Chapter 66: A lucky hit

Killing the Wood Puppet Ghost must surely have immense benefits.

When he first heard about the matter of Yang and Li from Shi Qing's mouth, Xia Hong only had some preliminary guesses.

But when he saw Yang and Li in person, had a preliminary impression of these two, and the filter for that Beishuo Town shattered, Xia Hong could basically be certain.

These two were clearly not kind-hearted people, nor did they seem like warm-hearted individuals.

To risk their lives to eliminate the ghost without asking for anything in return for the sake of the irrelevant people around Red Wood Ridge—

Given these two men's personalities, they would absolutely never do such a thing.

Therefore, only the fact that killing the Wood Puppet Ghost had benefits could explain it.

And Xia Hong had also seen the change in Luo Ming's expression just now.

If nothing unexpected happened, Luo Ming was also well aware of this point.

While Xia Hong was pondering, the two men, Yang and Li, had already climbed onto the Wood Puppet Ghost's head.

Yang Ning raised the silver longsword in his hand and stabbed frantically at the Wood Puppet Ghost's already shattered skull, almost turning its brain upside down.

Its silver longsword was indeed effective; with every stab, the Wood Puppet Ghost's massive body would tremble incessantly, clearly feeling immense pain.

The Wood Puppet Ghost could no longer let out screams, and its form was extremely weak, clearly having reached the point of exhaustion.

"Hehehehe, I die... I die... even if I die, I won't let you have it easy, hehehehe..."

Everyone's expression changed abruptly; no one had expected that the Wood Puppet Ghost, whose skull had been more than half burned away, could actually still speak.

Its voice was already extremely weak, but the venom and hatred revealed in its tone made everyone's back feel uncontrollably cold.

"Die, die, die with me..."

The Wood Puppet Ghost roared toward the sky, driving the scattered thick smoke, instantly causing the wind and clouds above the entire valley to change color, and the earth to tremble incessantly.

Yang Ning and Li Hu, who were closest to the Wood Puppet Ghost, had long since sensed that something was wrong and were fleeing frantically toward the stone wall on the right side of the valley.

"Lean against the wall, retreat, run outside, quick!"

Luo Ming shouted loudly toward the large group of people on the west side of the valley before taking the three people—Shang Ping and the others—to flee toward the left stone wall.

That large group of people on the west side of the valley numbered over a hundred, including the ordinary people Luo Ming and Xia Hong had rescued together in the wooden house earlier, as well as people from the four camps including Huang Zhao and Hong Gang.

Hearing Luo Ming's shout, those hundred-plus people immediately divided into three groups according to their positions, running toward the left and right sides of the valley, as well as the valley entrance on the west side, respectively.

The pile of rubble at the valley entrance had already been slashed open by the Wood Puppet Ghost just now, so the entrance was already exposed.

And Xia Hong and the others happened to be on the west side, so they also fled toward the entrance.

Boom...

It was just a pity that before they had run very far, the Wood Puppet Ghost exploded.

Its body, over twenty meters tall, was originally filled with the people who had died in the Luo Ge camp.

Once it exploded, the severed corpses and broken limbs all turned into flesh and blood filling the sky, scattering across the valley floor.

Even the walls were stained with a layer of blood color.

The power generated by the explosion caused the flying flesh and blood to carry terrifying force. Many ordinary people who were slow to dodge were hit and killed, and even those in the Woodcutting Realm were sent flying over ten meters, vomiting blood incessantly.

The Wood Puppet Ghost's final strike before death actually left the valley filled with wailing once again.

At the west entrance, Xia Hong, who was hiding behind a giant rock, looked back at the five people—Yuan Cheng and the others—and found that only Qiu Peng and Yue Feng had suffered minor injuries, feeling a sudden sense of great relief.

He then stood up and looked up at the Wood Puppet Ghost's massive body, which had completely disappeared, only then truly letting out a sigh of relief.

"This Wood Puppet Ghost could actually self-destruct?"

The confusion that had just risen in Xia Hong's heart was interrupted by two voices.

"Self-destruct? Ghosts can actually self-destruct?"

"This evil beast actually kept such a trick up its sleeve!"

Yang Ning and Li Hu, who were the first to rush to the location of the Wood Puppet Ghost's self-destruction, were constantly rummaging through the severed limbs and broken arms on the ground. Their expressions were extremely ugly, and they even carried some anger.

Xia Hong was stunned, his brows immediately knitting together as he fell into deep thought.

Even they didn't know that ghosts could self-destruct?

Xia Hong, of course, wouldn't doubt the two; when it came to understanding ghosts, Yang Ning and Li Hu were definitely far superior to people like them.

"Let's go out first, the smell inside the cave will probably take a long time to dissipate."

"The mountaintop seems to be shaking, we can't continue to stay inside."

"Right, hurry out, otherwise the rocks will fall down and crush people to death!"

Not right!

Xia Hong raised his head abruptly and looked behind him. Not only the group that had just fled toward the entrance, but also those who had hidden against the walls on both sides were all walking toward the outside of the entrance in a dense crowd.

"No one can leave, everyone, no one is allowed to leave the valley!"

Xia Hong shouted loudly, and the hundred-plus people who had already entered the passage and were walking toward the outside of the entrance all stopped immediately.

On the other side, Yang Ning, Li Hu, and Luo Ming, hearing Xia Hong's shout, were stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted. Their expressions changed abruptly, and while running quickly toward the west entrance, they also followed Xia Hong and shouted:

"No one is allowed to leave the valley, right!"

"No one is allowed to go."

"Everyone stop, don't move."

If a ghost's self-destruction didn't conform to common sense and wasn't a habit, then it proved that the trick just now was something the Wood Puppet Ghost had deliberately created.

Before dying, deliberately doing such a thing, just to vent its anger?

Combining this with the Wood Puppet Ghost's cautious and cunning nature, Xia Hong immediately realized there was a problem, and the explosion just now had killed many ordinary people.

Killing people and then disguising itself as a dead person, the Wood Puppet Ghost could complete this process extremely quickly.

If nothing unexpected happened, that Wood Puppet Ghost shouldn't be completely dead yet.

It was highly likely that it was mixed in among the crowd at the entrance.

Not knowing what state the Wood Puppet Ghost was in now, Xia Hong didn't rashly rush into the crowd at the entrance, but just approached slowly. Only after Yang and Li, as well as the four people from Luo Ming's group, all leaned over did he walk together to the passage at the entrance.

One had to know that the passage in the Luo Ge camp valley was a full thirty meters long. Over a hundred people had just squeezed in; although they hadn't completely blocked the passage, they occupied almost half of it.

"Everyone retreat, retreat one by one, don't be chaotic!"

Yang Ning was very anxious, ordering everyone to retreat from the entrance passage back into the valley.

Those ordinary people naturally walked back obediently.

But just at this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from the back of the crowd.

"Why is someone still walking outside? That brother, stop quickly!"

Hearing this sentence, Xia Hong and the others on the inner side of the entrance had their expressions change instantly.

The passage was only thirty meters long; it was impossible for anyone not to hear their words.

At this time, rushing outside, besides the Wood Puppet Ghost, who else could it be!

"Get out of my way, all of you!"

Li Hu even let out a roar, directly ignoring the people still blocking the entrance, and rushed up in one stride, knocking the crowd aside.

Yang Ning was even faster than him, directly leaping up, stepping on many people's heads, and rushing toward the inside of the passage.

The crowd was knocked aside, and Xia Hong followed closely behind with Luo Ming and the others.

"Ah..."

But just as they entered the entrance, a shrill, weak scream came from outside.

It was the Wood Puppet Ghost's scream.

"You little bastard, stop for me right now!"

Xia Hong suddenly remembered something; he was stunned for a moment, and then, hearing Li Hu's furious roar from behind, he immediately quickened his pace and rushed outside.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 67 =====