Becoming a saint begins with the infinite accumulation of destiny.

Qin Mansion Inner Courtyard

By this time, the place was already crowded with people; all the martial artists had gathered together and formed a circle in the middle of the courtyard.

In the middle of the ground, the arrogant corpse lay quietly.

His face was completely bluish-black, his eyes bulged, and his body was covered with purplish-black wounds, as if he had been devoured by some bloodthirsty beast and died with his eyes wide open.

There was also a faint smell of decay in the air.

The wound on his abdomen revealed part of his internal organs, which were dark green like rust, and a few very dark drops of blood were flowing out.

Liu Shouyuan stood to the side, his face ashen, speechless with shock at the scene before him.

He never imagined that the arrogant man who had spoken to him just today would suddenly die.

"Have you figured out what it is?"

His voice was harsh, and his face was so gloomy it seemed like it could drip water.

"I don't know."

Someone replied in a low voice, sounding dejected.

Even someone as strong as Zhang Kuang, who is at the peak of the Blood Transformation Realm, is no match for them. What use would it be if they found out?

Zhang Qing, Zhang Fan, and other martial artists didn't show much expression; their relationship with Zhang Kuang wasn't particularly close.

But a hint of sadness and sorrow appeared on their faces.

But more than anything, there is fear and dread of the unknown hidden in the darkness.

Chen Shisheng stood on the outside, not showing much sadness, but rather indifference and regret.

Zhang Kuang was arrogant, domineering, and had previously slandered him. He deserved to die.

His eyes revealed a hint of fear and deep sadness.

After all, he had just experienced the Red Embroidered Shoes incident, and now Zhang Kuang had suddenly died.

It's hard not to suspect some issues here.

"Junior Brother Luo, how exactly did Squad Leader Zhang die?"

Someone asked in a low voice.

Junior Brother Luo was the first to discover Zhang Kuang's death.

"I was practicing my boxing in my room when I heard a fight next door and Zhang, the head of the squad, roaring. When I rushed over, Zhang was already dead."

Junior Brother Luo replied in a low voice.

A moment of silence fell over everyone.

Zhang Kuang was stronger than all of them present, yet he was killed in a short time. If they were to attack them, what would happen...?

No one dared to think any further.

Soon, at Liu Shouyuan's command, everyone dared not delay and placed Zhang Kuang's corpse outside to prevent it from turning into a zombie.

"Gentlemen, I have sent someone to the inner city to inform them of the situation here. I believe our master will be able to send someone over to handle it soon."

Liu Shouyuan looked grim and bowed to the crowd.

"Really?"

"Commander Liu, perhaps we should retreat..."

With Zhang Kuang dead, the martial artists lost their leader and began to speak out, plunging the scene into chaos.

Liu Shouyuan, being an ordinary person, was no match for the crowd and could only hurriedly return to the Liu residence with a few servants, refusing to show his face again.

In the days that followed, the martial artists chose to stick together in the Qin residence and stopped going out to patrol and protect the grain fields.

Liu Shouyuan sent people several times to urge them on, saying that the farmland had been extensively damaged and that if it continued, it would be difficult to meet the harvest quota for this year's autumn harvest, and they would have to bear full responsibility for how to explain it to the farmers.

But the people weren't fools; protecting the grain fields required life, after all.

As for the subsequent punishment and anger from the Wen family, they no longer cared.

The Qin family's inner courtyard is now filled with unease and people can't live in peace.

They had no time to care about any of that.

Chen Shisheng and his sister-in-law also moved into the Qin residence. It just so happened that Wang Ping's room had become available, so they let his sister-in-law move in.

Given the current situation, since he and his sister-in-law are living outside, it would be better if everyone stayed together. In case of any emergency, they could immediately raise the alarm and the rescue would be more timely.

Nighttime, inside the room.

Chen Shisheng sat down at the table and took out the booklet on the Wild Bull Fist again, studying it carefully.

His blood transfusion progressed quickly, and due to his destiny, the quality of his blood and qi was significantly different from that of ordinary people.

Now, when he practices the Bull Fist, he can feel his blood and qi flowing smoothly without the obstruction he felt before. Sometimes he can even clearly feel the flow rate of blood and qi in parts of his body.

Chen Shisheng watched until midnight, and practiced the Bull Fist twice more. His blood and qi seemed to be steaming, and a lot of heat was emanating from his body.

Chen Shisheng's room was simply furnished with a table, a stool, a cabinet, and a window.

The window faces the bed, and from inside, one can see the dark, wide river in the distance.

Next door was the Liu family's tall courtyard wall, which separated the two families.

Chen Shisheng glanced outside, then closed the window and prepared to go to sleep.

call--

A gust of cold wind blew by, causing the candlelight to flicker and then go out.

Chen Shisheng quickly focused his mind and shouted loudly to warn the crowd.

His gaze was fixed on the window, which was already open.

The pure white moonlight shone down from outside, casting a faint glow, and a few tiny mosquitoes fluttered about.

But at this moment,

A cold, damp, and putrid odor, as if it had been accumulating underwater for countless years, was mixed together.

The moonlight slowly faded, replaced by a tiny, flickering flame that moved slowly towards the window before finally falling.

"lantern?"

Chen Shisheng squinted and, by the moonlight, made out the shape of the thing.

Without making any rash moves, he immediately focused his energy and blood, causing his skin to quickly turn red and swell.

A faint, dark gaze seemed to emanate from those around him, moving and scanning over him.

"Is it that same eerie environment again?"

Chen Shisheng immediately became alert and scanned his surroundings.

Ta-da!

In the empty corridor, a series of footsteps suddenly echoed, their eerie sound reverberating.

The red embroidered shoes were in the shadows beneath the window, the eerie red light of the lantern illuminating them.

The red-embroidered shoes continued their movements, only the sounds grew louder, and the red embroidery on the shoes became increasingly glaring, turning dark red like drops of blood. They exuded an eerie and terrifying aura.

Chen Shisheng suddenly moved and rushed towards the door.

Just then, a commotion and a commotion arose outside the room, accompanied by hurried footsteps.

It was the martial artists outside who discovered it!

His gaze flickered, and the scene before him returned to normal.

When Chen Shisheng lit the candle again, he was alone in the room.

Only a red lantern hung conspicuously by the window, swaying in the wind, its candlelight burning eternally, emitting an eerie red glow.

Crash!

Chen Shisheng ripped the red lantern off and stomped it to pieces.

The candle inside immediately went out, and the bamboo frame wrapped in red paper was burned to ashes by Chen Shisheng with the candle flame.

Only after doing all this did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Whatever this lantern is, let's get rid of it first.

Bang!Bang!Bang!

A rapid knocking sounded on the door.

"Shisheng, come out quickly!"

It was Liu Feng's voice, which carried a hint of urgency.

"Brother Feng, what's wrong?"

Chen Shisheng immediately opened the door. Liu Feng's room outside looked gloomy, and his face was very pale.

"Zhang Fan is dead, in the room."

"Another person has died?!"

Chen Shisheng was somewhat surprised.

Their rooms were almost all next to each other.

They were martial artists themselves, so they could wake up almost instantly at the slightest sound.

To his surprise, someone still died despite his preparations.

"Let's go take a look first."

Liu Feng led him to a room on the second floor.

The room was already full of people, all with somber expressions, staring at the bluish-black corpse on the bed, in the exact same state as before when Zhang Kuang had acted so arrogantly.

Chen Shisheng glanced at it and saw that it was very similar to Zhang Kuang's death, so it must have been done by the same person.

"Everyone, what should we do now?"

Someone whispered, their voice a little hoarse.

No one spoke, and the room fell into a deathly silence.

They wanted to run away, but their families were all in Wuhe City. If they fled, their families would surely suffer.

After all, running away and dereliction of duty are two different things.

Besides, in this world, where can they possibly escape to?

Outside, mountain bandits, river bandits, monsters, and evil spirits roam freely. You'll encounter all sorts of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts every few miles.

"Where did this lantern come from?"

At this moment, Chen Shisheng noticed the red lantern hanging by the window, and his expression turned strange.

"It was there just now, did someone put it up? Did you see it?"

One person was surprised and asked the people around him.

At this moment, everyone realized something was wrong and their attention shifted to the red lantern.

It hung there, the red candlelight shining through the red paper.

The flames became thicker and darker.

When the wind blew, the red lantern made a strange creaking sound.

"Don't touch it!"

Just as Chen Shisheng was about to go up and pick it, someone shouted.

"This thing, it must be from that damn thing, it's been touched most of the time..."

He paused abruptly, looking at them speechlessly.

Liu Feng had already stepped forward and ripped the red lantern off, pulling hard with both hands.

With a tearing sound, the red lantern split in two.

When everyone looked closer, they saw that it was just an ordinary candle flame, the same as the one Chen Shisheng had just seen, with no difference.

"Playing tricks!"

Liu Feng wasn't going to tolerate it. He tore it up in a few moves, threw it on the ground, and kicked it a few more times before finally stopping.

The people present looked at each other in bewilderment, and no one spoke.

However, after this incident, how to prevent it from happening again has become a problem.

"We'll all sleep together. If we need that stuff again tonight, we can just burn this Qin mansion down."

Someone suggested.

I think so.

Someone immediately agreed.

So, everyone simply moved their beds to the open space downstairs and set up their own tents.

Chen Shisheng also went back and woke up his sister-in-law, and helped her make a temporary place to sleep.