Horror!

Night had fallen completely.

"Ah... achoo!"

Suddenly, an apprentice sneezed. It was like thunder erupting from level ground, deafeningly loud.

Wu Zhi's expression changed at once, and he immediately rebuked him. "Are you courting death? Making such a huge racket—what if Yang Heng hears us? All our painstaking efforts will have been for nothing."

"I don't know what happened either. All of a sudden, I felt a chill in my heart, a gust of cold rushing straight to the crown of my head. Goosebumps rose all over my body."

The apprentice explained in a low voice, terrified and flustered.

Hearing this, Wu Zhi's expression eased as he comforted him. "The wind is strong in the mountains at night. Maybe you caught a chill. It's nothing serious, so don't scare yourself."

"Besides, there are so many of us here. Numbers bolster courage; there is nothing to fear."

"Yeah, what's there to be afraid of? If you're a man, stand tall..." The other apprentices around them also spoke up to reassure him.

"Enough, stop talking. This ends here. Yang Heng should be arriving soon. Stay sharp and keep your eyes fixed on the road ahead. The moment Yang Heng appears, we'll swarm him and catch him off guard."

Wu Zhi extended his right hand and pressed it downward, signaling everyone to quiet down.

Yet his own eyes remained fixed on the road ahead, murderous intent blazing in them.

The apprentice who had felt terrified was named Zhao Dazhuang. Just as his name suggested, he was tall and powerfully built, standing one meter ninety.

Even after hearing everyone's reassurances, Zhao Dazhuang's emotions did not ease. Instead, he became even more frightened.

His heart still pounded wildly. Raising his head, he looked around and saw nothing but darkness. Bushes, towering trees, and weeds seemed to swell countless times larger beneath the moonlight, baring fangs and brandishing claws with grotesque faces, like vicious ghosts walking out of hell. Zhao Dazhuang trembled in terror, his body shaking incessantly. His face turned deathly pale in an instant, cold sweat pouring down him.

Then, abrupt tapping footsteps sounded by his ear, as though some evil ghost were approaching him, stretching out pale gray claws to seize his collar and drag him into the infernal abyss. He was terrified beyond measure, his body trembling without stop. Beads of sweat as large as beans slid down his nose and soaked through his clothes.

A breeze blew past, and he shuddered. His entire body turned icy cold, but that chill also brought him back to his senses. Everything just now had been nothing more than his imagination.

Now, he only hoped Yang Heng would appear soon and bring this matter to an end.

The wind in the mountains at night was truly cold!

Zhao Dazhuang sighed inwardly.

"Rustle."

Before long, a rustling sound of footsteps reached everyone's ears, the sound of someone stepping on soft surfaces such as sand and fallen leaves.

Everyone immediately perked up at the sound, joy appearing on their faces.

They knew someone was coming!

And there was a very high chance that it was the person they had been lying in ambush for—Yang Heng!

Everyone held their breath and stared intently at the road ahead, subconsciously tightening their grips around the sharp woodcutting knives in their hands. The blades gleamed with piercingly cold light.

At the same time, the wind that blew over them grew even colder!

Rustle... rustle...

The sound came closer and closer. Gradually, a figure entered their field of vision, but the night was too dark for them to make it out clearly from afar.

As the figure approached, everyone finally saw the newcomer's face, and all those present were overjoyed.

The person was none other than Yang Heng!

"Get him!"

Wu Zhi roared, his eyes blazing with ferocity. Gripping his sharp woodcutting knife, he charged at Yang Heng at the forefront.

The others followed closely behind, shouting, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" to bolster their courage.

In an instant, killing cries shook the heavens, cold glints flashed, and thudding footsteps rattled the ground, as though they had arrived on a battlefield drenched in blood and gore.

Very quickly, Wu Zhi reached Yang Heng. Without hesitation, he raised his woodcutting knife and chopped toward Yang Heng's neck, intending to behead him in a single strike.

But as he raised his blade and swung it down, he was met by Yang Heng's calm face and indifferent eyes. Yang Heng did not seem afraid in the slightest, nor did he seem fearful.

Wu Zhi froze. In an instant, a chill pierced straight into his bones, and the blood throughout his body seemed about to freeze. Yang Heng's indifferent gaze was like a sharp blade driven into his heart, nearly stopping his breath.

Wu Zhi was terrified beyond words. The woodcutting knife in his hand, gleaming with dazzling cold light, could not give him even the slightest bit of courage.

Clang.

The woodcutting knife fell to the ground.

Wu Zhi collapsed completely, as if someone had pulled all the bones from his body. He slumped limply to the ground, drenched from head to toe as though he had just been fished out of water.

Yang Heng cast Wu Zhi a faint glance, lifted his right foot, and stomped heavily on Wu Zhi's chest. As the sound of bones shattering rang out, Yang Heng followed with another vicious kick toward Wu Zhi's head.

Crack... crack...

The sounds of bursting bones rang without end.

Dark crimson blood filled the air, exploding like fireworks in the sky and scattering everywhere.

Yang Heng had unleashed his full strength now, mobilizing his qi and blood as well. The force of one kick was close to a thousand jin, like the kick of an elephant. Wu Zhi's head split directly into four pieces, smashed into eight fragments like a watermelon beneath a foot. Bone shards, blood, and brains splattered in every direction.

At the same time, Wu Zhi's entire body was sent flying backward by that immense force, crashing viciously into the oncoming crowd like a torn sack.

Everything appeared to have taken a long time, but in truth, it had all happened in the briefest instant.

Burning with vengeance, Wu Zhi had charged too quickly. By the time he reached Yang Heng, the others were still more than ten meters away.

When Zhao Dazhuang and the others charged forward, the night was pitch-black and their spirits were running high. They only saw a mass flying toward them, but could not make out what it was. They assumed Yang Heng had picked up a tree stump from the roadside and thrown it at them as a concealed weapon.

Reacting instinctively, they swung their woodcutting knives at the incoming object.

To everyone's surprise, they had not struck something hard like wood. The sensation transmitted back through their hands made them realize that what they had hit seemed to be a person!

Everyone was stunned!

They hurriedly pulled their woodcutting knives back.

Swish!

Blood burst forth, scalding hot blood spraying straight onto their faces. Everyone was dumbfounded. When they noticed that the person on the ground was a headless corpse, every heart present leaped into their throats.

They stared with wide eyes. Based on the clothes on the corpse, they vaguely recognized the headless body as Wu Zhi—the very man who had been talking with them moments ago. Every soul seemed to leave its body, and they staggered backward.

A living man who had just been chatting and laughing with them had turned into a corpse in the blink of an eye. No one there could make sense of it.

How had things turned out like this? It was completely different from what they had expected. Shouldn't the one lying on the ground have been Yang Heng?

Everyone was baffled, unable to understand what had happened.

Then an apprentice cried out, "Quick... look... look... at Wu... Zhi's neck..."

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly focused their eyes on Wu Zhi's neck.

Hiss!

The sight before them left everyone dumbstruck, sucking in a breath of cold air. They could not believe the scene before their eyes.

Wu Zhi's neck was like the cross-section of a tree that had been felled by an axe. Shreds of flesh protruded from it, with countless jagged gaps. It was horrifying beyond measure.

Could Wu Zhi have been killed by Yang Heng with an axe?

But a human was not a tree. Flesh and blood were soft; an axe could not possibly create such a wound.

Then there was only one possibility: his head had been torn from his neck by immense brute force!

Hiss!

At that thought, everyone sucked in another breath of cold air. Every hair on their bodies stood on end, and goosebumps covered them from head to toe!