Picking Up Attributes In Martial World

Once he was calm and his rational mind took over, Ye Jun could analyse the situation better. Considering Han Yuexin might take some time to come, he decided to do just that.

’They didn’t want me there.’

That was the strangest part he noticed. It was clear that the source of the problem was powerful, otherwise it couldn’t have fooled even the system.

But then why would such a powerful entity be wary of his existence?

One might argue that Ye Jun was being ridiculous for thinking such nonsense. But he had his reasons. The greatest was the fact that he was allowed to leave.

Not even for once had he thought he could get out of this alive, but he did. The entity had allowed him to leave.

’The villagers clearly aren’t sane anymore. It could have done the same to me, but it didn’t.’

As for why he thought it was done by an entity, it was because of what the Village Head and the guard did.

When the guard first saw him, he had blanked out, as if waiting for some orders on how to react to Ye Jun’s presence. The same happened with Old Xu when he asked about the tribute.

It was as if both were taking orders from someone.

Then, he thought about the strange actions of the villagers, who he guessed were also under the control of that entity.

Initially, they behaved normally as if they were truly happy to have him, but at the end, they made sure he was scared of them. As if the entity wanted to warn him to stay away from everything.

It was a message that he could end up just like them.

’Why?’

That was also strange. The entity could have just behaved normally, letting Ye Jun believe that everything was alright and let him go. That way, nobody would know what was happening in the village.

’Did it guess that I was already suspicious of it?’

A different possibility arose in his mind as his heart sank, ’It discovered me picking up the attributes.’

It was an impossible thought considering even Meihui hadn’t been able to discover that secret. She had to guess from her observation, and even then she wasn’t fully right.

Yet, this entity discovered it so quickly.

’What the hell have I consumed? I’ll need to ask them to check me later. Maybe even throw me in some holy water.’

He blamed himself for being impulsive and too curious.

’The whole story of tribute might also be made up. Likewise, the merchants. Maybe they are also dead. Who knows what truly happened there?’

He wondered if it was related to the strange hill, but he had doubts. After all, both behaved differently. One was an intelligent entity manipulating the whole village for its nefarious purposes, while the other seemed more like a force which attracted and excited the Spiritual Beasts.

Still, he didn’t completely drop the possibility. It was too much of a coincidence for such two things to happen not far from each other. They were likely related.

"I’ll be damned," he smiled wryly, feeling the urge to go back to know more about it. "Why am I courting death?"

Shaking his head, he decided to think more about the village to see if he was missing anything. But a loud thud interrupted his thoughts.

"She’s here!"

Ye Jun jumped to his feet and went outside. Just as he expected, a beautiful, proud Falcon stood there, folding its wings. Atop it sat a beautiful woman with a flute similar to his in her hand.

Her eyes, full of concern, finally landed on him as she heaved a sigh of relief. She jumped off the Falcon’s back, landing right before him and shoved a finger on his chest, scoffing.

"What is this? You’re completely fine, so why did you send so many emergency signals? I thought you were half-dead or something."

Ye Jun smiled, feeling warmth at seeing that she was so worried about him. But his smile only pissed her off more as she pulled his ear, "What are you grinning about? Is this a joke to you?"

"No. I’m just happy to see you after everything I’ve seen in the last few hours," Ye Jun said honestly. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

Han Yuexin froze, then backed away with a sigh, "Cheeky brat. So, what happened? This better not be some joke."

"It isn’t," Ye Jun said seriously, looking into her eyes. "If I’m not wrong, which I hope I am, then hundreds of people may die soon."

Han Yuexin’s expression changed instantly as she said, turning around, "Explain while we’re on the way there. Where do we have to go?"

"We shouldn’t take your companion," Ye Jun said. "Its presence will attract attention, and we need to be quiet, otherwise they might really die."

Han Yuexin nodded and said, "Fine, then explain everything. Don’t leave out any details."

Just as she said, Ye Jun didn’t leave out any details except for the system part. He even explained his hypothesis, for which he earned an appreciative nod from her.

"You did good to remain calm and not do anything," Han Yuexin said. "If you had, that entity might have really killed you. Something is stopping it for now, but if you had behaved differently..."

She didn’t finish her words, but Ye Jun could guess it as he had arrived at the same conclusion.

"In any case, your observational skills are good," Han Yuexin said, rolling her flute between her fingers. "Let’s put them to use again."

"We are going back, huh?" Ye Jun sighed, not at all pleased at the prospect of visiting that damned place again.

"We will observe first and only act if we have to," Han Yuexin said, having a dark smile. "Whatever that thing is, it’s not strong for now, but if it’s allowed to spread, our sect would suffer severe consequences."

She stared at him and asked, "So, do you want to come? We have to cleanse this thing before it grows."

Ye Jun grinned in response, "Just remember that I’ll run away the moment I sense danger to my life."