Jiang Feng really dares to strike!

Terrifying blade light poured down upon that fat body like a torrential rain; flesh and blood splattered, and in the blink of an eye, the entire torso was hacked into a mangled mess.

The commotion here naturally drew the trembling gazes from the corner. It was the first time these apprentices had ever seen Jiang Feng like this.

Fierce and formidable, acting like a madman, he was a completely different person from the pushover who let everyone bully him back at the Medicine Hall.

They could not imagine that the person they had been provoking all this time was actually such a terrifying figure. If this man had ever harbored the intent to kill them before, they likely wouldn't have lived to see today; the grass on their graves would already be two yards high.

Right at this life-or-death juncture, the same thought sprouted simultaneously in everyone's hearts: could they rely on Jiang Feng's protection to survive this attack by the evil entity?

In an instant, the hope of survival ignited in everyone's eyes, and they began to crowd toward Jiang Feng's position.

After a flurry of fierce blade light subsided, Fan Qingyang on the ground was no longer recognizable as human, and only then did Jiang Feng stop.

He exhaled a long, heavy breath and muttered in a low voice:

"There's no way you can recover from that, right?"

Before he could even catch his breath, he saw Ma Liu leading two or three others running toward him in a panic, their faces filled with the relief of having survived a disaster:

"Thank goodness, Jiang Feng! I never expected your strength to be this great; you have to help us! This evil entity is truly terrifying; it has already taken control of several people's bodies!"

As they spoke, these few men tried to circle behind Jiang Feng, clearly intending to push him to the front to shield them from the disaster.

But before they could get close, a Ghost-Head Blade barred their path.

Jiang Feng's gaze was colder than the blade's edge: "I'm warning you, you'd best not come any closer. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Looking at the blade still stained with bits of flesh and blood, the men's footsteps froze in place; they could neither advance nor retreat.

In the end, Ma Liu steeled himself and stepped forward, squeezing out a smile that looked worse than crying:

"Jiang Feng, we had a bit of unpleasantness this morning, but when it comes down to it, that was just an internal conflict between brothers. Now that we're facing this evil entity, we have to stand together and help each other out, right?"

Jiang Feng sneered, his gaze sweeping over that wretched face:

"Just a bit of unpleasantness? Have you forgotten how you all took turns mocking me along the way?

Just a moment ago, you were still instigating Fan Qingyang to beat me to death. Those words just left your mouths, and you've already forgotten them?

Furthermore, I told you not to open the door from the very beginning, but who listened? Now you've suddenly thought of asking me for help; where do you get the nerve?"

Jiang Feng's words were like a resounding slap, striking them across the face and leaving their cheeks burning with pain.

But in this critical moment of crisis, they could no longer afford to care about face.

Ma Liu put on a pitiful expression and pleaded:

"Jiang Feng, humans aren't made of wood or stone; who doesn't make mistakes? We know we were wrong now. Since you have this ability, at least protect us... once we return to the Medicine Hall, we'll acknowledge you as our boss and listen to you wholeheartedly, how about that?"

The apprentices nearby also nodded in rapid succession, their voices laced with sobs:

"Yes, yes, from now on you are our new boss, we will follow your lead!"

They had said every flattering thing imaginable, but Jiang Feng's blade did not move a muscle.

He liked hearing flattery, but he didn't believe a single word of this nonsense.

Moreover, these people had all come into contact with the evil entity. Protecting them wasn't just a matter of carrying a few dead weights; it was like strapping a ticking time bomb to himself, one that might deliver a fatal backlash from behind at any moment.

Seeing the figures controlled by the evil entity closing in, Ma Liu steeled his heart, his teeth chattering as he walked straight toward the tip of Jiang Feng's blade.

He was betting that Jiang Feng was only acting tough with his words, betting that he wouldn't actually dare to strike.

But the next moment, a flash of silver streaked by, and Ma Liu suddenly realized he was flying.

He saw the ground moving further and further away, and his own body moving further and further away; only then did he understand that he wasn't flying—his head was.

Jiang Feng wasn't just talking; he really dared to strike!

Watching Ma Liu's headless corpse slump to the ground, the apprentices nearby were scared out of their wits. No longer caring about begging for help, they turned and scrambled away toward the other end of the warehouse.

Just then, that strange, neither-male-nor-female voice rang out from thin air once more, echoing through the warehouse with a cackling laugh:

"Heh heh heh, kid, your vigilance is truly impressive. They begged you so hard, yet you didn't soften your heart at all?"

As the voice faded, one black thread after another began to crawl out from the mangled remains of Fan Qingyang and Ma Liu.

Those threads twisted and writhed in the air like living creatures, eventually converging into a blurred humanoid silhouette. The moment it appeared, every sound in the warehouse ceased abruptly.

Those who had been attacking like madmen stopped in their tracks; those who had been screaming and fleeing in all directions fell completely silent; even the corpses lying on the ground with their miserable deaths began to stand up one by one.

They looked vacant, like walking corpses, stepping forward one by one to gather around the dark figure.

Seeing this sight, how could Jiang Feng not understand that everything that happened before was a play directed and performed by this evil entity?

Its goal was to make these people come into contact with it, thereby assimilating and controlling him as well.

He was incredibly grateful that he hadn't felt a shred of unnecessary sympathy just now; otherwise, the current situation would have been too disastrous to manage.

"Heh heh heh, kid, I advise you not to resist. Becoming a part of me isn't a bad thing.

Besides, this is the most painless way for you to die. You wouldn't want to know the cruel methods I've used on those who resisted to the end."

"Hmph, do evil entities always talk so much?"

Jiang Feng sneered, pushing the Exquisite Breathing Method to its limit. The blood and qi throughout his body surged like a raging tide, reaching its peak in an instant. The edge of the Ghost-Head Blade in his hand was quietly stained with a scorching crimson.

"Today, I'm going to see if an evil entity can be killed!"

Before the words had even finished, his figure vanished from where he stood, transforming into a crimson afterimage as he charged ferociously toward the dark silhouette.

"Hmm? Manifested blood and qi?!

Aren't these people just apprentices from the Benevolent Heart Medicine Hall? How is there someone at the seventh level of the Blood-Moving Realm, and this concentration of blood and qi is clearly too formidable!"

Sensing the tyrannical blood and qi erupting from within Jiang Feng, the dark figure was clearly taken aback, its tone shifting.

It flicked its palm slightly, and the vacant, zombie-like people around it all lunged at Jiang Feng in unison.

Jiang Feng refused none of them; he abruptly assumed the stance of the Iron Stake Technique and charged straight into the crowd.