Chapter 772 – Four Kills, The Layout (2)
Can you blame him for turning green?
The guy who was torn apart by the Lord still shows up here, transformed into a seductive beauty about to be styled in the Qin Lou Chu Guan. It’s practically a ghost story!
“Is this woman a ghost?”
Feng Zhen thought about their earlier encounter, and goosebumps shot up all over him from sheer disgust.
“She’s alive, but she has some ghostly skills; she can resurrect fully even after dying. Why are you so scared?”
What do you mean “she can resurrect fully after dying”? Coming back from the dead is already weird enough, let alone being torn apart and then reviving!
Feng Zhen was practically speechless—his fearless Lord confronts a horde of demons without flinching, but he? He’s chicken!
Lord, you’re truly the best Lord ever!
“Lord is just joking; I’m merely a mortal, how could I not be afraid?”
After living nearly thirty years, seeing fairies and monsters for the first time, it’s a miracle he wasn’t reduced to a quivering mess!
“You’re scared too? I truly can’t see it. If I weren’t watching you, you’d probably be lost in her charms right now!” Jiang Pengji teased, her gaze fixed on Huan Er’s every move, while he turned green as if someone applied green paint on him.
Just the thought of that creature making advances on him made Feng Zhen’s stomach churn, nearly spilling his guts!
Meanwhile, Huan Er shot a venomous glare at Jiang Pengji, gritting her teeth.
“Liu Xi, one day, I will tear you to pieces!”
Jiang Pengji chuckled lightly, “You said ‘one day’; it certainly won’t be today.”
Faced with such mockery, Huan Er’s face turned ashen.
Past experiences told her that Jiang Pengji’s fighting skills were terrifying; she had no chance to escape.
Was she meant to face death again?
Images of the agony before her death floated through her mind, making her involuntarily shudder.
If it weren’t for the System’s insistence, she wouldn’t want to face Jiang Pengji at all.
With cautious defenses on her face, she nervously asked the System, “System, can’t you think of something? Am I supposed to beg for death?”
The System wanted to play dead, but finally spoke up, albeit reluctantly. “Liu Xi is strong, but Feng Zhen is different. If death is inevitable, you could consider using Feng Zhen to distract Liu Xi. If all else fails, you can implant the Ninth-Rank Loyalty Talisman into Feng Zhen. The Ninth-Rank Loyalty Talisman costs merely 2,500 popularity points, but resurrecting you will require at least a billion or more popularity points.”
She would need to owe at least a hundred thousand popularity points to resurrect, enough to buy forty Ninth-Rank Loyalty Talismans!
Thinking about that sum, Huan Er’s face turned an even darker shade.
After dying several times, she’d been lamenting the high cost of the Ninth-Rank Loyalty Talisman, only to end up paying the price of death.
Had she known earlier, she should’ve used a few more Ninth-Rank Loyalty Talismans; perhaps her situation would have been much better!
“What’s this thing?”
Jiang Pengji frowned, noticing a strange layer of spiritual energy around Huan Er’s hand.
“It’s going to turn you into the most obedient watchdog!”
For safety’s sake, she had also borrowed the System to buy a few Substitute Life Puppet cards.
These things were incredibly useful; if it hadn’t been for the Substitute Life Puppet cards, she would have been assassinated by Xie Qian long ago!
With that said, Huan Er didn’t care about her half-exposed clothes; with a flash, she charged at Jiang Pengji.
Feng Zhen watched in horror as Huan Er’s fingernails elongated in a bizarre way, becoming about three inches long, silver-white, and treacherously sharp. An empty hand waved, leaving ten silver-white afterimages in the air, sending shivers down anyone’s spine.
Jiang Pengji was already familiar with her tricks.
Just as she was about to strike, an attack that should have landed fatally strangely veered aside.
Huan Er felt a cold grip in her chest; Jiang Pengji had just crushed a Substitute Life Puppet!
The System chimed in her mind, “First draw Liu Xi’s attention, then switch fire to Feng Zhen; she won’t be able to react in time.”
Huan Er cursed inwardly.
She knew what to do; what was the point of the System giving advice now?
Feng Zhen wiped his brow secretly while retreating from the fray.
He realized that staying here was just causing trouble for the Lord; it was better to distance himself to avoid being a hindrance.
As the last Substitute Life Puppet got destroyed, Huan Er suddenly twisted her body—she should have charged at Jiang Pengji but instead darted towards Feng Zhen with lightning speed. Jiang Pengji anticipated this, moving to block the path and taking the hit.
Surprisingly, the blow didn’t hurt; her right arm just felt slightly numb.
Not only Jiang Pengji was taken aback, but Huan Er’s expression also shifted from shock to wild elation.
However, her joy was short-lived when a hand pierced through her left chest, extinguishing her light.
Feng Zhen struggled to sit up. “L-Lord—”
“Go fetch a lamp.”
Feng Zhen complied, bringing over an intact candle to Jiang Pengji, watching helplessly as she dripped oil onto Huan Er’s corpse, covered it with a few flammable materials, doused those with lamp oil, and finally set it ablaze… was she cremating the body?!
“This demon… is she really dead?”
“Last time we tore her apart, someone fed her body to wolves, and she nearly vanished, yet she still came back to life?”
Feng Zhen felt a chill run down his spine.
“We should head back first and discuss it later.”
Seeing the body ignite, Jiang Pengji hoisted Feng Zhen through the window and hopped down to the second floor, choosing a secluded chamber.
“…Earlier, that demon seemed to use something to strike the Lord’s arm…”
Feng Zhen remembered Huan Er saying, “I’ll turn you into the most obedient watchdog,” feeling an unease gnawing at his heart.
“Yes, you were indeed hit; that thing should be a kind of mental mark, forcibly controlling the soul… I know you won’t understand, just know that getting hit by it turns someone into an obedient puppet… tsk, it’s truly ugly…”
Jiang Pengji rolled up her right sleeve to reveal a large, bizarre black mark on her fair arm.
“Lord…”
Jiang Pengji chuckled lightly, “I did it on purpose; why are you panicking?”
With that, the black mark on her arm seemed to come alive, eagerly slithering towards her hand and palm.
For some reason, Feng Zhen felt a twinge of pity.
“On purpose?”
“With this, I’ve killed her four times already. The demon’s target is me; she’s just too dumb, falling for me repeatedly. Now she’s finally learned to go after my people. I can guarantee she won’t harm me, but I can’t promise she won’t seize another opportunity to hurt those close to me… I stopped playing with that thing long ago; I can’t believe she treated it like a treasure.”
Feng Zhen fell silent.
“Even so, that doesn’t mean the Lord should take risks…”
Jiang Pengji lazily lifted her eyelids. “Only if I ‘get hit’ will she continue to target me, preparing for Round Five. If this time she fails, she’ll just lurk around, plotting something else. This time it’s you, next time who will it be? I can defend against her attacking once, but not a second or third time. Rather than that, it’s better to let her keep fixating on me; let her come for me once more!”
There was one thing she didn’t mention.
She was not only worried that the incarnation would target her subordinates but also feared the incarnation might shrink back.
Only when the incarnation repeatedly fails her assassination attempts, dying and reviving over and over, will the popularity points stored in the subsystem rapidly deplete. If she gave the incarnation time to continue streaming for popularity points, Jiang Pengji’s plans could fall apart!
