A chill shot up his spine. Ye Qi froze—what was this situation? An entire village possessed?!

You San was now so frightened he even forgot the pain of his severed arm, his teeth chattering: “Are we… doomed?”

“What are you all standing around for?” Changling was stunned for a moment, then said coldly: “Waiting to be torn apart?”

Ye Qi and Xu Laifeng jolted awake. This wasn’t the time to wonder how Yanling Village had turned into a village of evil spirits overnight. Changling was already leading the way back. Ye Qi followed closely behind. Xu Laifeng pulled You San along: “Run first, talk later!”

As soon as they moved, the villagers behind also came striding forward. Not every villager knew qinggong—some were fast, some slow. Even so, the wave of fierce farmers led by the village chief kept pace. Xu Laifeng glanced back at the scene behind them and got goosebumps. “Since when do even zombies run this fast?”

“What zombies?” Even while running, Ye Qi had time to chat. “During the day they were all living people. Who knows why, once they heard that monk ring that bell, they all became possessed…”

Xu Laifeng cursed. “You were there too? Then why didn’t you come help? If we’d killed that bald donkey, maybe these villagers wouldn’t be wandering around now…”

“Stop arguing!” Changling coldly interrupted them. “Xu, as you wish—if you want to join forces, the opportunity is right ahead.”

Xu Laifeng looked up and saw Liaozhen’s figure rapidly approaching through the night, saying with lingering fear: “He’s strange. I used my full strength, but it was like hitting a bronze wall…”

Bronze wall…

Changling said to Xu Laifeng: “You attack high, I’ll attack low. You two behind us, get out of the way—”

After saying this, Changling suddenly drew the short sword at her waist. The sword wind carried thick, unhesitating killing intent. Cleanly, at the instant Liaozhen rushed forward, she thrust extremely cunningly toward his waist.

With a “ding,” the blade was forcibly deflected. Changling narrowly avoided Liaozhen’s punch. She leaped back a step, her sword hand slightly numb. At the same time, the fan that swept out was batted back by Liaozhen’s arm. Xu Laifeng barely caught his own weapon, saying incredulously: “Turning green-eyed really makes one invulnerable to blades and spears?”

Liaozhen gave them no time to think. Hearing Xu Laifeng speak, he lunged straight at him. Xu Laifeng had no choice but to fight him head-on, each palm and fist consuming considerable true qi—while also being careful not to be grabbed by the other’s claws, lest he be torn off directly.

At this time, the “rear army” led by the village chief had caught up. You San couldn’t even look after himself and ran away. Xu Laifeng, afraid the other two would also flee, said while fighting: “If I die, with so many monsters, you two won’t be able to handle them either… Ah!”

Liaozhen pierced through the fan ribs, his right hand gripping Xu Laifeng’s left shoulder, about to tear off both bone and skin together. Suddenly his vision blurred—a long whip struck toward his eyes like a viper’s tongue. He instinctively stepped back. The next moment, he felt a cold, deadly presence at his back—Changling had struck a palm!

“Idiot! I already said he’s invulnerable, why are you still…” Before Xu Laifeng finished speaking, he saw Liaozhen’s whole body stiffen after being hit by that palm. The next moment, a sword tip emerged from his chest. Liaozhen fell with a thud.

Xu Laifeng was greatly shocked. How did this girl kill this monster with just one palm and one sword?!

Changling withdrew her sword without even glancing at Liaozhen lying on the ground, saying coldly: “This monk practiced Golden Bell Shield. Breaking through it is simple. I don’t believe all these villagers are invulnerable. Should we try?”

Xu Laifeng had been marveling at what martial art in the world could break through Golden Bell Shield in an instant. When he turned around and saw the “village chief army” closing in, cold sweat appeared. Hearing “try,” Ye Qi wanted to whip her with his whip. “Hero, at a time like this, you still have the mind to practice?”

Just then, several people rushed forward like hunting leopards. He instinctively cracked his whip, using almost all his strength. With several swooshes, the whip tip deeply slashed across those people’s wrists. Instantly, three people’s six hands were severed at the wrists, blood spurting out. Both Ye Qi and Xu Laifeng were stunned, but these people felt no pain at all, still lunging forward recklessly. This time Xu Laifeng swept out a palm, pushing these people over a zhang away, knocking down the villagers behind them together.

Changling curved her lips. “See, I told you. Not everyone is invulnerable. Although…” When she said “although,” another wave of villagers lunged up fiercely. “…their movements are very fast, their strength several times greater than normal, but each person’s attack power depends on their own martial cultivation. In other words…”

Changling’s body spun like a top, her sword like a whirling blade rapidly turning, severing the hand and foot tendons of those newly entering the battle circle. Those people fell to the ground one by one, unable to stand, still crawling forward with green eyes. Changling landed steadily back in place, standing back-to-back in three directions with Ye Qi and Xu Laifeng, saying with extreme cruelty yet extreme calm: “With the strength of us three, annihilating the village—not difficult.”

Tonight’s turn of events was unprecedented. Even “clever people” like Ye Qi and Xu Laifeng, upon witnessing Liaozhen’s abilities firsthand, would instinctively assume all the village people had indestructible bodies. Once thinking of the situation in the most dangerous terms, fighting spirit would greatly diminish, panic would arise, and they’d be trapped without knowing it. Fundamentally, this was still due to lack of combat experience.

However, when dealing with this kind of “outnumbered and certainly doomed” situation, no one had more rich experience than Changling. The more critical the moment, the sharper her instincts—actually, whether these people were possessed or ghost-ridden didn’t matter. As long as when they attacked, she carefully observed their techniques and strength as if facing ordinary martial experts, she could still find weaknesses.

Annihilating the village wasn’t difficult. The reverse meaning of this phrase was—should they annihilate the village?

Although she didn’t know what these villagers had experienced to become this ghostly appearance at night, one thing was certain: during the day, they farmed and labored, ate and lived no different from ordinary people, and sincerely welcomed visiting strangers.

They simply didn’t know they themselves were the “evil spirits” they spoke of, which is why they repeatedly emphasized the village rule “cannot travel at night”—if Xu Laifeng hadn’t tonight disturbed Liaozhen into ringing that bronze bell, the villagers of Yanling Village might still be sleeping peacefully in their dreams.

When Changling said this, she had actually already shed her killing intent, which is why she held back everywhere. But there were over a hundred green-eyed people who’d lost their minds here. If they all attacked at once, before dawn the three of them would be crushed to death alive.

“I don’t want to kill them either, but…” Xu Laifeng swept down a group with one palm wind. After those people fell, they stood up again, wave after wave charging together with others. “But if we keep fighting so restrictively, we’ll still be the ones to die. How about we don’t kill them, just break their hands and feet?”

“They’re all farmers, living by tilling fields. Waking up to find themselves all crippled,” Ye Qi swept aside a group with one whip crack, barely managing to keep those people three steps away, “what difference is that from killing them?”

Xu Laifeng saw another hundred pairs of green eyes swarming from nearby. “Damn, what exactly do you two mean? Give me a straight answer! I can barely hold on!”

“Flee!” Changling and Ye Qi said in unison.

Ye Qi glanced at the deep night sky and said to Xu Laifeng: “Island Master Xu, there are many mountains to the south, suitable for hiding. This junior’s martial arts are inadequate—I’ll have to trouble you to clear a path.”

Xu Laifeng looked at the densely packed green eyes like fireflies to the south, his mouth twitching: “Young Marquis, you really know how to give me difficult problems!”

This was the first time he revealed Ye Qi’s identity. Probably truly pushed to anger, Xu Laifeng suddenly charged into the crowd. His palms drew a circle in the air around him. For a moment, thick internal power formed a wall—the crazed villagers couldn’t get within his circle.

Changling and Ye Qi followed close behind, dealing with batch after batch of charging villagers while secretly admiring—to transform internal power into this substantial form that protected oneself without scorching others, this Island Master Xu’s cultivation was indeed more formidable than imagined.

The formidable Island Master Xu was currently forcibly holding his breath. This technique extremely consumed stamina and couldn’t last long. Moreover, these villagers’ strength was several times that of ordinary martial artists. Halfway through, someone rammed headfirst into him. Xu Laifeng couldn’t hold his breath, barely breaking his technique. He felt acute pain in his shoulder—the village chief had personally attacked, sharp fingernails piercing into his flesh, viciously tearing out a shocking bloody gash—

At this point, how could Xu Laifeng still care about preserving lives? His left palm struck out without thinking, sending the village chief flying several zhang away. He gritted his teeth: “My right shoulder can’t move. As for clearing the path, I can only go this far.”

Without him saying so, Changling leaped ahead first, grabbing one person in each hand, using the villagers as human shields to knock down a group. She’d discovered early on that though these people had lost their minds, they didn’t harm their own kind. This method worked quite well. Just as they were about to break through the human formation, suddenly a thin child lunged at her.

It was Brother Adou.

Changling hesitated for an instant, failing to strike in time, and was instead grabbed by Brother Adou—if it were any other adult, this would be a tearing rhythm, but Brother Adou was after all young and didn’t use force. Instead, he opened his mouth wide and bit fiercely into Changling’s shoulder!

Children’s teeth were naturally very sharp. This bite was almost a posture of devouring alive. Changling pulled at his collar but couldn’t pry him off. Ye Qi, who had been struggling at the rear, turned back to see this scene. Horrified, his pupils contracted. He wrapped his long whip around Brother Adou’s neck and twisted. The child unable to breathe immediately released his bite, falling to the ground with a thud, rolling several times. Once his breathing cleared, he scrambled up again, charging forward with the others.

Overcoming layers of obstacles, in terms of qinggong, the highest level in the entire village fell far short of the three of them. They finally carved out a way to survive.

They didn’t dare relax at all. Only after putting a small distance between them did Xu Laifeng stop slightly to catch his breath. His right hand was now twitching with pain, blood still flowing out. “Don’t know if there’s any medicinal herbs on this mountain. If this blood doesn’t stop, tonight will be rough… Hey, why is your blood black?”

He pointed at Changling’s shoulder. From the wound where Brother Adou had bitten, dark purple blood bubbled out—who knows what poison was in that child’s teeth. Changling’s left fingertips pinched several silver needles. Without blinking, she pierced several major acupoints around her shoulder. However, a strange feeling of weakness spread from the wound throughout her body. She couldn’t help shivering.

Ye Qi looked worried: “How are you? Should we find a place to rest?”

The villagers behind were already tireless running toward them. Xu Laifeng hastily pushed them forward several steps. “Rest what? Do you still want your lives?!”

The three walked another two li. A three-way fork appeared ahead. Changling was increasingly losing strength. Her foot stumbled, her whole person somewhat dizzy. She could feel Ye Qi supporting her and desperately asking questions. She could hear but simply couldn’t open her eyes or answer.

Seeing this girl poisoned and unconscious, Xu Laifeng thought: Will she wake up and also become a green-eyed monster?

Thinking of this, he quickly said to Ye Qi: “Young Marquis, Miss Jing is so severely injured. You should go ahead first. How about I help you lure them away?”

Ye Qi hoisted Changling on his back, said “thank you,” and fled toward the mountain like flying. Who knew that as soon as they rounded the corner, Xu Laifeng darted to another path, with no intention of helping them lure anyone away.

The villagers unconsciously split up the mountain.

Ye Qi’s qinggong was excellent, but carrying a tall, long-limbed young woman running through mountain wilderness, his speed inevitably slowed—as he slowed, the people behind caught up.

At this time, he didn’t dare put Changling down. The Infinite Whip couldn’t be fully deployed, only able to drive people three zhang away.

Ye Qi worried about Changling’s safety on one hand while striving to run up the mountain on the other, almost ready to kill. Suddenly he discovered ahead on the mountainside, there was a thatched cottage, hidden deep in the forest, and within the cottage, a lamp flickered faintly.

His heart jumped: Could villagers from Yanling also live here? Then shouldn’t he go forward?

Behind, the villagers’ footsteps approached again. Ye Qi couldn’t care about so much, charging straight ahead, intending to bypass the cottage and continue fleeing. At this time, a figure suddenly flashed out, standing brazenly outside the door: “Who dares disturb this old man’s sweet dreams?”

Strangely enough, those green-eyed villagers clearly looked like they’d lost their minds, but upon seeing this person, as if seeing a ghost, they frightened and repeatedly stopped in their tracks, then let out pig-slaughtering screams and turned to run.

That person seemed to find it somewhat boring, pouting and waving his hand, muttering to himself: “Really boring.”

When he turned around, his eyes met Ye Qi’s, who was still shaken.

The sky was too dark to make out what this person looked like, only vaguely sensing his head full of tangled wild hair, looking just like a mountain savage.

Fortunately, his eyes weren’t green.

Before Ye Qi could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw that person tilt his head and step forward one step at a time.

“Sen-senior, we had no intention of disturbing, it’s just…”

That person suddenly spoke: “Little Ye, is that you?”