The beam swept out, tossing the crazed crowd into the air like kites, sending them smashing hard onto the ground behind.
It felt like beating a quilt hung outside on a clothesline with a stick.
Li Ang suppressed the strange feeling of déjà vu. Gripping the beam, he swept it left and right as if he were in an empty realm.
The thousands of strings of coins worth of gold and silver spent on Mo Si had not been in vain.
Martial Artists would fatigue and run out of breath, needing time to regain strength, but Mo Si only needed Spiritual Energy to continuously provide enhanced power.
These people aren’t truly alive; their bodies have no blood, like walking corpses.
Li Ang’s thoughts raced. He conservatively estimated that he had already hammered down people along two streets, yet the number of enemies hadn’t decreased.
From what I have seen so far, at least five individuals have reappeared after death. Even that man in brocade who had previously died beside the drainage ditch. Moreover, the gold and silver jewelry on their bodies, including the fragmented gold and silver in the drawers of shops along the street, couldn’t be consumed or utilized by Mo Si.
Is it an Illusion Realm or a mutation?
Li Ang glanced sideways at the Jade Pendant at his waist; the Ink Jade was still quietly tied to his belt, showing no signs of activation.
Spiritual Energy is limited; time is of the essence.
Li Ang braced the beam with both hands and charged forward.
The crowd was pushed back like a tidal wave. Li Ang seized this opportunity to release the beam, stepping on the shoulders and heads of the people. He leaped to the boundary wall of the opposite street, jumped onto a rooftop, and then, as swift as a hare and as sudden as a swooping falcon, dashed towards Luoyang Building.
Power, capable of tearing tigers and leopards asunder.
Speed, faster than galloping horses.
Endurance, his breath long and steady.
Li Ang sprinted through the workshops and pavilions at high speed. Any Bizzare Species that lunged at him had its life extinguished by a single punch or kick.
In this state, fully stimulated by Mo Si, I’m probably close to a Postnatal Martial Artist of the Body Refining Path, right? Equivalent to a Cultivator of the Rain Listening Realm...
Li Ang leaped high, his foot striking the skull of a walking corpse, forcefully stomping it into the ground while simultaneously breaking his fall.
He had arrived at Luoyang Building.
Standing up, Li Ang saw that Luoyang Building looked no different from how it had earlier in the day; even the sign, a wooden plaque hanging at the entrance, still bore the carved name of the Jianyue Theater Troupe.
The only difference was the grey-clothed old woman standing below Luoyang Building.
She stared blankly ahead. The surfaces of her withered hands were cracking along the wrinkles, like porcelain with a crazed glaze, continuously seeping fresh blood that dripped to the ground, forming a pool.
And from within the pool, shadows continuously emerged, crawling out as crazed walking corpses.
"Just need... three more..." the grey-clothed old woman muttered to herself in a thick voice, as if she hadn’t seen Li Ang approaching.
"Three more of what?"
Li Ang’s question went unanswered. The skin on the back of the old woman’s hand flaked and broke away, the white bones clearly visible.
A massive amount of fresh blood surged and splashed out. The grey-clothed old woman herself shrank rapidly, like a punctured balloon.
A sense of foreboding rose within Li Ang. He drew his Dagger, threw it at the old woman, and simultaneously stomped the ground to leap onto the eaves of a building across the street from Luoyang Building, avoiding the surging Blood River.
The Dagger, thrown by Li Ang with the strength of someone at the Postnatal Martial Artist realm, struck the grey-clothed old woman squarely between the brows.
However, she was already dead, leaving only her clothes and a husk of skin floating in the sea of blood.
The Blood River flowed tumultuously along the streets, centering around the West Market and spreading outward in all directions.
Previously, when on the top floor of the tavern, Li Ang had gazed into the distance. The red sky had originally extended, at most, only to the edge of the West Market. However, now, as the crimson river continued to flow and spread, the expanse of the blood-red sky was also widening.
Some of the surrounding low-lying shanties were already being completely swallowed by the crimson river. Li Ang had no choice but to traverse the rooftops, returning to the tavern to reconvene with Yang Yu and Li Wei and tell them about the grey-clothed old woman.
The three left the top floor and ascended to the very peak of the building’s spire, looking down upon the vast sea of blood. Countless walking corpses floated on its surface, still clawing and slowly drifting towards them.
"This seems to be... ’Bizzare Species-2-29’, the ’Blood River’..."
Li Wei watched in shock as the blood-red sky expanded towards Western Chang’an, murmuring to himself.
The three simultaneously recalled something Military Doctor Qi Ju had occasionally mentioned in class.
If a battle was exceedingly fierce and all soldiers from both sides perished, then the blood, mixed with malice, resentment, anger, and hatred, had a slight chance of coalescing into a river, forming a Bizzare Species known as the Blood River.
It would bind the souls from the battlefield, carrying these ghosts as it flowed through mountains, forests, streams, and rivers.
Some woodcutters claimed that the tattered-clothed and maimed soldier ghosts they saw deep in foggy mountains were, in large part, sightings of the Blood River.
Normally, the Blood River would gradually dissipate over time.
Only under extremely rare conditions, such as when the Blood River accidentally flowed into a circular Gathering Yin Evil Land and circulated endlessly within the ring-shaped ditch, could it be sustained for a long time.
In such a state, the blood-colored river could even possess a certain degree of mobility. Its diluted blood water would follow mountain streams into other water systems.
If humans or livestock touched or drank the bloody water, their souls would be drawn by the Blood River. They would endlessly dream of the Blood River at night until they lost control, sleepwalked, and actively jumped into the Blood River, becoming its nourishment.
"Judging by its scale, this Blood River must be at least a hundred, perhaps even several hundred years old. Heaven knows which ancient battlefield it originated from and how many creatures who died wrongful deaths it has devoured over the years."
Li Wei crouched on the roof edge, too shocked for words, while Yang Yu, on the verge of tears but unable to shed any, asked, "How do we get out of here? If this is an Illusion Realm, can we just jump off the building to wake up?"
"We must have come into contact with the Blood River’s water while watching the Jianyue Theater Troupe’s performance. According to Doctor Qi Ju, if you come into contact with the Blood River, you will dream of it for at least seven consecutive days, continuously approaching the river in your dreams until you step into it and become one with it," Li Wei said in a grave tone. "It’s just that this time, our luck is bad. The Blood River Bizzare Species, for some unknown reason, parasitized that grey-clothed old woman and then suddenly erupted. If we kill ourselves now and our bodies are devoured by the blood water, we might also die in the real world..."
Li Wei’s voice was bitter and sorrowful. He had grown up in a border town, joining the border army from a young age, fighting mounted bandits and robbers by thirteen, and bore countless scars. After immense difficulty, he had finally managed to enter the Academic Palace, never imagining he would die senselessly in an anomaly less than half a year later.
Li Ang stared at the Blood River for a long time. Suddenly, a glint flashed in his eyes, and he spoke softly, "I have an idea."
The despondent Li Wei and Yang Yu suddenly perked up, their eyes intently focused on Li Ang.
"I’m thinking," Li Ang mused, "if we add a huge amount of salt to the Blood River and somehow heat it up, couldn’t we turn it into solid blocks of blood tofu? That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about being devoured by the Blood River. On the contrary, it would be our turn to devour it! As long as we have enough time and exert the spirit of ’the foolish old man who moved mountains,’ we could carve out a path to survival. By the way, I like to top it with chopped green onions and cilantro."
"...Risheng," Yang Yu’s expression was complex. "Let’s not think about food at a time ."
"Just trying to lighten the mood," Li Ang smiled slightly as he unfastened the Ink Jade Jade Pendant from his belt.