Chapter 608: Old Acquaintance

Three days later, amidst the lush forest.

A light drizzle had been falling continuously.

A group of black, spirited divine horses galloped through the forest, and wherever their hooves passed, beautiful flame flowers bloomed.

Back at Cloud Sea Cliff, Lu Ran had at least seen the sunset glow.

Ever since he returned to Wolf Flower Stronghold and led the team south, the sky had been shrouded in dark clouds for the past few days, with intermittent light rain.

It felt incredibly oppressive.

"Neigh~"

The woman in the straw raincoat galloping in front stroked the horse's mane with one hand.

The Black Fire Colt was highly spirited; its hooves tapped continuously, and then its front hooves reared high, neighing proudly.

Flame flowers finally bloomed on the edge of the cliff.

Deng Yuxiang rode with her blade across her lap, looking south, her eyebrows raised.

The scenery of the distant mountains had changed.

It was no longer the monotonous lush forest; there were sparse trees, but the true protagonists were the flowers.

It was a sea of flowers stretching as far as the eye could see!

In the gentle drizzle, the colorful flowers swayed gracefully; occasionally, as the wind and rain blew through, the sea of flowers rose and fell like waves.

It was dizzying and mesmerizing.

"Oh?" Lu Ran rode up, looking at the rare, spectacular sight.

The south really did have more beautiful scenery!

The northern part of Holy Spirit Mountain was an endless stretch of mountains; occasionally encountering a high mountain cold-water lake was considered a special scene.

Look at the south!

First there was Misty Rain Lake, then Thousand Flower Ridge.

Each more beautiful than the last.

"Is this Thousand Flower Ridge?" Deng Yuxiang asked loudly.

At the end of the team, Shangguan Hongfu spoke up immediately: "Yes, Da Da Mengyan Protector."

This time heading south, the team had added another person.

In addition to the Four Protectors and the Shadow Guard team, Shangguan Hongfu had also joined the team, bringing up the rear with Yu Changsheng.

Leng Xuanshuang had been left at Cloud Sea Cliff, waiting for Lu Ran to complete the mission here before going to activate and bind her Evil Sculpture.

"Tsk tsk~"

Lu Ran couldn't help but sigh: "Ruyi, if you danced with your sword in this sea of flowers, it would surely be beautiful."

Jiang Ruyi said coldly: 【You have a beautiful imagination.】

Lu Ran curled his lips: 【If you won't dance, I'll bring Miss Leng Xuanshuang here and have her dance for me.】

Jiang Ruyi:?

What a decadent ruler!

Sensing Fairy Jiang's gaze, Lu Ran felt his scalp tingle and immediately said: 【I'm just joking~】

"Hmph." Jiang Ruyi pursed her lips and changed the subject, asking, "Have they arrived?"

She was clearly more focused on the mission.

Lu Ran communicated with the Eight Desolations Blade for a moment and shook his head: "Our horses are too fast; they must still be three or four hundred kilometers away from us."

Deng Yuxiang asked: "Should we go over, or wait here?"

"Wait here!" Lu Ran squeezed his horse's belly with his legs, "We'll choose this as the battlefield!"

How romantic!

"Clop, clop, clop."

The Black Fire divine horse stepped off the cliff, treading flame flowers in the air.

"Let's go!" Lu Ran kicked his heels into the horse's belly again, and the steed suddenly accelerated, "Let's search around first to see if there are any other forces entrenched here."

The group followed immediately, galloping toward the brilliant sea of flowers.

Under Shangguan Hongfu's guidance, the group arrived at a river valley within Thousand Flower Ridge, where the trees were lush, and saw a dilapidated complex of buildings.

It seemed that the catastrophe from a few years ago had not spared the Thousand Flower Gang.

"Sect Master, there is a massive cave system underground; we can go and search it." Shangguan Hongfu said.

"Mm." Lu Ran looked down at the clear stream, surrounded by buildings swallowed by lush trees and beautiful flowers.

The dilapidated wooden houses were perfectly integrated with the flower bushes and vines.

It gave Lu Ran a quite marvelous visual experience.

"Hee hee~" Just as Lu Ran was secretly marveling, he faintly heard the sound of a child laughing.

"Hm?" Lu Ran almost thought he was hallucinating.

He showed a look of inquiry and turned to look at the Great Da Da Mengyan.

He saw Deng Yuxiang lift her head slightly, as if she had heard something too.

Lu Ran immediately sent a telepathic message to the Evil Shadow Protector and the two Shadow Guards: 【Be careful, there are ghosts in this place!】

【Master, in the house right in front of you, I smell ghost energy.】 A Shadow Guard appeared beside the wooden house directly in front of Lu Ran, sniffing carefully.

"Hee hee~" Another crisp child's laugh came.

In this silent environment, it sounded somewhat chilling.

【It's not just one place with ghost energy! Master, many houses have it.】

Lu Ran listened to the telepathic message and suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Through the half-open wooden door, he saw a thin, small figure float past.

"Hoo~"

From the window of the dilapidated wooden house, a black talisman paper suddenly flew out!

Is this a Ghost Talisman Doll?

Judging by the fine sand permeating from the black talisman paper, this should be a Ground Sinking Talisman.

"Fly!" Lu Ran gave the order.

The group rode their horses into the air one after another.

With a crisp "pop," the black talisman paper hit the ground!

In an instant, the ground turned into a pool of slowly rotating quicksand, from which sand whips shot out, attempting to entangle the horses' hooves.

"Hoo!"

Deng Yuxiang reached down with one hand, and a gale swept through!

The sand whips were obstructed and were blown away by force.

Along with them, the wooden house complex below shook, broken wooden pieces flew everywhere, and some houses were blown down directly.

Shangguan Hongfu immediately said: "Sect Master, the base of the Ghost Talisman clan is more than two hundred kilometers away from here; this group must have stumbled upon us by accident..."

"Wooo~~~"

From inside a wooden house, a chilling crying sound came, interrupting Shangguan Hongfu's words.

Even more terrifyingly, the crying triggered a chain reaction; from one dilapidated building after another, crying sounds followed.

It made one's hair stand on end!

"Old acquaintances." Lu Ran muttered.

Through a collapsed roof, Lu Ran saw a little boy standing inside.

The opponent had a pale little face and looked to be about four or five years old, currently looking up at the group.

Those eye sockets were pitch black; there were no eyeballs at all.

Demon: Ghost Talisman Doll!

It was the sworn enemy of the Jade Talisman faction.

The Evil Technique: Ground Sinking Talisman that the opponent had just used was the counterpart to the Jade Talisman Divine Technique: Quicksand Talisman.

Compared to the surging Quicksand River, the Ground Sinking Talisman had a relatively smaller effect, but when it came to swallowing people, it was not ambiguous at all!

"Does it remind you of when you were a Moon Watcher?" Deng Yuxiang's voice carried a hint of a smile.

The first time Lu Ran saw a Ghost Talisman Doll with his own eyes was in her team.

Captain Sun Zhengfang, the brothers Wei Long and Wei Hu.

The abandoned residential building, the eerie stairwell.

The Ghost Talisman Doll that was always ethereal, the Great Da Da Mengyan who was so angry she wanted to tear down the building directly...

Scenes flashed through his mind, making a smile appear on Lu Ran's face.

He still remembered that in that pitch-black hallway, he, a little rookie, had found a yellow talisman paper and then activated the Divine Technique: Immortal Hoof.

He went up and slapped it!

He successfully stuck the talisman paper on the Ghost Talisman Doll's forehead, finally forcing it to return to a physical form.

"Sigh." Lu Ran felt emotional.

He was so green back then~

Now, fighting Ghost Talisman Dolls again, he no longer needed to search everywhere for yellow paper.

"Scatter, Da Da Mengyan stay." Lu Ran ordered.

"Hoo~"

"Hoo!" Black talisman papers flew into the sky.

Deng Yuxiang reached down with one hand, and the Night Wind Attack rose again.

The black talisman papers were immediately obstructed, fluttering chaotically.

"Puff~"

Some black talisman papers exploded, permeating with thick blood mist.

Evil Technique: Blood Explosion Talisman!

"Crack!!"

Some black talisman papers had electricity overflowing, but the range was very limited; it was not a lightning domain.

Evil Technique: Yin Lightning Talisman!

When this technique is at the River Artifact level, it can only output to a single target and electrocute the enemy.

After reaching the River Estuary Artifact level, it undergoes a qualitative change; if this talisman is stuck onto a target, it can summon bolts of lightning to chase and strike the target!

The output is quite considerable!

But the problem is

Deng Yuxiang stood with her blade, the great wind howling.

How could any black talisman paper get close?

"Are you ready?" Lu Ran said, "I'm going to call out now!"

"So that was the idea you had." Deng Yuxiang's expression was a bit strange, "You really took me for a Night Charm, forgetting that I am also a believer of the Immortal Sheep?"

"Uh." Lu Ran faltered for a moment.

That's true, huh!

The Great Da Da Mengyan can also bleat.

"Call out then." Deng Yuxiang said with a smile while fighting the enemy, "It's been a long time since I've heard your unique voice."

Lu Ran gathered his thoughts and adjusted the divine technique, Sound of Sorrow and Panic, to the River Artifact level.

To deal with demons that are already vicious, this grade should be enough.

"Baa~~~"

The sound of the sheep bleating echoed through the river valley.

As Lu Ran called out, his face was filled with enjoyment.

Ah,

that feels good~

For a moment, even more black talisman papers flew in from below!

The Ghost Talisman Dolls didn't even hide anymore, flying into the sky one after another!

The young boys and girls were demons to begin with, and their intelligence was particularly low; hearing the sheep's bleat, murderous intent filled those pale little faces, determined to torture and kill the little lamb on the spot.

"Swish~ Swish~" Deng Yuxiang threw out 32 Night Charm Blades in succession, flying to pierce the group of Ghost Talisman Dolls.

Some Ghost Talisman Dolls had their minds clouded, and before they could react, they were pierced through the heart by the Night Charm Blades!

Other Ghost Talisman Dolls relied on their racial traits and immediately turned their bodies ethereal.

The Night Charm Blades passed through the bodies of the Ghost Talisman Dolls without causing any damage at all.

Physical damage immunity!

Immunity?

"Whoosh!!" It was at this moment that Deng Yuxiang used the evil technique, Night Wind Attack, with her other hand!

The ethereal bodies were blown away completely under the ravaging wind waves filled with divine power!

The blood mist, lightning, frost, and other elements filling the air, along with their owners, dissipated without a trace.

"Baa~~~"

Honestly, this person is really quite shameless.

Even though he is a vast sea, he insists on pretending to be a weak little lamb!

That pitiful, weak bleating sound stimulates the most cruel hunting and violent desires deep within the heart of every living being.

Lu Ran, however, felt good about himself, murmuring in his heart, self-brainwashing.

Trample me! Ravage me! Harm me!

Kill me.

A few minutes later, the river valley returned to peace.

The low-intelligence Ghost Talisman Dolls, like a suicide squad, shattered under the wind blades of the Sea Realm expert and vanished into smoke under the gale.

Lu Ran opened a pair of Death Realm pupils and gathered souls on a large scale.

He naturally noticed that gazes were landing on him, among which were some particularly intense ones.

"Don't mess around, everyone!" Lu Ran said loudly, "I'm using a River Artifact divine technique!

Don't look for excuses for yourselves!"

Si Xianxian pursed her little mouth in grievance, lowering her head to stroke the hammer handle again and again.

In the river valley below, the Shadow Guard team had already flashed away, fearing they might do something rebellious.

Only Yan Shuangzi stared at Lu Ran, biting her lip tightly, and it was only after a long while that she struggled to look away.

(End of chapter)