Chapter 168: The Way of a Teacher
“These things…are so disgusting.”

she sighed.

The heads and bodies were out of place. These monsters had no wisdom or rationality. They had lost their self-identity and the ability to think. They simply followed their instincts, wriggling their disgusting fat bodies in the deep pit, making tiny noises that gave people a strange and creepy feeling.

Jiang Yunmei also noticed those vivid human faces, which looked like the expressions a person showed at the last moment before death, and they were cast and solidified.

So vivid and lifelike, it’s as if you can feel the emotions preserved along with the expressions…

She had a cruel guess:
“Could it be that all these monsters are transformed from humans?”

“……Um.”

Song Yutang nodded with a heavy expression.

“I saw it with my own eyes. Senior Li Huishan became like this. After being knocked down, she disappeared.”

“What a bunch of poor fellows.”

Jiang Yunmei sighed softly.

The number of man-worms in the pit indicated that at least a dozen victims had been transformed into monsters under the influence of the evil spell.

……

The two girls turned their eyes away from the human-insects. These monsters only looked disgusting, but they were only concerned with pestering their own kind and digging in the soil, paying no attention to the outside world, and were not a threat to them.

“What are you going to do next?”

Jiang Yunmei took out her camera and recorded all the cruel and pitiful scenes in the pit while asking her companions.

“Your battle isn’t over yet, is it?”

“Of course. I’ve seen them all, and Ke Junchen’s face is not in them.”

Song Yutang shook his head.

“Well, he’s not in the pit, and we saw him in his ‘man-worm form’ that night. He was very large, not comparable to the man-worms here.”

Jiang Yunmei put the camera back into her bag and said:

“Don’t worry, we have an agreement that I will help you find Ke Junchen. Since the agreement has not been completed, I will continue to accompany you until you find that guy.”

“……it is good.”

……

They temporarily left the human-insects behind and continued walking up the hillside to investigate the surrounding situation.

Using “Tianlei Wuwang” can naturally slowly clear out the monsters in the pit, but since they pose no threat, Song Yutang decided not to consume any extra true energy.

Her main target is Ke Junchen, and the girl dare not relax at all before winning this battle.

Jiang Yunmei agreed with this. Her reason was that it was not clear why the human-insects were kept here by the believers, and killing them might alert the enemy.

After passing the deep pit, there are several concrete houses lined up in front. They look like the common single-family self-built houses in the countryside, but they are not paved with tiles or painted. The cold and hard edges and gray building shell make them look even more eerie in the night.

When Song Yutang opened the door of the first room, she covered her nose as the smell of dust and mold hit her in the face.

What comes into view is the mottled walls, with most of the cement layer on the walls peeling off, exposing the rusty steel bars inside; the corners of the roof are full of cracks, giving a precarious feeling that it may collapse at any time, and it does not look like it can shelter from the wind and rain.

There were several tattered lampshades covered in thick dust hanging from the ceiling. Most of them had only a single wire left inside. The surviving light bulbs hung there precariously, but it was impossible to light them up again. There were spider webs everywhere and dust accumulated in every gap.

Several windows were broken, and the few remaining pieces of glass were shaking on the window frames, making a “ding-dong” sound when blown by the night wind. Through the broken windows, one could see the desolate night outside.

“There are signs that someone has lived here… but it was at least several years ago.”

Jiang Yunmei covered her mouth and nose and turned on the flashlight. The bright beam of light moved slowly, outlining the entire picture of the room bit by bit.

From some abandoned daily necessities, one can seem to get a glimpse of the past: a worn-out chair lying on the ground, with a broken back and dusty cushions; next to it is an old table with a few yellowed books and dried pens scattered on it; at the corner of the table lies a broken ceramic cup with several deep cracks on it.
……

Walking out of this house and turning into the next door, the scene inside is similar, also dilapidated and abandoned for a long time; but there are a few more items that have not been taken away yet, which is enough to prove Jiang Yunmei’s speculation that “this is a gathering place for cultists.”

There are portraits in the style of religious paintings, all of which show similar scenes: a strange white shadow with people kneeling fanatically at its feet; and the covers of books found nearby often have titles such as “The Golden Words of Master Jingshan”.

They entered the third building.

There are more items on display in this building than in the previous two buildings, and more importantly…

The beam of light from the flashlight in Song Yutang’s hand pierced through the floating dust and shone into the corner of the room, where a ragged, motionless shadow was covered by cobwebs.

“…”

Her breathing stopped for a moment, and she immediately raised the flashlight upwards, and saw a skull tightly wrapped in a spider web.

A few small spiders crawled out of the empty eye sockets and crawled all the way to the lower jaw, hurriedly avoiding the beam of light.

They found the skeleton of a person who had been dead for many years.

“Let me go a little.”

“Senior sister…”

Jiang Yunmei behind him walked towards the skeleton. She put on gloves at some point and squatted down to start examining it with a very skillful and professional posture.

The skeleton curled up its body with its back against a rough concrete wall, its skull slightly lowered, its arms bent, its palms naturally placed on its knees, and its legs maintained a relaxed bend. The whole posture appeared both stiff and unusually peaceful, as if it had merged into this corner.

Senior Jiang moved the skeleton’s neck and chest, and finally said in a confirming tone:
“It was suicide. The only wound on his body was on his neck.”

The light from the flashlight illuminated the ground next to the skeleton. A short knife fell next to it. The bloodstains that once remained on it had now become black and merged with the rust.

“I understand.”

Song Yutang heard his companion suddenly speak in a deep tone.

Jiang Yunmei was still squatting there with her back to her, without getting up.

“Understand what?”

“I think this cult has more than just followers, more than just the sorcerer you are hunting down. There should be some more evil and more powerful force behind it… perhaps a supernatural life form that transcends humans.”

“…Isn’t it a human bug?”

The only ghosts Song Yutang has seen so far are human-worms, which are nothing more than the difference between a huge mature form and a smaller infancy.

“Human-worms have no brains. Anyone can see that they are stupid creatures that only act on instinct. Moreover, they are transformed from humans through magic.”

Jiang Yunmei shook her head.

“Worshiping this kind of thing doesn’t seem to fit in with the way believers think.”

“That makes sense. What do you think?”

“I think these human insects may just be sacrifices, slaves of the mastermind, or even food.” Jiang Yunmei said, “There is some more terrible monster that secretly manipulates people, spreads evil power, and transforms living victims into human insects for it to enjoy.” …

Hearing this, Song Yutang couldn’t help but fall into silence, while Jiang Yunmei’s expression remained serious for a while, and then quickly relaxed.

“If that’s the case, I don’t think you can handle it.”

“Yes, if there really is an opponent stronger than Ke Junchen who has transformed into a human-insect behind this incident, I am indeed no match for him.”

She admitted it frankly.

Even the current Ke Junchen… was just the right amount of challenging, which made her sigh at her master’s sharp vision.

“But you still seem to be confident?”

“Because I know someone who is stronger than me. If it’s him, no matter what kind of ghost it is, it’s no problem. This person is currently near Baijing Mountain. I will contact him when necessary.”

Song Yutang’s tone was full of confidence, which aroused Jiang Yunmei’s interest.

“Oh, is that the person you called earlier?”

“…”

The junior school girl didn’t answer, but in her opinion it was almost the same as her consent.

“Um……”

Jiang Yunmei didn’t know what she was thinking about. After a long while, she said:
“…Because of my family, I have actually met quite a few curse masters. Mr. Song, your strength is definitely one of the best among them. The attack you unleashed that day is something that not many people can use.”

Song Yutang was stunned for a moment.

Of course, what Jiang Yunmei said was true. If Cen Dongsheng were present, he would definitely agree with this point.

Even though she had only been a curse-master for less than two weeks, her rapidly increasing strength was enough to make her combat effectiveness surpass more than 90% of her peers of this era.

There’s no way, it’s different with a life ban.

However, although he knew nothing about the current situation of the curse-master society, Song Yutang still showed a confident smile on his face.

“Of course I am considered stronger.”

Song Yutang didn’t know about other spell-binding masters, but she remembered clearly what Cen Dongsheng had said to her.

She thought to herself: “Master trained me so that I could fight alongside him. It would be shameful if I were too weak.”

“…But are you sure that person is stronger than you?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Yunmei nodded and didn’t say anything else.

In fact, she had intended to advise the schoolmate to be careful and to run away with her if necessary, which was not shameful; it would be best not to investigate the incident further after defeating the opponent.

But now she no longer continues this topic because she can see that Schoolgirl Song trusts and relies on “that person” very much and is sure that the other party can defeat the mastermind behind the scenes.

Jiang Yunmei couldn’t possibly understand this kind of trust. But for some reason, she seemed to have a little hope in her heart…

The human-worms transformed from humans, the ghosts and gods who manipulate everything behind the scenes, the supernatural entities that people cannot resist – these are not her random judgments.

This speculation came naturally because she had a deep understanding of this evil.

…But now is not the time to talk about this.

Jiang Yunmei sighed secretly, she raised her head and smiled at Song Yutang, with a hint of curiosity in her tone.

“I’m very interested in ‘that person’ that Song respects so much. If you’re free, can you arrange for us to meet after we get back?”

For some reason, Song Yutang looked at the other person from head to toe with a scrutinizing gaze, which made Jiang Yunmei feel uneasy.

“…Yeah, if there’s a chance, I will.”

For some reason, her tone seemed to become a little cold all of a sudden.

……

The change occurred when they left the third and final house.

The moment they stepped out, the girls’ faces changed.

The moonlight was obscured by the pitch-black smoke rising into the sky. There was a strange feeling of heaviness in the air, and the body seemed to be sinking little by little into the icy cold lake water.

Under the cold moonlight, only the outline of the boy standing at the bottom of the hill was illuminated slightly.

Ke Junchen suddenly appeared, staring at the hole at his feet, looking down at the entangled human-worms moving in the mud.

He raised his head and looked at Song Yutang, who was facing a formidable enemy, and Jiang Yunmei, who was hiding behind her. A gentle smile appeared on his pale face, and a strong yin energy emanated from his body.

“You guys are visiting my home.”

Ke Junchen looked around.

“This is where I lived with my parents when I was a kid… Unfortunately, I haven’t been back for a long time since I went to school.”

He looked at the deep pit again and said in a dreamlike tone:

“Did you see it? The uncles and aunts next door, grandparents, cousins ​​from distant relatives, brothers and sisters from neighbors… Everyone used to live in the same village, but the relationship was not very good. They always quarreled over trivial matters. Now it’s different. With the gift of the teacher, everyone lives in the same cave, no longer distinguished from each other, and lives happily… But there are always some regrets that cannot be made up. I heard that my uncle refused the reward and chose to commit suicide. I really don’t understand him…”

The strange words and the rustling sounds behind him together created a crazy scene.

“In fact, my uncle and I were the closest before, and I wanted to escape from this place. But after dying once, I realized that this place will always be my home, and no one can escape fate… The Master gave me guidance and found a home for me… So, I can finally be with my family forever, just like now.”

The ghost bathed in the moonlight opened his arms, embracing the two faces that were slowly coming around from behind him: two wrinkled faces of old men, with pale insect bodies dragging under their heads.

Song Yutang said nothing. She pulled Jiang Yunmei behind her and raised her other hand. The electricity at her fingertips concentrated and gathered, making a sharp cry like a flying bird.

Indigo electric lights bloom, illuminating the night.

“…You are not guests.”

Ke Junchen stopped smiling and his expression became eerie and terrifying.

“I am the disciple that Master Humanity values ​​the most, so Master Humanity gave me the ability to think and the method of cultivation, so that I can spread the great way of returning to the same place…”

The outline of his body below his neck twisted in an instant, like an oil painting splashed with water, and the paint quickly spread out in the night.

The illusory outline of the light quickly expanded and swelled, turning into a bloated giant with a human head and an insect body, coiling and surrounding, more than four stories high, and several times larger than the last time it was seen.

“You…will all become nutrients for the master to achieve enlightenment!”

The ghost opened its pitch-black mouth and roared, and for a moment sand and rocks flew everywhere, and evil energy filled the field.

(End of this chapter)