After traveling for ten days, the family had a wonderful time playing and visited many famous scenic spots. Upon returning, their family bond grew even stronger.
Xu Yangchen, on the other hand, returned to his usual routine, going to work every day and occasionally picking up tasks.
Recently, he has managed to handle tasks on his own. It was no longer as troublesome as dealing with resentful spirits in the past; now, he only needed to deal with evil ghosts.
However, there were occasional appearances of some species that were different from evil ghosts. According to the Anomaly Handling Bureau, these things were likely the result of excessive accumulation of negative energy, taking on a vague, misty form that obscured their true appearance.
These entities were very adept at absorbing human fear to gradually enhance their own power. They were also very good at hiding, often becoming quite powerful by the time they were discovered, requiring at least a small team to handle them.
Therefore, in recent times, it was rare for handlers to work solo; if one were to encounter such a thing, it would surely lead to disaster.
It was much safer to team up for tasks, even though the points earned would be less. As long as they were alive, they could always take on more tasks.
During this time, Xu Dongyou had been learning spells to conceal himself. Perhaps due to his unique talent, he was able to use them effectively after about half a month of study.
As a result, he could openly join Xu Yangchen and the other members of the team for tasks.
Currently, besides Xu Yangchen, his team consists of three other members: two men and one woman. The girl was the best at healing, while the other two handlers had skills in talismans and attacks, respectively. Xu Yangchen could do both but wasn’t particularly skilled at either.
It was hard to say whether specializing in one area was better or being a jack-of-all-trades but mediocre was preferable. Regardless, Xu Dongyou led the four members to take on a task that other handlers had failed to complete.
They were headed to a small village.
Zhu Yuan knew that Xu Dongyou’s strength was now formidable enough that there was no need to worry about safety. Even if they did encounter danger, he could arrive in time to help.
However, Zhu Yuan was reluctant to part ways with Xu Dongyou and simply decided to accompany him. Along the way, he played the role of an ordinary passerby perfectly.
After driving for about four hours, they finally reached the small town. The village chief was a very amiable-looking man, around fifty years old, with white hair that made him appear somewhat old and weary.
Perhaps due to the mysterious fog recently, the villagers were on edge, with many even considering moving away overnight. Yet, they couldn’t bear to leave their village, so they decided to call the police instead.
However, during this time, several groups of handlers had come to the village, but all returned empty-handed. To be precise, they hadn’t found the source of the mysterious fog at all. Although they had managed to disperse the creature several times, it proved to be utterly ineffective.
Strange occurrences continued to plague the village, increasing the villagers’ fear, which in turn attracted the fog to absorb that fear and negative energy, making it even stronger. The authorities attempted to evacuate the villagers, but to their surprise, anyone who took a step outside would suddenly fall ill and die.
As a result, the villagers felt trapped, unable to escape. The authorities had no choice but to enlist Xu Dongyou and his team to resolve the situation.
Upon Xu Dongyou’s arrival, he sensed an unpleasant atmosphere enveloping the village, somewhat akin to resentful spirits but distinctly different.
Unsure of what it was, Xu Dongyou quietly tugged at Zhu Yuan’s sleeve and whispered, “Do you know what’s in this village?”
Zhu Yuan narrowed his eyes, as if sensing something, before finally responding, “There seems to be something underground in this village. Quite intriguing.”
From Zhu Yuan’s tone, it was evident he had some understanding of this entity and appeared confident about it. Xu Dongyou breathed a sigh of relief—not because he was afraid of not being able to handle it, but because he feared that wasting time might lead to more villagers’ deaths.
Xu Yangchen was aware of how powerful Zhu Yuan was. He discreetly glanced at his older brother, who simply nodded. Xu Yangchen felt a bit more reassured, though he remained vigilant.
As they entered the village, they found not only villagers and some unfortunate tourists but also a small army of over a hundred people, along with other handlers.
Everyone who entered the village was unable to leave; those who did would mysteriously die.
It was incredibly eerie.
This was the first time they encountered such a bizarre phenomenon since defeating the Lord of Darkness. They had no idea what lay behind it, nor what abilities it possessed. They only knew that strange events plagued the village and villagers experiencing these occurrences sometimes died mysteriously.
The manner of death was both terrifying and strange.
Xu Dongyou and his team conducted a simple inspection of the village before examining the corpses. Each body wore an eerie smile as if they had seen something before dying, revealing a surprisingly content expression.
This smile even seemed contagious, prompting speculation about what they could have seen that would elicit such genuine satisfaction.
Xu Dongyou felt his hair stand on end as he observed, while Zhu Yuan recalled from his memory the culprit behind this killing method.
The problem was that this culprit had been killed by him in ancient times, so how could it possibly still be alive like the Lord of Darkness?
After all, the Lord of Darkness was at least one of the three great creation gods, not so easily killed. But the entity causing trouble in this village was different.
Zhu Yuan closed his eyes and calculated, discovering that this place had once been a battlefield for demons and monsters in the distant past.
Could it be that this thing had absorbed the lingering energy of the demon battlefield and transformed into a second form?
Zhu Yuan immediately looked down at the ground, as if he could see through the earth to its deepest layers. Sure enough, there were vast amounts of corpses and armor beneath. The demonic energy that once permeated the area had been completely consumed.
Even after tens of thousands of years, it would have been impossible for all of the demonic energy to dissipate so cleanly.
Zhu Yuan briefly explained the situation to Xu Dongyou, who immediately understood what to do next. He called for the village chief and asked if anything unusual had happened before the strange events began—such as the discovery of something unusual.
The village chief frowned, thought for a moment, and shook his head, saying no. At the same time, Xu Dongyou noticed an elderly villager nearby, a man in his sixties, displaying a guilty and fearful expression.
Xu Dongyou walked over to him. “It seems like you know something?”
The old man immediately became frightened and hurriedly said, “I-I don’t know anything!”
Xu Dongyou heightened his senses and detected a faint trace of the entity’s energy lingering on the old man, though not much.
It seemed that the old man hadn’t unearthed the entity himself, but he definitely knew something.
Upon hearing this, the military quickly came over to help with the questioning. The old man wasn’t afraid of Xu Dongyou, but he was terrified of the soldiers. He soon confessed what he knew.
The old man’s surname was Wang, and the villagers called him Wang San. In his old age, they referred to him as Old Wang San. His wife had died of illness earlier this year, and according to the village’s customs, the dead were buried in the back hills with a simple earthen burial.
Old Wang San, being too old to work, followed his son and daughter-in-law to the back hills to choose a burial site. To their surprise, they saw something in the distance that seemed to be shining.
The family went over to investigate and found a piece of gold, half-buried in the ground, glinting in the sunlight and reflecting an aura of wealth.
Old Wang San and his family were extremely excited and immediately had his son run back to fetch a shovel. The family started digging and eventually unearthed a jar containing a few scattered gold coins.
The jar was incredibly exquisite. Wang San quickly wrapped it in his jacket and the three of them quietly returned home.
They originally planned to wait a while before selling the items, but then all this strange business happened, and now no one could leave the village.
Wang San had never imagined that all these eerie events could be related to the jar they dug up. After confessing, he broke into a cold sweat and sat down, muttering repeatedly, “How could this be related to the jar? How could it?”
Although nothing had happened to his family, he had lived in the village his whole life. His neighbors and relatives all resided there too. Many had already died.
Hadn’t he caused all of this?
Wang San gritted his teeth, nearly spitting blood in regret. He forced himself to stand up and insisted on going home with the group to retrieve the jar. He wanted to ask why the thing inside the jar was harming people!
However, the object in the jar likely had other tricks up its sleeve, so they couldn’t allow ordinary people to handle it. In the end, only Zhu Yuan’s team and some other handlers were permitted to go.
They found the jar in the hearth at Wang San’s house. It was indeed extremely beautiful, with an unusual elegance that marked it as a valuable antique.
Yet, no one dared let their guard down. Xu Dongyou sensed the jar radiating an evil aura, so he immediately sealed it with a talisman. Strangely, the entity inside seemed overly confident and didn’t show itself, even as Xu Dongyou acted.
The talisman flew out and stuck to the jar, causing black smoke to rise. However, the jar soon began to tremble, and the talisman burned away on its own.
The spell had been broken.
It was clear that whatever was inside the jar was incredibly powerful, strong enough to resist the talisman’s magic. Everyone’s expressions grew more serious. They each readied their own techniques to attack the jar.
But their efforts only made the jar shake slightly.
Everyone’s faces turned grim. The talismans and other spiritual techniques seemed to have little effect on the jar.
From within the jar, an eerie laugh echoed, and black fog began to seep out. A shapeless black mist appeared, with two sinister eyes staring at the group. Its mouth opened wide as it spoke: “All of you shall remain here and become my feast! Hahahaha!”
However, the laughter lasted less than two seconds before a shadow suddenly approached and grabbed the black mist by the throat, cutting the sound off abruptly.
Everyone immediately gasped.
It was Zhu Yuan.
Only then did the other handlers seem to realize that Zhu Yuan had been with them all along, though they hadn’t noticed his presence before.
At the same time, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Since Zhu Yuan had appeared, whatever this creature was, it was as good as dead.
In fact, the creature was not only doomed—it seemed to recognize Zhu Yuan. The moment its gaze landed on him, it seemed to recall something, and its very soul began to tremble. It shrieked in terror, “How can it be you? How is it possible?!”
Zhu Yuan didn’t even look at the creature. A faint red glow appeared in his hand and the creature instantly dissolved into nothingness. Its agonized wails echoed through the entire village, causing the villagers to tremble in fear.
The monster had been eliminated.
The room fell silent and the handlers realized once again that Zhu Yuan had vanished. Though they knew he’d been there, their minds kept insisting that Zhu Yuan hadn’t shown up at all, leaving them with a strange sense of his absence.
They understood the reason behind this—Zhu Yuan didn’t want to attract too much attention. So, they pretended not to know he had been there and took care of the remaining tasks.
With the monster dead, the curse on the village was lifted.
Everyone could now freely enter and leave the village. The tourists who had been staying there quickly fled, not daring to stay a second longer.
As for the villagers, they repeatedly asked the military to confirm that the creature was indeed destroyed before finally relaxing. A few families, having been scarred by the experience, chose to leave the village.
Most of the villagers, however, remained. Meanwhile, Zhu Yuan stood at the spot where Old Wang San had dug up the jar, performing a sealing ritual. Although the thing in the jar had been dealt with, there were still traces of demonic energy from the ancient battlefield below. Zhu Yuan decided to cleanse the area of the remaining energy and seal it off completely.
From that point on, no one would ever find this place again.
With the matter resolved, Xu Dongyou and Zhu Yuan returned home. Xu’s parents quickly prepared a delicious meal, and after dinner, Xu Yangchen couldn’t resist asking about the strange monster that had appeared in the village.
Zhu Yuan gave a brief explanation. Only then did Xu Yangchen fully understand. He submitted a report to the bureau, informing them of the situation, and finally relaxed.
However, the bureau became more cautious as a result, issuing directives for remote areas to adopt cremation instead of burial. They couldn’t risk someone accidentally digging up another battlefield and unleashing another monster.
As for the jar and the coins, Zhu Yuan had already dealt with them.
In the following days, Xu Dongyou spent peaceful and happy times with his parents, occasionally going out for relaxing strolls with Zhu Yuan. The two particularly enjoyed flying in their original forms in the mountains behind their home.
Given Zhu Yuan’s enormous size, he would often transform into a smaller dragon, about the same size as Xu Dongyou, flying around him playfully.
Their bond was truly in sync.
Although Xu’s parents were a little disappointed that Xu Dongyou and Zhu Yuan wouldn’t have descendants, seeing the two so happy together, they didn’t push the matter. However, at the nursery run by the long-tailed tit mother, there were many young animals that had recently taken humanoid form, appearing no older than three or four. Xu’s parents couldn’t help but feel their hearts melt when they saw them.
Sometimes they lamented not being able to see what Xu Dongyou looked like in his original form as a child, certain that he would have been adorable. But that regret was slowly being filled by the increasing number of these transformed little animals, as Xu’s parents often helped the long-tailed tit mother take care of these cubs, who were still like blank slates.
Some of them had the appearance of cute, small animals, while others were large and powerful creatures. Yet, under the long-tailed tit mother’s guidance, they were all well-behaved and sweet. Even the more unruly ones had been taught a lesson by the long-tailed tit father and were no longer causing trouble.
Of course, there were still a few particularly stubborn ones who liked to challenge others—likely driven by their nature. They wouldn’t back down unless faced with someone truly stronger than them. In exasperation, the long-tailed tit father went to Zhu Yuan for help. Zhu Yuan didn’t say a word; he simply handed over one of his shed dragon scales and told him to hang it in the room.
Once the scale was hung on the wall, any disobedient child who tried to cause trouble would instantly feel its overwhelming power. The scale, seemingly just a decoration, would glow and subdue the cubs, making them tremble with fear from their very bones to their soul.
With that, the troublemakers were easily dealt with and all that remained were well-behaved, sensible little ones.
When Xu Dongyou came home from work and saw the well-mannered younglings everywhere, his heart softened, and he exclaimed, “They’re all so good!”
The long-tailed tit mother: “…”
As long as you’re happy.
Moonlit: We only have 3 more chapters left before we have to say goodbye to Dongyou and Zhu Yuan.
