Chapter 31: Damn the Dragon

In the mountain hollow.

A black eagle circled overhead, its sharp eyes like a death warrant, locking onto the four figures below.

The wilderness was silent, save for the rustle of autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves and the gentle murmur of flowing water.

In the deathly stillness, He Can carefully observed every ripple and stir in the wilderness.

Lu Ming removed the sack from the puppet's shoulder and stepped slowly toward the corpse pit; inside the sack was an extremely corrosive poison, enough to dissolve all the corpses and erode the stone walls.

But unfortunately, before the two had taken more than a few steps, a surge of qi波动 suddenly came from behind the shrubs on the western slope.

He Can and Lu Ming turned almost simultaneously, staring at the swaying yellow shrubs, only to find thick toxic mist seeping from their surfaces.

The mist was ink-green; any branch or vine it touched withered instantly, turning black and charred, clearly laced with potent poison.

As the mist obscured the shrubs, a figure emerged from within.

The fog blurred vision, but faintly they saw the newcomer wearing a skirt, spinning in place as her sleeves flared wide, the entire figure nearly transforming into a top:

Hu—hu~

At nearly the same instant, a chilling wind surged across the slope; the toxic mist pouring from the figure's sleeves coalesced into two幽green venomous serpents, spreading like a whirlwind, instantly covering a radius of over ten zhang—seen from afar, it resembled a rapidly expanding typhoon eye!

"Hundred Ghosts Spread Plague?!"

He Can's eyes widened in shock—he knew someone had beaten them to it, expecting a Mount Zihui expert or Wang Fu retainer, but he never imagined encountering the pinnacle technique of the Gu Du Pai!

The Gu Du Pai of the Wu Sect, though weak in direct combat, possessed unrivaled area-denial power, and "Hundred Ghosts Spread Plague" was its supreme technique.

Lu Ming realized the situation had spiraled beyond expectation and swiftly retreated, shouting loudly:

"Friend, hold on! We're allies!"

He Can also called out loudly:

"Who are you?"

But unfortunately, the toxic witch on the slope, having chosen to strike, would leave no room for mercy; barely had the words fallen when the green mist surged into a tidal wave, rolling downhill to engulf the entire hollow.

Seeing the opponent, a fellow cultivator, show not the slightest courtesy, Lu Ming immediately slid a bone flute from his sleeve:

"Xiu~~ dudu~…"

Boom—

The moment the sound rang out, sand and dust erupted from both sides of the pond, accompanied by a thunderous explosion!

Two motionless hooded figures, without warning, leapt forward with the speed of thunder; the one on the right crossed his hands mid-air, gripping the hilt of his waist blade:

Qinglang—

As the blades drew, twin brilliant silver flashes cut through the toxic mist, striking straight into it, advancing toward the toxic master on the slope.

The left puppet, meanwhile, drew its three-foot sword and attacked the flank with thunderous speed.

The puppets had no consciousness; their every move was controlled by the witch. Though the toxic mist obscured vision, the blurred shapes within still allowed them to lock onto the witch's position.

But Lu Ming hadn't anticipated that the moment the two puppets charged into the mist, a vortex suddenly erupted from its side:

Sa—

Amid a terrifying rush of wind, a dark shadow surged toward him like a demon from smoke!

?!

Lu Ming's face turned ashen; he instantly changed the flute's tone:

"Dudu—"

Xie Jinhuan, using the toxic mist as cover, slipped silently downstream to the brook; the instant the two puppets moved, he unleashed a full-power ambush, aiming to slay the witch from behind.

But the puppets' reaction speed was inhuman—the dual-blade puppet, just moments ago charging up the slope, turned at a perfect right angle the instant the flute tone shifted, without pause, slashing twin razor-sharp silver blades across its flank!

Sa—

Seeing his flanking opportunity vanish, Xie Jinhuan did not retreat; instead, he powered forward with both feet:

Dong!

The explosion shattered the sandy ground into a circular crater.

The Tian Tian Gang Jian Club, dragging a storm of toxic mist, reached the dual-blade puppet in an instant; the iron club slipped between the twin blades and struck precisely at the chest.

Bang—

Instantly, the puppet's chest burst open, revealing black, leather-like flesh densely covered in intricate runes.

The heavy club pierced two inches into the chest, but met resistance like iron or petrified wood—further penetration was impossible; the residual force, however, hurled the puppet out of the mist, slamming it directly before the pond's broken edge.

Boom—

Such terrifying impact startled the two witches.

But puppets were meant to take blows; Lu Ming showed no hesitation, immediately commanding the puppets to close in and encircle.

Xie Jinhuan, having repelled one enemy, had not advanced more than a few zhang when the other puppet, wielding a three-foot blade, blocked his path; the single sword thrust forward, instantly spawning a hundred sword shadows:

Sasa sa—

Ding ding ding ding…

Xie Jinhuan parried with his club; sparks flew wildly within the toxic mist.

With Xie Jinhuan's Martial Path foundation, killing this man would take but one move.

But puppets were clearly not men.

The sword puppet refused to engage in technique or strategy, cared nothing for injury or death—its only goal was to strike with terrifying speed, each thrust aimed at a vital point!

The dual-blade puppet, though struck hard on chest and abdomen, was not destroyed; the moment it hit the ground, it sprang back up, swinging its twin blades wildly, each strike forcing a defensive response, forming a pincer formation with the sword puppet!

Three weapons clashed midair; in the blink of an eye, Xie Jinhuan left multiple fatal wounds on the puppets' necks and heart points.

Yet the two puppets pressed forward like an unceasing tide, not a drop of blood spilled.

?

Xie Jinhuan now understood why one must never take puppets seriously.

By all rights, he should have avoided its edge and circled around behind.

But Xie Jinhuan refused to believe in the supernatural. Discovering that hitting the death acupoints was useless, he immediately drew the Zhenglun Sword with his left hand, wielding twin blades in a combination of slashes and strikes, attacking the joints and the tendons of hands and feet!

Ting-ting-ting…

Lu Ming had restrained the martial artist who was closing in for a sudden strike; He Shen in the rear had wanted to ambush the poison master in the fog.

But the two clearly hadn't expected that two puppets still couldn't pin down this martial artist. In the blink of an eye, the sword-wielding puppet's hand tendons were severed, causing its sword to drop to the ground.

Seeing things turning bad, He Shen immediately spun the black umbrella in his hand, twirling it in midair.

Whooosh~

As the umbrella handle spun, black mist spread outward from the umbrella's edge; three white ghostly faces could be seen on the pitch-black canopy.

The mountain hollow also stirred up an eerie ghostly aura, dimming even the autumn light by a few shades, as if invisible things were drifting between heaven and earth, directly transforming the hollow into a purgatory of ten thousand wailing ghosts:

"Ah——!!"

But unfortunately, before the three little ghosts could play any role, a piercing electric static suddenly rang out from within the poisonous fog:

Crackle-crackle—

The sound was so shrill, like a hundred birds crying at once, and along with it a small patch of dark poisonous fog began to flicker between light and dark, showing a bluish-white hue!

The Zhenglun Sword is a divine weapon of Mount Zihui for suppressing demons, specializing in quelling evil and driving away specters!

Xie Jinhuan tried to use his miscellaneous-school thunder method to control the Zhenglun Sword, and discovered that the amplification effect was indeed astonishing, forcibly turning a few small electric arcs into a dense, packed thunder net.

Although it lasted only an instant, the moment Lei Guang flashed, the sinister ghostly aura in the mountain hollow was utterly swept away, and even the autumn light became warm and gentle.

?

He Shen, who was controlling the ghost umbrella, discovered it had become a fire-tending stick with no response at all, and an indescribable shock showed in his eyes.

Ghost-witchery, as the name implies, is the art of controlling yin-evil ghosts and specters to harm people.

The little ghosts were scared into not daring to show their heads, and the witch was naturally reduced to a bare-bones commander; the ghost umbrella in his hand, apart from sheltering from rain and sun, served no purpose whatsoever.

Such a situation should normally be impossible—after all, his umbrella was of no low grade, and divine ghost-suppressing artifacts in the world capable of such overwhelming power could be counted on one hand.

But clearly he had run into one now. Realizing he couldn't bring out his full strength at all, He Shen withdrew without the slightest hesitation:

"Retreat!"

Meanwhile, Lin Wanyi on the hillside, upon seeing how domineering the sword in Xie Jinhuan's hands was, felt no shortage of shock and suspicion in her heart.

But she had no time to think it through at the moment. With such a divine evil-suppressing weapon in hand, killing these two companions was child's play; she simply continued to urge forth the poisonous fog, pressing it toward Lu Ming, the only one with combat power remaining.

Lu Ming, controlling two puppets, still couldn't suppress Xie Jinhuan. Discovering that the other party also carried a high-grade ghost-suppressing artifact, he understood this battle held no chance of victory.

Seeing the towering poisonous fog bearing down overhead with nowhere to evade, Lu Ming could only fling wide his sleeves, tossing out several round orbs that scattered toward the two in the fog.

Whiz-whiz-whiz—

Bang-bang…

The orbs, like flying shuttles, plunged into the dark-green poisonous miasma and exploded midair, transforming into sheets of sticky giant nets that blotted out the sky with nowhere to hide.

Lin Wanyi was a poison master; her strength lay in covert poisoning and placing gu, and she had little frontal combat power to begin with. Seeing the giant nets flying toward her, she immediately flashed behind a pine tree for cover.

But she hadn't expected that when the giant net struck the tree trunk and rebounded, it instantly bound her up like a caterpillar.

Swish~

As for Xie Jinhuan, being a martial artist, his explosive power was far greater. With a flying leap, one mace and one kick sent the two battered puppets crashing into the giant nets; then his figure flashed left and right in succession, forcibly threading his way through the gaps of several giant nets.

Discovering the two had fled and the distance had already grown, Xie Jinhuan without hesitation flew sideways, adjusted his angle, raised the Tiangang Mace high, his whole body's muscles swelling, his qi like a stormy tide, and then hurled it with all his might:

"I'll throw your grandma—!"

Boom—

Amid the explosion, the Tiangang Mace, wrapped in boundless qi, split the churning poisonous fog clean in two, like an immortal's sword cleaving into the valley!

The iron mace spun along the mountain hollow; the stream below instantly exploded apart, exposing a rocky riverbed, and also kicking up a breaking-sea white dragon that scattered left and right and surged forward!

Lu Ming fled for his life with his head down. By the time he sensed the boundless edge pressing from behind, the towering air-wave carrying shattered rocks and splashing water had already pressed against his back.

Although this "loose-hand mace" strike was thrown from a great distance, its accuracy and force were both nothing short of unbelievable!

Lu Ming's eyes only had time to flash with a sliver of terror before the Tiangang Mace, like a flying wheel, struck his back.

Thud—

Only a muffled sound was heard, and a ball of blood mist exploded in the mountain hollow.

The figure that had been running forward swelled for an instant and vanished without a trace, leaving only two calves tumbling forward a great distance, blood dyeing several zhang of the surrounding ground in the blink of an eye!

And the Tiangang Mace's momentum unabated, like an unmatched flying wheel, continued to smash toward He Shen, who was fleeing ahead!

He Shen caught a glimpse of this terrifying strike from the corner of his eye, and his heart couldn't help but creep with horror; he spun his body in midair and unfurled his black umbrella!

Thud~

Boom—

The spinning heavy mace arrived in an instant, and the ghost umbrella instantly shattered into pieces!

The figure behind the umbrella was struck in the chest by the heavy mace and sent flying on the spot, skipping across the stream like a dipper, then crashing into the shrubs on the hillside!

Splash-splash-splash—

……

(End of this chapter)