Chapter 328: Back and Forth

“Be careful, yes, hold it steady...”

Before the altar, Feng Xue and Liu Yunxi worked together to stuff the lantern ghost into a drone, muttering under their breath as they did so.

Compared to the previous spellcasting, this time he was clearly far more cautious, and the reason was simple.

The earlier curse never expected to kill outright—it was meant to be noticed; now, it was meant to go unnoticed.

Fortunately, demonic power suppressed ghostly energy comprehensively; as long as Liu Yunxi was careful, no flaws would show.

Even if a flaw slipped through, the target far away might not detect it instantly—but Feng Xue held grudges, so even the slightest chance of escape had to be erased.

A speck of golden light fell into the drone; Feng Xue immediately flipped the switch. The small drone from the previous civilization slowly rose under Xiao Ling’s control, spinning like a bee.

The traditional method would’ve been to use a Kongming lantern, but the problem with Kongming lanterns is they’re too obvious—late at night, if you look up and see a lantern drifting overhead, anyone with even basic occult knowledge knows what’s going on.

In contrast, drones are far better: small in size, no light needed, equipped with cameras, no need to chase after them—yet the only issue is that making a drone move as nimbly as a Kongming lantern isn’t easy. Ghosts can easily alter a Kongming lantern’s direction because it’s only affected by wind and warm air lift; drones require high stability, and a weak spirit servant clearly can’t disrupt that stability.

Thus, Xiao Ling must provide external support, channeling the Goddess’s power to strengthen the spirit servant, and using cyber-awakening techniques to deliberately reduce the drone’s stability—shutting down its propellers rhythmically to keep it in a vulnerable state.

The drone wobbled out the window; Feng Xue opened his laptop. Though this world had no signal towers, Xiao Ling’s cyber-deity belief network worked better than any tower—though Feng Xue hadn’t yet figured out how to turn magical power into faith energy, converting faith energy into electrical signals was well within the capabilities of this world’s technology.

Night scenery appeared on the screen; Feng Xue exhaled in relief, quietly waiting for the spirit servant to find its master.

But at that moment, Mo Ying suddenly said:

“Someone’s entered the alley!”

“Emergency case?” Feng Xue’s first thought was someone had come for medical help at this hour, but he immediately realized it wasn’t—Mo Ying’s words confirmed his suspicion:

“No, ordinary people wouldn’t notice a ghost wall. Even though we never activated the misdirection effect, they still carefully avoided it—they must’ve come prepared.”

Out of habit from his time in the He concession, Feng Xue’s alley was always wrapped in a ghost wall, which normally served only as a filter, keeping out passersby with no medical needs.

Only someone as extravagant as Mo Ying, who feasted daily, could afford such an arrangement—but the enemy clearly hadn’t imagined anyone could be this lavish, and naturally assumed the ghost wall was specifically meant to guard against them.

“Tsk, looks like the other side isn’t planning to sit idle either!”

Feng Xue’s lips curled as he strode straight to the door. Fighting inside the house was always disadvantageous—it was better to settle this in the alley.

“Yingbao, full-power illusion!”

“Got it!” With Feng Xue’s magical power supporting her, Mo Ying’s energy, which had blanketed the entire alley, instantly activated. The ghost wall expanded rapidly, completely filling the alley with its vast illusionary domain.

All living things within the alley were forcibly dragged into a sumi-e world, and at that moment, Feng Xue stepped out the front door.

“Ssssh!”

A sharp gust of wind struck; Feng Xue was surprised, but not greatly—Liu Yunxi reacted even faster, kicking the approaching figure away with one swift motion.

“Something feels off,” Liu Yunxi said, flexing her ankle, her tone odd. Feng Xue waved his hand:

“Just filthy things—don’t touch them. Leave it to me.”

Without waiting for Liu Yunxi’s reply, he pointed his finger—a thunderfire sword slashed out, striking the attacker’s body directly.

But to Feng Xue’s surprise, the thunderfire sword, which could easily slice through steel, struck the opponent and emitted only a sound like a hot iron searing pigskin—then stopped cold. The man even reached out to grab the blade, clearly suffering only superficial damage.

“What kind of protective spell is this?”

……

In the dim room, the Divine Lord watched as a figure formed from the incense ash slowly crawled out of the censer, its sickly pale face twisting into a venomous smile. He flicked his finger—the white mist coiled around the samurai sword sank into the ash figure, causing the once-ashen form to swell, becoming cloudlike and unstable.

At that exact moment, a streak of lightning erupted from the ash figure. The Divine Lord formed a hand seal, channeling magical power from his fingertip into the ash figure. White light flared across its surface, repelling the thunderfire energy.

“Hmph, strong thunder art—but if that’s all you’ve got, then surrender quietly!” The Divine Lord’s face darkened, the red mark on his neck looking even more grotesque.

The ash figure on the table moved as if in fierce combat, flailing limbs, leaping like a waterfall, while all manner of injuries flickered across its form.

The Divine Lord’s focus was intense. He pressed his two fingers before the ash figure, and as magical power flowed, he drove a series of talismans into its body.

……

“What’s going on with this guy?” Feng Xue stared at the masked figure, drowned in dark lightning yet seemingly unaffected, feeling utterly baffled. If you say he’s strong, he’s easily controlled; if you say he’s weak, every lethal spell only leaves superficial wounds—he feels like a magic-immune monster, capable of only minor physical damage from spell effects.

“Feels like a zombie,” Liu Yunxi muttered, picking up a stone to throw at him. Feng Xue’s temper flared—he stopped her with a hand gesture:

“Since they want to duel in magic, we’ll settle it with magic.” Saying this, Feng Xue suddenly pulled out a handful of mung bean powder and flung it forward. The powder grew instantly in the wind, transforming into fifty dragon-headed soldiers. This was the method of “scattering beans to summon soldiers,” but unlike traditional Daoist practice—which summoned celestial troops—it used the witch-shaman’s ritual method, awakening the beans with Gidora’s faith energy. The resulting soldiers could barely be called “Dragon Tooth Soldiers.”

“Attack!”

……

“Spirit soldier technique?” The Divine Lord saw the ash figure suddenly show signs of being hacked to death by countless blades. He immediately pulled a talisman from his waistband—a Japanese demon with blue face and fangs flew from the talisman and merged into the ash figure. The black-clad man’s body suddenly swelled...

(End of Chapter)