Chapter 74
1856 Words
Chapter 74
The guards around them heaved a sigh of relief. This Manor was simply way too strange. Had it not been for the fact that both of them did not dare to leave on their own, they would have left their Young Miss behind and escaped. Hence, they naturally were in favor of leaving now.
Duan Meng’an too was overjoyed and breathed out in relief.
Having established a consensus, they began heading for the Manor’s main exit.
Halfway there, all of them started sensing that something was amiss.
The Manor’s gates were clearly not far in the distance. But even after several hundred steps, they were still more than ten meters away from the gates.
Li Shunxi’s eyes narrowed, then he looked at Lu Sheng. See? He was right after all.
“Young Master…” Duan Meng’an was shaking as he followed close after Lu Sheng. “Have we… have we… run into ghosts…?”
Lu Sheng’s face was dark. He kept silent.
“Something’s wrong indeed!”
Li Shunxi stood aside and said coldly, “There should still be something fishy going on in that underground cellar. I intend to take another look at it. Are you coming along, Brother Lu? That should be the nexus of this Manor.”
Lu Sheng shook his head slightly.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying put.”
Li Shunxi stopped in surprise. “You’re serious, Brother Lu?”
“Of course,” Lu Sheng replied earnestly.
Li Shunxi gazed at Lu Sheng carefully, then smiled. “Fine, then. Please decide who you will follow. I’m headed to the cellar. Brother Lu is staying put here.”
Gong Ruqing and her two guards looked from left to right, and from right to left.
On one side was Li Shunxi, handsome as jade, exuding an extraordinary aura. On the other side was Lu Sheng, his face dark and grim.
“This humble girl will follow Young Master Li,” Gong Ruqing resolutely chose Li Shunxi.
“Then we’ll stick with Young Master Li as well!” The two guards added hurriedly. Li Shunxi had earlier demonstrated a series of impressive skills. Compared with the dumb and stuffy Lu Sheng, he was clearly much more convincing and credible.
Duan Meng’an’s body wavered slightly, wishing to go over as well. But he looked at Lu Sheng, standing before him, and had no guts to move.
The result was Li Shunxi’s side had four people, while Lu Sheng’s side only two.
Both were decked in rich Young Master’s clothing, but the number of their companions differed plainly.
“In that case, here’s wishing Brother Lu peace and safety as you hang around here,” Li Shunxi’s tone carried with it certain shades of meaning. Turning around, he led the rest towards the backyard.
Looks of despise flashed across the faces of Gong Ruqing and the rest. ‘This Young Master Lu’s clearly got no guts. He just wants to save his own butt. Young Master Li’s eager to rescue the missing persons, but he… he pales in comparison.’
Lu Sheng watched silently as the rest left.
Li Shunxi walked to the side of the house. His pretty almond-shaped eyes looked deep in thought. He couldn’t figure out why Lu Sheng would suddenly decide to wait by the exit.
In such circumstances, there was no use at all in just standing guard by the exit. In fact, that would just be a waste of time.
‘I wonder what’s going on in Brother Lu’s mind… to think that he-‘ before he could finish, a sudden acute sense of danger gushed towards him from behind his back. He quickly turned his head back.
Behind him was a patch of thick darkness. It was as silent as a cemetery, deathly still and empty.
Where were Gong Ruqing and the others who were just following behind him a few seconds ago? Could it be that they all have gone missing just like that??
“Miss Qingqing?” Li Shunxi called out as his heart lurched.
His voice reverberated across the Manor in the night. But there was no response.
“An illusion?” A yellow talisman paper appeared swiftly in his hand. He threw it forward lightly and accurately pierced through it with his index finger.
Immediately, the scales fell from his eyes. Gong Ruqing and the rest appeared around him once again, each of them standing stiffly, rooted to the ground. Only their eyeballs spun madly in their eye sockets, their pupils dilated, unable to focus in the slightest.
One glance at them told Li Shunxi that they were all trapped in an illusion. In similar fashion, he took out talisman papers and pointed at them one by one.
“Miss Qingqing, are you alright?” Quickly, he held onto Gong Ruqing, whose body had turned limp and weak.
“I’m… I’m alright…” Gong Ruqing’s pretty face was deathly white. She was clearly terrified.
After propping up Gong Ruqing, however, Li Shunxi once again fell deep in thought. If someone had cast an illusion in his vicinity, he ought to have had detected it. But even he had fallen for the illusion earlier, without noticing it in the slightest.
“Young Master, if it hadn’t been for you earlier…” tears streaming down her face, Gong Ruqing drew near him, her curvaceous body almost sticking onto him.
That soft gentle touch sent sparks in Li Shunxi’s mind. The urge to reach out and touch Gong Ruqing’s crucial part consumed his mind.
“CHI!”
Without warning, a grimace flashed across his face and he pushed Gong Ruqing away forcefully.
A streak of silver flashed between the two of them. Gong Ruqing was gripping onto a short sword and slashed violently at his chest!
It was a good thing that he had noticed it in time, hence suffering only a skin-deep gash across his chest. Although blood trickled down from it without end, it wasn’t a mortal wound.
“Miss Qingqing…! You…!?” Without time to spare for a further thought, he saw Gong Ruqing stabbing her short sword into the abdomen of one of the guards beside her.
“What’s wrong with me?! Young Master Li, help me!!!” Shock and fear flashed across Gong Ruqing’s face. She seemed unable to control her own body, waving the short sword all around in a frenzy. She shoved away the man who had been caught off-guard violently, and then pounced at Li Shunxi.
Li Shunxi blocked on his left and dodged to his right. But Gong Ruqing’s skills had turned extremely powerful in an instant. After exchanging several blows, he was the one who seemed to be on the losing end!
He clenched his teeth and took out a dark golden hammer from his waist pouch. Intricate and complex patterns were carved onto its surface.
But seeing the tear-streaked Gong Ruqing, he couldn’t muster the will to do it. After all, this lady was merely being possessed. Wouldn’t he be murdering a life with his own hands if he struck her?
In that moment of hesitation, he was viciously slashed again.
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“TCH!”
Li Shunxi dropped to the ground and rolled, dodging the lethal strike aimed at his neck by Gong Ruqing by a hair’s breadth.
Momentarily, he had lost his bearings. Although he had methods to exorcise bodily possessions, they required the possessed party to be immobilized. Without any help, presently, he was out of moves.
He kept ducking and dodging until he suddenly heard quick footsteps heading nearer towards him.
Li Shunxi hurriedly looked towards the sound of the footsteps to see the emotionless Lu Sheng walk out of the pitch darkness.
Li Shunxi was seized by joy.
“Brother Lu! Come lend a hand!”
Without the slightest change in his expression, Lu Sheng glanced at Li Shunxi who was busy rolling around on the ground, a straight-back saber in his hand.
“SAVE ME!!!” Gong Ruqing pounced on Lu Sheng as well, lines of tears streaking across her face. Her clothes had been ripped and torn to shreds by now, revealing much of her body.
“Quick! Help me press her down! I’ve got a way to dispel the possession!!!” Li Shunxi leapt up from the ground and dashed towards Gong Ruqing.
“Nine refinements return souls to rest, heavenly peace in yellow pagoda…”
“SPLAT!!!”
Before Li Shunxi could finish his sutra, Lu Sheng’s saber had completed a diagonal s***h.
In the darkness, the bright saber gleam split Gong Ruqing into halves from top to toe, like a stream of spring water jetting across the air, clear and pure.
In a split second, the crescent-shaped saber gleam had hacked a living beauty into two pieces. Li Shunxi did not even have time to react when he saw the ground beneath Lu Sheng’s feet cave in as all the muscles on him bulged and expanded rapidly, ripping his clothes to shreds. A red line stretched from his chest to his crown, forming the shape of the character for blood [*] in the area between his eyes.
“SWOOSH!”
With a wave of his long saber, a thick gust of wind howled in the backyard like a typhoon. Lu Sheng smashed the back of his saber into a guard, sending him flying across the air, before charging towards Li Shunxi in two strides.
Just at that moment, a shadow shot forward from Li Shunxi’s side.
“BOOM!!!”
Two immensely powerful figures collided squarely with each other in midair.
“ROAR!!!”
“SHRIEK!!!”
At almost the same moment, ear-piercing and deafening roars rang out from both of them. Then, like two ferocious beasts, they pounced at each other again.
“DANG DANG DANG!!!”
Thundering clashes rang out, shaking Li Shunxi to the core till his limbs were limp.
“KA-CHA!”
A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the two who were exchanging blows.
Compared to previously, Lu Sheng’s body had expanded by a fold. Thick bands of muscles covered his body, veins popping up in them. He swung the straight-backed saber at his opponent in a frenzy, smashing like it was a hammer.
And yet the other person was able to receive every one of those blows!
Li Shunxi stared at the other person and almost cried out in shock.
“Soul… Soul of the Dead!!!” He broke out in cold sweat.
“Run!” Duan Meng’an dashed out of nowhere and hurriedly grabbed him, pulling him away.
The remaining guard was presently as pale as a ghost. He quickly followed the two of them, running away from the site of the battle.
The one currently locked in combat with Lu Sheng was grayish black all over. His skin was completely exposed, rotting muscles and gangrenous blood vessels visible through it.
His eyes were a patch of white. His stature was taller than the average person’s, and looked rather skinny and frail. And yet, his explosive strength was horrifyingly powerful!
- Writer
