Chapter 141: Roll Call (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

This sound exploded beside Lin Zi's ears like a thunderclap; Lin Zi's footsteps halted, his eyes round with fury as he stared fiercely at the Old Master.

The latter held his head high, his eyes filled with a mockery that saw through everything!

Their gazes met; panic surged in Lin Zi's heart, and his hands trembled involuntarily...

The light gathering from all directions onto the "Beheading Blade" suddenly became chaotic.

Zhu Sili's body had already swollen to a zhang in height; clad in golden helmet and armor, he wielded a two-zhang-long mace as easily as if it were a hemp stalk.

He had just smashed the entire body of the great ghost before him; the Wu Xiu's formidable qi and blood force spilled outward, terrifying the dozens of ghost soldiers originally surrounding him into a panicked flight, even trampling and shoving one another.

Zhu Sili suddenly planted the mace upright on the ground, glanced toward Lin Zi, and murmured in confusion: "What is happening..."

Xu Yuan stood atop the well-lattice, watching the law nearly complete, yet at the final moment, this "law" suddenly fell into chaos.

The "Beheading Blade," which had already condensed to its final step, began to scatter its light outward!

The Old Master, strangely holding his head high, spoke again: "You yourself do not abide by the law; by what right do you use the Ming Imperial laws to punish me?"

Lin Zi's hand trembled; the Beheading Blade completely dispersed. He stepped back two paces, his expression a mask of painful struggle: "I had no choice..."

Xu Yuan, standing atop the well-lattice, though unclear exactly what had occurred, could only sigh in regret: "My Lord Lin's law has been broken!"

Upon the well-lattice where Xu Yuan stood rested a copy of the "Rites Code."

Once the law was broken, a wisp of black flame erupted from this "Rites Code," whooshing instantly to burn the law book to ashes!

Simultaneously, on the other three well-lattices, the "Household Code," the "Military Code," and the "Punishment Code" were also burned to ashes!

Without the "law" to suppress them, the ghost soldiers' yin energy surged greatly, and they launched a ferocious, frenzied counterattack against the Captains.

The Old Master rose from the ground.

Where he had been suppressed, the ground was covered in black-yellow mud, yet his strange official robe remained unstained by even a speck of dirt, still bright and vivid, as if it were a set of... burial clothes!

And around him, a courtyard suddenly appeared!

The courtyard was formed from a burial mound.

The burial mound had been utterly destroyed, so this courtyard was no longer imposing; it looked as if it had been bombarded by the bronze-foundry cannons of the Northern Capital Divine Mechanism Camp, with walls, houses, and everything else collapsed.

But the courtyard gate still stood.

With a creak, the courtyard gate opened, and the Old Master stepped out; everyone suddenly realized: this gate was installed upside down.

The door latches were beneath their feet, the threshold above their heads.

Exactly opposite to the mortal world!

The Old Master sneered coldly at Lin Zi: "Why not bring the entire Zhan Cheng Office under my command? Hereafter, these ghosts shall still be under your leadership."

Lin Zi stared blankly at the law-object in his hand, now stripped of all light; the Old Master's words snapped him back to reality, and he gritted his teeth in reply: "Absolutely impossible!"

The Old Master laughed loudly: "You harbor ghosts in your own heart, breaking your own law; with what do you now intend to suppress me?!"

"Without you, who in this Zhan Cheng Office can stand against me?"

He disregarded Lin Zi: "I have called the roll of your subordinates; what will you use to stop me?"

With his hands clasped behind his back, he quickly walked to the hundred-plus Captains behind Lin Zi, pointing his finger: "You, you, you, you..."

This time, there was no selection; he pointed at every single one from start to finish without missing a soul!

The Captains pointed at instantly became dazed, freezing in place.

Before long, both eyeballs turned a ghastly white!

After calling the roll of everyone, the Old Master turned and walked toward the courtyard: "Follow me."

Those hundred-plus Captains all followed the Old Master.

Lin Zi watched as the Old Master was about to step through the courtyard gate, with his subordinate Captains about to follow.

Once that threshold was crossed, the living and the dead would be separated forever!

Lin Zi roared: "Though the law is broken, this official has other methods!"

He suddenly slashed down with the law-object in his hand; vast sheets of filament mesh shot forth from it, casting down over the Old Master's head.

It was as if Lin Zi had cast out a fishing net.

Xu Yuan, standing atop the well-lattice, sighed again: The Weaver's Law, the Ghost Silk Tent!

It really was him after all...

Yet Xu Yuan still felt in his heart that something was amiss.

The Old Master was startled, yet not panicked; his body suddenly shed itself, the strange official robe detaching from his form, inflating like a breath to three zhang in size, blocking Lin Zi's Ghost Silk Tent.

The Old Master, slippery as an eel, darted aside.

The Ghost Silk Tent lashed out fiercely, catching only that official robe.

The Ghost Silk Tent rapidly contracted, yet within it, the official robe transformed into a snakeskin!

The Old Master writhed in the yellow-black mud, still bearing a human head, yet his body had now revealed its true form: a black venomous python over ten zhang long!

Lin Zi shook the law-object; the Ghost Silk Tent unfurled, flinging the snakeskin away, then twisted again, binding the tent into a single rope that whipped toward the Old Master like a long scourge.

The Old Master ducked; the hairpin atop his head was shattered, and a mass of silver hair fell, revealing a sharp, pointed protrusion on the crown of his head, previously hidden by the hair bun.

The Old Master flew into a rage: "A corrupt official who knows the law yet breaks it; do you truly think I fear you?!"

He suddenly thrust a claw out from the mud!

This claw, like the one before, was an eagle's talon covered in scales.

Though it clearly struck directly, in an instant eight claw-shadows, each a man's height, flashed beside Lin Zi, attacking from different directions in rapid succession!

Lin Zi, however, dispersed the Ghost Silk Tent, enveloping himself within it.

Six of the eight claw-shadows were entangled by the Ghost Silk Tent, yet two broke through.

These two did not strike the body; one seized the soul, the other the spirit.

Each grabbed one of Lin Zi's three souls and seven spirits, yanking violently outward!

Lin Zijin cried out in pain, but at the critical moment, he split two ghost threads, each wrapping around one of his soul and spirit fragments, preventing the Old Man from snatching them away.

The Old Man laughed triumphantly: "Your law is Sixth Stream; I still have some caution for it. But this female weaving art is only Seventh Stream—it's no match for Old Man me!"

He rolled in the mud, then suddenly shifted into human form, raising a finger to name Lin Zijin: "Come willingly across this Yin-Yang threshold with Old Man me…"

A short sword flashed past his finger—so fast the Old Man froze, unable to react.

Half a finger fell off; black-yellow foul blood spurted seven chi away with a hiss.

The Old Man shrieked in agony, his cry strange as a baby's wail, his head shifting frantically between human and serpent heads, unable to stabilize!

The Old Man roared: "Come out to me! Old Man will eat you alive! Strip your three souls and seven spirits one by one! Eat your whole family alive!"

This hand was the first part of the Old Man to transform into a dragon.

This finger was the source of the Old Man's "naming" trick.

With this one cut off, the Old Man was furious, frantic, and in agony—his curses became incoherent.

(End of Chapter)