The Poison had broken through the formation, but as far as Chu Feng could tell, it had not left the Poison Demon Valley.
Right now, Chu Feng could detect a faint trail — the escape route the Poison had taken when it fled from this place.
And it was precisely this route that filled Chu Feng with unease. The trail did not head toward the Poison Tribe. Instead, it led toward the village where the common folk lived.
Moreover, once the trail reached the vicinity of the village, it simply cut off. No matter how hard Chu Feng searched, he could not pick it up again.
"The Poison didn't leave — it came to the village instead? It's lurking outside?" Chu Feng's brows knitted tight, extreme unease flickering in his eyes.
This was a very ominous development. That Poison was extraordinarily dangerous. If it was hiding near the village, the villagers were in terrible trouble.
So Chu Feng slipped into the depths beneath the village and began searching carefully for the Poison's hiding place. But after a full day of searching, he still could not find a trace of it.
This only deepened his anxiety. If the Poison was not hidden beneath the village, then there were only two possibilities.
The first was that after breaking through the barrier, the Poison had sustained heavy injuries and lost its strength. It was very likely that it had died before even reaching the village. That would explain why the trail vanished before it arrived. If that was truly the case, then everything was fine — the entire Poison Demon Valley would be safe.
But there was a second possibility. The Poison had concealed itself within the village. Chu Feng did not know what the Poison actually looked like, but one thing was certain: if it was alive, it would be an extraordinarily powerful existence.
Perhaps it could disguise itself as an object, or perhaps it could take the form of a person, hiding in the village all along.
If that was true, then not only the villagers were in danger, but the Poison Tribe as well — the entire Poison Demon Valley. After all, the Fire Immortal Oblivion Technique had already explained that the Poison was inherently murderous. Having been bound by the Poison Demon for so many years, with so much of its power drained, its killing intent would only have grown fiercer. Its hatred would be boundless.
If it were to emerge, it would undoubtedly go on a massacre. Yet it had already escaped and had not begun killing. That left only two possibilities again.
Either it was dead, or it was alive but so weakened that it was still no match for the Poison Tribe — which was why it was lying low, secretly cultivating in hiding.
Chu Feng went to the edge of the village and used his Heavenly Eyes to observe every household and every person, but he found nothing out of the ordinary. It left him utterly frustrated.
If the Poison truly was hiding in the village, then its methods of concealment were too brilliant — even Chu Feng could not detect the slightest flaw.
"That can't be right."
Chu Feng analyzed the situation more carefully. And after this deeper analysis, his expression changed once more.
He had realized something. The time when the Poison broke through the barrier should have been ten years ago. That meant whether it had disguised itself as a person or an object, it must have entered the village ten years ago.
But beyond that, another possibility occurred to Chu Feng. What if the Poison had not merely disguised itself as an adult, but had disguised itself as a newborn infant, entering the world from the very start?
After all, if it pretended to be someone else, not knowing that person's past, it would have difficulty blending into the villagers' lives. But if it was born as a baby, it would start from zero — no one would suspect a thing.
If that was truly the case, then the first suspicious person that came to mind was Goudan.
Goudan was exactly ten years old, and his appearance was extraordinarily ugly — ugly in a way that set him apart from any normal person.
But a person's looks were usually inherited from their parents. Goudan's father, while not exactly a handsome man, was at least a normal-looking one. He was not ugly to the point of being utterly unconscionable.