Free Web NovelChapter 174: Chapter 166: A Volley of Ten Thousand Arrows
Su Ling’er forced herself to calm down.
She knew that the slightest bit of panic right now could cause everything to fall apart.
She gripped the Wooden Sword, which was tainted with ghostly energy. Its cold touch brought her a small measure of peace.
They began to check every corner, trying to see if they could find any more clues.
They overturned rotten tables and chairs and pushed aside dusty curtains. The group of mortals huddled in their midst, squeezed tightly together, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
Finally, it was Su Ling’er herself who discovered something unusual on the floor.
"Here!"
She tapped a bluestone floor tile at her feet with the tip of her sword.
"The flow of Spiritual Qi in this tile... something’s wrong!"
The crowd immediately gathered around.
But no matter what Magic the undercover disciples used, the tile wouldn’t budge an inch.
"Let me."
Su Ling’er channeled the full force of her Foundation Establishment Stage Spiritual Power into her fingertip and lightly tapped a crack next to the tile.
"CRACK..."
With a grating sound, the floor tile slowly rose and was then moved aside with Magic.
A dark passage leading underground was revealed before them.
"A secret passage!"
"Are we... getting closer to the so-called ’truth’?"
"Could this passage lead outside?!"
Meanwhile, the closet door... had quietly opened a crack.
The disciple at the very back was just about to get up and follow the group when, in that instant, a sinister, cold aura struck him from behind!
Before he could even turn his head, a pale, bloated hand flashed in his peripheral vision and instantly clamped over his mouth and nose!
The disciple’s face was filled with horror. He instinctively tried to circulate his Spiritual Power to resist, but he discovered to his despair that his Cultivation at the fourth level of Qi Refining was pathetically weak against this bizarre, icy power!
The Spiritual Qi in his body froze instantly, solidifying in his meridians, completely impossible to mobilize!
He wanted to send a plea for help with his Divine Sense, but the power coming from the ghostly hand instantly sealed it away!
Fear engulfed him.
He could only watch helplessly as his companions disappeared one by one into the secret passage, while he was dragged into the wardrobe behind him by that hand.
CREAK...
The closet door slowly swung shut before his eyes. The last sliver of light, along with his hope for survival and the fragment of the Lingxi Inquiry Profound Mirror, was devoured by the darkness.
The woman at the rear of the group seemed to sense something just before stepping into the passage. She uneasily glanced back.
With just one look, her face turned as white as a sheet.
She saw a pale, ghostly hand retract through the crack of the wardrobe door before it closed again.
Terrified, the woman scrambled after the "Masters" in front of her, rushing into the unknown darkness.
...
Inside the secret passage, it was deathly silent.
As they were approaching a corner, the person in the lead seemed to step on a hidden mechanism.
"CLICK."
A faint mechanical sound echoed.
The next second, several small holes suddenly appeared on the wall at the corner with a SWISH SWISH SWISH!
Before anyone could react, a volley of arrows inscribed with bizarre runes shot out from the holes, instantly sealing off the entire passage!
"Myriad Arrows Volley!!!"
Inside a warm curtain of light, Lin Qingfeng slammed a Talisman Card from his hand onto the ground.
Light flowed across the card’s surface, instantly conjuring the magnificent sight of thousands of arrows being fired at once.
"Sigh..."
The scholar sighed helplessly as he watched the health bar on his character’s Talisman Card drop to zero again.
His character card depicted a masked "spy."
He held a short blade, but looked rather shifty.
"Master, I can’t believe this ’Spy’ character I drew is so fragile," the scholar said with a grimace.
"Mm, you were unlucky this time."
Lin Qingfeng said, shuffling the cards skillfully and offering advice like a seasoned veteran,
"In Talisman Slaughter, the ’Spy’ is definitely one of the weaker characters. It doesn’t have any particularly useful skills and can’t hold on to its health."
He paused for a moment before continuing:
"If you had drawn a character like ’Frenzied Bones’ that can heal, or ’Parting Stratagem’ that lets you draw cards when you lose health, or even ’Unyielding’ that at least lets you survive a bit longer..."
"Your ’Spy’ is squishy to begin with, and you drew a bad hand. It’s normal for it to die quickly."
"Don’t worry,"
He patted the scholar’s shoulder encouragingly.
"Try harder next round! You’ll definitely get it next time! Come on, come on, let’s keep going, next game!"
"Yes, yes! Thank you for the guidance, Master!"
Inside the curtain of light, the three began another happy round of their Talisman Card game.
「In the secret passage.」
Seeing the countless arrows glinting with a spectral light hurtling toward them, Dong Changsheng showed no sign of panic.
’A chance!’
He immediately formed a hand seal for his Technique and roared!
"Earth Dragon Break!"
He actually intended to use a powerful Earth Magic spell to destroy the mechanism in the wall before the arrows were even fired!
What astonishing confidence and decisiveness!
The undercover disciples behind him were deeply impressed. ’Mr. Dong truly is extraordinary,’ they thought, ’to use offense as defense!’
However, the unexpected happened!
Following Lin Qingfeng’s cry of "Myriad Arrows Volley," the flow of all power within the haunted mansion strangely faltered.
The momentary disruption in Spiritual Qi caused the Earth Dragon Break to detonate before it could even form, the earth-element Spiritual Power exploding right in front of him!
"Not good!"
Dong Changsheng’s expression changed drastically!
BOOM!!!
With a tremendous roar, the backlash struck the caster.
Dong Changsheng was sent flying by the immense force.
He traced a pathetic arc through the air, knocking over two undercover disciples who couldn’t dodge in time, before landing with a THUD more than ten meters away, face down.
He was extremely lucky to have avoided all the Spell-Breaking Spirit Arrows coming at him, but he was covered in wounds from his own out-of-control Magic, embedded with countless stone fragments.
"Mr. Dong!"
"Master!"
The sudden turn of events threw the group into chaos.
"Everyone, get back!"
In the nick of time, Su Ling’er shouted and stepped forward, shielding everyone behind her!
She didn’t cast any defensive Magic. Instead, she poured all the deathly energy, ghostly energy, and corpse energy into the Wooden Sword in her hand!
In an instant, the Wooden Sword was shrouded in a grayish-black aura!
"CLANG CLANG CLANG—!"
Countless Spell-Breaking Spirit Arrows struck Su Ling’er’s Wooden Sword, creating a rapid series of crisp clangs.
As the bizarre runes on the arrows came into contact with the evil aura clinging to the Wooden Sword, their light dimmed rapidly and finally extinguished, causing them to fall to the ground with a CLATTER.
In that same instant, something behind them seemed to be... writhing.
Several twisted, black shadows seeped out from the cracks in the walls and floor.
One person was tightly covering his ears, praying with his eyes shut, when he suddenly felt a chill on his neck.
He reflexively opened his eyes.
A face, so rotten that only putrid flesh remained, was hanging upside down in front of him, face to face.
"GAK..."
Before his scream could escape his throat, a similarly rotten hand clamped over his mouth and dragged him silently into the shadows of the wall.
The same scene played out simultaneously with two other mortals.
Of the mortals who had been huddled together, only the woman holding her child and two others remained.
