Lin Jin wasn’t the least bit anxious because he was already prepared. Patriarch Xue Pao’s acting skills may be praiseworthy, but Lin Jin had never trusted him from the start. Moreover, Clear Wind was sensitive to murderous aura so he had been secretly warning Lin Jin of the impending danger since they stepped into this cave.
Lin Jin was bidding his time, waiting for the enemy to strike.
“Slay!” Lin Jin called out.
From his waist, the Clear Wind Sword turned into a blinding flash of light. Two jets of sparks sliced forth from above and under Lin Jin.
Everything happened in the blink of the eye. Without moving a single muscle, Lin Jin easily resolved the lethal crisis with Clear Wind’s help.
The shadow that fell from the ceiling was a strange-looking ant beast. Its lower half was the body of an insect while the upper half was that of a woman’s. She wore a menacing expression, and her teeth were gritted. One of her sharp arthropod limbs had been sliced off by Sword Energy and blood gushed out of her open wound.
Zombies with severed limbs crawled out of the ground, some of which had been sliced cleanly in half across the wasit. Even if they managed to rise from the ground, they had already lost most of their mobility.
In another corner stood Corpse Taoist with a dark expression. A strong aura of death surged behind him as the silhouette of a six-clawed zombie dragon slithered into Lin Jin’s view.
He scoffed at this outcome.
“I knew it.”
Back at Heavenly Spiral City, Lin Jin had already guessed that Corpse Taoist and Patriarch Xue Pao would be in cahoots. This scene merely confirmed his suspicion.
The half-woman, half-insect monster must be the queen of the subterranean ants.
She was also an ally of Patriarch Xue Pao.
Lin Jin instantly fired a needle at the ant queen only to have her parry it away with her tough insect claw. The moment she deflected the attack, she scoffed contemptuously.
“Hmph, useless tricks!”
Thankfully, the needle was intended by Lin Jin to be an offensive weapon. He only wanted to appraise the ant queen.
‘I see. She’s only a monster at the peak of Rank 5. Although she’s also a rare beast, she would only be on par with Xiao Huo at most,’ thought Lin Jin.
Given the current situation, with Corpse Taoist and the ant queen paired up, they seemed to overpower him. Of course, one should not forget that they had Patriarch Xue Pao, whose combat ability remained unkown, on their side. In other words, they had the upper hand in this battle.
On the other hand, Lin Jin was alone so he seemed to be in a terrible spot, no matter how one looked at it.
“Curator, I’m sure you never expected this, did you? Even if you’re a phenomenal expert, you won’t be able to get out alive today,” said Corpse Taoist menacingly.
After his defeat back in Heavenly Spiral City, Corpse Taoist had been enduring the humiliation ever since. Now that he could finally unleash his rage, his goal was to kill Curator.
Having said that, Corpse Taoist said to Patriarch Xue Pao, “Lord Xue, stop holding back. Curator’s cultivation is not to be underestimated so we have to work together. Otherwise, if he manages to escape, there will be no end to our troubles.”
In other words, he was saying that Curator already knew where Patriarch Xue Pao was hiding. Now that they had fallen out, if he didn’t steel his heart to eliminate Curator, the latter would surely return for revenge.
They only had one option.
“Corpse Taoist, you don’t need to tell me that. It was already part of my plan to kill Curator. Clearly, he isn’t an immortal, but he’s still trying to put on an act. He thinks he can fool me! What a joke!” Patriarch Xue Pao snickered darkly.
A tidal wave of blood gushed out of the blood giant’s body, and it enveloped Patriarch Xue Pao’s psyche. Following a loud boom, an invisible burst of energy was unleashed, forcing out the Psyche-Refining Needles that Lin Jin used on him.
The blood blended with the psyche and morphed into a clone of Patriarch Xue Pao.
His aura had now surpassed the ant queen and Corpse Taoist, putting him on par with the zombie dragon.
Lord Xue’s clone cackled. “Curator, since you can’t move the immortal’s corpse, there is no use keeping you alive. Killing and then devouring you might just increase my strength, and then perhaps in a few more centuries, I’ll be able to break that immortal corpse’s restriction spell myself. When that happens, the world will be mine to roam.”
“Patriarch Xue Pao, there’s no use telling him so much. Let’s just work together and focus on killing him, lest the situation changes.”
Due to his resentment for Curator, the death aura behind Corpse Taoist grew thicker by the second. The zombie dragon hidden in the dark fog was also grunting out of agitation.
Lin Jin remained composed and showed no intention of escaping, as if everything was still under control.
“Corpse Taoist, Patriarch Xue Pao, did you really think you can win?”asked Lin Jin mockingly with hints of contempt.
“Why wouldn’t we? Even if you’re an immortal, you’d still succumb to a battle of attrition with the three of us. No more can you rely on an army of allies to help you this time.”
Corpse Taoist looked confident. It seems that they had planned this coordinated attack thoroughly. It was also a surprise attack so no matter what precautions Curator took, he would never have suspected there to be three experts waiting to ambush him.
Yet, Curator’s tone gave Corpse Taoist a bad feeling.
He didn’t sound apprehensive. He didn’t even seem surprised by Corpse Taoist’s unexpected appearance.
‘Was Curator already aware of the ambush that I laid? No, that’s impossible! He couldn’t possibly have discovered my plans. He’s probably just faking it!’ Corpse Taoist thought.
“Attack!”
Corpse Taoist planned to wait no more. Behind him, his zombie dragon kicked up a cloud of death aura and came pouncing forward dauntingly.
Simultaneously, the ant queen created a strange sound with her abdomen. It appeared that the sound was to summon her ant workers, as thunderous rumbles could be heard throughout the cave system. This rumbling sound reminded Lin Jin of thousands of horses galloping across a plain.
To be besieged by thousands of ants in a place like this, anyone would find it difficult to escape.
Patriarch Xue Pao took action as well. Blood red mist exploded from his body, creating a thousand-feet-wide barrier that imprisoned everyone within its vicinity.
Inside the barrier, Patriarch Xue Pao’s attacks would be greatly enhanced.
The ant horde wasn’t a concern as it would take more time for them to reach here, but the zombie dragon had to be taken down first.
Lin Jin called, “Clear Wind, come forth. Slay the dragon!”
In an instant, the sword gleamed like shining stars in the night sky. Then, a chilling flash swiped across the air, forcing the ferocious and domineering zombie dragon to quickly retreat with a loud cry.
In just moments, the battle was decided.
Corpse Taoist’s eyes widened in disbelief. Ever since he turned Dragon Taoist’s pet beast into a zombie dragon, this was the first time such a thing happened. It had suffered an instant defeat in a head-on attack.
When he looked closer, he noticed a gaping laceration on the neck of his zombie dagon. It was more than ten feet long, and deep enough that he could see the bones beneath the flesh. Had it not been for the zombie dragon’s tough skin, it would have been decapitated like any other dragon.
Even still, this injury was severe for the zombie dragon. It needed to use death energy to mend its wound or its combat ability would greatly decrease.
The zombie dragon had been defeated by Clear Wind in just one attack.
This surprised even Lin Jin.
