Chapter 85: Zhang Hainan Gradually Understands Everything
Passing through the invisible barrier and entering the sealed area, the light before Zhang Hainan suddenly dimmed.
He stopped in his tracks, and with an unchanging expression, surveyed his surroundings, feeling the lingering spirit energy fluctuations in the air, nodding thoughtfully.
Immediately after, he furrowed his brows slightly, and a phantom blue flame suddenly appeared at his brow, creating a shallow ripple.
Spiritual awareness condensed into flame.
That terrifying spiritual awareness instantly spread out, covering the entire sealed area, and every blade of grass and tree in this region was meticulously understood in an instant.
“So that’s it, truly a terrifying method I’ve never heard of before…”
As he spoke, his eyes slowly opened, and a faint glimmer of ferocity flickered in his aged gaze.
From the corpses within the residential building and the bizarre existence that was chasing Huasang and “Gu Qiqi,” which was somewhere between an urban legend and a tangible object, he finally noticed some clues related to the dangers posed by the Secret Society, feeling a pang of regret deep down.
In the nearly hundred years past, he had witnessed all types of spiritual ability users and urban legends, understanding the origins of their powers, but as the night began to grow longer, more and more urban legends with abilities beyond his comprehension surfaced, making him feel like he was falling behind the times.
“Perhaps what Brother Qing Ji said is right; living too long makes things uninteresting…”
Zhang Hainan muttered to himself, regaining his focus and redirecting his spiritual awareness towards Huasang and “Gu Qiqi.”
This area, clustered with several aging residential buildings, formed a complex terrain on the streets, reminiscent of a primitive forest built of steel and concrete.
Countless shadows flitted through the “jungle,” colliding ferociously with loud crashes, sending dirt and stones flying into the air.
Two figures, like cornered beasts being hunted by a hunter, raced desperately.
“Oh? The situation is much better than I expected!” Zhang Hainan raised an eyebrow, a hint of a cheerful smile appearing in his eyes.
Though he often felt that he was falling behind the times, it was comforting to see that many outstanding young individuals emerged as the night began to lengthen, individuals that he too found difficult to understand.
With the presence of these young people, he was not worried about being eliminated or falling in his path of guardianship someday, for he believed that there would always be successors to carry on the flag.
But before that… they might still need some training.
That Huasang, every time she organized disciples to go down the mountain for training, always managed to slack off in unexpected ways; this time, she had truly been caught!
This area had already been sealed off by an unknown urban legend, and with enemies all around and crises lurking, he could help at a moment’s notice. Was there a better training ground than this? Zhang Hainan thought.
He did not know how strong “Gu Qiqi” was, but he was quite clear about Huasang’s capabilities.
Among the seventy-two elders of Dachunyang Palace, those stronger than Huasang could probably be counted on one hand.
“Sigh, that girl! It’s just that she’s worried that her spirit pattern going out of control may cause harm to others…”
From a certain perspective, her spirit pattern was “alive,” conscious, and the more she feared it, the harder it became to control.
Zhang Hainan sighed lightly, watching Huasang, who was being chased in a particularly disheveled manner; the smile on his face gradually took on a deeper meaning.
He recalled when he was young and Brother Qing Ji took him to Yumen for training; at that time, he was surrounded by thousands of shadow soldiers, and Qing Ji suddenly disappeared. He hovered at the edge of life and d*ath, struggling to hold on.
It wasn’t until he was almost beaten to d*ath by those shadow soldiers that Qing Ji reappeared before him, one man and one sword, clearing all the shadow soldiers with thunderous might.
And now, this excellent tradition would be passed down!
“However…” Zhang Hainan carefully swept through the entire sealed area with his spiritual awareness again, frowning, “Where did that kid Lu Yibei go?”
He had searched diligently but could not find a trace of Lu Yibei in this area.
To be blunt, even if Lu Yibei had been killed and blown to pieces, he would be able to capture the weak spiritual energy fluctuations contained in that pulp.
But the current situation was as if… Lu Yibei had never been here at all.
“Could it be that I was mistaken? That kid isn’t with Gu Qiqi? Didn’t Huasang say that kid was also trapped here?” Zhang Hainan said, “This… I need to ask about this later.”
————
In the dark, winding alley.
Huasang carried Lu Yibei on her back, her expression grave, dust mingling with her long hair, adhering to her cheeks, making her look particularly disheveled.
Alchemical bullets or spell formulas sporadically shot towards them, leaving shimmering trails in the darkness. She took each hit with her body and then fought back fiercely during the brief moments of her enemies’ attacks.
A shadow flew in, and after taking several alchemical bullets directly, Huasang stepped forward, her hands gripping the ruler, slashing downwards.
In that instant, what she held was clearly a slender ruler, yet it felt as heavy as a hammer as she swung it.
There was a horrific wailing sound as the shadow was crushed into meat paste by the powerful wind pressure from the ruler, and the smell of bl**d wafted through the air.
After Huasang landed this blow, another member of the Secret Society suddenly leaped out from a nearby building, silently opening a pair of oversized scissors more than two meters long, aimed at her neck.
Anticipating the sneaky attack, Lu Yibei hurriedly warned, “Watch out…”
Before she could finish her sentence, a sound of air breaking resounded.
Hearing the sound, Huasang abruptly turned around, planted her feet firmly on the ground, and surprisingly leaped into the air, charging head-on towards those gleaming giant scissors.
Bang!
Huasang’s head collided hard with the giant scissors, producing a high-pitched metal clanging sound.
The deafening roar of colliding spirit energy fluctuations disappeared in an instant.
The two remained locked in this clash for less than a second when Lu Yibei saw bl**d and sparks flying.
It was not Huasang’s bl**d but a pale, viscous fluid.
Huasang crashed into it and directly shattered the giant scissors that had merged with the Secret Society member, causing a shockwave that exploded flesh and bones from the arm as well.
Metal fragments mingled with flesh and bone scattered through the air.
As Huasang resolved the crisis this way, Lu Yibei couldn’t help but exclaim, “Whoa! I didn’t see that coming; you’re so violent when you fight!”
“But you should have sensed the sneak attack just now, why didn’t you dodge?”
Huasang shot her a sidelong glance, saying indifferently, “Too lazy to dodge.”
Lu Yibei, “…”
She seemed to have a point? If she had known she would not be injured, why dodge?
It was like a petal falling from the treetop landing on her head; nobody would dodge… except for those allergic to pollen.
If I had that ability too, along with anticipatory thoughts and alchemical dirty bombs… incredible! That would be a portable fortress!
“What’s this ability of yours? Unmovable King Golden Body? Can you teach me? In exchange, I can teach you whatever you want. How about the recipe for making alchemical dirty bombs? They pack a huge punch!”
“Can you just give me an answer? Stop looking so miserable!”
“……” Huasang glanced at her helplessly, “Aren’t you already out of spirit energy? Why are you still talking so much?”
She suspected that this woman’s claim of having exhausted her spirit energy was merely an act, a clever way of conserving strength.
Otherwise, who would have exhausted their spirit energy yet seemed more lively?
Lu Yibei pouted, “Being out of spirit energy doesn’t affect my ability to talk.”
Huasang, “……” d*mn, she made a bit of sense?
Just then, a roaring sound descended from above.
In the sky, segmented by buildings into a narrow gap, thick fog piled up, and a scarlet light poured down from the mist.
Then, a massive figure broke through the fog.
A body constructed of metal descended with astonishing speed, creating a dazzling flame as it tore through the air, like a meteor falling.
“Boom——!”
Accompanied by the roar, the ground trembled violently, and dust was swept away.
The sharp sound of metal grinding echoed as the dust was blown away, revealing a huge figure half-kneeling in the ground, from which some traces of cars could still be vaguely discerned.
A number of arms of varying thickness and length extended behind it, connecting to drill bits, soldering irons, electric saws, and other devices; beneath the fierce mask, six pairs of eyes burned with a scarlet glow, an impressive spiritual energy fluctuation spreading out, linking with the bizarre beings hiding in the dark, as if they were one entity.
“Whoa, kinda cool, like a hybrid between an alien and a car!”
“……”
Lu Yibei opened her mouth, wanting to say something more, but after being shot a glare by Huasang, she obediently closed it, gripping her neck tightly with her hands.
What could she do? She was out of spirit energy and had to depend on someone else.
Moreover, she had noticed that this weird creature was much stronger than those that had pursued them before.
So…
Worry not, Huasang, use the rocket hammer!
“Bang——!”
The sturdy legs wrapped in metal crushed the concrete beneath, and with a resounding boom, this bulky, non-human shell surged forward like an out-of-control armored vehicle, whipping up a howling wind that quickly closed the distance to Huasang.
Seeing this, Huasang stepped forward, swinging her ruler to meet it once more.
However, just as the ruler was about to smash into the bulky figure, it suddenly trembled, emitting a buzzing sound, and without warning, shattered into countless sharp black iron fragments that shot back towards Huasang like bullets.
Lu Yibei, “???” What the heck? The remnants of Ling Tai Purification… actually a betrayal?
Huasang, “!!!”
Earlier, when she had woken up in Chenyi Inn, she sensed that something had breached her room, spying from the shadows.
Simultaneously, she also noticed something was off with her ruler, but at that moment, she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, mistakenly thinking it was some undetectable change resulting from resonating with the broken sword.
But now, she suddenly comprehended what was happening.
Had it been corrupted by the Secret Society, or was it swapped out behind the scenes?
In a moment of dazed realization, countless fragments rained down upon her body.
Sparks flew, and muffled thuds sounded, dense as drumbeats.
In an instant, Lu Yibei could even feel the impact of those fragments piercing through Huasang’s body, crashing into her chest, making her ribs groan painfully.
At that moment, a screech echoed.
A massive fist rushed towards her, the blazing hot iron emitting a spiritual energy fluctuation on par with a spell formula ranked above seventy, creating a burn-like sensation as the air inhaled through her nostrils.
Without her ruler, Huasang had not yet steadied herself after the impact of the sharp fragments, when yet another blow came rushing at her. She had no way to dodge and could only raise her fists to meet it.
Fist collided with fist, compressing the air to its limits before it erupted, producing a thunderous crash.
“!!!”
Seeing Huasang stop that enormous fist, which was nearly the same size as her body, Lu Yibei’s eyes widened slightly.
The physical strength of a spiritual ability user could actually reach this level? She was surprised by Huasang’s performance.
To be honest, in that instant when Huasang and the bulky creature exchanged punches, she felt as if she were witnessing a scene where a transformed Gundam was brawling with Cybertronian aliens.
As the driver behind the transformed Gundam, she felt an exhilarating rush!
Mecha was a boy’s romance, but brawling mechas had their own unique charm.
However…
Soon, the remaining arms of the bulky figure followed, and under the violent assault, Huasang was momentarily overwhelmed, having to keep retreating and swinging her fists.
One punch, two punches, three punches…
The sounds of collision akin to war chariots colliding continuously erupted.
As she battled that bulky figure, Huasang’s face grew red, then white, and finally turned a shade of pale.
She could feel that with each collision, a foul, aberrant spiritual energy fluctuation hidden beneath the violent force was seeping into her body through her fists, destabilizing her spirit patterns to an increasingly precarious state.
Bits of darkness seeped uncontrollably from beneath her skin, spreading outwards…
————
On the other side.
Watching Huasang and “Gu Qiqi” being cornered by the bulky creature, with the spiritual pattern showing signs of going out of control and her possibly sustaining serious injuries, Zhang Hainan’s gaze sharpened. He formed a hand sign with one hand, ready to assist.
Just then, “Gu Qiqi” suddenly moved from behind Huasang, like a nimble little monkey, climbing onto Huasang’s shoulder, then leaping several meters, slapping the strange creature’s chest with one hand.
“Oh? Absorbing the darkness and converting it into her own spiritual energy?” Zhang Hainan exclaimed softly.
While he was speaking, a bright light burst forth from “Gu Qiqi’s” palm, with an irresistible penetrating force that drilled a hole the size of a bowl.
As the light from the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon faded, Lu Yibei swiftly stuffed two alchemical dirty bombs into the hole.
Then…
As the alchemical dirty bombs detonated, the fiery red light immediately engulfed the bulky shell, and amidst countless severed metal fragments flying out, flames intertwined with pale bl**d, blooming like a large dahlia in red and white.
Having witnessed the entire process of “Gu Qiqi” ambushing and killing the strange creature, Zhang Hainan slowly lowered his hand that was forming the sign, furrowing his brows, lost in thought.
The Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon… a talent skill that can detonate hand signs… quite a curious little bomb… absorbing darkness to transform it into spiritual energy…
These combined conditions led the word “calamity” to quietly surface in Zhang Hainan’s mind.
If the information from the Wordless Book friend is correct… Calamity should refer to Lu Yibei, right?
In other words, Gu Qiqi, Wang Buliu, and Jujuzi are all Lu Yibei?
Hiss, no wonder that girl Huasang said Lu Yibei was also trapped here… this little b*stard actually deceived me?!
After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Hainan gradually understood everything, a twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth, and his expression became increasingly nuanced.
