Chapter 132

Faced with such resolute words, the pig-headed man not only failed to get angry, but shed his earlier savagery and revealed an honest, simple smile instead.

“How about we make a deal?”

Li Zhuiyuan knew the other side was about to launch a sneak attack.

Because there was no basis for a deal between them.

That pig had made use of the setting inside Ah Li’s dream, made use of his own team, made use of the properties of the river water... that pig brain was genuinely clever.

So it understood his habits. It should know perfectly well that no deal could ever be reached.

“What kind of deal?”

Li Zhuiyuan deliberately responded. He needed to judge his companions’ safety from how urgently the other side moved to ambush him next.

“The giant serpent is in your hands. It should’ve told you some things about us, right?”

“Yes. He told me all about you.”

“Good. Saves me the trouble of introducing myself. How about this: you give me the giant serpent, and I’ll seal myself away for thirty years. That way, I get the completion I want, and you count as having made it through this wave.”

“Thirty years?”

“In thirty years, you’ll only be middle-aged. River walk will have ended long ago by then. If you still hold a grudge when the time comes, you can come settle this score with me. What do you think, future Dragon King?”

“Sounds like a pretty good proposal.”

“See? The jianghu isn’t just about killing and fighting. The jianghu is even more about—”

Li Zhuiyuan’s body shuddered. A strange sound was drilling into his ears, frantically stirring the rage and madness in his heart.

Among the five senses, this pig belonged to the “mouth.” That should be its special ability.

An ordinary person, hearing such demonic sound forced into their ears, would probably have long since fallen into hysteria.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes as well, pain spreading over his face, as though he were struggling to suppress boiling negative emotions.

The pig moved.

Its body suddenly became as nimble as an ape’s.

At incredible speed, it charged right up to Li Zhuiyuan and swung both arms at the boy before it.

The wind from its arms howled, carrying explosive force. If they hit solidly, the person struck would probably burst apart on the spot.

Li Zhuiyuan stepped half a pace back, returning to the crack of the doorway. He had deliberately stood on the threshold while speaking precisely to lure it in.

Buzz!

The pig-headed man’s body seemed to hit an invisible barrier. The force of both arms sank into it like blows into cotton, completely dispersed.

It immediately lifted its head, afraid that the formation might have an offensive effect as well, and retreated at once, withdrawing from the formation’s range.

But no follow-up attack came.

So this was purely a defensive formation.

At that moment, the pain vanished from Li Zhuiyuan’s face, and his expression returned to normal.

The other side had barely started talking before eagerly launching a sneak attack. That meant Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Binbin were in even better shape than he had expected. They might even be capable of coming to reinforce him.

That was good news.

The pig-headed man said, “Do you... have no emotions?”

Li Zhuiyuan replied, “My emotions are rich and delicate.”

“A defensive formation alone can’t stop me.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Wisps of white smoke began rising from the pig-headed man’s body, and the leather clothing on him started to melt. Its pig face had turned red now, radiating intense heat.

It charged again, this time with even greater force and momentum.

Though it was once again blocked by the invisible barrier and slowed, it continued pressing forward.

If there hadn’t been white fog and one were standing outside watching, one would have clearly seen the entire field of vision around the photo studio cave inward into an enormous depression, one that was growing deeper and deeper.

As half the pig-headed man’s body squeezed past the threshold line, the entire visible plane began trembling violently, a sign that the formation’s load-bearing capacity was nearing its limit.

The distance between Li Zhuiyuan and that pig head was shrinking fast. The boy could now clearly see the pig’s eyelashes.

Mockery swirled in the pig’s eyes, and its mouth opened as well, revealing the thick interior of its maw.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his right hand. The space around that area of sight began to distort too.

Karmic fire had already ignited.

The pig-headed man seemed to sense something. The mockery in its eyes vanished, replaced by panic.

The boy’s fist smashed into the pig’s face, and the karmic fire passed over with the blow.

A miserable howl burst from the pig’s mouth. Its face, which had been glowing red-hot, was now gradually turning ashen.

But then its snout suddenly lifted, and a powerful suction force erupted, tightly attaching itself to the boy’s fist.

Immediately afterward, the pig-headed man stopped pushing against the defensive formation and instead retreated rapidly.

The formation was preserved, but Li Zhuiyuan, with his hand stuck fast to the pig’s snout, was yanked straight out of the photo studio and dragged beyond the formation’s protection.

At that moment, the absolute gap in physical strength became painfully clear.

If Uncle Qin had been here, this pig would never have dared stick its pig face out and invite a punch. Even if it were Runsheng instead, the pig would have had to think very carefully before trying something like that.

It was bullying the boy for not having grown into his body yet, for not truly having trained in martial arts.

The pig-headed man lifted its head with a vicious grin. Li Zhuiyuan’s right hand was still stuck to its nose, while his body was flung into the air.

Just as the pig-headed man raised both arms again, preparing to smash the boy it had dragged out into pulp, the boy moved first. From his left sleeve, he pulled out a Dissolution of Evil talisman and slapped it onto the pig’s head.

The pig gave a dismissive grunt. It could endure even karmic fire. What was one talisman paper to it?

But very soon, it stopped grunting.

Because Li Zhuiyuan yanked downward with his left hand, and with a sharp swish, an entire row of Dissolution of Evil talismans appeared, hanging from top to bottom over the whole pig head.

Talisman papers that others regarded as priceless treasures were pure expendables to Li Zhuiyuan, so plentiful that they had become standard equipment for everyone on the team.

Because there was a girl at home who kept drawing them for him without pause.

Bang. Bang! Bang! Bang!...

A rapid series of explosions rang out.

The pig-headed man let out a shriek, and the suction from its snout loosened.

Freed from the restraint, Li Zhuiyuan flew backward. He did not try to correct his posture midair and force a steady landing. Instead, after hitting the ground, he rolled several times to disperse the momentum before crouching back up. It conserved more strength that way.

Turning his head, the boy glanced at his right hand. It had already been blown into a bloody mess. Blood dripped continuously from all five fingers onto the ground.

This time, Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Zhuangzhuang were not standing in front of him.

When he had to face danger himself, getting injured was only natural.

At present, he was already outside the photo studio, having lost the formation’s protection, and thick fog surrounded him on all sides.

The pig’s figure had vanished too. It was probably hidden somewhere in that white mist.

Li Zhuiyuan crouched there, ears twitching slightly, his gaze shifting from side to side.

Suddenly, the pig-headed man appeared from a diagonal direction.

Li Zhuiyuan slammed his left hand down onto the ground. That patch happened to be where his blood had fallen earlier. It could not be wasted.

The pig-headed man rushed forward. Its face was in terrible shape now, blown full of pits and craters, barely pig-like anymore.

But just as it was about to close in on Li Zhuiyuan, blood-red lattice patterns rapidly spread outward from the boy’s left hand pressed to the ground. The moment they caught the pig’s feet, they climbed upward and coiled around them frantically.

The pig’s movement stalled. The boy reached his right hand behind him, pulled down a zipper, and drew out an ink marker, placing it before himself.

The fingertips of his right hand hooked the ink line and pulled backward. The wheel spun rapidly.

In truth, Li Zhuiyuan’s right hand was still twitching. It hurt even to touch things, let alone pull on a fine line like that. The pain was piercing, enough to drill into his heart.

Yet while doing all this, his face never changed.

The pig-headed man let out a low roar and broke free from the bindings on its legs.

And at that exact moment, Li Zhuiyuan released his right hand.

The ink line shot out. Because it carried a small weight, it first flew in a straight line, then quickly extended sideways, winding around the pig-headed man’s body.

Taking advantage of the bit of blood still left on his left hand, Li Zhuiyuan quickly formed a blood seal, then seized the ink marker.

Whoosh!

Karmic fire ignited on the ink marker and extended along the ink line, eventually setting the pig-headed man ablaze.

The pig-headed man spread both arms and snapped the ink line on his body, but this time the karmic fire had the blood seal guiding it, so it could not be extinguished so easily. The pig could only let out unwilling howls as it plunged back into the white fog.

It was trying to get rid of the karmic fire on its body first within the fog.

Its earlier sneak attack had let it know Li Zhuiyuan’s hearing was sharp, so after melting into the thick mist, it did not move impatiently.

But it seemed to have overlooked one thing: the original purpose of the ink marker... to snap a line and leave a trace.

In Li Zhuiyuan’s vision, within the dense fog ahead, there was a black line hanging there.

This time, Li Zhuiyuan reached into his backpack with his left hand and took out an exquisitely made hand crossbow.

After the second wave ended, Li Zhuiyuan had drawn the design. Ah Li had helped make the precision parts, then Runsheng had found a small factory to complete the rest, producing this new tool.

Its bolts were Dissolution of Evil Talisman Needles.

Holding the crossbow in his left hand, Li Zhuiyuan aimed at the black line in the thick fog and pulled the trigger.

Buzz!

The bolt shot out, and an explosion sounded from deep within the fog.

Enduring the agony, Li Zhuiyuan quickly re-cocked the bow with his right hand.

He aimed again.

The black line was moving.

Buzz!

Another explosion sounded.

He continued re-cocking. When he was only halfway through, Li Zhuiyuan decisively threw the crossbow aside and rolled to the side.

Boom!

A pig crashed down from above, smashing into the place where Li Zhuiyuan had just been standing and blasting a pit into the ground. Cracks spread across the road as well.

There were now two scorched marks on the pig-headed man’s body. But at its abdomen, there was a bloody groove, as though a strip of flesh had been forcibly torn away.

Looking again into the distant fog, the black line was still clearly visible there. That meant the pig had already realized how Li Zhuiyuan was finding it. It had torn off a piece of skin with the ink line on it and left it hanging there as a fake target, using it as cover for another sneak attack.

The pig-headed man asked in confusion, “How did you figure it out?”

Li Zhuiyuan replied, “I just felt you shouldn’t be stupid enough to stand there and let me hit you three times.”

In truth, Li Zhuiyuan had originally planned to fire only one shot. Otherwise, he would not have used his left hand to hold the crossbow and then used his injured right hand to re-cock it. The pain of drawing that string was truly unbearable.

In Li Zhuiyuan’s view, after the first bolt hit, the pig should have discovered immediately why it had been exposed. But it had let him hit it with a second bolt, which meant that after discovering the cause, it had prepared to work that into some kind of trap.

A third shot, though, he truly had not dared take. Firing again would have been a little too insulting to that pig brain.

The pig-headed man said, “Thank you for the recognition.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “No need.”

The pig-headed man’s eyes reddened again as it lunged at Li Zhuiyuan once more.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled a yellow strip of cloth from his backpack with his left hand and flicked it out in one motion.

The pig-headed man instantly stopped in its tracks and even retreated several paces.

Li Zhuiyuan wrapped the yellow cloth around his injured right hand a few times, making a simple bandage.

Then he smiled at the pig-headed man.

The yellow cloth had been soaked in medicinal broth. It helped stop bleeding and disinfect wounds, making it a more advanced sort of bandage.

But it was still only a bandage.

Clearly, the pig-headed man had been frightened by the boy’s endless string of hidden items.

Realizing it had been toyed with, the pig-headed man still did not get angry. Instead, the redness in its eyes faded and clarity returned. It began circling Li Zhuiyuan, waving both hands continuously.

One of its gloves had been blown off earlier by the crossbow bolt, so as it waved, one red pig hoof showed plainly, which looked rather ridiculous.

Soon, beast cries began sounding from within the white fog.

Squeak squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!

Moo... moo... moo...

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze sharpened, and he activated Walking the Shade.

To his left, a red ape was beating its chest.

To his right, a green ox was scraping its hoof against the ground.

Both the ape and the ox had a black mark on their heads. They were clearly under someone’s control.

Then, both of them charged at the boy at the same time.

The boy spread open his left hand, and an aura inherited from ancient Fengdu rippled outward.

Four Ghosts Lift the Sedan.

The frenzied ape and ox had only made it halfway before each was suppressed. The ape bent down, the ox lowered its forelegs, and neither could advance another inch.

Yet they were not the greatest threat, because the pig had driven them only to distract and pin him down.

The pig itself was shrouded in black Yin aura as it lunged straight for Li Zhuiyuan.

Those two attacked with soul bodies, while this pig launched its assault in reality.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his bandaged right hand. Since it had only been wrapped simply, blood had already begun seeping through again.

The boy smeared a streak across each side of his face, leaving two blood-red marks.

Then he closed his eyes and silently recited the Sutra of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva in his heart.

When the pig-headed man rushed before him, convinced that this time it would succeed, the boy suddenly opened his eyes. There was no other emotion in them, only supreme majesty.

He performed a spirit medium ritual, invoking the descent of General Loss to possess his body!

The pig-headed man recoiled in terror, mouth hanging open as it retreated at high speed.

It might not know the Officers of the Command Banner, but it could sense the aura radiating from the boy. It could only mean that an extremely powerful existence was descending in a form that could practically be called perfect, in terrifying fashion.

After retreating some distance, the pig-headed man was even more shocked to discover that the red ape and green ox it had been controlling were now showing signs of slipping out of its grasp.

Li Zhuiyuan was using the method from Wei Zhengdao’s Black Book to try to seize control of the ape and the ox.

But from the pig-headed man’s point of view, this was the ghost-kingly divine might of the Officers of the Command Banner forcibly compelling two Yin beasts to change allegiance.

The pig-headed man immediately waved its pig hoof, and the ape and ox dissipated.

Li Zhuiyuan did not feel too disappointed inside, because the other side would naturally never allow him to “steal” something right before its eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan began to move, stepping into the Three-Step Praise.

Lin Shuyou strutted around in this kind of footwork before him every few days. For Li Zhuiyuan, if he still could not remember it or learn it, that would have been the strange thing.

Still, Li Zhuiyuan only paced in a small circle on the spot before stopping once more where he had originally been standing.

He merely fixed the pig-headed man with an imposing glare, making no move to attack first.

Because Li Zhuiyuan could not actually invite the god down.

He had understood very early on that he was hopeless at spirit invocation.

Right now, he was exactly like back on the sports field when he had bluffed Lin Shuyou.

Nothing but an empty show.

It was just that the “show” had been crafted too convincingly: the aura of General Loss descending was almost perfect.

That night, even White Crane Child had failed to tell the difference and had thought some senior figure from his own side had truly arrived.

This pig had indeed been bluffed.

To make it look even more convincing, Li Zhuiyuan had deliberately adjusted his aura, letting it surge rapidly from the moment he had “entered the trance” up to a peak, and then gradually decline from fullness into weakness.

Thoughtfully, he was practically handing the pig a stopwatch so it could estimate when his possession would end.

That way, even if it found it odd that he was not attacking, it would still choose the safer course and wait for his time to run out.

The pig-headed man stood there motionless, while also remaining ready at any moment to hide again in the white fog.

And so, time passed second by second.

…

Next Chapter >