Chapter 1110: Street Full of Others
When Li Luo stepped into the passage of vines, the space around him began to twist and turn. It seemed to shatter into pieces for a moment, and he began to feel dizzy.
This sensation enveloped him for quite a while, but at the same time, it felt like only a second had passed before he heard a sudden buzzing in his ears.
The dizzying sensation began to fade and his eyes began to take in the sights before him.
There was a crowded street in front of Li Luo. People walked about and vendors were shouting from all around. It looked like a bustling and lively market. Li Luo was at a loss for a few moments. Where was he?
Hadn't he entered the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm?
Why was it like a city here?
Li Luo raised his head and saw that the sky was gray. The light in this area looked a little dim, and it was accompanied by a strange chill.
He felt uncomfortable all over, especially in his heart. Goosebumps arose all over his body and his instincts reminded him to stay vigilant repeatedly.
He came to a realization of his situation when he managed to piece the facts together.
This was indeed the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm. However, the All-Being Ghostly Skin Dominion's projection had descended over this location. He was standing in it right now.
In that case... just who were the people in front of him?
Li Luo looked at the realistic pedestrians and vendors in front of him. There were wide smiles on their faces, but they felt oddly cold.
"Li Luo!"
A voice wrapped in resonant power suddenly came from behind. Li Luo turned around hurriedly and saw Feng Lingyuan, Jiang Wanyu, Lu Ming, Zong Sha, and the rest.
They were standing on the same street just a short distance away.
Feng Lingyuan's face looked a little serious. "Be careful, everyone. We have landed in the middle of an Other nest."
Li Luo's mouth twitched a little. An Other nest was a spot where Others gathered. Unfortunately, they had been thrown into one right at the start.
However, they hadn't figured out the rules of this area yet. Careful observation of their surroundings was required.
He retracted his breath, and the resonant power in his body circulated quietly. His face remained calm, but he watched the passersby vigilantly. No one knew how many Others were hiding in the crowd.
The people continued to stream up and down the streets, their voices filling his ears. Everything seemed so realistic here.
The people passing by did not seem to notice that Li Luo and his group did not belong.
Lu Ming, Jing Taixu, and Sun Dasheng were frozen stiff. They did not dare to move a single muscle as they stared at their surroundings intently.
Deng Zhu, who was from the same school as Lu Ming, was also in the crowd. He could sense a dangerous aura lingering in the area, one that far exceeded what they had sensed back in the Umbra Cave.
Boing.
Just as Deng Zhu was thinking about this, a white rubber ball suddenly flew out of the crowd and landed at his feet.
Deng Zhu tightened up immediately. He saw a little boy running towards him, saying with an innocent smile on his face, "Big Brother, can you pass the ball back to me?"
Deng Zhu's eyes were full of confusion when he heard the voice. The little boy in front of him looked exactly like his little brother!
Strange, eerie whispers resounded in Deng Zhu's ears.
He stretched out his hands stiffly and picked up the ball. As soon as he touched it, he felt a dense, cold air surrounding him.
The lovely and innocent little boy stretched out his hand to receive the ball. When the boy retrieved it, a strange smile appeared on his face. "Big Brother, can you pass me your skin as well?"
Deng Zhu was shaken awake by the eerie comment immediately. He noticed that the little bo had grabbed his wrist. A chilly aura flooded into his body.
"Go away!"
Deng Zhu had finally caught onto what was happening here. He burst out in rage and resonant power surged from his body. He then threw a punch that landed directly on the little boy's chest.
The little boy was sent flying back like a ball, accompanied by unsettling laughter.
The little boy was gone, but Deng Zhu could still feel the eerie, cold aura enter his wrist. At the next moment, his skin began to inflate. It was like his skin had been separated from his flesh and blood.
Deng Zhu screamed out in pain.
It was only at this point that Li Luo, Feng Lingyuan, and the rest noticed that Deng Zhu's skin was expanding. However, their hearts were heavy. They had not seen Deng Zhu do anything, so how had he suddenly been corrupted?
As everyone watched in horror, Deng Zhu's skin continued to inflate. He turned into a huge human-skin balloon with his head at the top, and he screamed out in pain.
At this moment, Feng Lingyuan lifted her hands. A longsword filled with resonant power flew towards Deng Zhu, piercing into his body and nailing him onto a stone pillar.
"Senior Deng Zhu!" Lu Ming's heart skipped a beat when she saw what was happening. Was Feng Lingyuan planning to kill Deng Zhu?
Lu Ming heaved a sigh of relief at the next moment. Although Deng Zhu had been pinned down, his skin balloon seemed to be losing air now. The loose skin hung off his body, and fresh blood spewed out of the wound.
Clearly, the sword had caused quite a bit of damage. His face was twisted in pain.
"Don't move for now. We'll purify you after we've cleaned up this area," Feng Lingyuan said coldly.
Deng Zhu nodded. He couldn't hide the agony on his face. He knew that Feng Lingyuan had attacked ruthlessly, but if she had hesitated for even a moment, his skin would likely have exploded along with his flesh.
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts. Deng Zhu was at the Heavenly Pearl Stage, yet he had fallen into a trap so easily and nearly lost his life without a chance to fight back. This All-Being Ghostly Skin Dominion was truly creepy.
"Senior Feng, we've got a task!" Li Luo suddenly shouted.
Everyone turned their attention towards their jade-green leaf badges as soon as they heard him. Faint light circulated on the badges, and when they focused their minds, a message appeared.
Destroy the Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar for a B Merit. Killing the Heavenly Disaster-class Other will be tallied separately.
All of them were shocked. There was a Devil Heart Pillar in this little town? It seemed to be a Thousand Skin one.
At the same moment, Li Luo and the rest sensed that the noise on the street had suddenly disappeared. The passersby all turned their heads and looked towards them.
Clearly, Deng Zhu's incident earlier had prevented them from blending into the crowd any longer.
"Group up," Feng Lingyuan said softly.
The group gathered, and their resonant power surged.
Odd, twisted smiles appeared on the faces of the people on the street. At the next moment, they all flew towards them directly.
The moment they pounced, their skin expanded rapidly. Just a few seconds later, they all turned into human-skin balloons.
All their veins tore open, and thick amounts of corruption was released into the air.
"They're going to self-destruct!" Jiang Wanyu shouted.
Hundreds of human-skin balloons flying towards them was a really terrifying sight.
With so many of them, the corruption that burst out would be extremely frightening.
Feng Lingyuan swiftly formed handseals with both hands. Resonant power surged up within her, and a grayish-black spirit avatar materialized behind her. The spirit avatar looked exactly like gerself, but its body was surrounded by countless grayish-black light rays that were connected to it like strings.
This was Feng Lingyuan's resonance.
Lower ninth-grade Shadow Puppet resonance.
"Duke Art, Bronze Turtle Puppet Art!"
The gray resonant power flowed out and transformed into the shadow of a giant turtle. The shadow seemed to have been forged with copper and exuded an impenetrable defensive power.
The skin balloons flew towards them and exploded one after another. The corruption swept up like a wild storm. The bronze turtle that was protecting the group let out a low cry. It flickered with green light as it resisted the erosion from the storm of corruption.
The turtle did not move a step despite the fierce attacks. Green light circulated around it, and it stood against the storm like an immovable mountain.
Looking at the bronze turtle, Li Luo could spot a unique glamor coming from it. Its presence was similar to that of his Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner.
Clearly, Feng Lingyuan had cultivated this Duke Art to the Grand Perfection Realm.
As the storm of corruption gradually died down, the crowded street in front of them changed completely. The people were gone and the street was now empty.
Snow lightly fell from the sky. However, Li Luo and the group could tell very clearly that those were not snowflakes—they were shreds of pale skin.
The flakes of skin slowly fused in the sky above. In the end, huge pieces of human skin floated in the air, with strange and twisted faces on them. The faces had gray-white pupils, and they glared at Li Luo and the group.
Corruption oozed out of every orifice.
Without a doubt, these human skins were a kind of Other.
Li Luo scanned the far ends of the town. He could faintly see a pale pillar that was hundreds of feet tall in the distance.
That location was the origin of the endless air of corruption that enveloped the whole town.
Li Luo turned around and gave Feng Lingyuan a look.