Divine Root Bone

Su Qingyao and Lin Wanqing stood side by side at the front of the crowd, gazing at the tall, unblemished golden figure in the alley. They exchanged a glance, their hearts filled with nothing but profound relief. If it weren't for Zhang Yang's presence and his combat prowess far exceeding that of others of the same level, this place would have been their final resting place.

Zhang Yang slowly withdrew the golden light from his palm, glanced down at Shi Wanshan who was completely limp and motionless, his face cold and his heart not at all at ease.

He looked up and scanned the quiet old alleyway around him, his voice low and solemn as he immediately warned the crowd:

"Everyone on high alert!"

"Even the Stone Lord who guards this place has long been completely possessed and assimilated by evil spirits."

"This entire old alleyway may seem peaceful and serene, but it has already fallen. The ordinary people and residents here are certainly not safe! Those cultivators from the western city, corrupted by evil energy, will likely follow the scent here. We are in danger from all sides!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire silent old alley was suddenly filled with faint, eerie, and chilling noises.

One by one, the wooden doors of the old houses on both sides of the alley began to open slowly and silently.

There was no sound of wind, no human movement, no talking or commotion; the entire street was eerily quiet, save for the soft creaking of countless wooden doors opening and closing, layer upon layer, densely packed, echoing through the empty alley.

The next second, a low-level cultivator standing on the outside suddenly felt his pupils shrink, his hair stand on end, and he cried out in a hoarse voice:

"Look!! These people... these people are strange!!"

Everyone turned their heads sharply at the sound.

At that moment, everyone's blood froze completely!

In the depths of the streets and alleys, at the doorways of houses, at the corners of lanes, and in the shadows of walls, countless ordinary people, who seemed to be living normal lives, were slowly walking out of their homes.

Their steps were stiff and their movements mechanical; they neither ran, rushed, nor made a fuss, like puppets being pulled by invisible threads.

What's most terrifying is their expression.

On each of the deathly pale faces, there was an identical, stiff, and eerily strange smile.

It wasn't a genuine smile from a living person, but rather the corners of their mouths being forcibly pulled upwards by an invisible force, the curve neat, uniform, cold, and rigid, their eyes devoid of any spirit, dark, empty, and lifeless.

Everyone looks the same, laughing, stiffening, and stagnating in unison.

Countless eerie smiling faces, densely packed and layered, slowly gathered from every corner and household along the entire old alley of Dongcheng.

They moved slowly but steadily, silently blocking all escape routes on both sides of the street, trapping Zhang Yang and his group in the middle of the alley.

A cold wind swept in from the alley entrance. Although it was daytime, the entire old alley was as dark as dusk, with a chilling aura that made everyone's foundation tremble and their minds feel like they were about to break.

The cultivators' hands and feet turned ice-cold, their breath caught in their throats, and the slight joy they had felt in defeating Shi Wanshan was instantly swallowed up by a bone-chilling despair.

This is hardly an old alleyway where ordinary people live peacefully!

This is clearly a living graveyard, a puppet prison!

Before everyone could recover from the horror brought by the mortal puppet, another sound came from outside the alley.

A wandering cultivator looked towards the intersection where the old and new city areas met, and instantly trembled, his voice breaking:

"People from the west...the west side of the city are coming!"

Everyone hurriedly turned their heads to look back at the alleyway where they had come from, their last remaining hope completely shattered.

A large number of cultivator puppets, who had been assimilated by evil energy and lost their minds in the West City Martial Arts Hall, were surging towards the East City Old Alley in droves.

They were shrouded in a pale purple-black mist, their eyes were cloudy and gray, and their skin was covered with tiny bloodstains. They seemed oblivious to pain, mechanically taking steps, their magical artifacts hanging limply from their hands, and low, hoarse roars constantly escaping their throats. Like walking corpses, they continuously flowed into the streets and alleys, merging with the mortal puppets in the East City who wore eerie, fake smiles.

On one side were mortal puppets with uniform, stiff, and eerie smiles, completely silent; on the other side were evil cultivator puppets roaring incessantly, their bodies covered in black energy. The two terrifying streams of people slowly merged, completely blocking all exits in front and behind. The encirclement tightened, and the stench of blood and the cold, turbid air mixed together, choking people and causing a stinging pain to their souls.

Just as the atmosphere in the entire arena was completely tense and deathly silent, Su Qingyao's eyes suddenly sharpened, her jade fingers gripped the spirit sword tightly, and her voice trembled as she shouted sharply:

"There's someone deep in the long street behind!"

Everyone looked up sharply, past the layers of eerie puppets, towards the long bluestone street at the deepest part of the alley.

At the end of the long street, a cold wind swirled thick black fog, and a tall, slender figure in black stood silently in the middle of the alley.

His figure was extremely familiar, and his temperament was extremely cold.

It was that fake senior brother who was completely possessed by evil spirits, harmed his fellow disciples, and disguised himself as a senior brother of the Qingyun Sect!

He stood silently behind thousands of puppets, as if he had been waiting there for a long time. A deep and heavy aura of malevolence surrounded him, and his oppressive power far surpassed that of Shi Wanshan. Among the vast sea of ​​puppets, only the black mist swirled beneath his feet, causing all evil spirits to bow their heads. All the puppets froze in unison, as if awaiting a command.

The fake senior brother slowly raised his eyes, his dark, empty pupils locking onto Zhang Yang and his group in the middle of the alley. A cold, bloodthirsty smile slowly curved his face, and his hoarse, low voice drifted through the layers of eerie wind, precisely reaching the ears of everyone present:

"We've finally found you."

These six simple words carry a cold indifference, like a death sentence.

At this moment, all the cultivators present were completely stiff, as if they had fallen into the deepest hell. Many low-level cultivators' legs went weak, and their spiritual power almost collapsed on the spot due to the pressure of the realm.

Zhang Yang's brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes were extremely serious, and his mind suddenly sank to the bottom.

He instantly grasped the entire scheme completely.

Shi Wanshan is merely the first layer of trap, a cannon fodder pawn laid bare in the open.

The evil puppet at the peak of Qi Refining that they fought so hard to suppress was, from beginning to end, just a smokescreen set up by evil spirits.

The mortal puppets in the old alley of the East City and the cultivator puppets in the fallen West City were all pre-arranged traps designed to deplete everyone's spiritual power and disturb their minds.

The real killer move, the real source of terror, has always been this pseudo-senior brother who is hiding behind the scenes, controlling the puppets in the entire old alley, and whose cultivation has reached the first level of the Golden Core stage!

The fierce battle just now was merely the prelude to a desperate situation.

Suppressing Shi Wanshan was merely breaking through the first insignificant, illusory barrier.

With the corrupted cultivators of the West City in front and the mortal puppets of the East City surrounding them, and the evil cultivators of the Golden Core stage in the back holding the dead end, there was no way to escape in the world.

The ultimate enemy, capable of overwhelming everyone and slaughtering all, has finally appeared.

The greatest terror has just begun!