Chapter 49: Cleverly Breaking the Evil Formation

"You..."

Hearing the female corpse's words, I was completely choked up.

A pervert!

Taking advantage of my predicament at a time like this.

What kind of decent person expects to be called "Master" all day long?

Seeing that I didn't move, the female corpse wasn't in a hurry either, sitting on the vehicle completely motionless.

Meanwhile, the voices of the crowd came from behind once again.

"What's next?"

"What are we waiting for? She's a perfectly fine, innocent young maiden, and so pretty too, yet they keep insisting she's a corpse."

"Quick, quick! Driver, how about this—I'll pay you an extra three bucks, let's just head back to the city today."

At these words, the driver was tempted. He was probably thinking that losing a little money was better than losing more.

A wave of anxiety washed over me instantly.

"You're just taking advantage of my plight!"

"Who's taking advantage of you? You only have a few hundred bucks on you anyway, I wouldn't even deign to look at it!" the female corpse said expressionlessly.

"You... you..."

I wanted to say something harsh, but I was afraid of getting beaten up. And I really didn't want to carry her on my back again.

I could only gnash my teeth and say, "Fine... Mas... ter..."

The words came out completely stiff and forced.

The female corpse said faintly, "Did something rotten die in your mouth?"

"I..."

I was left breathless once again by her retort.

"Forget it!"

To be honest, my temper isn't all that great.

My grandfather and Crazy Zhao both said my birth characters possessed pure yang energy, which naturally made my liver fire run high. Hence, my temper was hard to control.

The only reason I could keep enduring it was simply because I couldn't beat her—this was what they called adapting to circumstances like a wise man.

Seeing me turn around, intending to ignore her, she moved. Whether it was because she realized she couldn't squeeze anything more out of me, or because she was also in a hurry to get to the city, who knew.

In short, she moved.

After a flash of an afterimage, the brawny man in the distance was heard shouting to the crowd, "Let's go, let's go, back to the county seat first, don't listen to that idiot kid, I—urgh!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a pair of slender hands clamped around his neck.

Then, built as robustly as he was, the grown man was lifted directly into the air.

The crowd froze.

Everyone was dumbfounded, standing there with their mouths hanging wide open in silence.

The brawny man couldn't speak, struggling helplessly while a strange sound came from his throat.

"Click-clack—click-clack—"

His face grew redder and redder.

Right at that moment, the female corpse abruptly whipped her head around!

In an instant, her face transformed into the appearance of a fox!

"Ah!!! Ghost!!!"

Someone screamed at the top of their lungs.

Everyone scattered in all directions, fleeing far away from where the brawny man was hanging.

It wasn't just them who had the scare of a lifetime; I was completely terrified out of my wits too.

What on earth was going on?

Wasn't she... wasn't she a female corpse?

Or perhaps... a soul?

I had considered every possibility, but... but why a fox now?

I stared at her with wide eyes.

After a brief moment, the fox-like face vanished instantly, reverting to her original appearance.

"Watch your language! That boy is the only one allowed to curse at me!"

"Whoosh!"

Another blur of motion, and the female corpse reappeared right beside me on the vehicle.

There was not the slightest expression on her face, which remained entirely calm—as if the person who had just bared her ferocious fangs wasn't her at all.

The crowd couldn't keep up with her speed. They could only stare at the brawny man collapsed on the ground, gasping wildly for air, clutching his neck in a half-dead state.

When their gazes shifted back to me and the female corpse, they finally believed.

Every single one of them stood rooted to the spot, their legs trembling, casting helpless glances at the pitch-black wasteland surrounding them.

In the middle of this desolate wilderness, where could they possibly run?

Fatty Er, reacting faster than I did for once, immediately shouted to the crowd, "Hahaha, just a little parlor trick, everyone don't panic! Are you all starting to realize the true power of Grand Celestial Master Han Tiangang now?"

The crowd looked at Fatty Er, then exchanged glances among themselves.

The middle-aged woman finally spoke up, "We believe it, we believe it. This... this zombie... this young lady, she doesn't hurt people, right?"

Everyone cared deeply about this question and stared intently at Fatty Er.

Fatty Er immediately blurted out, "Of course she doesn't hurt people! With the cultivation level of this millennium zombie, you would've all been goners the moment you got on the vehicle! Would you have lasted until now? As long as the Grand Celestial Master is here, there's definitely nothing to worry about. All of you just need to listen to my brother, and we'll safely make it into the city! Understand?"

They were just ordinary villagers from a small place. After witnessing the female corpse's terrifying methods, how could any of them dare to say a single word of dissent?

"Understood, understood! We won't talk, we'll cooperate, guaranteed cooperation!"

Several of the women were naturally superstitious, and at this moment, they were utterly docile.

Fatty Er then swaggered over to the brawny man lying on the ground. "Well, little bro, what about you?"

The brawny man, recovering and gasping for breath simultaneously, wheezed, "I understand too, I won't say a word... hoo-hoo—cough-cough—"

With that, he coughed up a thick, stubborn lump of phlegm.

Only then did Fatty Er return to my side with a smug expression, giving me a wink.

"How's that? Did big brother manage to keep them in line just now? Was that bluff convincing enough?"

I nodded.

Finally, I had regained control of the situation.

The task at hand was simply to break this sorcery so we could head into the city. As for whether they would go around spreading wild tales, it didn't matter. Who would know whose child I was or where I came from?

Others would surely just treat it as listening to a story and leave it at that.

I walked up to the crowd, finding it quite amusing to see how utterly obedient they were now.

Just a moment ago, everyone had their own opinions. Now, with so many people, not a single person had a dissenting thought.

"Alright, everyone please wait a moment. Once I break this formation, we'll hit the road again."

The crowd nodded, not uttering a single word throughout.

If I had known the female corpse's intervention would be this effective, why would I have gone through so much trouble?

I walked over to where the black dog skin had been placed on the road ahead, crouched down, and pinched a bit of dust from the ground beside it, sniffing it lightly.

Cinnabar, indeed.

The mustache man's technique was entirely unorthodox compared to mainstream Taoism. Rather than calling it sorcery, it was closer to witchcraft, heavily popular in Xiangxi and Nanyang.

I said to Fatty Er, "Er, go check both sides of the road. There should be four pillars of sandalwood incense on each side. Snap the incense sticks in half at the waist, but don't let them fall over."

"Got it!"

Fatty Er naturally obeyed my instructions without question, immediately walking to the roadside and clumsily scrambling down the embankment, vanishing into the night.

Then I asked the brawny man and the driver, "Which of you smokes?"

Hearing this, the driver replied, "I have some cheap cigarettes. Do... would you like one? Two-yuan Red Plum..."

He was treating me with utmost respect now, afraid I wanted to smoke and that his brand wasn't good enough to offer.

"I don't smoke. You start smoking now—about five cigarettes worth—and collect the ash in the palm of your hand, then give it to me when you're done."

Though the driver had no idea what I was up to, he immediately pulled out a cigarette, squatted aside to light it, and carefully cupped his palm to catch the ash.

Meanwhile, I rolled up the empty dog skin into a ball, pulled out a lighter, and set it ablaze.

Instantly, a foul, burning stench filled the air, accompanied by the distinctive smell of scorched dog fur.

"Cough-cough—"

I quickly moved away from the direction of the wind.

Next, I scooped up the bones, blood, and flesh from the washbasin with my hands.

The crowd watched with furrowed brows.

As I flung the remains toward both sides of the road, I chanted:

"Dust to dust, earth to earth,
The beast's hardship, forged by heaven and earth,
May you be a tiger in your next life,
And suffer no more in the underworld!"

With those words, I scattered the remains completely into the surrounding darkness, finally pouring the bloody water along both edges of the road.

Right at that moment, Fatty Er's voice rang out from the west side: "Tiangang! Tiangang! Come quick! Something's happened over here!"