The sky gradually darkened.
Just as the strongmen dragged the last corpse from the main road to the square, a sudden change came without warning!
"Wooo—"
A strange sob, like a woman weeping in the night, drifted without warning from the deepest old well in the center of town.
The sound was faint, yet seemed to possess a power that pierced the soul!
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The mountain of corpses, piled high with over a hundred bodies in the square, seemed to have been summoned. Every corpse suddenly opened its hollow eyes at the same time!
"ROAR—!!!"
Over a hundred Water Sha awoke all at once!
It was as if hell had descended!
"It's over... It's all over..."
Watching the mountain of corpses writhe like a surging tide, one strongman's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground in despair.
"Form ranks! Back to the ancestral hall! Hold the line!"
Lu Chen's roar cracked like thunder, jolting everyone back to their senses.
He didn't panic in the slightest. He had expected all of this!
Lu Chen tore away the oilcloth wrapped around the Hundred Refinements Saber on his back. The dark silver blade flashed with a chilling gleam beneath the dim sky!
"Shing!"
The blade left its sheath!
Profound Black Internal Energy, heavy as a mountain, surged down his arm and poured wildly into the blade!
The fully mastered Ten Thousand Year Black Tortoise Art erupted without restraint!
"Roar!"
The nearest Water Sha charged with a howl, its stinking claws reaching straight for Lu Chen's chest.
Lu Chen neither dodged nor even so much as blinked.
He simply raised the Hundred Refinements Saber horizontally before his chest.
"Clang!"
A deep, booming impact rang out!
The claws, strong enough to tear through metal and stone, struck the blade—and failed to leave even the slightest mark!
A tremendous force rebounded from the blade. The Water Sha let out a pained wail and was hurled away, half its body caved in!
The power of a single strike was terrifying!
Every strongman stared in stunned disbelief!
Was this... really the same corpse collector who couldn't even truss a chicken?!
Lu Chen gave them no time to gape.
He shifted his footing and unleashed his Shadow Step, mastered to a basic level. His body seemed to become a ghost skimming over the ground, and in an instant he plunged into the newly awakened corpse horde, whose movements were still sluggish!
The Hundred Refinements Saber in his hand was no longer as plain and unadorned as before.
Every swing carried the weight and stillness of an ancient, immovable boulder.
There were no dazzling flashes of blade light, no astonishing aura.
There was only the utmost efficiency!
Pfft!
One horizontal slash sent the heads of three Water Sha soaring. Their wounds were smooth as mirrors, and not a drop of foul blood splashed out.
The layer of Profound Black Internal Energy coating the blade instantly annihilated all the Corpse Sha Qi!
Like a god of slaughter from the depths of the underworld, he strolled through the horde. Every time his blade fell, it claimed several lives.
The Water Sha attacked him frenziedly, yet their blows couldn't force him back even half a step!
The Protective Qi formed by the fully mastered Ten Thousand Year Black Tortoise Art was so resilient it was almost absurd. Every attack was easily deflected or repelled.
The strongmen stared blankly at the figure striding through a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Their minds had completely stopped working.
They knew only that if they followed Lu Chen, perhaps... they really could survive!
"What are you standing around for!" Lu Chen's icy voice rang out. "Guard the ancestral hall's entrance! Pour all the Fire Oil inside! Don't let a single corpse in!"
"Yes!"
Everyone snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. They hurried back to the ancestral hall's entrance and used all their strength to splash bucket after bucket of Fire Oil over its doors, windows, and wooden beams.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen held the line alone, one man and one saber, building an impassable wall of death before the ancestral hall!
[Slain Water Sha; obtained 1 year of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [Slain Water Sha; obtained 1 year and 3 months of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [...]
The system notifications flooded his mind.
His Demon Devil Lifespan was surging at an unprecedented rate!
But just as Lu Chen was cutting down the Water Sha left and right, on the verge of slaughtering them all—
The strange sob sounded again from the ancient well.
This time, it was filled with fury!
"BOOM!!!"
With a thunderous crash, the ancient well, built from bluestone, exploded from within!
A massive humanoid figure, formed entirely from murky, dark green liquid, slowly rose amid a towering spray of water and Baleful Intent!
It stood three zhang tall, its shape constantly shifting like a mass of flowing sludge. At its core, a woman's face, twisted with resentment and pain, appeared and disappeared.
"A Ranked Demon... the Vengeful Mother in the Well!"
Lu Chen's pupils contracted sharply! The instant the Vengeful Mother in the Well appeared, her overwhelming resentment and Baleful Intent crashed down like an invisible mountain!
The dozens of Water Sha still standing seemed to have beheld their god. They immediately stopped attacking Lu Chen and let out a series of low growls. Like the most loyal guards, they retreated in a surging wave to the Vengeful Mother's side and formed a ring around her enormous body.
The sudden turn of events gave Lu Chen a precious moment to catch his breath.
He stood with his saber in hand, Profound Black Internal Energy circulating slowly over his body to form an almost invisible layer of Protective Qi.
His gaze, sharp as a scalpel, locked onto the enormous Ranked Demon as his mind raced to analyze every one of its features.
"Liquid body; physical attacks have little effect... Its core is that woman's face, but it's protected by layer upon layer... Its source of power seems connected to the waterways running through this entire town..."
"ROAR—!"
The Vengeful Mother in the Well clearly had no intention of giving him much time to think.
Its shapeless liquid body churned violently. A massive tentacle, formed from murky corpse water and sludge, crashed down toward Lu Chen like a siege hammer, bringing with it a terrifying gale that tore through the air!
The foul wind stung the skin before the attack even reached him!
The two strongmen at the ancestral hall's entrance were so terrified that they nearly lost their minds. They scrambled inside, staring in horror at the apocalyptic scene.
Lu Chen, however, neither dodged nor retreated.
He bent his legs slightly, rooting himself like an ancient tree, and drove the fully mastered Ten Thousand Year Black Tortoise Art to its utmost limit!