Heaven rewards diligence, but there are always fairies plotting against me.

In the dead of night, all was quiet. Even the village dogs, which usually barked a lot, tucked their tails between their legs and huddled silently in the haystacks.

On a dark and windy night, two figures swept across the village road like ghosts, heading secretly towards Old Man Li's house.

A moment later, Chu Chang and Lin Wanqin had silently crept up to the high wall of Old Man Li's house.

In this impoverished and dilapidated village, Old Man Li's house stood out conspicuously.

The original dilapidated mud houses have long been demolished and rebuilt, replaced by high walls and courtyards, with blue bricks and gray tiles, making it look like an abrupt ancient castle in this desolate village.

The entrance was built to be extremely grand, with even the brass rings on the gate polished to a shine, exuding a nouveau riche ostentation and eeriness.

Chu Chang leaned against the cold blue brick wall, took a deep breath, and began to silently activate the extreme yang constitution within his body.

In an instant, a faint yet pure masculine energy emanated from him, spreading silently through the brick wall like invisible ripples, and outwards from the courtyard.

This is an instinctive application of the Yang energy perception after breaking through the extreme Yang constitution.

Lin Wanqin turned her head and glanced at Chu Chang.

She discovered that the yang energy that Chu Chang occasionally emanated made her feel refreshed and relaxed.

In just a moment, Chu Chang's eyelids twitched wildly, and the hairs on his body stood on end!

In his perception, the surrounding night should have been an empty void.

But just as the probing yang energy touched the main house where Old Man Li lived, an indescribable, violent, and icy yin energy, like a black tsunami, smashed his yang energy probe to pieces!

"It's so cold..."

Chu Chang frowned, his heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran down his spine to the top of his head.

It wasn't the physical cold of a winter's day with its howling wind and snow, but a sinister poison that pierced straight into the depths of the soul, carrying decay and death!

It's as if, in that magnificent brick house, there's a piece of ice that has never melted in ten thousand years, or... a corpse that has long since decomposed but is still moving!

"This chill is definitely not normal!!!" Chu Chang explained to Lin Wanqin, and then said.

You should know that he is now a martial artist with an extremely yang constitution, and his body temperature is far higher than that of ordinary people.

Even he felt the chill was bone-chilling. If it were a weak mortal woman like Chu Hong, she would probably be drained of her life essence and frozen to death on their wedding night!

Lin Wanqin nodded slightly; her perception was not weak either.

However, she discovered that in terms of perception, she was actually inferior to Chu Chang.

She frowned.

In this world, she had heard many terrifying rumors about the forbidden wilderness since she was a child.

Beyond the Great Yuan Dynasty, vast swathes of territory were shrouded in an eerie gray fog, known as the forbidden zone.

Those filthy things that cross the boundaries of restricted areas and infiltrate human cities are often accompanied by this extremely cold, decaying, and lifeless atmosphere.

Suddenly, something moved in Old Man Li's house.

But it wasn't Old Man Li lying in bed.

Chu Chang's sense of yang energy was firmly locked onto the movements inside the room.

The life force that once represented Old Man Li on the bed was now lifeless, stiff as a piece of rotten wood, and completely still.

The moving object was something hanging from the main house's beam.

The thing swayed precariously in the dark air, each swing emanating a nauseating, bone-chilling cold.

Unfortunately, due to the resistance of the thick brick wall and the chilling aura, Chu Chang's perception was greatly weakened, and he could only vaguely sense a general outline...

Old Li lay on the bed like an empty shell of a corpse, completely lifeless.

And on the roof beam, the source, which was slightly writhing, swaying, and emanating a terrifying chill, existed within the realm of perception…

It seems to be just a tattered...cloth?

Chu Chang withdrew his senses and frowned.

The way that thing writhed on the roof beams resembled some kind of living parasite, exuding an indescribable eeriness and malevolence.

"Chu Chang, those things in the restricted area are difficult to deal with at night! Let's go back first and deal with them during the day tomorrow." Lin Wanqin said solemnly.

Although she is a Qi Refining Realm expert, her strength is only enough to deal with humans, but it might not be enough to deal with the strange creatures in the forbidden zone.

For safety's sake, avoiding direct confrontation is the best course of action.

After all, during the day, when the sun shines brightly and the yang energy is abundant, all kinds of evil and strange forces in the world will be naturally weakened.

This measure is to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

"you're right."

Chu Chang nodded, wisely choosing not to confront them head-on.

The two concealed their presence and left the place with light steps.

A moment later, the two returned to Chu Chang's simple little house.

There were no lights in the room. Lin Wanqin unfastened her sword and leaned against the table, her brows furrowed.

"Ah Chang, this matter is of utmost importance." Lin Wanqin paced back and forth. "If the evil spirit that old man Li is possessed is indeed a forbidden area, and such strange creatures have many tricks up their sleeves, what if it escapes or launches a counterattack before it dies? Your sister Chu Hong and the entire village will be doomed."

Chu Chang frowned: "So, what does Madam Lin mean?"

Lin Wanqin took a deep breath: "Find Gu Ling Shuang."

"Miss Gu?" Chu Chang was slightly taken aback.

"That's right." Lin Wanqin nodded and explained, "Gu Ling Shuang is not only the apple of the Gu family's eye, but she is also a formal disciple of the great sect, the Divine Sword Sect. The Divine Sword Sect has a profound foundation and a thousand-year history. Its disciples often need to go down the mountain to carry out sect missions such as clearing out forbidden zones and slaying demons. When it comes to experience and methods in dealing with evil spirits in forbidden zones, she knows far more than our local families. Moreover, the magical weapons in her hands may have a natural restraining effect on evil spirits."

Lin Wanqin looked at Chu Chang and continued, "I'll go with you to find her first thing tomorrow morning."

Chu Chang pondered for a moment.

Indeed, professional matters should be left to professionals.

Although he possesses an extremely yang constitution and has an instinctive resistance to evil spirits, he is currently like a brute with brute strength but no way to use it, while Gu Ling Shuang is a regular army.

Besides, he was originally going to find Gu Ling Shuang anyway.

He had helped Lin Wanqin this time, and had also saved Gu Ling Shuang before, so Gu Ling Shuang still owed him a favor.

So, she'll definitely help me with this, right?

"Okay, whatever you say." Chu Chang slapped his thigh and grinned. "Alright, we'll go tomorrow. It's so late tonight, Madam Lin, thank you for your trouble. I'm afraid you'll have to make do here tonight."

As he spoke, he looked around and said, "Ah, my humble abode is indeed rather dilapidated!"

Lin Wanqin rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "It doesn't matter, I don't care about these things. But you should get some rest. You don't have much ability, staying up late is bad for you."

"Thank you for your concern, Madam. However, I feel quite well, and staying up late is no problem for me."

"Really?"

"Really, but speaking of which, I'm all sweaty tonight, madam, would you like to take a bath?"

Lin Wanqin blushed slightly. "Is it convenient?"

"If you need it, then it's definitely convenient. I'll go get you some water!"

Chu Chang ran out and went to the well to fetch water.

Looking at the busy Chu Chang, Lin Wanqin felt a sweet warmth welling up in her heart.

"My husband, perhaps it's not impossible for me to not only break through the Qi Refining Realm, but also advance further..."

"You must be very pleased to see how much I've improved, right?"

As the moon began to set in the west, the two of them finished washing themselves, and the small house gradually quieted down.

In a large courtyard not far from here, the tattered white cloth hanging from the roof beam still writhed silently and greedily in the darkness…