Please control me, my divine being!

When Li Qinghe woke up, it was already the next morning.

She slept on a mat made of dry grass, with a fire made of stones in front of her.

The cold winter sun shines on the ground, but it is unable to dispel the chill of the early morning.

Shen Cishuang squatted by the fire without any regard for her posture, adding wet wood to the pit while muttering words like "they're all lunatics."

Until Li Qinghe woke up.

Her bloodshot eyes finally moved to the haystack: "Awake? I roasted a sweet potato, eat it quickly, pack up, and get out of this godforsaken place."

Li Qinghe caught the scalding hot sweet potato in her hands and swallowed it in two bites. She looked up and asked, "How is Lianshan City?"

Shen Cishuang looked as if she had seen a ghost. "That's all. You can see for yourself later. This is also the first time I've seen the Demon Extermination Army take action. Now I understand why so many people are afraid. They are a bunch of inhuman monsters."

Seeing the other person's expression, Li Qinghe had a bad feeling.

She stood up, walked through the dense forest, and returned to the main road.

There were quite a few pedestrians on this dirt road, including refugees with their families, carrying large and small bags, walking with difficulty.

Most of them were dressed in tattered clothes and looked tired. They walked in groups of a few or a dozen, forming small groups, with wary and vigilant eyes.

Li Qinghe went against the flow of people, approaching the distant Lianshan City.

He hadn't gone far when an old man stopped him: "Little girl, you can't go back now. You'd better run for your life, or you won't be able to stay in this place anymore. Heaven is angry."

"Can't stand it anymore? Sir, what do you mean by that?"

"Hey, last night some demons sneaked into the city and killed countless people."

I saw it with my own eyes, right there on the main street in the city center.

Those tentacles stretched up to be several stories high, and floodwaters surged from underground, submerging half the city!

In the end, it was a goddess who intervened and killed the monster!

Look at all those people who worship Wong Tai Sin, paying so much money for incense and other offerings, and even inviting some kind of guardian spirit—what's the point in the end?

The old man looked deeply saddened.

Li Qinghe pressed on, "Now that the monster has been killed, why can't we go any further ahead?"

"Because the Weasel spirit in that temple angered the heavens and was punished. You can't stay in this place anymore, you should leave quickly." The old man wanted to say a few more words of advice, but he was pulled away by the people next to him.

Li Qinghe continued walking forward in silence, with Shen Cishuang following behind.

The two walked faster and faster, until they were almost jogging, and they stopped after about half an hour.

Before them, where Lianshan City once stood, was a barren expanse of ground.

Clean, spacious, and monotonous.

There were no houses, no living creatures, not even pebbles or weeds.

The entire county was wiped out by an immense power, disappearing from the world overnight.

No trace of its existence was left behind.

The black fog that floated in the air last night has dissipated, and the weasels that had plagued Lianshan City are now reduced to just a few scattered individuals, occasionally darting out of the bushes.

Li Qinghe stared blankly at the empty space.

She had heard about the Demon Suppression Army from Shen Cishuang; it was the army of the Wu Dynasty used to deal with cultivators, suppress rebellions, and wipe out border invaders.

"This is the first time I've seen these monsters make a move. Compared to the peace in the North, the South Seas are where the demon-slaying army is most active."

Shen Cishuang clapped her white paper fan: "Last night, after you fainted, the entire Lianshan City was sealed off by black mist. When the black mist dissipated, everything here disappeared."

Li Qinghe remained silent for a moment, then kicked the weasel that had run past her leg.

"Miss Li, such things are not uncommon in this world." Shen Cishuang sighed, "Natural disasters, man-made calamities, war and chaos—there's nothing we can do."

"So what exactly are the Huang family and the Demon-Slaying Army after?"

Shen Cishuang pondered for a moment and said, "In order to prevent the opponent's strength from increasing."

The local mountain and river deities were key to the Wu Dynasty's rule.

Human officials manage the local people's livelihood, while mountain and river deities manage evil spirits, demons, wild gods and monsters, and cultivators.

Only when both of these exist can the Wu Dynasty be successfully ruled.

The local officials were all replaced by the Huang family, and the most important city gods and river gods also fell one after another, leading to the collapse of faith.

According to normal development.

When the entire city worships Huang Xian, and the Huang family uses the River God tablet to create their own immortal abode, this place will become the Five Turbid Heavens.

It's like having an extra place for incense offerings.

Being able to support an additional immortal being also allows for a continuous stream of cultivators within this lineage.

They hadn't expected the demon-slaying army to arrive so quickly and with such ruthlessness, wiping out the entire city. Unfortunately, the River God's divine tablet must have been taken by the demon-slaying army.

Just as Li Qinghe was about to speak, she suddenly felt her body stiffen, and her legs moved uncontrollably toward the other side of the woods.

Shen Cishuang raised an eyebrow.

The girl has many strange characteristics.

Putting aside her terrifying growth rate, Li Qinghe's sudden change to a cold demeanor just made her feel an irrepressible curiosity.

She followed behind Li Qinghe, bypassing the open plain, and stepped into the woods.

A clanging sound came from ahead, indicating the presence of many people.

After passing several thickets of grass, a few strong men suddenly appeared before us. However, these men moved stiffly, carrying hoes and shovels, turning over the damp mud and digging a large pit.

"Zombies..."

Shen Cishuang frowned and looked ahead.

Dozens of zombies were busy in the woods, cutting down trees, digging holes, shoveling soil, and moving earth with incredible speed and efficiency.

Further ahead, there were hundreds more living people, both men and women.

In just one night, a simple camp had been built here, with cattle, sheep, donkeys, horses, and a considerable amount of grain.

"Judging from the appearance here, there should be cultivators of the Corpse-Riding Evil Path here." Shen Cishuang was slightly surprised. The Corpse-Riding Evil Path is active in the Xiang River area of ​​the southwest, and is very rare in the north.

"Miss Li?" At that moment, a slightly surprised voice came from the woods.

Shen Cishuang looked over.

An old woman who looked somewhat disheveled emerged from the woods, accompanied by several hairy zombies.

The emptiness in Li Qinghe's eyes disappeared, and looking at the old woman she had met once before, a hint of joy at reuniting with an old friend finally appeared on her gloomy face.

……

A moment later.

In front of a large pot in the camp, Shen Cishuang and Li Qinghe were drinking hot soup.

Grandma Yang shook the corpse-controlling bell in her hand: "Last night, I sensed something was wrong, so I led my own zombies towards the city gate. But it was dark at night, and no one else realized they were zombies; they all followed along."

By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, there were already over a hundred people.

We've already brought them out; we can't just abandon them.

The old woman thought of setting up a camp for them and leaving them some food so they could at least get through this period and wait for Yuyang to receive and resettle the refugees.

Miss Li, my eyesight is a bit blurry; I didn't see clearly last night.

Did you kill the monster in the water?