Pingyin County.
What was originally a team of dozens of people advancing layer by layer has now come to a halt. The strangeness that was easily dispatched has undergone a unique transformation, with many of them merging with each other, increasing their abilities.
At the same time, attacks from martial artists on these strange entities often have little effect. It's as if something is absorbing the damage inflicted on these strangeness.
The most immediate consequence of these changes is the increasing casualties among lower-level martial artists. Especially those in the Marrow Tempering realm have been heavily affected by this wave of changes, with many of them falling in battle.
Even those in the Visceral Tempering realm are mostly injured at this point. The frigid power emanating from these strangeness is much stronger than what they encountered elsewhere.