Chapter 1187

The light was dim tonight; even the bat's positioning waves couldn't distinguish whether it was the swaying of tree shadows or if something was truly moving in the darkness. Just as he was about to fly down to observe, He Lingchuan said, "Don't go down!"

The closer they got to Ke Mountain, the more intensely the divine bone necklace heated up; by the time he saw the shadows below, the necklace was almost hot enough to burn a hole through his neck bone.

The last time the divine bone necklace was this agitated was before the steps of the Star-Plucking Tower in the Tiangong! At that time, the pot lid it worshipped was enshrined inside the Star-Plucking Tower;

Now, what was hiding in the shadows of Ke Mountain? He Lingchuan suddenly took an object from his bosom, fiddled with it briefly, and a beam of snow-bright light shot downward, violently piercing through the shadows in the ruins! This was the shadow-piercing lamp he had swiped from the Tiangong's Xushan Array; it could even shatter the spirits of the Star-Plucking Tower's eternal lamps, so using it as a flashlight now was truly perfect.

With a *swish*, the shadow took shape.

Both sides were caught off guard, and Dong Rui, who was watching the live broadcast through the eyeball spider, subconsciously cursed, "Damn it!"

This thing was a person!

To be precise, a person wearing black armor!

Because of the sudden bright light, he raised his hand to block his face, and He Lingchuan couldn't see his features clearly, but a bit of red light leaked out between his fingers.

Besides that, black smoke lingered on that suit of black armor, but as soon as it was hit by the shadow-piercing lamp, it scattered in wisps, revealing fish-scale-like armor plates underneath.

The style of that battle armor was somewhat ancient, but every plate was pitch-black and gleaming, yet the blackness varied in depth, looking somewhat like python patterns at first glance.

This black-armored person seemed to be staring straight at the bat as well, and suddenly raised a hand.

He Lingchuan was incredibly sharp; as soon as he saw it, he realized he was flying too low and immediately grabbed the bat, performing a side roll. Sure enough, two streaks of black light flashed below, skimming past the bat's wing membranes.

Although this strike missed, they made a U-turn and charged at the bat again.

Strictly speaking, they were charging at He Lingchuan on the bat's back—

There was no reason for it, but he just knew he was being targeted.

This black-armored person was ill-intentioned.

He flipped his wrist, shot out two sleeve arrows, and managed to knock them down just before the two streaks of black light caught up to the bat.

Those were two prism darts.

The next instant, He Lingchuan grabbed the sharp horn on the mount's head and pulled upward, and the bat demon puppet flapped its large wings, rising like a rocket from flat ground.

Afterward, a shadow swept past from below, only five zhang away from them.

It was that black-armored warrior! After shooting the prism darts, it had climbed up the tree, faster and more agile than an ape. The bat was still entangled with the prism darts, and it had already climbed to the top of the tree, followed by a high jump using the momentum, pouncing toward the bat!

One must know that the bat's position was over twenty zhang above the ground; it was difficult for a creature without wings to get close.

This thing leaped lightly, its battle armor seemingly weightless, easily jumping another ten-plus zhang high from the treetop.

It simply didn't look like a human.

This set of movements was smooth and flowing, dazzling to the eye, and the ground light was dim. If He Lingchuan hadn't reacted extremely quickly, it would have already jumped onto the bat's back to engage him in close-quarters combat.

Not far away, Dong Rui watched in a cold sweat.

It was fortunate that He Lingchuan was dealing with it; close-quarters melee was definitely not his strong suit.

However, just as the black-armored warrior began to descend, an object suddenly shot out from behind it, directly piercing the bat's wing!

It was shockingly a chain with a barb at the tip, which was now hooked onto the outside of the bat's wing.

This black-armored person was truly heavy, directly dragging the bat demon puppet downward, causing it to drop two zhang.

The bat demon puppet felt the pain, lowered its head, and sprayed a mouthful of acid directly.

The black-armored warrior had intended to climb along the chain to the bat's back, but seeing this, it could only raise its arm to block in front, as if propping up an invisible shield, blocking the acid.

He Lingchuan patted the bat's sharp horn, and the mount performed a mid-air flip, tossing the chain and the black-armored warrior high up.

Previously, he had practiced with the bat demon puppet many times to invade the Tiangong's Xushan, so both sides already had a tacit understanding. This flip turned into a strange moment where he and the demon puppet were below, and the chain and the black-armored warrior were above.

This scene was both magnificent and bizarre.

Although the whole process lasted only two breaths, He Lingchuan still saw clearly the undisguised urgency and desire in the black-armored warrior's eyes.

When the chain was pulled taut in the air, He Lingchuan threw out the Floating Life Blade.

His aim was excellent, and the precious blade never disappointed his expectations, severing the chain in the middle with a *clang*!

The black-armored warrior was immediately flung away.

After the flip, the bat spread its wings with a *bang* and soared again using the wind. He Lingchuan immediately jumped onto its wing membrane and pulled out the tip of the chain.

As soon as the black-armored warrior landed back on the ground, it looked up at the bat above. Seeing that it was already twenty-four or twenty-five zhang off the ground and there were no large trees around, it let out an unwilling roar: "Give it back to me!"

From this black-armored person, He Lingchuan felt naked greed and malice.

This thing was indeed coming for him.

But what did "give it back to me" mean? What did the black-armored person want him to return? The black-armored person suddenly pulled two fish-scale armor plates from its shoulder and flicked them toward the sky.

Black smoke flashed, and the two armor plates turned into two swarms of black bees, each the size of a fist, buzzing toward the bat.

Without waiting for He Lingchuan's instructions, the bat spat out a mouthful of acid, spraying seven or eight black bees to death.

These things scattered into black smoke with a *puff*, but after a few breaths, they reshaped and turned into black bees again to chase them.

At the same time, the black-armored person below also pressed its hands to the ground, not knowing what spell it was chanting, and He Lingchuan saw the earth churning; a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the mud pit beside the black-armored person! Then came the head, upper body, legs...

Even as knowledgeable as He Lingchuan, he frowned: "What kind of thing is this?"

It seemed to be a puppet, standing upright like a human, armored and armed, but it only wore half a suit of armor, even covered in rust, holding a wooden hammer handle in its hand, but the hammer head was a solid piece of large stone.

Not only that, the other half of its missing armor was filled in with rock and soil, and it even had half a broken tile on the back of its head.

One puppet after another crawled out from underground and stood behind the black-armored person.

Almost all of them were damaged, half armor and weapon, half rock and soil.

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror in He Lingchuan's bosom said "Oh my": "Soul-injection! This ghost thing traps dead souls in broken armor and fills them with rock and soil to build an army! This method is good, very inspiring, hmm, very inspiring!"

"Can Yuan Power deal with them?"

"Can... maybe?" The Soul-Absorbing Mirror was also thinking, "But these puppets are covered in thick rock and soil, just like turtle shells. If ordinary soldiers don't hack them open, it's hard to cause damage to the ghosts inside. Of course, using divine abilities might be better to deal with them."

He Lingchuan thought for a moment: "Save some energy, how about we borrow a knife to kill someone?"

After saying this, he pointed to the way they came.

The bat understood and lowered its altitude again, flying toward the edge of the forest. It actually had two pairs of wings, one in front and one behind; having a hole punched through the wing membrane didn't hinder its flight, just slowed it down a little.

(End of chapter)