Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 130 The First Signs of Evil
In that instant, he felt an unusual pull, as if something dormant had awakened after that "stone bell" sound.

He whispered:

"You didn't investigate?"

The old village chief shook his head, his tone as cold as ice:

"There are no martial artists in Cliff Tooth Village. They can't afford to learn martial arts techniques or raise guards. For generations, they have relied on a well and a group of hunters to make a living."

"All we can do is guard the fence and get through this year's snow."

"After all, we're just people who want to survive."

Chu Ning gazed at the old man in the firelight and suddenly whispered:
"But isn't the Northern Border... protected by the 300,000-strong Zhenwu Division? Aren't they doing anything about it?"

Upon hearing this, the old village chief's expression subtly stiffened.

He did not answer immediately, but stared silently at the stove, the flames casting deep wrinkles on his aged face.

After a long silence, he finally sighed:
"Sigh... There is a large army."

"The Marquis Wu is still alive."

"But do you know that after the earthquake three months ago, the Zhenwu Division suddenly withdrew 20,000 troops to the rear for repairs, leaving a gap in the border area?"

Chu Ning's eyes suddenly narrowed.

The old village chief didn't look at him, and said as if talking to himself:

"More than ten days ago, another 100,000 troops were transferred to Qingzhou, supposedly to suppress evil spirits."

He gave a cold laugh:
“But we all know that someone is using the ‘chaos of evil spirits’ to try to strip the Marquis of Wu of his military power.”

"The sword of Zhuge Liang is too fast and too hard to control the court, but it can intimidate the north."

"If it weren't for him, the northern border would probably have fallen in the last three months."

Chu Ning's body trembled, and he suddenly remembered Xie Chengjun standing in front of him that day, raising the Seal of the Marquis of Wu, his gaze as calm as a mountain.

He closed his eyes and murmured:
"So... Zhuge Liang really is the pillar of the north."

The old village chief finally looked up at him.

The firelight illuminated his cloudy yet clear eyes.

"Young hero, you are going to the far north."

"Then it's not about entering the snow, it's about entering one's life."

"This land cannot be traversed by a single knife."

Chu Ning remained silent for a long time before responding in a low voice:
"But I slashed him to save someone."

The old village chief paused for a moment, then nodded.

"That's good."

"The far north is bitterly cold, and few people survive there."

Outside, the wind and snow began to rise, and the old snow covered the ground.

The stove inside crackled and popped. Chu Ning and the old village chief sat across the stove, speaking in low, deliberate voices.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside, the snow crunching underfoot.

"Village Chief! Village Chief..."

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged hunter, covered in cold sweat, disregarded etiquette and rushed in through the snow, bowing and panting heavily.

"Village Chief, something happened!"

The old village chief frowned and stood up, his voice turning deep: "Leng Feng, what is it?"

The hunter named "Cold Wind" turned pale and immediately said:
"I went to butcher those boars... to see why they were going berserk... but... but I discovered..."

He swallowed hard, his voice trembling:
"The pig's flesh and bones were full of black threads."

Chu Ning's gaze sharpened, his body remained still, but his hand had already lightly pressed on the hilt of the knife.

Leng Feng continued, his eyes filled with terror:

“Those threads were wrapped around the heart vessels, not even sparing the joints… I initially thought it was a disease, but after I split the skull open… deep inside the occipital bone at the back of its head, I actually… found a black nail.”

The temperature inside the room seemed to drop by three degrees, and even the firelight flickered unsteadily.

The old village chief slammed his cane down heavily, his expression changing drastically:

"Black nail?"

As a village elder, even though he wasn't a martial artist, he had heard some rumors:
"This...could it be possessed by an evil spirit?" "The Snow Fang Boar is just a mortal beast, how could it withstand such an evil entity entering its body?"

Chu Ning frowned.

He had seen evil spirits before, but this precise, systematic, and collective method of controlling living beasts... far exceeded the scope of ordinary evil spirits.

The thought was racing through his mind.

Suddenly, a slight tremor ran through the depths of his consciousness.

A wisp of dark lightning slowly rose from the abyss of the spirit platform, and a familiar yet slightly weak voice echoed softly:

"...Soul Nail Beast Control".

"Blood threads entwine the bones, nails pierce the soul and shatter consciousness."

"Tsk, isn't this... the 'Bone Curse' from the 'Twelve Evil Spirits'?"

Chu Ning was startled and immediately calmed his mind and focused his consciousness, sensing the depths of the sea of ​​knowledge.

The manifestation of Tun Yuan's divine soul was still very weak, only condensing into a wisp of ghostly shadow, floating in the core of the spiritual platform.

But his tone carried a familiar and teasing undertone:

"Interesting, interesting... It seems that the presence of our old friends still lingers on this continent."

Chu Ning frowned: "You know him?"

Tun Yuan sneered: "That old bastard Bone Curse used the blood of children's corpses to refine the 'Ten Thousand Bones Array' three hundred years ago, almost tearing open the Cang Que seal. Now his disciples and grand-disciples have improved, they don't even spare pigs."

At this point, Tun Yuan paused slightly, as if a hint of amusement crept into his voice:
"Old man, is that you?"

Chu Ning's expression was deep, and he asked in a low voice, "Are you sure it's a technique from the Blood Refining Hall?"

Tun Yuan sneered: "Besides them, who else could turn a boar into a walking corpse?"

Chu Ning snapped out of her daze and turned to look at Leng Feng beside her:

"You still have that corpse with you?"

The cold wind nodded vigorously, its voice lowered slightly:
“Take it with me! I dare not move. After killing the beast, I sealed the body in a pit at the entrance of the village, and then covered it with snow.”

"Take me to see it."

……

A moment later, at the edge of the pit at the village entrance.

The wind and snow had not yet subsided, and a few oil lamps were propped up on the ice stakes, casting a faint glow.

Chu Ning crouched down and peeled away the thick cloth under the snow to reveal the frozen carcass of the Snow-Toothed Boar.

At the cut, the muscles were rolled up, the blood had congealed, and the surface of the corpse was covered with mottled black lines, as if something had convulsed inside the body and torn the skin.

Chu Ning's gaze sharpened, and with a flick of his fingertips, a wisp of lightning shattered the skull fragments from a distance.

"puff."

The skull cracked, and a thin, black nail came into view.

The nail was only an inch long, but it was completely black, with densely packed runes engraved on its head. Its shape was bizarre, unlike any human tool or crafted by a demon. It was more like... the remains of a "living creature that had been degenerated into bone."

Chu Ning stared at the black nail for a long time, his eyes gradually turning cold.

He pinched the thin, needle-like black nail between two fingers and slowly pulled it out of the bones.

"Ding."

The moment the nail tip broke through the bone, it was as if the air was being torn apart by some force.

The corpse jolted violently, and the black threads that had been tightly wrapped around its heart and bones suddenly swelled and wriggled wildly without any pull, like countless silkworms writhing in their final struggle. In the next moment, they rapidly contracted and withered like burning, eventually turning into a clump of charred sand that scattered on the snow.

"That, that's alive..."

Leng Feng stumbled back two steps, his voice trembling, his face deathly pale.

Several villagers who rushed over witnessed the scene and gasped in shock, gripping their hunting forks tightly. Some muttered "evil spirits have done this," while others quietly took a few steps back, their expressions filled with fear.

"Damn it... this isn't something a human could have made."

"Has this thing been used as livestock in our village before?"

Shh! Don't tell!

They dared not speak loudly, but could not suppress the fear in their eyes.

(End of this chapter)