National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

It was a terrible nightmare they never, ever wanted to relive.

Even now that they had landed safely, with their feet planted firmly on the ground,

the suffocating terror still clung to them like a phantom,

coiling tightly around their hearts like a dark cloud that could not be dispelled,

leaving an indelible scar on their souls.

’Chu He is truly something else. With just that one miraculous move, he could have easily killed a so-called King-Sealing Realm expert like me in an instant.

I’d only heard rumors about Chu He before, like trying to see flowers in a fog—I never truly understood.

But seeing this shocking scene with my own eyes... The impact on my mind is simply indescribable.

That immense power feels like it could reshape my entire understanding of the world’s power structure.’

Yu Yingjie marveled inwardly, a sense of admiration and awe for Chu He blooming in his heart.

"What’s going on?" The villagers of Xia Shui Village, including Chang Bailin and Chang Zimo,

were frozen in place as if under an Immobilization Spell,

their faces etched with confusion and bewilderment.

A trace of panic and unease flickered in their eyes.

Clearly, this was the first time in their lives they had ever witnessed something so far beyond their imagination.

"Why won’t the Lord Mountain God accept this sacrifice? Is he still angry with us?"

one villager asked timidly, his voice trembling noticeably.

Each word betrayed the deep-seated fear in his heart, as if he were afraid his voice might disturb some unknown entity.

"It’s not that the Lord Mountain God is angry. Some outside force is interfering."

Chang Zimo forced himself to remain calm, pointing to the ground. "Look. When those young people fell from the sky, there were many severed hemp ropes around them."

These ropes were not physical objects, but rather manifestations condensed from that strange and mysterious power.

Now, after falling to the ground, they were slowly dissipating,

as if they had never been there at all, leaving only a mystery behind.

"An outside force? What kind of power could possibly stop the Lord Mountain God?"

Chang Bailin’s brow furrowed, his face a mask of disbelief.

He had been in Xia Shui Village for many years and had never encountered such a disturbance.

The conflict between his faith and reality threw him into turmoil.

But the facts before him were like a resounding slap across his face, impossible to ignore.

After all, if not for some powerful external intervention,

how could the hanging ropes have been sliced so cleanly into pieces and scattered on the ground?

"Quick... Let’s go!"

The young people were filled with terror, with no time to even consider what had just happened.

The moment they recovered from the suffocating sensation, they scrambled to their feet.

In their minds, the danger still lingered, not dispelled in the slightest.

The towering tree still stood there quietly, with the bodies of the hanged people dangling from its branches.

The corpses swayed gently in the breeze like soul-beckoning banners from Hell.

Even though they kept their eyes shut, for some reason,

it felt to every one of them as if these hanged dead

were staring intently at everyone present with venomous gazes.

The malice in their eyes seemed to declare

that these young people were responsible for their deaths and that they would drag them into an endless abyss.

But before the young people could even fully get up from the ground,

their legs were still trembling uncontrollably from having been nearly strangled.

A wave of weakness washed over them, making their movements exceptionally slow.

They didn’t even have time to flee before they discovered with horror

that the bodies that had been hanging from the tree

had, at some point, silently surrounded the entire sacrificial site.

They floated densely in mid-air,

forming a horrifying ring of death that sealed off the area completely.

This sudden scene terrified many of the people present,

including even the Xia Shui Village villagers who were accustomed to strange occurrences,

so much that their hearts nearly leaped out of their chests.

In that instant, the entire world was shrouded in the shadow of death, suffocating them with despair.

"Stop trying to run. You can’t escape."

Chu He raised his head slightly, his calm gaze sweeping over the surroundings as he spoke softly.

His voice wasn’t loud, yet it sounded exceptionally clear in the silent, terrifying atmosphere.

"If we don’t run, are we supposed to stay here and wait to die?"

Zou Baixuan was now burning with rage. He glared at Chu He with bloodshot eyes and roared, "If you hadn’t set the pace from the beginning, leading us step by step to Xia Shui Village,

how would we have run into something so terrifying?

The manor was dangerous, sure, but at least it was within our control.

It’s not like we don’t have Martial Artists among us.

But now, look around! There are terrifying Evil Spirits everywhere! What good are Martial Artists now?

Two fists can’t fight four hands, and the number of these Evil Spirits now...

it’s far beyond what a mere ’four hands’ can describe. They’re swarming us!"

"If you’re afraid of death, why become a Martial Artist?"

Chu He, however, was completely unfazed. A faint smile still on his face, he chuckled and retorted.

His smile seemed utterly out of place in the grim surroundings,

yet it held a strange sort of Magic Power,

making one feel a sliver of curiosity and doubt about his composure amidst the fear.

"Listen! Just listen to him! Is that something a human should say? Does being a Martial Artist mean you have to be fearless in the face of death?"