Chapter 24

That voice, to Shi Qing and the others frantically fleeing, was like music from heaven.

At the same moment the voice reached their ears, a dazzling blade of light also came into view.

Though the blade was dozens of meters away, it arrived in an instant, revealing its speed.

The blade sliced through the air with a piercing shriek, testifying to its sharpness.

To hear and to see were both but a single instant.

The blade, like a silver ribbon, struck suddenly—and vanished just as quickly.

The blade was simply too fast; before Shi Qing and the others could clearly make it out, two of the thirteen men who had been chasing them had already lost their heads.

Though it was night, this was the outer edge of Hongmu Ridge, where trees were not as dense as in the inner layers, and the snow-covered ground reflected white light—so Shi Qing’s group was not greatly hindered in vision.

When the blade stopped, the person behind it was naturally visible to Shi Qing and the others.

This sight, including their leader Shi Qing, struck them all.

Every one of them felt a pang of inferiority.

He was a young man, no more than twenty, wearing a brown fur-lined leather coat; around his neck was a soft white fur collar, clearly made from the tail of a cold beast; on his feet were glossy black leather boots.

Shi Qing’s group had good reason to feel inferior.

The five of them wore only ragged leather skirts, riddled with holes and barely holding together.

Yet even such tattered leather skirts, among the three hundred-plus souls of Dashi Camp, were worn by fewer than fifty.

The vast majority wore dry-leaf garments.

Dry-leaf garments were made by drying collected large leaves and stitching them together into clothing.

Of course, this was not unique to Dashi Camp.

Around Hongmu Ridge, aside from Luo Ge’s camp, which was slightly better off, all other camps were in the same state.

There was no way around it—a complete animal pelt was itself proof of strength.

Even Luo Ge’s camp could not guarantee they never damaged their prey’s hide during hunting, let alone these small camps.

Thus, the young man’s full set of clothing alone was enough to make them all feel ashamed.

Not to mention the silver blade in his hand, which had just eliminated two ghostly entities in an instant.

As Shi Qing and the others stared in shock, the young man moved again.

He wielded his sword like a dance; in the blink of an eye, his cold blade sliced through the darkness, leaving seven or eight streaks of light in the air, cutting down the remaining ten ghostly entities behind Xia Ding as easily as chopping vegetables.

Recalling their own desperate flight from the ghostly entities, and now seeing the young man dispatch them with such casual ease, the stark contrast deepened the sense of inferiority in Shi Qing’s very core.

After beheading the ten, the young man did not immediately move against Xia Ding; he merely gazed at him calmly and spoke slowly: “These things you’ve made…”

Swoosh…

Before the young man finished speaking, that familiar voice rang out again.

Shi Qing’s face turned pale; he shouted a warning at once.

“My lord, watch out!”

But his warning was clearly unnecessary.

Before Shi Qing even spoke, the young man had already turned his head toward his back; his ears twitched slightly, then his gaze snapped to the top of a large tree on the left side of the dense forest.

“On the tree—Li Hu, Luo Ming, go together!”

He shouted aloud, and from the right, two figures dashed forward, swiftly heading toward the tree he had locked onto.

At the same time, the young man no longer paid attention to “Xia Ding”; he pushed off the ground and charged straight toward the tree.

All three moved with blinding speed; Shi Qing had no time to even register it before the tree had already been cleanly severed at waist height.

The entire upper half of the tree crashed to the ground.

This sight froze the expressions on Shi Qing’s five faces.

Especially when they noticed that the inside of the severed tree glowed gold.

Their pupils dilated in shock; all five swallowed hard.

“The hardest Jinlin tree—cut clean through with one sword?”

When they felled trees, they only chose Zhushuang trees.

It wasn’t that Jinlin trees couldn’t be cut—they could cut them too.

But the problem was, it took them at least ten continuous hours of hacking to fell a single Jinlin tree.

Yet what had they just seen? One sword, and the Jinlin tree was cut in half?

Their gaze toward the young man instantly filled with reverence.

After the Jinlin tree was severed and toppled, a black figure leapt upward like a phantom from its crown and fled toward the inner depths of Hongmu Ridge.

But the young man and the other two reacted just as swiftly.

The three quickly spread out, surrounding the black figure on three sides.

“Trying to run? We barely stumbled upon a Junior Artisan ghostly entity—can’t let you slip away so easily.”

“Don’t let your guard down—it’s a Wood Puppet ghostly entity. All those people I just killed were probably made from wood and corpses. It might still have tricks up its sleeve—stay alert.”

Shi Qing reacted quickly; hearing their words and glancing at “Xia Ding,” who had remained frozen since the black figure appeared, he already understood.

Artisan ghostly entity, Wood Puppet ghostly entity—both referred to the black figure.

Xia Ding and the woodcutters were clearly under its control.

Moreover, among the two names the young man called, one was known to Shi Qing—he recognized him.

Luo Ming, current leader of Luo Ge’s camp, and son of the former leader, Luo Feng.

Indeed, as Shi Qing looked closer.

The tall, slender man on the far right, with narrowed eyes and a long spear in hand, was unmistakably Luo Ming, whom he had seen several times before.

On the left, the man named Li Hu was powerfully built; his attire was similar to the young man’s, and he held a gleaming, icy Yanling knife, watching the black figure with fierce intensity.

Shi Qing now clearly saw the thing the two called the Wood Puppet ghostly entity.

The Wood Puppet ghostly entity appeared to be a black-clad old man, his face decayed and his posture slightly hunched.

In his left hand he held a three-inch knife; in his right, a spool of white thread; his crimson eyes blazed with malice, and his gaze toward the three surrounding him was filled with bloodthirsty hunger.

“Ahh…”

The Wood Puppet ghostly entity let out a sudden roar; from its right hand, dozens of transparent threads shot out, vanishing instantly as if swallowed by the darkness.

Yet the three surrounding it began frantically dodging left and right.

Seeing this, Shi Qing understood: the transparent threads had killed his companions—but their strength was too weak to see them.

Only these three, who could see them, were constantly evading in midair.

Of course, it wasn’t just evasion.

In mere seconds, the sword-wielding young man seemed to spot an opening; he twisted his waist and lunged toward the Wood Puppet ghostly entity, his blade clashing repeatedly against the threads, sending sparks flying.

The blade could sever the transparent threads.

Seeing this, the Wood Puppet ghostly entity’s face darkened instantly; its eyes locked onto the young man’s silver blade, as if realizing something.

The weapons in Luo Ming’s and Li Hu’s hands were clearly not as strong as the young man’s sword; they continued dodging, inching closer to the Wood Puppet ghostly entity, but far too slowly.

The young man was already swinging his blade at the ghostly entity, while the other two were still meters away.

Yet even though they hadn’t reached him yet,

the young man’s strength seemed almost unbelievable.

His blade slashed through the air, unleashing a chilling blade light, nearly brushing against the Wood Puppet ghostly entity; despite its rapid retreat, the storm-like assault followed relentlessly.

The young man’s swordplay surged like a tidal wave, one crest after another, forcing the Wood Puppet ghostly entity back until it was pinned against a large tree.

At the same time, Li Hu and Luo Ming finally broke through the web of threads and arrived behind the young man.

The three seized the moment, sealing off all escape routes—top, middle, and bottom.

The sword slashed above, the spear thrust in the center, the great knife slashed below.

Under the triple assault, the Wood Puppet ghostly entity had nowhere to evade.

(End of Chapter)