Chapter 29: Host and Guest Swap Places

The shadow guard stumbled, then vanished quickly.

A'nuo chased after him immediately.

Lu Xingzhou turned and sat back in his wheelchair, sighing: "Every son of the Huo family has a shadow who grew up alongside them; in times of necessity, they are essentially a substitute for death. When I was young, people from the Huo family even approached me, hoping I would become your shadow... How could you think I didn't know? But then again, how could you possibly qualify..."

Huo Yu gritted his teeth.

Indeed, knowing oneself and the enemy is the most important thing in the Jianghu; pity the price was too cruel—the first lesson learned required payment with one's life.

Lu Xingzhou mocked himself: "Seems his loyalty isn't that great after all; he just ran off like that?"

Huo Yu stared in the direction the shadow had vanished, looking somewhat dazed, and murmured incredulously: "You... the child by your side is actually the Ghost Boy of the Yama Hall! Then you... you are..."

No wonder this battle had such a strong Yama Hall style... This was the Yama Hall from start to finish...

"Don't call me that; A'nuo hates that nickname. If she hears it, she'll fly into a rage." Lu Xingzhou smiled brightly, bent down, and extended his hand to search Huo Yu's body, confiscating all the magical treasures he hadn't had time to use, and also took Huo Yu's personal ring.

"Not bad; the ring contains rich medicinal herbs and spirit stones, just right for my use."

A'nuo returned at that moment, saying softly: "He got away."

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "Shadows have their own strange methods of concealing their tracks; once they lose visual contact, they hide immediately and cannot be found. Never mind, it doesn't matter anyway."

Speaking, he smiled slightly at Huo Yu: "Sixth Young Master, please proceed on your journey."

"Bang!" A palm struck the crown of the head; Huo Yu's eyes widened roundly and he died on the spot.

"Let's go." Lu Xingzhou turned his wheelchair around, smiling easily: "Go to the City Lord's Mansion to see the excitement."

A'nuo pushed the wheelchair away with a grin: "I didn't expect Sixth Young Master Huo to be so weak... Among those in the hall, Liu Qingcang was actually the most formidable, causing a bit of trouble."

"Ha... Liu Qingcang has lived long enough too; picking fights endlessly every day, it's time for him to rest..."

The master and disciple left laughing all the way.

Not long after, that shadow arrived beside Huo Yu, panting heavily, bent down to inspect for a while, and let out a sigh. Suddenly, he joined two fingers and thrust them into Huo Yu's corpse's chest, forcibly digging out a pill from the sternum.

The pill was like white jade, with soft light swirling and spiritual energy permeating the air.

"Lu Xingzhou is nothing special after all, heh..." The shadow, having obtained the pill, panted a few times, feeling as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Just as he was about to leave, A'nuo's voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Little brother, what are you doing?"

"Whoosh," the pill, at some unknown moment, had been snatched into A'nuo's hand and then swiftly stuffed into her bosom.

The shadow was horrified and was about to flee, when Lu Xingzhou entered leisurely from the side door: "Sixth Young Master, long time no see."

With a "swish," Lu Xingzhou casually waved his hand, and a sharp gleam flashed. The shadow let out a agonized cry as both his legs snapped.

The shadow, in agony, curled up clutching his legs, his voice trembling: "You... you..."

Lu Xingzhou didn't even look at him, wheeling around the area, constantly inserting array flags into the ground here and there, as if setting up an array.

He answered casually: "I already said I knew the shadow would substitute for death when necessary. Then guess, did I ever suspect that the Huo Yu from start to finish was a fake, and the shadow was the real Huo Yu?"

The shadow—no, Huo Yu—clutched his legs with great effort: "On what basis do you guess that? Wasn't he arrogant enough?"

"Because Liu Qingcang didn't recognize Huo Yu at the beginning, and Huo Yu kindly explained that he was still young and hadn't fully grown back then... Why would he explain that to Liu Qingcang? It felt a bit like a forced self-introduction. Shouldn't it have been 'How dare you fail to recognize this Young Master, slap your own face'?"

Huo Yu: "... Just because of that?"

"Having suspicion wasn't enough..." Lu Xingzhou finished setting up the array, returned to the corpse, reached out, and lifted a mask. Sure enough, the corpse on the ground was wearing a human-skin mask resembling Huo Yu.

Lu Xingzhou toyed with the mask, a half-smile on his face, and sighed: "Why bother, Sixth Young Master? So many magical treasures placed on him, making himself much weaker, wasn't that it? Oh, I see, it's because you were originally much weaker than him, so you put him on display?"

Huo Yu twisted in anger: "Since you suspected early on, why didn't the Ghost Boy continue chasing me just now? Were you really not afraid I would actually escape?"

"My bone-embedded nail is on you; where could you run?"

"... Then why stage all this?"

Lu Xingzhou's expression became somewhat distant; he looked up at the stars and moon in the sky, and after a long while said: "Since you recognized me, you naturally should know I am very clear about the significance of that cauldron from back then. It contains extremely dense energy of creation, capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to white bones; the spiritual energy remaining in the Huo residence now is its residue... Using that cauldron to refine recovery-type pills could truly grant a second life."

Huo Yu stared at him tightly.

Lu Xingzhou continued: "Of course, relying solely on the cauldron isn't enough; the pills themselves must be of high enough grade. Such pills would not be many; giving one to each legitimate son of the Huo family would be about right, to save lives in emergencies... And such life-saving items would not be placed directly in rings or similar places easily searched by others; I don't know where you would hide them. Therefore, I had to set a trap to make you bring them out yourselves; killing you all wouldn't work."

Huo Yu murmured to himself: "So... from start to finish, what you wanted was this..."

"If the item was on you, then moments later the bone-embedded nail would explode; you would suffer severe injury and inevitably take the pill to save your life, and I would know. If the item was on him, you wouldn't bear to lose such a treasure and would inevitably return to retrieve it, and I would know." Lu Xingzhou finished speaking and said calmly: "In this trap, whether you are Huo Yu or the shadow makes no difference; even if I guessed wrong, it wouldn't matter. Any other questions?"

Huo Yu suddenly laughed loudly: "You have plotted every detail, but you never thought this item cannot cure your legs; your legs were deformed long ago, can pills restructure them? Did you never think it simply doesn't match the symptoms? Hahahaha!"

As the words fell, blood light suddenly erupted all over Huo Yu's body; the nails casually slapped onto him just now now exploded violently, like being cut to pieces by a slow slicing execution.

Huo Yu let out a agonized cry, curling into a ball again, sweat pouring down: "Huo Qing! What kind of hero tortures people? If you have the guts, just kill me quickly!"

Lu Xingzhou said indifferently: "You misunderstood... At least back then you were still young; the one who attacked my family wasn't you, so torturing you holds little interest for me. The reason I chatted so much with you was simply to wait for someone."

His expression inevitably carried some gloom... Can this medicine not cure the legs... It is indeed possible, because my legs are not something that can be fixed just by reconnecting them...

"Whoosh!" Thunder flashed in the distance; the Huo Lei and Huo Ting brothers finally broke free from the Yama Hall's delay and rushed straight here.

Behind them chased a fifth-grade assassin, calling out somewhat disheveled: "Judge... Mr., we did our best; these two are very strong, we cannot hold them for long, be careful!"

Lu Xingzhou looked up and smiled: "Enough, you have already exceeded the quota; I even waited for you for a while."

Huo Yu shouted sternly: "You two leave quickly; there is an array here, and also the Ghost Boy..."

He hadn't finished speaking before A'nuo sealed his mute acupoint.

Actually, at this moment, the severely injured Huo Yu's voice was too faint; the Huo Lei brothers simply didn't hear clearly. Seeing that Huo Yu seemed to be captured in the scene, they grew greatly anxious and sped over.

Just as they burst into the courtyard, fire erupted from all four sides with a boom, and thousands of sword qi crisscrossed horizontally and vertically.

The two were caught off guard; what the hell, this is their own residence, how did it become the enemy's main field?

They only had time to condense their罡 qi to withstand one blow, when a chubby child beside them, holding small fists, shot over like a cannonball, smashing heavily into Huo Lei's waist side.

The Yama Hall assassin behind them, like a shadow following the form, thrust a long sword into Huo Ting's back.

At the same time, several talismans floated up into the sky and burned without fire in mid-air.

"Boom-boom-boom!" Thunder as thick as a child's arm struck straight down.

It was like blooming flower rain everywhere, terrifyingly beautiful yet carrying endless death.

Lu Xingzhou leisurely unfolded a small banner.

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner belongs to him, not to A'nuo.

Thousands upon thousands of dark ghostly qi swirled and coiled, like ten thousand ghosts tearing and biting at the hands and feet of the two, refusing to let go.

His strength was far from the Fifth Grade; he could bully Huo Yu for not knowing his opponent and cross a realm to fight Huo Yu's Sixth Grade, but he had little output against these Fifth Grade experts. Yet, as interference and restriction, it was still achievable. As long as he restricted them for a moment, victory or defeat would be decided.

"Bang!" A'nuo slapped Huo Lei's sword away with one palm, and her small fist smashed heavily into the opponent's chest. Her seemingly soft, sticky fist, once it made contact, caused the chest to collapse and the internal organs to shatter.

The Yanluo Hall assassin flashed past with a "swish," and a bloodline appeared on Huo Ting's throat.

Huo Yu, lying on the ground, watched with wide eyes as his two strongest guards fell into a death trap. In just a few breaths of combat, without even splashing a drop of water, they both perished.

On their own home ground, ambushed and killed so easily while being supported.

The Yanluo Hall assassin bowed joyfully to Lu Xingzhou: "I never thought I would still be able to set a trap under the command of my lord the Judge in my lifetime. Not a single peer-level enemy was left; we killed them almost effortlessly. This kind of satisfaction is something this subordinate has not experienced for a long time and misses greatly."

The Judge... Huo Yu didn't even have the strength to complain.

Thinking he was dealing with a cripple, yet the opponent was an elder and strategist of the Yanluo Hall, the architect of the Yanluo Hall's organizational structure, and the right-hand man of the Yanluo Lord. Who was the ant trying to shake the tree?

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand: "Speak carefully; I am no longer the Judge. Go. The matters ahead are not suitable for you to appear in. The mission ends here. Remember, after returning, do not tell the higher-ups that you have seen me."

"Yes. We have no need to report the employer's information either." The assassin respectfully bowed once more and vanished in an instant.

A'nuo was happily patting the corpses, scavenging for spoils. After finishing, her eyes, gleaming green, fixed on Huo Yu: "Master, the bait has been used up. Shall we kill him now? He dared to curse me."

Lu Xingzhou shook his head: "Unseal his mute point. He is still useful."

Huo Yu, who had already been used as bait to hook his own guards to death, hearing that he was to be hooked again, was beyond furious: "Huo Qing! If you have the guts, just kill this young master! Frowning once means you are not a true hero!"

Lu Xingzhou smiled brightly, his tone gentle: "Young Master Sixth, how about I give you a chance to live?"

Huo Yu clearly knew the possibility was almost zero, but the desire to survive still made him ask: "What do you intend to do?"

Lu Xingzhou raised his head, looking toward the City Lord's Mansion where demonic qi surged to the sky, as if he could hear the fighting drifting over from there: "Demons and monsters running rampant are a common great enemy of us humans. If you can order Xu Bingkun to control the demons he raises, such a great merit can certainly exchange for your life. Even if I wanted to kill you, Sheng Yuanyao and the others would stop me, wouldn't they?"

Huo Yu paused for a moment, a flash of Xu Bingkun's earlier behavior, which seemed to be trying to cover something up, crossing his mind... Were the demons and monsters really raised by Xu Bingkun?

A new week, some monthly votes~ Just found out this actually benefits the new book rankings~

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(End of this chapter)