Chapter 182 - 154: Incarnation

Chapter 182: Chapter 154: Incarnation

For Zhang Ji, taking out Kong Jue was just a minor interlude.

As for Zhu Hai, the "Blood Butcher," he was just unlucky.

However, for a piece of scum like him who enjoyed eating raw human livers, death was a fitting end. There was no injustice to speak of.

WEE-WOO WEE-WOO WEE-WOO~!

The loud wail of law enforcement sirens echoed, spreading across nearly all of Shunjin Heaven.

The situation was escalating rapidly.

In the sky, fleets of law enforcement shuttles were rapidly converging on the area. Their searchlights swept across the ground of the Floating City, while invisible Spiritual Energy Waves scanned the surroundings, searching for Zhang Ji’s location.

Zhang Ji had no intention of staying, immediately flying away at low altitude.

However, the commotion from the killings had apparently drawn too much attention, as a law enforcement shuttle was already heading in his direction.

SWOOSH~!

A flying sword tore through the air, heading straight for Zhang Ji.

It was so fast that even with his current speed, Zhang Ji couldn’t shake it.

Zhang Ji guessed this was no mass-produced, low-grade item. He raised a hand and unleashed a strike with his Breaking Army Finger.

BANG! CLANG!

The flying sword was knocked back. Zhang Ji pushed his speed even further, and in an instant, he lost the shuttle completely.

「A short while later.」

Zhang Ji materialized near a massive skyscraper.

Behind him was a giant holographic advertisement.

It depicted a valiant-looking female Sword Cultivator in a white robe with gold trim.

That was Linghu Yao, the Celestial Sword Group’s top female Sword Cultivator celebrity. In the projection, she was advertising the latest model of flying sword.

The Thirteenth-Generation Flight System—Powering Your Path to Immortality! 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

’A woman who let a student-teacher romance turn her brain to mush,’ Zhang Ji quipped mockingly as he watched the projection.

According to the game’s background story as Zhang Ji knew it, Linghu Yao was originally Ling Xuzi’s disciple, but her feelings for her master clearly went beyond simple respect and admiration.

After Ling Xuzi betrayed the Celestial Sword Group, her situation became extremely difficult for a time.

However, Ling Xuzi’s senior brother, Dugu Yunfeng—the current helmsman of the Celestial Sword Group—chose to take Linghu Yao in and become her new master. Only then did she manage to escape her predicament of being scorned and ostracized.

If that were all, Zhang Ji wouldn’t have said that Linghu Yao had let the student-teacher romance turn her brain to mush.

The crucial part was that even later, during the final battle between Ling Xuzi and Dugu Yunfeng, she still thought Ling Xuzi must have had some hidden justification. She tried to persuade him to repent, spouting nonsense like, "Reform can be gradual," and "So many people don’t need to die."

So adorably naive, unable to even recognize her own loyalties.

Dugu Yunfeng was hastily taken out of the picture while defending Linghu Yao from one of Ling Xuzi’s attacks.

Only then did Linghu Yao finally have her awakening. She pulled the Primordial Sword Bone from the Nine Heavens Sword Mausoleum, drove it into her own body, and broke through to the Divinity Transformation stage. After killing Ling Xuzi, she became the new leader of the Celestial Sword Group, finally beginning to mature and shed her naivety.

Some players actually shipped the toxic pairing of Ling Xuzi and Linghu Yao.

But in Zhang Ji’s opinion, people with such an immature and wavering sense of right and wrong needed to be eliminated first in any conflict, regardless of whether they were friend or foe.

Suddenly, Zhang Ji noticed the holographic projection turn to look at him.

The next instant, the flying sword within the projection flew out towards him.

’An Illusion Skill? No, that’s not it!’

Zhang Ji raised a hand, unleashing a blast of purple palm energy.

BOOM! BANG!

The palm energy collided with the flying sword, sending it flying. After tumbling a few times in mid-air, the sword flew back to the projection’s side.

’Wait, this isn’t a projection anymore. It’s... a Spirit Puppet avatar?’

"An Escape Skill of that caliber... you must have been practicing for at least thirty years, Fellow Cultivator," Linghu Yao said, staring at Zhang Ji. She was controlling this Spirit Body through the Spirit Net using a sliver of her Divine Thought.

Although this wasn’t her true body, anyone who could block that sword strike so easily was no ordinary person.

"You couldn’t achieve this in thirty years. I’ve been practicing for more than fifty!"

Zhang Ji replied offhandedly, simultaneously sizing up the Spirit Puppet before him.

It looked almost identical to Linghu Yao, but its body was wreathed in a blue spiritual glow, within which Spirit Patterns were faintly visible.

This was clearly a refined Puppet, what would have been called an out-of-body avatar in this world’s ancient past.

A Divinity Transformation Stage cultivator’s Divine Thought could easily split into thousands of strands. This allowed them to simultaneously operate a massive number of Spiritual Artifacts, cast multiple Spirit Skills, and, of course, control numerous out-of-body avatars.

In this era, although one could install auxiliary systems to aid in controlling Spiritual Artifacts, the unique capabilities of the Divinity Transformation Stage remained irreplaceable.

As the current rising star of the Celestial Sword Group and a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator, Linghu Yao naturally had to begin training in splitting her Divine Thought ahead of time.

Thus, she also had many out-of-body avatars stationed across the Thirty-Three Heavens.

In her spare time, she’d use them to fight crime.

Zhang Ji hadn’t expected to be so lucky as to run into one of her avatars.

"Surrender quietly and reveal the faction backing you. If you do, you might just see the outside of the Spirit-Locking Tower again in this lifetime," Linghu Yao said, sword in hand, as she faced Zhang Ji.

"Heh! That sounds just like you!"

A smile touched Zhang Ji’s lips, amused by her naivety.

"Hm?"

Linghu Yao didn’t understand the reason for his smile. Just as she was about to ask, she saw him raising a palm to strike her.

BOOM!

A massive wave of palm energy shot toward Linghu Yao, holding nothing back.

Countless streams of data flashed through the eyes of Linghu Yao’s avatar as it performed myriad calculations in an instant.

In the next instant, her Spirit Sword multiplied into thousands of miniature flying swords. They interlinked in the air to form a Sword Array. Then, their Spiritual Power began to resonate at the same frequency, instantly shattering Zhang Ji’s palm strike and causing it to dissipate.