Chapter 150
Ou Rushuang stared at Lin Chenghai with a smile and asked: "How about it, do you want to know the antidote method now?"
Lin Chenghai cursed inwardly, but his face showed no trace of panic, full of disdain and arrogance toward Ou Rushuang: "Do you dare poison the Wenyang family's Young Master to death?"
"The one who killed Young Master Wenyang was you, not me." Ou Rushuang asked, "What's your purpose in infiltrating Taiyi, possessing Wenyang Zhou to go to the underwater Mechanism City?"
"I'm not like those youngsters in your Taiyi Academy who have to listen to your orders." Lin Chenghai shrugged, the staff that had been resting on his shoulder with both hands hanging fell diagonally into his right hand, spinning in circles.
He launched the first attack.
The staff spun at high speed in Lin Chenghai's hands, its afterimages invisible, repelling the small golden butterflies attacking from all directions.
Yu Sui saw golden talismans flying out from the staff.
Like two horizontal and vertical curved lines intersecting.
In an instant, it transformed into a massive red-green shadow attached behind Lin Chenghai. It emerged half-bodied from a red lotus seat, with one head and four arms, five fingers tightly gripping demon-subduing pestles. Though only half-bodied, it filled the entire passage, golden mist flowing from its eyes, radiating supreme majesty, capable of suppressing all demons and evil spirits between heaven and earth.
Seeing this scene, Ou Rushuang's heart also trembled.
Buddhist School Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Wrathful Vajra.
The Wrathful Vajra extended its four arms, grasping the demon-subduing pestles in its hands and smashing them down, producing a deafening roar. The Vajra's Five Elements energy swept all around, shattering all the small golden butterfly swarms near Lin Chenghai, dissolving the scale powder toxins as well, crushing the giant golden butterfly blocking in front of Ou Rushuang, and even forcing Ou Rushuang at the back to retreat far away from the air waves.
All doors and windows shattered, cracks appeared on the walls, and as the Wrathful Vajra struck the demon-subduing pestle a second time, the walls also collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Golden light blazed brilliantly. Under the light there were no shadows, and Yu Sui, who had been hiding in darkness using her Instant Shadow Talisman, was also blasted out.
Fortunately, she had torn her clothes to cover her face before being blasted out. Yu Sui covered her entire head, exposing neither eyes nor nose, relying on Five Elements Light Cores to observe the surrounding situation and using Wind-Riding Techniques to dodge the shattered debris.
The battle between two people suddenly revealed a third person.
Both Ou Rushuang and Lin Chenghai spared glances at Yu Sui as she fled to hiding, but their main focus remained on each other. Yu Sui escaped quickly, using her Instant Shadow Talisman again to hide in darkness.
Lin Chenghai held his staff with one hand while forming seals with the other, backed by the Wrathful Vajra as he charged toward Ou Rushuang, unstoppable. The Wrathful Vajra struck the demon-subduing pestle, its dull sound bypassing Ou Rushuang's protective energy and directly assaulting his mind and spirit. The vibration caused his body to go numb for an instant, his dodging movements pausing, allowing Lin Chenghai to catch up.
With nowhere to retreat, Ou Rushuang could only face the attack head-on. After Lin Chenghai's staff struck down, he raised his hands to intercept, using Agricultural School Nine Schools Arts: Ten Thousand Poison Hands.
His hands that caught the staff turned black, his ten fingers resembling turtle shell scales. When the staff was caught by Ou Rushuang's hands, it made the sound of mystical stones clashing.
Lin Chenghai's offensive was both urgent and fast, with so many variations in his moves that Ou Rushuang immediately used six or seven types of Agricultural School Nine Schools Arts to counter.
Yu Sui left several Five Elements Light Cores behind and ran far away herself, preparing to distance herself from these two, but she quickly discovered that Lin Chenghai wasn't lingering in battle or seeking a life-or-death struggle with Ou Rushuang.
The Wrathful Vajra's demon-subduing pestle strikes grew stronger, the sonic boom air waves became fiercer and covered a wider area. Ou Rushuang's hearing was already affected, feeling his body becoming heavy and his movements restricted and sluggish.
But Lin Chenghai didn't pursue the advantage. Instead, he used Ferry Step to bypass Ou Rushuang, briefly freezing him before breaking away from the Wrathful Vajra and fleeing toward the front corner.
Ou Rushuang's peripheral vision tracked the fleeing Lin Chenghai, but he had to stay behind to deal with the still undissipated Wrathful Vajra.
The Wrathful Vajra struck with full force, its four long arms raised high, grasping demon-subduing pestles and smashing them down at Ou Rushuang. The exploding Five Elements energy destroyed all surrounding passages, causing the walls of the upper and lower levels to crack and collapse, frightening the practitioners on both levels into panicked flight.
The mechanism practitioners on the upper level all poked their heads down to look. Just as they emerged, they were repelled by the residual air waves.
Ou Rushuang flew out from the collapsed thick dust. As the Wrathful Vajra struck with both hands together and dissipated while standing on the red lotus platform, the red lotus on the platform bloomed and transformed into blazing karmic fire that exploded outward in all directions.
Yu Sui glanced at the passage behind that had become twisted from the scorching flames, raised an eyebrow slightly, but wasn't in any hurry. The blazing karmic fire swept over Yu Sui but couldn't harm her in the slightest.
Lin Chenghai's use of the Wrathful Vajra technique consumed considerable Five Elements energy. Due to the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly's poison, his blood and energy were now churning, and half his body had fallen into paralysis. Continuing to drag out the fight with Ou Rushuang would actually be disadvantageous.
If he left this body now, Wenyang Zhou would die.
And if he ended the possession prematurely, there would be certain backlash against himself.
No matter how Lin Chenghai thought about it, he felt Wenyang Zhou was just too unlucky.
Yu Sui saw Lin Chenghai slow down, reducing his use of Five Elements energy. Looking at his tightly furrowed brow, she also knew his condition wasn't good.
But Ou Rushuang hadn't been delayed for long.
Wrapped in golden butterflies and spider silk, he charged out of the sea of fire. The spider silk scattered, and half of Ou Rushuang's outer garment had been burned away. He now wore half an outer robe and exposed half an inner garment, looking neither here nor there.
Ou Rushuang looked down at his right hand that had turned red and black from the karmic fire's scorching, his gaze momentarily gloomy. Then he looked up ahead. Small golden butterflies scattered in all directions, seeking Lin Chenghai's figure.
He took out his Wind-Listening Ruler and told Murong Lie and Baili Mo about what happened here, having them relay the message to other mechanism practitioners on the Spirit Bird, emphasizing the need to find Wenyang Zhou and Hu Gui.
Yu Sui followed Lin Chenghai.
She saw Lin Chenghai cover his mouth and cough, blood dripping through his fingers onto the ground. Lin Chenghai didn't notice, and after he left, a shadowy figure followed closely behind, wiping away the bloodstains as well.
Ou Rushuang arrived quickly too.
He had completely guessed Lin Chenghai's escape route, from the observation deck closest to the bow, down to the medicinal garden on the sixth level below.
Perhaps he thought the injured Lin Chenghai wanted to seek medicine for treatment.
The Spirit Bird's medicinal garden had three levels, with two levels of medicinal gardens that seemed to float in mid-air, hung with long green vines. The medicinal plants varied in size and height, with different colors. Outsiders would only see a dazzling array.
Lin Chenghai was indeed here looking for medicine. He leaped up to the highest level of the medicinal garden and was about to search for something when he turned back to see Yu Sui standing behind him, immediately becoming alert.
Yu Sui made a shushing gesture toward him, then tilted her head toward below, indicating that Ou Rushuang had already caught up.
Lin Chenghai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and chuckled lowly: "There really are quite a few people hiding on this ship."
Yu Sui handed him a Taoist Instant Shadow Talisman.
Lin Chenghai looked down at it: "This thing is expensive."
Yu Sui said: "It's a gift for you."
Lin Chenghai looked up at her again, squinting his eyes and scrutinizing: "Little girl, free things are the most expensive."
Yu Sui smiled: "It surely won't be more expensive than your life."
Seeing Lin Chenghai didn't take it, Yu Sui added: "He's about to come in."
Lin Chenghai coughed: "If he's determined to find us, Instant Shadow Talismans won't help."
Yu Sui said slowly: "He won't come in to search carefully."
Lin Chenghai looked her up and down. Judging by the voice, she should be young, wearing Wenyang family mechanism practitioner clothes but with her entire head covered, face invisible, appearance unknown. But from this tone, she seemed to have some substance.
Ou Rushuang had already reached outside the medicinal garden door.
Lin Chenghai glanced with his peripheral vision. Before Ou Rushuang entered, he reached out and grabbed the Instant Shadow Talisman Yu Sui offered.
The two silently disappeared into darkness, watching Ou Rushuang enter below.
Lin Chenghai was in poor condition and accepted Yu Sui's Instant Shadow Talisman with a gambling mentality. He wanted to see what this girl, who sounded very young, was up to.
Ou Rushuang was also cautious when opening the door. Lin Chenghai showed no abnormalities when leaving, but if not for the influence of the Azure Blood Golden Butterfly, he wouldn't have fled after using the Wrathful Vajra.
Buddhist School disciples were rare, and those who cultivated to the Thirteenth Realm were even rarer. Being careful never hurt.
Lin Chenghai watched Ou Rushuang's movements below while also paying attention to Yu Sui beside him.
Yu Sui was also watching Ou Rushuang.
As soon as Ou Rushuang entered, he released several small golden butterflies to fly upward. He had just taken two steps forward when he heard someone shouting outside: "Saint!"
"Found them!"
The Situ family mechanism practitioner outside panted: "On the ninth level cabin, we caught three academy disciples who infiltrated the Spirit Bird. Two are Technical Arts School disciples, one called Zhang Xiangyan, one called Nian Qiuyan, and one Taoist School disciple, Luo Fu."
"We don't know if these three are related to the earlier fighting on the upper level."
Ou Rushuang listened expressionlessly but didn't hesitate to turn and leave the medicinal garden: "Lead the way."
Zhang Xiangyan's group couldn't figure out how they'd been discovered even if they wracked their brains.
After boarding the ship, there hadn't been any major incidents. Explaining their academy disciple identities clearly should have been enough, at most getting scolded. But Ou Rushuang and Lin Chenghai's battle had attracted many eyes, and Zhang Xiangyan's three were also suspected of being related to this matter, so the mechanism practitioners who caught them didn't dare make hasty decisions.
Ou Rushuang left quickly. The small golden butterflies patrolled the medicinal garden but couldn't discover the two people hiding with Instant Shadow Talismans. After a moment, they also flew away.
At this moment, the mechanism practitioners on the ship were all concerned with sea whirlpools, and no one was injured needing treatment, so the medicinal garden had no guards. Now only Yu Sui and Lin Chenghai remained hiding in the shadows.
After Lin Chenghai confirmed there was no threat, he emerged from the shadows and turned to look at Yu Sui, who also stepped out of the shadows.
He probed: "Looks like you didn't do anything either."
Yu Sui looked down at the medicinal herbs beside her, bent down to smell them: "If those three hadn't been discovered, or if it wasn't those three who were discovered, he wouldn't have left."
Lin Chenghai coughed quietly but smiled: "Seems he has something on you?"
"I was just testing opportunistically and have to thank you for giving me this chance, Senior." Yu Sui straightened up and smiled at Lin Chenghai. Though he couldn't see it, he could hear the smile in the girl's words.
"You're calling me senior too early." Lin Chenghai covered his mouth and turned away to spit blood, thinking this girl was trying to get close to him.
Yu Sui pointed at him and explained sincerely: "The owner of the body Senior is possessing is my Senior Brother's friend. Now that my Senior Brother isn't here, I can't just stand by and watch him die."
Lin Chenghai knew Yu Sui had Instant Shadow Talismans, so he guessed she had been hiding in the passage when she heard his conversation with Ou Rushuang.
"Your Senior Brother?" Lin Chenghai sat cross-legged against a tall medicinal tree to regulate his internal Five Elements energy, looking up at Yu Sui with a smile that didn't reach his eyes: "Being able to befriend the Wenyang family's Young Master, your Senior Brother must have quite a background too."
"Of course!" When Yu Sui spoke of her own Senior Brother, her tone was quite proud: "My Senior Brother is the only first disciple of Taiyi's only Ghost Way Saint."
Lin Chenghai gasped and his eyelid twitched violently.
Yu Sui saw Lin Chenghai's abnormality and feigned concern: "Senior?"
Lin Chenghai clutched his chest, acting severely injured, coughing twice before saying: "Then you're also a disciple of the Ghost Way Saint?"
"Master has only me and Senior Brother as disciples." Yu Sui walked toward Lin Chenghai and asked him: "Senior, I'm afraid I can't help with your injuries. Don't know if you can hold on a bit longer yourself."
"Since you're a Taiyi Academy disciple, why help me?" Lin Chenghai looked at Yu Sui suspiciously, gesturing for her to stop where she was and not come closer: "Ou Rushuang is one of Taiyi Academy's Twenty-four Saints. Aren't you afraid of being discovered by him?"
"I also snuck in and can't be discovered. Besides, the academy has twenty-four Saints. There's bound to be a few annoying ones." Yu Sui said: "I'm not an Agricultural School disciple, so not listening to Saint Ou isn't strange. Besides, Saint Ou wants to catch you and kill Wenyang Zhou. I can't let him die."
Lin Chenghai was amused by her words, coughing while laughing.
Yu Sui stopped in front of him and squatted down, supporting her chin with both hands. Though her face was invisible, her actions and tone conveyed pure innocence: "Most importantly, my companion was forced to run off with Situ Jin and the others because of the golden butterflies and Prayer Spiders. I still need to rely on Senior to find her."
But Lin Chenghai squinted back and asked: "Ou Rushuang wants to kill Wenyang Zhou. What makes you think I won't?"
Yu Sui asked in surprise: "Would you?"
Lin Chenghai was both annoyed and amused by her straightforward surprise: "Haven't you thought about it?!"
Yu Sui said irritably: "If Senior had such thoughts, I'd have to reconsider. After all, Wenyang Zhou is a good friend my Senior Brother cares about. If he died, my Senior Brother would definitely be sad."
Lin Chenghai indeed didn't have all of Wenyang Zhou's memories, only fragmentary pieces of his life. He knew he knew Mei Liangyu but couldn't observe how good their relationship actually was.
Hearing Yu Sui say this now, Lin Chenghai reconsidered, sneering on the surface: "For no reason at all, why would I kill him? I'm just borrowing his body to hide. Who knew this kid would be so unlucky, getting bitten by that bastard poisonous creature Ou Rushuang keeps."
Lin Chenghai cursed: "This whole thing is that old poisonous creature Ou Rushuang's fault!"
Yu Sui said: "I can't help with the poison. Let's hurry find your companion and see if he has a solution. Then I can find my companion and go look for my Senior Brother."
Lin Chenghai looked at Yu Sui with complex emotions, coughing while asking: "Little girl, if you want to cooperate with strangers, you need sincerity. You've covered your face completely. I don't know who you are. How dare I cooperate with you?"
Yu Sui spread her hands: "But I don't know Senior's name or where you live either!"
She touched her head and said timidly: "Besides, we only need to cooperate to find people. We don't need to understand too much, right?"
Lin Chenghai pointed at her: "You just said you're a disciple of the Ghost Way Saint. I only need to go out and ask around to find out your name and where you live. Why would you still need to hide your face?"
Yu Sui was silent for a moment. Lin Chenghai thought she was feeling regretful, but unexpectedly, after a moment, he heard her say with sudden realization: "Oh right."
Lin Chenghai stared at her and suddenly coughed violently several times, as if annoyed.
The Young Master's Junior Sister is so naive!