Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong split up. Long Feicheng stood there dumbfounded, "Wait a minute! I wasn't in your plan just now! What am I supposed to do?!"
Yan Shouyi patted his shoulder, "You're our trump card. Just play it by ear!"
"No problem, leave it to me!" Long Feicheng immediately puffed up with pride after hearing this.
After the sorcerer turned into a sparrow, he lost all his magical powers. Even if he was left alone with Long Feicheng, there wouldn't be any trouble.
Thus, Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong ran off in different directions, quietly approaching Boss Zhou's camp.
"Hurry up, get up!"
"This is the last time. If you can survive, you can go home!"
"Whoever walks last will be fed to the snake ghost if it appears!"
Under the threat of these strange and extraordinary individuals, the villagers had no choice but to comply, lining up to enter the cave.
Boss Zhou sat in the camp, surrounded by mosquito repellent lamps, looking relaxed and at ease:
"Only this last snake ghost remains. As long as it's slain, this King Jian's tomb will be mine!"
At this moment, the Ma siblings approached Boss Zhou. The elder brother, Ma Xingping, said, "Boss Zhou, my sister and I have been working for you. Now that we are only one step away from entering King Jian's tomb, before we go in, we'd like to confirm with you again. Will we really get half of the flesh ganoderma if we find it?"
Boss Zhou frowned slightly, seemingly disliking anyone spoiling his mood at such a time.
The biggest flaw of merchants is greed. They could not tolerate others snatching food from their mouths, even if they wouldn't eat it themselves.
But he still put on a kind demeanor, invited Ma Xingping to sit down, and personally poured him a cup of tea:
"I am a businessman, and businessmen value credibility above all else. Integrity wins the world! I know you need the flesh ganoderma to save your seriously ill father, which is why I proposed this collaboration. How could I deceive you then? Anyway, even if a piece of the flesh ganoderma is cut off, it will grow back slowly. We'll split it into two, and there will be two complete flesh ganodermas again. I won't suffer any losses!"
Seeing Boss Zhou so confident, Ma Xingping nodded but did not appear particularly happy.
He looked at the villagers being herded into the cave, feeling a pang of guilt. But to save their gravely ill father, the siblings had to be a little selfish.
Ma Jinxuan, who was usually taciturn, also stared at the cave.
Yang Li sat outside, holding a pot of wine, and sneered at Boss Zhou's tent.
He had clearly not completely surrendered to Boss Zhou and was instead planning to resist.
"Damn it, you greedy merchant! You dare to threaten me with my daughter! After killing the thirteenth tomb-guarding snake ghost, I'll deal with you first! Then I'll snatch the flesh ganoderma, and maybe my daughter can speak again...!"
Despite Yang Li's outwardly rough demeanor, he was actually quite astute. If he were truly foolish after years of wandering the martial world, he would have died countless times over.
Just as Yang Li was preparing to act, his expression suddenly changed.
"Someone has made a move already?!" he exclaimed.
The next second—
Boom!!
The ground suddenly trembled violently!
Boss Zhou, panicked, ran out of his tent, grabbed a nearby bamboo, and shouted, "Is it an earthquake?!"
Jianzhou was on the edge of an earthquake zone, and minor earthquakes occurred occasionally, but they rarely exceeded magnitude four and had not affected human life in recent years.
However, the earthquake they were feeling now was clearly more than magnitude four!
The earth shook and the ground cracked, with uneven elevations appearing on the previously flat surface.
The villagers who were about to enter the cave crouched on the ground, holding their heads, refusing to enter no matter what, fearing they would be buried alive the next moment.
Fortunately, the earthquake ended shortly after. Boss Zhou, still shaken, let go and looked around, "Was it really an earthquake?"
Ma Xingping surveyed his surroundings and whispered to his sister, Ma Jinxuan, "It wasn't an earthquake; it was the art of Qimen Dunjia."
Ma Jinxuan nodded, "And it's not Feng Hou Qimen, but Wu Hou Qimen, which has been lost for ages."
This time, Ma Xingping was surprised, "Wu Hou Qimen? Jinxuan, do any of the people in our group look like they know Wu Hou Qimen?"
Ma Jinxuan shook her head silently.
Ma Xingping's gaze sharpened, "Then an outsider has interfered."
Now that they had allied with Boss Zhou, anyone who wanted to be Boss Zhou's enemy was their enemy.
Ma Xingping looked at Yang Li first. Yang Li was resentful of Boss Zhou, making him the most likely person to collude with outsiders to intercept their plans.
But Yang Li's reaction was the same as Ma Xingping's; he was also searching for a mole.
Suddenly, a wave of Yin energy drifted from the mountain forest.
The Yin energy was almost tangible, visible to the naked eye, creeping along the ground towards the camp.
Someone suddenly exclaimed, "There's a woman on the mountaintop!"
Everyone shivered and looked uniformly towards the mountaintop. In the darkness, a woman stood there, looking down at them.
The woman raised her hand, shaking the bell in her hand repeatedly.
The crisp ringing of the bell was like the whisper of a demon in one's ear, a sound not of the living world, sending chills down their spines.
Everyone stared at the woman. When they came to their senses, they suddenly realized that behind her, there were dense ghost shadows!
It was this woman who had lured so many wandering souls here!
"Who is that woman?!" Boss Zhou exclaimed in fear, running to Ma Xingping, believing Ma Xingping could protect him.
Ma Xingping said in a deep voice, "She's using a soul-summoning bell, likely a disciple of the Lushan Sect... The Lushan Sect is a local sect in Jianzhou. It's normal to encounter their people here. They've likely discovered our affairs and are intervening!"
Seeing so many ghost shadows, Boss Zhou felt uneasy, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, "Can you deal with her?"
Ma Xingping snorted, "They're just a bunch of wandering souls. Even if I don't act, others are enough to handle them!"
Ma Xingping was confident about this.
However, Ma Jinxuan, standing beside him, saw through the truth of the matter:
"Dealing with these wandering souls isn't difficult, but if all our people are busy with them, what about the villagers? They will surely take the opportunity to escape, and then our plan will be exposed."
Boss Zhou suddenly realized the opponent's intentions.
But what good was realizing it? They couldn't stop the onslaught of wandering souls, nor could they spare personnel to prevent the villagers from escaping!
Boss Zhou gritted his teeth and said, "Then forget the villagers. All of you, go and capture the person causing trouble, then throw them into the cave to lure the snake ghost out in place of the villagers!!"