I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 160 - 134: The Devil’s Eye
He Buning arrived at Pinghu Village with Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu after noon.
The lake shore was utterly silent, with the black canopy boats swaying with the waves, and there wasn’t a soul in sight.
"Boss, look!"
Xiao Liu picked up a signal smoke from the Evil Suppression Bureau that had fallen to the ground. Around it were scattered footprints and many serpentine tracks left by crawling snake-like creatures, yet there was no sign of Wan Biao.
He Buning turned to look at Xia Chan, who was hiding behind a tree on the lake shore, holding Xuan Yu, with only half of her face exposed, looking this way.
After discovering Sang Que’s disappearance, Xia Chan immediately took Xuan Yu and the black donkey out of the village. She got lost in the fog for a while, inexplicably returning several times to the archway of Pinghu Village.
Later, Xuan Yu leapt onto the black donkey’s head, meowing to guide them, moving forward and backward, finally managing to lead the way for the two out of the fog.
As soon as they emerged, they saw horses tied up by the roadside and He Buning with his three companions waiting by the road.
Xia Chan, in her urgency and ignoring fear, jumped out and spoke incoherently to He Buning, saying that her sister was missing, the ghost mask and the water grass monster went into the lake, and the loud one was at the lakeside, help!
Although He Buning and the others could not clearly understand what had happened, they sensed Xia Chan’s urgency and immediately entered the village.
However, the black donkey refused to budge this time, so Xia Chan had to hold Xuan Yu and run in behind them.
He Buning reached the lake shore, dipped his hand into the lake, and the icy sensation pierced to his heart. He could feel something powerful beneath the lake.
Going underwater wasn’t He Buning’s specialty. In each state, the Night Travelers of the Evil Suppression Bureau are divided into eight teams according to Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain, and Ze, with three people in each, each having their expertise.
As a Night Travel Captain, He Buning led the Heavenly Team, capable of handling all deceit occurrences within Qinzhou’s borders.
Currently, Night Travelers in Wangshan City are short on personnel; the Mountain and Water teams are missing members, unable to form a complete group. Although the Ze Team is still operational, they’re tied up with a water-related deceit case elsewhere, unlikely to arrive in time.
Rescuing people was paramount; considering this, He Buning could not afford to think of anything else.
To resolve the issue here, one must first know the root of the problem to strike accurately.
"Xiao Wu, bring out the ’Ghost Eye.’
Xiao Wu’s pupils trembled for a moment, but he said nothing. He removed the box from his back and placed it on the ground, extracting a wooden box tightly wrapped with red cloth and red string.
Xiao Liu anxiously said, "Boss, the backlash of the Ghost Eye is intense, let me do it. You need to conserve your strength to deal with what’s under the lake."
He Buning frowned at Xiao Liu, and after a moment, nodded. Though unwilling, he had to be responsible for everyone and couldn’t act impulsively.
Xiao Liu smiled instantly, grabbing the wooden box from Xiao Wu’s hands as if fearing Xiao Wu might wrestle for it.
Xiao Wu, with worries in his eyes, warned, "Don’t be greedy. With your body, when I count to nine, you must immediately remove the Ghost Eye, understood?"
Xiao Liu kept smiling, pulled out a fabric strip covered with golden Buddhist text from his chest, and wrapped it around his right wrist.
"Don’t worry, I know what to do. Even if I go blind, Fifth Brother, you must not abandon me, or I’ll definitely transform into an evil ghost and claim your life."
Xiao Wu said nothing, watching Xiao Liu sit on the ground, holding a dagger with his left hand, taking a deep breath, and cutting open his right palm. He opened the wooden box and grabbed the eyeball, still connecting with veins and flesh, into his palm.
The moment the fresh blood stained the eyeball, it suddenly came alive, swiftly invading Xiao Liu’s palm.
Both of them heard the sound of flesh tearing; Xiao Liu gritted his teeth, trying not to make a sound. The blood vessels in his eyes burst, and blood streamed down.
Xiao Liu fiercely endured the pain from the Ghost Eye, tightly clutching the eyeball spinning in his palm. The band on his wrist, etched with Buddhist scripture, wriggled like golden worms, resisting the Ghost Eye’s invasive power over Xiao Liu’s body.
Ugh!
Unable to hold back, Xiao Liu groaned abruptly, his eyes widening to the extreme, with blood constantly flowing from his eye sockets.
"One! Two! Three..."
Xiao Wu gripped the dagger and began counting. If he didn’t separate the Ghost Eye from Xiao Liu by the count of nine breaths, Xiao Liu would permanently lose his sight.
At this moment, chaotic and bizarre images flashed before Xiao Liu.
A parched riverbed, full of decaying dead fish, stone statues kneeling outside dilapidated walls, people in Evil Suppression Bureau attire setting those statues ablaze.
On a fishing boat on the lake, an old man, a cracked stone statue head hauled up in the net, inside of which was a half-fish-half-human crystal sculpture, along with a man-faced snake coiling around the old man’s leg.
In the dark night, villagers standing by the lake were holding torches; three elders, with fish scale patterns on their half-faces and arms, walked into the lake. Three sleeping children were half-submerged in the lake, with similar fish scale patterns on them.
At the rippling bottom of the lake, a moss-covered turtle with countless agonized human faces beneath its shell pushed against it. A sound of cracking echoed, and a cluster of blue-black filaments burst through the turtle shell and permeated the waters.
Like a flood, dense fog poured into the village, with villagers screaming and fleeing, falling to the ground as sharp fish scales pierced out of their flesh, swiftly consumed by the thick fog.
A lakebed full of statues and a pit filled with skeletons came and went, and once-destroyed buildings appeared anew—it was a village.
The source of the deceit lay within that village!
Xiao Liu strained his eyes open to see more clearly.
"... Six! Seven! Eight..."
Xiao Liu, his eyes blood red, suddenly shuddered, as if he saw something, and beneath his exposed skin, a layer of hard, sharp fish scales rapidly grew.
Seeing this, Xiao Wu quickly grabbed Xiao Liu’s right hand, attempting to remove the Ghost Eye.
However, just as he touched Xiao Liu, he froze, enveloped by an irresistible coldness, as scales sprouted from the back of his hand, quivering and spreading toward his arm and other areas.
This drastic change left He Buning’s heart pounding. He swiftly drew his knife to cut into Xiao Liu’s arm.
Before the knife could descend, a shriveled, blue-grey little hand suddenly extended from Xiao Liu’s waist behind him, swiftly snatching the Ghost Eye from his palm.
Once the Ghost Eye was removed, Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu collapsed onto the ground in unison, with the scales on their bodies dissolving into water, soaking the two.
He Buning stood in shock, his heart racing wildly, staring unblinkingly at the little girl behind Xiao Liu, appearing to be only seven or eight years old.
Yin Child!
So the affairs at Pinghu Village were indeed related to the Yin Child?
The Yin Child had already been dismembered, so its power certainly didn’t reach the Ghost Level. That Ghost Eye originally belonged to the Yin Child, and he had the intention of using it to draw the Yin Child out; now was the perfect opportunity to capture it.
He Buning quickly removed his outer robe, which was lined with a special Eight Diagrams designed to trap ghosts.
But before He Buning could throw the robe, the Yin Child wearing embroidered shoes took a step back and disappeared completely before He Buning, leaving no trace.
At the same time, the once calm lake surface suddenly started to tremble. Ripples collided with each other, escalating into turbulent waves, while the weather rapidly changed, with dark clouds rolling in.
Something significant happened at the lake’s bottom!
