Chapter 63

At this moment, the valley floor had the remains of a full seven or eight hundred people.

The dense white threads that burst from the Wood Puppet Ghost's body were all precisely connected to these remains, without a single one missed.

When they had just rushed back earlier, the valley floor was covered in severed limbs and broken arms. Everyone had originally thought that when the Wood Puppet Ghost went on a killing spree, the people in the camp had all scattered to flee for their lives, which caused the horrifying scene of corpses strewn across the field.

Now it seemed that it was actually this Wood Puppet Ghost who had done it on purpose.

"Don't just stand there, quickly cut these white threads!"

Yang Ning's voice came from behind. He raised his sword to quickly cut the white threads nearest to him, and then turned his head with a solemn expression, shouting sternly at everyone.

The others realized what was happening and busily followed him to quickly hack at those white threads.

It was a pity that Yang Ning's silver longsword could strike sparks from those white threads before they snapped,

but the broadswords in their hands could not.

"The weapons in your hands are useless, go and interfere with it!"

Yang Ning realized that everyone's weapons were useless and hurriedly offered a reminder.

Li Hu had the best coordination with Yang Ning; before Yang Ning's voice had even faded, he had already charged toward the Wood Puppet Ghost;

and besides him, there was Xia Hong, who had also realized early on that the broadswords could not cut the white threads and had charged toward the Wood Puppet Ghost in advance.

Luo Ming and the other four only charged over after hearing Yang Ning's words.

Yang Ning's speed had reached an unimaginably fast level, and he had cut hundreds or thousands of white threads, but compared to the white threads bursting from the Wood Puppet Ghost's body that could be described as filling the sky, it was still a drop in the bucket.

The six charged to the side of the Wood Puppet Ghost in an instant; even Li Baihe, who originally used a bow, had switched to a blade at this moment.

The six slashed out six gusts of wind together, covering almost every critical part of the Wood Puppet Ghost's body from its neck to its waist.

But they were, after all, a step too slow.

Before the six could bring their blades down, the Wood Puppet Ghost suddenly raised its head.

Those red pupils contracted sharply into pinpricks, a sinister smile appeared on its face, and it slowly opened its mouth, emitting a strange, ear-piercing laughter.

"Hehehehe..."

The unstoppable blade momentum of the six suddenly stopped.

Not only did the blades stop, but the expressions of the six also changed.

Of course, it was not because of the Wood Puppet Ghost's laughter, but because they had all simultaneously sensed a fatal crisis from behind them.

"Huzi, dodge quickly!"

Yang Ning, who was the furthest away, shouted. Li Hu, almost as a conditioned reflex, directly abandoned the Wood Puppet Ghost, retracted his blade, and stooped down, dodging awkwardly to the side.

Although Yang Ning only shouted at Li Hu, the other five could naturally hear him as well.

The five did not hesitate in the slightest; they all abandoned their strikes, moved rapidly away from the Wood Puppet Ghost, and fled quickly. Their awkward posture was no better than Li Hu's.

Swish... swish... swish...

After dodging, the six had not yet raised their heads when the sound of whistling wind reached their ears; clearly, many things were flying at an extremely fast speed.

Everyone looked up, their expressions suddenly filled with horror.

Through the thousands of white threads bursting from its body, the Wood Puppet Ghost was pulling the remains and severed limbs on the valley floor back into its own body at an astonishing speed.

The remains of seven or eight hundred people—that was an astonishing amount. As these remains continuously burrowed into the wound under its right armpit, the Wood Puppet Ghost's body size also began to expand and enlarge rapidly.

Two meters... three meters... five meters... ten meters...

No, it wasn't just the body size.

"Leader, why didn't you save me..."

"Father, you shouldn't have killed me, you shouldn't have killed me..."

"Why am I the only one who died? Sob, sob, sob, you are all going to die..."

"I died so miserably, my head is gone, my legs are gone too..."

"My intestines, give me back my intestines..."

From within the Wood Puppet Ghost's body, countless strange and miserable voices suddenly emerged.

These voices were different—some male, some female, some old, some young—but without exception, they were filled with resentment and ferocity, and their target was directed straight at the seven.

"My head hurts so much..."

"Ah... it hurts, my head hurts so much."

"Pfft..."

And as these voices rang out in the valley, the one or two hundred people who had just been rescued from the wooden house all began to sway, their heads aching as if they were splitting.

Some of the more severe cases even vomited blood and collapsed to the ground, struggling and rolling on the floor.

Even Huang Zhao, Hong Gang, and all those in the major camps who had Woodcutting Realm cultivation began to show expressions of pain.

Among them, naturally, were Yuan Cheng, Watching Yue Feng, and the others from the Great Xia camp.

Never mind the others, even Xia Hong, with those voices continuously pouring into his ears, felt his expression gradually grow dazed, and a sharp pain emerged in his mind.

"Soul-Absorbing and Spirit-Gathering, it is evolving! Quickly stop it! Once it evolves into an intermediate-level ghost, all of us will die here! Quickly!"

Soul-Absorbing and Spirit-Gathering?

Xia Hong endured the sharp pain in his mind. Hearing Yang Ning's voice, his heart suddenly sank to the bottom.

Xia Hong actually did not understand Soul-Absorbing and Spirit-Gathering or intermediate-level ghosts, but the tone in which Yang Ning said this sentence carried obvious fear and panic.

Combined with the other's background and strength, it was not hard to imagine what the consequences would be once the Wood Puppet Ghost successfully promoted to intermediate level.

"Yuan Cheng, throw all the torches you have over here! Quickly!"

Xia Hong turned his head and shouted at Yuan Cheng and the others not far behind him.

"Leader, there are six! Catch them!"

Yuan Cheng, Watching Yue Feng, and the others were also suffering from splitting headaches, but they still reacted quickly and threw a bundle of torches over through the air.

The six of them each carried one, which happened to be six.

After Xia Hong caught them, he quickly tossed one to each of the five, including Luo Ming.

"Use these torches, they can hurt it!"

Luo Ming and the three others caught the torches. Hearing Xia Hong's words, joy immediately appeared on their faces; they clearly thought of the Condensing Fire Oil they had used in the wooden house earlier.

On the other side, Yang Ning and Li Hu were still a bit confused and subconsciously intended not to take the torches, but seeing the expressions of Luo Ming and the others, they also half-believingly took the torches.

This small torch could hurt the Wood Puppet Ghost? How was that possible?

Xia Hong had no time to explain to the two. He violently struck the torch against the ground, and flames immediately ignited. Carrying the torch, he charged straight at the Wood Puppet Ghost.

He was not courting death; the key was that the demonic sounds inside the Wood Puppet Ghost were making his head hurt more and more. If he delayed any longer, he feared there would be no chance to charge up.

Luo Ming, Shang Ping, and Li Baihe also reacted, learning from Xia Hong to strike their torches to ignite them, and charged straight toward the Wood Puppet Ghost.

On the contrary, Yang Ning and Li Hu, who did not quite believe in the torches, stood in place and gritted their teeth, but still chose to trust Xia Hong and followed them.

At this time, the Wood Puppet Ghost's body had increased to over twenty meters in height, with black energy lingering around its body, and its momentum was more than a little stronger and more powerful than before.

But its eyes were always closed.

Xia Hong dared to take the lead and charge up because he saw that the Wood Puppet Ghost seemed to be at a critical moment right now.

There were no more white threads along the way, so Xia Hong was almost unimpeded. He was the first to charge under the Wood Puppet Ghost's body. Holding his blade in his right hand, he gritted his teeth and slashed fiercely at the Wood Puppet Ghost's leg.

Crack...

Without the obstruction of the white threads, the Wood Puppet Ghost's body was not indestructible.

But even so, this strike of Xia Hong's, which used all his strength, only cut a half-meter-long wound, and the wound did not bleed a single drop of blood. One could only see the broken corpses and rotten flesh inside, and could even vaguely see the faces of those from the Luo Ge camp who had died miserably earlier.

Xia Hong endured the discomfort, exerted force with his left hand, and violently jammed the ignited torch directly inside.

Sss-sss-sss-sss...

"Ah..."

The torch ignited the flesh and blood inside the wound, instantly burning out a thick column of black smoke.

Accompanying the black smoke was a miserable, sharp scream from the Wood Puppet Ghost.

"It really works!"

Seeing this scene, Yang Ning and Li Hu were stunned, and the speed at which they were charging forward increased by a few points.

(End of this chapter)