Chapter 479: 453 Suspicion Breeds Phantoms (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Qingchuang Luoying)

Aqin said the lake water was her domain, and that was not wrong at all.

The surface of the lake was shrouded in shadow, but it was still water; the gently rippling waves caused everything on the shore to form blurred reflections upon the water.

These reflections were under Aqin's control.

If the sky were blue and the clouds white at this moment, with the beautiful white pagoda reflected in the water, surrounded by green trees and red walls, then Aqin would have plenty of resources to command; she could even move the white pagoda to suppress enemies. It was a pity that there was nothing like that now, but they still had their own reflections, and with reflections, Aqin could do many things.

Almost in an instant, the figure of a white fox had moved several dozen zhang in front of the lake water, as if it had passed through a gate of space.

"Slow down, slow down!"

Ling Baoyu felt a wave of dizziness, having already appeared in another place, and hurriedly reminded her not to go out of bounds; since they had gone to such trouble to lure the monster, they shouldn't let it run away.

Fortunately, that giant was truly somewhat persistent; even though the enemy had disappeared from its sight, it did not give up, suddenly taking a step forward and entering the water.

Ling Baoyu looked back, staring intently at the giant; she wanted to see if this kind of shadow giant could actually enter the water.

She saw the giant step into the water, and smoke immediately began to rise from under its legs; a portion of the legs that should have entered the water suddenly turned into shadow smoke and dissipated, yet the giant remained standing on the surface of the water, unfallen, only its legs were left as half of their original size, with a short lower body and a long upper body, looking quite deformed.

Good news, the giant does not dissolve in water.

Bad news, the giant has no regard for structure; even if it turned into a spinning top with a pointed bottom, it would not fall over.

It was even using its two half-legs to tread on the water surface to chase after them, its speed no slower than it was on land.

Ling Baoyu was highly suspicious—since having legs or not made no difference, then why run at all? Wouldn't it be better to just float?

Could it be some kind of inertia of thought?

Judging from various signs, the giant did not seem to be able to fly. A shadow race that could emit smoke and turn into shadows, yet could not fly—did this not also indicate that they were a true race, with strengths and weaknesses, and not virtual creations of shadow?

If they were some kind of existing race, then that was perfect; they had the weaknesses of shadows, and perhaps they had the flaws of their own race as well. The more mature a race developed, the less likely it was to be flawless, instead having shortcomings accumulated along with its development.

For example, there was one right in front of them: water.

The giant was not harmed by the water and could still move as fast as flying, but it clearly could not dive, so hiding in the water was safe.

Thinking this, Ling Baoyu directed Aqin to maintain her speed and continue the work of luring. This task was not difficult; Aqin's advantage on the water surface was too obvious. Especially after confirming that the giant could not enter the water, they already had a relatively reliable safe zone to fall back on; Aqin went without saying, and Ling Baoyu could also dive into the water at any time to protect herself.

If only the enemies that came back then had such obvious weaknesses; unfortunately, those who invaded back then, besides shadows and monsters, included cunning and comprehensive enemies—humans.

Aqin was also puzzled in her heart: where were they going? Besides the exit leading to Haiqiao City, was there anything else different about this lake?

Ling Gugu said she wanted to find "me"—was that literal, meaning herself?

Was she looking for her own body?

Could Ling Gugu crawl out from the bottom of the lake now?

If she could crawl out, wouldn't everyone be able to...

Suddenly, Ling Baoyu said, "We're here."

Aqin stopped abruptly, letting Ling Baoyu pause on the water surface where there was no one for miles.

This was the center of the lake; water was in every direction, with only a faint shadow above.

"Aqin, move aside a little."

Aqin had originally wanted to ask about the specific plan, but when she saw a pair of green, cold-looking eyes, her heart stirred, and she quietly slid away several hundred zhang—this distance was too far for land, but not far on the water surface; not only could she rush back in an instant, but she could also see everything happening here in real-time through the lake surface, as every ray of light reflected on the mirror surface was her eye.

Ling Baoyu lay prone on the water surface in the form of a white fox, just like a real beast crouching in the grass, waiting to hunt.

Through the mirror surface, Aqin clearly saw the white fox's mouth slightly open, with extremely fine threads hanging down from between its sharp teeth, blowing all the way beneath the water surface, just like an old fisherman angling for fish.

Congjun Order! Ruyi Thread!

Aqin immediately remembered that Ling Baoyu had swallowed the Congjun Order into her belly, which must be her storage space. Now, at least one Congjun Order had decomposed into Ruyi Thread, starting from her mouth and turning into fishing lines that reached deep into the lake water to explore.

She must be looking for something, right?

Theoretically, the threads transformed from one Congjun Order were enough to reach the deep bottom of the lake; as long as one knew the location of an object submerged in the lake, one could connect to it. Especially since the Ruyi Silk possessed the Highness's authority, wherever it reached, intent was command, and all Cloud Silk products should actively connect to it.

Even that coffin-like Shelter from back then, wasn't it woven from Cloud Silk?

With just a single thought, one could drag the coffin out of the water.

So that means... Gugu really was looking for herself?

Was she going to use the Ruyi Silk to open the coffin and let herself crawl out to join the battle?

That was a very good idea, but having slept in a coffin for so many years, even if she woke up in an instant, she would still need to recover for a while, right? Could she still be called an immediate combat force?

However, it would be great to see Gugu; I wonder if, after so many years, Gugu still looks the same as she did back then?

Thinking this, Aqin felt a bit expectant.

Just as she was thinking, ripples appeared on the calm water surface. Although the shadow giant was large and ran fiercely, it had no weight when stepping on the lake surface, so these ripples were coming from under the water, as if something was about to come out.

It's coming, Gugu is about to come out...

Wait, that's not right!

So many ripples... where are these ripples? This is like a boiling pot!

The waves all around were boiling!

She saw that with the white fox's landing spot as the center, one wave after another appeared all around; each wave formed a vortex, and perhaps each vortex was not large, but together they made the water surface turbulent, boiling as if it were magma waiting to erupt.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Several shadows emerged from beneath the water with a continuous bubbling sound, and for a moment, the water surface was filled with ghostly shadows.

They really were ghost shadows!

Aqin stared intently, unable to help but be dumbfounded. She saw countless monsters of all shapes and sizes crawling out of the lake; some were gloomy, some were twisted, some had three heads and six arms, some were gnashing their teeth and sucking blood, and others looked like giant flesh-worms covered in sharp teeth.

Everything she could imagine, could not imagine, had read about in books, or had encountered in nightmares—demons, ghosts, and monsters—crawled out of the lake one after another, filling the lake surface; some were dark, some were filthy, some were colorful, some were pale and void; they crowded and jostled against each other, and at a glance, all kinds of bizarre things filled her field of vision, making one feel waves of nausea.

Aqin was so frightened that her reflection wrinkled, and she cried out, "Gugu—"

Our pond has been polluted!

Are these ghosts derived from the Wangliang? How disgusting, to ruin our beautiful Mingzhu Bay like this; I must clear them out...

Just as she thought this, she saw countless evil ghosts swarming up, climbing toward the shadow giant one after another, instantly submerging that mountain-like figure. Some ghosts could not touch the shadow and passed through the giant's body, while others were directly swallowed by the shadow, as if burned by black fire. But there were also some ghosts, like those giant flesh-worms, that climbed steadily onto the giant's body as if climbing a tree, opening their mouths to bite off a piece of the black shadow's body, swallowing it as if feasting on flesh and blood.

There were too many of those ghosts, and they were still crawling out from under the water in an endless stream; even if only one-fifth or one-tenth of them could bite the shadow giant, the number was considerable, and they were visibly causing damage to the giant. The saying that many ants can kill an elephant is exactly this.

The Shadow giant was besieged and naturally struggled frantically; clumps of black smoke emerged, submerging the monsters on its body, only to be immediately submerged again by new monsters climbing up, repeating the cycle over and over.

As for the Shadow giant, it seemed to lack complete intelligence, its combat relying entirely on some sort of "program," so it could not protect itself, instead instinctively attacking and attacking again; it had been flustered by the density of attacks from the sunflower bird earlier, let alone now when there were ten or a hundred times more evil ghosts. One could see every inch of it attacking, moving everywhere, looking as if it were convulsing from an electric shock.

Aqin felt her skin crawl watching this, feeling as if ants were crawling all over her—though she did not even have a body—yet she could not fathom why such ferocious ghosts would turn to bite the giant, so she turned back and called out: "Ling Gugu, why are these ghosts standing on our side?"

Just as she finished the sentence, she saw Ling Baoyu, or rather, the eyes of the white fox.

Those eyes were greenish, like two balls of ghost fire, and the silhouette of the white fox in the Shadow, was it not just like the tales of the Ghost Fox Sword from strange stories?

In an instant, Aqin suddenly realized: "Ling Gugu, were those ghosts summoned by you?"

She trusted and relied on Ling Baoyu very much, and after discovering this, she did not feel fear toward Ling Baoyu because of it; instead, the ghosts did not seem so disgusting to her anymore.

It was just that she hoped these ghosts were "summoned" temporarily, rather than being "raised" in the lake water all along, otherwise she would still feel that the pristine Mingzhu Bay had become dirty.

Ling Baoyu grinned, revealing the fox's full mouth of sharp teeth, and said: "Have you heard that Suspicion Breeds Dark Ghosts?"

Aqin was stunned; she did not know what Ling Baoyu's Sword Intent was, so naturally, she would not follow the logic of her Sword Intent, "Fox-Doubt," to guess about her Sword Technique or Sword Art, only finding it hard to comprehend, and shook her head.

Ling Baoyu smiled, baring her sharp teeth: "It has been over a hundred years. For over a hundred years, every time I felt Doubt, a ghost would be born in my heart, but it could only ever be hidden within that Doubt, unable to be released. Layer upon layer, it has been pressed down for so long. Back then, the Highness told me this Sword Law was uncontrollable and prone to backlash, telling me to often release the ghosts to exhaust them, but even now, I have accumulated a hundred years' worth. Let the Wangliang enjoy this hundred years of Doubt!"

Aqin looked at the monsters covering the ground and thought: Is this all there is after a hundred years? Gugu's Doubt is truly quite strong, huh?

Suddenly, Ling Baoyu turned her head to stare at Aqin, her gaze filled with suspicion, and shouted: "How do you not even know this? Are you really Aqin?"