Inside the barrier.
Xiao Qinghe had no idea the situation was far more complicated and dire than he imagined. Ignoring the Two-Headed Snakes flicking their tongues outside the Protective Array, he grabbed Xie Jun and asked anxiously, "Are you hurt?"
Xie Jun was covered in alarming amounts of blood.
"I'm fine. It isn't my blood." Xie Jun shook her head and glanced at the Protective Array. "Senior Brother, where did you get this?"
I took out a loan of nearly ten thousand points to buy it!
But Xiao Qinghe couldn't say that.
The Two-Headed Snakes still prowled outside the array, their eyes vicious as they let out strange, rasping cackles.
The eerie cries of unidentified demon creatures rose from every direction, sounding especially chilling beneath the cold night sky.
The timid female disciples huddled together, their faces ashen, almost fainting from terror.
Their sizeable group of more than a dozen now numbered fewer than ten.
Overwhelming sorrow weighed on everyone's hearts.
Suddenly, Xiao Qinghe spotted a familiar figure and cried out, "Junior Sister?!"
Ouyang Susu stood drenched in blood, her eyes vacant. When she realized Xiao Qinghe was calling her, tears spilled down her face, and she lunged toward him. "Senior Brother, I'm so scared... sob..."
Xie Jun's brows drew together. She pulled Xiao Qinghe away and shot Ouyang Susu a knife-sharp look. "What are you doing here?"
Bai Liuli froze as well. She looked behind her, a flicker of confusion crossing her eyes.
The girl who had been standing there just now hadn't looked like this at all.
How had this girl appeared out of thin air?
Under Xie Jun's wary gaze, Ouyang Susu trembled delicately. She turned and edged toward Xiao Qinghe, her quavering voice making her seem pitiful.
"Senior Brother, demon creatures trapped us. They all died trying to save me, and their deaths were so horrible... sob... Those creatures are terrifying. I couldn't beat them... Protect me, Senior Brother. Don't leave me..."
Xiao Qinghe thought this was part of the original plot. The female lead was supposed to encounter danger with Xie Jun, and a chance turn of events would bind them with the Soul-Tying Thread.
It would have been strange if the female lead hadn't appeared.
The question was, how exactly had she appeared out of nowhere?
Seeing Xie Jun glare at Ouyang Susu without the slightest warmth, Xiao Qinghe sighed inwardly. All he could do was try his hardest to bring them together, pushing Ouyang Susu toward Xie Jun.
The moment he touched her, he realized how cold she was.
So cold that he shuddered.
"Junior Sister, why are you so cold? Are you all right?"
Ouyang Susu suddenly turned her head, her voice sinister. "Of course. It's because I'm different from you, Senior Brother..."
Xie Jun's expression changed, and she shouted, "Senior Brother, watch out! She isn't Ouyang Susu!"
But she was a moment too late.
Ouyang Susu's pretty face twisted hideously. The corners of her mouth suddenly split open, revealing a gaping, bloody maw.
The sight was utterly horrifying.
Xiao Qinghe's scalp prickled. Before he could consciously react, his body moved first, darting aside.
"Ouyang Susu's" tongue suddenly shot out like a blade of flesh.
Thwack!
It pierced Xiao Qinghe's shoulder.
"Senior Brother!"
With a fierce shout, Xie Jun drew her sword and severed the long tongue, then swept Xiao Qinghe into her arms. "Senior Brother, how are you?"
Blood poured from Xiao Qinghe's shoulder. His face was deathly pale, and he was in too much pain to speak.
Xie Jun's breath caught, and killing intent erupted around her.
Sensing danger, "Ouyang Susu" twisted like a centipede. With all four limbs on the ground, the creature scuttled backward, its Ouyang Susu face grotesquely contorted. Its severed tongue dangled from its mouth as it hissed.
"Heavens! What is that thing?!"
Everyone scattered in horror, fleeing as far from it as they could.
The thing crawled along the ground, its body swaying and twisting, its eyeballs rolling with it. Suddenly, it fixed its gaze on Xiao Qinghe. Then something like countless worms writhed beneath its skin, and its face visibly transformed into Xiao Qinghe's.
What the fuck!
Xiao Qinghe was utterly stunned.
The fake Xiao Qinghe let out a sinister chuckle. "Senior Brother~ Hehe, Senior Brother~"
Its voice was almost identical to Xiao Qinghe's. If its tongue hadn't been injured, it might have been indistinguishable!
What the actual fucking hell!
Xiao Qinghe's scalp tingled. He finally remembered what this thing was. "It's a Human-Faced Ghost! It can disguise itself as a human. Everyone, be careful!"
Of all the people it could have become, it had chosen him. This was beyond tolerable!
Someone else found it even more intolerable than Xiao Qinghe did.
Xie Jun's gaze sharpened, and killing intent burst forth as she charged with her sword.
Knowing it was no match for her, the Human-Faced Ghost turned and fled. The instant it rushed out of the array, it extended its tongue again, stabbing toward the Formation Eye.
"No! It's trying to take us down with it!" Xiao Qinghe's expression changed drastically.
Two-Headed Snakes prowled outside the array. Once the Protective Array shattered, they would have no protection at all. Everyone would be exposed to the snakes surrounding them, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
Xie Jun flew after it, driving her sword through the Human-Faced Ghost's chest.
But in the end, she was still a moment too late.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the Formation Eye shattered.
All around them, cold light flashed in the eyes of more than a dozen Two-Headed Snakes. As though a long-coveted delicacy had finally been placed before their mouths, they let out excited, piercing shrieks.
In an instant, the snakes engulfed everyone.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
Agonized screams rose one after another, echoing through the night sky.
The scene was so brutal that Xiao Qinghe could barely bear to look, nor did he have time to.
His left arm had been pierced, and he could barely fend for himself.
This time, he knew he couldn't escape.
The Human-Faced Ghost's tongue was lethally poisonous. His whole body felt cold, and he couldn't even muster the strength to lift his sword. Darkness washed over his eyes, his vision began to blur, and he knew he wouldn't last much longer.
"Senior Brother!" Xie Jun was beside herself with terror.
With the last of his strength, Xiao Qinghe shoved her away. "Take the others and leave! Forget about me! Go!"
Just then, a Two-Headed Snake charged straight at Xiao Qinghe, its tongues flicking. Its body, as thick as a person's waist, smashed through everything in its path like a gale, coiling around him and hoisting him high into the air.
To Xie Jun, the scene seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Her dark eyes instantly turned scarlet, and she screamed herself hoarse. "Senior Brother!!!"
Bai Liuli was fighting a Two-Headed Snake with everything she had. That anguished cry startled her, and she whipped her head around, her pupils contracting sharply.
Xie Jun's eyes were bloodred, and a vicious aura erupted around her with an overwhelming force.
With her at its center, the towering forest shuddered and bowed outward in every direction. Fierce winds swept through, sending sand and stones flying.
The Two-Headed Snakes fighting her were hurled into the air by that force. Bai Liuli plunged her sword into the ground and clung to it, barely managing to hold herself in place.
"This aura..." Bai Liuli's hair stood on end, and she almost screamed.
Never in her life had she felt such terrifying demonic energy!
Wrapped in the snake's coils, Xiao Qinghe felt his internal organs being crushed and twisted. Amid the excruciating pain, he sensed that familiar aura and knew something was terribly wrong.
He struggled with all his might to say something, but Xie Jun suddenly moved.
Her body became a blur amid flashing sword light. Before the dozen or so Two-Headed Snakes could attack, the light swept past, and their bodies froze on the spot. Blood erupted as they fell apart in sections, creating an utterly horrifying sight.
She moved too fast for the eye to follow.
Her attacks were merciless. When a Two-Headed Snake slithered away to escape, she leaped into the air and brought her sword down from above, piercing its head clean through.
For a moment, the bloody, brutal scene resembled hell on earth.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Two-Headed Snakes had all been reduced to dismembered corpses.
Xiao Qinghe fell to the ground, his breathing faint. Through his blurred vision, he could just make out Xie Jun wreathed in dense black demonic energy, her eyes scarlet and demon marks fully exposed across half her face.
She had undergone demonization at a time like this!
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