The older henchman, his face deathly pale, dared not look at the distorted shadows cast by the torchlight around them.
After a long moment, he swallowed hard, reminding his foolish companions, "That big tree, it vanished right before our eyes."
"That big tree, it disappeared right under our noses." Some of the quicker-witted ones finally grasped the crucial detail.
"Ahhh~"
Once they understood, they just wanted to bolt. As they ran, they kept questioning.
But he ran too fast, his voice broken and fragmented by the jarring motion.
"Is… is this… haunted?"
"It's mountain spirits, it must be mountain spirits. When I was little, I heard my grandma talk about mountain spirits, they're terrifying." The one running at the very front, without looking back, shouted loudly, his voice carrying a considerable distance.
Fu Xin Ci had no time to deal with the supernatural events she was creating.
Right now, she had only one thought, urging the white horse she was riding to keep running forward.
She had a very bad feeling, not far ahead.
As they got closer, the smell of blood grew stronger, and she felt she could hear heavy breathing.
"Captain, we need to be ready to fight."
The companions in the space, who were growing anxious enough to turn their hair white, finally heard Xin Ci's voice and were secretly delighted.
"Bang, bang, bang." With a few gunshots, Fu Xin Ci leaped from her horse.
"Xin Ci." From inside the space, they could hear the sounds from outside.
"It was Qi He who fired."
As Fu Xin Ci got closer, the companions became even more anxious.
"Xin Ci, quickly let us out."
"Okay." Only when she reached what she deemed a suitable distance did Fu Xin Ci finally release her companions from the space.
Compared to the daylight brightness within the space, the wilderness outside was like a vast, boundless dark beast.
The companions' eyes couldn't adjust immediately.
Xiao Ai: "What's so difficult about this." With a wave of her slender hand, several fireballs shot out and suspended themselves in mid-air.
The sudden brightness gave Qi He and the others hope.
As for those accustomed to the darkness, they instinctively reached out to shield their eyes at the sight of the light.
Qi He, holding the firearm Fu Mei Mei had given him, stared intently at the approaching black-clad figures.
Taking advantage of the moment the black-clad figures squinted, he fired several more shots, and three more black-clad figures fell to the ground.
The young men beside him, though mostly wounded, some with bloody and mangled flesh, had not let the black-clad figures have an easy time either.
However, there were too many black-clad figures on the other side; they seemed endless. If this continued, they were bound to suffer greatly.
Qi He's firearm was out of bullets, and the black-clad figures would not give him a chance to reload.
He quickly tucked the firearm back to his waist and gripped the long spear he had been holding in his left hand.
Meng Qi Shan, standing to his left, was more heavily injured, his left arm too painful to lift. Yet, he did not retreat.
To use his own words, since these people wanted to kill all those surnamed Meng, he would fight them to the bitter end.
Fighting one was breaking even; fighting two would be a profit.
He chuckled; he had already profited.
The air was damp; was it going to rain?
The black-clad figures opposite them were even more bewildered. The sky was clear, the night was clear, and it seemed clear on the other side, so why was it raining on their side?
It didn't matter if it rained, but why did they feel a bone-chilling cold in the middle of summer? It felt like ice was forming.
This wouldn't do. They wanted to move their bodies, to shake off the frost, but they couldn't move at all.
Watching the ice on their bodies grow thicker and thicker, the expressionless eyes of the numerous black-clad figures finally showed fear.
Captain: "Fatty, we're done here, now it's up to you."
"Just watch."
Qi He heard a familiar voice and looked back, only to see Fu Mei Mei and her friends standing not far behind them.
"Fu Mei Mei, Captain, Fatty, Jia Can Ge..."
Fatty gave Qi He a look that said "we'll talk later," and Qi He felt the ground shake.
The young men also cowered to the ground, muttering, "Is it an earthquake?"
"It seems so."
The black-clad figures opposite also wanted to cower, but they were frozen by thick armor of ice and couldn't move.
Captain: "What a shame, so many people wearing the same outfits. If we were going for an 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' look, it would be quite striking."
"Hey, you're right, it does fit the scene."
"That's why it's a shame."
The companions chatted idly, watching as the black-clad figures were surrounded by a rising earthen wall, which slowly turned into an earthen mound.
The mound moved even more slowly in one direction until the entire mound collapsed into a ravine.
Those behind them couldn't see anymore. Layer after layer of earth was piled on, and only after five layers had covered it did the ravine fall silent.
Old Jin, who had been protected by the young men, watched all of this unfold just like them. Only after the black-clad figures had been sent tumbling into the ravine by the mound did he dare to faint.
"Father."
"Commander."
Meng Yu Luo and Meng Qi Ren, who had been supporting him, their faces turned ashen, cried out loudly.
"Let me see."
Fu Xin Ci quickly squeezed in and used her wood element ability to examine Uncle Jin's injuries.
Upon closer inspection, she found that although Uncle Jin had many wounds, none were fatal.
It turned out the black-clad figures were playing a game of slow torture, meaning they didn't deliver a fatal blow immediately. Instead, the injured would die slowly from excessive blood loss or fear.
"Damn, how insidious," Fu Xin Ci cursed inwardly, then proceeded to examine and tend to the wounds of several severely injured youths.
Unsurprisingly, they all had multiple wounds, leading directly to excessive blood loss.
With Fu Xin Ci's wood element ability, the severely injured, though not yet awake, at least had stable breathing.
This was Fu Xin Ci's first formal attempt at healing with her wood element ability, and she dared not let Uncle Jin and the others wake up immediately, as she wouldn't be able to explain.
It was good to have her companions around. With them providing cover, Fu Xin Ci took out clean white cotton cloth, tore it into strips, and bandaged the injured.
Meng Qi Shan was the last to be bandaged. His wounds were similar to Uncle Jin's, but he had remained conscious, fueled by sheer willpower.
Fu Xin Ci gently tended to his injuries, and Meng Qi Shan slowly felt his body improving, the wounds no longer hurting as much.
He quietly gazed at his grand-niece for a few moments, then furtively glanced at the young men and women who claimed to be from the same sect as his grand-niece.
The fireballs still sprayed flames in mid-air, their faces clearly visible.