Chapter 30: A Family Should Be Neatly Together (Part 3)

They “saw” a woman in red standing atop endless dark, decayed heads. The heads piled into a small mountain, their black hair tangled like spider silk.

The little mountain of heads gradually grew larger, and the woman rose higher and higher. Suddenly, all the heads came alive, staring at them with ruined eyes, their mouths open and dark tongues half-exposed.

“Hee hee hee…”

“Hee hee hee…”

Countless overlapping, terrible murmurs rang out.

Chen Yi was feeling surprised by Dabao’s different reaction when he sensed something else. He suddenly turned his head again and looked into the sky.

Another red-clothed aberration had appeared, with loose hair, deathly pale skin, and long, dark, sharp nails.

One.

Then another.

In just over ten seconds, twenty-three red-clothed aberrations were densely floating in the sky.

They spread across the entire sky above Little Tanshi Village. The moment they came out, they stared fixedly at the houses below their feet. Then, as if awakened by something, in the next second they looked toward Chen Yi and the others.

What bloody moon altar disc was this supposed to be? It was not an aberration at all. It was simply a mother nest that bred aberrations!!

“Holy crap!” Captain Sun, who had originally wanted to have a real fight, immediately backed down and retreated to Chen Yi’s side. “Sect Master, what do we do?”

Chen Yi silently sensed them. It was all right. He should be stronger than all these aberrations combined.

After calming down, he said, “I’ll deal with the ones that pounce over. You handle any that slip through. Protect them well.”

“Got it.”

Captain Sun did not try to show off. A cultivator cultivated their own cultivation and tempered their perception. He did not have perception as strong as Chen Yi’s, but he could vaguely tell that with this many, he could not beat them.

Since he could not beat them, of course the taller person had to hold up the sky. It was not like before, when there had been no other option and he had to go forward. He still wanted to live. He still wanted to see how Xia would rise in the future after obtaining cultivation methods.

As if it had finally awakened, or as if some sort of restraint had been released, the first red-clothed aberration opened its blood-red mouth wide, revealing the dark inside, along with its ruined teeth and tongue. A black, foul mist sprayed out.

From the sky, it pounced directly toward Captain Sun.

This was very understandable.

Chen Yi smelled sweet and fragrant and looked delicious, but aberrations also had the most basic instinct to seek fortune and avoid danger. Of course they would avoid Chen Yi and choose food they could defeat and eat.

First eat this one, then this one, then eat all of these. The sweetest and most fragrant one left at the end could be swarmed and divided among them.

“Hee hee hee…”

“Hee hee hee…”

The contamination of the murmurs shone into reality. As the red-clothed aberration approached, the stench and murmuring grew clearer.

Captain Sun had only reached the first level of Qi Refining. Even with the assistance of Chen Yi’s Light Spell, double images appeared before his eyes.

On the contrary, Dabao, though nearly scared out of his mind, still had not been contaminated. He only stared in absolute terror with bulging eyes at the aberration drawing closer and closer, so close that he could almost see the faint crimson at the tips of its dark nails.

“Save—”

A shriek from his soul finally let him make a sound.

Yet in the next second, it came to an abrupt stop.

Chen Yi moved.

With the skill of a master of Sword Manipulation, even while holding a greatsword, he still moved with natural grace. He was like the clear sky and bright moon, and also like rippling water. Every movement aligned with the natural way of heaven, seamless and innate. Even the highest art in the world seemed inferior to a single wave of his hand.

Yet everything was also so fast.

Like thunder and lightning, sharp and clean. The terrifying aberration, as if no one in the world could defeat it, was settled the instant he raised his hand and swung.

The greatsword had no edge. Like a giant hammer meeting a water sphere, it struck head-on. With a muffled pop, the great terror that had frightened people to tears a moment before turned into a cloud of ash.

Like a moth flying into flame, it scattered apart and quickly disappeared.

Just like that, it was dealt with?

Dabao could not believe his eyes.

This was a ghost, right?

A ghost had been killed just like that?

Chen Yi spun the greatsword once in his hand, shifting from a reverse grip to a forward grip. He lowered his body and assumed a stance that was both offensive and defensive.

Sure enough, under his vigilance, the death of the first red-clothed aberration instantly triggered a series of reactions.

The mother nest flared with bloody light.

All the red-clothed aberrations remained still, but their heads turned over. Some even turned one hundred and eighty degrees, their pitch-black eyes staring at Chen Yi.

Staring.

And then.

“Hee hee hee…”

“Hee hee hee…”

Terrifying sounds rang out from all directions. All the red-clothed aberrations transformed into a red sea of blood and pounced toward Chen Yi together.

Chen Yi swung his sword.

Chopping down, sweeping across, lifting upward, thrusting diagonally. The one-and-a-half-meter greatsword in his hand was like a light, compact dagger. He moved it in an impenetrable dance, taking away one with each strike, sometimes even two.

It was a little satisfying, honestly.

It was just like swatting flies with an electrified flyswatter. One swat, one down. Another swat, another down. Amid a crackling series of sounds, they were wiped out all over the ground.

Finally, one slipped through the net. Because it had failed to squeeze past its other “companions,” it did not manage to send itself onto Chen Yi’s greatsword and instead flew away from Chen Yi’s side.

Seeing the red-clothed aberration pounce toward him head-on, Captain Sun was even a little moved.

Finally thought of me, did you?

I didn’t come on this mission for nothing after all. Wonderful!!

Overjoyed, Captain Sun charged toward the female aberration. Excited and nervous at the same time, he swung the weapon in his hand.

The standard weapon from the system reward, although it was the lowest level, still fully displayed its combat strength as a product of cultivation civilization.

Against an aberration that likewise required spiritual energy, the effect could not have been more obvious.

The moment Captain Sun began, he felt that sensation of cutting through.

Aaaaah!

I can finally touch an aberration!

So moved. I want to cry~

He slashed his sword onto the red-clothed aberration’s body. At the critical moment, he avoided the claws tearing toward him, rolled on the spot, and arrived behind the red-clothed aberration.

The blade had almost cut the red-clothed aberration in half.

Like the red mist Chen Yi had smashed apart with the greatsword, the damage Captain Sun caused also produced visible energy scattering from the wound.

The aberration shrieked, black smoke pouring from its mouth like countless mosquitoes and flies gathered together. The piercing sound drove straight into the eardrums.

Xiao Qiu and Big Fish, who stood nearby, suddenly had their eyes bulge, and they spat out a mouthful of blood.

The red-clothed female ghost touched the blood mist, and her shriek abruptly stopped.

Bathed in the blood mist, her originally illusory body solidified once more.

“Damn it!”

Captain Sun cursed.

Not only had she revived at full health.

She had even become version 1.1.

In terms of aura alone, she was a little stronger than the first “aberration big sister” that had appeared.

Relying on instinct, this aberration also immediately gave up on hunting Captain Sun. Her target fixed on the three men closer to her.

A twisted resentment buried underground for twenty years. As people in the world continued to discuss the urban legend of the “Ghost Bride” with endless fascination, the mother nest that had absorbed countless bodies was finally born, nurturing the true descent of “Urban Legend: Ghost Bride.”

And the mountain village that had personally created this bitter fruit became the first hunting ground of the Ghost Brides.

If Chen Yi had not appeared, this mother nest, along with the twenty-three Ghost Brides, would inevitably have slaughtered all the men in the entire village.

The hatred that remained.

And the tags the world had given them.

[Bride] [Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost] [Feeds on Male Vitality]

Aberration killing conditions:

[Male] [Nighttime]

What a coincidence.

All five people here were men.

Setting aside who smelled sweeter and more fragrant, of course she would catch one and eat.

They were only eating men. Why bother picking one with a pleasing face?

The red-clothed aberration’s spirit surged. Her pitch-black eyes without whites turned toward Xiao Qiu, who was closest, and she opened her dark, ruined mouth.

That mouth opened wider and wider, the corners stretching far back. Her black hair stirred without wind, spreading outward as she pounced toward Xiao Qiu.

“Holy crap!”

Just then, a foot flew in from the side in a slanting kick!

It was Dabao, who had once again awakened from the hallucination. Seeing this scene, he actually kicked toward the aberration with one foot while using one hand to shove his companion aside.

Xiao Qiu was saved by him and fell heavily backward. The back of his head struck the threshold, and he fainted at once.

That was a good thing too. It was better than being frightened while still conscious.

But that kick missed.

His whole body passed through the middle of the red-clothed aberration’s body. He could clearly see her, yet touching her was like touching air. Only when he crashed into the red-clothed aberration’s arms did he shudder.

Then he pulled himself into a beautiful, standard full split.

Sliiide!

“Aaah, ow, ow, ow, ow~~~~~~~~~~~!!!”

A soul-melting falsetto burst from his throat and spiraled upward.

Dabao’s vision went black. For a moment, he had the illusion that he had been torn in half down the middle.

He curled into a ball on the spot.

Not far from his hand, the fallen phone was still livestreaming, and the livestream room had already gone completely insane.

The red-clothed aberration missed its target and immediately set its sights on Big Fish.

From the phone’s angle, Big Fish’s dazed side profile could be seen perfectly. From below, against the moonlight, one could faintly see blood slowly flowing from his ear.

The red-clothed aberration pounced, with its ruined mouth, tangled hair, and dark, sharp nails.

Its mouth opened so wide that it could almost swallow Big Fish’s entire head whole.

Just as that terrible mouth pressed against Big Fish’s face—

Silver light flashed.

A blue arc under the moon.

Behind the red-clothed aberration, Captain Sun, lunging forward with his sword in hand, finally caught up at the very last moment!

This time, he struck at the neck.

The red-clothed aberration’s feeding motion came to an abrupt stop, and it let out a pained howl.

“Aaaah—!!”

Then, from the neck, red mist once again dispersed. The body that had just solidified became illusory again.

Only…

This could not kill an aberration.

At the end of the day, aberrations were twisted spiritual energy, shaped by human imagination into distorted energy bodies that could not be looked at, seen, or smelled, and that carried intense infectious power.

The reason it appeared as a woman in red was only because countless humans had given it that image.

The neck had never been its weak point.

Captain Sun was using spiritual power to fight it. Although he had the advantage of his weapon and could deal with an incomplete “Urban Legend: Ghost Bride” like this, with his entry-level Qi Refining cultivation, he had not yet reached the point where he could crush it into ash.

With one sword strike, he stopped the aberration from pouncing on someone. After a brief spill of energy, the aberration’s body rapidly repaired itself again.

The loss of energy made it want to pounce on people even more.

The delicacy was right in front of it.

Pounce!

Captain Sun could not kill the aberration with one strike, so he could only save the country by a roundabout route and kick Big Fish away.

And so, the kick he sent out, Big Fish flying away, and Captain Sun subsequently charging into the frame with sword in hand—at that moment, his whole person was exposed to the thirty thousand viewers in the livestream room.

[!!!!]

[????]

[Someone’s killing people!!]

[Already called the police!]

[Police +1]

[You can tell at one glance he’s no good. His face looks vicious. I told Dabao and the others to leave from the start. Are they still alive now?]

[We’re all witnesses to a murder scene. Hurry and screen-record! We have to catch the murderer!]

The viewers in the livestream room were shocked by this vicious scene.

The camera could not capture the aberration’s existence, but it filmed Captain Sun’s rescue as if he were committing a terrible crime.

That night, the city security team’s phone lines were flooded.

The authorities immediately dispatched nearby security officers for emergency assembly and sent them toward the site of the “murder.”

But five minutes later, the security officers who had already gotten into their vehicles were called back down, and the alarm was lifted.

Five minutes.

The change before and after naturally came from Chen Yi clearing out the aberrations.

One came, one was destroyed. Two came, both were destroyed. They rushed toward Chen Yi one after another, and every last one was eliminated cleanly.

Captain Sun finally dealt with that aberration too and reported excitedly, “I really killed it. Hehe~ Ground it to dust!”

In the livestream room, because of the camera angle, only the sky could be seen, but the livestream was still continuing.

[What kind of grudge is this? What kind of hatred? Can’t you at least leave them whole?]

[Big bro, I’m begging you. They’re already gone. Just let them go.]

[I can’t. I feel awful. Why hasn’t this livestream room been banned yet?]

Outside the camera, Captain Sun still seemed a little unsatisfied. “They’re all killed already?”

Chen Yi looked at the bloody moon altar disc overhead and said, “No. There’s still one.”

[Who? Dabao? Or Xiao Qiu? Run, aaaaaah!!]

[There will be retribution. Please leave him alive. Just take it as accumulating blessings for your descendants and family.]

[You bastard! Don’t run if you’ve got the guts! I’m almost there.]

The mother nest was still in the sky. Strictly speaking, if left alone, without the nourishment of the corpses in the yin land, it would be rootless duckweed, with no more energy to condense new aberrations.

But it was still better to be cautious.

The only issue was that the mother nest was in the sky, and Chen Yi currently had no real methods to reach it.

If he had hung Transporting Art, things would be fine. Even if it were only at proficient level, perhaps he could send the greatsword up there. But it was too late to AFK it now.

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