Free Web NovelChapter 706: Chapter 547: Unable to Withstand a Single Blow
"That’s a ghost from the Ghost Lantern, and this fishing rod can actually catch ghosts!!"
After the girl with the sky-reaching braid was snatched away, the Ghost Lantern in Yang Xiao’s hands became useless, the flame extinguished, transforming into just an ordinary lantern.
Yang Xiao was completely stunned for a moment, never having anticipated such an event, and was caught completely off guard.
The next second, Qu Muzhi closed in rapidly, thrusting a long spear straight at the woman’s chest. The woman dodged, using the momentum from the retraction of the fishing rod, swung it horizontally, and smashed it towards Qu Muzhi’s head. In an instant, with two "bang, bang" sounds, Qu Muzhi and the woman exchanged blows.
Qu Muzhi was struck on the back with the fishing rod, stumbling a few times before managing not to fall, his clothes torn apart revealing a bloody wound. As for the woman, she was hit by Qu Muzhi—a sudden eerie twist at the tip of his headless spear pierced directly towards the woman’s heart, the powerful thrust shredding her clothes at the chest, revealing a large hole. Through the tear, not flesh-colored skin but grey-brown, dry bark was visible; it was this bark that protected her against the fatal blow.
Qu Muzhi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, spear held across his body, staring intently at the woman. Both of the woman’s magic artifacts were of top-notch quality; a fierce battle was certain today.
"How are you faring?" Yang Xiao looked towards Qu Muzhi.
"It doesn’t matter!" Qu Muzhi stood up straight, his injuries both front and back made him look quite pitiable, but his aura and will to fight were even stronger than before. His gray-white hair, determined gaze, and the way he stood as straight as a battle banner seemingly fluttering in the wind, couldn’t help but remind Yang Xiao of someone—that Captain with a silver spear in the apartment world who single-handedly turned the tides against the Daoist robe old ghost.
"Captain Yang, don’t be afraid. We are both from the Patrol Defense Office. Exterminating the Evil Cultivators is our duty. Even if we die today, we have no regrets for wearing this uniform!" The situation was extremely unfavorable, yet Qu Muzhi still rallied his teammates with a resolve to face death unflinchingly.
Before the words had settled, Yang Xiao swung the Human Bone Staff with all his might, striking out with it just like Qu Muzhi had done previously; the woman raised the fishing rod to block, but the strange wave easily passed through the rod, hitting the woman in the chest.
"Hmm?" The woman grunted softly, frozen for half a second, then her eyes changed as she looked at the Human Bone Staff in Yang Xiao’s hands.
"Do you like it?" Yang Xiao taunted, shaking the Human Bone Staff, "If you like the stick so much, come and get it, old lady!"
The woman moved like a ghost, almost in the blink of an eye, she rushed at Yang Xiao. The fishing rod in her hand suddenly extended to about 5 or 6 meters, whipping down at Yang Xiao like a lash. Yang Xiao, well-prepared, swiftly retreated and used the Soul-Capturing Mirror to block. As expected, when the whip struck the mirror and retracted, it pulled a ghostly shadow out from within.
Seeing another ghost being fished away, Qu Muzhi suddenly furrowed his brows, but upon recognizing the ghost’s face, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of shock—the ghost actually bore an identical face to Yang Xiao, and the same physique, only missing an arm and a leg; its appearance was not only unscary but somewhat pathetic. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"That’s the Wounded Door’s Soul-Capturing Mirror!" the woman exclaimed, eyes lighting up.
Losing the Mirror Ghost wasn’t bad for Yang Xiao. In the heat of such a battle, there was no guarantee the Mirror Ghost wouldn’t sneak out and cause trouble. More importantly, after the recent exchange, Yang Xiao had roughly figured out the woman’s abilities.
The fishing rod could catch ghosts, true, but not without a solution. The ghosts weren’t dead—just temporarily suppressed, which consumed a great deal of the woman’s spiritual power. Catching the Mirror Ghost wasn’t as effortless for her as it had been with the sky-reaching braid girl. By Yang Xiao’s estimate, one more ghost would push her to her limit.
If it were a regular Angel Envoy, they might indeed be helpless against the woman, but not him, Yang Xiao. He was armed to the teeth—if she fished away three, he still had three more to spare.
"Old Witch, it’s your time to die!" Yang Xiao, in sync with Qu Muzhi, fought closely with him, using the Human Bone Staff to interfere from the outside. After capturing two ghosts, the woman’s fishing rod attacks were no longer as effortless as before, and for a time, the two sides seemed evenly matched.
Just as the scales of victory were about to tip in favor of Yang Xiao and Qu Muzhi, suddenly, the woman slowed down in retracting the rod, giving Qu Muzhi the opportunity to strike, landing a punch in her abdomen. However, instead of being knocked back or vomiting blood as expected, Qu Muzhi’s expression drastically changed as his punch got stuck, countless tiny roots burrowed out from the torn clothes, wrapping around his fist and climbing up his arm at a rapid pace towards his body.
In that moment, even the tough Qu Muzhi shivered with severe pain as the encroaching roots bore an eerie, chilling force, as if freezing his flesh and blood while his spiritual power rapidly collapsed. freēwebnovel.com
"Cut the Gordian knot," Qu Muzhi twisted his spear, sliding it along his palm, and with all his might, thrust it towards the woman’s heart, a clear resolve for a do-or-die attack. Just as the spear pierced flesh, the woman kicked Qu Muzhi away fiercely. He crashed heavily onto the ground, and as the woman swung her fishing rod down towards Qu Muzhi’s head, Yang Xiao intervened in time with the Human Bone Staff, blocking the strike. Although the force pushed him back several steps, tearing the skin of his palms, at least Qu Muzhi’s life was saved.
