Escape from Death (Please Follow)

Bang!

The wooden doors of the hall were kicked open in an instant.

Lin Nan and the other four shot out of the hall and sprinted toward the ancient well.

"Roar!"

In an instant, as though sharks had caught the scent of blood, the Corpse Ghosts standing outside all let out piercing roars and swarmed toward the five of them.

"Don't get bogged down fighting them. Killing ghosts will affect our condition—we need to conserve our strength!"

Lin Nan shouted, gripping his steel saber as he slashed fiercely at the Corpse Ghost before him.

Splurt!

As his blood qi erupted, the Corpse Ghost's body suddenly exploded.

[Obtained Yin Qi Points +1]

The expressions of the four behind him twitched at once.

The hell did he mean by conserving strength?

"But how is he so fast?"

All four of them were faintly astonished. Wave-Treading Step surged beneath Lin Nan's feet, and he swept through the Corpse Ghost horde like a phantom.

Every so often, he swung his saber, and another Corpse Ghost died beneath the blade. He had actually carved out a small path for them.

The four of them put away their disdain for Lin Nan once more.

No one dared to think of Lin Nan as merely a third-stage Blood Qi martial artist anymore.

His speed was a full notch faster than all four of them!

"And that isn't White Snake Fist. What martial art is that?"

Jie Ling's gaze shifted slightly. The image of Lin Nan as the quiet, honest man he had always been suddenly became mysterious.

The group cast aside their stray thoughts, gripped their weapons and protective blood talismans, and forcibly hacked their way through a bloody path as they steadily closed in on the ancient well.

Twenty meters... ten meters... five meters...

The ancient well was right before them.

At that moment, a piercing cry exploded out of nowhere!

Whoosh!

A blue-black figure descended from above and crashed heavily in front of the ancient well, muttering endlessly.

"On duty... patrolling..."

"Damn it."

Cold sweat covered Zhou Gu's forehead, and his face had gone paper-white from blood loss.

He was clearly extremely wary of this zombie.

"You go first. I'll hold it off!"

Zhang Chengchang took a deep breath and roared hoarsely.

"Hall Master, you are truly righteous!"

Wang Luoxuan and Jie Ling exchanged a glance. Neither woman put on any false pretenses.

In a situation like this, opportunities vanished in an instant. One moment of carelessness could wipe out the entire group!

"Go!"

Lin Nan casually cut down a Corpse Ghost, then gave Zhang Chengchang a deep look. For the first time, his impression of the gang's hall master improved.

As soon as he spoke, Zhang Chengchang snorted coldly. Every pore on his body opened, releasing strands of red vapor like droplets of blood.

The blood qi vapor intertwined around him, condensing into the phantom of a lion.

"Red Lion Secret Art! Lion King!"

In an instant, a red lion phantom slammed viciously into the blue-black zombie. The tremendous impact actually sent it flying several yards away.

"Holy shit, a special secret art?! Red vapor? Hall Master Zhang actually cultivated a Night Kai state?"

Lin Nan was filled with shock. The explosive force of Zhang Chengchang's move was no weaker than that of an ordinary Sinew and Bone realm martial artist.

"Now!"

Taking advantage of the opening, the three of them carried the heavily injured Zhou Gu and leaped forward, quickly arriving before the ancient well.

"Should we jump?"

Wang Luoxuan looked at the dark, bottomless well and hesitated.

Before she could decide, Jie Ling had already leaped forward, her body slipping straight into the well like a swimming fish.

Right after that, the pale-faced Zhou Gu jumped into the well without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing her two teammates act so decisively, Wang Luoxuan gritted her teeth.

"At worst, I'll die!"

Then she swiftly jumped into the well.

At this point, only Lin Nan remained aboveground.

Using the nimble footwork of Wave-Treading Step, he took the chance to cut down several more Corpse Ghosts.

[Obtained Yin Qi Points +1, +1, +1...]

Then, he glanced toward the battlefield from the corner of his eye.

Zhang Chengchang had already fallen into a disadvantage. The crimson blood qi vapor around him was growing thinner and thinner, sweat covered his body, and he was faintly losing strength.

Looks like Hall Master Zhang's Night Kai state is about to end.

Boom!

Countless lion phantoms struck the zombie in rapid succession, producing a series of loud impacts. The zombie staggered back two steps, its stiff limbs swaying, yet it continued charging forward without slowing.

Zhang Chengchang's expression changed drastically. Just as he raised his saber to strike again, the blood qi within him suddenly stalled. A momentary opening appeared, and the zombie immediately pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.

"This is bad..."

Just as the zombie's fangs were about to bite down—

"Blazing Fire Palm!"

Lin Nan's blood qi boiled as he generated fiery force. Blazing heat ignited in his left palm, and he slammed it fiercely into the zombie's forehead.

Bang!

A sizzling sound rang out as the zombie was forcibly sent flying several yards away.

The next instant, pain shot through Lin Nan's left hand. He could feel that it had swollen somewhat.

Copper skin and iron bones!

Terrifying indeed!

"You haven't left yet?"

Zhang Chengchang looked stunned.

"Of course I haven't. There are so many Yin Qi Points here. I'll grab every one I can..."

"Aah!"

The zombie fell to the ground, then instantly flipped upright as stiffly as a wooden board. It let out a piercing, ear-splitting shriek that made both men's eardrums ache.

What made their scalps go numb was that several identical shrieks suddenly rang out from atop the main hall's ruined roof.

One blue-black shadow after another slowly crawled onto the rooftop.

Zombies! So many zombies!

"Go!" Lin Nan shouted in a low voice, no longer daring to linger.

The two of them circulated their blood qi and leaped into the ancient well.

Coldness like an ice cellar wrapped around his entire body.

Lin Nan took a deep breath and swam forward through the frigid well water.

He did not know how long he had swum when he suddenly felt the pressure above him lighten. His body abruptly surfaced.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Lin Nan shook off the water and swept his gaze around. The other four had already climbed ashore and were gasping for breath.

"We... we made it out!!"

Wang Luoxuan's face was full of disbelief. The ancient well truly was the second exit!

"Don't let your guard down. It'll soon be midnight. Return to the martial arts school immediately," Jie Ling said gravely.

The four nodded. Immediately, they forced up their blood qi and raced all the way toward the outer city.

As they ran, a faint mist somehow began spreading through the surroundings. It grew thicker and thicker, mixed with beastlike roars from what sounded like desolate mountains and wilderness.

All five of them felt their hearts tighten and abruptly quickened their pace. They finally made it back to the martial arts school before midnight.

After returning to his room, Lin Nan threw himself onto the bed and slept face-down. It took him a full three days to recover.

The injury on his left hand gradually eased as well.

Three days later, Wind-Listening Tower.

A large square table was piled with dishes: braised pork knuckle, steamed Verdant Maple River fish, salt-baked chicken...

The survivors sat around the table.

Zhou Gu tremblingly raised his wine cup. His face was still pale as he offered a toast to Lin Nan and Zhang Chengchang.

"If not for Brother Lin and Hall Master Zhang coming to my aid that day, I, Zhou, fear I would not have made it out of Cold Mountain Goddess Temple that night."

"Brother Zhou, there is no need for such courtesy. Those of us living in the martial world value loyalty above all else."

Zhang Chengchang returned the toast with cupped fists.

Lin Nan likewise returned the toast with tea in place of wine.

Wang Luoxuan smiled as well. "That's right, Brother Zhou. The five of us have been through life and death together now."

The five sat in Wind-Listening Tower's private room, watching the traffic pass along the street, listening to vendors calling out and children laughing...

Thinking back to the events at Cold Mountain Goddess Temple three days ago, they felt as though a lifetime had passed.

Jie Ling looked at Lin Nan. "By the way, how did you know that the ghost woman at the ancient well we saw that night was an illusion?"

"I just felt that everything was too coincidental." Lin Nan shook his head. "From the ghost wall to the ghost woman at the ancient well, it all felt too coincidental. It was as if the moment we entered the temple, an invisible hand had been guiding us to trigger the pattern by which the evil entity killed people."

There was one more thing he did not say. From the first time he saw the ghost woman, he had felt something was wrong.

He had not sensed any sinister yin aura from her. He possessed the [Creation Furnace].

As long as it was an evil entity, he would definitely be able to sense sinister yin aura from it.

The only explanation... was that what they had seen was an illusion.