The hump on Hunchbacked Old Puppet's back was actually a woman's head with disheveled hair.
The sight sent chills through everyone present.
Even the longsword in the long-legged girl's hand faltered slightly, throwing off her rhythm.
"Help... me... please... help me!"
The woman's head on the hump seemed to have been awakened. She struggled to turn toward the others, her mouth releasing a faint plea for help.
Chen Ye finally understood. The cries for help he had heard earlier had come from this woman's head.
Looking closer, he realized that this woman's head was actually...
One of the survivors who had entered Longevity Village with them.
The woman had been rather timid. She should have left the group early on, found some supplies elsewhere, and gotten out of the village.
How had she become part of Hunchbacked Old Puppet?
Chen Ye felt a chill shoot straight to the top of his head, and goosebumps rose across his back.
Without a second thought, Chen Ye raised his hand crossbow, aimed at the woman's head on Hunchbacked Old Puppet's back, and fired.
Hunchbacked Old Puppet ignored the bolt entirely, turning and darting into a nearby house.
The bolt missed!
The long-legged girl's brows shot up, and a murderous glint crept into her lovely eyes.
She cut her finger with her longsword. A drop of crimson blood appeared on her fingertip, only to be swallowed by the blade a moment later.
The longsword seemed alive now, ringing over and over.
Then the long-legged girl began chanting.
"Crimson mark, seal the pact; sword soul, share my flesh! Drink my lifeblood, cry through three souls! Cleave the void, sever illusion; split the soul, divide the spirit! Dragon's roar across the heavens, ten thousand blades return to truth!"
"Break!"
With each phrase she uttered, Chen Ye noticed the longsword growing visibly sharper.
Then the long-legged girl gripped her sword in both hands and slashed fiercely toward the house Hunchbacked Old Puppet had fled into.
A streak of Sword Qi shot from the blade.
A trace of blood-red ran through the pure white Sword Qi, striking terror into those who saw it.
Was this the legendary Sword Qi?
Chen Ye was inwardly shaken.
Even though the Sword Qi was not aimed at him.
Chen Ye still felt a faint sting in his eyes.
Under Chen Ye's horrified gaze, the razor-sharp Sword Qi sliced through the middle of the house like tofu and hurtled into the distance.
A terrifying gash stretched across the house's midsection.
Rumble!
Amid a series of rumbling crashes, the house slowly collapsed like dominoes that had lost their support.
The survivors stood dumbfounded, as though a spell had frozen them in place.
Only Iron Lion looked as if this were perfectly normal.
The girl had already appeared in the middle of the collapsed house, her sharp eyes searching the rubble. Flecks of sword light still lingered on her longsword, clearly showing she had strength to spare.
Chen Ye also kept his hand crossbow raised, staying on guard.
After a long while, the girl's expression grew increasingly grim. There was no trace of Hunchbacked Old Puppet.
The girl looked thoroughly displeased.
Clearly, Hunchbacked Old Puppet had vanished.
Now all the survivors looked at the long-legged girl with fear and awe.
Before, they had only heard of Sequence Transcendents!
Now they understood what a Sequence Transcendent was.
Such power had already gone beyond human limits.
Chen Ye was no exception. He had previously witnessed Iron Lion's Titan Sequence in Apricot Blossom Town.
The ability to transform into a three-meter-tall, muscular giant had already astonished Chen Ye.
He had never imagined that this long-legged girl could wield Sword Qi too.
They rounded that corner once more.
The eerie Big Willow Tree came into view again.
The towering Big Willow Tree stood in the middle of the village square.
Willow branches hung down from above like venomous snakes, coiled around the corpses at their tips.
More than a hundred corpses hung beneath the tree like its fruit.
Facing the grotesquely eerie Big Willow Tree again, everyone still felt their skin crawl.
Quite a few people began gathering around the long-legged girl.
It seemed her earlier sword strike had earned many people's trust.
Others gathered around the hulking Iron Lion.
By contrast, no one stood behind Chen Ye.
Clearly, Chen Ye's support sequence did not inspire quite as much confidence.
"There seem to be more bodies!"
Chen Ye's gaze sharpened, and his voice carried a chill.
He remembered that when they had first come to the Big Willow Tree, there had not seemed to be this many corpses beneath it.
Now there were clearly more.
No!
Why did these bodies... look so familiar?
When Chen Ye saw the various backpacks on the newly appeared corpses, a chill gripped his heart.
These bodies were... people from the convoy.
People who had entered Longevity Village with them earlier.
"It's not that there are more bodies. It's that... from the moment we entered Longevity Village, no one has ever gotten out."
"These people tried to leave earlier. Now... they're all here."
The long-legged girl's cool voice rang out.
"That's... that's Old Liu! Didn't he leave ages ago?"
"Oh my God, Little Zhang, Little Zeng, Little Qian too... they actually..."
"What the hell is this Big Willow Tree?"
The survivors around them sounded terrified and helpless.
Many of the newly appeared corpses had been alive and well just a few hours earlier. Some had even been people they knew.
Seeing people they knew meet such an end.
There was no way they could avoid being afraid.
Just moments ago, Chen Ye had wondered whether this trip to Longevity Village had been too easy.
Now, faced with this sight.
Chen Ye felt that Longevity Village was far more dangerous than Apricot Blossom Town.
From the moment they had entered Longevity Village, not a single living person had left.
"Damn it!"
The long-legged girl clenched her teeth, tightening her grip on her longsword again and again.
"Fucking thing, playing these creepy tricks! Watch me smash it to pieces!"
Iron Lion unloaded the small mountain from his back and strode toward the Big Willow Tree. With every step, his already exaggerated physique swelled further.
First, his thighs rapidly expanded, stretching his jeans into shorts.
The boots on his feet became slippers.
His T-shirt became a skintight top.
In just a few steps, his already imposing two-meter frame grew even more monstrous.
Chen Ye did not stop Iron Lion's reckless move.
Since the Big Willow Tree would not let them leave, their only option was to destroy it.
Letting the big lug Iron Lion give it a try was one way to go about it.
Suddenly, Chen Ye saw a corpse in the distance twitch. Its stiff head slowly turned toward the big man.
Iron Lion's actions were like a stone thrown into a lake.
"Big lug, watch out!"
Chen Ye had already raised his hand crossbow and aimed at one of the moving corpses.
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