The Legend of Fangren

With this thought, Fang Shi's mind immediately became clear.

Why did Qu Mucheng suddenly abduct his disciple? Because that was not Qu Mucheng's original intention.

The third-party force that provided the means to Qumu City must have its own needs. Although we don’t know why it kidnapped the disciples, it is definitely not a good thing. Think about those sheep that are no different from puppets. If people were like that, wouldn’t they be completely at the mercy of others?

If Luohe really saw Senior Sister Qu, then it is very likely that she was kidnapped and brought back to the city, and was only freed after being recognized by the people of Qumu City.

"But then again, with such a big thing happening at home, how could she possibly run away? If she escaped on her own and Hezi went with her, wouldn't both of them be in danger?"

Thinking of this, Fang Shi could no longer sit still. He immediately got up, but after a moment of stalemate, he sat down again.

How can we find someone if there is no way to track them down?

The above deduction is just that—a deduction. If we go to the wrong place, it will waste time.

People always choose to stop when faced with an uncertain path... that's all there is to it.

But within a few breaths, Fang Shi started moving again. He took out the sheep's head, unwrapped it, and dissected it with the small knife he had used for the lamb chops at noon, without caring about the foul smell of blood.

The sheep's head was completely chopped off when it was slaughtered in the courtyard. Fang Shi stared at the back of the knife and cut open the flesh from the back of the neck. He immediately smelled an even stronger stench.

The stench was even worse than that of rotting flesh and blood, and there was an even more peculiar smell mixed in with it, which was not like rotting flesh and blood, but more like rotten wood and mud.

He immediately recalled his first encounter with the man in black, whose Yangmu Beads were mycelium, and which he called Yangmu Silk.

Judging from their ability to turn this object into a puppet, they must have a deep understanding of its uses. It's not surprising that it has other applications. Perhaps this sheep was corrupted by the Yangmu silk.

So Fang Shi endured the stench and used a knife to cut open the rotting flesh—the head was where the chaotic spirit resided; when living beings died, the chaotic spirit dispersed, so this was also the place where the decay first began.

No wonder people in the Xuan Realm don't like eating brains; everyone who smells them will find them repulsive.

But perseverance pays off. At the cost of his knife being unusable as cutlery, he found what he was looking for at the bottom of the sheep's brain.

A dense, wispy mass, like a spider web, coiled at the back of the head, its thin, almost invisible ends wrapped around the brainstem nerves, as if taking over the control of the entire body below the brain from the brain.

These fibrous clumps quickly rotted after being exposed to the outside world, turning into a pool of indistinguishable black mud that flowed onto the wooden table.

Now we can't even keep the table...

Fang Shi frowned, but not because he felt sorry for the table: "This thing probably does have the ability to control people. At the very least, we can tell from the silence of the sheep when it is slaughtered that it can block perception. As for whether it can control consciousness, that remains to be seen."

If the men in black kidnapped disciples to improve the device's function, they could have just kidnapped ordinary people. Instead, they deliberately kidnapped disciples with exceptional talent who reached the Heavenly Rank.

If we compare ordinary people to ordinary sheep, then ordinary people are likely to be controlled like sheep, but they have almost no independent consciousness. Therefore, we can only try to find aptitude-rich disciples with a certain level of cultivation to work with.

The ultimate goal is nothing more than to increase our strength.

"If Senior Sister Qu is taken back, she'll most likely be saved, but what about He Zi..."

Suddenly, Fang Shi had a destination in mind: that courtyard.

He cleaned up the stinking sheep's head, quietly blew out the lamplight, changed into disguised clothes, and left the restaurant.

Unbeknownst to him, as he left the restaurant and passed by the inn, a gaze fell upon him from upstairs.

Alone, he sneaked to the outside of the slaughterhouse wall, carefully avoiding the soldiers patrolling at night, quietly climbed over the wall, and landed behind the wooden shed.

Through the gap in the wooden window, he could see what was inside.

In the large wooden shed, there was a passageway in the middle, with sheep pens enclosed by wooden fences on both sides. The white sheep inside were crowded together, but not a single sheep tried to break through the flimsy wooden fence gate in front of them.

The wooden shed, which should have been filled with the cacophony of livestock, was eerily silent, as if there were no living creatures, only puppet-like statues, which appeared particularly strange as the sky gradually darkened.

The only living thing in the wooden shed was the candlelight on either side of the passageway; it was the only thing that was flickering inside.

Why are there only two candlesticks there? One on the left and one on the right, as if they are guarding the door.

As Fang Shi pondered this, his gaze descended and landed on the floor of the passageway between the two candlesticks.

Under the bright, flickering lights, amidst the tangled, dry weeds, there appeared to be a wooden plank.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the gate of the courtyard outside the wooden shed. Fang Shi quickly crouched down and peeked more cautiously from the corner of the window.

He recognized the man who came in; it was the same guy who had slaughtered the sheep during the day. He was carrying several wooden boxes as he entered the shed, and he didn't look like he was going to feed the sheep at all.

Sure enough, he walked to the middle of the passageway and casually kicked away the dry weeds on the ground, revealing the wooden planks underneath.

If you step on it, it will make a hollow sound, indicating that there is still space under the wooden board.

The man pulled the plank and went down.

Fang Shi thought, "The wooden box looks like a lunchbox, and the amount seems just enough for a few people."

The truth was getting closer, but he couldn't keep up. He didn't know how big the space under the wooden shed was, and he was afraid that if he rashly dismantled the soil and rocks to dig a tunnel, he would alert the enemy.

Helpless, he could only wait patiently until the guy who delivered the food came out again.

"Oh my, this is really inhuman work. Delivering food to those zombie-like guys late at night is truly terrifying. I wonder when the city lord will stop. Otherwise, even if we're paid, we'll have to find another job."

The guy was unaware that anyone was around him and muttered to himself, but Fang Shi overheard him.

So it seems that things are pretty much as he thought, almost exactly as he expected.

Seeing that the man seemed to have no restrictions on coming and going, he quietly entered the wooden shed after the man left.

He placed his hand on the wooden board, intending to lift it, but suddenly, a sense of hesitation arose inexplicably in his heart. He seemed to sense something and raised his head, only to see a bizarre scene that caught him completely off guard—all the white sheep in the wooden shed had changed their positions at some point, their lifeless eyes staring at him, stiff and motionless.

Not a single sheep stepped out of the wooden fence, yet Fang Shi felt as if the white sheep had surrounded him, exuding the smell of livestock, as if the passageway itself had become a fence, trapping him inside and rendering him unable to move.

"Fang Shi"

Suddenly, someone called his name. He thought he had been exposed and was about to make a move when he felt the chaotic and eerie atmosphere around him quickly dissipate, and the scene in the wooden shed returned to what it was at the beginning.

He quickly turned around and saw that there was indeed a person there, and he recognized him.

"Master Zhang?"