"There's movement ahead!"
Yan Shouyi, who was rushing towards the dungeon, suddenly stopped everyone.
Behind him were Long Feicheng, Agong, Luo Ning, Wang Jiwang, He Xiping, and Zhao Yiyao.
The group stared intently at the corner ahead. If a horde of evil spirits were to rush out from behind it in the next second, they would unhesitatingly strike them down!
As everyone tensed up, the wooden bird Sanyuan, which was supposed to be in Yan Shouyi's satchel, suddenly broke free and flew towards the corner.
"Sanyuan, be careful!"
Yan Shouyi, unaware of the situation ahead, wanted to stop Sanyuan but it was too late.
As Sanyuan flapped its wings and flew to the corner, a hand suddenly extended from the corner and was about to catch Sanyuan.
Immediately after, Liu Yiren walked out from around the corner. She happily stroked Sanyuan's head and asked with a puzzled expression, "Good Sanyuan, why are you here?"
Sanyuan was very affectionate towards Liu Yiren, even nudging her hand with its head.
Liu Yiren turned her head and saw Yan Shouyi and his group, showing a surprised expression.
"Yiren? Why are you here?" Yan Shouyi stepped forward and asked.
Liu Yiren replied, "I was with my Master in the back mountain. I heard that something happened in the front mountain, so I came to help."
Yan Shouyi pondered. The current Liu Yiren was no longer the same as before. Her strength would be overkill for dealing with minor enemies in the front mountain.
So he suggested, "Why don't you come with us? We're going to the dungeon."
"What are you going to the dungeon for?"
"It's complicated to explain. In short, the ultimate goal of these demons is the dungeon, and guarding it is the most crucial thing!"
Liu Yiren knew the urgency of the situation and, moreover, she completely trusted Yan Shouyi. She didn't ask further and joined his team directly.
She said, "Although I'm not familiar with the roads here, I happen to know a shortcut. Follow me!"
"Alright! Everyone keep up!"
The group followed Liu Yiren through several small paths, indeed saving a lot of time.
Soon, they arrived near the dungeon.
Before they could even see the dungeon itself, Luo Ning smelled a strong scent of blood.
She frowned and said, "We might be too late."
Yan Shouyi also felt a deep unease. As they walked a few more steps forward, they finally saw the entrance to the dungeon.
Outside the dungeon entrance, corpses lay everywhere, with dismembered limbs and remains scattered about. There were also bodies in terrifying states of death. The rain washed over the corpses, and blood flowed with the rainwater, forming small rivers that trickled along...
"Gulp."
Long Feicheng swallowed hard. Even after experiencing so much with Yan Shouyi, he still felt a physical discomfort.
Yan Shouyi's expression turned grim. He stepped forward on the muddy path.
He originally intended to check if there were any survivors.
But he unexpectedly discovered several figures standing at the entrance of the dungeon.
Upon closer inspection, one of them was not even a living person but a puppet!
The puppet held a thigh and happily hopped around, as if showing off its spoils to the others.
At their feet, a seriously injured elder from Longhu Mountain struggled to grab one of their ankles, weakly saying something.
But the next moment, the person lifted their foot and crushed the head of the Longhu Mountain elder!
Zhao Yiyao covered her mouth in horror.
Liu Yiren, unable to suppress her anger, was about to attack.
"Wait!"
Yan Shouyi stopped Liu Yiren and whispered, "So many people from Longhu Mountain couldn't stop them. With just us few, revealing ourselves now would be suicide!"
Liu Yiren's shoulders trembled uncontrollably, but she ultimately restrained herself. She said painfully,
"When I first came to the mountain, I couldn't get used to the food. This elder specifically went down the mountain to buy me snacks. And now he..."
"These people will pay the price," Yan Shouyi could only comfort her.
He Xiping said in a deep voice, "They are also from folk sects."
"Old He, you know them?" Long Feicheng asked in surprise.
He Xiping replied, "Although I haven't met them, based on what I see now, I can guess about eighty to ninety percent."
Everyone immediately focused their attention on He Xiping.
He Xiping, a magician, had limited combat ability. However, he and his master were previously responsible for the intelligence work of the Xuan Mountain Sect, so he was very well-informed about folk sects, even more so than Yan Shouyi.
He Xiping pointed at the puppet and said,
"That is a successor of puppet shows. Judging by his unique blade-armed puppet, he should be the legendary lost soul Lu Kui! No one has ever seen Lu Kui's true appearance, but it is said that this guy can simultaneously control seven puppet golems in combat, and his puppets are more powerful than each other. Those who have seen all seven puppets at once have all died."
"Look closely, there's an extra shadow at their feet. I think that should be the successor of shadow puppetry, Jiang Cheng'an. Jiang Cheng'an is very famous. It is said that his shadow puppets are all sewn with the scalps of infants. For this reason, he used to roam all over the country, using shadow puppet performances as an excuse to lure village children, hide the children in shadow puppet boxes and take them away. The children's fate is self-evident... Jiang Cheng'an is arrogant and notorious. He can control his shadow puppets to kill people from a thousand miles away!"
"That old man covered in medicine bags is likely the successor of Zhuyou术, He Zhijing. Zhuyou术 and Old Jin's Qihuang Sect are considered to have the same origin. However, Old Jin learned the skill of saving people, while He Zhijing is a witch doctor, learning the skill of harming people. The poison sacs he carries are bizarre, and each one is extremely poisonous. If you get touched by one, the process of dying will be extremely painful!"
"The last thin guy should be the ghost drum Chen Tang. He is the most unique. Look closely, he is carrying a human-skin drum on his waist. Once he strikes the human-skin drum, the sound will interfere with people's emotions, releasing their most primitive desire for slaughter. Hearing the drumbeat will make them violent and cause them to kill each other!"
After He Xiping's introduction, everyone looked at each other.
Although they were mentally prepared, learning that these four were all such ruthless individuals still made the group of young folk sect successors' scalps tingle.
The number of people they had killed was probably more than their combined ages.
Just one Chu Liang was enough to trouble them back then. Now there were four more, and they seemed even more formidable than Chu Liang.
Liu Yiren was somewhat glad that Yan Shouyi had stopped her earlier. If she had acted rashly, they would have all been killed by the four opponents by now.
"How about... we go back and notify the Old Heavenly Master, let the Old Heavenly Master handle it!" Long Feicheng began to waver.
Yan Shouyi shook his head. "The Old Heavenly Master has not appeared yet, which means he has more important people to deal with."
"You mean the Old Heavenly Master is dealing with the actors?" Luo Ning asked.
"Most likely."
Wang Jiwang broke into a cold sweat and said in a deep voice, "All the people from Longhu Mountain are dead. Judging by this, we are the only ones who can stop them now..."