Mu Jinyu led the ten or so Star Lords, riding in a carriage toward the small village in the outskirts of the city, where the Ghost-Faced Demons wreaked havoc.
On the road, he saw many people in despair, looting or fighting each other, venting their anger and fear.
Then suddenly, someone would transform into a demon, causing the crowd to scatter, but still, many died at the hands of the demons.
In the end, it was the military that stepped in, decisively executing those who had transformed into demon minions.
They were not true demons and could be killed, not requiring gold to suppress, so the demon minions currently spawned by the panic were generally executed on the spot.
The carriage continued to move, and Mu Jinyu noticed that there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the road; he guessed that most were hiding at home, cautiously guarding against their family members.
"Sigh, we need to resolve this panic and Tide of Chaos quickly, or people won't die from the natural disaster but will perish in the man-made calamities!"
A sense of urgency rose in Mu Jinyu's heart.
Soon, after half an hour.
The carriage finally arrived at the entrance of a remote village.
From afar, just reaching the entrance, Mu Jinyu sensed something was off and signaled to the soldier driving to stop the vehicle.
"Let's stop here," Mu Jinyu called out with a frown.
"Yes," Chen Sheng, who was at the driver's seat, replied, bringing the carriage to a halt.
Then, the ten or so people jumped down from the carriage.
Mu Jinyu opened the car door and stepped out.
He stood by the carriage, eyeing the village ahead, not immediately calling for them to go in but carefully observing.
The village was shrouded in a faint purple-red mist, making it look alerting.
The villagers, however, seemed oblivious, each pulling out a chair to sit at their doorsteps, fanning themselves and chatting…
Only, their smiles were eerily unsettling, giving off a sense of false laughter that was neither here nor there.
Upon closer inspection, a red line could be faintly seen on the edges of their cheeks, sometimes with a few drops of fresh blood seeping out!
These people, sure enough, were just like the intelligence provided by Ru Muhongchen; their faces had been covered by the Human Skin Ghost-Faced Demon and were no longer normal.
Even, Mu Jinyu suspected that they might have become the Ghost-Faced Demon's demon minions, but these minions, unlike those created by the panic, were transformed physically, gaining immense strength!
"Everyone, be careful. Let's go in together, and try not to take action too hastily. Let's see what's happening first,"
Mu Jinyu scanned for a few minutes and then spoke in a lowered voice to the others.
"Yes,"
The group answered in unison.
After that, Mu Jinyu stepped forward, leading the remaining Star Lords of Dragon King Hall toward the village that had become extremely strange.
The moment they entered the village,
"Swish!"
In an instant, the dozens of villagers, who had been chatting and laughing, all turned their heads in unison, staring at them.
Their gazes were lifeless and empty, giving off a cadaverous feeling. Their faces lacked significant expression or emotional change, only slightly upturned corners of their mouths, which was unnerving.
"Who are you looking for?"
Mu Jinyu was thinking about whether to try to tear off the Ghost-Faced Demons' faces to suppress them or to take a tour of the village first when suddenly he heard an old man speaking, causing his heartbeat to quicken.
"Elder, you... can still speak?"
Mu Jinyu and the Star Lords behind him looked at them with surprised and doubtful eyes, unable to hold back from speaking.
"What are you talking about, young man? Old man here isn't dead yet; are you cursing me?"
The elderly man with white hair, upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, couldn't help but assume a stance as if puffing his beard and glaring his eyes.
However, given his current eerie state, he couldn't manifest the half-joking demeanor of a normal elderly man; instead, his eyes bulged out like those of a dead fish, the blood vessels on the eyeballs clearly visible, as the skin on the lower jaw slightly curled up to reveal the bloody flesh beneath.
"Ah!"
Mu Jinyu couldn't restrain himself from exclaiming in fright.
The ten or so battle-hardened Star Lords from the Dragon King Hall behind him also felt their hearts leap, and their bodies became tensed.
They gripped their specially made Golden Daggers, ready to act at any moment.
Mu Jinyu, unprepared and startled by this terrifying scene, let out a frightened yell before quickly forcing himself to calm down, and said to the old man, "We are here to look for a friend, please, carry on with your business..."
As he spoke, Mu Jinyu gestured with his hands towards them and then turned to his subordinates, jerking his chin, signaling them to quickly follow him into the village.
"Dragon Master, these people are most likely already dead, beyond saving. Why don't we just go ahead and try to suppress them?"
Star General Niu Jin, Chen Sheng, following behind Mu Jinyu, spoke with a puzzled tone.
"Let's go into the village first and see. These people, I reckon, are a bit strange. It's better not to touch them if we can avoid it..." Mu Jinyu said with a frown.
"Hmm," Chen Sheng nodded slightly. Although he didn't quite agree with Mu Jinyu's words, he would still follow Mu Jinyu's decision unconditionally.
"Hey, hey, young man, what relative are you looking for? Do you want the old man to guide you there?"
At that moment, the old man's peeled-off skin reattached to his face, and the eyeballs that nearly fell out retracted into the sockets. Then he floated over lightly and spoke to them.
As the old man spoke, the group of villagers who were talking with him also wore eerie smiles and politely said to Mu Jinyu and his group:
"Yes, yes, we hardly have any visitors to our village on normal days. You coming here to look for friends, you're our friends too, and we will take good care of you!"
Mu Jinyu did not respond to them, maintaining a distance, and led Chen Sheng and his men swiftly towards the place in the village where the evil qi was most concentrated.
He thought to himself, if your faces weren't adorned with such spooky smiles but instead wore normal, kind smiles, I might have actually agreed.
With this thought, Mu Jinyu suddenly wondered if these old people, had their faces not been stripped by the Ghost-Faced Demon, might indeed have looked very kind?
After all, judging from their brief conversation, these people, even though they might be dead, seemed to still retain some of their living consciousness, or else they probably wouldn't have been able to communicate with him.
Mu Jinyu's mood became somewhat heavy.
Alas...
He decided not to mind the incessant chatter of these old people.
Very soon.
The group followed Mu Jinyu to the village's ancestral hall.
"This is the place."
Mu Jinyu sensed the strong evil qi. It was emanating from here, and the true Ghost-Faced Demon must be hiding inside.
"Young man, aren't you here to find friends? Why are you going to our village's ancestral hall?"
The old man floated beside Mu Jinyu, continuously babbling on.
Mu Jinyu ignored him, his face stern as he and his men, holding their weapons of gold, stepped towards the interior of the ancestral hall.
The ghost-faced elderly men and women tried to stop them but were a step too late.
Mu Jinyu pushed open the vermilion door, which seemed as if it had been stained with fresh blood, only to see a monk lying in the courtyard within, his facial expression twisting violently into a look of horrifying ferocity!
The Ghost-Faced Demon was indeed here!
Mu Jinyu and his followers stiffened, clutching their golden weapons as they approached the monk writhing on the ground!
As for the monk, whether he was being invaded by the Ghost-Faced Demon or part of the Ghost-Faced Demon itself,
Mu Jinyu didn't know; he was only prepared to strike at him immediately.