84: Chapter 81: The Intent of the Array!

84: Chapter 81: The Intent of the Array!

Second Elder Shen of the Shen Family had never been one to engage in lip service.

Back in the day, when the Shen brothers roamed Jiangnan, Second Elder Shen was the most notorious!

Now having retired for nearly twenty years, many seem to have forgotten what kind of person he was.

Faced with Chen Qing’s provocation, Shen Yiyun’s response came very directly…

Without any warning, a huge ghost hand suddenly emerged from beneath Chen Ying’s feet.

Murong Yunji’s expression turned grave, and without hesitation, she abandoned Chen Ying and darted several meters away.

Chen Ying, seeing this, felt the hairs on her body stand on end.

An indescribable terror swept over her entire body, causing her eyes to dull and even preventing her from mustering the courage to resist with a technique!

Murong Yunji, retreating, thought to herself with flickering eyes: Second Elder is still as ruthless as ever!

The Ghost King Arm was Second Elder Shen’s trademark.

Once it locked onto a target, it would not rest until death ensued.

Even her own supernatural powers wouldn’t be able to save that girl.

The girl was destined to succumb in the most horrific way as a sacrifice to this ancient, top-notch ghost technique!

Bang!

Surprisingly, from beginning to end, Chen Qing did nothing and just watched as the girl got grabbed by the giant ghost limb, followed by the bones breaking and blood splattering everywhere!

Ninth Elder Shen, inside the cabin, was extremely excited.

He wanted to rush out several times but stopped in his tracks each time due to the twilight glow!

Chen Ying didn’t even have time to scream before she turned into a pool of blood in the palm of the giant hand!

Murong Yunji was stunned, and even Shen Yiyun, who had activated the technique, was stunned.

He didn’t believe the other party had the ability to save someone once his technique had locked on, not even if his own elder brother intervened.

Yet, the other party hadn’t made a move.

Wasn’t that a bit of a letdown after all the bluster from before?

But in the next second, something unbelievable happened!

Just as Ninth Elder Shen turned his head, intending to retract his Ghost King Arm to test the Prefectural Governor, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye and suddenly seemed to see the figure of Chen Ying again!

He whipped his head around, only to be shocked to find that where Chen Ying had just been pinched to death, the girl now stood completely unharmed!

What was even more bizarre was that Murong Yunji, who had clearly escaped the range of the technique in the first instant, had returned to her original position.

One hand was placed on Chen Ying’s vital gate just as it was a few moments ago!

The horrific flesh and blood on the ground had vanished without a trace, as if everything that had happened was an illusion!!

What was going on?

Even having lived for three hundred years and encountered many bizarre events, Second Elder Shen couldn’t comprehend what had just taken place!

Murong Yunji was equally shocked as she looked at Chen Ying in her grasp…

How was this girl alive?

How did she end up back here?

Like being electrocuted, she immediately abandoned Chen Ying and retreated behind Shen Yi!

After mastering the Voracious Wolf God Wind, this was the first time she felt such horror.

Could such feats truly exist in this world?

“My lady, what are you waiting for?” Chen Qing looked tenderly at Chen Ying.

“Do you need your husband to carry you over?”

Chen Ying looked at herself in a daze.

She felt as though she had just died; the intense pain was not fake, and the agony of her flesh being torn apart felt so real.

But how had she suddenly become unscathed the next second?

Without time to ponder, Chen Ying quickly executed her wind technique and floated up, soaring towards Chen Qing’s boat.

Though Chen Qing’s boat seemed strange, she desired even more to escape from the threat of the Shen Family.

Thus, the lady in white fluttered into Chen Qing’s arms, and the entire scene appeared remarkably smooth.

It took Shen Yi several dozen breaths to come back to his senses, after which he looked at Chen Qing: “Just now…

what did you do?”

He was certain that his ghost hand had killed Chen Ying just moments ago; the satisfaction of flesh and blood was tangible.

But in the second that followed when Chen Ying reappeared, he could distinctly feel that satisfaction vanish.

It wasn’t lost; it was as if it never happened in the first place!

Even Weichi Feihong, who had been observing from behind Chen Qing, was somewhat bewildered.

Yet, he had seen such scenes before during their time in the West Sea, where he and his soldiers frequently experienced such miraculous phenomena.

This Chen Qing…

could he control the mysteries within the fog?

“Didn’t I tell you the truth?” Chen Qing, holding the still-shaken Chen Ying, said with a smile.

Chen Ying, pale, nodded and clung to Chen Qing, visibly still in a state of shock.

Normally so stern, but now she was like a frightened rabbit.

Chen Qing inwardly sighed: At the end of the day, she was still a child of fifteen or sixteen.

“Mister Shen, what do you say?” Chen Qing asked, smiling at the other party.

“Shall we continue?”

Shen Yi stared hard at Chen Qing, and after a long time, he bowed respectfully.

“Your Excellency is skilled indeed, I, Shen Yi, concede defeat!”

Such a technique, unheard of.

To be honest, it was even more unsettling than the pale-faced young general they encountered in Lyuzhou.

After all, that young general was strong in an overt way, unlike the manner of what had just transpired…

“If that’s the case, then how about we return to Lyuzhou together?” Chen Qing said with a smile.

Shen Yiyun was silent for a moment before finally speaking, “Is this white fog on the river the result of your doing, sir?”

“You flatter me, I do not possess such capabilities,” Chen Qing shook his head.

However, the expression on Weichi Feihong’s face behind him was quite peculiar.

To be honest, he had a feeling that Chen Qing was somehow involved with this mysterious white fog.

“Does your lordship have a way to get out?”

“Not for the moment…”

Shen Yiyun nodded, then looked towards the densely packed bodies beneath the boat, “They’re alive, aren’t they?”

“You could say that,” Chen Qing nodded.

“Neither human nor ghost!”

“Are they a threat to people?”

“What do you think, Mister Shen?” Chen Qing rolled his eyes as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yiyun took a deep breath, feeling a tingling in his scalp.

The horde that followed Weichi’s boat, like a tide of corpses, was dense and vast.

A quick glance and he feared the number might reach into the millions.

If these ghastly things reached land, then Jiangnan…

“If they pose a threat, why haven’t they come ashore?

Could it be they only stay in the water?”

“Not exactly…” Chen Qing patiently explained for once, “They are in the water to avoid sunlight.

I believe Mister Shen has also noticed that within this fog, there is no night!”

Shen Yiyun’s pupils constricted, as he too had noticed.

Every time dusk approached, they were either sent out of the fog back to Lyuzhou, or in the blink of an eye, they entered a new dawn.

The nighttime seemed to be skipped over entirely in this white fog!

“So that’s how it is…” Shen Yiyun stared blankly at his surroundings, beginning to understand a bit.

It must be a formation set by a supremely powerful being, intended to contain these living dead, but…wasn’t it too powerful?

It could even control the weather?

“But if this formation is meant to contain these monsters, why lock down Jiangnan too?”

“Because they got in…” Chen Qing said in a melancholy tone, “The formation can’t differentiate, so it had to enclose them together.”

“Then why separate us?

Why not suppress us and these living dead as one and the same?”

“Because it can’t…” Chen Qing shook his head, “It can’t contain these living dead indefinitely.

It needs external forces to help reduce their numbers.

Otherwise, by consuming each other, they would evolve continuously.

The birth of too many advanced ghostly corpses would eventually make it impossible for it to suppress the source of the living dead!”

“Evolve?” Shen Yiyun was startled, then quickly grasped the concept, “Do you mean, sir, that these living dead, like Gu Insects, can consume each other and form even stronger entities?”

“Yes, that’s roughly the idea,” Chen Qing nodded with admiration at Shen Yiyun’s quick understanding.

It was convenient to deal with smart people; even those from ancient times could grasp what you meant swiftly.

“With so many of them…” Murong Yunji furrowed her brow, “If they could enhance themselves by consuming one another like Gu Insects, what kind of monsters would they become?”

“Very terrifying monsters…” Chen Qing gave a wry smile, “So the situation is quite troubling.

We need to reduce their numbers as much as possible, and we also need to prevent these living dead from assimilating new living humans, thereby increasing their numbers.

Otherwise, once it spreads, and Jiangnan falls, then it would truly become an Inferno!”

Shen Yiyun was a smart man, and from the other party’s words, he gleaned three pieces of information.

First: These living dead could not only enhance themselves by consuming each other but could also infect living humans, transforming them into the same kind of beings.

Second: The area enshrouded by the white fog wasn’t limited to Lyuzhou.

The man had spoken of Jiangnan, suggesting that the incident might involve the entire Jiangnan coastline, with the Shen Family’s Nanyang probably within range as well!

Third: Old Jiu had been afflicted by this very thing!!

Upon this realization, Shen Yiyun’s complexion turned exceedingly grim as he cast a gloomy look towards Weichi Feihong standing behind Chen Qing.

“Has General Weichi also been infected by the living dead you mentioned, sir?”

Weichi bared his teeth in a sinister grin, while Chen Qing sighed, lamenting Weichi’s actions as truly unnecessary.

“Yes…”

“So Old Jiu’s ghastly condition is a gift from you?”

“Whether Second Elder Shen believes it or not, this was not my intention,” Chen Qing replied.

“I only want to ask one thing!” Shen Yiyun said in a cold voice, “Is there any hope for Old Jiu?”

Chen Qing glanced at Shen Old Jiu, who was almost entirely assimilated inside the cabin, and finally nodded, “It’s possible!”