CHAPTER 382: CHAPTER 365:

The sound was hoarse, chaotic, and heavy, more like the roars and howls of a beast than a human voice, sending chills through those who heard it in the dark night.

Nangong Mo glanced at Yun Ran in his arms, silently wrapping her tighter in the cloak, while his hand quietly gripped the hilt of his soft sword.

A dark cloud drifted by, covering the moonlight, and the world suddenly dimmed. An eerie cold wind blew through.

Quick and hurried footsteps accompanied the wind, like drumbeats that shook the ground and mountains.

A group of shadows appeared under the night, their forms resembling tall and burly grown men, moving swiftly, but with stiff actions.

The night was too dark to clearly see their features; one could only sense, at a glance, that they were densely packed everywhere, a thick, terrifying mass overwhelming the onlooker.

"Awoo—"

Suddenly, one of them leapt forward, waving its hands towards Nangong Mo, emitting a sound like a wolf’s howl.

Nangong Mo flicked his sleeve, a silver sword light flashed, and the shadow let out a strange cry as an arm was severed and fell into the snow with a ’thud’.

What flowed out was not red blood, but a dark green liquid.

The shadow with the severed arm seemed to feel no pain and charged at Nangong Mo again, while another dozen shadows rushed forward, waving their arms at him.

Some even opened their mouths wide, revealing sinister teeth, biting towards Nangong Mo.

While fending off the attacking shadows, Nangong Mo narrowed his eyes and scrutinized them.

Though they had human forms and walked upright, waving their arms, their teeth were like those of beasts, sharp, slender, and fierce.

Even if he chopped off their hands, they wouldn’t glance at the arms on the ground; they’d just howl and charge forward.

When he chopped off their legs, they’d drag their mutilated bodies, still stubbornly lunging at him.

Some were even beheaded, yet their bodies persisted in charging.

More bizarrely, some were split in two yet continued to wave half an arm and charge with half a body, howling bizarrely.

The scene was rather eerie.

Nangong Mo looked at those frenzied ’humans’, his mind deep in thought: These creatures, resembling humans but not quite, resembling beasts but not beasts, could they be... the legendary Medicine Men refined with secret techniques?

They had no consciousness of their own, no sense of pain, their brains only programmed with the commands given by their ’master’: to complete their task at all costs.

Looking around at the Medicine Men surging forward like a tide, whole or fragmented, Nangong Mo ignored the piercing pain in his chest, secretly channeling his inner strength into his sword.

The silver sword in his hand danced, creating countless sword flowers, moving with his Sword Intent, drawing a Tai Chi Bagua Diagram in the wind.

As soon as the diagram was drawn, Nangong Mo suddenly slashed his palm, sprinkling blood at the center of the diagram.

Like a spark igniting fireworks, it burst into dazzling light in the night sky.

A brilliant light emanated from the Tai Chi Diagram, covering thousands of miles. Those Medicine Men, who only knew how to madly charge, were bathed in the golden light, as if cleansed by holy light, calming their madness.

Finally, like soulless puppets, they fell to the ground, their bodies dissipating into dust in the wind.

If not for the lingering stench of rot and decay in the air from their bodies earlier, it would have seemed like a dream, as if they had never appeared at all.

The Tai Chi Diagram in the sky slowly faded away, while Nangong Mo suddenly spat blood, his body seemingly gravely injured, half-kneeling on the ground.

The first thing he protected was not himself but the girl in his arms, fearing she might fall.

The wound on his chest continuously bled, staining his once-white robe with blood.

Initially, he had sealed several vital points to stop the bleeding, limiting his inner strength. But to deal with the black-clad men, especially those crazed Medicine Men, he unsealed the points, causing the wound to bleed uncontrollably.

"My lord!"