Chapter 237: Caught

Seeing Miao Zhen: …

Everyone inside the formation felt the scene before them waver. The few of them were overjoyed. Without Zhu Zixun needing to speak, Hu Jing and the other guards all struck toward the spot Zhu Zixun had just attacked.

With a crack, everyone heard it. The scene before them wavered again, blurred, and the pitted, bumpy road reappeared before their eyes. Tree shadows emerged on both sides, and beneath the trees were the grave mounds and white bones they knew so well.

The few of them knew — they had broken out of the ghost wall.

Zhu Zixun burst into loud laughter.

To their pleasant surprise, the thick fog was slowly thinning. The road ahead appeared faintly before their eyes, visibility growing higher and higher.

Zhu Zixun turned back to look for the convoy and saw it wrapped in a dense mass of fog. They couldn't make out anyone inside, and screams kept coming from within.

The faces of the group changed. Zhu Zixun and Hu Jing exchanged a glance and were about to rush in to save them, when Seeing Miao Zhen immediately stopped them, saying Solemnly: "Haven't you noticed? All the fog is surging toward here. These are all Yin-wraiths."

"This is the Yin-wraiths taking revenge. Someone has stirred up their savagery. Haven't you heard the crying and laughter coming from inside? They'll make you hallucinate, bewitch your mind…"

Zhu Zixun sneered, pushed her aside, and said: "If you're afraid, you simply don't have to go in. I took Song Bei's money, so naturally I'll solve his troubles for him. I'm not one of your Long Hushan Daoist Priests, who only think of self-preservation when trouble comes."

Seeing Miao Zhen: "…Hero Zhu, your Wu Gong is formidable. If you go in and your mind gets bewitched, that won't be help for them — it'll be a disaster. There aren't many inside who can match you."

Hu Jing also saw through the thick fog the guards slashing at each other, killing one another. He immediately said: "Hero Zhu, Daoist Priest Si Shui is right. Perhaps we should resolve this from outside."

"How do we resolve it? These Yin-wraith energies can be seen but not touched — attacks simply can't reach them…" Zhu Zixun paused mid-sentence, turned his head to look at Seeing Miao Zhen, narrowed his eyes: "You're a Daoist Priest, aren't you supposed to perform rites? Perhaps you could hold a ritual to deliver them?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: …If she could deliver them, would she still have to put up with his temper?

Seeing Miao Zhen said directly: "My abilities are insufficient. Hero Zhu should find someone more capable."

Zhu Zixun: "What good is Song Bei hiring you lot for, then?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: "I'm useless, but my little martial uncle is useful. Unfortunately, she was injured for no reason before she could even act. Even if she has the strength now, she can't go all out."

Zhu Zixun was furious.

Hu Jing had a headache and hurriedly stepped between the two to mediate, afraid Zhu Zixun might strike out in anger.

It was obvious that the supernatural events they were now facing required Pan Yun and her two martial nieces to resolve.

Provoking Pan Yun at this moment and making an enemy of her was not the right choice.

Zhu Zixun clearly knew this too. Though furious, he did not strike.

He glanced at the dense fog, gritted his teeth, and said: "Let's go find Song Bei and Pan Sanzhu first. Let Pan Sanzhu deal with these Yin-wraith energies."

Having said that, he turned to go find them.

As he walked, Zhu Zixun seemed to sense something. He stopped and shouted loudly: "Su Ying!"

Su Ying, who had been wandering around inside the maze trying to find a flaw, heard the voice coming from all directions. She suddenly raised her head: "Hero Zhu!"

The maze could only confuse a person's five senses; it couldn't completely block out sound. So Su Ying and Zhu Zixun both heard each other's voices.

Song Bei, who was being hunted by Pan Yun in the adjacent maze, also heard it and immediately shouted: "Hero Zhu, save me! Pan Sanzhu wants to kill me!"

The moment Song Bei's voice rang out, Seeing Miao Zhen immediately retreated. Hu Jing reacted fastest, turning and grabbing at her.

A Tang horizontal blade instantly appeared in Seeing Miao Zhen's hand. She slashed viciously at the reaching hand. Hu Jing instantly withdrew his hand, drew his blade at the same time, and attacked her with swift strikes.

Seeing Miao Zhen activated her lightness skill, fleeing at high speed while fighting back.

Zhu Zixun shouted: "Su Ying, capture Wu Huo, force her to lead you out of the formation. We've walked into a trap — this isn't a ghost wall, it's a maze set up by those three stinking Daoist Priests!"

Seeing Miao Zhen, while fighting Hu Jing, shouted: "Wu Huo, Qian three, Xun five, Kan two — retreat now!"

Inside the maze, Su Ying and Miao He heard their voices and simultaneously raised their heads to look at each other.

Miao He's eyes were wide and round, her plump little face full of innocence, so much so that Su Ying couldn't bring herself to strike for a moment.

Both fell silent for a moment, then Su Ying said: "Little Daoist Priest, could you lead me out of the maze?"

Miao He thought about the situation outside, sniffed, and said: "I can't. I can't let you lot gather together. How about we just stay inside the maze and wait until they're done fighting before going out?"

Su Ying sighed and said: "Then I'll have to offend you."

Before the words faded, his fingers formed a claw and he grabbed at her directly.

Miao He's two legs scrambled like she was fighting, thump-thump-thump retreating backward, back to her starting point.

Su Ying was surprised — this seemingly flustered lightness skill had actually dodged him.

Su Ying no longer held back and grabbed at her at full speed. The moment Miao He returned to her starting point, she immediately took three steps toward the Qian direction, then swiftly shifted to Xun, took five stomping steps, then moved to the Kan position…

Su Ying struck several times in a row, yet every time he was about to hit her, she would twist away and dodge. There was no time for surprise — Su Ying sped up, and Miao He also kicked two steps backward, then vanished from before Su Ying's eyes in an instant.

Inside the maze, only he remained in an instant.

Su Ying: …

Miao He suddenly broke free from the maze. The guards with Zhu Zixun saw her and immediately gave chase to grab her.

Miao He stood still. When they reached her, she said: "I'm sorry."

With a wave of her hand, a handful of yellowish-brown powder flew into their faces. The guards couldn't hold their breath in time — their eyes bulged, their noses began to bleed, and their bodies went limp and collapsed.

Zhu Zixun, who had already tracked the sound toward Song Bei's direction, was wandering around nearby trying to pull him out of the maze. Seeing Miao He suddenly appear and poison a group of guards, he immediately held his breath and lunged toward her at high speed.

Miao He saw him, turned, and ran.

Seeing Miao Zhen, while fighting Hu Jing, glanced over and shouted: "Go to the place with the most white bones — they won't hurt you!"

Miao He activated her lightness skill and ran toward the bone piles in the Lin Zi without looking back.

!. Read

Zhu Zixun had already made up his mind to catch one and use her to threaten Pan Sanzhu. This fat Daoist Priest clearly had the worst Wu Gong — if not her, then who?

With a slicing sound, Hu Jing's blade struck Seeing Miao Zhen's shoulder. With a forceful push, he actually pressed her down from midair onto the ground.

Seeing Miao Zhen clenched her teeth, silent. The horizontal blade in her hand strained against the Shang Blade pressing down.

Hu Jing looked at her with a cold laugh and pressed his palm down. The blade sank another two inches deeper. "Little Daoist Priest, I advise you to drop your blade now. I can spare you once. Otherwise, with one slash, you won't need this arm anymore."

Seeing Miao Zhen stayed silent. The elemental force in her Upper Dantian surged out violently, gathering in her palm and blade. As if she had gained endless strength, she pushed the horizontal blade against the Shang Blade, lifting it inch by inch.

Hu Jing was surprised, then frowned and said: "Now I finally understand why Zhu Zixun hates your Long Hushan Daoist Priests so much. You cultivate elemental force, not internal force?"

Elemental force held a crushing superiority over internal force, which Hu Jing found deeply irritating.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, internal force burst forth, and just as he was about to press down and dislocate Seeing Miao Zhen's arm, suddenly there was a loud bang, and at the same time the sound of something tearing through the air came from behind.

Without turning his head and without withdrawing his force, he pressed the blade down, spun his body on the spot, and in an instant was behind Seeing Miao Zhen, using her as a shield in front of him.

Pan Yun burst through the formation with Song Bei in tow, her gaze sharp and fierce. A flying dagger shot toward them rapidly, and just as it was about to pierce Seeing Miao Zhen's chest, she waved her hand—the dagger veered off, and with a clang grazed Seeing Miao Zhen and Hu Jing's faces before stabbing into the ground.

That dagger had been flung by her, its purpose being to stop Hu Jing. She had also anticipated that Hu Jing would dodge and might injure Seeing Miao Zhen in the counterattack, so she had attached a wisp of elemental energy and divine sense to it the whole time, able to redirect its course the moment something seemed off.

The instant the dagger stabbed into the ground, Seeing Miao Zhen violently slammed her head backward, smashing it right into Hu Jing's face; at the same time, the blade in her hand struck back with force, and in an instant she broke free from Hu Jing's hold, putting seven or eight meters of distance between them in a flash.

Hu Jing still wanted to press forward, but Pan Yun's sword was already pressed against Song Bei's neck as she said, "Hu Jing, dare to make another move and I'll chop off one of his arms."

Hu Jing couldn't help but pause.

Seeing Miao Zhen immediately ran back to Pan Yun's side, just about to report that Miao He had led people into the woods, when she heard Zhu Zixun call out loudly, "You dare! I'll kill her!"

Zhu Zixun flew out of the woods carrying Miao He, whose face was bruised and swollen.

The moment the two sides met, Miao He burst into wailing tears and said, "Little Xiao Shishu, I was caught, those vengeful spirits tasted blood and stopped caring about me at all!"

Pan Yun's grip on Song Bei involuntarily tightened, her face cold as ice. "Zhu Zixun, you shameless thing, beating a child like this."

Zhu Zixun said with a stony face, "Enough nonsense. Release the employer, remove Su Ying's maze formation, or else I'll kill her."

Pan Yun's sword moved, and Song Bei's neck was pricked slightly, a smear of blood seeping out. She said with a cold smile, "We can try it out—see whose hand is faster, and who will be the first to die."

Zhu Zixun looked behind her. On the ground seven people lay sprawled in disarray. A Xin struggled to get up from the ground, but could only manage to get up once; apart from him and another man in blue, everyone else was dead.

The blood quickly drew the vengeful spirits, and the fog along this stretch of road was rapidly dissipating.

Sure enough, human blood could satisfy them into retreating. If not for their ever-growing appetite and the ever-increasing number of lives they demanded, Song Bei would never have thought to invite Pan Yun and her group to follow along.

Seeing that Pan Yun killed without the slightest hesitation, Zhu Zixun knew she was not joking.

But…

The corner of his mouth curled up, and gripping Miao He's neck he said, "A life for a life—seems your martial niece isn't all that important to you."

"As a retainer, one must put the employer's house first," Pan Yun said. "Song Bei, you've raised him all these years, yet in his heart private grudges still weigh heaviest. I don't believe this is Zhu Zixun's character—then it must be that he too knows that those not of one's own kind must harbor different intentions. It seems he is quite wary of you as well."

Song Bei's face shifted several times, and he couldn't help but look toward Zhu Zixun.

More tonight

(End of chapter)