Chapter 62: Three-Inch Knife

So far, the only metal weapons Xia Hong had seen were large knives.

Wang Ming from Dashi, Luo Ming before him, and the other three diggers in Luo Ge’s camp—all but Li Baihe carried an extra bow, yet their primary weapon was still the large knife.

Even Li Hu, from Beishuozhen, wielded a goose-feather knife.

Only Yang Ning used a sword.

There was a reason for this.

First, compared to other weapons, the forging process for large knives was simpler.

You hammered raw iron into the desired length and thickness, sharpened one edge, and fitted a wooden handle.

Second, it was the nature of the knife itself.

The knife is like a tiger, the commander of a hundred weapons—its cuts, chops, slashes, and stabs all follow broad, sweeping motions, making it the most courageous of all arms.

The camp’s humans frequently faced powerful creatures such as cold beasts and eerie entities.

With courage as an advantage, it was undeniably more effective.

After all, when two strong forces clash, the brave prevail.

Of the seven men now surrounding the wood puppet eerie entity, five wielded knives.

Under five sweeping, forceful knife strikes, the wood puppet eerie entity showed no sign of defeat.

As it dodged and shifted, its right hand flicked lightly—the cluster of transparent white threads came alive, swirling around it, constantly blocking and neutralizing the five knives.

Xia Hong sidestepped and leapt aside, avoiding a white thread, then exploded power simultaneously from his fist, foot, and waist—seizing the gap as Luo Ming and Shang Ping retracted their blades, his pupils sharpened, both hands gripping his large knife as he swung it violently from right to left in a reverse cut.

Clang………

The knife did not strike the wood puppet eerie entity—it was halted by a dense net of transparent threads—but the terrifying force of the blow nearly pressed the threads against the entity’s face.

The wood puppet eerie entity’s main focus was on Yang Ning’s long sword, so it used only a small portion of its threads to deal with the other six.

Xia Hong’s close-range strike, delivered with such force, left it unable to dodge in time.

“Perfect chance—attack now……”

Though stunned by Xia Hong’s earlier strike, Luo Ming, seeing the wood puppet eerie entity immobilized, would not let this opportunity slip—he roared and, alongside Shang Ping, slashed horizontally upward and downward at the entity.

The wood puppet eerie entity frantically retreated, but Li Hu, who had been attacking from behind, would not let it escape—his goose-feather knife sliced through the air with a chilling whistle as it hurtled toward its back.

Yang Ning, blocking its front, saw the entity trapped from three sides and swung his silver sword rapidly, creating a near-solid wall of blade edges that sealed every possible escape route above and ahead of the entity.

Shhh… shhh… shhh…

Li Baihe was not idle—he was the only one among the seven using a bow. Seeing the other six had sealed off all escape routes, he broke from the fight, drew his bow, aimed at the entity’s head, and fired three arrows in rapid succession.

The wood puppet eerie entity could not dodge the three incoming arrows, nor could it evade Yang Ning’s frontal pressure—let alone the three other groups on its left, right, and rear.

The wood puppet eerie entity was clearly on the brink of annihilation.

Every face showed a flicker of hope.

But that hope vanished the next instant.

The wood puppet eerie entity glanced left and right, then raised its left hand—the one that had held the small knife all along—and slashed sharply toward Luo Ming and Shang Ping.

The knife was only three inches long, tiny to the point of absurdity—even calling it a dagger was excessive. Compared to Luo Ming’s large knife, it was smaller than an ordinary man’s palm.

What could such a tiny knife possibly cut?

Chiiii…

The next second, everyone froze in shock.

With a sharp hiss, Luo Ming’s large knife was cleanly severed by the small knife.

Not just broken—the blade itself was sliced apart, the cut unnervingly smooth.

This small knife was that sharp!

A sinister smile spread across the wood puppet eerie entity’s face, enjoying their stunned reactions—yet it did not pause. Like lightning, it slashed Shang Ping’s knife in half, then spun around to block Li Hu’s incoming goose-feather knife.

“You think my hundred-forged goose-feather knife is like theirs? Dream on!”

Li Hu instantly saw the entity’s intent—he muttered inwardly, his aura surging, his blade’s momentum intensifying.

Chiiii…

But his confidence vanished the moment his goose-feather knife snapped clean in two—leaving only stunned disbelief on his face.

With the left and rear threats neutralized, the wood puppet Guiguai retreated Shunshi .

Yang Ning, facing it directly, failed to land a blow.

Xia Hong, the first to close in, was also startled by the small knife—but seeing the entity retreat directly, his eyes flickered with sudden insight.

The wood puppet eerie entity avoiding Yang Ning’s sword made sense—but why didn’t it break out toward him, the closest? Instead, it chose the direction of Luo Ming, Shang Ping, and Li Hu.

The wood puppet eerie entity feared him.

Xia Hong understood why the entity feared him. He suppressed the strange look in his eyes and continued joining the others in surrounding the wood puppet eerie entity.

“Leader, Shang Ping, my lord—here are new knives!”

Though their knives had been severed, others from Luo Ge’s camp quickly found three new ones and tossed them to the three men.

Reclaiming their blades, the three rejoined the fight—now far more cautious.

Everyone knew the danger of the small knife; they would no longer risk direct clashes. Whenever the entity raised it, they immediately shifted their attacks to other body parts.

Even Yang Ning did the same.

As a result, the wood puppet eerie entity became far more defensive.

Though powerful, it could barely hold off six attackers—and had to constantly evade Li Baihe’s occasional arrows from outside.

Constant defense inevitably leads to defeat—it was an eternal truth.

The wood puppet eerie entity was no exception. United, the seven finally found an opening—Yang Ning drove his silver sword into the entity’s right armpit.

Seizing the advantage, Yang Ning pushed harder, driving the blade deeper.

Chiiii………

When the silver sword pierced the wood puppet eerie entity’s body, no blood flowed—instead, a sound like searing hot water hissed from the wound, followed by thick black smoke gushing from the armpit.

The smoke was foul and nauseating; everyone instinctively wanted to retreat—but seeing the entity’s face twist in pain, they realized this was critical, and forced themselves to endure the stench and press the attack.

In stark contrast to the entity’s agony, Yang Ning and Li Hu’s faces lit up with intense delight the moment they saw the smoke—their strikes grew even faster.

Xia Hong, on the right, did not notice Yang Ning and Li Hu’s expressions.

His full attention was fixed on the wound.

Just as he found his chance and was about to bring his knife down on the wound, Xia Hong suddenly froze, leapt backward, and shouted:

“Fall back—it’s got something strange inside!”

The six, startled by his cry, hesitated—but in this dire moment, they trusted Xia Hong without question and immediately retreated.

Boom…………

Before they had retreated far, the wound under the wood puppet eerie entity’s armpit suddenly exploded with a deafening crash, turning their faces pale.

A simple wound explosion wouldn’t have shocked them.

The problem was—the wound’s interior was packed with countless white threads; the entity’s entire body seemed woven from them.

When the wound ruptured, the transparent threads scattered wildly across the air, splitting into countless filament ends like silver needles, riding the blast wave and streaking toward the six from above.

The six frantically dodged left and right, or dropped flat to the ground.

Once dodged, the threads did not curve—they flew straight past the six toward their backs.

Xia Hong, lying on the ground, realized something—he snapped his head around—and his pupils shrank sharply.

Thousands of white threads, passing over their bodies, all pointed toward the scattered corpses and severed limbs on the valley floor.

(End of Chapter)