Chapter 494

The black-clad figure didn't want to linger; after dealing with a bodyguard, he kicked off and ran. How could Pangzi and I pass up this chance? So we, too, doggedly pursued them from behind.

The black-clad figure was fast—absolutely on par with the school sports champions I used to know. As we kept running, my pace fell steadily behind Pangzi's, for Pangzi too had martial training; in endurance and speed, Pangzi and I simply cannot compare.

Their silhouettes gradually faded; I leaned against a large stone, gasping for a few breaths, then steadied myself and pursued in the direction they'd vanished.

When I caught up, Pangzi was already grappling with the black-clad man, trading blows; in the blink of an eye they'd exchanged several rounds, and finally Pangzi was sent flying by a punch from the black-clad figure.

"Pangzi!" I exclaimed, hastily tracing the Yin Thunder strike sigil in my hand and lunging forward; reaching behind the black-clad man, I unleashed a sudden strike hard into his back.

What surprised me more was that the black-clad man, who should have been agile, stood rigid and absorbed my blow outright; at that moment Pangzi seized the opening, flipped into a carp leap, traced a Brilliance strike sigil, and struck at the black-clad man's chest.

With a boom, Pangzi's palm struck like hitting an iron plate, sending out a violent roar, while the black-clad man remained unmoving, not even uttering a grunt.

This left me astonished—Pangzi and I were using the most piercing strike art in sorcery; a mere tap on the shoulder would fell an ordinary person, yet the black-clad man seemed unharmed.

"En!" the black-clad man uttered a forceful yet soft exclamation, pressing his palms together like a devout Buddhist paying homage to the Buddha. Instantly a great force surged from him, sending Pangzi and me flying like broken kites.

"How can this be? How can strike arts fail?" I stared, unable to believe it was real, though the facts lay before me. The strike art I'd always wielded with ease and great power had lost its effect—this truly baffled me, leaving me momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Pangzi's constitution is far tougher than mine; even after being flung back, he quickly caught his breath, traced sigils with both hands, mixed martial arts, and pressed forward to continue fighting the black-clad man.

Seeing Pangzi act, though shocked, I reacted at once. I picked up the Bagua mirror, slit my wrist, dipped my finger in blood, and began drawing the Immobilization sigil on the mirror.

In martial technique my foundation is weak—charging in would only add chaos. In martial arts I'm not necessarily stronger than them, and going forward wouldn't help much. So I could only assist Pangzi from the side using ritual methods.

After completing the Immobilization sigil, I held the protruding side of the Bagua mirror with both hands, catching a sliver of morning sunlight. To immobilize a target, the mirror needs sunlight, moonlight, essence, or the spirit of all things; once it absorbs that spirit, it instantly reflects it outward to bind the enemy.

"En… Fix." Having caught a sliver of sunlight, I immediately gripped the sword‑finger and pointed at the black‑clad man; the mirror's surface refracted a circle that shone with perfect clarity onto his clothing.

But what followed shocked me so much I nearly lost my eyeballs. The circle of light refracted by the mirror shot straight back at me; luckily I reacted fast and flung the mirror away, otherwise I would have been the one immobilized.

What the heck is going on? Why is the magic rebounding?

I couldn't fathom it, but I didn't give up. After a few seconds of thought, I decisively pulled several sticks of yellow incense made from mulberry‑leaf powder from my waist pouch, lit them, hooked the Five‑Ghost fingers, and kept chanting the spell.

**Child** Boy, enchanting souls hard to pacify; now I hold one breath in my mouth, bewildering people's souls, overturning day and month, dim and dark… Enthunder, heavenly thunder splits and hides gods and demons; my eyes become the nine‑deep waters, my breath becomes **incense**… exhale.

I drew a deep breath, sucked the smoke from the three burning incense sticks into my mouth and held it, then swiftly ran to the black‑clad man's face, locked eyes with him, and exhaled a puff of smoke.

This is the upgraded version of the **art**, called the Great Soul‑Seizing Technique. Yellow incense has already been ritually refined; combined with the incantation it becomes even more numinous, a method for confusing others' souls. Because this black‑clad man's ** is too strong, I can only attack his soul.

But when I exhaled that breath, something even more startling happened. The black‑clad man's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light. Gazing straight into them, I felt a jolt and an urge to drop to my knees and lick his boots.

What kind of eyes are these? They're terrifying—like a thousand‑ton boulder pressing down, leaving me unable to move. Just then a huge palm lunged toward my face.

"Watch out!" Pangzi bellowed, seized my collar and flung me backward, dodging the black‑clad man's swinging hand and barely saving my life.

Having fallen to the ground, I barely came to, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Even after surviving, I still feel incredulous. I can't understand why this is so—even if martial arts immunity were expected, why do even soul‑confounding rites have no effect on him?

No matter how I turned it over in my mind, I drew a blank; after a few breaths I forced myself to calm and searched my memory for any relevant information.

By common sense, no Daoist or sorcerer in the world can be immune to both martial and magical arts, no matter how high their power. Moreover, the black‑clad man is certainly not strong enough to crush us outright—otherwise a single move would have killed us both, and there'd be no need for such effort.

But… damn it, I can't recall anything like this, nor have I heard of a technique that grants total immunity to both martial and magical arts!

"Damn, this guy's a freak—he's practically a god." Looking at the black‑clad man who had beaten Pangzi nearly into a pig's head, I involuntarily sucked in a cold breath and cursed.

"Wait… a god!" After cursing, a jolt shot through my heart; my mind raced, and the two characters "tong shen" surfaced, reminding me of a sect in folk esoteric tradition.

Long prevalent in the folk esoteric traditions of Jieyang, Chaozhou, and elsewhere, the Jade Emperor's edict ennobled the Sun Tai'zu teaching, abbreviated as the Great Sage Sect, which venerates the Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong as its chief deity and Marshal Tianpeng as its deputy. Indeed, such a sect does exist in the folk realm.

It's worth noting that although the Great Sage Sect takes Sun Wukong as its chief deity, no one knows whether its lineage truly emanates from him; what is certain is that its history is no less illustrious than other sects, and its arts are genuine, with greater offensive power than ordinary sects. As for who founded the Great Sage Sect, opinions diverge widely—even among its disciples there are many differing accounts.

The sect excels at the child‑possession art—that is, inviting a child spirit to possess one. Speaking of child possession, the Great Sage Sect claims second place, with no other sect daring to claim first. Unlike other sects' child‑possession methods, the Great Sage Sect's version has a distinctive trait: while possessed, the practitioner retains their own lucidity and is not controlled by the invoked deity's spiritual form.

"It must be the Great Sage Sect's child‑possession art—only that gives such fierce offensiveness, not only rebounding sorcery but also immune to **law." I pondered, recalling carefully.

It is said that when the Great Sage Sect's child‑possession art is mastered to the extreme, the possessed becomes like one bearing the secret of reversing strikes, able to rebound sorcery back; moreover, the possessed body hosts a deity's spiritual form, making the soul mighty, and **law cannot bewilder it at all.

I carefully examined the black‑clad man's martial routine: his punches were chaotic and disorderly, usually only after Pangzi grew tired from fighting would he seize the moment to throw a counterpunch; and though his feet seemed planted firm, there was a feeling they didn't truly touch the ground.

"Seemingly yes, seemingly no, seeming to be in heaven"—that saying describes the state after child possession. Still, I wasn't entirely sure. To further confirm, I casually picked up a branch from a mountain tree, about my height, and tossed it toward the black‑clad man's hand.

In the Great Sage Sect's child‑possession art, the invited spirit is usually a fragment of Sun Tai'zu's spiritual form; the Fighting Holy Buddha's art is essentially a staff, and monkeys love trees. If the black‑clad man truly employed that sect's child‑possession art, he would surely snatch the branch I threw without hesitation.

As expected, when I threw the branch, the black‑clad man immediately turned, caught it, fondled it in his hand a few times, then his aura shifted abruptly, giving the impression of towering stature. Wielding the branch, he charged straight at Pangzi.

The branch in the black‑clad man's hand seemed to turn into an unstoppable iron rod, exuding an aura that could stir heaven and earth; it pounded Pangzi until he cried for his mother, repeatedly shielding his vital spots, yet the black‑clad man's force was immense—each time Pangzi blocked, he gritted his teeth and drew deep breaths, his pain making him hop about like a monkey.

I've truly opened my eyes—a person weighing 150 jin can be this agile. Egad, look at that leaping posture, it's in no way inferior to the monkey taken away by the cave‑dwelling senior… Hou Lei.

"Chen Hai Sheng, you bastard! I couldn't beat him anyway, yet you threw him a weapon—whose side are you on, helping me or hurting me?" In the fray came Pangzi's heart‑rending wail, utterly miserable.

Sweat… it seems I, in trying to confirm my hypothesis, once again inadvertently screwed Pangzi over.

【44】 ------------.

Sweat... It seems I, in order to confirm the idea in my heart, once again inadvertently trapped Pangzi.

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