Chapter 57: A Spreaders of Fear? I Am an Upstanding Gentleman!
Within Mount Yinyuan, the environment was treacherous and bizarre.
This mountain had always been feared by the locals. In the past, even elderly herbalists who ventured up the mountain would only wander around its outer edges, never daring to delve deep into its heart.
There was no other reason—the word "danger" alone sufficed.
Every year, hikers or someone's children would lose their way after entering the mountain, never to be heard from again.
Local rumors whispered that the Mountain Deity was displeased with humanity's wanton destruction of nature.
Therefore, anyone who entered alone might be subjected to divine punishment, remaining trapped within the mountain forever.
Yet in recent years, news of people getting lost within had seemingly grown scarce, and the elders in the surrounding counties and towns would smile and speak of the Mountain Deity calming its wrath.
As for the reason behind this pacification, they kept their mouths tightly shut.
Because the last time the Mountain Deity had unleashed its fury, it had turned a village of over a hundred souls into a desolate ghost town overnight.
No one survived; not a single person was spared.
It was said that the police force who entered the village back then to handle the horrific crime scene had nearly all vomited until their faces turned pale, and afterwards, every last one of them had to undergo psychological therapy.
Corpses littered the ground and blood flowed like rivers; calling it a living hell would not be an exaggeration.
Today, this place was bustling once more.
"Remember! Do not speak to any of the villagers! Hold the mountain paths; if any of them attempt to leave, you have authorization to execute them on the spot!" Department Head An Cheng commanded with a stern face.
Then, with a somewhat worried gaze, he looked toward the direction of the Village of Yinyuan.
It appeared prosperous and thriving over there.
Yet, half an hour ago, this place had still been an unchanging, desolate wasteland.
They had been waiting quite peacefully for Xiezhi to arrive.
In the blink of an eye, however, the Village of Yinyuan had begun to buzz with human voices, and inexplicably bizarre villagers had appeared in the village, bustling about.
From a distance, it looked as though they were preparing for some traditional sacrificial ceremony, and the stage erected in the center of the square was extremely grand.
Faced with such an unexpected situation, and to prevent any accidents, he had no choice but to order his subordinates to temporarily retreat outside the village and simply guard the crossroads.
After all, these villagers were clearly not human.
Some of those fellows didn't even have heads left; they possessed only torsos with intestines and internal organs dangling outside their bodies, mechanically moving scaffolding to help build the sacrificial stage.
"Department Head Xie has arrived!"
Right at that moment, good news finally came.
Department Head An Cheng's tightly furrowed brows instantly smoothed out, and he felt a great deal more relaxed.
Before long, the figures of Xiezhi and Baili Dao arrived before him, led by a subordinate.
"Old Xie, I really have to trouble you this trip. You know me—I'm good at beating people up, but I'm completely helpless against ghosts," Department Head An Cheng joked.
Chewing his gum with a displeased expression, Xiezhi retorted, "Remember to treat me to a nice meal afterwards; I want Maotai."
"Alright, alright, alright, no problem, haha!"
chatting as they walked, the two headed deeper into the Village of Yinyuan.
By now, Department Head An Cheng had nothing left to worry about; these ghostly villagers could not stir up any trouble in front of Xiezhi.
Baili Dao and another of Department Head An Cheng's confidants followed closely behind.
While gaining life experience, they could also lend a hand. They weren't qualified to face the Great Deity of Yinyuan, but dealing with ordinary ghost villagers should be no problem at all.
After all, these villagers all seemed terribly weak!
Dong! Dong! Dong-dong!
As soon as the four of them entered the village, a deafening sound of gongs and drums began to echo.
It seemed that the sacrifice in the square was about to begin, and most of the villagers stopped what they were doing, standing in place and starting to dance wildly.
Yet many of them were in a miserable state, missing limbs here or disembowelled there.
Once they started dancing, broken hands and feet basically flew everywhere, and intestines and internal organs were scattered across the ground.
Yet no one felt that anything was amiss.
They continued to wildly and frantically display their ugly dance moves, as if offering everything they had to the so-called Great Deity of Yinyuan.
This was a Tandava of hell, slowly burning its way into the mortal world.
[Mental Power: 47 -> 46]
[Mental Power: 100 -> 99]
Department Head An Cheng and Xiezhi, walking at the very front, simultaneously changed expressions as they sensed their mental power beginning to fluctuate.
One had to know that both of them were Level 27 Spirit Calamity Players!
Although level did not directly equate to strength, relying solely on the attribute points given with each level-up could not, in a sense, instantly fast-forward a person into becoming a superhuman standing above the social hierarchy.
Even current players who had reached the level cap of Level 30 could not punch apart a mountain simply by putting all their attribute points into strength.
However, the reason they were powerful was because players who could survive past Level 20 had experienced at least dozens of instances, and possessed countless equipment bonuses and trump-card items.
For example, both Department Head An Cheng and Xiezhi carried passive defensive equipment capable of unconsciously resisting insidious mental corruption.
Even so, both of their mental powers still dropped by one point.
This indicated that the mental corruption within the village had reached a terrifying degree.
Looking back, Baili Dao and the other subordinate were turning purple in the face.
Lacking special defensive equipment, their levels were not high and they had little mental power to begin with; that wave just now had directly depleted a quarter of their reserves.
Swish—
Xiezhi waved his hand casually.
Two yellow talismans stuck themselves onto the chests of Baili Dao and his companion, and an instant sensation of spiritual clarity washed over their hearts.
Their heavy, muddled brains cleared up significantly at once.
Their depleted mental power was also replenished in a flash.
"We somewhat underestimated that Great Deity of Yinyuan. You two head out first and have the others fall back further. This level of mental corruption is no joke for you," Xiezhi said, his expression turning slightly serious.
Seeing this, Baili Dao hastily retreated backward.
Unexpectedly, the moment he turned around, he crashed straight into a ghost villager whose chest had a massive hole blasted through it.
Staggering a couple of steps before steadying himself, he then stared in horror as he realized—
When had they been surrounded? Ghost villagers were already standing densely behind them, completely blocking every possible escape route.
"These bastards... they want to trap us here?!" Baili Dao gritted his teeth and pulled out a nine-ringed broadsword from his backpack.
The blade was slightly thick, with nine iron rings threaded through the back, making a clattering sound when swung.
[Blood-Thirst Ringed Saber (Fine): Equipping this weapon increases strength cap by 5 points and physique cap by 3 points. Each enemy slain temporarily increases strength by 1, stackable up to 20 times, lasting for one minute.]
[Equipment Condition: The user must possess biological hand structures.]
[Remarks: My great blade has long been thirsty for battle!]
This was his best and most practiced piece of equipment.
By sheer good fortune, this weapon happened to be suited for dealing with mob enemies; the more he killed, the higher the bonus he received.
The other confidant also took out a pair of gauntlets, putting them on with a pale face. Clearly, he was a player specialized in close-quarters combat.
At a time like this, they couldn't possibly trouble the two department heads to escort them out; the department heads still had to deal with the source of the incident—the Great Deity of Yinyuan!
Now, their only choice was to carve a bloody path out!
"Kill!" Baili Dao shouted deeply.
Wielding his nine-ringed saber with wind-whipping momentum, he charged straight into the cluster of ghost villagers to break through the encirclement.
Meanwhile, as the two engaged in a bloody battle, they completely failed to notice that the ghost villagers at the other end of the village were fleeing toward them in a continuous panic.
That's right! They weren't surrounding or reinforcing!
They were fleeing for their lives!
As if encountering some great horror, even ghost villagers without legs were frantically crawling along the ground with their hands to escape.
Standing right in front of them was a bewildered youth named Zhang Wei, who was also Wu Wang.
Of course, it was only this face that answered to the name Zhang Wei.
Borrowing the identity of an external Paranormal Affairs Bureau member, Wu Wang had easily blended into the outer perimeter of the Village of Yinyuan. Once inside, he had shed his uniform and changed back to the appearance of the desolate youth Zhang Wei.
Naturally, he had also noticed the ghost villagers.
And he even knew what these fellows were—
They were all the souls of villagers bound by the Great Deity of Yinyuan. All the unfortunate souls who contracted spiritual marriages every year were here, and it seemed the villagers killed in the revenge of the vengeful spirits he had released were also present.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that the moment they met, a bizarre system prompt had rung in Wu Wang's ear, and a new entry had appeared on his personal interface:
[Fear Disseminator • Surviving Family Member]
He had seen this format of ID before.
Baili Dao's ID back in *School Daze* had been just like that—[Eagle Eye • Baili Dao].
The first part should be what was called a [Title].
Baili Dao's title allowed him to easily observe distances and micro-movements invisible to the naked human eye.
The inexplicable title that had just popped up for Wu Wang was even more absurd.
[Fear Disseminator: When a target feels fear toward you or something you have caused, their degree of fear will be magnified deep within their soul, potentially causing biological sudden death or spiritual dissolution in extreme cases.]
[Remarks: From the fear artist who uses the screams of released vengeful spirits as a score, explosions as drums, and flying flesh and blood as a movement—The Surviving Family Member.]
"?"
"Slander! I'm suing you for slander!"
"I am a dignified, upright man, how did I become the fear disseminator you speak of?"
Although he knew the reason these villagers were terrified was because he had unleashed those vengeful spirits—and they had indeed died miserably and painfully, making him in some sense the ultimate culprit of destruction—and there was also the feedback of the Great Deity of Yinyuan being scared out of its wits by the black-hearted penguin transferring onto them...
Wu Wang refused to accept this!
He cursed angrily, grabbed a paralyzed ghost villager by the collar from the ground, hoisted the creature up viciously, and demanded, "Are you scared? Are you very scared of me? It wasn't even me who killed you with my own hands!"
Bang—
Unable to break free, the target burst into a pile of white bone powder right on the spot.
A ghost had been scared to death.
Wu Wang: "..."
Looking closely, this ghost villager's clothes looked somewhat familiar; it had been the most terrified one upon seeing him, failing to even move its legs when trying to run.
Oh, it seemed to be Uncle Li.
Never mind, then.
That old bastard really ought to be scared. I retract my previous statement; after all, he truly was pushed by Wu Wang's own hands toward that group of maiden vengeful spirits.
Dusting off the bone ash from his clothes, Wu Wang smiled with a sense of release.
Only, this smile looked somewhat helpless and forced.
Fair is fair: right now, this title was actually quite useful. At least he wouldn't be pestered by ghost villagers in the Village of Yinyuan anymore—they were running away far too fast for that.
He probably just needed to go find the Great Deity of Yinyuan directly. Let's hope those bros from the Paranormal Affairs Bureau could hold their ground!
My sword spirit depended entirely on you guys!