Just as Li Hai was secretly wondering.
Boom!
From the direction of Guo Family Village in the distance, a surge of crazed, malevolent Yin Qi suddenly rose, roaring and sweeping over a hundred weaker surges of ghostly Qi, all thundering towards Li Hai's location.
“Heeheeheehee~”
“Hahahahaha~”
“Woo woo woo woo~”
As this torrent, formed by the ghosts of Guo Family Village, sped along, layers of mournful ghostly wails, mocking laughter, and ferocious roars echoed from within it, shaking the surroundings and causing a chilling unease, as if a hundred ghosts were rampaging.
Perhaps this nest of ghosts from Guo Family Village had stayed in this area for far too long, so long that they could integrate with it and greatly leverage the boundless Yin Qi of this Evil Ground.
Thus, Li Hai was horrified to feel that the surging, malevolent Qi in the surroundings was all wildly fluctuating and resonating with it from afar, and becoming increasingly intense.
“Damn it, I’m too close to Guo Family Village. A Su has gone crazy and brought that group of ghostly things to pick a fight with me… Eh~ Wait, isn’t this just right for ‘driving the tiger to swallow the wolf’?”
Li Hai’s eyes darted, and he suddenly let out a wicked chuckle. In an instant, he too blurred in form and spirit, transforming into a surge of malevolent ghostly Qi, and rapidly fled towards the distance.
And the direction he fled was precisely towards where Guo Huaijin was, outside this Evil Forest.
…
Dozens of miles away, the edge of the You Forest was already engulfed in raging flames.
Guo Huaijin had, in the end, set the fire, and he had mobilized a large amount of manpower and resources to set a colossal blaze around the forest’s perimeter.
This fire had already been burning for a long time.
Towering flames, carrying rolling thick smoke, lunged towards the depths of the You Forest like a group of ferocious demonic monsters, their fangs and claws bared, turning everything they touched into scorched earth.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~
As is well known, once a mountain fire appears and successfully grows, its spread rate will be unimaginably swift.
Because the decaying leaves on the ground and the trees, grass, and wood above ground will all become fuel for the mountain fire, helping it continuously expand its scope and burn towards a wider forest.
Therefore, even Guo Huaijin did not know exactly where this mountain fire had burned to.
He only knew that today, that little thief surnamed Li… must die!
“Master~”
Looking at the distant blaze that had turned the sky crimson, Steward Liu, standing beside Guo Huaijin, softly asked, “If this fire keeps burning, that boy surnamed Li probably won’t have a chance to come out, but as for the Young Master, I’m afraid…”
“That’s even better.”
Guo Huaijin said coldly, “Shiwen has been sick for so many years and hasn’t recovered. It’s better to end it once and for all, and as for that little thief Li, he can just be buried with my grandson.”
Upon hearing this, Steward Liu, standing behind him, twitched his eyelids and sighed inwardly, feeling that the Master was truly heartless.
To vent his anger at being ridiculed and played with by Li Hai, he was even willing to abandon his most beloved grandson.
Indeed, what the Master cared about most… was always only himself.
Wife, sons, and grandsons came second.
As for servants and slaves, the Master had never shown an ounce of compassion.
Steward Liu had always known this and had always been on tenterhooks, fearing that a mistake would cost him his life.
Therefore, he had also long ago planned his escape route.
“After this storm ends…”
Steward Liu mused to himself, “I should also take the money I’ve painstakingly saved over the years and leave this Guo Family Fortress to live a good life.”
And just as Steward Liu was envisioning his future, Li Hai, who was speeding through the boundless thick fog above the vast You Forest many miles away, finally entered the edge of the extensive mountain fire’s coverage.
Although several miles away, Li Hai had already vaguely seen the raging blaze that dyed the sky red through the mist.
But he had no other choice; he could only bite the bullet and charge straight into the heart of the fire.
“This fire was definitely set by that old dog Guo.”
As he sped, Li Hai cursed, “Besides that son of a bitch, no one else would be so vicious. You just wait, I’m going to skin you alive and tear you apart!”
If it were an ordinary wandering ghost-level ghost, faced with such a towering inferno, there would be no other path than to flee and retreat.
Because the Yang Qi contained within it was simply too fierce and violent, and low-level ghosts simply couldn't withstand it.
But as Li Hai, a higher-level ghost, his tolerance for such raging fire Yang Qi was considerably stronger.
So he gritted his teeth, endured the scorching flames, and pierced through layers of fire, heedlessly speeding towards the more distant edge of the You Forest.
However, the group of ghosts from Guo Family Village were miserable.
Having already died in a fire, they inherently feared fire immensely.
In gaming terms, their resistance was negative.
Therefore, the moment they felt the scorching heat of the towering flames through the thick fog, the ghostly Qi torrent formed by the ghosts of Guo Family Village was so scared that it disintegrated on the spot.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
“Woo woo woo woo!”
“No no no no!”
All the ghosts shrieked and wailed, fleeing madly in all directions, terrified of being surrounded and engulfed by the boundless mountain fire with nowhere to escape, and thus reliving the pain of being burned to death years ago.
But at this moment, an extremely mournful and sorrowful female voice suddenly appeared, tearing through the thick fog and shaking the surroundings:
“Guo Lang, you set fire to kill us, mother and child, back then. Are you going to burn us again now? You… how cruel your heart is!”
At this point, the female voice’s tone suddenly turned cold and resentful:
“Ghosts of Guo Family Village… who allowed you to escape? All of you, come back to me!”
Whoosh—
Instantly, all the Guo family ghosts, who had been fleeing to various parts of the vast dense forest above the gloomy thick fog, uncontrollably wailed as they flew back to where the female voice… that is, A Su, was. They once again piled up and condensed into a powerful torrent of ghostly Qi.
Following this, the torrent adjusted slightly and roared as it sped towards the outside of the You Forest.
“Huh? Where did A Su learn this ability to command a group of ghosts? Why didn’t the System detect it?”
Several miles away, Li Hai, who had already delved deep into the vast fire, heard A Su’s howl from afar and muttered in surprise, “Could it be that this Evil Ground bestowed it upon her?”
He vaguely remembered seeing in the Evil Spirit Earth Drawing Yin Method that while ghosts liked to eat people, their true ‘food’ was the so-called evil Yin Qi.
This strange Yin Qi only existed in large quantities in an Evil Ground.
So, if nothing unexpected happened, ghosts would always stay in the Evil Ground and almost never leave.
Even if they happened to leave, they would return very quickly.
And when a ghost had stayed in an Evil Ground for a sufficiently long time, it would develop a certain resonance with the boundless Yin Qi of this area.
As for what this resonance would bring, it was unknown.
Perhaps A Su’s ability to command the ghosts of Guo Family Village just now was related to this.
“A buff, this gloomy place gave A Su a buff.”
After muttering a few words, Li Hai intentionally slowed down.
Whoosh—
A moment later, a torrent of ghostly Qi sped past him, showing no intention of stopping or changing direction, and continued to soar towards the outside of the You Forest.
“Indeed, all the hatred has shifted to that Guo Huaijin.”
Li Hai chuckled wickedly and quickly accelerated to follow.