“Huh?”
Lu Xuan glanced at the soldiers guarding the city gate, feeling extremely puzzled.
When he entered the city gate, these guards hadn’t checked his identity at all.
Moreover, the closing time for the gates of Lanshan County Town seemed a bit too early.
“Hurry up, Xiao Liu, what are you dawdling for?”
“It’ll be dark soon, I’m not waiting for you.”
“Wait, Brother Chen, hold on for me. I’m coming right now.”
“Dammit, forget it!”
In the distance, the city gate soldiers quickly left the area, followed by a young soldier rushing to catch up.
“Young master, why are you still here? It will be dark soon. You should head home early.”
“There have been… unclean things lurking in the city recently! The entire Ren family is dead!”
Just then, a few middle-aged men passing by Lu Xuan said these words to him without looking back as they hurried away together.
In less than a moment, the area around the city gate became completely deserted and silent.
Witnessing this scene, Lu Xuan frowned deeply, still sitting motionless on his horse.
Everyone in the entire county town was terrified.
Unclean things lurking?
Could it be because of the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend?
What was the County Magistrate of Lanshan County doing? How did the news about the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend become so widely known?
Lu Xuan had already learned the details about the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend on his way here.
It was classified as a Fierce-grade supernatural entity, nearly reaching the level of a Calamity-grade entity.
Therefore, four years ago, two Huang-level Xuanniao Guards at the peak of the Blood Refining stage, along with three who had just entered the Blood Refining stage, were sent to eliminate it.
The Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend was a somewhat special Fierce-grade entity. Because its power approached that of a Calamity-grade entity, it possessed a strange ability.
The more severe the fear in a location, the shorter the time it needed to appear there.
Feasting on humans in a state of extreme fear could cause its Yin energy to surge dramatically.
This was precisely why Lu Xuan found the situation strange.
The current County Magistrate of Lanshan County had also experienced the previous resurgence of the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend four years ago.
The Xuanniao Guard team leader at that time had explicitly informed him about the entity’s nature.
Should the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend resurface, he must do everything possible to cover up the truth and absolutely prevent the common people in the city from learning about it.
Otherwise, if the citizens found out, they would fall into deep fear.
The consequences, in that case, would be dire.
For the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend, every fearful person in the entire county town would become its prey.
Now, it was abundantly clear that everyone in the city was gripped by fear.
Even though it wasn’t yet dusk, the common people had already unanimously retreated to their homes.
Lu Xuan hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided against going to hold the County Magistrate accountable for now.
Since night was approaching, Lu Xuan decided to deal with this Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend first.
He could always find the County Magistrate later!
With this thought, Lu Xuan urged his Divine Wind Steed into a gallop towards the center of the city.
With few people on the streets, Lu Xuan’s speed was completely unaffected.
Before long, Lu Xuan arrived in front of a large inn.
However, a few servers were packing things up in front of the inn, seemingly already closed for the day.
Seeing this, Lu Xuan dismounted and walked towards the inn.
At the entrance, an older server spotted Lu Xuan and quickly scurried over, a bright smile spreading across his face.
The server spoke enthusiastically, bowing and nodding obsequiously to Lu Xuan.
“Honored guest, please come inside!”
After entering the inn, Lu Xuan’s eyes swept briefly across the room before he spoke unhurriedly.
“Take good care of my horse. Prepare a superior room for me, and have some food and drink ready.”
In front of the counter stood a portly man—the innkeeper.
Seeing Lu Xuan, the innkeeper, much like the server, approached with an eager smile.
“Yes, yes, of course, sir. Please wait a moment.”
“You, go and clean a superior room for this young master immediately.”
“Sir, you’re just in time. We were about to close up soon.”
The innkeeper’s final sentence made Lu Xuan’s eyes narrow slightly. Maintaining a neutral expression, he asked,
“Innkeeper, it’s still early. Why is your inn closing so soon?”
As soon as Lu Xuan finished speaking, the innkeeper’s smiling face fell, replaced by a worried frown.
“Ah, sir, just one look tells me you’re from outside the county, aren’t you?”
“Young master, your timing is rather unfortunate.”
“These past few days, let me tell you…” The innkeeper suddenly lowered his voice, leaning closer to Lu Xuan. “They say there’s an unclean thing in the city!”
“The entire Ren household was killed by that thing.”
“I heard Old Master Ren and his family died horribly, completely drained of blood, like corpses dried for decades.”
“Sir, please don’t think I’m trying to scare you. It’s all true.”
“This news came from a good friend of mine in the magistrate’s office. It’s absolutely certain!”
“So, young master, please don’t wander around tonight. That unclean thing comes out after dark.”
“First thing tomorrow morning, I advise you to leave this place as early as possible.”
“If I didn’t have a whole family rooted here, I’d want to leave for a while myself.”
The innkeeper rambled on, expecting the young master to share his fear after hearing this.
However, he couldn’t detect the slightest trace of fear on the young man’s face.
“Young master, you mustn’t underestimate that thing.”
“Old Master Ren was a martial artist at the Marrow Refining stage, yet he still died horribly at the hands of that monster.”
So it really is the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend!
Lu Xuan paid no mind to the innkeeper’s subsequent words.
He was now certain.
The people in the county town indeed knew about the Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend’s existence.
“Alright. Thank you for the advice, innkeeper.”
Hearing Lu Xuan’s response, the innkeeper finally stopped talking.
Even after leading Lu Xuan to the prepared superior room, the innkeeper managed a few final words.
“Young master, if you need anything, just let me know.”
“Remember, don’t make any loud noises tonight!”
The night passed uneventfully.
Sunlight filtered through the window paper, falling on Lu Xuan.
He was currently sitting cross-legged on the bed, seemingly having not slept all night.
It didn’t appear?
That Bloodthirsty Corpse Fiend actually didn’t show itself last night?
Late last night, Lu Xuan had moved alone through the silent county town.
He had visited every part of the town.
But, to his surprise, he hadn’t detected any presence of Yin energy.
“It seems I’ll have to stay here another day.”
