At this moment,


    the night was deep.


    No one had noticed the strange happenings in Lanxiu Tower.


    On the deserted streets, not a ghost''s shadow was to be seen, only a toad that had strayed onto the long street croaking tirelessly.


    Suddenly, at the end of the street appeared a mysterious figure d in a ck robe with a ck hood. He almost melded into the night, moving like a specter, each step shing, reappearing more than ten meters away.


    Upon seeing the continuously croaking toad by the roadside, he halted, nced at it, and the toad instantly exploded into a mist of blood.


    After a few shes, the mysterious figure dove into the midst of the mist.


    "Hong Jian, have you gathered all the materials needed for the Five Viscera and Five Elements ck Sky Attraction Formation?"


    "Hehe, of course, the most crucial ck heart was quite a find for me."


    "It had to be the heart of someone born in the most Yin year, month, day, and hour, and with a ckened heart at that. It must be freshly killed to collect the blood from the heart for the formation, otherwise, I wouldn''t have dyed for so long," a voice like silver bells suddenly rang out.


    The female ghost in white seated in the pavilion, holding red scissors, casually produced a heart that was still faintly beating, her eyes gleaming as if she were beholding a treasure.


    The mysterious figure''s eyes lit up at the sight, reaching out to take the heart, but the female ghost in white deftly avoided him.


    "What do you mean by this, Hong Jian?"


    "Nothing much, ck Robe. Just tell me, once we retrieve the left hand of the Corpse God, will the Great Protector genuinely lift my ve mark? And will he truly teach me the Art of Corpse Possession and Spirit Capturing?"


    "The Great Protector''s cultivation reaches the heavens; when has he ever gone back on his word?"


    "My Corpse God Sect never shortchanges its meritorious disciples," the mysterious figure said in a deep voice.


    Thinking of the grand figure that always sat beside the bloodke, the female ghost in white''s expression cleared slightly. After all, the Great Protector, though ruthless and brutal, had indeed never gone back on his word.


    With this thought, she no longer dodged, and the mysterious figure also produced a ck liver with a flick of his hand.


    The two key main materials for the Five Viscera and Five Elements ck Sky Attraction Formation were finally assembled.


    The Great Protector, with his sky-reaching cultivation, had calcted that the left arm of the Corpse God was sealed within the territory of Fengyun County. Thus, he ordered the assembly of the Five Viscera and Five Elements ck Sky Attraction Formation and sent these two to find the exact location and retrieve the Corpse God''s left arm.


    This formation was truly unique, requiring the viscera of five heinously evil people as the primary materials: the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.


    The importance of these five materials increased from right to left, with the heart and liver being the most crucial.


    The spleen, lungs, and kidneys coulde from ordinary evildoers, but when it came to the heart and liver, the criteria became much more selective.


    Of course, a ckened heart was a non-negotiable requirement.


    The liver had toe from someone born in the most Yin year, month, and day. As for the heart, not only the birth chart was scrutinized, but it also had to be harvested within an hour of the person''s death.


    This made their search quite arduous.


    Young Master Li naturally became the lucky one to be killed and dissected on the spot.


    Just then, something urred to the female ghost in white, and she asked:


    "ck Robe, this matter is of great significance. We aren''t going to be targeted by the experts of the Town Peace Bureau during this trip, are we?"


    The mysterious figure in the ck hood heard this and couldn''t help but show a smug smile, "The Great Protector is meticulous in strategy, how could he leave such arge oversight?"


    "You need not worry about the Town Peace Bureau. The Great Protector has deployed his strategies behind the scenes, already causing disturbances in the surrounding counties to create a diversion. The Town Peace Bureau of Ping''an County is currently short-handed, and there''s no way a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator woulde to investigate."


    "It would be a sign of their taking us seriously if even ate-stage Essence Transforming expert arrived."


    "Previously, there was a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator named Bai Yunzi in Fengyun County, but now he''s biting the dust. Today, Fengyun County is nothing more than a ce with a few stray cats."


    "How could a small county with not even a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator to its name possibly stop the likes of us?"


    ck Robe waved his hand, and suddenly behind him appeared two tall, ghastly-faced, fanged, golden armored corpses, and then he retrieved a blood-colored ancient jade from his chest.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This ancient jade was a deep red, translucent with dimly visible blood light swirling within.


    "Is this the Great Protector''s...?"


    The ghost woman in white, upon seeing the two golden armored corpses behind the man in ck, already showed a delighted expression. When she then saw the blood-colored ancient jade that he took out, she was so shocked that she stood up abruptly, her ghostly aura rippling.


    "Hong Jian, mind your words."


    "Are you at ease now?"


    "This is a great achievement that has just fallen into ourps."


    "Together, we don''t need to hide at all. For a small ce like Fengyun County, a straightforward push is all that''s needed."


    When their gazes met, their eyes were fervent, and a fanatical look appeared on their faces as they chanted in unison:


    "Follow the Longevity God, to save the world with expansive mercy!"


    Afterward, the two of them started to set up the Formation with great urgency and closely guarded secrecy.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    On the express route from Ping''an County to Fengyun County, Lin Zhengyi, a hundred-household officer of the Town Peace Division, was riding a ck horse with a slight protrusion on its head, galloping at breakneck speed.


    Out of nowhere, chaos ensued,plete chaos.


    In just a day or two, the entire Ping''an County became a mess.


    The whole Ping''an County, governing over a dozen smaller counties, received pleas for help from seven or eight, with rumors of ghastly possessions and evil spirits spreading everywhere.


    There were fires and smoke everywhere.


    All mentioned that the Eight Trigrams Mirror for Capturing Evil had shattered, with each report more grave than thest.


    In Yi Yang County of the Zhao family, in a single night, over a hundred people hanged themselves, swinging like cured meat from the house beams in the breeze.


    In Mi Luo County of the Qian family, few hundred people lined up to leap into thergest fragrant pond in the county, not just jumping but also doing strokes like the frog kick, the breaststroke, and the freestyle, all while gulping down golden liquid with eerie smiles on their faces.


    Bystanders urgently warned them not to drink, saying it was dangerous, but they only drank with more gusto, ending up either dead from overconsumption or from drowning.


    The scene was extremely explosive.


    The most ruthless was the Sun family of Duan Yang County who, in front of an assembled crowd, set up dozens of stoves and put on a brutal show.


    About a hundred people collectively sliced open their bellies, disemboweling themselves before publicly cooking up a dish of their own intestines. Apart from a few lucky survivors who were rescued, the rest effectively perished.


    The most tragic incident happened to the Ren family of Hei Shi County. When they were moving their great-grandfather''s grave, a flying stiff emerged that bit anyone it saw. In the end, the great-grandfather sessfully annihted his entire family, turning the deceased all into ambtory corpses.


    ...


    ...


    Compared to those counties, Fengyun County seemed quite normal, with only a wealthy family, the Wangs, being killed by having their livers removed. Its rtive calmness meant it didn''t even rank among the chaos of the other counties.


    However, based on many years of intuition, Lin Zhengyi had a vague feeling that the less severe cases might actually be the most problematic. Thus, as a hundred-household officer of the Town Peace Division of Ping''an County with cultivation at thete stage of the Qi Refinement Realm, he volunteered to head to Fengyun County alone, traveling day and night.


    The horse Lin Zhengyi was riding was a lesser dragon-horse issued by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to officers of the Town Peace Division. The horse was swift as the wind and had exceptional stamina. Moreover, the ride was so smooth that he hardly felt the bumps.


    He lifted his head to look at the full moon overhead, his mind full of thoughts.


    Such significant disturbances were an indication that something was not normal, but whaty behind it remained a mystery.


    "Sigh, for now, I can only take things one step at a time."


    Putting aside his scattered thoughts, Lin Zhengyi continued his urgent night journey.