One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

With his roar, the eerie green flames at the cave entrance suddenly leaped several meters high! The low, eerie chanting inside the cave instantly became high-pitched and piercing, filled with rage and greed! A dark green wave, even more concentrated, more evil, carrying a strong stench and chaotic will, surged out of the cave like a tsunami, instantly engulfing the entire plaza!

The villagers swept by the dark green energy wave became even more frenzied, their strength and speed surging once more. Dark green veins bulged under their skin, and they made strange hoarse noises as their attacks became even more ferocious! Some villagers who had been knocked down by Nie Lingfeng even staggered to their feet after the green energy surged in and rejoined the siege!

After absorbing some of the green energy, the three ghost masters, Agong, Alu, and Aduo, seemed to swell up. Something seemed to wriggle beneath their withered skin, their eyes shone brightly with green light, and their auras became cold and dangerous. They were no longer just bystanders, but slowly stepped forward to surround Nie Lingfeng, the bone artifacts in their hands beginning to emit an ominous glow.

The pressure has increased dramatically!

Nie Lingfeng's eyes turned cold. It seemed that unless these three "sources" and the "thing" in the cave were dealt with, these controlled villagers would not stop.

"Chen Duo, hang in there!" he shouted, no longer holding back, and the newly formed, dark golden power within his body suddenly surged into action! A terrifying aura, even deeper and more majestic than when it had intimidated everyone outside the cave, seemingly emanating from the ancient primordial era, suddenly erupted from him!

"boom--!"

An invisible pressure, like a tangible mountain, pressed down heavily on the entire square! The villagers who were frantically attacking suddenly froze, as if held down by an invisible giant hand, their faces showing pain and instinctive fear, and their momentum slowed down. Even the three ghost masters whose auras surged swayed, their eyes flashing intensely with green light, revealing expressions of horror.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nie Lingfeng took a step forward, his figure instantly disappearing from the spot. When he reappeared, he was already behind A-Lue Ghost Master like a ghost, and with a hand chop, he silently slashed at the back of his neck! This time, he used the decomposition power of three parts of the Returning Origin Qi, striving to defeat his enemy in one blow and sever his connection with the "thing" in the cave!

However, just as his chop was about to touch the skin of the demon master—

"Watch out!" Chen Duo's exclamation suddenly rang out!

A sudden sense of alarm arose in Nie Lingfeng's heart! Without thinking, he forcefully shifted his body three feet to the side!

"laugh--!"

A "tentacle" as fast as lightning, as black as ink, and exuding a strong aura of death and evil resentment shot out silently from the shadows beneath Alec's feet, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole. It grazed past Nie Lingfeng's afterimage and corroded a bowl-sized, charred, and smoking hole in a hard stone slab where he had been standing!

The attack did not come from the three demon masters, nor from the green gas spewing from the cave, but... from the shadows on the ground!

Nie Lingfeng's eyes were icy cold as he fixed his gaze on the cave entrance. From the surging dark green gas, countless more solid, darker, and writhing shadow tentacles, like living creatures, slowly emerged. Illuminated by the green flames, they bared their fangs and claws, radiating a malice that could freeze one's soul.

Deep within the cave entrance, the eerie chanting gradually coalesced into a hoarse, low voice, filled with endless greed and blasphemy, neither male nor female… This “voice” resounded directly in everyone’s minds:

"A vibrant...delicious...soul...powerful...vessel...come...to...me..."

As the sound rang out, all the controlled villagers in the square, including the three ghost masters, trembled violently. The last trace of humanity in their eyes vanished completely, replaced by a pure, fanatical, puppet-like emptiness. They turned their heads simultaneously, hundreds of empty eyes fixed on Nie Lingfeng, and slowly, stiffly, began to walk.

Inside the cave, even more shadowy tentacles, like a swarm of snakes emerging from their hole, spread towards Nie Lingfeng's direction...

"A vibrant...delicious...soul...powerful...vessel...come...to...me..."

That hoarse, deep, inhuman voice, filled with endless greed and blasphemy, poured into everyone's minds like the filthiest mud, stirring up the most primal fear and nausea deep within their souls. Accompanying this sound, from the dark green gas gushing from the cave entrance, even more black, viscous, and frantically writhing shadowy tentacles surged forth. Ignoring the controlled villagers in the square, like a swarm of sharks smelling blood, they all rushed towards Nie Lingfeng, the only one in the area emanating a powerful life force and soul energy!

At the same time, the hundreds of villagers who were completely controlled in the square, under the same command, had their last glimmer of humanity extinguished, turning into hundreds of walking corpses who only knew how to carry out the order to "tear apart the intruders." They made strange hoarse noises, and on all fours, they rushed towards Nie Lingfeng again like a tidal wave with superhuman speed and contorted posture! This time, their attacks were even more frenzied and reckless. Some villagers even used their own bodies to ram and bite, completely disregarding their own injuries.

The three ghost masters—Agong, Alu, and Aduo—had undergone significant physical mutations after absorbing more green energy. The writhing "things" beneath their skin became more pronounced, some even piercing through to reveal disgusting, dark green, root-like or vein-like tissue. Their eyes had transformed into two burning, eerie green flames, and they emitted incomprehensible roars. The bone artifacts in their hands emanated intense, malevolent energy, faintly connected to the power of the "Cave God" deep within the cave. They were no longer merely directing; they had personally joined the attack. Although their movements remained somewhat stiff, their strength, speed, and the chilling, filthy energy surrounding them far surpassed that of ordinary villagers. From three directions, they approached Nie Lingfeng like phantoms!

Above (shadow tentacles), on the ground (controlled villagers), and three troublesome "elite monsters" (mutated ghost masters)! Nie Lingfeng was instantly caught in a three-dimensional, extremely violent siege!

"Nie Lingfeng!" Chen Duo's cry of alarm was drowned out by frantic roars and the shrill screams of shadowy tentacles tearing through the air. She struggled to maintain the golden fire ring protecting several unconscious girls, but more controlled villagers were frantically ramming against it. Each impact caused the ring to fluctuate violently, draining her inner strength. She anxiously watched Nie Lingfeng, who was heavily surrounded, her emerald eyes filled with worry. Several times she wanted to rush over to help, but she couldn't abandon these girls who were completely defenseless.

"I'm fine! Protect them!" Nie Lingfeng's voice cut through the noise and reached Chen Duo's ears clearly. It was still calm and there was no trace of panic in his voice.

Faced with the overwhelming encirclement, the dark golden light in Nie Lingfeng's eyes slowly shifted. Far from showing any fear, instead... a cold, icy anger, as if his dignity had been challenged, ignited within him.

"How dare you, you mere filth, act so presumptuously before me?"

He no longer suppressed the newly born, boundless power within him. The Qilin tattoo on his chest suddenly shone with a dark golden light, and a terrifying aura, a mixture of the majesty of a divine beast, the domineering power of dragon essence, and the agility of phoenix blood, erupted from his body like a dormant volcano!

"roar--!!!"

A deep, majestic roar, seemingly from ancient times, faintly overpowered the eerie chanting in the cave and the villagers' screams, echoing across the square! This was not a contest of sound, but a crushing defeat of life levels and the essence of power!

The villagers, who had been frantically charging forward and were now under control, were suddenly halted by this imposing aura. Their faces revealed an instinctive fear and bewilderment stemming from the suppression of their life rank, and their movements instantly became sluggish and chaotic. Even the three mutated ghost masters saw their ghostly green flames flicker violently, and their forward momentum slowed down.

The swarming shadow tentacles, upon contact with the dark golden Qilin True Fire aura naturally emanating from Nie Lingfeng's body, reacted as if encountering their natural enemy, emitting a hissing, teeth-grinding burning sound. Their tips quickly turned charred, shrank, and disintegrated! But the tentacles behind seemed endless, still fearlessly coiling around him, attempting to break through the dark golden aura barrier.

"It seems these poor souls won't stop until I drag you out." Nie Lingfeng's cold gaze locked onto the entrance to the cave, the source of evil and the core of control.

He stopped engaging with the surrounding "soldier" and changed his footwork, pushing the profound meaning of "Wind God Movement" to its limit! His figure instantly became blurred, as if he had transformed into a real, all-pervasive breeze, weaving and flashing through the densely packed villagers, ghost masters, and frantically entwining shadow tentacles at an almost impossible angle and speed!

He didn't strike down any more villagers, nor did he pay any attention to the three ghost masters' attack. All the attacks—whether it was the villagers' frantic biting and lunging, the ghost masters' sinister bone weapons, or the shadow tentacles' vicious entanglement and piercing—were always "slipped" away by the slightest margin just before they touched his body, or slightly deflected by the dark golden aura on his body, landing on the open ground behind him, on the stone slabs, or even... on other villagers or shadow tentacles that pounced on him!