2923 Spending
After sucking in a substantial amount of blood, the Old Village Chief’s body began to swell noticeably.

His face had been compressed to the point of complete deformation. A ghostly claw sprouted from his neck, extending towards Qiao Mu’s body.

“You look utterly revolting,” Qiao Mu coldly remarked as she glanced at him.

The Village Chief seethed with anger, his face turning crimson. He glared at her with his lifeless eyes. “Hand over the black-level cultivation technique you mentioned, and I might spare your life.”

If it weren’t for his intense desire for the black-level cultivation technique mentioned by this young woman, he might have attacked them while they were still above. Why else would he have led them down here?

Initially, he had planned to lure the five of them in, with the hope of assimilating them as blissful villagers if possible. If not, he intended to extract information about the cultivation technique, plunder everything within their inner worlds, and then kill and consume them.

However, it was now clear that he had grossly underestimated this group.

His underestimation had led to a disastrous turn of events.

“A black-level cultivation technique?” Qiao Mu retorted icily. “A deceased person has no use for a cultivation technique.”

With that, the Startled Swan Dagger silently soared towards the Village Chief and aimed for his left eye.

The Startled Swan Dagger was relatively small and made no sound as it emerged from the pool of consciousness.

It wasn’t until it closed in on the Elder Village Chief that he finally realized the impending danger. Yet, in the next moment, he felt an excruciating pain in his eye as the Startled Swan Dagger pierced his left eye socket, causing half of his eyeball to be forcibly ejected.

“Ah!” The Elder Village Chief had never endured such a grievous injury before. He let out a piercing cry and turned to shout towards the side, “Commander Hu, how much longer do you intend to simply watch?”

Hu Erhua grumbled in annoyance.

Why was he just watching the show?

He had intended to act from the very beginning, but as he made his move, an oppressive force bore down on him, pushing him down a few inches and rendering him immobile.

“Damn it!” Hu Erhua gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words. “Old, old ghost! You, hold on on your side for now. My, our reinforcements will be here soon.”

“I strongly advise you to release us promptly. If you do so now, I may allow you to leave unharmed. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?”

“Roar, roar, roar!” Several varying-length roars echoed from outside the courtyard.

Hu Erhua’s face lit up with hope. He sneered and continued, “Even if you wanted to leave now, you wouldn’t be able to… Ah!”

A sudden, sharp pain pierced his ear as someone severed his left ear.

“You chatter too much.” Qiao Mu coldly admonished him before turning to Mo Lian beside her. “I’ll handle those zombies outside; you deal with them.”

“Qiaoqiao.”

“Don’t worry.” The young woman displayed a mischievous grin, revealing her two white teeth. “I have antibodies now. Even if I’m ensnared by this ghost, I’m not afraid of it.”

With that, she waved her tiny hand and left the three of them, along with the little monk, to confront Hu Erhua and the Elder Village Chief.

Stepping out of the house, she immediately spotted three rapidly advancing zombies. With their green complexions and fangs, they charged toward her.

Judging by their speed and the twisted veins crawling across their skin, along with vaguely human-like facial features, she surmised they were advanced-level zombies, at level three.

Hu Erhua had certainly gone all-in this time!