Chapter 64: Trapped by Oneself

Even He Lingchuan, who had always detested him, had to admit that this move was incredibly cool.

Facing such an overwhelmingly tyrannical strike, the powerful black dragon did not want to take it head-on, so it resorted to its old trick and whipped its tail over again.

Even the tip of the tail was as thick as two people could embrace; the outcome of being struck would surely be broken bones and shattered tendons.

Yet Nian Songyu was not afraid in the slightest; he shifted his blade's edge and chopped directly onto the dragon's tail.

He was sent flying backward, but the tip of the dragon's tail, over a zhang long, snapped off in response.

Sun Fuping seemed oblivious to the battle before him, but his chanting grew increasingly urgent.

Correspondingly, the white light on the ivory carving grew brighter; clearly, when it reached its peak, there would be changes unfavorable to the black dragon.

Therefore, after shaking off Nian Songyu, the behemoth lowered its head and charged straight at Sun Fuping.

The massive dragon head was like a battering ram, topped with sharp, right-angled horns; it could punch holes through iron-clad city gates, let alone Sun Fuping's flesh and blood. But those dozen or so golden-armored soldiers guarded him, casting a wall of armor with their own bodies. The dragon head knocked several away, but the rest exerted force together and actually held it back by sheer strength.

Several demonic birds in the air dove down, pecking toward Sun Fuping.

But before their sharp beaks could pierce his crown, they struck an invisible, hard barrier and snapped with a "crack."

A barrier.

To buy these thirty precious breaths of time, Sun Fuping had even deployed the energy-draining golden-armored soldiers; how could he neglect the importance of a barrier? But for one person to maintain two barriers simultaneously, even the profoundly skilled National Master Sun felt it was beyond his capabilities.

This kind of consumption was unsustainable.

He only needed to hold out for thirty breaths.

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He Chunhua gathered his qi and shouted to the Great Wind Army outside the Heavenly Thunder Array: "Look at what this is!"

He took an object from his storage ring and held it high.

Storage spaces generally had very small capacities, only about a cubic meter, and even then, they were rare; not every high-ranking official or noble in the capital necessarily possessed one. He Chunhua benefited from his years of guarding the border; the one in his hand was originally seized as contraband.

The item he took out really did not take up much space.

It was just a broken comb, bearing traces of smoke and fire; the small blue flower pattern on the top of the comb had faded a bit, but it was still barely intact.

As soon as this unremarkable comb appeared, the army opposite became restless. Including the squad leader who had previously fought the Black Water City army, several generals suddenly stepped forward a few paces and stood outside the array, staring straight at the wooden comb.

He Chunhua clearly remembered that National Master Sun had identified from the relics of Sha Bao that this item still retained the powerful resentment of Panlong City Commander Zhong Shengguang.

Although Grand National Master Sun was deep in schemes and his motives were unclear, his level of knowledge and experience was always reliable.

Then this resentment must not be unfamiliar to the Great Wind Army.

Sure enough, as soon as the wooden comb was brought out, the hostility of the Great Wind Army instantly subsided, and they even stopped driving the vengeful spirits to ram the array.

Anyone could feel that their hostility had greatly diminished.

"Fall back!" He Chunhua held the wooden comb and shouted to the army spirits outside the array, "You are not needed here!"

The Great Wind Army remained motionless; even the horses they sat upon did not snort or paw the ground.

Situ Han whispered: "My lord, they might not understand human speech, and besides, they were Xiluo people when they were alive."

He Chunhua realized: "That's right, I have heard that many vengeful spirits only live in their own world and cannot converse with the living." Otherwise, why would the Great Wind Army withdraw their hostility just by seeing the wooden comb? Clear-headed humans usually would not be so gullible.

But this did not mean that he and the Great Wind Army were completely unable to communicate.

He Chunhua thought for a moment and made a gesture for retreat. It was said that the military governance methods of Panlong City spread throughout the entire Panlong Wasteland and were used by later generations, including many hand signals for drilling and combat.

He Chunhua was a man who had led troops in battle and was no stranger to this set of signals.

Sure enough, after seeing this gesture, several commanders bowed their heads to him and then turned around to wave their hands.

It was unknown how the ghosts communicated, but the entire army turned in unison and slowly retreated.

The living finally let out a long sigh of relief; they were saved.

Situ Han touched his back, which was wet and cold: "My lord, you should have said earlier that you had this treasure!"

He Chunhua rubbed his face, too lazy to pay attention to the complaints of this local bandit. Don't look at him as if he hadn't done anything; in fact, having confronted the Great Wind Army for so long, the State-Protecting Order, which borrowed the power of heavenly thunder, had been continuously draining everyone's strength. Now he felt physically and mentally exhausted and longed to sit down and have a good rest.

"Move out of the array, but don't go too far." He signaled for everyone to walk out, while reaching out to take the State-Protecting Order from the staff.

The Great Wind Army no longer posed a threat, so they no longer needed this array. Besides, having been played by Sun Fuping earlier, He Chunhua remained vigilant.

A few soldiers stepped onto the talisman array to walk out, and then—

Then they let out a loud cry and were bounced back by the heavenly thunder barrier.

Their bodies were stiff, shaking like they had malaria, and the hair on their skin stood on end.

Everyone was startled. Situ Han threw out a flying knife, but the knife was also bounced back. Clearly, the array was still showing mercy to those inside, unlike the brutal way it dealt with the vengeful spirits outside.

"My lord, we are trapped."

On that side, He Chunhua could not retrieve his State-Protecting Order either—the beast head at the top of the staff was biting it too tightly, and no matter how he pulled, it wouldn't let go.

By now, even the dullest person felt that something was wrong. He Chunhua even drew his blade and slashed at the top of the staff, wanting to cut off the beast head.

With a crisp "clang," it was to no avail.

The precious blade was sharp, yet the staff remained undamaged.

There were two mages in the team who, seeing this, came up to help.

As a result, their spellcasting was equally ineffective.

"Someone, pull it out!" He Chunhua ordered people to tie ropes to the staff, and six burly men shouted in rhythm and exerted force together.

Honestly, even a pillar that two men could embrace would have fallen, yet this staff stood in place, motionless.

"What do you think we should do?" He Chunhua asked the two mages.

"The staff and the array have become one; if the array is not broken, the staff will not move." The two thought for a moment and said, "To break the array, we must first take the State-Protecting Order."

The array was driven by the State-Protecting Order; to break the array, it was best to first remove the source of power.

The paradoxical thing was right here: Sun Fuping had borrowed the power of the State-Protecting Order to trap He Chunhua himself; if He Chunhua and his men wanted to escape, they first had to break their own power!

If they were a hundred people of one mind, their morale would be high, and the power of the State-Protecting Order would increase accordingly; the stronger the array, the harder it was for them to escape.

This is truly outrageous!

At this moment, a mage suddenly pointed to the ground and said: "My lord, there is another array here!"

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(End of this chapter)