"This must be a root extending from the Human-Faced Bean Tree to suck blood. It seems it's not dead yet."
Xie Yuchen, with his kind heart, pulled Wu Tianzhen, who was staring blankly at the tendrils on the ground, back to his feet.
After Zhang Qiling split the trunk of the Human-Faced Bean Tree in half with a single strike, it had instantly withered. Now, it looked like two crumpled large felt cloths, feigning death quite convincingly.
Wu Tianzhen got up and brushed the dirt off his body. His sharp eyes noticed that he seemed to have flattened quite a few Human-Faced Beans when he fell. At this moment, the flattened Human-Faced Beans had faces with distorted expressions staring at him, looking quite miserable.
"Damn it, this is practically an organ jar!"
Just as Wu Tianzhen was about to humanely close the eyes of these tragically dead Human-Faced Beans, a beam of light shot past him.
Fatty, holding a flashlight, took a big stride towards the humanoid jar. His immense weight was concentrated on his size forty-something feet, and with a clang, he stomped heavily on the faces of the flattened Human-Faced Beans again.
Wu Tianzhen only heard a "squish," and the beans had turned into flat cakes stuck in the dirt.
Wu Tianzhen: ...Thinking on the bright side, this could perhaps be considered resting in peace... right.
The beams of their flashlights converged, illuminating the humanoid jar completely. The special nature of its black outer shell was fully displayed. The group watched as the blackness slowly contracted inwards, then dissipated instantly like ink dissolving in water.
Inside the unknown liquid, organs slowly drifted. A protruding tendril would occasionally extend its tip and burrow into an organ, looking like a lawless criminal engaging in "zero-cost shopping" at a supermarket.
Zhang Qiling, acting as the vanguard and danger alarm, reached out and carefully felt every detail of the jar. He paused for a moment, then slowly withdrew his hand:
"The mechanism isn't here..."
The mechanism for the new passage must be on this humanoid jar. During Zhang Qiling's exploration, he had repeatedly caught glimpses of precursor patterns of the mechanism on the surface of the black outer shell.
However, strangely, these precursor mechanisms often extended halfway down before being abruptly cut off, leaving an incomplete scene with no beginning or end, as enigmatic as a mist.
...Extending downwards.
Zhang Qiling's gaze slowly fixed on the foot area of the humanoid jar. There was a large mass of black substance adhered together, looking as if countless tendrils connected and entwined the two legs of the human form.
"Step back."
Wu Tianzhen, who was peeking from the side, suddenly heard this clear voice. Before his mind could even process it, his feet had already rapidly retreated several steps.
Only after he steadied himself did he look again and see Zhang Qiling slightly raising the Black Gold Ancient Sword, seemingly intending to forcefully resolve the current difficult problem.
But it was clear that Little Zhang, who had become as swollen as a steamed bun from smashing the Human-Faced Beans, had learned his lesson and knew to clear away the less capable individuals before charging forward.
The sharp gleam of the sword reflected on the humanoid jar, making the colorful organs appear particularly sinister.
Wu Tianzhen subconsciously followed the sword's light, but suddenly discovered a blind spot—
The heart, liver, lungs, and spleen in the chest and abdomen area of this humanoid form... their positions seemed to be arranged correctly?
He hadn't observed these organs for a while and for a moment even doubted if they had always been like this. But after observing carefully, he clearly noticed that the disarranged organs inside were slowly moving towards their correct positions under the gentle manipulation of the tendril.
A pair of pale eyeballs, covered in blue veins, floated up in the bubble, wobbling towards the swollen human head, and were slowly being inserted into the bloody eye sockets.
The eyeballs trembled in the water, as if a person was adjusting their gaze.
From Wu Tianzhen's perspective, it was as eerie as if the humanoid jar was slowly turning its head to look at him.
No—
That human head actually turned slightly this way!!
This black outer shell can move now?!
At this moment, Zhang Qiling's Black Gold Ancient Sword had already firmly struck down towards the jar's base. His expression was calm, his gaze focused, as if he hadn't noticed anything amiss.
Wu Tianzhen's mind exploded:
"Little Brother, danger! It's going to move—!!"
And the moment his voice rang out—
That swollen human head suddenly twisted, and with the black outer shell, it let out a "screech"—
The eyeballs were almost pressed against the inner wall of the black shell, their pupils contracted to the extreme, fixing dead on Zhang Qiling before them!
The two black arms, which had been tightly pressed against its sides, suddenly erupted, tearing through the body like pulling apart glutinous rice cakes, leaving behind a thin, long, sticky thread, and heading straight for Zhang Qiling!
But Zhang Qiling showed no reaction.
"Little Brother!!!" Wu Tianzhen didn't know what was happening. He ran forward desperately, but as soon as he took two steps, a cloud of dust suddenly erupted before his eyes!
The moment the humanoid jar raised its hand, a black shadow flashed past like a ghost, slicing off its left hand!
At the same time, the Dragon-Patterned Staff arrived, striking the connecting seam of the humanoid jar's right arm with extreme speed, like wind rolling clouds, easily dislodging its other arm with minimal force!
Wu Tianzhen watched Hei Yanjing whistle as he pulled out the all-black dagger. The sharp dagger danced at his fingertips for a moment, then vanished like magic, hidden somewhere unknown.
Suddenly deprived of both arms, the humanoid jar, which was leaning forward to attack, lost its balance and was about to crash down!
But just as it was about to smash its head into Zhang Qiling, a colossal figure appeared as if descending from the heavens!
Fatty took a few running steps and with a shout of "Screw you," leaped in front of the humanoid jar.
The humanoid jar saw only darkness before its eyes, and with a clang, it was directly kicked in the chest by Fatty.
All of this happened in a flash. The Black Gold Ancient Sword had already shattered the base.
Amidst the scattering fragments, the humanoid jar suddenly fell backward, and Fatty, seizing the opportunity, sat down squarely on it, pressing it down perfectly. It could only rage impotently, its internal organs rattling.
Zhang Qiling calmly used the tip of his sword to separate the fragments on the ground. In the center, surrounded by the broken pieces, the severed tendril made its final twitch on the ground.
Its entire surface was covered in fine, scale-like bark, making it look not like a tree root, but like the tentacle of a strange marine creature.
The lower half of this tendril was still deeply embedded in the soil, requiring it to be pulled out for further investigation.
Normally, Little Zhang would not refuse such a dirty and arduous task, but at this moment, Zhang Qiling had understood everything.
So he silently took a step back, took out the relatively clean white cloth from his pocket, wiped the slime off the Black Gold Ancient Sword, sheathed it elegantly, and quickly entered a state of daze.
The remaining few people quieted down for a moment, slowly shifting their gaze to the humming Hei Yanjing.
Hei Yanjing: ???
Hei Yanjing looked at his boss.
And so, soon, Xie Yuchen delivered the final verdict, callously issuing the patron's command:
"Add money."