Using the cover of night, Chen Ning led the monks of Mingji Temple to the gates of the Yu Ding Sect.
Clearly, no one in the Yu Ding Sect had sensed anything amiss yet. Two young Daoists guarding the gate were leisurely chatting about something.
“So hungry. It’s about time for the shift change, isn’t it? I haven’t eaten meat for almost two shichen.”
“My appetite has been growing lately. If I don’t eat at least ten jin of meat a day, I feel like I have no strength at all.”
“Yeah, meat is the most delicious thing in the world, especially children’s meat. Just thinking about that flavor makes it hard to bear. Especially their soft, tender hearts...”
“Shh, don’t say that kind of thing out here. What if someone hears you?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if they did? Then the two of us could take the opportunity to have an extra meal!”
The two discussed human flesh without any restraint, saliva uncontrollably dripping from the corners of their mouths.
The monks of Mingji Temple hidden in the shadows heard this conversation, and some nearly vomited on the spot.
Even the young Daoists guarding the gate had turned into Painted Skin Slaves. It seemed that, just as Chen Ning had expected, the entire Yu Ding Sect had likely fallen.
“Prepare to move.”
After exchanging a brief look in the dark, Chen Ning suddenly flashed out from the shadows, slicing downward with his hand like a blade.
Thump, thump.
The two young Daoists didn’t even make a sound before their necks were instantly snapped.
“I’ll leave the front to Fellow Daoist Chen. This old monk will take responsibility for the other two exits.”
Once it was confirmed that the target was the entire Yu Ding Sect, the old monk Hui Jian immediately led his men to the other two exits, taking responsibility for blocking all paths of escape.
Seven Buddhist Elders, along with Jingkong and more than thirty Martial Monk disciples, followed behind Chen Ning.
It would be best if they could avoid startling the snake. If they were truly discovered, they would simply charge in through the front with a single breath.
In short, the Painted Skin Ghost had to be eliminated, and not a single one of the remaining Painted Skin Slaves was to be left behind!
Chen Ning and Jingkong picked up the clothes from the ground and disguised themselves as disciples of the Yu Ding Sect.
The two pushed open the doors and entered.
But they had only walked a few steps when two more disciples approached from the opposite direction.
“Junior Brothers, you can head back now. We’ll take over the guard duty.”
The corners of their mouths were still stained with blood, and their entire bodies were permeated with a thick, bloody stench, as if they had just finished a meal.
“Wait, why do I feel like these two look very unfamiliar? They don’t seem like disciples of our Yu Ding Sect.”
One of the gray-robed disciples suddenly stopped, looking at Chen Ning and Jingkong with suspicion.
Chen Ning smiled and said, “I’ve only just joined the sect recently, and I’m usually quite introverted. Isn’t it normal for Senior Brother not to recognize me?”
The other disciple clearly had no interest in dwelling on the matter and reminded his companion: “Hurry up and get to your post. There are plenty of people in the sect you don’t recognize. Why waste time on this?”
However, the gray-robed disciple shook his head, scrutinizing Chen Ning carefully.
“No, this person looks familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before. It’s like...”
Suddenly, the gray-robed disciple stumbled back several steps, the hair on his neck standing on end.
“No, I have seen you! You’re that scholar from Ning’an Village!”
This gray-robed disciple was one of the Daoists who had participated in the pursuit of Hong Ye that day.
He had fallen down the earthen slope and lost consciousness, becoming the only survivor.
Although he hadn’t been a Painted Skin Slave at that time, fear had long since been deeply planted in his mind.
“Someone come quickly! Outsiders have infiltrated the sect!”
The terrified shout echoed throughout the silent Yu Ding Sect.
Chen Ning sighed. “I miscalculated. If I had known, I should have checked more carefully and made sure to give you a finishing blow.”
Hearing the nonsensical exchange between the two, the other disciple’s face turned somewhat pale. “They really aren’t from the Yu Ding Sect? Then where did the original gatekeepers go?”
“You still haven’t realized? It seems becoming a Painted Skin Slave really does make one stupider.”
Chen Ning sneered and suddenly drew his sword.
Before the two could make any reaction, their heads had already fallen to the ground.
The shout just now had already alerted the entire Yu Ding Sect. Clearly, they could no longer continue their infiltration.
“Brother Chen, what should we do next?” Jingkong asked.
“It’s simple. We sweep through and kill our way in!”
Chen Ning kicked the two corpses aside.
He hadn’t had much interest in sneaking around anyway. Since it had come to this, he might as well enjoy a direct slaughter.
Activating his Mountain-Treading Step, Chen Ning took the lead and charged into the depths of the Yu Ding Sect.
“Oh no, someone come quickly!”
“You!”
In the blink of an eye, three Painted Skin Slaves were decapitated by a single sword strike.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps...
...
With each step he took, Chen Ning’s speed continued to climb, and the power beneath his feet surged violently.
The force of his first step alone had already snapped the floor tiles into two pieces.
By the time he took the fifth step, a massive pit with a radius of one meter had been gouged into the ground beneath Chen Ning’s feet, with cracks spreading outward like a spider web.
“How dare you trespass into my Yu Ding Sect! You have quite the nerve!”
A Yu Ding Sect Elder, standing eight chi tall and built like a bear, emerged in a rage, carrying a hundred-jin long saber.
But just as he stepped out of the door, he happened to encounter Chen Ning as he took his seventh step.
The power of the Mountain-Treading Step increased layer by layer, and the seventh step was precisely the peak of its speed and power.
This single step was enough to crush mountains and shatter stones, possessing a force of ten thousand jun!
“Mountain-Treading Step!”
Boom!
A massive sound, like a clap of thunder in the sky, roared throughout the entire courtyard.
The Elder didn’t even have time to understand what was happening before the long saber in his hand and his entire body were crushed into pieces beneath that single step.
Beneath Chen Ning’s feet, only a violent, deep crater remained.
[Slew one Painted Skin Slave, obtained 10 Noble Qi]
With just the effort of a single step, he had actually slain a small boss worth a full ten points of Noble Qi.
This scene left the monks of Mingji Temple behind him completely dumbfounded.
What was that step? Was it a Confucian technique?
But they had never heard of any Confucian technique that could crush a person along with a hundred-jin saber into pieces!
They couldn’t help but feel a surge of relief in their hearts.
Fortunately, they were Chen Ning’s allies and not his enemies. Otherwise, if they were to take that step, they couldn’t even imagine what the consequences would be!
But at that moment, several Painted Skin Slaves of the Yu Ding Sect suddenly knelt on the ground.
They abruptly threw their heads back and opened their mouths wide, letting out uncontrollable hisses and wails of agony.
More and more Yu Ding Sect disciples knelt on the ground, none of them spared.
Not only that, they all felt an unbearable itch throughout their bodies and began to desperately scratch every inch of their skin with their fingers.
Whether it was their legs, their bodies, or even their faces...
With every scratch, their skin would be torn away.
Even the face skin that hadn’t been torn would melt like liquid modeling clay, slowly flowing downward.
No one knew what was happening to their bodies; they only wailed and cried out in despair.
Moreover, they were completely unable to suppress the movements of their hands.
After a short while, the movements of all the Yu Ding Sect disciples suddenly ground to a halt.
Aside from their instinctive wails of despair, they had lost all consciousness.
In the dark hollows torn from within their painted skins, thick, bloody ghostly qi began to surge out.
Within that eerie yin qi, terrifying limbs erupted one after another.
They were none other than the flesh and limbs these Painted Skin Slaves had once devoured!
The meat and limbs they had eaten had never been digested; they had been hidden within their painted skins all along.
The foul-smelling flesh and limbs quickly replaced the slaves’ own bodies and limbs. Except for the half-human, half-ghost face skin on their heads, they had completely turned into bizarre creatures resembling spiders, their torsos composed of rotting flesh and limbs!
Only their eyes, struggling in agony, served as the sole remaining proof of their existence.
The monsters twisted their deformed limbs and surged toward the outside of the Yu Ding Sect like madmen.
The events had happened too suddenly. Several disciples of Mingji Temple were torn to pieces before they could even react.
After transforming into these bodies, the strength of the Painted Skin Slaves soared once again.
Even the Yu Ding Sect disciples who had possessed no cultivation during their lives now held strength sufficient to instantly kill Martial Monks who had cultivated bitterly for years.
The situation took a turn for the worse, and Mingji Temple completely lost the suppressive momentum they had gained from their initial surprise attack.
Only Chen Ning remained, his Sword Qi crisscrossing as he sliced through them like vegetables.
[Slew one Painted Skin Slave, obtained 3 Noble Qi]
[Slew one Painted Skin Slave, obtained 3 Noble Qi]
This scene, on the contrary, made Chen Ning excited.
To be able to create this group of monsters meant that the true body of the Painted Skin Ghost was within the Yu Ding Sect.
With the indignant humming of the Noble Scholar's Sword, he could already vaguely sense the direction of that ghostly qi!
“Did you think you could escape?”
Chen Ning drew his sword and crushed everything in his path, charging alone into the depths of the Yu Ding Sect!
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