Chapter 43 Mooching is often a wonderful thing.
"Everyone, be careful."
Master Lotus whispered a reminder to everyone.
Lin Baihu's smile was once again welded onto his face, solidified.
He violently drew his battle saber, thinking to say more, but was collectively glared back by the crowd.
Some people's mouths truly are blessed, top-notch jinxes.
By now, they had clearly seen who the attacking enemy was.
A three-meter-tall giant paper figure stood in front of them, with about twenty smaller paper figures standing densely behind it, fully armed and equipped, and even their blades flickered with a faint blue glow.
Obviously, they were coated with deadly poison.
Seeing this scene, Yi Taoist's face instantly turned dark as he quietly edged towards Yi Chen's direction.
His seventh sense told him that in critical moments, it would still be Yi Taoist who could be relied on.
"Kill... you all!"
The tall paper figure brandished a thick copper club the size of a sea bowl as he charged towards everyone, with the smaller paper figures swarming behind him.
A few treacherous small paper figures even sneakily shot cold arrows on the way, completely disregarding any martial ethics.
Several arrows shot straight towards Abbess Shuiyue, three inches below her navel.
Clearly, this troop of paper figures surpassed the previous ones in intelligence and cunning, understanding the principle that it's better to break one finger than to injure all of them.
Upon seeing this, Abbess Shuiyue's face turned dark; this was too much bullying.
Singling him out for such insidious attacks.
How vicious!
He put his hands together, quickly took off the beads from his hand, and chanted.
"Amitabha!"
A speck of golden light appeared from Abbess Shuiyue's clasped hands, and suddenly expanded into a large golden sphere, enveloping his figure tightly, instantly turning him into a bright light bulb.
In the nick of time, the incoming arrows were deflected by the light shield.
At this moment, fine beads of sweat appeared on Abbess Shuiyue's forehead.
Although he was old and a monk, which made it somewhat irrelevant to him, he still did not want to be completely useless.
So, he decisively used his ultimate protective spell, the Golden Light Shield, to protect himself.
Yi Chen, however, had no time to concern himself with others; his attention was firmly fixed on the tall paper figure in front of him.
"Such strong ghostly energy."
"This one must have Deep Red Points."
Do it, the essence of war is speed.
By now, Yi Chen had already sensed something wrong.
Ever since they entered the Lanxiu Tower, they had been faced with one wave of... resistance after another.
That's right, resistance.
But the person behind the scenes had not yet shown their face, instead sending out waves of paper figures in a relentless attempt to wear them down.
"They really don't want us to proceed?"
"Then I will do exactly the opposite."
Yi Chen was undoubtedly fast, but someone was even faster than him.
With a grim expression, Lin Baihu drew his battle saber, turning into a blur as he swept toward the tall paper figure.
"Swift Wind, Star Points"
A green stream of energy wrapped around Lin Baihu's entire body, and with the boost of this mana, his speed became as fast as lightning. In the blink of an eye, his battle saber clanged against the tall paper figure, sparks flying everywhere.
The tall paper figure swung its copper club in anger, but couldn't catch up with Lin Baihu's speed.
One side couldn't break the defense, while the other couldn't catch up. Lin Baihu tried several times to take a vicious shot at the paper ghost's eyes, but was driven back by the paper ghost's copper club each time.
He couldn't dare to withstand such a heavy blow; he felt that if he did, the Lin family might come to an end.
The battle between the two ground to a stalemate.
Yi Chen had a thought and did not immediately join the fight against the tall paper figure. Instead, he drew his Dragon-Slaying Sword and charged toward the group of small paper creatures.
Anyway, it looked like Lin Baihu wouldn't be able to take down the tall paper ghost in a short time, and the Deep Red Points wouldn't be able to escape in a hurry, so he might as well let Lin Baihu have a good time with this tall paper ghost.
First, he would take care of those disgusting little paper creatures.
"You... bunch of damned pests!"
"You have already chosen a path of certain death!"
With a roar of anger from Yi Chen, he rushed towards the small paper creatures, Dragon-Slaying Sword in hand.
These damned little paper creatures even dared to shoot cold arrows at three inches below his abdomen—completely lawless.
Did they think the Daoist's sword was not sharp?
"Abbess, I'm here to assist you!"
At this moment, under the relentless siege of the paper figures, Abbess Shuiyue was hard-pressed on all sides. The water dragon she had released had been chopped into three segments by the assault of the small paper creatures and had dispersed, and now she could barely summon a second one, her situation highly precarious.
Yi Chen's right foot powered off the ground, causing a surge of deep purple Pure Yang Inner Qi to envelop his body as he shot out like a cannonball. He beheaded a bow-wielding paper figure that had been hiding and launching sneak attacks with one sweep of his sword.
Afterward, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, he sliced and smashed through them. In a few breaths, he had cleared all the little paper creatures around Abbess Shuiyue.
Actually, it wasn't entirely Abbess Shuiyue's fault that they were struggling. They walked the path of magical cultivation, and these strong, fearless, and bizarrely magic-resistant paper creatures were the bane of their type of cultivation.
Who knows what kind of sinister materials were used to make these paper figures.
It didn't matter, though.
Yi Chen was a perfect counter to these small paper monsters.
Soon, all the surrounding small paper creatures were chopped into black ash by Yi Chen except for one that was left scrambling on the ground, clawing at the floor with its left hand and holding a pointy knife in its right, looking very determined.
But it was in vain.
In this world, not everyone who tries hard is guaranteed success or to accomplish certain things.
In fact, there are some things that if you're not born with, you might never have in your entire life.
The world is inherently unfair.
Some people are born in Rome, while others are born as mules and horses.
Even more heart-wrenching is when those born in Rome criticize the little mules and horses for not trying hard enough...
The small paper figure on the ground had been trying so hard, then a large foot descended from the sky, crushed its head into pieces, and exploded into a bright flame. With its remaining half of a body ignited, a black mark was left on the ground—its final trace in the world.
At this point, everyone had their hands free, and they all turned their gaze forward.
Lin Baihu was just plain unlucky. The material that tall paper ghost was made from was outrageously tough.
Thankfully, it was finally all about to end.
Under his relentless efforts, the tall paper figure in front of him was already broken and tattered, with many parts already ablaze with a blue flame, emitting black smoke.
He was about to slay this paper ghost.
Although Lin Baihu was breathing like a bellows at this point, he still managed to keep going.
"The final strike, sending you on your way."
"Swift Wind - Star..."
"Backstab~!"
Suddenly, a sword tip pierced through the throat of the tall paper ghost from within.
With a sweeping motion from Yi Chen's long sword, the head of the tall paper ghost fell to the ground and rolled towards Lin Baihu.
An information stream suddenly appeared on Yi Chen's retinas.
[You have successfully killed a paper ghost, earning twenty-five Deep Red Points.]
Lin Baihu's face turned red with frustration.
He felt quite upset.
Yi Chen, on the other hand, was beaming with joy.
To reap without sowing—truly a delightful thing indeed.
Just then, a blood-red pillar of light suddenly rose in front of them.
Everyone's expression changed dramatically as they hurriedly raced towards the location of the rising pillar of light.
Alas, it was already too late.