One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Nie Lingfeng smiled but remained silent, his mind growing even more wary. Even ordinary vegetation had suffered such visibly eroded and affected; the situation at Luodong Village and that "Luodong" was likely far more serious than he had anticipated.

After continuing for about twenty minutes, a faint, eerie green light suddenly appeared in the darkness ahead.

The two immediately stopped and hid behind a huge ancient tree that would require several people to encircle, gazing intently at it.

The green light wasn't stationary; it was moving slowly, like a floating lantern. As it drew closer, one could vaguely make out that it was... a person.

A person dressed in tattered Miao traditional clothing, barefoot, with disheveled hair and a hunched posture, carried an old-fashioned lantern made of some dark green mineral or bone, inside which burned a faint, lifeless green flame. The person moved stiffly, their steps unsteady, as if sleepwalking, walking along a path almost completely overgrown with weeds deeper into the mountains. They were completely unaware of Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo, who were standing nearby.

Are they villagers from Luodong Village? Or something else?

Nie Lingfeng narrowed his eyes, extending his senses in that direction. The next moment, his brows furrowed tightly.

This person... has no "soul".

It's not that he's dead. He still has a heartbeat, he's breathing, and his bodily functions are normal. However, his three souls and seven spirits, or in modern terms, his "subjective consciousness" and "core personality," seem to have been forcibly extracted, imprisoned, or... polluted and assimilated by some force. What drives this body now is more like a residual instinct and some kind of cold and fanatical externally implanted command. Like a precisely programmed, living puppet.

This feeling is so similar to the villagers who became "healthy" but had empty eyes after being "blessed" as described by Aya, and the young man who spoke after being "possessed" by the evil spirit mentioned by Sister Alan! It's just that the one in front of me seems to be more "sick" and his soul is more completely missing.

"Where...is he going?" Chen Duo also sensed something was wrong and asked in a low voice.

"Follow him," Nie Lingfeng decided immediately. This "sleepwalking" villager might be the living map to Luodong Village, or that "Luodong."

The two men, like true ghosts, hung far behind the villager carrying the lantern, maintaining a distance from which they would not be discovered. The villager was completely unaware of being followed, simply walking forward stiffly and stubbornly, the green lantern in his hand drawing an eerie trajectory in the darkness.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the trees ahead gradually thinned out, and the moonlight barely pierced through the clouds, casting a pale, pale glow. A relatively flat valley surrounded by mountains came into view.

We've arrived at Luodong Village.

Unlike the village where Sister Alan lived, the stilted houses in Luodong Village were more densely packed, and... even more desolate. It was already late at night, but there wasn't a single light in the village. All the houses were immersed in inky darkness, like a huge, silent graveyard. There were no barking dogs, no human voices, and even the sound of the wind seemed to be shut out. There was only a suffocating, deathly silence, as if time itself had frozen.

However, in the heart of this desolate place, on the circular stone plaza in the center of the village, which was used for gatherings and sacrifices, there was a strange "life force".

In the center of the square, a huge bonfire burned. But the flames weren't the normal orange-red; instead, they were... eerie green. The green flames silently licked the night sky, casting a ghastly green glow on everything around them, exuding an indescribable sinister and malevolent aura. The leaping firelight cast twisted and swaying shadows on the ancient, menacing totem poles surrounding the square, like a chaotic dance of demons.

The green campfire was surrounded by a dense crowd of people.

Almost everyone in the village, regardless of age or gender, had gathered in the square. They were dressed in elaborate traditional costumes, worn only during major sacrificial ceremonies, their silver ornaments reflecting a cold light under the green fire. But their expressions were completely out of place with their finery—all identically empty, numb, and listless, their eyes fixed blankly at the center of the bonfire, unfocused and emotionless, like ornate puppets whose souls had been ripped from them.

At the forefront of the crowd stood three elderly men, dressed in elaborate attire, their faces painted with bizarre paint, and their heads adorned with various feathers and animal bones. These must be the three old sorcerers Aya had mentioned—Agong, Alu, and Aduo. Unlike the apathy of the other villagers, these three sorcerers' eyes gleamed with fanaticism, greed, and an almost inhuman cruelty. Holding strangely shaped bone ritual implements, they moved slowly and stiffly, their movements exaggerated, as if imitating some ancient and evil ritual dance, accompanied by a low, hoarse, and eerily rhythmic chant.

The eerie chanting didn't originate from their mouths, but from beneath the green bonfire in the center of the square—a massive, pitch-black cave entrance that seemed capable of swallowing all light! The entrance was over three zhang in diameter, its edges jagged, resembling the gaping maw of a wild beast. The eerie green flames burned from the depths of this cave. The low, hoarse chanting, seemingly composed of countless overlapping voices, both alluring and blasphemous, seemed to emanate from the deepest hell, accompanied by gusts of cold, damp wind carrying the pungent stench of blood and decay, constantly gushing from the cave and permeating the entire square.

The Cave! This is the legendary Cave where the "Cave God" is worshipped!

Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo lay in ambush behind a dense thicket at the edge of the square, holding their breath as they watched the chilling scene unfold. Chen Duo instinctively grabbed Nie Lingfeng's sleeve, her face pale. The sight before her was far more bizarre and...uncomfortable than anything she had ever imagined. It wasn't the fear of facing a powerful enemy, but a primal, instinctive rejection and nausea at this "abnormal," "anti-life" state. (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)

Nie Lingfeng's eyes were icy cold. He realized this wasn't a simple "sacrifice," but a large-scale, evil ritual of "spiritual pollution" and "consciousness assimilation"! The thing deep within the cave was continuously influencing the gathered villagers through the green flames, the eerie chanting, and the three ghost masters acting as "mediums," eroding and stripping away their self-awareness, gradually transforming them into mindless puppets who only obeyed the "cave god's" commands!

Moreover, the ceremony appears to have reached a crucial stage.

The Agong, the sorcerer standing at the forefront, suddenly stopped his dance, raised aloft a ritual implement made from a human skull and inlaid with emeralds, and shouted in a hoarse, broken voice in an ancient and obscure Miao language. Following his shout, the other two sorcerers also stopped chanting and raised their implements. All the villagers standing in the square, as if receiving a unified command, simultaneously and stiffly knelt down towards the cave entrance, their foreheads pressed against the cold stone slab, motionless.

The entire square fell into an even more eerie silence. Only the green campfire burned silently, and the eerie chanting from the cave continued to echo in a low voice.

Just then, another unexpected event occurred!

"Heh...heh..."

A series of labored and painful gasps, like those of a bellows, came from the edge of the square. Several young women, dressed in the same finery but exceptionally thin, with pale faces and eyes that held a hint of struggle and pain compared to the other villagers, were dragged out of the crowd by several expressionless, strong villagers, like cargo, all the way to the edge of the cave near the green campfire.

These women all appeared to be quite young, the oldest no more than twenty, the youngest perhaps only fifteen or sixteen. They seemed to want to struggle, to cry out, but their bodies were as if bound by invisible chains, only able to emit hoarse, leaky sounds, their eyes filled with desperate tears. One of the girls' clothes appeared to have been torn at the chest by something sharp, revealing pale skin. On her chest was a strange, dark red pattern, like a birthmark, faintly emitting an ominous red glow.

"They are... sacrifices!" Nie Lingfeng understood instantly. Aya had said before that the Ghost Master required each family to send a "clean" daughter to "serve the Cave God"! These were the chosen sacrifices! The patterns on their chests were likely marks or some kind of restriction placed upon them!

Just as those expressionless villagers were about to push the girls into the bottomless, evil-smelling cave!

Can't wait any longer!

"Chen Duo, save them!" Nie Lingfeng shouted, his figure like a cheetah that had been poised for a long time, suddenly shooting out from his hiding place! He didn't draw his sword, but his speed was already at its limit. Almost at the same time as his voice fell, he appeared behind the villagers who were dragging the girl like a ghost, his hands moving like lightning, his hand blades accurately slashing the back of their necks! These few moves were incredibly swift, yet the force was perfectly controlled, only knocking them unconscious without killing them.

At the same time, Chen Duo also moved. Like a golden flame, she swept out from another direction, waving her hands, and several thin, yet incredibly condensed, golden phoenix true fire threads shot out, instantly wrapping around the bodies of the girls and pulling them away from the edge of the cave. At the same time, the purifying power contained in the true fire attempted to burn away the strange red light pattern on their hearts.

"Who goes there?!" "How dare you disturb the cave god's ritual?!" "Seize them!"

All of this happened so fast that it wasn't until several villagers collapsed to the ground and the girls were pulled away that the three ghost masters and the kneeling villagers around them seemed to "awaken." Ghost Master Agong suddenly turned his head, his turbid and fanatical eyes fixed on the suddenly appearing Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo, letting out a sharp roar like that of a night owl!

With his roar, the villagers who had been dazed and numb suddenly looked up as if a switch had been flipped, turning to face Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo! Their eyes were still empty, but they were instantly filled with violence, madness, and an extreme anger at having their sacred domain violated! Hundreds of eyes, illuminated by the green firelight, were like predatory beasts, fixed on the two uninvited guests in the arena!

"roar--!!"

Someone let out a roar that sounded inhuman, and then, as if in a chain reaction, all the villagers let out similar howls filled with destructive desire! They stopped kneeling and instead, using their hands and feet, like wild beasts that had lost their minds, they pounced on Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo from all directions! Although their movements were stiff, they were extremely fast and incredibly strong, completely disregarding their own injuries, their eyes only filled with the madness to tear the intruders to shreds!

"They've been controlled! Be careful, don't kill them!" Nie Lingfeng shouted to Chen Duo. These villagers were merely victims of control; they didn't deserve to die.

He moved with lightning speed, like a butterfly flitting among flowers, weaving through the frenzied crowd. His hands moved with a series of clapping, tapping, grabbing, and seizing techniques, bringing the essence of the "Ten Strong Martial Arts"—fist, palm, finger, and claw—to its fullest extent. Each strike precisely hit the joints and pressure points of the charging villagers, or used a gentle force to shake them away, temporarily incapacitating them without causing fatal damage. His movements were fluid and effortless, as if he were not fighting, but performing a precise dance.

Chen Duo stood guard beside the rescued girls, her hands waving, golden phoenix fire transforming into soft rings of flame, protecting her and the girls in the center. The villagers who rushed at them, upon contact with the fire rings, would emit faint black smoke from their bodies, letting out painful howls. The scorched areas seemed to grant a momentary clarity to their corrupted and controlled spirits, slowing their movements, but they were quickly overwhelmed by a deeper madness and continued their charge. Chen Duo's small face was tense; she struggled to control the temperature of the fire to avoid harming anyone while maintaining the protective barrier.

"Hehehe... Foolish outsiders! How dare you disrupt the sacred ritual of the Cave God's descent!" Agong the Ghost Master stared at Nie Lingfeng, who moved with ease through the "crowd," and at the golden flames that instinctively filled him with disgust and fear. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a deeper madness. He raised the skull artifact in his hand and roared at the cave entrance in an even sharper, more distorted voice: "Cave God! Cave God! Your devout servant offers this sacrifice! Please accept it! And grant me the power to punish these blasphemers!"