Danger Still Lurks

He didn't dare meet Xie Zhou's gaze, and he felt like Chen Qingqiu's eyes were also full of ill intent.

After hesitating for a long moment, Song Yao picked up a wooden stick and poked him. “What's wrong? Young Master Ye can't handle it anymore?”

Ye Chang'an muttered, “...I can do it, I can do it.”

Lamenting his bitter fate, he lowered his head and continued working. The gazes on his back remained, seemingly carrying a great deal of malice, causing him to break out in a cold sweat despite the broad daylight.

A sudden shout from nearby saved him from his misery: “We found something! There really are people down here!”

He paused mid-motion, as if hearing heavenly music. Without a second thought, he tossed his shovel aside and ran over.

After taking a couple of steps, he realized he was being too obvious. He checked his pace and switched to a brisk walk, poking his head over to take a look once he arrived.

A small patch of grayish-white skin was exposed beneath the soil. It was impossible to tell exactly who it was, but the faint outline of a human face was discernible.

Ming Ran's voice cracked with anxiety. “Stop digging for a moment! The shovels are sharp; you might hurt them!”

The disciples digging below immediately stopped.

Xie Zhou closed the umbrella, walked over, and handed it to Song Yao beside him.

Song Yao took it and casually rested it against her shoulder.

Turning her head, she saw her Fourth Junior Brother stand still by the edge of the pit and calmly command, “Everyone, get out.”

This personal disciple of Nine Saints Hall had a fearsome reputation. He was considered the most naturally gifted talisman cultivator of all time. Moreover, rumors said he had once succumbed to inner demons, giving him a terrible, cold, and highly intimidating temperament.

The disciples holding shovels in the pit didn't even dare to look at him. They immediately climbed out obediently and stood along the edge.

Once the pit was cleared, Xie Zhou pressed his index and middle fingers together, lightly flicking his wrist.

A violent gale suddenly erupted, kicking up dust that blinded everyone. The onlookers were forced back two steps by the hurricane-like wind, instinctively raising their sleeves to cover their noses and mouths.

Song Yao retreated the fastest, stumbling some twenty meters away. As she wiped the dust from her face, a miserable shriek echoed beside her.

Ye Chang'an had been struck by a flying stone swept up by the gale. He tumbled twice and landed right next to her. Scrambling up in a rage, he muttered under his breath, venting his frustration, “Do these stones not have eyes?! Are they trying to kill this young master?!”

Song Yao looked over and could only see a blurry, moon-white figure standing right in the wind. His robes fluttered wildly, yet he remained perfectly still. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Her Fourth Junior Brother possessed a mutated wind spiritual root and was exceptionally skilled in controlling the wind.

The stone hitting Ye Chang'an was, in all likelihood, intentional.

Did those two really have a grudge against each other?

The wind lasted for about ten breaths before abruptly stopping.

Everyone patted the dust off their clothes and hurriedly gathered around the pit once more.

They had already dug up most of it earlier, leaving only a thin layer of soil on top. Now that the gale had swept it away, all the people inside were fully exposed.

It was a dense crowd of people.

Men, women, young, and old—they were piled haphazardly on top of one another, every single face a deathly gray.

“Sixth Senior Brother, Senior Brother Chen!”

“Eldest Aunt! Second Uncle!”

“Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters!”

Ming Ran and the others quickly spotted familiar faces. They scrambled down into the pit to check on them, letting out collective sighs of relief. “They're alive! They're still alive!”

Chen Qingqiu glanced at the stunned disciples and gave a concise order: “Carry them out first.”

The number of people buried beneath was far greater than they had imagined.

White pathways, resembling tree roots, were wrapped around everyone's bodies, though they already showed faint signs of yellowing and withering.

Song Yao squatted beside them and poked at one of the white pathways.

The situation was perfectly clear now.

The Child-Protecting Goddess had caused the townspeople who came seeking children to become pregnant, hid the other worshippers here, and then disguised their appearances, creating clones to replace them in Wuzhou City to protect those children.

And she had relied on these pathways to continuously drain the essence of the hidden townspeople.

No wonder she was so strong.

But it was also thanks to these things that these people had kept their lives.

However, the deeper they were buried, the thinner they had become.

The two at the very bottom were already reduced to skin and bones. They gasped painfully, unable to die, yet barely alive.

It seemed that if they had arrived even a moment later, their remaining essence would have been completely drained.

Chen Qingqiu softly instructed the cultivator beside her, “Use a transmission talisman to ask the sect to send more medical and pill cultivators over.”

Song Yao perked up instantly.

A good pill cultivator had to seize every opportunity to test their medicine.

Clutching the umbrella, she leaned closer to Chen Qingqiu. “Pill cultivators? I'm a pill cultivator! There's no need to go to all that trouble; I brought plenty of pills with me.”

Chen Qingqiu had been staying close to her own sect's disciples. Suddenly caught off guard by a face popping up right in front of her, her entire face flushed crimson again. “J-Junior Sister Lin.”

Song Yao rummaged through her spatial pouch and pulled out several porcelain bottles, stuffing them into Chen Qingqiu's arms. “These are the Qi-Replenishing Pills I refined. The effects are incredibly good.”

Ye Chang'an wandered over and chimed in with his usual loose tongue, “Qi-Replenishing Pills? How are Qi-Replenishing Pills supposed to heal people? You should keep them to yourself, Senior Sister Lin. Besides, didn't the people from the Beiyao Sect take your pills before? They almost completely humiliated themselves, haha...”

Mid-laugh, Chen Qingqiu swept a cold glare over him. He choked on his words, swallowed his laughter, and drifted away, muttering under his breath, “Madwoman. She really treats this girl like that person.”

Song Yao didn't catch his last words and couldn't be bothered to care anyway. She turned back to Chen Qingqiu. “I used some of them earlier, so this is all I have left. Give them to those with the most severe symptoms first. I'll go find a cauldron to refine some more and be back shortly.”

Chen Qingqiu took a few steps back, recovering slightly from the shock of her close proximity. Stiffening her posture, she nodded. Seeing Song Yao turn around, she instinctively reached out to stop her, her voice slightly strained. “Wait, I'll go with you.”

“No need, Saintess. I can accompany Master.”

Ming Ran poked her head right between the two of them. “The Ming family has a cauldron. It'll be more convenient if I take Master there. Plus, I can grab some of our family's pills while I'm at it.”

Song Yao agreed. “I'll also need some medicinal herbs.”

Ming Ran replied, “The Ming family has everything.”

Song Yao nodded. “Alright.”

...

To save time, the two flew to the Ming family estate on their swords.

Once they arrived outside the Ming family's elixir-refining room, Song Yao glanced hesitantly at her Fourth Senior Brother, who had been following them, and couldn't help but ask, “Fourth Senior Brother, why did you come along too?”

Xie Zhou looked down at her, his tone flat. “Yesterday, I pursued the person who attacked us. They jumped into the river and vanished. Danger still lurks.”

Song Yao's hand froze on the door. She frowned at him. “What do you mean? The one who attacked us that day wasn't related to the Child-Protecting Goddess?”

Xie Zhou nodded slightly.

Ming Ran had already turned around to fetch the herbs from the elixir room, but she froze upon hearing this, her expression shifting. “That's right! My parents seemed to have been poisoned. I didn't see them at the Antong Shrine earlier either!”

Xie Zhou said, “Your parents are in an abandoned courtyard next to the wonton shop in the north of the town, the one with the scholar tree.”

He paused for a moment before adding, “However, while they indeed contracted a dark poison, its toxicity is weak, so they are temporarily safe.”

“Dark poison again?!”

Ming Ran clenched her fists, speaking in disbelief, “Does this even need investigating? Dark poison... who else would use dark poison besides the Wen family? Just what on earth are they trying to do?!”