Chapter 149
Yu Sui and Li Jin Shuang were forced to separate and change positions due to the clash of two powerful forces. Fortunately, their Instant Shadow Talismans weren't destroyed, so as long as they stayed in the shadows, their whereabouts wouldn't be exposed.
The slender white cloth wrapped around his wrist spun around, encircling the giant golden butterfly and preventing it from moving. The scales falling from the golden butterfly's wings had already filled the entire passage, so thick they could blur vision.
Yu Sui smelled a strange fragrance spreading, but didn't dare breathe it in much, afraid there might be a problem. She covered her nose and silently retreated, keeping distance from the golden scales.
Ou Rushuang stood behind the giant golden butterfly, his eyes slightly narrowed as he stared at Lin Chenghai, smiling: "Buddhist School Heavenly Mechanism Arts, soul stealing and spirit swapping. Quite rare to see."
Buddhist School?
Yu Sui turned her eyes after hearing this.
This was a school that was nearly extinct and extremely rare on Xuangu Continent.
She had only seen it in books.
However, according to the books, Buddhist School disciples all had shaved heads. With Lin Chenghai's withered body and appearance, if you had to say he was a Buddhist School disciple, he would be one who had returned to secular life.
Lin Chenghai, wearing Wenyang Zhou's face, raised an eyebrow slightly, his voice still young: "Being able to recognize Buddhist School Nine Schools Arts shows some insight."
"Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have noticed." Ou Rushuang lifted his chin slightly: "It's just that today by coincidence, my Azure Blood Golden Butterfly was being playful. When it was secreting its internal toxins, it happened to fly onto Wenyang Zhou's body."
"The Agricultural School's Azure Blood Golden Butterfly is extremely poisonous. It needs to secrete its internal toxins daily to protect its master from butterfly poison." Lin Chenghai touched his face and laughed strangely: "You're quite ruthless, using this young man as a scapegoat without batting an eye."
Wenyang Zhou had told his brother Wenyang Xiu before boarding the ship that he had a bad feeling about this time. Now it seemed he was right. Among the hundreds of people on the entire Spirit Bird, he was the unluckiest.
"Being poisoned by the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly, even if he were lucky enough not to die, he should be unconscious by now." Ou Rushuang also smiled: "Earlier on the helm platform, you were so energetic. I thought about it for a long time, and only just now dared to confirm it was the Buddhist School's soul stealing and spirit swapping that allowed him to escape death."
Lin Chenghai chuckled: "So you're saying I saved his life."
"Not so." Ou Rushuang said: "If you hadn't possessed him, I could still have removed the toxins within the effective time. Now the time you've delayed is enough for him to die three to five times."
Lin Chenghai observed the surroundings with his peripheral vision: "I think you're making excuses for yourself."
"What excuse?" Ou Rushuang had an expression of listening attentively.
"This kid is from the Wenyang family, and his status isn't low. If you want to protect his life, you can't catch me." Lin Chenghai stared at Ou Rushuang: "If you want to catch me, you'll have to disregard his life or death."
Ou Rushuang: "We'll have to try to find out."
While talking, both were paying attention to each other's every move. The instant their conversation ended, both sides acted simultaneously. Ou Rushuang also paid careful attention to Hu Gui's movements as he retreated.
Hu Gui didn't seem to have any intention of fighting Ou Rushuang. He only controlled Situ Jin and hid in the back.
After the giant golden butterfly was torn apart by the white cloth, it scattered into countless small golden butterflies. Each small golden butterfly fluttered its wings, shedding toxic scales that turned into golden poisonous mist.
The small golden butterflies moved very fast, shooting out like sharp arrows. When they flapped their wings, they made subtle sounds of ice shards breaking, crisp sounds that made one's heartbeat accelerate.
Lin Chenghai's dodging speed was also very fast. The small golden butterflies seemed unable to catch up with him. No matter how fast they were, they were all avoided by his strange body techniques.
Lin Chenghai's protective energy was immune to the scale powder poison mist. As long as he didn't let the golden butterflies touch him, he wasn't afraid.
If an Azure Blood Golden Butterfly bit you once, it could make your protective energy ineffective, unable to provide protection again.
Each time Lin Chenghai dodged and slid backward, part of his protective energy would scatter accordingly. Before the golden Five Elements energy dissipated, it would make the approaching Azure Blood Golden Butterflies move sluggishly, pausing for an instant.
Ou Rushuang also noticed this point and pondered:
Buddhist School's unique Nine Schools Arts: Ferry Step.
Different from the Eight Trigrams Living Arts' Wind-Riding Techniques, which only enhanced speed.
The Buddhist School's Ferry Step would make people using Five Elements energy within a certain range become sluggish, or freeze them. Even things materialized from Five Elements energy would be affected.
"Ferry Step" was also called the Buddhist School's non-combat technique.
Because you could hardly catch him, couldn't get close, and thus couldn't cause damage.
Ferry Step affected others' Five Elements energy.
Even if it was just for a very brief moment, for people with formidable strength, it was enough to toy with you for half a lifetime or instantly counter-kill.
Nowadays, Buddhist School disciples on Xuangu Continent were becoming fewer with each death.
Ou Rushuang had already made his decision. His figure flashed, afterimages scattered everywhere, making it impossible to tell which of the several afterimages attacking Lin Chenghai was real.
Five Elements energy scattered beneath Lin Chenghai's feet, preparing to freeze all approaching afterimages. The sound of freezing ice had just begun when he knew something was wrong. His peripheral vision caught an afterimage bypassing him and flying toward the rear.
Ou Rushuang's target was Hu Gui, who was taking Situ Jin away.
Hu Gui retreated while holding Situ Jin hostage. Even the small golden butterflies hadn't caught up. He wasn't using any Buddhist School Ferry Step, just relying on Wind-Riding Techniques to move forward.
Ou Rushuang was faster than the small golden butterflies, like an eagle catching prey, landing accurately on his prey's head.
At the critical moment, the fleeing Hu Gui kept one hand gripping Situ Jin's neck and threw him backward, while turning around himself to face the pursuing Ou Rushuang.
His appearance was the same as Ou Rushuang's, at first glance an ordinary middle-aged man with a tall, thin build and a mustache. Earlier, his face had always worn respectful or fawning expressions, somewhat vulgar.
Now his expression was calm and composed. Combined with that slender mustache, it actually made his whole person look much more refined.
With Hu Gui's change in aura, he seemed like a completely different person.
Facing Ou Rushuang, Hu Gui didn't even use protective energy. His other hand formed seals, golden light flashing briefly in his dark eyes.
Hu Gui brought his two fingers together. Pale blue lightning flashed through him, and the surrounding space twisted momentarily.
Both Situ Jin and Ou Rushuang felt their minds shake.
The twisted space was even more obvious in their eyes. The originally invisible Five Elements energy took on materialized forms in their sight, trembling energy twisted into whirlpool shapes, vaguely resembling a talisman.
Ou Rushuang knew very clearly what this was.
Because his body could also feel this twisted existence.
The part of his brain that maintained consciousness was also affected and became twisted, as if a pair of invisible large hands had been placed on his head, fingers closing, and the lines of the world in Ou Rushuang's vision began to blur.
Ou Rushuang and Situ Jin simultaneously realized:
Ghost Way School's Living Talisman!
Yu Sui also recognized it, somewhat surprised that Hu Gui was actually a Ghost Way School practitioner.
The Ghost Way School's Living Talisman forcibly extracted the life force of living people. The world appeared slightly different in the eyes of both the caster and the target.
Even if Hu Gui successfully used the Living Talisman to extract Ou Rushuang's life force, he couldn't completely kill Ou Rushuang, who was protected by the Core Earth Power in Taiyi. His target was Situ Jin.
Ou Rushuang could abandon Wenyang Zhou, but couldn't let anything happen to Situ Jin.
Given Grandmother Situ's style, failing to save Situ Jin would undoubtedly offend the Situ family and make an enemy of Grandmother Situ.
Ou Rushuang reacted quickly and retreated to create distance, raising his hand to wipe in front of his eyes. His protective energy burned fiercely, stabilizing his mind, shattering the twisted space before him, and blocking Hu Gui's Living Talisman invasion.
Though the Ghost Way School's Living Talisman was considered a killing move with great power, it wasn't without solutions. The caster's strength directly affected the difficulty of avoiding the Living Talisman.
Most Ghost Way School Nine Schools Arts targeted people's "spirit" and "soul," mostly one-hit-kill techniques that required good timing.
Yu Sui definitely wouldn't dare claim that if she used a Living Talisman, she could necessarily see the talisman representing Ou Rushuang's life or death.
Ou Rushuang was experienced in fighting Ghost Way School Nine Schools Arts, knowing how to avoid them and how to attack.
He retreated repeatedly, withdrawing from Hu Gui's range of seizing his Living Talisman. After forcing Ou Rushuang back, Hu Gui also let Situ Jin go. Using the Living Talisman on Situ Jin earlier was originally meant to intimidate and threaten Ou Rushuang.
But Ou Rushuang hadn't merely been forced back.
Yu Sui saw through the Five Elements Light Cores ahead the transparent spider silk hanging in the air.
The spider silk was falling directly toward Hu Gui's head, and the transparent venom dripping down the spider silk was about to fall on Hu Gui's head.
As the venom droplet hung suspended, Yu Sui crushed this Five Elements Light Core, making a sound that caused Hu Gui to look up and discover the spider silk, pulling Situ Jin to retreat together at the critical moment.
Ou Rushuang over there was being pursued by Lin Chenghai and couldn't pay attention to the details. He only saw that Hu Gui had avoided that fatal attack just now.
The Prayer Spider hanging on the spider silk was about the size of an adult's palm, with spiral patterns on its back and colorful, very bright spider legs.
The Prayer Spider had three eyes.
When it opened its first eye, countless slender vertical red pupils also opened along the spider silk, like a string of hanging red grapes. Being seen by the Prayer Spider's eyes would leave vertical red pupil marks on one's body.
But Hu Gui obviously knew the Agricultural School's poison beast methods. He decisively pulled Situ Jin, who had been thrown behind him, to block in front of himself. The Prayer Spider also sensibly closed its eyes.
The spider silk swayed. Just as the Prayer Spider was about to strike, a lightning bolt pierced through its body, draining its life force and turning it into a shriveled spider skin that fell to the ground.
Situ Jin, who was closest to both the Prayer Spider and Hu Gui, moved his eyes, looking at the Prayer Spider that had fallen to the ground and turned into spider skin. In this tense situation, he actually found it somewhat amusing.
The mighty Agricultural School Saint's poison beast, just this?
With the time the Prayer Spider had bought, the small golden butterflies finally caught up.
Hu Gui avoided the small golden butterflies. He wasn't interested in prolonged battle and only wanted to create distance from Ou Rushuang. The small golden butterflies brought large amounts of scale powder poison mist, forcing Yu Sui and Li Jin Shuang to also move and dodge.
Just as Yu Sui was about to signal Li Jin Shuang to hide further away, her peripheral vision caught that the spider skin that had originally fallen on the ground was gone.
Her eyelid twitched. Looking up, the passage above was already covered with white spider silk about as thick as a pinky finger. The hanging white spider eggs were breaking open one after another, producing countless Prayer Spiders that were rapidly crawling on the spider silk and spitting transparent venom downward.
All were dead spiders controlled by Ou Rushuang's Five Elements energy.
Even after being drained of life force by the Living Talisman, Prayer Spiders could be revived using Five Elements energy like puppets in Military Formations.
Living people couldn't do this, but Agricultural School poison beasts could.
Ghost Way School practitioners cultivated Soul Control and spirit stabilization. With powerful five senses and excellent resistance to external injuries, the fastest and most direct way to seriously injure them was with paralysis-inducing poison that could numb the nervous system.
Prayer Spiders moved extremely fast, their legs sharp as blades. When climbing along windows and walls, they carved out streak after streak of blade marks.
The passage was filled with golden butterflies and Prayer Spiders. Yu Sui and Li Jin Shuang were somewhat overwhelmed. Going forward was a dead end unless they could pass through walls.
Situ Jin saw that Hu Gui had to dodge golden butterflies while also taking care of himself, and said: "Don't you think it would be better to let me go at this time? Using me as a hostage isn't really a good strategy."
After Hu Gui finished listening to him, he found time in his busy schedule to silence him.
Situ Jin: "..."
The Prayer Spiders crawling on spider silk above the passage had clear targets, spitting venom at Hu Gui. Hu Gui was accidentally hit, the spider poison broke his protective energy, and he was cut several times by the sharp spider legs, but he had indeed created distance from Ou Rushuang.
Yu Sui looked at the wall still thinking of a solution when Li Jin Shuang had already seen golden butterflies flying over. With no choice, she could only act, drawing her sword from its sheath.
The long sword struck vertically, sword energy scattered, hitting all the approaching small golden butterflies. The golden butterflies flapped their wings, resisting the sword energy.
At the same time, Hu Gui threw Situ Jin backward. He hadn't expected there to be people behind him. Li Jin Shuang's sword energy grazed Situ Jin's cheek, cutting off a few strands of his hair and severing his belt, causing his outer robe to fall.
Situ Jin, who had been immobilized and silenced by Hu Gui, was shocked. His narrow fox eyes widened completely, his eyes clearly writing: This Young Master's clothes?!
Li Jin Shuang withdrew her attack. Hu Gui looked back, their gazes met, both seeing through each other's thoughts and acting simultaneously.
Hu Gui was first to retreat back to Situ Jin's side, kicking out to repel Li Jin Shuang who was trying to rescue him.
Li Jin Shuang retreated to Yu Sui's side. Yu Sui had just pointed at the wall when she saw Prayer Spiders spitting poison from above. She and Li Jin Shuang each dodged, one forward, one backward.
As the two dodged, Hu Gui had no intention of pursuing. Instead, he decisively pointed twice in the void to create two ghost talismans, blasting open the wall ahead and disappearing with Situ Jin before the golden butterfly scales scattered.
People on the upper and lower levels all looked toward the exploded level, wondering what had happened.
Li Jin Shuang, dodging the golden butterfly scales, also leaped through the blasted wall.
Yu Sui had dodged backward, now some distance from them. If she went over now, she'd inevitably be poisoned by the golden butterfly scales filling the passage. The small golden butterflies and Prayer Spiders had all chased after Hu Gui, so she could only retreat further.
At this time, Ou Rushuang had been forced back by Lin Chenghai to the passage entrance.
Yu Sui continued hiding using her Instant Shadow Talisman, almost walking against the wall. She looked toward the passage entrance and saw Lin Chenghai take out a black staff carved with ghostly faces and fangs from his mechanism box. The staff spun rapidly between his five fingers, shattering all the small golden butterflies trying to surge forward.
Lin Chenghai attacked forcefully, unstoppably. Ferry Step broke the small golden butterfly formation. The staff pressed directly toward Ou Rushuang at the back, seeing him beckon again to summon a giant golden butterfly to block in front.
The opened wings of the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly had countless red vertical pupils, making Lin Chenghai turn and retreat mid-way.
Ou Rushuang looked down at the wound marks on the back of his hand made by the staff, then looked back up at Lin Chenghai: "A Thirteenth Realm Buddhist School disciple is indeed rare."
Lin Chenghai raised an eyebrow: "Agricultural School disciples who like raising poisonous creatures are quite numerous."
"Being an Agricultural School disciple, one naturally raises some things." Ou Rushuang smiled: "Azure Blood Golden Butterflies are difficult to raise. Looking at the entire Agricultural School, you can't find a second one right now. So very few people know how to cure its poison. Perhaps I should tell you."
Lin Chenghai shouldered his staff and sneered: "Old man, are you really that kind?"
But Ou Rushuang said unhurriedly: "Since it's soul stealing and spirit swapping, the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly's poison should have transferred to you too. Calculating the time, it's about right."
Lin Chenghai said nothing, staring at Ou Rushuang's mysterious appearance, but could feel numbness spreading through his five fingers.
Ou Rushuang was right.
Soul stealing and spirit swapping would also share the original host's injuries.
How is this kid so unlucky? Among all the people on the ship, that Azure Blood Golden Butterfly didn't bite anyone else but you. Are you just particularly good-looking?
Lin Chenghai cursed internally.