Chapter 189
Chapter 189
When Liu Junyan created the Butterfly-Locking Formation, he had accounted for two possible outcomes.
The first was a successful Butterfly Sealing. The chrysalis would be imprisoned on Tang Xun’s body and prevented from transforming into a butterfly again, allowing her to survive this Calamity.
The second possibility was exactly what was happening now.
Our Formation had been broken, which meant the enemy had already noticed what we were doing.
The next instant, Liu Junyan flung out his Prayer Beads. They looped neatly around the chrysalis, and he immediately began chanting sutras and incantations without pause. Forming a Sword Finger, he held the Prayer Beads down from a distance. Even the struggling Tang Xun could barely move.
This continued for two or three minutes before a wind suddenly rose near the balcony.
The instant a powerful Yin Wind swept in through the balcony, Tang Xian collapsed on the spot.
Tang Xian was Tang Xun’s right-hand man. He had followed her through countless life-and-death situations over the years, so there was no question about his abilities.
He had appeared and remained by the balcony precisely to protect Tang Xun.
Yet the instant the Yin Wind rose, he fell without putting up the slightest resistance.
Who in the world was our enemy, and how could he be so powerful?
These were the two contingencies Liu Junyan had prepared for, but both had the same ultimate — and only-objective: to force the enemy to reveal himself.
If entering Hushan did not guarantee that we would find the Hushan Ancient Tomb, then we would simply make the enemy come to us.
Now, we had achieved our goal.
The instant the Yin Wind swept aside the gauzy curtains and surged inside, the Copper Coin in Liu Junyan’s hand shot toward it. Red Thread streamed from the hole in the Copper Coin, and Copper Coin after Copper Coin rapidly unfurled along the thread, soon forming a vast Copper Coin Net.
The Copper Coin Net held back the waves of Yin Wind. After battering against it several times, the wind suddenly coalesced into a human shape.
It took the form of an eight-foot-tall man holding a ceremonial court tablet.
The figure flickered and appeared before the Copper Coin Net. Raising the court tablet high, he brought it crashing down with tremendous force.
I heard a deafening impact, followed by the clatter of shattered Copper Coin pieces hitting the floor and the furious howl of the Yin Wind.
With a single blow of his court tablet, the enemy had actually destroyed Liu Junyan’s Copper Coin Net!
Liu Junyan had said from the beginning that the enemy was likely both extremely powerful and highly ranked in the Netherworld Realm. Now it seemed his assessment had been perfectly accurate.
The instant the Copper Coin Net broke, I summoned Fengwu and fired three consecutive shots at the figure.
Unfortunately, all three flames were shattered in midair before they could touch him.
At the same time, Liu Junyan continued forming hand seals, his fingers moving in a blur.
Countless Golden Copper Coins appeared out of thin air and rapidly converged, ultimately forming a Copper Coin Sword nearly a meter long.
Liu Junyan’s Lifebound Artifact was a sword.
However, that sword had been left underwater in the Linghai Forbidden Zone, and he could not retrieve it for the time being.
Yet even without his Lifebound Artifact, Liu Junyan could already manipulate Copper Coin pieces with practiced ease and form them into a Copper Coin Sword for battle.
This weapon seemed to suit him perfectly.
Liu Junyan launched himself into the air. Pointing his Sword Finger at the Copper Coin Sword, he sent it stabbing after the figure.
The enemy was no pushover. He shifted forms repeatedly, swinging his court tablet again and again.
The instant the court tablet came crashing down, the Copper Coin Sword split into several smaller blades, each one a Copper Coin Sword, which stabbed toward the dark figure from different angles…
For a time, the Yin Wind roared through the side of the room nearest the balcony as the two fought fiercely, neither giving an inch.
Just as Hui Moqiong and I were searching for an opening to join the battle, Tang Tang risked charging into the room. Grabbing hold of me, she said, “Xiao Jiu, Yu Nian is here! She’s downstairs and has something to tell you. Hurry!”
Senior Sister was here?
She wouldn’t have come to the Tang Family estate for no reason. Could she have divined that the Tang Family would face a crisis today?
I glanced back at Liu Junyan. He and the stranger were evenly matched.
Only then did I follow Tang Tang downstairs to hear what Yu Nian had to say.
Besides, Yu Nian had the Thousand-Soul Banner in her possession. It could help us in a pinch.
Yu Nian stood in the living room of the Tang Family estate, with Tang Ao beside her, anxiety written all over his face as well.
I jogged over and asked, “Senior Sister, what are you doing here?”
“Hurry. Tell Seventh Master to stop,” Yu Nian said. “Before coming to the Tang Family estate, I cast a divination for Aunt Tang. Just now, I also asked for her Birth Date and Time and carefully ran the calculations twice. According to my results, the man who came here is her fated match.”
“Aunt Tang’s fated match?!” I exclaimed, my face paling. “How can that be?”
A fated match was someone destined for you — a bond that could neither be severed nor untangled, one that no amount of hardship could tear apart.
Yu Nian’s expression was grave. “And his connection with Aunt Tang goes back more than one lifetime. If I haven’t miscalculated, they should finally end up together in this life. They’ll just have to weather a few setbacks first. Also, Xiao Jiu, come with me…”
As she spoke, Yu Nian took my hand and led me toward the rear window.
The window overlooked the rear garden and directly faced the rear window of Tang Xun’s room.
I followed Yu Nian’s gaze through the window. The moment I saw what was outside, every hair on my body stood on end, and a chill raced up my spine.
The rear garden was packed with row upon row of Ghost Soldiers.
These Ghost Soldiers were clearly nothing like the ones in the Zhu Pan River. The yin energy surrounding them was far too dense.
They wore identical battle robes. Half carried Fangtian halberds, while the other half held long spears with white shafts and red tassels.
Their eyes glowed an eerie green, making them especially sinister in the darkness.
These… were Ghost Soldiers and Ghost Generals from the Underworld.
The ones in the Zhu Pan River couldn’t begin to compare.
Tang Tang followed us over curiously and asked, “What are you looking at?”
I whirled around, covered her eyes with one hand, and led her back into the living room.
Although Tang Tang had been born into the Tang Family and had learned a fair amount about Yin-Yang and feng shui, she was still young and had yet to set foot on the path of cultivation. One glance at those things could leave her seriously ill afterward.
She couldn’t handle it.
Tang Ao would fare even worse.
Tang Tang looked thoroughly confused. I called out, “Senior Sister, keep an eye on her,” then turned and bolted upstairs.
The magical battle was still raging upstairs.
Before, I had thought Liu Junyan and the stranger were evenly matched. Now, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
The stranger had been forced to reveal himself, yet he clearly hadn’t come to kill anyone.
He had brought so many Ghost Soldiers, but every last one remained in the rear garden without making a move. That alone made his intentions clear.
“Liu Junyan, stop! He’s not an enemy!” I shouted as I rushed inside.
Liu Junyan immediately withdrew his attack. The stranger didn’t seize the opening to ambush him. He merely stood quietly on the other side of the gauze curtain and waited.
I grabbed Liu Junyan by the arm, then shot Hui Moqiong a meaningful look and led them both out of the room.
As I closed the door behind us, I told them what Yu Nian’s divination and calculations had revealed, as well as what was waiting in the rear garden.
They were both shocked.
Liu Junyan frowned, pondering the stranger’s identity.
Hui Moqiong, on the other hand, couldn’t hold back. “Even if they’re a fated match, I bet theirs is an ill-fated entanglement spanning several lifetimes. Otherwise, why bring out a Ghost King Butterfly to torment Ms. Tang? Was he bored out of his mind?”