Live or Die!

### Screech!

Golden light descended from the heavens, wrapping a black-backed broadsword. Its blade hummed and trembled, dazzlingly bright as it slashed down onto the female corpse's shoulder.

Terrifying force erupted from it!

The female corpse, whose claws had already pierced the golden membrane and were about to tear open Chu He's chest, was sent flying by the tremendous force carried by that black blade.

At last, it smashed out a huge crater and was pinned within it.

This sudden turn of events left them all stunned.

Li Fang's savage expression vanished, replaced by astonishment.

Only Chu He paid it no heed. His blade viciously stabbed into Han Zhong's neck. Just as he was about to sever his head with one stroke, a blurry black shadow suddenly crawled out from between Han Zhong's brows and crashed straight into Chu He's chest.

Yin energy invaded his body. Chu He released his blade and staggered back, missing his chance.

Han Zhong's face was pale. Using the last of his blood and qi to seal his wound, he hurriedly leaped several steps away from Chu He. When he saw the black blade embedded in the female corpse's shoulder, a complicated expression appeared on his face, but it was swiftly replaced by resolve.

Both his hands were broken, and blood was pouring from his neck. If the fight continued, even if Chu He and the others did not die, he would die before them.

What was more, his master had unexpectedly returned early.

The scales of victory had begun to tip...

"Li Fang!!"

An angry roar suddenly rang out from the horizon.

A golden bell several zhang tall charged fiercely in from the village outskirts. Carrying unmatched power, it hurtled toward this place like a falling meteor.

It was Hong Shou. He was back!

Hearing that voice, Chu He finally reacted. Joy appeared on his face, and he understood who had thrown the black blade that had just saved his life.

His injuries were no better. A bloody hole had been gouged into his back, and the muscles in both his arms had split from swinging too fiercely, leaving them weak and powerless. The blood and qi throughout his body were already close to running dry. He was in grave danger.

Even so, Chu He was far better off than Han Zhong.

Just then, the Yin body in his arms suddenly trembled, its brows twitching. Chu He grabbed it and prepared to crush it outright.

Yet in the next second, the Yin body exploded with a boom!

With a bang, it burst into clouds of gray mist. The scattered strands were like steel needles, piercing into his skin as though a miniature grenade had exploded.

"Ding-dong! Absorbed strange energy, Energy +4!"

Chu He let out a muffled groan, his injuries worsening.

He looked up to search for Han Zhong again, only to discover that after hearing Hong Shou's voice, the man had taken the chance to detonate the Yin body and quietly vanished without a trace.

From the moment that black blade appeared, Han Zhong had known that the advantage they had built up had vanished like smoke, completely evened out.

Li Fang had harbored ulterior motives and had wanted to abandon him at the critical moment. Naturally, Han Zhong would not indulge him. The instant he saw things turning bad, he immediately fled.

Seeing Han Zhong run so decisively, Li Fang cursed inwardly. He turned to Wu Feng, who was still standing there in a daze, and without another word, sprang up and wrapped around him like an octopus. Then his entire body exploded like a bomb.

Blood mist rose, flesh and skin flying everywhere.

"Cough... my leg... my leg!"

The sudden human bomb swept clean the broken walls and ruins around them. Wu Feng had half a leg blown off by the savage attack, and a bloody hole blasted through his chest and abdomen. In an instant, he fell into a severely wounded state.

The blood mist rose into the air and condensed into the half-face on the corpse's belly. It then turned into a streak of light and shot toward the pit where the strange female corpse lay.

On the cages by the corner of the steps, yellow talismans ignited with black flames. Black smoke billowed out, enveloping the cages and drawing out the strange entities within, joining them with the face in midair.

Seven or eight strange entities were twisted into a ball by an invisible force, then kneaded into a bizarre, brilliantly colored thread. The thread seemed alive. Carrying the half-face, it descended onto the female corpse's head and began stitching at high speed.

This was the final step of the method!

Using artificially synthesized, impure Immaculate Soul Thread as stitching material, it would sew together a human's own will and a strange entity's spiritual consciousness.

Hong Shou's early return had forced the third step, which had required thorough preparation, to begin hastily. Their previously meticulous plan had instantly become a heap of loose sand. Li Fang decided to wait no longer and take that step with all his strength.

Buzz—

The blade suddenly rang. The black blade lodged in her shoulder shot out, turning into a streak of light in the blink of an eye and flying back to Hong Shou's side.

"Li Fang, you promised me back then!!"

As the golden bell several zhang tall was about to crash down, Hong Shou gripped his blade in both hands. A massive blade shadow appeared behind him, and he slashed straight at the female corpse's head.

"Roar!!!"

The female corpse's mouth split open from both sides, revealing densely packed sharp teeth.

Terrifying sound waves surged forth as though tangible, crashing fiercely into the blade shadow in midair. Vast, surging sound waves spread in every direction like ripples rising across water. Everything within several meters was instantly leveled to the ground.

The blast swept past and blew away the conical hat on his head. Hong Shou's hair and beard flared in fury, white hair at his temples streaming in the wind, his eyes filled with thick rage and killing intent.

"You said you wouldn't touch that thing!"

Hong Shou stood with blade in hand, glaring furiously as he swept his gaze around. His eyes paused briefly on the severely wounded Chu He and Wu Feng, who had lost a leg, before he questioned in a deep voice.

At that moment, Chu He let out a long breath and slowly walked toward the edge of the ruins. He had not forgotten Han Zhong, who had nearly been cleaved in two.

"I have no room left to choose!"

A shrill voice came from the female corpse's mouth. The half-face stitched onto her head was filled with resentful unwillingness. "I'm already over eighty. I never learned martial arts, and years ago I contracted a cold ailment that nearly killed me. If I hadn't learned the books of the Strange Stitcher, I would have died long ago! You simply don't understand the terror of watching your lifespan run out while being powerless to do anything!"

Hong Shou stood with his blade in hand, trembling with rage from head to toe.

"But that is no reason for you to harm the entire village!"

On his way here, he had seen the village's fading human vitality, the dark alley corners shrouded in yin energy, and the village chief transformed into a strange entity.

All of it filled him with an anger he could no longer suppress!

"Everything has already happened. No amount of talking will change anything." The stitching of the half-face atop the female corpse's head was still underway. It would take time to fuse completely, but time was precisely what Li Fang lacked most right now.

"With your temperament, I won't try to persuade you to explore this path with me. There are only two choices before us now..."

A strange light gleamed in the female corpse's pitch-black eyes.

"Live or die!"

"You have thought it through clearly enough. Then enough nonsense! Let me personally send you, my old friend, on your way. Afterward, I will apologize to the villagers on your behalf!" Hong Shou's slightly hunched body slowly straightened. His long-silent blood and qi began circulating once more, its furnace-like heat warping the air.

"Don't worry. You will receive the villagers' forgiveness."

Hong Shou's anger suddenly subsided, his heart as cold as a blade.

There was no worth in being angry at one who had fallen onto the evil path!

The free-spirited Li Fang was already dead!

What stood before him now was merely a strange entity!

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