Fairy, help me cultivate.

Jiang Bailian lost his temper, and the next sentence was full of contempt for the ignorant and naive newbie he had just met as a master of alchemy.

Chen Yao chuckled inwardly and nodded lazily, "Okay, okay... the more the merrier!"

Jiang Bailian's blank gaze tried to focus with a cold look, but because she couldn't focus, it eventually shattered into a puddle and softly scattered on Chen Yao's back.

She felt that her long-held belief in alchemy had been strangely challenged.

So her high heels swayed and clicked as she landed on the ground. She grabbed Chen Yao's sleeve and tried to get to the village as quickly as possible to deflate his arrogance.

"and many more."

Chen Yao suddenly called out to her.

"what?"

Chen Yao reminded her, "You're going the wrong way..."

"..."

Jiang Bailian silently turned around, grabbed Chen Yao's sleeve, and walked onto the right path.

Two steps later, her rounded hips suddenly twisted, her buttocks trembling, and she twisted her ankle a second time from the same pit.

Chen Yao curled his lip and reached out to help her up, but Jiang Bailian used the momentum to grab him and ended up falling into his arms.

The two stared at each other silently... well, it wasn't really a staring contest, as one of their gazes was too unfocused...

The wind was howling.

Jiang Bailian was very disheveled.

Suddenly, a head emerged from the bushes. Its eyes, with yellowish whites and shriveled pupils, turned slightly, and its cracked lips parted to reveal a set of yellow teeth.

“Kill immortals, eat immortals, eat immortal flesh, drink immortal blood, peel off immortal skin, and give it to your child to make clothes.”

"I extract the tendons of immortals, soak them in immortal oil, and make them into a whip to strike the hearts of immortals!"

Upon hearing this incongruous ballad, both Chen Yao and Jiang Bailian felt a chill run down their spines.

They looked at the head, which shook its head as if in provocation, baring its yellow teeth and sticking out a long, sharp tongue that seemed to beckon to the two of them.

Chen Yao and Jiang Bailian stepped towards him, quickly retreating their heads back into the bushes.

No trace of life could be sensed anymore.

The two looked at each other.

Something's not right about Jiulan Village.

Chapter Forty-Two: Evil Spirits in the Village, The Madwoman Biting Her Tongue

Something was wrong with Jiulan Village, because so far, the two of them had not sensed any fellow disciples.

The person who just sang was elusive and clearly not an ordinary person.

With a flick of his wrist, Chen Yao sent out three purple fire-devouring pythons that shot into the forest.

After a while, the snake returned and coiled around his wrist again.

Not a trace was found.

"How is this going?"

Jiang Bailian held a faintly glowing, earthy-yellow pill in her hand, warily sensing the changes in the surrounding atmosphere, her jade-like face blank.

Chen Yao also frowned.

"Let's go check out the village first..."

A shadow fell over his heart. Was the mission to Jiulan Village more dangerous than he had imagined?

The two slowly descended the mountain and arrived at the village entrance.

Along the way, they no longer sensed the singer's presence, nor did they encounter any strange occurrences.

Apart from the complete absence of any fellow disciples.

The sun was just high in the sky.

The villagers were working in the fields when they saw a man and a woman from afar, dressed in bright clothes and with radiant faces, and knew they were no ordinary people.

Therefore, someone reported the news, and three elders from the village came to greet them, leaning on their canes.

"I am Lin Er, one of the three elders of Jiulan Village. These are all family members of outer disciples of the Kuanglu Sect. Greetings, Immortal!"

"Greetings, Immortal!"

A group of men, women, and children had already gathered at the village entrance, with the three elders and Lin Er leading a dozen people in prostrating themselves in worship.

Chen Yao wasn't used to this kind of scene, but she only slightly turned her body to the side.

Jiang Bailian remained calm and nodded slightly: "We are two cultivators from Kuanglu. We heard that there are evil spirits causing trouble here, so we have come to exorcise them. Please stand up and speak."

The three elders, Lin Er and his companion, slowly got up and led the two to the most spacious courtyard in the village.

Many villagers rushed about, slaughtering chickens and sheep, serving tea and water, joyfully preparing a feast to welcome the immortals.

Chen Yao and Jiang Bailian were invited into the main hall and seated in the place of honor.

Lin Er then slowly recounted the strange events that had occurred in the village.

"At first, only the rooster stopped crowing, then the dog went mad. A few days later, things got really bad—the hens stopped laying eggs!"

He looked worried, his wrinkles almost crinkling into a mound, and as he puffed on his pipe, he said, "Later, the Lai family consulted some deities, who said that a newly cultivated piece of land this year had been cursed. So I invited some monks and Taoists from the city to perform a ritual. The trouble started from that ritual."

The monks and Taoist priests chanted scriptures and mantras all night, but the next morning, people discovered that they had long since died, their skin torn and bleeding, in the middle of the night. So who were the ones chanting scriptures in the early morning?

Since then, the well water has dried up, and nine out of ten babies born to pregnant women have died.

The immortals who looked after the village came to visit several times, but they didn't say anything. Later, they reported it to the sect.

Lin Er's aged voice echoed in the spacious hall. The hall windows were small and dim, and his narration carried a chilling tinge.

A loud "crack" was heard.

Everyone present was startled.

At that moment, a woman in the courtyard suddenly overturned the table used for plucking chicken feathers and began to convulse.

Chen Yao and Jiang Bailian walked out of the hall, where the crowd had already pinned the woman to the butcher's block.

Blood gushed from the woman's mouth, her irises were thin, and she had bitten off a piece of her own tongue.

Her gaze was chilling as she stared at Chen Yao and Jiang Bailian, her bleeding throat making a hissing sound.

"roll!"

"roll!"

"roll!"

The woman spat out blood and roared at the two men incoherently.

"You shouldn't be here, just like them!"

"roll!"

The woman's face was dark and bluish, her lips were purple, and her expression was extremely ferocious.

Chen Yao felt the demonic marks on his back magnify under her fierce gaze.

He felt a chill run down his spine.

Jiang Bailian pursed her lips, flipped her delicate hand, and held a pale blue pill between her fingers.

"Press her down."

She said to Chen Yao.

Chen Yao understood and focused his gaze. In his eyes, there were wisps of black substance moving inside the woman's body, their paths exceptionally clear.

He was taken aback. Was this person also alchemy material?

But no matter what, this substance gave him a very evil feeling.

He took out two Yang Qi talismans, condensed spiritual energy at his fingertips, opened the talisman gates, and placed them on the woman's shoulders.

That place was precisely the pass where wisps of evil spirits roamed.

With a hissing sound, the Yang Qi talisman slowly burned, sending up two plumes of foul-smelling black smoke.

The evil spirits were unable to move.

Jiang Bailian was so surprised to see Chen Yao find the pass so easily that she opened her mouth in astonishment.

After a person is possessed by an evil spirit, they can indeed be used as an ingredient in certain unorthodox elixirs.

The foul and impure substances within this woman's body, which symbolize the quality of the materials, can only be clearly seen by those who have been immersed in alchemy for many years. Logically speaking, Chen Yao, who has zero alchemy skills, should not be able to grasp it accurately at once.

She had intended to spend some time guiding him, but unexpectedly he found it right away.

Could this person really have some talent for alchemy?

Jiang Bailian composed herself and dismissed these pointless thoughts.

The pale blue pill shimmering from her fingertips floated in the air and gently landed on the woman's brow.

"You lowly servant! How dare you!"

The woman spat out blood, which, along with her intense resentment, splashed onto Chen Yao's clothes.

"I will devour you alive! I will devour you all alive! Ah—"

The elixir shimmered, and the woman screamed in agony, yet her body remained motionless under the suppression of the Yang Qi talisman.

Soon, her convulsing, ferocious face showed signs of exhaustion; her bluish-black complexion turned pale, her irises darkened, and her ferocity dissipated, leaving her lifeless.

She fainted.

Jiang Bailian nodded to Chen Yao, and the pale blue pill landed on the woman's brow, turning into clear water that seeped in.

Chen Yao released his grip, and the Yang Qi talisman remained on the woman's shoulder, slowly burning to continue purifying the remaining evil within her body, causing a foul-smelling, sticky substance to seep from her skin.

The villagers who had witnessed the immortal's supernatural powers held their breath and remained silent for a long time before kneeling down to express their gratitude.

Jiang Bailian waved his hand, signaling them to stand up.