He was deep in the forest. Not far away, beside a thick tree, a blurry figure stood.
Its face was indistinct. It seemed... seemed to have a coarse sack pulled over its head. Its body blended into the darkness around it. What truly chilled Jiang Cheng was the figure's posture: its body was rigid, one arm stiffly extended, pointing behind him and the others.
A tremendous sense of danger washed over him. Jiang Cheng nearly leaped as he spun around to look behind them. As he turned in midair, countless terrifying images flashed through his mind. Perhaps the flames had appeared behind them again, or perhaps he would see the pale, eerie faces of the missing people...
But all those imagined horrors ended the moment he landed. He saw clearly that behind him were only the teammates who had come with them. Nothing was amiss.
Instead, Jiang Cheng's sudden movement startled everyone else.
"What's wrong?"
The Fatty quickly took a defensive stance. The people behind him gathered together, warily staring into the darkness behind them, as though something unspeakable lurked beyond their sight.
A moment passed. Everything around them was quiet. Nothing happened.
Mount Luoyun's face was cold as he turned to Jiang Cheng. "What's wrong? Did you find something?"
Jiang Cheng ignored him. Once he'd recovered, he immediately looked for the figure he'd seen earlier. It was still there, but the more he looked, the more wrong it seemed, as if... as if something had changed.
After calming down, Jiang Cheng told everyone about the figure. They approached it, doubtful, and only when they got close did they realize it wasn't a figure at all, but a tree shaped very much like a person.
Perhaps the tree had lost out in the competition with the others for sunlight. It