“All because of this?”
The man’s face twisted, unable to believe the Ghost King was completely unmoved.
“What are you all staring at? Attack!”
With a sharp shout, the man circulated his true qi, striving to stem the loss of yang energy. A burst of colourful clouds broke through the grey mist’s suppression, spreading through the front hall, carrying the scent of a hundred flowers.
“He still has some fight left,” the Ghost King sneered, flipping his treasure mirror. A beam of light shot out, enveloping the colourful clouds, freezing them in mid-air.
“What?”
The man’s pupils contracted, his form flickering as he tried to break free from the Ghost King’s grasp.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The Ghost King’s hand extended two feet, seizing the man again.
“Feigning injury, full of tricks, but it’s useless,” the Ghost King chuckled. “Cultivators with inheritance are hard to catch. My Mysterious Nether Qi can’t fully bind you, but it can suppress half your strength. Did you think I didn’t know?”
“What?” Lu Zheng’s eyes flashed.
In an instant, the woman and Yan Hongxia erupted.
The woman spun, splitting into two, then four, and within a breath, sixteen figures filled the hall, each dancing, launching soul attacks at the Ghost King.
Yan Hongxia spat out a sword pellet, which spun in the air, transforming into a three-foot white sword light, shooting straight at the Ghost King.
Lu Zheng was dumbfounded.
Good grief, none of them were truly subdued?
Unable to break the formation, they pretended to be captured, reached the core, and then struck?
And with perfect coordination, they targeted the Ghost King, a threat to both sides?
Damn, they’re all actors!
Clay Puppet Lu Zheng shuddered, his cloud qi breaking through the grey mist’s restraint. Though some mist clung to him, he could still unleash most of his power.
“By the Supreme Pure command, Flying Cloud Shatter Evil, now!”
“By the Supreme Pure command, True Cloud Slay Demon, now!”
Clay Puppet Lu Zheng formed hand seals, joining the assault on the Ghost King.
“Hmph!”
The Ghost King snorted coldly, turning his treasure mirror. Its light swept through, dispersing clouds, dimming sword light, and dissolving the woman’s soul attacks and illusory forms one by one.
All four had been faking, but the Ghost King was fully aware, seeing through their ruse.
Though he knew they still had fight in them, he held a trump card, confident in suppressing their halved strength.
So he hadn’t minded chatting and playing along at first, having been secluded for so long without speaking to anyone.
…
“That treasure’s formidable!”
Once the fight began, their auras were exposed. The Ghost King was powerful but not overwhelmingly so. Together, the four could likely prevail.
But with that incredibly potent treasure mirror, the situation flipped into a one-sided rout.
“Break!”
The man finally broke free while the Ghost King used the mirror against the others, but he’d lost nearly half his yang energy, leaving him genuinely weakened.
“Seize his mirror!”
The woman spun, conjuring a dozen illusory figures again, lunging at the Ghost King from all directions.
“Child’s play!”
The Ghost King didn’t even use the mirror, merely dispersing the illusions with a wave of ghostly qi.
Yan Hongxia’s sword light darted around the mirror but couldn’t sever the Ghost King’s connection to it.
Clay Puppet Lu Zheng, far weaker than his true self and further suppressed, fought with great difficulty.
The man, injured, mostly dodged, occasionally landing a sneak attack, using Lu Zheng and Yan Hongxia as shields. The woman, too, relied on illusions, avoiding direct confrontation.
Though they diverted some of the Ghost King’s focus, most of the pressure fell on Yan Hongxia and Lu Zheng.
“We can’t grab it!”
After attacking together for a while, not only did they fail to seize the treasure, but the Ghost King weakened them further.
“Now it’s your turn!”
The Ghost King turned to Lu Zheng, sneering as he beckoned. Clay Puppet Lu Zheng flew toward him uncontrollably.
“Brother Lu!”
Though puzzled by Lu Zheng’s lacklustre performance, Yan Hongxia reached to grab him.
But Lu Zheng shook his head, pushing her away.
“We’re out of time. If this drags on, we’ll all die here. No more delays!” Clay Puppet Lu Zheng shouted.
“What?” Yan Hongxia was stunned.
“Don’t count on those two. Watch yourself!” Clay Puppet Lu Zheng glared at her, glancing at the door. Then he turned, hurling himself at the Ghost King.
“Hm?”
Expecting resistance, the Ghost King was shocked as Lu Zheng charged.
“What are you doing?”
Clay Puppet Lu Zheng grinned ferociously, ignoring the Ghost King’s attack, not defending himself. He surged with all his true qi, crashing into the Ghost King. Though gravely injured, he touched the treasure mirror.
“What!” Everyone was stunned.
Not resisting at all, his yang energy should’ve been drained instantly, killing him!
He was sacrificing himself to seize the mirror, giving the others a chance!
What a guy!
Lu Zheng grabbed the mirror, using all his true qi to briefly sever the Ghost King’s connection, taking it in hand.
The woman and the man exchanged a glance, their eyes gleaming, lunging to snatch the mirror from Clay Puppet Lu Zheng.
“Wrong!”
The Ghost King suddenly growled, realising he hadn’t drawn a shred of yang energy from this figure.
“You’re not human!”
The Ghost King roared, reaching to reclaim the mirror.
But Clay Puppet Lu Zheng slid low, flicking the mirror diagonally like a skipping stone across the hall to the door.
Yan Hongxia was waiting there!
From the moment the four acted together, Yan Hongxia sensed something off.
She roughly knew Lu Zheng’s strength and artefacts. She wasn’t surprised he’d feign capture, but after they were exposed and fighting, his performance was too lacklustre.
Yan Hongxia thought he was still hiding his strength, but when the Ghost King targeted him to drain his yang energy, and he still acted this way, she knew he had a plan.
…
Sure enough, as she caught the mirror, another Lu Zheng appeared beside her.
“Don’t resist!”
Yan Hongxia saw this Lu Zheng uncork a gourd at his waist, saying, “Collect!”
Her vision darkened, and she found herself in another space.
“This is…”
Lu Zheng’s voice sounded. “This is a storage gourd. It can’t withstand attacks, so don’t resist. I’ll take you out first.”
…
After speaking, Lu Zheng’s form sank, burrowing into the ground, speeding southeast.
“Hum!”
The mirror completely parted from the Ghost King, and strands of fortune’s light surged into the jade seal from behind.
One hundred twenty-two strands!
…
Moments later, in the darkness, Yan Hongxia heard Lu Zheng say, “Release,” and she found herself in a dense forest.
Looking back, the ghostly manor was gone.
“Where’s the manor?”
“I’ve gone two miles. Of course you can’t see it,” Lu Zheng said.
Yan Hongxia: ⊙_⊙
“So, you used Earth Traversal to bypass the maze formation?”
Lu Zheng nodded, matter-of-factly. “Yep!”
