Luo Tianhe was skilled and was the second to climb up.

Then, they dragged and pulled Li Huai, who was almost paralyzed, up.

The third was Sun Wang, who turned back and struggled to pull his wife and children up.

One by one, the tourists also managed to climb up. Wu Yan desperately reached out from below; one of his legs was just bone, and he had no way to get up on his own.

None of us paid any attention to him. In the end, for some reason, the girl with the ponytail gritted her teeth and helped him climb up.

There were more than a dozen of us crammed onto the not-so-spacious rooftop of Sun Wang's house.

I looked around and realized that one person was missing; Lao Zhai Lao Ta hadn't come up!

I looked down through the breach and saw that he had somehow climbed to the hole we had broken open earlier, muttering something to himself.

Just then, a violent tremor came from the array eye that I had temporarily sealed below!

The evil creature at the bottom of the well is frantically trying to break the seal!

My expression changed. The old village elder seemed to notice my gaze and suddenly turned to me, his eyes deep.

He didn't say anything, but waved to me and jumped straight down from the hole.

I instantly understood the old village elder's intention. He seemed to be able to see that the seal was about to break and wanted to use his own life to buy us some time!

Looking at the old village elder, and then at Wu Yan, I felt a surge of anger for no reason.

They're all village elders, yet the differences between them are so vast!

"Brother Yan, what do we do now?" Li Huai asked tremblingly. Even on the roof, it wasn't absolutely safe, as the vines in the distance seemed ready to pounce.

"Go to the east end, to the highest point, to Wu Yan's house. That might be another key point. Jump over from the top of the house!"

I pointed in that direction.

Fortunately, the village has a high population density, with houses close together and rooftops not far apart, so even Wu Yan, who has a limp, can barely jump across them.

"Walk!"

I let out a low growl and leaped towards the rooftop next to me.

Luo Tianhe followed closely behind, leaping over with agility.

Next was Li Huai. Even though there was less than a meter between them, I don't know if it was because he was nervous or for some other reason, he slipped and almost fell. Luckily, I grabbed his arm.

"I'm speechless. You're such a loser!"

I cursed him in exasperation, "This kid never disappoints me when it comes to letting me down."

Li Huai scratched his head sheepishly, "That was a mistake, a mistake!"

"Master, please catch my baby!"

Sun Wang shouted from the other side, "This little boy is five or six years old. Logically, he should be able to jump over this distance, but I'm still worried."

"Okay," I nodded in response.

He tossed the child to me, and I caught him.

Although the young tourists were injured, they were young and resilient, and they jumped over one after another.

Wu Yan, on the other hand, was deathly pale, standing blankly at the back, his lips trembling.

Whether these young people were simply forgiving or heartless, they actually stood on the edge of the rooftop waving and shouting at him:

"Quick, jump over here!"

A struggle flashed across Wu Yan's face, but in the end, the desire to survive overwhelmed everything. He took a few steps back, used one leg to push off, and lunged backward.

Ultimately, he wasn't used to hopping on one leg, and his body drew an awkward arc in the air, failing to jump over!

However, he managed to grab onto the edge of the roof with his hands.

He clung tightly to the slippery tile, kicking his legs wildly, but his body was still slowly sliding down.

"Grab me!"

The boy in the baseball cap and the blond-haired guy both leaned forward and grabbed his wrists tightly.

But the vines below, like sharks smelling blood, suddenly sprang up and coiled towards Wu Yan's suspended body.

Wu Yan's face immediately showed despair.

Just then, Luo Tianhe, who had been standing by with his arms crossed, pretending to watch the commotion, grabbed a loose tile from the roof and hurled it hard at the vine.

With a "crack," the tiles shattered into pieces, but the vines were also knocked off course.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the man in the baseball cap and the blond-haired man forcefully dragged Wu Yan up onto the roof. Wu Yan was panting heavily on the roof, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

Luo Tianhe turned his head away, ignoring Wu Yan's grateful gaze.

I stared at him intently, and he pursed his lips and said in a low voice:

"Aren't we going to his house later? I feel like this kid might come in handy."

Fine, say whatever you want!

I couldn't be bothered with it and continued jumping across the sprawling rooftops.

Below, townspeople can be seen everywhere, entangled in vines and being drained of their life force.

Some of them were still struggling, their eyes filled with pleading as they looked at us.

But to be honest, there's nothing we can do about it!

Some villagers have become withered, shriveled bodies hanging on vines, just as Sun Wang described in his letter.

The person's flesh and blood seemed to have completely disappeared, leaving only a thin layer of skin covering the shriveled bones.

As I ran, I sprinkled vermilion powder, which slightly slowed down the vines' pursuit.

Finally, Wu Yan's tallest house came into view.

I took out my compass, and sure enough, the needle pointed straight there. I knew it. As some kind of divine favored one, Wu Yan's house must have a hidden world inside!

We jumped onto Wu Yan's spacious rooftop platform and were immediately hit by a suffocating stench of decay.

Everyone coughed violently, their stomachs churning.

The center of the platform was not empty; there was a huge and complex pattern drawn with dark red blood.

"The blood of the villagers has all been gathered here!" Luo Tianhe's expression was grim. Just the amount of blood alone meant that no fewer than a hundred people had died!

My face also turned extremely pale; the scene before me was beyond my expectations.

The eerie pattern was so distorted that looking at it for a few moments made me feel dizzy.

In each of the eight directions of the design, a black triangular flag is planted, its surface moving and fluttering even without wind.

At the very center of the design, there was a tattered booklet.

On the twisted human skin, a strange human face emerged.

"Who is that?" I turned to ask Sun Wang, my intuition telling me that the owner of that face was absolutely crucial!

“I don’t know him, he’s definitely not from the village!” Sun Wang shook his head.

Just then, Wu Yan weakly spoke up: "That's...that's the Taoist priest who rented that forest before. Isn't he already dead?!"

Wu Yan's words made my heart tighten. He wasn't from the village, but he had the face of that sorcerer from back then.

I looked up and stared intently at the tattered booklet hanging in mid-air.

The cover, made of human skin, gleamed with an oily sheen, and the delicate skin texture was clearly visible.

The more I looked at that face, the more eerie it seemed, as if it were smiling at me.

"He caused trouble in that forest, turning himself into a grotesque mess, and eventually died, so how come his face is on this book?!"

Sun Wang said in a trembling voice.