After the Villainess Awakens

They first sealed the burial ground of the Balor Bones with a talisman formation to prevent future troubles.

Then, from a collapsed section of the town wall in the southwest corner, they flew in on their swords.

It was not yet midnight, and the entire Le Tan Town was pitch black. Fortunately, the moon was bright tonight, and the streets were silent. Every few houses, there were lamps lit, the kind that Leng Tianyin had mentioned before, the oil lamps that could suppress the spiritual power of cultivators.

Sure enough, the people in this town were also on guard against their return. However, Leng Mushi and the others all had spiritual power arrays covering their mouths and noses. The death energy emanating from the oil lamps scattered on the streets could not penetrate the barrier of the spiritual power arrays.

But they couldn't allow the death energy to linger in the town, so the disciples quickly and quietly extinguished the oil lamps.

Leng Mushi then opened her storage bag and released the Night Crying Boy, whose life force was becoming increasingly weak.

"Take us to the town mayor," Leng Mushi said. "Don't be afraid, we're with you, he must know where your body is hidden."

The Night Crying Boy nodded and led the group of disciples, floating towards the east end of the town.

The disciples' footsteps were extremely light, landing silently. Every house was dark, and the place looked like a deserted ghost town.

But who would have thought that during the day, these Balor Bones, disguised as humans, having devoured the consciousness and souls of their original owners, would come out and live their lives as if they were real people.

As if this was how they were supposed to be, living peacefully here.

No ghost story could be more terrifying than this. After all, these Balor Bones couldn't have occupied the entire town overnight. They might have only been a few mixed in with the crowd at first.

Close relatives and friends couldn't tell the difference between a Balor Bone that had taken over a body and a real person. They might have some abnormalities, such as vomiting when they first started eating, or going to bed early after dark. No one would have guessed that the person had been possessed by an evil spirit, they would only think that they were perhaps unwell, or simply went to bed earlier.

Even if occasionally, in the dead of night, these Balor Bones were caught red-handed while absorbing the yang energy of living people.

But so what? An excuse like "you kicked off the blanket, I'll cover you up" could cover up everything.

Unless one was a powerful cultivator, no one could see through the Balor Bones at a glance. The yang energy they absorbed would mask the resentment and decay on their remnant souls, making them appear like real people.

Even the Yellow Springs couldn't know that a living person had been possessed by a Balor Bone, because the person who shouldn't have died according to the Book of Life and Death was still "alive" in the human world.

Now that the entire town's population had been taken over by Balor Bones, they had nowhere to absorb yang energy to cover up the resentment and decay on their remnant souls, and they had frantically set their sights on cultivators.

If they hadn't happened to encounter new disciples like Leng Mushi and the others who were brave and united, perhaps in a few decades, or even a hundred years, a powerful cultivator would have only accidentally discovered that more than one town, or even an entire country, had been occupied by Balor Bones.

Because when they were sealing the burial ground of the Balor Bones, they discovered many unformed Balor Bones inside, some of which were even fresh corpses. Passing merchants and even ordinary travelers who passed through Le Tan Town had their yang energy sucked dry and were thrown into mass graves to create new Balor Bones.

Everyone felt a chill down their spines just thinking about it. They followed the Night Crying Boy's childlike form, condensed from resentment, all the way to the easternmost part of the town, where they finally saw a residence.

The courtyard was very large, and behind it was the side of the mountain. Judging from its location, it was the location of the Balor Bone burial ground they had sealed. It was a shortcut to go through the courtyard and through the woods to the burial ground.

And right now, the courtyard was pitch black, with two oil lamps emitting death energy hanging at the main entrance.

Leng Mushi guessed that these oil lamps were made from the corpses of the Balor Bone burial ground, but at this moment, these things posed no threat to them. The disciples quickly and deftly took down the oil lamps and extinguished them.

After the oil lamps were extinguished, the group did not open the gate, but directly climbed over the wall and ran quickly towards the inside of the courtyard.

They split up into several groups, surrounding the front and back courtyards, and quickly set up a barrier to prevent anyone from escaping.

However, just as they landed in the courtyard, they heard some strange noises.

Cultivators had keen senses, and soon all the disciples made out that it was actually the sound of a man and a woman having intercourse.

The man was panting heavily, while the woman seemed to be both crying and laughing.

The two disciples who were about to break in hesitated slightly. You Zishu, standing outside the door, also frowned. Xiao Mian directly reached out to cover Leng Mushi's ears.

Leng Mushi: …

She wasn't a child anymore!

Leng Mushi brushed aside Xiao Mian's arm, kicked open the door, and was the first to rush in.

In the darkness, the disciples, including You Zishu and Xiao Mian, looked at Leng Mushi with changed expressions once again.

As expected of someone who accomplishes great things, they don't stick to trivial matters--

Then Leng Mushi barged into the inner room and was startled by the overly stimulating and explicit scene. Two white figures directly pierced into Leng Mushi's eyes, almost blinding her on the spot.

She let out a yelp and turned around to rush out.

It was truly… an affront to decency!

She didn't think it was anything, but what she read in those storybooks were all shy and timid, covered up. Even though she had disguised herself as a man and visited brothels, she had only heard the sounds of pleasure, and had never seen such a spicy scene. After all, prostitutes were most particular about elegance and romance.

But when Leng Mushi suddenly saw a fat, out-of-shape figure, with wrinkles all over her body, swaying as if she was an old sow standing up, busy with her work, and the fat on her body trembling along with it, how could she not be blinded!

The only reason she didn't vomit on the spot was that she hadn't eaten much during the day!

However, after Leng Mushi rushed out, the disciples had already rushed in and quickly subdued the swaying town mayor, as well as… the beauty the town mayor had just been busy with.

She was indeed a beauty. Leng Mushi saw her wrapped in a quilt, sitting on the bed like an empty shell without a soul. There were still tear stains on her face, and her whole being was wooden. After seeing the disciples, she looked up, her expression seemingly smiling, but crying.

Leng Mushi had excellent eyesight and recognized the woman at a glance. She was the woman in the pink dress who had stood on the city wall the day they were driven away.

At that time, she had not, like the other townspeople, taken up tools to drive them away. She had only stood on the city wall, watching them leave, her whole body filled with sadness and despair.

Leng Mushi saw the Night Crying Boy standing not far from her, seeming to want to get closer, but after sniffing the air, he suddenly burst into tears and didn't go near her.

The town mayor's fat body was wrapped tightly in an outer garment by the disciples, and the sleeves were tied behind him as ropes. After his initial shock, he began to shout and curse loudly.

"You murderers! What are you back for!" The town mayor's eyes were bloodshot, and he spat, "Get out of our town! You cultivators, trespassing like this, aren't you breaking the law?!"

Leng Mushi felt nauseous looking at him now. Xiao Mian hurriedly gagged him with a cloth. The servants in this house were also subdued by the disciples.

You Zishu walked up to the town mayor and pressed Xue Ling, whose body was filled with a chilling coldness, against his neck, and asked, "We already know that the entire town is made up of you. This is indeed your town, but what you are, we don't need to say. I'm only asking you now,"

You Zishu pointed at the Night Crying Boy, who was looking at the woman on the bed but not approaching, and asked coldly, "Where is he being kept?"

The town mayor seemed to have never expected that these cultivators would see through them. His eyes widened in shock, and seeing that he was asking about that annoying brat who refused to die, he was even more terrified.

"What… what are you talking about! I don't understand!" The town mayor, his mouth gagged, screamed in a sharp and muffled voice, still trying to put up a futile resistance. You Zishu directly slashed his arm with his sword, creating a deep wound that exposed the bone.

Thick, black blood gushed out, not the usual blood of a living person, but blood as black as ink.

The expressions of the disciples in the room changed slightly. You Zishu continued to ask, "Where is he being kept?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The town mayor screamed muffledly, his mouth still gagged. Leng Mushi really didn't expect him to be so stubborn.

But soon a disciple rushed in to report, "Townspeople are coming!"

A second disciple also rushed in and told them, "There are so many people…"

"Oh no, they might have sensed something!" After all, they had been very quiet and careful all along, so it was impossible to alarm anyone who was asleep.

Leng Mushi said, "Tell the disciples to form a formation, don't hold back, there are no living people left in this town except for the Night Crying Boy!"

You Zishu also said, "Go to the backyard and tell Pei Xia and the other middle-level disciples to form the Demon Slaying Formation!"

The town mayor cackled, his mouth stuffed with something, drool flowing down the corners of his mouth, but his laughter was like that of a hen that had just laid an egg.

"You're finished, you're all finished, hahahahaha…"

The town mayor laughed strangely, but he was a Balor Bone after all, and did not have abilities beyond that of an ordinary person. The townspeople outside rushed in like crazy.

The disciples set up the Demon Slaying Formation. Ordinary evil spirits would scream in agony when they came into contact with it, but those townspeople screamed and charged at the barrier regardless of their lives! The Demon Slaying Formation had no effect on these Balor Bones at all, and could only be used as an ordinary barrier.

You Zishu and Xiao Mian dragged the town mayor out. Leng Mushi walked to the Night Crying Boy's side and glanced at the woman on the bed who was being restrained. She felt that she was strange, different from the hysterical evil spirits outside, exceptionally quiet and empty.

As a woman, Leng Mushi couldn't bear to see her naked under the quilt, so she randomly put a coat on her.

Then she was shocked to find that the woman's limbs were slender, but her belly was as round as if she was carrying a large watermelon. It was covered with scarlet meridians, and when Leng Mushi reached out and pressed it, she could feel something moving inside. She was actually… pregnant!

But this was not the time to be shocked. Leng Mushi, along with two other disciples, dragged the pregnant woman out as well.

The townspeople were holding countless torches, and the entire courtyard was lit up as bright as day.

With the barrier in front of them, they couldn't get in, so they went crazy outside, throwing torches at the barrier, smashing hoes, picks, shovels, and iron cones at it.

You Zishu held his sword to the town mayor's neck. Not only did the people outside not calm down, they became even more frantic!

However, when Leng Mushi pulled out the woman who had been silent the entire time, the townspeople calmed down a little, shouting for them to let her go.

"Let them go!"

"Get out of our town!"

More and more people gathered outside, at least four to five hundred people, surrounding the barrier in a black mass. It was evident that when they were driven away during the day, not all of these townspeople had been mobilized.

The disciples maintained the barrier, their spiritual power constantly being depleted. Moreover, the spiritual energy here was thin, and they were running out of strength.

Leng Mushi was observant, and Xiao Mian was also meticulous. The two looked at each other, and Xiao Mian walked over to the woman with his sword drawn, pressing the blade against her neck.

The townspeople outside, who had been in an uproar, instantly fell silent. No, it should be said that they became deathly quiet.

Even the town mayor, whose arm had been bleeding non-stop and had dried up to a layer of skin, twisted his neck with great effort and looked over, making muffled noises.

The next moment, the silent townspeople screamed in unison, their voices so earth-shattering that they almost lifted the roof of the house and pierced the eardrums of the disciples.

"Let her go!"

Their voices were so synchronized that it sounded like they were coming from a single person.

This scene was simply too horrifying. Even the new disciples, and even the high-level disciples, had never encountered such a scene before. They all felt goosebumps and the hairs on the back of their necks stood on end.

It turned out that what they cared about most was not the town mayor, but this woman!

Leng Mushi opened her storage bag and distributed the Small Rejuvenation Pills she had refined, as well as some wound medicine, to the disciples to help them replenish their spiritual power.

The disciples took the pills, and the runes on the formation glowed brightly again, making the barrier even stronger.

Leng Mushi called Xiao Mian over. You Zishu and Yi Tu dragged the town mayor over. Leng Mushi took out a beast tooth dagger from her boot, removed the cloth gagging the town mayor's mouth, and in front of him, in front of the entire town, pressed the beast tooth dagger against the woman's belly.

"Don't!"

"Ahhhh!"

"No!"

"Let her go! We can spare your life!"

"You beasts!"

Curses and threats were endless. The town mayor's small eyes stared at the dagger pressed against the woman's belly, bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Leng Mushi gritted her teeth and asked, "Where did you lock up the Night Crying Boy?"

"I don't know, I really don't know, please don't do this, you can't do this, she's just a pregnant woman!"

The town mayor's entire face was trembling, as if the woman's belly really contained his own flesh and blood.

But no matter how much a Balor Bone resembled a living person, it was not a living person. Without life force, how could it conceive a child?

Who knew what kind of demon or monster was in this woman's belly!

Leng Mushi pressed the blade of the dagger closer. "Tell me or not!"

In this short moment, the town mayor was so scared that he was drenched in cold sweat, tears streaming down his face.

"We don't know, we really don't know, that little bastard ran away after his eyes were gouged out, we don't know where he went, we've been looking for him for a long time too!"

"Don't you dare… the child is innocent, the child… ahhhhhhhh!"

The woman, who had been staring blankly, had somehow broken free from her restraints. She must have used a lot of strength because the wrist bone of one of her wrists was already dislocated.

But she still quickly grabbed the dagger in Leng Mushi's hand and stabbed it directly into her own belly.

Caught off guard, Leng Mushi abruptly withdrew her hand.

But the woman, clutching the dagger, pulled it out and stabbed it back in again with gritted teeth--

"Ahhhh!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Ahhhh--"

Including the town mayor, all the townspeople screamed. The blood flowing out of the woman's belly was actually bright red.

She was alive?!

But… she didn't have any life force on her either!

Leng Mushi hurriedly used her clothes to cover the woman's belly, but the woman grabbed Leng Mushi's hand through the clothes. Her empty eyes were as gray as a dead person's, but there was a hint of consciousness in them.

She spoke, her voice hoarse as if she hadn't spoken in a long time. "Where's Ping An, where's my Ping An…"

The screams outside were deafening. All the townspeople went crazy again, frantically ramming themselves against the formation. But the woman, driven mad by this, clutched Leng Mushi's hand and asked her hoarsely, "Where's my Ping An, I can't see him!"

Leng Mushi looked at the Night Crying Boy, who had hugged the woman tightly after she called out Ping An's name.

She asked in a low voice, "You're Ping An's mother, then where is he, he's still alive, he's formed from resentment, he still has life force on him! We're here to save him--"

"He… right!" The woman let out a strange laugh, but the corners of her mouth didn't even lift. Her voice was erratic and raspy. "I hid him, where did I hide him, I…"

"Ah--" She suddenly clutched her stomach and rolled on the ground in pain. It was as if there was an endless flow of blood from her belly, and although the blood was bright red, it carried a rancid smell.

Because they were all focused on maintaining the formation, many disciples had already neglected the small formations around their mouths and noses. After smelling the stench, their spiritual power was being drained away like silkworms drawing silk.

There was a temporary gap in the formation, and several townspeople rushed in. You Zishu kicked the town mayor to the ground and walked in front of the crazed townspeople, pressing his hand against the formation. In an instant, a golden light shone brightly, and the runes instantly bounced the townspeople at the front back out--

The woman clutched her stomach in pain on the ground. When Leng Mushi helped her up again, her eyes were empty once more, and she just looked down at her bloodstained hands, a strange smile on her face.

Leng Mushi saw the Night Crying Boy move away from the woman's side again, and a crazy thought flashed through her mind!

Perhaps Ping An's mother was dead, but a trace of her consciousness remained?!

A mother could do anything for her child, even coexist with an evil spirit?!

Leng Mushi reached out and grabbed the bloodstained dagger from the ground, stabbing it fiercely into the woman's belly once more.

"Ahhhh--"

The screams of hundreds of people echoed through the sky. Leng Mushi, stained with the woman's blood, also felt her own spiritual power being drained away bit by bit. The formation masking the smell on her face broke, and Xiao Mian hurriedly rushed out from the barrier to help Leng Mushi.

But Leng Mushi shouted, "Don't come over! Touching the blood will drain your spiritual power!"

Xiao Mian was anxious, but he still knew what was important. He hurriedly went back to maintain the formation. As long as these Balor Bones couldn't get in, Leng Mushi, who had lost her spiritual power, wouldn't be in danger.

But under the constant attacks of the townspeople, how could the formation be so easy to maintain? The spiritual power of the disciples in the formation began to run out, starting with the low-level disciples.

The spread of the blood flowing from the woman's body had the greatest impact on the low-level disciples. Leng Tianyin, who was closer to Leng Mushi and the others, had already exhausted her spiritual power and had no more pills left. She was next to Yi Tu. When Yi Tu saw that the formation isolating the smell on her had dissipated, he immediately supported the barrier with one hand.

With his other hand, he scooped Leng Tianyin up by the waist, pulled her head down, and pressed it against his jaw. Then he lowered his head and pressed his lips against her forehead to transfer his spiritual power to her.

Xing Zhou frowned deeply when he saw this. "Didn't you say you wouldn't make a move on Junior Sister?!"

Seeing that Leng Tianyin had opened her eyes, Yi Tu hurriedly pushed her away. "I was afraid that her meridians would be torn apart if her spiritual power was completely depleted!"

"Damn you!" Xing Zhou kicked Yi Tu's calf. "You could have transferred your spiritual power with your hand, but you had to use your lips!"

Feeling the spiritual power replenished in her body, but unable to retain it, Leng Tianyin blushed furiously at his words and didn't dare to touch her burning forehead.

Xing Zhou and Yi Tu started arguing, but they were still supporting the barrier while arguing. The scene was too chaotic, and no one noticed the three of them. Everyone was very busy. Xiao Mei's spiritual power as a cultivator was limited, and it was soon exhausted. He wouldn't be affected by the smell of the Balor Bones, but his demon power was sealed.

Fen Lian shouldn't have appeared in front of the disciples, but she was really worried about her little lover. The formation would break sooner or later, it was just a matter of whether they could hold out until reinforcements arrived. But her little lover's abilities were really limited. What if he was hurt by these barbarians later?

She transformed into a butterfly and flew around Xiao Mei. "Leng Mushi used the magic power of the Red Snake to refine a Transformation Pill for me. She gave it to me just now. I can help you break through your demon power seal if I eat it. Don't be stubborn at a time like this, my dear. I don't want you to be hurt by these disgusting things."

Xiao Mei had no more spiritual power left. He removed his hand from the barrier and reached out to catch Fen Lian, covering her in his palm. "Don't show your face in front of the disciples, or you'll be next after these evil spirits are dealt with."

"When my master returns from his travels, I'll beg him to take you as his disciple. Then you won't have to hide like this anymore…"

Fen Lian sighed. Leng Mushi had just told her not to eat the Transformation Pill unless it was absolutely necessary. This pill was experimental, and they didn't know if it would work for her after the Red Snake's magic power was refined.

Leng Mushi was treating Fen Lian as her last resort. She had made all the calculations. Even if the disciples were affected like this again, if it really came down to it, she would let Fen Lian transform and swallow all the disciples before running away.

She didn't come back recklessly, she came back fully prepared. She even had a dozen or so Rejuvenation Pills that could truly bring the dead back to life, specially refined for her by Xuan Zhu.

If she hadn't discovered last night that the disciples who had been killed by the townspeople were beyond saving, with not even their souls remaining, Leng Mushi wouldn't have let them die.

It was just that right now, the most important thing was to quickly find out where the Night Crying Boy was. The life force on him was getting weaker and weaker.

The woman on the ground cried out in sorrow, but her eyes were still empty. Leng Mushi, her hands stained with blood, clenched the beast tooth dagger and gritted her teeth, stabbing it fiercely into the woman's belly once more.

"Ahhhh--"

This time, she ruthlessly twisted it half a circle. The woman on the ground convulsed and rolled, but when she finally looked up, there was consciousness in her eyes.

"Where's Ping An hidden!" Leng Mushi shouted at her.

"In…" She closed her eyes, unable to even lift her head anymore. The Night Crying Boy once again clung to the woman's side, crying out for his mother.

Leng Mushi cupped her face and lifted it, bringing her ear close to the woman's mouth. She heard her last word: "Bed…"

Then the woman fell completely silent. She was truly dead.

Blood gushed out of her body frantically, as if it had a life of its own, converging into a ball of blood that rolled towards the barrier.

Her belly gradually deflated, and so did her body, reminding Leng Mushi of Fen Lian's description of how her flesh and blood had been incinerated after being drugged by her beloved, leaving only a layer of skin.

The woman was almost down to just a layer of skin. Leng Mushi shouted to the disciples, "Stop that ball of blood!"

Then she took out the Soul Gathering Bag from her storage bag and, in one swift motion, captured the woman's departing soul, along with the Night Crying Boy, into the bag.

The next moment, the disciples were ultimately unable to stop the ball of blood. It was condensed from death energy, and upon contact with the spiritual power barrier, which was composed of life force, it directly smashed a hole through it.

Leng Mushi, carrying the bag, frantically ran into the house, shouting to Senior Brother Xiao Mei, "We can't hold on any longer, let Fen Lian eat the Transformation Pill!"

In the next instant, the torn barrier was breached by the townspeople, and the torches in their hands, like the lamp oil, were fueled by death energy.

With the exception of a few high-level disciples, everyone was affected and lost their spiritual power.

The few remaining high-level disciples struggled to maintain the barrier, their spiritual power rapidly depleting, and their Small Rejuvenation Pills were all used up.

Leng Mushi clutched the Soul Gathering Bag and entered the room where the town mayor had been. The corpse of the woman lying on the ground was so shriveled that even her skin had melted away, but the traces of her arms, which had turned into blood, still pointed towards the room.

Leng Mushi went straight to the bed that had disgusted her earlier and began rummaging around frantically, muttering to herself, "Bed, bed, bed… where's the bed!"

Finally, she found a strip of cloth the same color as the quilt on the inside of the bed, tucked into the seam of the bedding. If one didn't look closely, they wouldn't be able to see it at all.

Leng Mushi reached out and pulled hard. The bed board flipped up from the inside, plunging her into darkness--

At the same time, the struggling barrier finally shattered--

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