Before his voice could even fade, the middle-aged woman whom Jiang Ye held dangling in midair like a little chick lost every trace of her terrified expression.
She even rolled up her sleeve on her own initiative and thrust her arm right in front of Jiang Ye, her tone urgent:
“Immortal! Cut here! There's plenty of flesh! Is one cut enough? If not, you can make a few more. We country folk are tough and can take a beating!”
Seeing the woman's complete about-face, Jiang Ye didn't waste any time. Pressing his fingers together, he was about to make his move.
“Presumptuous! Do you treat the lives of mortals as mere grass?!”
Zhao Zonghan barked coldly, the spiritual power of his Early Stage Golden Core realm erupting with a boom.
Jiang Ye paused, slowly tilting his head. His pitch-black eyes were filled with mockery.
“I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush just yet!”
Zhao Zonghan's expression tightened, but he quickly put on a look of compassionate sorrow.
“Hmph. I simply cannot stand Sword Peak's disregard for human life. Don't even think about harming a single hair on her head today.”
“Is that so?”
Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow with great interest.
“What if I insist on cutting her today?”
Zhao Zonghan narrowed his eyes and threatened, “Then don't blame me for cleaning up—”
But before he could finish, a massive phantom of a foot sole, crackling with terrifying arcs of lightning, flew straight toward him.
Earth-grade low-rank technique, 【Great Wasteland Sky-Imprisoning Kick】!
Bang!
Although Zhao Zonghan was in the Early Stage Golden Core realm, his actual combat strength usually relied entirely on demon beasts to put on a show.
Faced with Jiang Ye's sudden turnaround, he didn't even have time to conjure his Protective Gang Qi.
He was sent flying like he had been rammed by a high-speed heavy truck. With a sickening crack, his cheekbone caved in. Vomiting blood, he shot backward over ten meters and slammed heavily against the Dharma Boat!
A dead silence fell over the area.
Everyone stared in dumbfounded shock. One second, she was a smiling young girl; the next, her face fell, and she directly kicked a Golden Core Senior Brother flying.
Only then did the young girl's crisp, arrogant voice ring out across the clearing:
“Damn it, did I give you too much face? I hate it when people chatter mindlessly next to me.”
Having driven away the annoying fly, Jiang Ye turned around. Under the woman's eager gaze, which practically screamed, “Cut me, Immortal, hurry up!” spiritual power surged at his fingertips as he made a sudden swipe.
Slash!
He sliced open a half-foot-long wound directly on the woman's arm.
In the next second, an intrigued look appeared in Jiang Ye's eyes.
The surrounding disciples, who had drawn their swords in defense, stared wide-eyed, frozen in place.
There was no blood—not even a single drop.
Beneath the woman's split flesh lay a dense, glaringly scarlet mass of fine red threads!
Most importantly, their divine senses actually couldn't detect the existence of these red threads at all.
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Right after that, those threads began to intertwine like a nest of maggots writhing in rotten meat.
In just a few seconds, that half-foot-long wound healed right before their eyes, leaving behind not even a trace of a scar!
The woman looked down at her completely intact arm.
A brief look of confusion flashed in her eyes.
But just half a second later, her brain seemed to be forcibly rebooted by some power, automatically ignoring this fatal bug.
She looked up, urging him with a face full of anticipation:
“Immortal, why haven't you cut me yet? Hurry up, I'm still waiting to get my gold!”
The Sword Peak disciples felt a cold shiver run straight from their spines to the crown of their heads.
Gu Changqing swallowed hard, his gaze filled with shock and doubt.
“Do you... not feel like there's something wrong with your body?”
The woman scratched her head simple-mindly. “No, I feel fantastic!”
Gu Changqing's expression grew increasingly solemn. “Then why did your arm heal instantly? What were those blood-red threads inside?”
The woman looked thoroughly confused, staring at him as if he were an idiot. “Healed? What healed? Don't joke with me, Immortal. My arm is perfectly fine. When was it ever injured?”
Everyone exchanged glances.
Their scalps tingled with dread.
Not only was there something wrong with this mortal's body, but even her mental perception had been altered!
“You're courting death!”
A furious roar echoed from midair.
Immediately after, a giant white python as thick as a water bucket soared into the air from the deck of the Dharma Boat.
Standing atop the white python's head was none other than Zhao Zonghan, who had just been kicked flying.
He no longer had his previous dashing demeanor; his cheekbone was slightly caved in, his head was covered in blood, and he was in a wretched state.
Standing on the serpent's head, his eyes spat fire as he glared death at Jiang Ye.
Several Beast-Taming Peak disciples flew up on their swords, shielding Zhao Zonghan as they softly urged him to focus on the bigger picture.
Zhao Zonghan's chest heaved violently as he barely managed to suppress his killing intent.
He spat out a harsh threat:
“If not for the special circumstances today, I would never let you off!”
With that, he stopped looking at Jiang Ye and turned to speak coldly to Gu Changqing:
“The blood of these mortals is suspected to be contaminated with demon poison. We will take them with us and let our Peak Master make the final decision.”
Gu Changqing frowned slightly, just about to speak.
Clap, clap, clap.
Crisp clapping echoed throughout the area.
Jiang Ye clapped while speaking in a highly sarcastic tone:
“Oh, I didn't expect you to be such a seasoned actor. That improvisation, that face-changing speed—they really should award you an Oscar.”
Zhao Zonghan's expression stiffened, and he barked:
“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Jiang Ye sneered, his voice dripping with mockery:
“From beginning to end, when did we ever say... that there was something wrong with their blood?”
The Sword Peak disciples suddenly froze.
That's right! When Junior Sister Bai sliced open the wound, it was filled with red threads; not a single drop of blood had flowed out!
Most importantly, Zhao Zonghan was so far away, and their divine senses couldn't even detect those threads. How could he be so sure that there was something wrong with their blood?
The crowd instantly put the pieces together. One after another, they drew their flying swords and aimed them warily at the Beast-Taming Peak group.
Zhao Zonghan's eye twitched. “What on earth are you trying to say?”
Jiang Ye took a slow step forward.
“Let me guess.”
“The villagers turning into this ghostly state had nothing to do with a demon beast attack. This was all the work of your Beast-Taming Peak, wasn't it?”
Before his words could fully settle, Jiang Ye reached out with a backhand grab!
He directly dragged over the old man who had been standing dazed on the spot.
The old man's gaze was vacant, showing absolutely no reaction.
Jiang Ye pressed his fingers together like a sword and sliced open a wound on the old man's arm without hesitation.
Everyone focused their attention.
Beneath the old man's split skin, there were no bones or blood vessels.
Instead, there was an even denser, thicker, and glaringly scarlet mass of red threads than what was in the woman's arm!
Clearly, the old man's condition was much more severe.
Faced with such a bizarre scene, confusion flashed in the eyes of the old man's son and daughter-in-law once again before they returned to a calm state.
Their brain mechanisms had once again forcibly blocked out this irrational sight.
The Beast-Taming Peak group's expressions turned grim. They gripped their magic tools, falling into a collective silence.
Jiang Ye watched this, a playful look in his eyes.
He was far too familiar with this kind of operation.
Back during his third playthrough, in order to grind stats, he had done plenty of these scumbag moves.
Like infecting the NPCs of an entire town into half-demon puppets and using them as his own experience farm to harvest indefinitely.
To increase the infection efficiency, he had even specifically hunted for these kinds of special items...
After all, as a proud Paradox gamer, his playstyles were not something these natives could ever fathom.
However, what puzzled Jiang Ye was:
These natives weren't players. They didn't gain experience points, and no equipment would drop. Why go to all this trouble to slaughter a village?
Could it be purely for... fun?
Rate on N.U.
