Shuffling footsteps sounded from the darkness. A ball of dim light floated up, illuminating a deathly pale Jiangchen Xie as he strode out of the abyss with a strange smile.
It seemed that they’d departed entirely from the tunnel the Scaled-Dragon King had dug. On the alert, the little nun and Yu Hengluo fixed their eyes on the approaching enemy.
The man had changed into a smoky long robe, and a streak of blood dribbled down the side of his mouth. Moreover, there was an enormous hole between his brows, through which one could glimpse his frothing brain. His eyes dripped with even more malice than before.
“Again, Jiangchen Xie?” Unfazed, Yu Hengluo raised her bamboo staff and broke the darkness with an expanding glow of emerald light.
From behind the little nun rose a sword atlas. Three hundred and sixty-five immortal swords circled around her, unleashing solemn killing intent.
“You aren’t Jiangchen Xie, but a zombie!” she cried out, her eyes suddenly afflicted with fear. She hurriedly stopped Yu Hengluo from making a move, seeming to have fallen into a waking nightmare as debilitating fear weighed heavily on her.
Increasing pinpoints of dim light dotted the darkness as out shambled more copies of Jiangchen Xie. All of them bore eerie smiles on their faces, and the same large hole was between their brows. They looked identical, like statues poured from the same mold. Even their expressions were the same.
The thief’s tunnel had disappeared, leaving them in a vast world of pitch black. An endless line of Jiangchen Xies shuffled out from the depths of darkness. Outside of the fist-sized hole between their brows, they all looked entirely normal. However, the little nun’s keen senses told her they were all zombies.
“We can’t attack them! These are all a really strange kind of zombie. If you attack them or come in contact with them, you’ll get turned into one as well!
“A few years ago in an ancient tomb, my senior brother… he turned into a zombie like this right before my eyes.” The little nun shuddered dreadfully, her voice suffused with fear that sent a shiver down Yu Hengluo’s spine. These Jiangchen Xies were those strange kind of zombie?
“What about the Scaled-Dragon King? He can’t really be dead, can he…?” Yu Hengluo was at a loss for what to do. She tightened her grip on the bamboo staff, palms sweating, and forced herself to calm down. Looking around, she muttered, “What is this place?”
The little nun tensed, the lost look in her eyes clearing.
“I know where we are now… Be careful, I’m very likely to suddenly disappear like the scaled-dragon. Remember, everything you see here is fake.”
As soon as she finished talking, her face went white and her body began rotting, emitting a pungent smell of decay. In only a few breaths of time, she turned into a zombie.
Bam!
After another five breaths, her body exploded, splattering Yu Hengluo with thick, dark yellow slime.
At the same time, Yu Hengluo noticed that the zombie Jiangchen Xies had disappeared as well. The sky slowly dimmed to a dark red as a fiendish shadow slowly appeared from the void and towered over everything.
……
“Ghost Deceives God… Why is this here?” Lu Yun smiled wryly at the frozen Scaled-Dragon King, little nun, and Yu Hengluo. Ghost Deceives God was even more terrifying than Ghost Hits Wall.
The latter blinded only one’s vision and perception, while Ghost Deceives God could evoke the fears buried deep in the living soul, combining them with reality to create a deadly killing layout.
This was a true killing layout that feng shui masters used as a weapon. A natural layout it was not, but one formed when powerful feng shui masters forcibly combined various layouts into a new whole.
Fortunately, this particular one wasn’t all that powerful. It must’ve been damaged before.
His three companions had stumbled upon Ghost Deceives God when they returned, and their consciousnesses were thus taken in.
It was a realm of illusion. Once trapped, the only way to escape was to break through the illusion with one’s own will. Failing to do so would result in one falling completely into the realm of illusion, never to return. Physically, victims would turn into a walking corpse.
The Scaled-Dragon King wouldn’t be a problem. Lu Yun could wake him up through the Tome of Life and Death if need be. However, he couldn’t offer any help to the little nun or Yu Hengluo.
Unfortunately, Lu Yun had only two months at his disposal. At the end of the two months, he had to return to Dusk Province no matter what the results of the exploration were. He couldn’t possibly stay here and keep watch over the two girls.
“Wake up!” Lu Yun snapped, his eyes flickering with black light.
The Scaled-Dragon King shuddered, jerking out of the overwhelming fear between life and death. Cold sweat poured down his body in rivulets.
“Milord… milord…” he panted heavily.
Lu Yun nodded, then created two talismans out of thin air and attached them to the little nun and Yu Hengluo. Dark light rose around them and transformed into protective cocoons.
“Guard them well. Let’s go.” Lu Yun believed the two were strong-willed enough to escape the damaged layout themselves.
Bobbing after the Scaled-Dragon King, the two cocoons rather looked like two balloons. The scaled-dragon smiled wryly. He’d first been summoned to do manual labor, and was now a nursemaid. Nevertheless, he didn’t dare complain.
Once activated, Ghost Deceives God became a realm of illusion for the consciousness and attached itself to its victims. Unless its victims could shake free of the illusion, they would stay trapped even if their bodies moved away.
If only the little fox was here, she’d be able to easily break the layout. Lu Yun stepped into the celestial master tomb with the Scaled-Dragon King and two cocoons in tow.
