Chapter 111: A Narrow Victory

By all rights, the Paper Man Summoning Technique should pose little threat; its symbolic value far outweighs its practical use.

Yet for some reason, Eunuch Qi felt his entire body trembling.

"Run!" Eunuch Qi said, his face grim.

But Qin Shuang smiled: "A mere Soul-Calling Paper Man..."

Suddenly, the robe flew up, and a massive snake tail formed entirely of Yin Qi appeared beneath it.

With a simple horizontal sweep, Qin Shuang thrust his long sword forward without hesitation.

"It's just an illusion!"

Qin Shuang had seen paper men before; he knew the upper limits of the Soul-Calling Paper Man.

Only this time, his judgment was wrong.

The long sword struck the green snake tail and instantly shattered into three pieces; before he could dodge, the tail slammed into his left side.

Then his entire upper body was swept into flying chunks of flesh, and his head was hurled high into the air, vanishing who knows where.

At that moment, the Lady Tree Immortal radiated a ferocious aura, her gaze fixed on Eunuch Qi.

Eunuch Qi hesitated not at all, turned, and fled.

Li Lin's robe, or rather the Lady Tree Immortal herself, flew after him.

Flight is naturally much faster than running; in less than three breaths, the Lady Tree Immortal caught up with him.

The green snake tail rose high from behind and, like a scorpion's stinger, plunged straight down.

This strike carried the might of thunder.

Eunuch Qi spun around, his face twisted into a grimace, channeling all his power into his hands.

"Boundless Great Sea!"

An exaggerated mass of Yuan Qi condensed into a single sphere and was launched outward.

The surrounding air seemed to ripple with shockwaves.

The two collided.

A violent explosion roared.

Eunuch Qi was blasted backward, smashing through four bowl-thick trees before finally stopping.

Meanwhile, the robe carrying the Lady Tree Immortal's "Divine Carriage" had already turned into a sheet of blue flame.

Watching the robe turn to ash, Eunuch Qi laughed heartily, patting his chest as he stepped forward: "So what if it's a Taowu Zhenjun? The power summoned by the Soul-Calling Technique is less than half the original's strength. I have won, hahaha."

He looked at the few people not far ahead and sneered.

But just then, a swarm of small paper men rushed in from nearby.

"Boring little tricks."

The Yuan Qi around Eunuch Qi trembled; before the small paper men could even touch him, they shattered.

At that moment, seven bolts of lightning struck straight down. Eunuch Qi froze, fear flashing in his eyes once more; he wanted to dodge, but it was already too late.

All seven bolts of lightning struck his body.

Eunuch Qi's body shook uncontrollably as he staggered backward.

Each lightning bolt that struck him sent sparks flying in all directions.

Though his face was blackened and most of his hair scorched, his clothes remained intact.

But Eunuch Qi already felt his meridians slightly damaged; his strength had temporarily dropped significantly.

"What a domineering Thunder Art."

At that moment, he suddenly looked up, sensing the disturbance of Qi again.

He immediately turned and ran, daring not to linger another moment.

A bolt of dual-colored green-and-red lightning struck the spot where he had just been standing.

Eunuch Qi glanced back at the appearance of that lightning bolt, then ran even faster.

Watching the red light quickly fade into the distance, Li Lin gasped for air several times.

He had used almost all his trump cards; if Eunuch Qi did not flee now, they would be the ones to die.

Then he looked at his waist; the red glow of the White Jade Token was already quite obvious, and Desolate Wraiths were closing in from all around.

Li Lin hurried to Ding Yingqiu's side. By then, Ding Yingqiu had already fainted. Without hesitation, he reached into Ding Yingqiu's clothes and quickly found the bottle of protective barrier powder.

Using the protective barrier powder, he quickly "drew" a circle nearby, then stepped out and dragged Ding Han, Bai Zhiwei, and Bai Bufei inside one by one.

Then he wiped the sweat from his face and was about to go drag Su Huafang's corpse back when he discovered... only a skeleton remained there.

Su Huafang had been blasted away earlier by Eunuch Qi's palm force, landing far away, outside the range of everyone's red light; moreover, with so much blood flowing from his body, he was easily spotted by the Desolate Wraiths.

Li Lin sat down and started a fire.

Not long after, Bai Zhiwei and the others sat up and began circulating their Qi to heal their injuries.

The surroundings were quiet; not a single person among those present spoke, the silence becoming somewhat terrifying.

Time passed to the next day.

Li Lin used earth to bury the embers of the fire, then walked to a distance and wrapped the skeleton in Su Huafang's clothes.

Bai Zhiwei approached and said softly: "Leave it to me; I have more experience in this matter."

Li Lin nodded and handed the bundle to Bai Zhiwei.

The other three also gathered around, their expressions sorrowful.

Afterwards, they turned and walked back to Yulin County.

Three days later, the group sat in the courtyard behind the county government office.

Huang Yan stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

By then, Bai Zhiwei had already recounted the entire sequence of events.

After a long while, Huang Yan said, "News arrived yesterday from the direction of the official road: Shi Duto's unit was ambushed, Shi Duto died in battle, and only five returned alive."

No one spoke.

"Shi Duto, Su Xunshou... both were rare talents," Huang Yan sighed. "This matter is a responsibility I cannot shirk; I failed to carefully verify the authenticity of the transferred personnel."

Standing nearby, Registrar Li clasped his hands, bowed, and said, "The true fault lies with me. I was responsible for handing over Bai Yunfei's file; I believed it without careful verification. This has nothing to do with the County Magistrate."

Huang Yan shook his head. "This is a mistake by the main county government office, so naturally it is my mistake. For Su Xunshou, Shi Duto, and those unfortunate villagers who died, I will provide sufficient compensation."

He paused.

"Also, Registrar Li, go home and retire."

Registrar Li breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, County Magistrate."

Having said this, Huang Yan left.

Li Lin did not return to the village but rested in his new home.

These past two days, he had no interest in anything; let alone being intimate with Hong Luan, he had even suspended his cultivation.

Two days later, Li Lin went to the Su family to pay his respects.

The Su family residence was quite large, but so many people came that the house could barely contain them all.

Arriving there, Li Lin took several sticks of incense from a young man's hand, bowed six times before the coffin while holding the incense, inserted the incense into the burner, and then stepped aside.

Su Huafang's original wife was an old woman; she wore hemp mourning clothes, knelt before the coffin, her expression numb, motionless.

The newly wed concubine wept pitifully, appearing very sorrowful.

Su Huafang had lived here for decades and helped many people; most of those people had come.

After a while, Li Lin went outside the door.

Just as he was preparing to leave, a little boy ran out from inside.

"Big brother over there."

Li Lin thought he was not being called and continued walking, but after only a few steps, he felt someone tug on his clothes.

"You are a Soul Hunter, right, brother?" The little boy looked at him. "I saw you come to our house looking for Grandpa."

"Yes." Li Lin nodded.

"I want to become a Soul Hunter too. I want to be a good person everyone admires, just like Grandpa. I also want to avenge Grandpa." The little boy's eyes were red and slightly swollen, clearly having cried many times. "Can you teach me, big brother?"

Li Lin was about to speak, but a woman rushed out from inside and immediately pulled the child into her arms.

She looked at Li Lin guardedly, as if afraid he would 'kidnap' her child.

Li Lin forced a smile, then turned and left.

Power... Li Lin felt that the speed at which he pursued power could be even faster.

(End of this chapter)