Chapter 317: Lantern Staff

That yaoguai ran very fast, and in an instant, it had already crossed a mountain.

Only the fox was running on the treetops and in the sky, as if it were an ancient totem revered by people in ancient times, capable of catching up with it.

Lin Jue was about to take out another Divine Walking Pill when he suddenly heard a booming tremor in the mountain forest, accompanied by a sentence:

"Go this way!"

Turning his head to look,

The little ghost, with a serious and meticulous expression, floated among the trees, pointing its finger downward at Lin Jue. It remained motionless and did not come to find Lin Jue.

Behind it, the sound of rumbling was incessant.

Above its head, another white egret flew by leisurely.

Not until two stone horses crashed out of the forest with a roar, splashing dust and fallen leaves onto Chen Niu, did it suddenly vanish. When it reappeared, it was already beside Lin Jue, covered in dirt and grime. It patted the non-existent dust off its face while staring straight at the two stone horses.

Only when the stone horses reached Lin Jue's side did it reveal an expression of relief mixed with a bit of happiness.

"Found you!"

The little ghost vanished abruptly.

"Many thanks. Many thanks." Lin Jue thanked the spot where the little ghost had disappeared and then the stone horses. He immediately chose one, vaulted onto its back, and said, "I ask you two to assist me in pursuing the yaoguai ahead."

The stone horse did not hesitate; it turned and galloped toward that direction.

The gravel between the mountains was deeply trampled into the mud, while large rocks were crushed directly underfoot. The stone horse trampled through bushes, crashed through forests, and scaled mountains and ridges, chasing the yaoguai ahead.

Sitting on the back of the stone horse, Lin Jue felt nothing but constant jolting. The wind whistled in his ears, and the branches and leaves of the forests on both sides slapped toward him rapidly.

He could only follow the method developed by his junior sister, pressing himself tightly against the stone horse's back, clamping his legs, and gripping firmly with his hands, then turning himself into a stone statue. From time to time, when he chose a quiet moment, he would turn his head back into a human form to take a look at the situation ahead.

Although the yaoguai ahead had a human form, its running speed was actually faster than the stone horse.

Fortunately, it was not faster than Fuyao.

The fox frequently attacked it from the sides and rear. With a spit from its mouth, it would unleash either scorching solar spiritual fire or cold air and stone-sealing energy that could slow the yaoguai down, forcing it to divide its attention to cope. Sometimes the fox was even bold enough to intercept it from the front, engaging it in battle for a moment before disengaging and leaving, never entangling itself.

Lin Jue then slowly caught up.

With a thought, the flying swords in his sleeves shot out urgently.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

A series of sharp and subtle sounds of breaking air.

The yaoguai was just rolling to the side with its lantern to dodge the cold air spat by the fox above, not looking at the fox or the frost-covered grass where the cold air landed. Yet, it seemed to be able to see the dozen or so flying swords shooting rapidly from behind, and before it even stood up, it dodged to the side again.

At the same time, it swung the lantern backward.

The fox, still in the air before landing, looked down and could clearly see the yaoguai dodging most of the flying swords, while the remaining three were struck by the swinging lantern.

"Clang!"

The three flying swords collided with the lantern one after another, splashing a few sparks that were hard to notice in the daylight. The lantern was then knocked, shaking and immediately scattering many sparks.

The sparks landed, stirring up a patch of scorching white smoke.

The yaoguai stood up quickly, holding the lantern, and blew fiercely toward Lin Jue behind it.

"Whoosh!"

Not good! Fossilization Art!

Lin Jue immediately turned back into stone.

One could only see the sparks flowing like a river, rushing toward Lin Jue and hitting the stone horse with the wind, outlining the silhouettes of the stone horse and the Daoist, and also leaving many black spots on both of them.

The other stone horse, which was not carrying anyone, had already bypassed from the other side and crashed directly into the yaoguai.

The fox saw the yaoguai swinging the lantern with all its might again.

Daoist Qingxuan naturally bent down to stop him.

A loud boom!

Such a huge and heavy stone horse was actually knocked flying by its brute force.

But at this moment, the flying swords began to hum again.

Seeing this, the fox immediately looked at its own Daoist and indeed saw that he had changed from a stone form back to flesh. When it quickly retracted its gaze and looked at the yaoguai, several flying swords were spinning crazily, crashing directly into it and covering a large area.

"Hiss!"

No matter how the yaoguai dodged, it added several more wounds to its body, sucking in cold air from the pain.

In its anxiety, it became even more ferocious, using all its strength to swing the lantern and knock away several flying swords, then fleeing forward again.

The fox's eyes were agile; it landed slowly, and as soon as its four feet touched the ground, it jumped lightly and turned into a white shadow again, gliding forward with the wind.

Unexpectedly, the yaoguai looked back and spat out another river of thick, inseparable black smoke, wrapping the fox directly within it.

The next moment, the Daoist, riding the stone horse, also stepped over the place where the yaoguai had previously stood.

With the person and the fox separated by a distance, when they passed through the black smoke, the yaoguai was nowhere to be found.

"Where did it go?"

Lin Jue and the fox looked left and right.

"Ah~"

A heron's cry came from overhead.

"Many thanks!"

Lin Jue immediately pointed in one direction:

"Go this way!"

The stone horse immediately raised its hooves, and the fox glanced at him before quickly chasing in that direction.

Not long after, the fox caught up with the yaoguai again, spitting cold air behind it. When it rolled to dodge, the fox extended its claws to grab it. If it saw the yaoguai making a turning motion, it would immediately stop and lean back, avoiding the cast-iron lantern swung from its hand.

Under its harassment, Lin Jue also caught up quickly.

However, this yaoguai really had some life-saving skills, actually escaping again and again.

Although they had the white egret friend watching from the sky, and the fox later found an opportunity to leave claw marks on it, making it unable to escape the group's tracking, they were chasing it further and further away.

Not knowing if they had run dozens or a hundred miles, they gradually reached a steep cliff.

Lin Jue chanted a spell rapidly.

Mountain Pressing Down!

"Ah!"

The yaoguai's body became unstable for a moment, and it fell directly to the ground, rolling forward along with the lantern.

At the same time, the flying swords hummed again.

The yaoguai reacted very quickly. Its withered left hand, equipped with sharp claws, slapped the ground with unknown strength, and even while bearing the weight of the Mountain Pressing Down, its entire body was able to leap into the air.

The flying swords arrived in an instant, shooting into the place where it had originally rolled and falling deeply into the grass.

However, this was only half of them.

The other half of the flying swords were still spinning in the air and, taking advantage of the moment it was in the air and unable to borrow force, suddenly slashed toward it.

The yaoguai was immediately terrified, exerting force to exhale and borrow the wind, but it only managed to move itself a few feet to the side.

Two or three flying swords spun rapidly and immediately grazed its body.

"Hiss!" The yaoguai couldn't help but let out a cry of pain, glaring at the Daoist approaching on horseback in the distance. It even felt that this had been calculated by the Daoist.

But before it landed, the flying swords that had previously stuck into the ground drilled out of the mud and shot backward into the sky.

This Daoist was leaving no way out for it!

The yaoguai gritted its teeth, its entire body flipping in the air, one hand swinging the lantern while the other formed a claw and slapped toward the flying swords.

However, it heard the Daoist say—

"Freeze!"

The yaoguai felt its body stiffen and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

It was only a very short moment.

Just this moment caused it to lose the initiative.

"Puff, puff!"

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The flying swords, re-forged with added golden essence and refined by Lin Jue, were incomparably sharp. Yet, when they pierced its withered body, it was like ordinary blades stabbing into hard wood, penetrating less than an inch.

The yaoguai crashed to the ground and rolled forward.

How could Lin Jue let go of this opportunity?

He waved his left sleeve, throwing out several mountain stones to strike the yaoguai, while his eyes stared fixedly at it, using all his strength to call and control the flying swords.

After being refined, these flying swords seemed to have a truly mysterious connection with him. Not only could they move and control power more flexibly according to his will, but even in his urgency, they seemed to be able to feel his emotions and resonate with him, bursting forth with greater power to assist him.

The yaoguai was already covered in blood, relying entirely on its cultivation and terrifying vitality to hold on. Even though it was still perfectly clear about the stones and flying swords attacking from all around and tried its best to find gaps to dodge, this body could ultimately no longer follow its will.

"Puff!"

A flying sword pierced its left shoulder, making its whole body shake. Immediately, several more flying swords shot over, hitting its abdomen, left chest, and throat respectively. Before it could feel the pain, several more flying swords spun into a full moon in the air and slashed straight toward it.

"A hundred years of cultivation! Destroyed by your hands! This grudge will surely be avenged!" The yaoguai gritted its teeth and cried out, its voice trembling. However, when it shouted, it still didn't look at Lin Jue.

"I advise you to frown..."

Lin Jue thought it was chanting some spell and was about to interrupt it. Only after hearing the rest did he realize it was just making threats, but he didn't begrudge this bit of magical power and persuasion.

However, this was already useless to the yaoguai.

On the cliff, the yaoguai already had several flying swords stuck in its body, and more flying swords were spinning, reflecting the daylight, flashing in the air, and cutting into its body.

By the time the voices of the person and the yaoguai fell, it had already collapsed to the ground.

In the distance, the fox tilted its head, watching the yaoguai.

But in the next instant, a residual shadow quickly drilled out from the yaoguai's body, like a black wind, and flew into the cliff ahead in a flash.

The fox's expression tightened, and it immediately chased after it.

Lin Jue, however, frowned—

"Enough! Don't chase!"

"..."

The fox had clearly jumped off the cliff and was stretching its body in the air. Hearing his voice, that slender and elegant body turned back with the wind and jumped back.

"Ying?"

The fox tilted its head, looking at him.

"We can't catch up, and we've chased too far. If we chase any further, we'll reach the Leopard King's lair." The Daoist and the stone horse stopped at the edge of the cliff, pushing down a few pebbles. The faint pain from his injuries made him realize that chasing further would become increasingly dangerous. "Do not pursue a desperate enemy, lest there be changes."

"Touch mouth?"

"Yes..."

Lin Jue rode the horse forward to the yaoguai's side.

Looking down—

The yaoguai's originally black, thin, and withered body had shrunk somewhat for some reason. Several flying swords were nailed into it, and others were embedded in it, while the cast-iron lantern lay beside its hand.

"You and I will surely meet again! And your Great King too!" Lin Jue looked up and shouted toward the cliff ahead, "Until we meet again!"

The voice passed through the forest and drifted toward the cliff.

Lin Jue looked down again, watching the fox sitting nearby, raising its paw to wipe its mouth constantly. Then he looked at the lantern, extended his hand, and the lantern flew up automatically, landing in his hand.

The lantern pole felt cold to the touch but was not heavy.

It looked like wood and also like metal.

However, the "lantern" itself was very heavy.

This lantern was indeed more like the top of a stone lantern in a palace garden, resembling a pavilion, made entirely of metal, with grids of various sizes around it, inside which a bit of firelight shone. Holding it in his hand, it felt like holding a magic staff connected to a lantern, and also like holding a huge chain hammer shaped like a lantern, which the yaoguai sometimes truly used as a chain hammer.

This seemed to be its important magic treasure.

"Not right..."

Lin Jue suddenly frowned.

While holding this lantern, there seemed to be some residual images in his eyes.

It seemed as if there were two overlapping scenes before his eyes.

Lin Jue suddenly closed his eyes.

Upon closing them, he was surprised to discover—

As long as he held this lantern, even with his eyes closed, there were still scenes of the surrounding world before his eyes.

And when he turned his head, the scene followed.

Even if he didn't turn his head and only used his mind to shift the direction, with his eyes closed and his head facing forward, he could still see the scenes to his left, right, and behind.

"So that's how it is..."

No wonder that yaoguai could see the fox and flying swords attacking from behind and the sides without turning around, and no wonder it never looked at people when speaking. It turned out to rely on the wonders of this lantern.

I fear it was indeed a blind man.

And this lantern could not only be used as a chain hammer and blow out a sky full of scorching sparks, but it actually had such wonders.

"Heh..."

Lin Jue laughed, looked down at the yaoguai's corpse, and then looked into the distance.

It said "this grudge will surely be avenged," but as a blind yaoguai that had lost a hundred years of cultivation and its most important magic treasure, how could it come to seek revenge on him again?

"I'll be the one to seek you out instead."

Lin Jue looked at the fox, which was still wiping its mouth, said "burn it," and then asked the stone horse to head back.

Behind him, the sound of roaring flames arose.

(End of chapter)