"The bodies, they’re all gone."
Lu Hu touched the muddy ground outside the bluestone slabs. The rain had washed away most of the blood, but the footprints ford by stepping into mud pits remained.
By following the footprints and the bloodstains that hadn’t been washed away, one could infer what happened to the Tu Family — mutants collected all the scattered human fragnts from the ground, walked into the ancestral temple one by one, and then disappeared.
Lu Hu raised his head to see Li Cheng stride over to the white giant salamander, reach out, and tear off a piece of fish at, his expression rather subtle.
Su Konghu instinctively asked, "What’s wrong? Is there sothing wrong with this fish at?"
"It’s not fish at."
Li Cheng stood up, used his toe to pick up a burning piece of wood from the ground, and kicked it straight into the open doors of the ancestral temple.
The firelight pierced the darkness, revealing a looming black shadow standing before the altar that honored several generations of Tu Family ancestors.
The surface of the shadow was covered with a massive accumulation of half-lted snakes, rats, birds, and human limbs, resembling a mountain of wax from candles that had lted over a long period.
Beneath the "mountain of wax" was a thick layer of mixed blood and grease.
An endless stream of serpents, insects, rats, and ravens crawled into the temple, wading through the mix and willingly allowing themselves to be lted and absorbed by the "mountain of wax."
"Zhong... Uncle?"
Su Konghu’s voice trembled, and shockingly, the severely injured Song Zhong hung slanting from the side of the wax mountain.
His legs had already rged into the wax mountain, holding that soft sword in his hand. Perhaps awakened by Su Konghu’s voice, he slowly opened his eyes and spoke hoarsely, "Quick..."
Without hesitation, Su Konghu dashed forward, intending to pull Song Zhong out. Having lost his parents early, Song Zhong was like a teacher and father to him.
However, just before stepping into the ancestral temple, Su Konghu was forcefully grabbed by Wang Biliu, who seed to have discovered sothing, stopping him in his tracks.
Song Zhong suddenly lifted his head, his wild hair spreading wide, and his left eye, set horizontally like a frog’s pupil, shouted, "Run!"
With Song Zhong’s piercing yell, the brick-and-stone foundation of the temple erupted with a "boom," and a pillar as thick and long as a subway train burst from the ground, overturning the entire temple.
The pillar itself was constructed from rotten marine life forms’ black flesh, interspersed with livestock carcasses and dismbered human parts, with the wax mountain on top.
Song Zhong, skewed into the wax mountain, showed no response to Su Konghu’s desperate calls, only emitting painful moans as scales rapidly grew on his body.
"It’s quite long,"
Li Cheng looked up at the pillar piercing the sky, marveling, "Black and bloody stool, possibly a stomach ulcer or cancer."
"Is this really the ti for sarcastic comnts?!"
Sikong Lan, with every hair standing on end, feigned a smile, suddenly feeling the gun in his hand, once so powerful, now seemingly like a re stick, "Should we run or not?"
"Only if it lets us run."
Li Cheng silently took out the [Ape-man Degeneration Gun], and in the next second, the surface of the black pillar convulsed violently, like laying eggs, squeezing out six living corpses from within.
The first four ca from Guangxian Temple, Xuni Castle, Wuya Cave, and Night Heron Altar, four Innate Realm living corpses.
As for the last two, surprisingly, they were from the Tu Family themselves?!
Presumably insane, previously warning everyone against eating fish, the Tu Family’s second branch Tu Qiaohua.
And the Tu Family’s third branch, the dissolute young master, Tu Dongcong.
The six living corpses slowly landed on the ground. Compared to the previous mutants, these were much taller, with fewer protruding organs, having only shark teeth and narwhal horns on their hands and feet.
Notably, Tu Dongcong’s skull was cracked, with a bullet hole in his forehead, as if he had once been shot at close range...
Li Cheng suddenly realized sothing, scanning the outer rooms where the Tu Family lived.
All mbers of the Tu Family’s five branches, regardless of whether they were core mbers of the family or spouses, had vanished without a trace, leaving no signs of becoming living corpses or damaging tools.
As for the houses where they lived, the room of the Tu Family’s elder branch lacked reflective objects such as dressing mirrors and wardrobe mirrors — presumably associated with the rumors of hereditary disfigurent diseases.
The Tu Family’s second branch had replaced all furniture, including tables, chairs, benches, pots, and bowls with tal items.
The third branch had the most chambers for wives and concubines, while the fourth branch’s cabinet housed a full set of painting tools, and everything was normal in the fifth branch.
’No wonder there were letters sent to both Dragon Tiger Mountain and Jinyi Guard.
No wonder the murals in the stone room differed from the prophesied illustrations.
No wonder Tu Qiaohua and Tu Dongcong were excluded.’
All clues linked together in his mind, Li Cheng took a deep breath, so that’s how it is.
"..."
Behind Cao ng, the last mber of Fanhe Gang, realizing the situation was dire, discreetly retreated to the courtyard door, decisively turning and running away.
Whoosh!
Tu Dongcong, or rather, the living corpse once Tu Dongcong, suddenly raised its arm and shot out a narwhal horn, which pierced the chest of that gang mber across the entire courtyard, pinning him to the wall.
The battle erupted in an instant. The six living corpses bypassed Li Cheng and charged at the remaining survivors.
It wasn’t because Li Cheng was so handso that he scared the mutants away, but rather, soldiers face soldiers, generals face generals.
The pillar, towering into the clouds and as agile as a human hand, whipped violently. With Song Zhong’s soft sword at the tip, it swept across to strike Li Cheng.
This move was both swift and powerful.
Li Cheng fired the Bat Hook Claw, pulling back to buy himself ti, while clutching the [Ape-man Degeneration Gun] with his left hand, pulling the trigger twice in quick succession.
Bang bang!
No need for precise aiming, the bullets hit the pillar beneath Song Zhong.
Yet, the pillar itself wasn’t hindered, only the portion struck had two layers of decaying matter shriveled.
As expected, the pillar wasn’t solid but rather structured like an onion with multiple layers of decay; for the [Ape-man Degeneration Gun] to work, it had to target the core area.
Li Cheng twisted his waist in the air, palming the ground to unleash the skill [Riding the Tide, Wind, and Waves].
A roaring wind surged forth, counteracting force propelling him upward,
The flesh column missed its mark, and the lower section continued its montum, flattening half of the buildings on the west side of the Tu mansion.
The upper segnt agilely lifted, akin to a bone-saw chasing after Li Cheng.
"Won’t this end?"
Li Cheng activated the [Knight Never Dies Unard] skill, heightening weapon proficiency, using the flag spear to parry Song Zhong’s soft sword while triggering the flag spear’s special effect, throwing Song Zhong off.
The two engaged in a high-altitude battle, while the skirmishes on the ground continued.
Fast, too fast.
The re-strengthened abbott from Guangxian Temple and others, now remarkably beyond the pinnacle of Innate Martial Artist, reached the Grandmaster Realm.
The speed was so swift it left only faint shadows in the survivors’ eyes.
A Jinyi Guard frantically wielded a Revolving Machine Gun, but the Xuni Castle Lord transford into a living corpse, swiftly navigating the collapsed ruins, evading all chains of bullets at breakneck speed.
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