"Chase!"

Yu Qingqiu roared in a low voice, brandishing his longsword again. Pale green sword qi sliced through the remaining shrubs.

The Jinyi Wei beside him rushed towards the entrance of the tunnel, using all their means to stop Li Ang before he completely disappeared.

Boom!

The outer wall of the palace suddenly burst open, bricks and stones flying everywhere, shattered wood flying.

Several figures stormed out of the gap in the exploded outer wall, expressionless, carrying weapons, their movements uniform, as if they were carved out of the same mold.

The faces of these people were all too familiar to the soldiers of the Western Depot and the Martial Virtue Guard.

They were all wanted White Lotus Sect members on the list. Any one of them would require a small team of Jinyi Wei working together to take down.

And now, there were eleven of them...

What's going on? Shouldn't these people be under the surveillance of the Western Depot? How could they suddenly appear outside the palace wall?

The Jinyi Wei were puzzled, but their long-standing experience in fighting had made their bodies react instinctively before their minds could.

They took out a palm-sized silver sheet from their waists, shook it gently, and it expanded into a round shield as wide as a person.

It was fastened into the groove on the back of the wrist guard on the left wrist, forming a handheld shield.

Holding shields in their left hands and knives in their right hands, they formed a battle formation and charged towards the White Lotus Sect members.

Weapons clashed, metal intertwined, and shouts shook the sky as the two sides fought fiercely.

"Lieutenant Li, stop them, I'll chase the auspicious sign!"

Yu Qingqiu shouted at Li Yushan, the Martial Virtue Guard's demon-subduing lieutenant, forced back three White Lotus Sect members who had surrounded him, and charged into the tunnel alone.

The Western Depot agents under him wanted to catch up with their commander, but they were immediately entangled by the White Lotus Sect members who rushed up, and could only watch Yu Qingqiu disappear into the pile of mud.

It wasn't until they engaged with the White Lotus Sect members that the agents of the Jinyi Wei faintly noticed something was wrong.

The White Lotus Sect members in front of them were indeed powerful, each strike capable of splitting rocks and blasting away the Jinyi Wei.

In addition, they cooperated extremely well, seemingly fighting on their own, but in reality forming a subtle formation, advancing and retreating together, making it impossible for the Jinyi Wei to find a flaw and attack them separately.

However, none of them seemed to be able to use spells?

They only knew how to wield weapons and rely on exaggerated brute force to fight head-on. Even the White Lotus elites who were said to be proficient in spells in the data were wielding weapons and hacking wildly.

It always felt... something was wrong...

"A bunch of good-for-nothing drunkards!"

Seeing that the Jinyi Wei were unable to attack for a long time, Li Yushan immediately shouted violently, slightly bent his knees, and crushed the wooden floor under his feet into powder.

His tall and burly figure leaped up like lightning, and the cold-shining horizontal knife swiftly slashed towards the neck of a White Lotus Sect member.

With one slash, the expressionless head of the White Lotus Sect member flew up and landed on the ground with a snap.

In the past, the Jinyi Wei would have silently praised Li Yushan's swift and fierce slash in their hearts, and even cheered loudly.

But now, the whole place was silent.

The White Lotus Sect members on the opposite side, at the same time, stopped their offensive movements.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the head that fell to the ground.

The head was perfectly normal, except that not even a drop of blood seeped from the fractured surface of the neck.

Only clusters of dense plant roots extended from the trachea and flesh,

Some brown-yellow, some emerald green, messy and disorganized.

"..."

The White Lotus Sect members, who had suddenly stopped, raised their heads, looked at the Jinyi Wei in front of them, their eyes widened,

The corners of their mouths uniformly raised slightly, outlining a strange smile.

This action itself was not terrible.

What was terrible was that so many people were doing it at the same time.

Even the brave and experienced Jinyi Wei couldn't help but feel their hairs stand on end, and a chill penetrate their bones.

"Ho, ho..."

The head that fell on the ground made a hoarse breathing sound like a bellows.

The plant roots under the neck, like crab legs, supported the ground,

Slowly lifted his head, revealing a strange smile, and slowly said to Li Yushan, "Why, did you, kill me..."

"Damn it, you're a bandit, and I'm a soldier. Do I need a reason to kill you?!"

Li Yushan grinned, clenched his horizontal knife, and slashed down, cutting the strange head in two.

This slash seemed to become some kind of signal.

The White Lotus Sect members who were originally still,

Nose, mouth, ears, eyes, limbs, torso,

Dense plant roots emerged from every corner of their bodies.

These plant roots spread rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they wrapped all the White Lotus Sect members into "plant people" covered in vines.

"Damn it..."

Li Yushan cursed angrily, but did not rush forward rashly.

In his life, he had seen many strange, poisonous, and strange techniques, but he had never seen a technique that could turn people into plants in an instant.

Who did it?

Li Yushan's mind raced. These members could no longer be called humans. Even the White Lotus Sect itself was unlikely to use spells on its own members.

Could it be some evil cultivator from a hidden sect?

"Death itself is not terrible, what is terrible is his master—"

The petrified White Lotus Sect members hoarsely shouted, raised their weapons, and slashed forward desperately, "Join us! Join the glorious evolution!"

Judging from the fanaticism, they hadn't changed much...

"Join your mother! Circle!"

Li Yushan shouted loudly, and the Martial Virtue Guard's Jinyi Wei instantly retreated half a step, forming a circular battle formation.

The outermost soldiers raised their shields and connected them into a shield wall.

The inner soldiers screwed the handle of the horizontal knife into the body of another short spear, making a long-handled knife, suspended in the gaps of the shield walls.

Although the Western Depot's agents didn't have the tacit understanding honed by long-term fighting, they each used their own abilities to create obstacles for the enemy on both sides.

Finally, the circle formed by the Martial Virtue Guard's Jinyi Wei crashed head-on into the White Lotus Sect members who were pouncing.

The wooden body was ruthlessly split by the long-handled knife, the roots were broken, the broken wood splashed, and dark green tree sap poured out like blood, spilling all over the ground.

However, the White Lotus Sect members seemed to have no pain, allowing their bodies to be pierced by the blade, and pounced towards the shield wall with hideous smiles.

"Join the glorious evolution! Art is an explosion!"

All the White Lotus Sect members shouted fanatically, spread their arms, and hugged the shield wall.

The plant roots in their chests surged, like flowers blooming and petals opening, silently accumulating power.

Not good!

Li Yushan's heart shook violently. Before he could shout a word,

The bodies of the White Lotus Sect members rapidly expanded, instantly turning into bulging balloons,

Finally, they burst open.

Boom!!

The explosion was deafening, and the impregnable Martial Virtue Guard's circular formation instantly collapsed under this explosion.

All the Jinyi Wei flew out, slammed into the walls, and crashed into the pillars.

The outside of their armor was covered with a layer of fine wood chips, minced meat and bone dregs, and... white mycelium?

Li Yushan, who was also dizzy from the explosion, didn't have time to think. He coughed up blood and barely crawled up from the ground, kicking his subordinates out of the collapsing hall one by one.

He escaped before being buried by the falling beams and rubble, using his last bit of strength.