Longevity Town.
This once-prosperous border town had now become a ghostly domain.
The familiar faces that had once lined both sides of the streets now stood there blankly. Their eyeballs were clouded by a grayish-white film, while thick, dark-red fluid continuously seeped from their skin. Every drop that hit the ground instantly sprouted a tuft of vicious red hair.
The carriage stopped in front of Longevity Inn at the center of town.
"Stop looking. These people can't be saved anymore." Supported by Tsunade, Ye Tian stepped down from the carriage. His frail body shook violently with every step, as though he might fall apart at any moment. "Their souls have been turned into signposts by Blood Fiend. As long as that Beyond the World Passage remains open, they'll wander forever."
The inn was empty inside, yet a table laden with steaming food and wine had been set out.
But mixed into that steam was a thick stench of corpses.
"Tsunade, close the door." Ye Tian sat on a bench, and his gaze turned incomparably sharp in an instant.
Tsunade obediently shut the inn's front doors. Tense as she was, she failed to notice the strange flush already spreading across the back of her neck.
"Mmph... it itches." Tsunade suddenly frowned and reached up to scratch her neck.
"Don't move!" Ye Tian barked.
He abruptly pulled Tsunade over, his fingertips brushing across the fair, jade-like skin at the back of her neck. Several purplish-red patterns like spiderwebs had appeared upon what had once been smooth as satin. At the center of those patterns, several tiny red dots were faintly wriggling.
"When did this..." Tsunade was horrified. It was the Five Kage's instinctive fear of unknown danger.
"You were already infected when that little girl spoke. Though you forcibly suppressed it with