One, two, three, four...
Lin Qiye's gaze swept ahead, and the sight of the densely packed, deathly pale paper figures made his heart sink.
There were too many—far too many of these paper figures!
He had no idea where they had come from. When he had checked the area just now, he had found no trace of them at all. It was as if, from some instant onward, they had appeared out of thin air like ghosts!
Lin Qiye's back was already drenched in sweat, yet he remained calm. One hand gripped the flames in his palm, while the other slowly reached for the straight blade on his back...
He could not sense the slightest Mental Power fluctuation from these paper figures, nor did they seem to possess any realm of cultivation. They looked as though a single blaze could reduce them all to ashes, but Lin Qiye's instincts told him... they were not that simple.
Just as Lin Qiye prepared to try breaking out of the encirclement, a scalp-numbing scene unfolded.
Every paper figure's face suddenly froze. Then, the painted facial features began to twist rapidly, changing like masks—now weeping bitterly, now sneering coldly, now raging in fury, now smiling...
An eerie aura spread from their bodies, like invisible threads intertwining with the living aura around Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye could neither see nor sense those threads, but at that instant, the flames burning in his palm abruptly went out. He felt his body temperature rapidly dropping, as though he had fallen into an ice cellar. His body became strangely light, and a deathly pallor spread across his face...
At the same time, the paper figures surrounding Lin Qiye stopped changing their expressions. Every facial feature began to shift imperceptibly—their vacant eyes focused, their scarlet lips faded, their noses