Chapter Fifty-Five: Seize the Living—The Arrival of the Starry Sky Sect!

Afterwards, Lin Yi went to the chain factory’s direct store and bought clothing, pots and pans, even large equipment like a generator. Naturally, he also bought plenty of water, rice, flour, beef and mutton jerky, and other food supplies. Lin Yi figured he could learn from Fatty Lin’s porridge shop—while making porridge with rice, flour, and meat, he could add ginseng and polygonum multiflorum to use as cultivation resources.

However, Lin Yi still thought that if he ever slew any great monsters, roasting their meat into jerky would be the most cost-effective and delicious option. For example, the River God Ling Tianhe was a black python—if he could skin it and roast its flesh, the jerky would surely be delicious.

Just thinking about this made Lin Yi’s mouth water. He wiped his mouth and had the factory store staff deliver everything to a dark, deserted street corner by the garbage station. He followed the delivery truck over, waited until everyone had left, made sure there were no cameras around, then stored everything in the mysterious space of the “Divine Execution Sutra.”

At the same time, Lin Yi began some tests. He took out his phone, turned on the camera, set it beside him, then, in full view of the phone, focused his mind on entering the space…

In an instant, Lin Yi entered the mysterious space of the Divine Execution Sutra!

He stayed inside for a while, then focused his mind again.

The next second, Lin Yi emerged, picked up his phone anxiously, clicked to save the video, and watched it.

In the video, his body had also disappeared!

He’d gone in!

He could really take his entire body into the inner space of the Divine Execution Sutra!

This sutra truly functioned as a mysterious space!

He could enter it!

Now that his body could enter the mysterious space of the Divine Execution Sutra, there was nothing more to say—he was practically invincible, possessing an unbeatable bug!

He burst out laughing.

Although, while inside the mysterious space, Lin Yi felt somewhat stifled—it was as if the space itself was rejecting him.

Nevertheless, that didn’t stop him from staying inside for a while.

Empress Huang Jiu was powerful, and Ling Tianhe the River God was formidable, but at the most dangerous moments, he could risk exposing the mysterious space and retreat into it, unharmed!

He was invincible!

Truly invincible!

Only… Lin Yi frowned and gave a wry smile. “The mysterious space of the Divine Execution Sutra really is stifling and seems to reject me, and it seems I can only stay in the small hut and the nearby area. That sense of oppression… it feels like, with my current weak abilities, I can’t last long. I’ll have to test later and see exactly how long I can endure…”

“But enough of that. This time, I have food, weapons, field equipment—everything. Besides the Demon Prison, the wilderness will be my new hunting ground.”

Out in the wild, these essentials were indispensable.

…

After finishing everything, he took a cab home.

As soon as he reached Talents Residence, Lin Yi sensed something was amiss.

Tonight, the place seemed even more deserted and the ominous energy had grown denser—the air at the entrance was cold and clammy, not at all like a summer evening.

He had barely reached the gate when a security guard hurried over.

Lin Yi had changed into a new set of high-end clothes.

The security guard approached and addressed Lin Yi.

“Dear resident, today… well, there may be some commotion that could disturb you, so we ask for your understanding regarding any disturbances tonight.”

The guards smiled at Lin Yi.

The security staff for the villa complex treated every resident with the utmost respect—not only were the residents wealthy, but they were people of high status and influence, and any trouble could escalate quickly, so it was best to communicate in advance.

Lin Yi was a bit puzzled.

Seeing the guards’ ingratiating smiles, he had a bad feeling.

One of them took out a pack of cigarettes and offered Lin Yi one.

Another quickly struck a lighter for him.

Lin Yi took the cigarette and smoked.

As the smoke swirled, he learned what had happened.

It turned out that after he left that morning, the Skinwalker Ghost had acted, feeding on the corpse of a chubby six-year-old boy.

That ghost had waited all night without making a move, but as soon as he left, it struck.

Clearly, the ghost couldn’t sense his presence.

It seemed that morning, when people were most likely to be negligent, was when the Skinwalker found an opportunity.

The dead cannot return to life.

The child’s corpse being devoured was undoubtedly a second blow to the family.

But what Lin Yi cared about most was whether the Skinwalker had killed anyone else today.

So he hurriedly asked, “Brothers, has anyone else died in Talents Residence today?”

“Alas.”

The middle-aged security guard who’d spoken up earlier sighed. “If people kept dying every day, how could we stand it? But no, no one died today. I reckon it’s because we invited Master Zhang.”

“Yes, that’s what I think too. With Master Zhang here, what’s there to worry about? Especially that proud young lady beside him—don’t be fooled by her age; she wields her sword with such grace, she’s clearly an expert.”

“Resident, with such experts around, there’s nothing to fear. They’ll definitely ensure Talents Residence’s safety. After tonight, there won’t be any more trouble here!”

He thumped his chest for emphasis, putting on quite a show.

From their conversation, Lin Yi understood.

Now, among the ninety-nine foggy sites, thirty-three had undergone drastic changes; red mist had appeared, and supernatural cases were on the rise.

Many people had experienced or encountered something strange, so it was natural for their minds to turn in that direction.

The chubby boy’s corpse had been gnawed in the morning, and with the recent suspicious deaths in Talents Residence, the boss decided to seek out an expert.

After an internal memo from management, everyone began recommending their own so-called experts.

Xiao Wen recommended his cousin.

According to Xiao Wen, his cousin Zhang Qiang was born with yin-yang eyes—a spiritual vision that could see through all illusions.

With that gift, his cousin was destined to dominate his era—a true prodigy.

Zhang Qiang had joined a major sect and was now a disciple, studying the Dao.

Thus, in the face of such monsters and ghosts, none could hide from Zhang Qiang—once he got involved, all would be easily resolved.

As the boss of Talents Residence’s development and property company, such a man was not easily fooled.

After thorough investigation, he found that Xiao Wen’s claims were true.

His cousin Zhang Qiang really was a disciple of a powerful figure and had indeed joined a sect.

In an instant, the boss was overjoyed.

Disciples of these sects were as elusive as dragons, and their masters even more so.

Ordinary disciples could be met with the boss’s status, but true masters were another matter—they had to be begged, and might still refuse.

Given the gravity of the current situation, the boss felt that a mere junior disciple would be useless.

If he only needed someone of average skill, he had his own contacts.

So he asked Xiao Wen to reach out to Zhang Qiang, hoping he could contact the master.

Unfortunately, the master was unavailable, so Zhang Qiang brought his junior sister instead.

Time was short, and the crisis urgent, so the boss had no choice.

Under normal circumstances, the boss would never have come in person, especially when Zhang Qiang’s master wasn’t present.

But for some reason, he showed up this time.

The chubby boss, Zheng Guoqiang, arrived in person, making quite a scene.

“You mentioned this Master Zhang and his junior sister—what’s the name of their sect? Do such sects really exist these days?” Lin Yi asked, curious how much the ordinary security guards knew about the hidden side of the world.

“It’s real, it’s real. Their sect is called the Star Sect. Yeah, it sounds just like something out of a fantasy novel.”

“Resident, it’s not just you—even at thirty-seven, I never knew there really were sects in this world. But thinking about it, with the Huashan Sect and Buddhist orders around, it’s not so odd. The Star Sect is even recruiting new disciples.”

“I ought to get my son in there—if he could become a master, that would be something, a real honor for the family.”

Clearly, just as the Dragon-Tiger Gate’s Zhang Ruofeng had made a flashy and inexplicable appearance, more organizations were coming into the open.

Not only was the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation recruiting, but the Star Sect was as well.

The Star Sect!

Lin Yi immediately recalled, during his battle with the Fierce Tiger Ghost, when he’d relived the memories of the scholar Lin Changsheng, there had been a pair of young disciples from the Star Sect.

He’d learned much about the sect from those memories.

He even knew a few moves of the Star Fist, though not enough to use them fluently.

“So now they’re competing for jobs—of all things, the Star Sect, a sect I’m more familiar with than most…”

Lin Yi mused to himself.

Zhang Qiang and Song Yuyan were the two Star Sect disciples who’d arrived this time.

Not long ago, the boss of Talents Residence, Zheng Guoqiang, had brought Zhang Qiang and Song Yuyan into the villa district.

Soon after, the security guards’ radios crackled to life.

They were instructed to inform any residents they encountered that there might be some commotion tonight.

Master Zhang had said that only at midnight would there be an opportunity to eliminate the evil ghost.

According to him, most monsters and ghosts were active at midnight.