Xiao Ming stood frozen, not daring to move. He had only taken a few steps; this must be an illusion. But he didn't know how to dispel illusions.
As Xiao Ming was at a loss, the scenery around him suddenly flickered. The village and the valley overlapped, making Xiao Ming dizzy.
Xiao Ming looked around. Before he could even see what was happening, he heard a scream. The village instantly became clear, and the scenery of the valley completely vanished.
The villager had already been knocked to the ground by Luo Tianshui, his face pale and his body covered in a dark hue. He gasped for air on the ground.
Xiao Ming walked up and kicked him. The villager was sent flying two meters, emitting another scream and spitting out a mouthful of black blood.
"Xiao Ming, stop hitting him. He's poisoned; if you hit him again, he'll die," Ye Xiao said.
Looking at the villager, Ye Xiao asked, "Are you from the Nangong family or from Japan?" Ye Xiao inquired.
"I won't tell you. I'd rather die than tell you," the villager said.
Luo Tianshui smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you tell us or not. We know there's something wrong with that cemetery. We'll find out everything if we dig it up."
"You mustn't dig. People will die, many people," the villager said nervously.
"If you tell me not to dig, I won't dig. I'll dig this afternoon to infuriate you," Xiao Ming said with a chuckle.
The villager spat out another mouthful of black blood and seemed to be losing strength.
Luo Tianshui said, "Sister Ye Xiao, do you have an antidote?"
Ye Xiao shook her head and said, "His poison is too strange; I can't cure it."
Luo Tianshui kicked the villager on the ground and said, "Do you have an antidote on you? If you don't take it soon, you'll really die."
The villager shook his head and said, "This is a new type of biological toxin; no one has an antidote."
Luo Tianshui and Ye Xiao both looked at Xiao Ming. He had been enveloped by the poisonous mist earlier but hadn't been poisoned.
"Xiao Ming, do you have an antidote?" Luo Tianshui asked.
Xiao Ming took out a bag from his backpack. After searching for a while, he took out a pill and said, "Try this. This is an antidote refined by Brother Long."
The villager was already unconscious. Luo Tianshui quickly pried open his mouth and put the pill in.
The three sat in the car and waited for a while. The villager didn't wake up. The young villager who had sought Luo Tianshui for feng shui guidance the day before walked towards them.
"Master Luo, I just returned from the mountain. I heard you were here. Come, let's go to my home," the young villager said.
Luo Tianshui pointed to the villager lying on the ground and said, "Is he from your village? He's poisoned."
"Zhang Maoliang, how did he get poisoned?" the young villager asked, looking at the villager lying on the ground.
"Since you know him, find someone to take him back. I suspect this fellow is Japanese."
"How is that possible? He's lived in our village for over ten years. He's not Japanese," the young villager said.
The young villager took out his phone and called Zhang Maoliang's family. Soon, a young woman and an elderly couple arrived.
After Zhang Maoliang was taken away, Long Xiao and the others followed the young villager to his home.
As soon as Xiao Ming entered the villager's house, he felt a strong oppressive aura. He thought that if Brother Long's 'Crimson Flame Worm' were here, it would definitely like this place.
Luo Tianshui looked at Xiao Ming and asked, "Xiao Ming, do you feel anything unusual?"
"There's a heavy yin energy in his house."
Luo Tianshui nodded and said, "Your feeling is correct. Not only his house, but every household in this village has a heavy yin energy, yet there is no yin energy on the village streets."
"Why is that?" Ye Xiao asked curiously.
"It's related to the village's location and layout. I suspect that Zhang Maoliang also knows this, and he came for this reason."
"Brother Luo, is that cemetery also filled with yin energy?" Xiao Ming asked.
Luo Tianshui shook his head and said, "I went to the cemetery, and I didn't sense any yin energy."
"Could it be that like the village, only the graves in the cemetery have strong yin energy?" Xiao Ming asked.
Luo Tianshui thought for a moment and said, "It's possible. If your guess is correct, then the cemetery is a corpse-raising ground, and this village is in big trouble."
"Tianshui, Zhang Maoliang just said not to dig the graves. It seems he knows that the cemetery near this village is a corpse-raising ground."
The more they thought about it, the more terrified they became, especially Luo Tianshui, who knew best what a corpse-raising ground could entail.
Stories about zombies have circulated in China for thousands of years, and corpse herding has also persisted for thousands of years.
Modern people interpret corpse herding as two people carrying a corpse, but in reality, there are many methods of corpse herding, and carrying the corpse is just one of them.
Anyone educated in modern science believes that corpse herding and ancestral worship are superstitions. However, for Luo Tianshui, who comes from a family of corpse herders, metaphysics is not unscientific; it simply does not conform to Western scientific theories.
Chinese metaphysics has its own set of theories that can fully explain things that modern science cannot. However, each metaphysical family keeps these theories as secret arts and never passes them on.
"Brother Luo, could zombies actually appear?" Xiao Ming asked nervously.
Luo Tianshui nodded and said, "They definitely will. We can't disturb that cemetery until we find Brother Long."
Luo Tianshui asked the young villager to lead them to the cemetery again. From a feng shui perspective, the cemetery had no issues. However, after Xiao Ming walked around the cemetery and stood on a grave, he felt a faint yin energy.
As Luo Tianshui and the other two left the village, they warned the young villager that their family's cemetery was very dangerous and that he should inform his clansmen not to go there for the time being.
The three of them did not go far after leaving the village. After hiding their car, they stared at the village from a distance.
They waited for an entire night. As soon as dawn broke the next day, they saw Zhang Maoliang emerge from the village driving a three-wheeled vehicle.
This fellow was extremely cautious, stopping to observe his surroundings every so often as he drove.
Seeing that it would be difficult to follow, Xiao Ming changed his clothes, put on a human skin mask, and left his backpack in the car.
He walked along the road towards the city. As he passed Zhang Maoliang's three-wheeled vehicle, Xiao Ming pretended not to know him, not even glancing at him.
After Zhang Maoliang's three-wheeled vehicle entered the city, he stopped being vigilant and went directly to Zhen Dong Hospital.
Xiao Ming followed Zhang Maoliang into Zhen Dong Hospital. Shortly after, Xiao Ming saw him have a hushed conversation with a middle-aged doctor before leaving in his three-wheeled vehicle.
Xiao Ming followed Zhang Maoliang for the entire morning. When it was noon, Zhang Maoliang left the city, and Xiao Ming stopped following him.
Apart from a long conversation with the doctor, Zhang Maoliang did not have extended contact with anyone else that morning. It seemed he was reporting the situation to the middle-aged doctor.
Upon returning to the villa, Xiao Ming gave the photo of the middle-aged doctor to Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao immediately sent the photo to Ye Mei, asking her to dispatch people to monitor the doctor.
Soon, Ye Mei called and informed Ye Xiao that she had found where Long Xiao was being held. She asked Ye Xiao if she wanted to contact Long Xiao to discuss the next steps.