Chapter 230

The plank road of Sanyou Cave was not only in disrepair but also narrow and slippery, no more than five feet wide, with wooden boards already shattered in some places.

Arrows fell like rain, leaving nowhere to hide.

Li Yan's expression changed slightly, and he rolled sideways into the cave.

Bang, bang, bang!

On the ground outside the cave, arrows fell one after another; although they didn't pierce the stone wall, they gouged out small pits, and gravel flew everywhere.

Before Li Yan could get up, he suddenly felt a chill behind him.

"Hee hee..."

At the same time, eerie, sharp laughter rang in his ear; it was a human-skin shadow that had already attacked.

The refining time and difficulty of human-skin puppets were extremely astonishing; being favored by many evil cultivators as a secret technique, their power naturally could not be underestimated.

Once they took shape, they were bloodthirsty spirits.

Although rampant soldiers were strong, in the end, they only had souls; their advantages were obvious, and their weaknesses were equally obvious.

The physical body is the boat for the soul; if there is no physical body, the soul will be unconstrained, but it will also be restrained by the Geng and Sha Qi between heaven and earth.

Just like the rampant soldier that had ambushed Li Yan at Li Family Fort, it usually had to attach itself to a wolf's body, turning into a soul attack, unable to even enter the Li family's main gate.

And human-skin puppets, with human skin as the puppet's body and the seven emotions and six desires mixed with Yin and Sha Qi as the soul, were naturally stronger than rampant soldiers.

Those two human-skin puppets flew up and down, entangling with the rampant soldiers, gradually drawing them away, while another took the opportunity to sneak an attack.

The boatmen in the cave were all scared pale.

In their eyes, a figure suddenly appeared behind Li Yan, dressed in a red paper wedding dress, with a face like it had been brushed with white powder, bloody lips, but empty eye sockets.

The eerie laughter echoed in the cave.

At the same time, Li Yan only felt his whole body stiffen, and a cold, snow-white hand slowly reached out from his shoulder, carrying a pungent corpse odor.

Jingle!

Li Yan let out a cold snort, and the tassel of the Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coin swayed and rang.

The chill dissipated, his body regained control, and the Dust-Severing Blade performed a blade flower, backhanding and stabbing backward.

The power of the Dust-Severing Blade was beyond doubt.

With Shouyang copper essence as the core, having been bombarded by heavenly thunder for a hundred years, it itself possessed thunder-Geng killing intent, and coupled with the exquisite technique of the Huashan hermit, it had already been forged into a high-grade evil-breaking Dharma artifact.

"Ya~"

Before the blade edge arrived, the human-skin puppet screamed and retreated.

However, how could Li Yan miss the opportunity?

Clatter!

The invisible Soul-Hooking Rope whistled out, and the human-skin puppet in the air suddenly stiffened all over, followed immediately by a flash of blade light.

Poof!

The human-skin puppet was directly split in two, the Yin and Sha Qi dissipated, and with a "plop," it fell to the ground, turning into two limp pieces of human skin.

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the human skins dancing outside the cave.

"Ya——!"

Sensing his killing intent, the two human skins let out a scream and quickly hid in the darkness.

At the same time, on the plank road outside, the old Daoist who was controlling the human-skin puppets let out a muffled groan and almost fell down.

Controlling troops would cause a backlash; how could such evil, cruel human-skin puppets be an exception?

Being broken by Li Yan caused his mind to shake.

What was even more troublesome was that, taking advantage of this gap, two wind sounds followed closely in the darkness; it was the remaining two human-skin puppets.

The old Daoist was startled and hurriedly picked up the Dharma artifact in his hand.

A small copper gong and a locust wood pole.

The copper gong was used by the shadow puppet troupe's band.

The locust wood pole was used to control the shadow puppets.

On the day the evil technique was refined, these two items also became objects that could restrain the human-skin puppets.

Clang, clang, clang!

Dense gong sounds rang out.

To others, it was just somewhat noisy.

But the two human-skin puppets screamed in pain instantly, flew up and down twice, and then stopped moving.

Encountering such eerie things, even the surrounding Longxiang Army felt their hair stand on end, and a chill rose in their hearts.

"Daoist Cheng, just block the opponent's rampant soldiers!"

A hint of displeasure flashed in the old beggar's eyes.

These sorcerers and killers had all hidden in the Jingchu mountains to avoid the imperial court's wanted list, and were then hired by the master with heavy gold to assist him in completing the mission.

They talked big, but when it mattered, none of them were reliable.

The old Daoist's face was ugly, but he didn't say anything more, trying his best to control the human-skin puppets to entangle with Wang Daoxuan's rampant soldiers.

Right now, Li Yan and the others were forced into the cave, but the plank road outside Sanyou Cave was narrow, and no matter how many men they had, it wasn't that easy to attack.

The old beggar's escape technique was extraordinary, but after suffering a loss once, he didn't dare to sneak in and get close to Li Yan.

Thinking of this, a fierce light appeared in his eyes, and he snorted coldly: "Prepare, use the miasma smoke!"

Several black-clad men heard this and immediately stepped forward, unhooking bamboo tubes from their waists and throwing them fiercely toward the cave entrance.

At the same time, several archers fired arrows continuously.

Bang, bang, bang!

The bamboo tubes were shattered, and pink smoke rose; although much of it was swept away by the mountain wind, some still drifted into the cave.

"Retreat quickly!"

Seeing this, Yuan Baihu's pupils shrank.

Everyone retreated one after another; two boatmen were so scared they were stunned, unable to dodge in time, and inhaled the pink toxic smoke, immediately convulsing and foaming at the mouth, their faces turning pitch black.

Fortunately, Sanyou Cave was not small, with large caves connected to small caves; after they retreated through two caves, the toxic smoke no longer permeated.

Yuan Baihu said urgently: "This is refined from poisonous miasma in the Jingchu forests by rebels; the toxicity is very fierce, and the imperial court troops in Yunyang also suffered losses."

"We must find a way to break out!"

"The cave is blocked, where are we running to!" Sha Lifei roared with dissatisfaction, then looked at Li Yan.

Although the package containing the gunpowder had gotten wet, he had packed them separately, and there were still some that could be used; blowing up the plank road at the cave entrance could also block the enemy.

It was just that Yuan Baihu being here was somewhat of a hindrance.

Li Yan shook his head slightly, then said in a deep voice: "Everyone turn around, no matter what you hear, do not turn your heads to look around."

Yuan Baihu and the boatmen were slightly stunned, not knowing what he was going to do.

"What are you stunned for, turn around quickly!"

Sha Lifei was full of anxiety and cursed.

As for Wang Daoxuan and Lu San, they had already turned their backs and closed their eyes.

They knew Li Yan was preparing to summon the Yin soldiers.

These were not ordinary troops, but from the Yin Division, equivalent to the existence of the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect's register soldiers.

Ordinary troops were all Yin souls, fierce ghosts, mountain spirits, and evil demons; if one collided with them by accident, their divine soul would be damaged, and at the very least, they would be bedridden with a serious illness.

So when the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect's troops arrived to attack the mountain stronghold in Shangjin City, everyone was told not to move around.

And it was best not to even look at the Yin Division ghost soldiers.

If one was scared out of their wits, that would be another troublesome matter.

After everyone turned around, Li Yan had already taken out the Hooking Document, pinched the seal, and chanted in a deep voice: "Qingjia! Upper black heaven, lower black earth, black heaven without light, black earth without gate, Yin people send out troops, Yang people avoid, collect evil, evil retreats, collect ghosts, ghosts perish, I serve the Northern Yin Fengdu, act quickly as the law commands!"

As the spell fell, a cold Yin Qi shot out from the Hooking Document; it was precisely the Geng Order used to summon Yin soldiers.

Whoosh~

This Yin Qi fell into the ground, and a violent wind blew up in the cave instantly.

A cold chill rose, and frost condensed on the surrounding ground at a speed visible to the naked eye, the cold entering the marrow of the bones.

They had originally been holding torches, which flickered unsteadily.

But at this moment, the surroundings suddenly became dark, and the light of the torches seemed to be suppressed by this darkness, then extinguished, and one could not see their own fingers.

Immediately after, something even stranger happened.

The sound of wind, rain, and the footsteps getting closer outside the cave all disappeared and went far away, as if only they were left in the world.

Even Li Yan's vision was pitch black. He could smell some scents, but it was blurry and hard to sense, and the sound of armor came to his ears.

Are these the Yin soldiers?

A chill rose in Li Yan's heart, and he gripped the Hooking Document tightly.

He found he was wrong.

These Yin Division ghost soldiers and ordinary troops were completely different concepts, even somewhat beyond his understanding.

Clatter!

The sound of armor moving became more and more frequent.

At this, even the others could hear it.

It seemed as if a cold legion had appeared, passing by them, yet they could not see or feel any existence.

At this time, outside the cave, it was a mess.

The old beggar's divine ability was also very special; his two eyes flickered with red light, somewhat similar to X-ray vision, but it was being able to see the flow of Qi.

He saw Li Yan and the others forced back by the toxic mist, thinking the time had come, so he ordered an attack, rushing directly to the cave entrance to use the toxic miasma to kill everyone.

!.

Anyway, he wanted the item and wasn't thinking about taking live captives.

However, just as he reached the cave entrance, a fear rose in his heart.

Subsequently, visible darkness permeated outward.

This mass of darkness moved fast, accompanied by the dense sound of armor, and wherever it passed, the black-clad men holding torches were all swallowed up.

"Retreat quickly!"

The old beggar roared, hurriedly retreating.

He was shocked and puzzled, unable to understand how these trapped beasts still had such powerful sorcery?

What exactly was in that darkness?

The old beggar was curious, fully activating his divine ability, his two eyes instantly glowing with red light, exceptionally clear in the rainy night.

Subsequently, his body stiffened.

"General!"

The young Longxiang Army small commander Lin Silang shouted hurriedly, turning his head to look at the old beggar.

However, the old beggar did not respond at all, his face turning pale, cold sweat dripping like water, and in his two eyes, only fear remained.

Lin Silang felt his hair stand on end, but before he could think about it, the surroundings quickly fell into darkness.

In the blur, he seemed to hear the sound of chains, and then his consciousness became dim, as if falling into a black ocean, constantly sinking...

"Go!"

The three experts brought by the old beggar naturally didn't react slowly.

The Confucian scholar turned and ran, but his martial arts were average, and he hadn't even practiced hidden force, being swallowed by the darkness before he could run two steps...

The female assassin had the best skills, hidden force erupting under her feet, and she actually leaped high from the plank road, turning over in mid-air, falling from the cliff, and being swallowed by the rolling Yangtze River with a "plop"...

And the old Daoist who controlled the human-skin puppets was the unluckiest.

He was scared out of his wits and turned to run, but forgot to strike the gong in his hand.

Human-skin puppets were not like troops; every time they were used, they not only had to be stimulated, and one had to be on guard against their backlash, but they also had to be suppressed again after use.

The gong sound stopped, and a human-skin puppet whistled over, sticking directly to his back, as if he were carrying someone.

The old Daoist stiffened all over, and was swallowed by the darkness along with the human-skin puppet.

Another human-skin puppet broke free from its restraints, flying in the air with a "hee hee ha ha" strange laugh, seemingly wanting to escape this place.

However, the sound of chains rang out in the darkness.

That human-skin puppet seemed to be grabbed by an invisible giant hand, suddenly pulled into the darkness, and there was no more movement...

In the blink of an eye, the entire mountaintop was silent.

In the cave on the other side, no one dared to move.

Li Yan gripped the Hooking Document and swallowed his saliva.

He could feel that the summoned Yin soldiers had completed their mission, and their aura was rapidly dissipating.

One Geng Order could summon a battalion of five hundred Yin soldiers.

He had originally been afraid it wouldn't be enough, but the Yin soldiers' strength far exceeded his expectations.

Outside, nearly a hundred Longxiang Army men were all good hands at fighting, and there were four experts; close combat and sorcery were all difficult to deal with.

But facing the Yin soldiers, they had no power to resist at all...

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the sound of wind rose again.

The torches still flickered unsteadily, casting swaying shadows of everyone behind them; in this desolate mountain cave, the atmosphere was very eerie.

However, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to just now, they actually had the feeling of returning to the mortal world from the Nine Netherworlds.

Everyone looked at each other and walked toward the cave entrance.

On the plank road, it was densely packed with corpses; everyone's faces were livid, and there was even frost condensed, eyes wide open, and even the fear on their faces was frozen.

Those boatmen and the boat head were naturally scared out of their wits.

Everything before them had exceeded their understanding.

Even Yuan Baihu took a deep breath, secretly sizing up Li Yan, his eyes full of wariness.

This kind of power, a thousand-household office probably couldn't block it.

No wonder the City God Temple valued him so much...

"Search, see what you can find!"

Li Yan had already tucked away the Hooking Document and said in a deep voice.

Although Sha Lifei and Lu San were also shocked, they knew what was more important, and stepped forward one after another to grope the black-clad men.

Li Yan was naturally no exception.

He activated his olfactory divine ability; what these people had on them could not be hidden from his nose.

It didn't matter for the black-clad Longxiang Army men; Sha Lifei and Lu San found several bamboo tubes for poison, and carefully put them away.

They had seen the cruelty of this item earlier.

And Li Yan strode forward, directly groping the dead old beggar, immediately finding several items.

First was the other's erhu, which was an extraordinary Dharma artifact.

Subsequently, there were several medicine bags, which should have been things the other used to perform illusion and escape techniques, but unfortunately, he didn't know how to use them...

In addition, there was a token and a letter.

The letter was wrapped in oil paper and had not been dampened by the rain.

The lighting here was poor, and the wind and rain had not stopped, so Li Yan simply tucked it into his bosom, waiting to check it after entering the cave.

Subsequently, he searched the Daoist and the Confucian scholar.

On the Daoist, there were many odds and ends, including one-time Dharma artifact paper talismans, and some he couldn't figure out what they were.

The opponent's human-skin puppets were naturally also suppressed and killed by the Yin Division troops, and at this moment, they were broken and tattered, emitting a foul corpse odor...

As for the old Confucian scholar, he brought Li Yan a surprise.

The other carried a small bamboo box on his back, and besides bottles and jars, there were several books inside.

"It's a pity, one ran away."

Li Yan looked at the dark gorge below and shook his head slightly.

After returning to the cave, several people began to organize the spoils of war.

Li Yan first took out the letter and glanced at it casually; his expression grew increasingly solemn, and his face turned gloomy.

He didn't speak, directly handing it to Yuan Baihu.

Seeing his expression, Yuan Baihu had a bad feeling in his heart; after taking the letter and reading it for a few moments, his face immediately turned ugly.

"Dog thief, how dare you harm me!"

(End of chapter)