The Stitched-Together Body, a Terrifying Monster

Beneath the karst cave lay an incomparably vast space. Illuminated by luminous pearls, the ground as far as the eye could see was strewn with shattered corpses and bones.

Some of the bones had already yellowed and dried out, covered in cracks.

A closer look revealed that none of the skeletons belonged to intact bodies.

Their limbs and heads had been separated; some had only torsos left, piled about in disarray.

Surrounding these corpses and bones was a circle of people clad in black robes.

They sat cross-legged on the ground, arranged in a ring.

At the center of the circle stood an enormous coffin.

The coffin was bound layer upon layer in chains, whose ends were embedded in the walls, leaving it suspended in midair.

More than three meters long, the coffin looked grotesque and bizarre, sending chills down one's spine.

The black-robed figures were bowing their heads and chanting scriptures.

Shen Bai could not understand the scriptures, but that did not stop him from taking in the scene before him.

Corpses and skeletons covered the ground, bizarre chanters recited their verses, a colossal coffin hung in the air, and its chains trembled.

Shen Bai suddenly felt that this was nothing like the fantasy world he had once imagined.

This was a world filled with all manner of uncanny horrors.

When Shen Bai and Cheng Shuang entered the cave, the black-robed figures seemed not to notice them at all, still bowing their heads as they recited incomprehensible scriptures.

Above them, the enormous coffin quivered faintly.

Amid the creaking of chains, the coffin swung wildly and erratically, as though some terrifying creature inside was trying to burst free.

Shen Bai drew the Rusty Longsword from his waist and looked at Cheng Shuang.

Feeling his gaze, Cheng Shuang looked back at him.

Confusion showed in both their eyes.

By all rights, they had already fought their way into the enemy's lair. The enemy ought to give them some sort of response.

Other than the obstruction they had encountered in the hidden passage, not one of the many black-robed figures had even looked their way since they arrived.

That was rather strange.

As Shen Bai pondered this, the ring of seated black-robed figures continued chanting.

"Playing gods and ghosts."

Shen Bai spoke lightly. The Rusty Longsword in his hand carried a resplendent righteous aura as it shot from his grasp, stabbing toward the nearest black-robed figure.

The longsword struck, and the black robe fell to the ground.

But beneath it lay a scene of utter horror.

Heads upon heads were stacked together, forming the shape of a human body.

Covered by the black robe, it had been impossible to tell.

The moment Shen Bai stripped away the robe, the densely packed heads finally stirred.

"Five Hearts Facing Heaven, free and unbound!"

Every head let out a horrifying cry and lunged at Shen Bai.

"Careful!"

Cheng Shuang shouted from behind him, raising her twin daggers as she prepared to help.

But she soon realized there was no need for her assistance at all.

The Rusty Longsword in Shen Bai's hand danced so tightly that not even water could pass through.

With his blood and qi surging, he unleashed Blood Sword Dance to its fullest extent.

Each slash took a head away.

After every head had vanished, Shen Bai turned once more and looked toward another black-robed figure.

This one was not far from him, still lowering its head and chanting an unknown scripture.

Yet under Shen Bai's gaze, he noticed something was wrong.

A hand stretched out from where its head should have been, continuously waving through the air.

Shen Bai's brows drew tighter and tighter. Then, with one stroke, he flicked the black robe open.

Once the robe was lifted, a humanoid shape made up of arm after arm was revealed within, looking utterly terrifying.

And lifting the robe was like triggering some curse.

Shen Bai immediately retreated at top speed.

But as he fell back, all those arms attacked him at once.

"First heads, now hands. This is getting stranger and stranger."

Shen Bai remained expressionless. Then an emerald-green glow rose from his body.

These arms were more agile than the heads. Not only could they attack from every direction, they could also bend at will.

Even Shen Bai could not evade them all.

Yet with the divine power of the Jade Body, he had nothing to fear.

The emerald glow around him blocked every attack that landed on his body.

The qi within him was being consumed considerably, but Shen Bai did not care. The Rusty Longsword in his hand stabbed out in rapid succession.

Each strike took away an arm. In barely a dozen breaths, Shen Bai had severed every one of them.

Cheng Shuang stood nearby like a fossil, rooted to the spot.

All of a sudden, she felt that what Shen Bai had said earlier did not seem wrong at all.

She really was like some kind of accessory. Throughout the entire battle, she had no room to intervene at all.

"Is this his true strength?"

Cheng Shuang thought to herself.

"When he fought Yaya's father back then, he definitely hadn't gone all out."

Shen Bai did not hear her thoughts. Otherwise, he would have very much liked to say that he had indeed gone all out back then.

It was simply that he had improved quite a bit again in such a short time.

Naturally, he did not say this aloud. If he had, Cheng Shuang would probably have broken down on the spot.

Because such rapid improvement was something even a genius could not achieve.

When Shen Bai finished dealing with the second black-robed man, the chanting black-robed figures finally made their move.

The figures reciting strange scriptures vanished, replaced by sets of black robes falling to the ground.

Heads, arms, legs, torsos—every kind of body part revealed a sinister, horrifying quality at that moment.

Under the illumination of the cavern pearls, they looked all the more bizarre.

The heads merged together, becoming an incomparably massive round object, while the remaining parts likewise sorted themselves into categories and assembled before Shen Bai.

In but an instant, a towering figure appeared, bearing a gigantic cavern atop it.

Compared to this towering figure, Shen Bai was like a blade of grass.

Seeing this, Cheng Shuang immediately shouted, "This has already gone beyond anything we understand! Hurry and leave!"

The enormous stitched creature before them made Cheng Shuang feel an oppressive force crashing straight at her.

Just one glance from afar made her feel as though death was about to descend.

Every head let out a cacophonous noise. When those sounds converged, Shen Bai felt dizzy and disoriented.

Just then, the coffin bound by iron chains finally stirred.

With a cracking sound, a hole appeared in the coffin lid.

A hand reached out through the hole, followed by another cracking sound.

A second hand extended from inside the coffin.

Crack!

The two hands tore the coffin lid apart.

A frail figure sat on the edge of the coffin.

He was a middle-aged man, thin as a stick of firewood. Dense stitches covered his head and limbs, sewing them together.

A trace of bloodlust gleamed in his eyes.

"Who dared cause trouble in my Five Hearts Sect? So it's two little brats whose hair hasn't even fully grown in. Looks like you really want to become my heads."