Chapter 1157: Skinning

“Save me, Brother Fei!”

“Panther, Hill...!”

“Don’t leave me, Brother Fei! Save me!”

“Argh!!!”

A bloodcurdling scream suddenly erupted from somewhere amidst the darkness, shrill and terrifying.

“Halt!” Jinpeng Moyun waved his hand and motioned for the group to stay alert.

Ye Qing turned toward the source of the scream just in time to see nine men running out of the darkness with terrified expressions.

As they ran, one man’s forehead suddenly broke as if pierced by something. A shredding noise followed immediately after as his entire skin was stripped off like clothes.

The man went from human to blood calabash in just the blink of an eye. His bloody, spraying form was horrifying to put it mildly.

Maybe it was because the skinning had happened too swiftly and abruptly, but the victim did not realize that he had been skinned until he had run at least another dozen steps. Then, the pain hit him like a jackhammer, and he began screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Argh! It hurts! It hurts! Save me, someone!”

The skinned man did not die immediately. Instead, he rolled back and forth across the ground while wailing at the top of his lungs. His blood instantly dyed the icy ground red in the blink of an eye.

“It hurts! It hurts too much! Kill me... someone, please, kill me... Kill me!”

The man kept rolling on the ground, screaming and begging for release.

One man could not bear his companion’s horrible screams and tossed out a throwing knife. It hit the victim squarely in the forehead.

“Thank you...”

A relieved smile spread across the victim’s face, and he died just like that.

Seeing this, a brawny, vicious-looking man turned to shout at the knife thrower, “Are you stupid? You’re going to get targeted by that thing next!”

The knife thrower was a petite but muscular man. His face turned as white as a sheet when he heard his leader’s yell. “Surely not? I just didn’t want Five to suffer any longer than he has too, boss.”

“You think him pitiful, but who will pity you when it’s your turn to die?!” The brawny man rebuked him.

“What... what should I do?” The petite man panicked.

“What else? We leave it to fate.”

The brawny man replied in a hopeless voice, “It’s not just you. All of us can only pray that fate is feeling merciful today.”

“I... I don’t want to die, boss. My wife just gave birth to a big boy, and my mom is seventy years old. If I die, who will take care of them?”

The petite man’s eyes bulged with fear and worry as he muttered like a madman, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die...”

Suddenly, the petite man noticed his boss staring at him with a pale, horrified expression.

“Boss? What’s wrong?”

The petite man’s puzzlement was answered an instant later. He saw his skin stripping away right before his eyes.

“I—save me, boss! Save—”

The petite man rushed toward the brawny man, but he had just taken a few steps when his skin stripped off completely, and blood sprayed absolutely everywhere. The next moment, indescribable pain affected his whole body.

“Argh! It hurts! It’s too much!”

“Ignore him! He’s already dead!”

The brawny man’s eyes glimmered with pity and helplessness, but it was quickly replaced by ruthless iron.

“Run! Run as fast as you can if you wish to live!”

He turned away from the petite man and ran. The rest of the group were following right behind him. The petite man’s bloodcurdling screams continued to resound throughout the night.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“What is that?” Ye Qing appeared next to Jinpeng Moyun and asked.

“I don’t know.” Jinpeng Moyun shook his head.

“They’re coming straight to us.” Ye Qing warned when he saw that the brawny man and his group were headed toward them.

It was about this time the brawny man noticed them as well. His eyes lit up, and he ran even faster than before.

It did not take a genius to realize that he was trying to dump whatever horror was chasing them on them.

“You dare!”

Seeing this, Jinpeng Moyun took one step forward and unleashed his killing intent and presence without any reservation whatsoever. His aura instantly washed over the incoming group like a tidal wave.

It was a clear warning that he would kill the group if they dared to come any closer.

The large majority of the newcomers were Spirit Purifiers or Spirit Masters only. Even the strongest person in the group, the brawny man, was only a Half-Step Trueman. On the other hand, Jinpeng Moyun was a bonafide Great Trueman. Naturally, his aura was enough to stop them dead in their tracks.

“We mean no harm, senior...”

To say that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place would be an understatement. Still, it was easier to negotiate with an intelligent human than a mindless Stranger, so the brawny man swallowed his fear as best he could and pleaded, “We’re willing to pay any price if you save us, senior!”

“Get lost!” was Jinpeng Moyun’s answer.

“Senior, we—”

Jinpeng Moyun might very well be their only lifeline, so neither the brawny man nor his group was willing to give up just like that. Unfortunately, Jinpeng Moyun gave them no chance to speak.

“I said, get lost! There won’t be a third warning!”

“Argh!”

As if on cue, another man let out a bloodcurdling scream and lost his skin.

Unfortunately, it was also the last straw that broke the group’s final sliver of sanity.

“Fuck you! If you won’t save us, then we’ll bring you down with us!”

“Fuck them up, brothers!”

“Kill them! If I’m going to die, I’m not going down alone!”

“Haha... at least my journey to the underworld won’t be lonely...”

Eyes bloodshot, the group charged toward Jinpeng Moyun’s group with wild abandon.

The brawny man was the only one who did not succumb to the mad impulse. In fact, he was stepping away from Jinpeng Moyun’s group and sneering at them.

Ye Qing suddenly realized something and tried to stop Jinpeng Moyun. “Wait! Don’t kill them.”

Unfortunately, he was just a tad too slow. The stormy-looking prince waved his hand, and the group flew backward as helplessly as specks of dust. They all exploded into showers of blood and gore in the air.

The second the men perished, every hair on Jinpeng Moyun’s body suddenly stood on end. He could feel an indescribable veil of malice settling on his person.

“Dammit! He tricked us!”

Jinpeng Moyun immediately realized his mistake. The group was being pursued by a terrifying Stranger until he killed most of them, robbing the Stranger of its preys. As a result, the enraged Stranger had decided to change targets.

He should have figured it out when he saw the petite man die earlier.

“Hahaha... have fun!”

At the distance, the brawny man’s expression of fear and despair was suddenly replaced by a savage grin. At the same time, he was running away as fast as he could.

Clearly, this outcome was within the brawny man’s prediction.

If Jinpeng Moyun had chosen to save them, then all was well.

If not, that was fine too. His group was already driven to the brink of insanity by the Stranger’s pursuit. He correctly guessed that Jinpeng Moyun’s rejection would be the last straw that broke their sanity. His plan was to use their deaths to transfer the Stranger’s attention to Jinpeng Moyun’s group and buy himself time to escape, killing two birds with one stone.

The brawny man’s plan was devious, but alas, he failed to account for one fundamental thing. He had just run about ten meters when he suddenly stopped in his tracks and discovered in horror that he had lost control of his own body.

Not only that, he was involuntarily striding straight toward the darkness they were escaping from.

“No! No! Let me go! Mercy! Mercy!!!”

The big man’s eyes bulged like saucers as he screamed and struggled with all his might. It was futile though. He continued to walk closer and closer toward the patch of darkness.

When the big man was just several inches away from the darkness, a wound suddenly appeared from his forehead before spreading in every direction. It was as if a pair of invisible hands was pulling his skin apart and stripping it clean from his body.