed up.

A humanoid mud monster suddenly jumped in front of the three people. It condensed its arms into one and slashed at Zhang Shi in front of it.

Zhang Shi reacted quickly and blocked Lao Duan in front of him.

Old Duan’s blade was sharp, and he cut off the mud monster’s spikes in one stroke, knocking them to the ground.

The mud monster sneered in a humanistic way, and the half of the spike on the ground turned into a pool of black sewage, which quickly flowed to its feet and was absorbed by it. After a moment, its arm returned to its original state and condensed into a spike shape again.

"It's you who's causing all this trouble, isn't it?"

Zhao Feng swung his axe, but the sludge monster didn't move or dodge, and was instantly split in two. Zhao Feng was about to cheer excitedly when he saw the two halves of the sludge monster recondense together like liquid, returning to their previous state in an instant.

"God damn it, are you trying to show off in front of me?"

Zhao Feng hated this kind of self-healing monster. He swung his axe repeatedly, chopping the mud monster into countless small pieces in an instant.

Unfortunately, this did not prevent it from healing. No matter how hard Zhao Feng tried, no matter how many parts he chopped it into, or even if he smashed it into pieces with his axe, it could still be restored to its original state.

Seeing Zhao Feng's attacks were futile, Ge Dalong frowned. He quickly cast a spell, conjuring an ice storm, attempting to trap the sludge monster within and use the high-frequency attacks to deplete its recovery capabilities. However, the sludge monster seemed to have a natural resistance to spells. While the ice storm could temporarily trap it, keeping it in a state of resource consumption, it could not cause any substantial damage to it, let alone prevent its regeneration.

Seeing this, Zhang Shi thought to himself that the self-healing ability of this mud monster was too amazing, and he must find its weakness.

"Brother Feng, don't waste your energy."

Zhang Shi shouted.

"I remember Huo Linjian once controlled three small mud monsters that looked identical to this one. I suspect this thing is also being controlled by someone. We need to find its weakness or the source of its control."

Ge Dalong turned his head.

"Let's get out first, the blizzard is about to end!"

The three of them nodded, then went around the side and went out through the hole in the gate.

At the same time, the ice and snow storm dissipated. The mud monster was obviously anxious when it saw the three people leaving the village. Its body surface actually changed and gradually became colorful.

A few seconds later, the mud monster turned into Wu Qing's appearance, holding the ancestor's staff in his hand, looking at Zhang Shi and the other two with a smile.

Zhao Feng suddenly became anxious and asked quickly.

"Who are you? What did you do to Wu Qing?"

The mud monster, imitating Wu Qing, spoke slowly, but with a chilling tone that didn't belong to Wu Qing: "You guys, you overestimate your abilities, you think you can escape from my grasp? You'll be the Black Tiger of the Village. Behave well and I might even give you a quick death!"

Zhao Feng was furious and was about to charge forward, but Zhang Shi stopped him. "Don't be impulsive. Look, it didn't chase us out, transforming into Wu Qing to provoke us. It's obviously hesitant," Zhang Shi said calmly.

Ge Dalong also agreed, "Zhang Shi is right. Since it didn't chase us directly, it means it has some restrictions, or it's afraid of something. We can't fall into its trap."

Seeing this, the mud monster's imitation of Wu Qing showed a hint of anger on its face, but it still restrained itself and did not take any further action. It just continued in that cold voice: "Humph, you think you can escape like this? Let me tell you, this village has been completely controlled by me. You can't escape even if you have wings!"

At this time, Master An, who had not spoken for a long time, spoke softly.

"It's the fog. The creatures in the fog feed on the villagers. Any tangible creature in Huojia Village that leaves the protection of the village will be hunted by the fog."

After Zhang Shi digested Master An's words, he quickly put them into the system backpack, and struck out with a shadow slash, cutting the mud monster's body in half.

The other party was not upset. After recovering, he just looked at Zhang Shi indifferently.

"Don't waste your energy. Save some for crying out loud. When it gets dark, that's when you'll die!"