Chapter 698: Unseenable Strangers

“What just happened?”

“Why is my name on the memorial tablet?”

“Mine too!”

Not everyone in the village had entered the memorial hall, and some of them had just arrived at the village center. It was at this moment someone’s head suddenly popped like an overripe watermelon for seemingly no reason whatsoever. On top of that, their names had suddenly appeared on the memorial tablets jutting out of the big man’s body. Everyone here was a veteran with decades of experience under their belt, but they still chilled to their very core.

The unknown was always scary after all.

“Motherfucker, the hell is going on here? That’s it, I’m leaving!”

“Yeah. There’s no reason to stay here while danger is aloof!”

Those with good instincts did not hesitate to leave the village center immediately. There was no need to risk whatever danger was lurking in this place after all. Unfortunately, as soon as they turned around, an invisible silhouette holding a memorial tablet immediately appeared behind their backs. Their personal memorial tablet.

Worse still, not one person seemed to notice the invisible silhouette or the memorial tablet at all.

Pedant Earth looked at Ye Qing. “W-warrior Ye, we should leave as well!”

“It’s too late,” Ye Qing replied slowly.

“What do you mean, warrior Ye?” Shangguan Hongjin frowned deeply.

Before Ye Qing could reply, the warriors who tried to leave lost their heads and grew a memorial tablet on their neck just like the one from before.

“What in the...”

The blood drained away from Pedant Earth’s face as his eyes widened like saucers.

Shangguan Hongjin had also raised her eyebrows. Her expression was calm, but her shaking fingers proved that she wasn’t nearly as calm as she pretended to be.

It was at this moment Shangguan Hongjin realized something and looked at Ye Qing with suspicion. “How did you know they wouldn’t be able to escape? Did you know something? Or was this your doing?”

“It would be nice if I’m strong enough to pop multiple Spirit Masters’ heads with a single thought, but no. Of course it wasn’t me.”

Ye Qing did not lose his cool despite her accusation. He explained patiently, “It was them.”

“Them? Who’s them? I’m not in the mood for riddles, young man!” Pedant Earth shivered.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

“Looks like you really can’t see them. The memorial hall is overflowing with people. Lots and lots of people!” Ye Qing answered while staring in the direction of the memorial hall.

The memorial tablets slowly disappeared after the writing was complete, leaving behind the big man who was somehow still spasming and screaming despite being dead.

That was all Pedant Earth and Shangguan Hongjin could see, but Ye Qing could see a lot more. He saw the silhouettes ripping out the memorial tablets from the big man’s body before falling into an organized formation. Then, they began walking toward him with uniform footsteps.

Pedant Earth and Shangguan Hongjin shivered involuntarily despite not being able to see a thing. They felt as if they had suddenly plunged into a lake of ice.

“Are those things coming toward us?!”

Veins appeared on Shangguan Hongjin’s hands as she crouched down a little. Deadly saber intent surrounded her even though she hadn’t unsheathed her sabers yet.

“That’s right.”

Ye Qing did not wait. He immediately executed the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” and summoned a hail of red lotuses.

The “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” was a purifying art that worked best against sinful souls, and the silhouettes before him were the perfect prey. They instantly disintegrated into ash without any resistance.

However, more silhouettes carrying memorial tablets immediately exited the memorial hall and strode toward him with uniform footsteps.

Once again, Ye Qing executed the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” and annihilated them all. This time though, he was frowning a little. He wondered if it was his imagination, but the second wave felt a little harder to kill than the first one.

His enemy gave him no time to think. A third wave emerged, and Ye Qing was forced to fight again.

It didn’t take long for Ye Qing to realize that he was in a predicament. No matter how many silhouettes he killed, they just kept pouring out of the memorial hall in increasing numbers. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it turned out that his previous feeling wasn’t an imagination at all. The silhouettes really were growing stronger and stronger. At first, he was able to kill them as easily as a cook cutting some vegetables on the cooking tray. Now, it actually took effort to achieve the same outcome.

“What the hell are these things? How annoying!”

Ye Qing’s eyebrows were locked together in a deep frown. Already, he was planning to make a run for it.

Assuming that these silhouettes kept growing in strength and numbers, it was only a matter of time before they overwhelmed him. In that case, running away was clearly the superior option.

Shangguan Hongjin and Pedant Earth couldn’t see anything, so they couldn’t lend him a hand. They could only get out of the way and watch helplessly as Ye Qing fought against thin air.

“What do we do, Miss Shangguan? Should we help him?” Pedant Earth asked.

“And how do you propose we help, exactly? We can’t even see the damn things!” Shangguan Hongjin scoffed at the stupid question.

Ye Qing had helped her once at the paddy field, and she told him that she owed him her life and would repay the favor one day. Unlike most warriors, she meant every word she said. The idea of escaping alone had never crossed her mind, and she was currently racking her brain for a way to help Ye Qing.

Unfortunately, she was unable to do anything even though the enemy was right in front of her. She also knew that attacking blindly would only worsen Ye Qing’s situation. This feeling of helplessness was despicable to say the least.