"They were drained," Han Yu muttered, finding it familiar. "Not this isn't Madam Cold Fang... The corpses of the Hall Master were not drained of blood and were frozen from inside out. These just froze normally." He observed.
He straightened and looked around.
The arrangent was not random.
The bodies ford shapes.
Symbols.
Not ones he recognized, but ones that clearly ant sothing to whoever had made them.
So were arranged into circles with beasts on the outside and humans inside.
So were stacked to form crude totems, alternating between human and beast.
Others were laid flat, forming long lines that pointed toward the deeper mountains.
A ritual.
A display.
Or both.
Han Yu felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.
He released his spirit sense again, carefully sweeping the area.
There was nothing nearby.
But the feeling of unease grew stronger.
This was not the work of ordinary beasts.
Not even of normal cultivators.
He rembered what the hunters had said.
The Evil Mountain Spirit.
He had thought it was just rumor.
Now, standing in the middle of this silent field of corpses, he was no longer sure.
"This is no ordinary killer," Han Yu said quietly. "And it is not hiding what it does."
Whoever, or whatever, had done this wanted it to be seen.
He walked slowly through the area, studying the patterns, trying to understand their purpose. So of the corpses were arranged around a central point, where the ground itself was darkened, as if sothing had burned there.
He knelt and touched the soil.
It was frozen, but beneath the frost, it was strangely brittle, like ash mixed with earth.
He withdrew his hand slowly.
This place felt like a warning.
Or an announcent.
Han Yu stood at the edge of the hundred ter clearing, the wind howling softly through the mountains around him, and he knew one thing with certainty.
Whatever had done this was still out there.
And it was strong enough that even now, even at a distance, his sharpened senses could still feel it watching the mountains it claid as its own.
Han Yu did not linger at the ritual site. He studied it as much as he dared, but there was nothing more he could understand from standing there longer. Whatever had created it was already gone, and chasing shadows in a place like this was the fastest way to die.
He moved on.
But from this mont forward, he was far more cautious.
He changed into plain white robes that blended easily with the snow, ice, and pale stone of the mountains. Even the faint grey streaks in the fabric helped him vanish against cloudy skies and rocky cliffs.
When he flew, he no longer crossed open skies.
He hugged mountain ridges, moving through their shadows. When hills rose, he flew low along their curves instead of above them. When forests appeared, he descended beneath the canopy, weaving through branches and frozen leaves so that even beasts with keen eyesight would struggle to spot him.
He almost moved like a ghost.
"The Evil Mountain Spirit," Han Yu muttered. "The hunters said it was active mostly in the Middle Ring, but it seems like its reach is far wider."
His mind returned to the corpses.
The human clothing had not matched Frost Plu Town or Riverglade Town. It had looked rougher, more like what hunters from Harrow Edge Town wore.
"So they were likely hunters or travelers from that side of the mountains," Han Yu said quietly. "Which ans it is moving closer to human settlents."
That disturbed him more than any Nascent Soul realm beast.
Beasts were territorial.
As long as one avoided their domains, they usually avoided you.
But sothing that hunted deliberately, crossed regions, and arranged corpses into ritual displays was far more dangerous.
He had counted roughly ten human corpses among the ritual site. That alone was shocking. Winter was not a ti when many entered the mountains, especially not deep inside them.
"If they were captured," Han Yu reasoned, "then this thing is moving near the Harrow Edge side. That ans its range is much larger than anyone realizes."
He did not like that.
Not at all.
He had read many records in the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect about evil spirits, undead, and cursed beings. The sect itself created such things and used them.
But there was a difference between controlled creations and naturally ford horrors.
Naturally born evil spirits were unpredictable.
Their obsessions varied.
Their strength varied.
Their behavior varied wildly.
Hunters would not know what kind of spirit this was. They only saw the aftermath and nad it based on fear.
Han Yu tried to analyze what he knew.
"Fang marks. Blood drained. Bodies left to freeze from the cold. Ritual arrangents."
That pointed toward certain types of undead.
His first thought had been a Blood Jiangshi.
But there were problems with that theory.
"Blood Jiangshi do drain blood, but they do not create ritual displays. They are not clever enough for that," Han Yu said.
Most Jiangshi were driven by instinct and basic commands.
Only rare ones had true intelligence.
Still, he could not ignore the similarities.
So as he moved deeper, he reviewed everything he knew about Jiangshi.
There were many types.
The most common were Corpse Jiangshi.
These were the weakest. They were made from ordinary corpses and animated through talismans, formations, or even soul fragnts. They were slow, stiff, and relied purely on brute strength. Even Qi Refining realm cultivators could handle them in groups.
Above them were Iron Skin Jiangshi.
These were refined using special minerals, blood soaks, and corpse refining techniques. Their skin beca tough like tal, and blades would often bounce off. They were slow but powerful, and their defense made them annoying to deal with.
Then ca Bronze Skin Jiangshi.
These were what Han Yu had seen most often in the Blood Sect. Their bodies were refined for years using blood pools, formation arrays, and corpse nourishing techniques.
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