Seeing fewer and fewer weasels on the hillside, the weasel spirit grew anxious.
Being a beast and having practiced in the human world for many years, it had instinctively grasped the principle of "picking on the weak".
The weasel spirit's thievish orange - yellow eyes darted around. Then it suddenly pounced on He Zhiping, the timidest one in the crowd. Its ten fingers were like knives, giving He Zhiping no chance to react.
A stench assailed their nostrils. He Zhiping was so terrified by the weasel that his face turned deathly pale and he stood rooted to the spot.
But before the weasel could reach He Zhiping, Yu Nian suddenly dashed forward and stood in front of him. She kicked out at the weasel with one swift motion.
The weasel was hit square on and fell heavily to the ground. Realizing the situation was unfavorable, it quickly released a thick, pungent and stinky gas from under its tail, making everyone's eyes water and unable to open.
Amid the chaos, the weasel spirit bared its teeth and snarled, "Do you think I'm afraid of you? You're dreaming!"
Yu Nian still showed no expression. Just as she took a step forward, she saw the weasel spirit that had just been spouting threats take to its heels. Its short legs kicked up a trail of dust, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the distance.
This bewildering behavior left everyone dumbfounded.
Guan Sheng twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "What's wrong with this weasel?"
Even Liu Mo was a bit dazed. Their family's spirits had always been the kind who were fearless in the face of life and death and ready to fight at any time. It was the first time he had seen such a cowardly monster!
Seeing their leader run away, the remaining young weasels scattered in all directions.
Liu Mo angrily bared his teeth and said, "Master, I'll go and chase it back!"
But Yu Nian said, "Don't be hasty."
She calmly took out a palm - sized wooden pagoda in the style of a pavilion from her bag.
The small wooden pagoda was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, with three stories. Each story had doors, windows, columns, lintels and brackets. Its craftsmanship was extremely fine.
Perhaps due to its small size, the wooden pagoda didn't look like an ancient artifact but rather a wooden handicraft that Yu Nian had casually assembled.
Ming Mingzhong beside her couldn't help but click his tongue. Could this palm - sized thing really subdue that hundred - year - old weasel spirit?
Yu Nian quickly recited a string of incantations in a low and rapid voice, but one could clearly hear each syllable she uttered. At the end of the incantation, Yu Nian suddenly raised her voice and shouted, "Capture!"
Right before everyone's eyes, the wooden pagoda suddenly grew bigger. Then, as if it had come to life, it flew out of Yu Nian's palm and chased after the weasel spirit.
The weasel spirit running in the distance was completely unaware. While running, it sneered, "You still want to chase your Grandpa Huang? In your dreams!"
The moment the words left its mouth, a dark gray shadow fell over its head. Then, with a deafening "boom", an extremely powerful force struck from above. The weasel spirit had no chance to dodge and was completely covered by the wooden pagoda.
The pagoda glowed brightly with golden light. The weasel spirit shrieked and scurried around. It desperately gnawed at the top of the pagoda with its sharp teeth and finally managed to bite a hole.
The weasel spirit struggled out of the pagoda with all its might and rolled into a manure pile beside the field!
The weasel spirit's face was as dark as thunder. It cursed and planted a yellow flag on the ground. Then it whispered, "Ghost soldiers from all directions, heed my command! Summon!"
In the distance, Yu Nian seemed to sense something. She looked up and calmly said, "I guessed right. This weasel is so arrogant because it has a backer."
The weasel spirit had only practiced for a few hundred years, but it had the ability to drive away the soul of the unborn child of Liu Xiu, which showed how profound its cultivation was.
Sure enough, the moment its shrill voice faded, a cold wind suddenly blew up around them. The originally flat ground suddenly made a rustling sound. The soil churned like waves, as if something was about to break out of the ground at any moment.
Then, a pair of pale, bloodless hands suddenly emerged from the empty space beside Yu Nian's feet.
Puff! Puff!
After a series of soft sounds, the surrounding tombs all opened up. Several ghosts with strange faces emerged from the tombs! Their faces were semi - transparent, and their steps were unsteady as they surrounded Yu Nian and the others. The thick ghostly aura quickly covered the sky, making it as black as ink.
Yu Nian had already prepared for battle, but unexpectedly, the terrifying scene suddenly disappeared. It was quiet all around, and she was the only one left.
.............
Feng Chengyuan slowly opened his eyes and felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck.
There was white mist swirling around, and no one was in sight. He tentatively called out "Nian Nian", but there was no response.
Having had the experience of being in illusions several times before, Feng Chengyuan calmly got up and looked for clues around.
The rocks in the forest were rugged, and the paths were bumpy. Coupled with the rain that had fallen a few days ago, there were puddles of water on the ground.
The bright moonlight made the puddles even more dazzling, like a huge water mirror, in which Yu Nian's side face was faintly reflected.
Feng Chengyuan was stunned for a moment, thinking he was seeing things. But the closer he got, the clearer Yu Nian's figure became.
Feng Chengyuan instinctively reached out his hand to touch, but he missed. A sharp pain suddenly shot through his arm.
"Chengyuan?"
Yu Nian in the water mirror seemed to sense something. She turned her head and called out uncertainly.
Feng Chengyuan's eyes suddenly lit up. He replied, "Nian Nian, I'm here."
Yu Nian heaved a sigh of relief. The wariness on her face faded a little. She said to Feng Chengyuan, "Don't act rashly for now. Be careful."
After saying that, Yu Nian threw a stone in the direction of Feng Chengyuan's voice. But the stone suddenly disappeared in mid - air, and not even the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground was heard.
Both of their faces darkened. If they had tried to find each other just now, they would have been swallowed by the barrier like that stone.
"It seems that this weasel is not only highly powerful but also good at exploiting people's hearts."
Feng Chengyuan frowned tightly and asked, "What on earth is this?"
Yu Nian stared at the surroundings and looked down at the foot of the mountain. A river wound around it. It was being whipped up by the hurricane and was extremely turbulent, constantly emitting cold air and stench. It was like a coiling python, forming a closed - loop circle that tightly surrounded the entire mountain.
If someone accidentally fell into it, they might not even leave a corpse.
Yu Nian finally said, "There's something strange about this mountain. The Yin energy in the corpse - accumulating area is already very strong, and there's stagnant water winding around the foot of the mountain. Water belongs to Yin, so it naturally forms an extremely Yin place. It's midnight now, and the Yin energy is surging. That weasel spirit has taken advantage of the right time and place. This is also the place where it has practiced for many years, so its power has multiplied several times. Moreover, weasels are very spiritual animals. Different from other spirits, they are very good at deploying troops and setting up formations. We should have been trapped in two different spaces by the weasel. You can see me, but I can't see you."