The masked man in black, though running fast, was no match for Huangfu Yue, who utilized earth-elemental abilities. Half an hour later, Huangfu Yue caught up to them.
Without delay, Huangfu Yue emerged directly in front of the masked men, blocking their path by surfacing from the ground.
The masked men in black were startled when a figure clad in white mourning clothes and wearing a bamboo hat suddenly rose from the earth. One of them shrieked, "A ghost!"
Upon hearing the cry of "ghost," many of the masked men revealed looks of terror.
Huangfu Yue felt a pang of frustration. "Who called me a ghost? How do I look like a ghost!" she wondered.
Little did Huangfu Yue realize that her stark white mourning attire and her sudden appearance from underground would inevitably lead people to mistake her for a spectral entity.
A rough, hoarse cry of "Wa—wa—" suddenly pierced the air.
Seeing Huangfu Yue arrive and be mistaken for a ghost, Xiao Hei decided to play along and capitalize on the situation. It let out a deliberate caw, flying down from the sky to land on Huangfu Yue's shoulder, aiming to further intimidate the masked men by convincing them Huangfu Yue was indeed a ghost.
The masked men in black, seeing Xiao Hei, a crow associated with death, and then looking at Huangfu Yue, genuinely believed she was a ghost. They were thrown into a panic, with several screaming and shouting in fear.
Despite having killed countless people, they remained terrified of ghosts, fearing that the souls of those they had slain would transform into vengeful spirits to exact their revenge.
When the masked men in black turned to flee, startled, Huangfu Yue quickly stopped them.
"If you don't want me to eat you, stand still. Anyone who dares to run will become my meal, and I'll devour them until not even a speck of bone remains."
Although Huangfu Yue disliked being mistaken for a ghost, she saw that they all believed she was one. She decided to turn the situation to her advantage, planning to play the ghost and question them about their identity and the reason for the village massacre.
Hearing Huangfu Yue's chilling, eerie voice, echoing as if from the depths of hell, the group of masked men in black trembled uncontrollably. They were too terrified to move and immediately halted their escape, freezing in place.
Huangfu Yue showed a look of satisfaction and commanded again, "Turn around and look at me!"
The masked men in black hesitated. Two of them, trembling, slowly turned their heads to look at Huangfu Yue.
Seeing this, the other masked men, emboldened by their fear of being devoured if they disobeyed, gradually turned their heads to face Huangfu Yue.
"I ask you, why did you massacre the village earlier? Who ordered you to do this?" Huangfu Yue asked directly.
Upon hearing Huangfu Yue's question, one of the masked men fearfully asked, "You aren't by any chance a vengeful spirit of someone from the village that was massacred?"
"...Yes," Huangfu Yue nodded. "If you wish to live, tell me quickly who ordered you to massacre the village! I want to find him for revenge!"
She deliberately infused her voice with a palpable sense of hatred, making it even more terrifying than before.
The masked men in black genuinely believed she was a vengeful spirit of someone they had killed. They were terrified to the point of death. Those with less courage immediately fell to their knees with a thud.
"Please spare me. I didn't kill you intentionally. It was Commander Qi Du who ordered us to massacre your village... As the saying goes, grievances have their origins and debts have their owners. If you seek revenge, go to Commander Qi Du, don't bother me."
"Who is Commander Qi Du? What enmity does he have with our village? Why did he order you to massacre the village? And who was it that infiltrated our village, killed villagers alongside you, and then set the village ablaze to destroy evidence?" Huangfu Yue pressed for answers.
Looking at the group of men before her, trembling like sieves, Huangfu Yue inwardly complained to Xiao Hei, "You say they're like desperate fighters, but why are they so timid... Aren't desperate fighters supposed to be fearless and brave?"
"They think you're a real ghost, that's why they're like this... I've heard that even the bravest are afraid of ghosts," Xiao Hei replied after some thought.
"But I'm not afraid of ghosts!" Huangfu Yue stated. She truly wasn't afraid of ghosts!
"...You're no longer entirely human, are you! Master, you are so powerful, you are like a demigod," Xiao Hei commented.
"..." Huangfu Yue was at a loss for words.
"Commander Qi Du is a commander of the Imperial Guards in the capital. We don't know what enmity he has with your village or why he ordered us to massacre it; we were merely following orders.
As for who infiltrated your village, killed villagers alongside us, and then set the village ablaze to destroy evidence, we are unaware...
We have never met him; we only know that he is a confidant of Commander Qi Du," the leader of the masked men in black replied to Huangfu Yue's questions, his voice trembling.
Seeing the fear in his eyes, Huangfu Yue believed he wasn't lying and inwardly asked Xiao Hei, "Do you know this Imperial Guard Commander Qi Du?"
"No, I've never heard of him," Xiao Hei replied.
"What is your identity? Are you Imperial Guards under Commander Qi Du?" Huangfu Yue asked the masked men.
"No." The leader of the masked men shook his head. "We are the desperate fighters nurtured by Commander Qi Du, specializing in carrying out his dirty deeds...
I've told you everything I know. Please spare my life, let me go, don't kill me... Ah—"
As he kowtowed and begged for mercy from Huangfu Yue, she kicked a pebble, which struck him and knocked him unconscious.
Seeing this, all the other masked men in black were terrified and cried out in unison, "Leader—"
Huangfu Yue activated her earth-elemental abilities, causing a pile of pebbles to materialize in the air and rain down on the heads of the masked men. The next moment, they all lay unconscious on the ground.
Xiao Hei, thinking they were all dead, asked, "Master, should we use corpse-dissolving water to dissolve them and destroy the evidence?"
It asked this because previously, after Huangfu Yue killed Chang Qing's subordinates, she had immediately used corpse-dissolving water to dispose of the bodies.
"What evidence? They're not dead; they're all alive. I just knocked them unconscious," Huangfu Yue replied.
Xiao Hei thought she was far too brutal. She wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer who killed indiscriminately.
Although these men had shot and killed so many villagers and deserved to die, it wasn't the time to kill them yet. Their lives were still useful.