Chapter 245: Chapter 164: Clash (Part 2)
Lü Zhong analyzed the situation and guessed that anyone who barged in would be met with these slashing attacks.
He then ran a simulation in the Gray Mist Space and discovered that merely approaching the Spiritual Energy Net would trigger an attack from light blades erupting from the Spiritual Energy Nodes. The blades were terrifyingly powerful—in the simulation, a single strike had instantly killed him.
’Even my Star Yang Gang couldn’t block it. It must be comparable to a strike from a Golden Core cultivator!’ Lü Zhong’s face paled slightly as he recalled the scene of his simulated death, but another thought quickly surfaced.
’If the light blades are that deadly, how did Su Xu’Er get inside?’
He replayed the scene.
Lü Zhong finally understood the whole story.
As it turned out, a panicked Su Xu’Er had fled here, only to be abducted by a silver Puppet from the high tower. Her Cyan-winged Lion, trying to protect her, had attempted to force its way through the Grand Array outside. It first battled the Puppet Armor Soldiers before being slain by the tower’s outer Array. Shortly after, the Demon Cultivator who had been chasing Su Xu’Er arrived and clashed with the horde of Puppets in an attempt to enter the tower.
’Then, how do I get into the tower?’
With Su Xu’Er abducted, nothing good was likely to happen.
This gave Lü Zhong a headache. From his earlier observations, he knew that the only Life Gate in the tower’s Grand Array was exactly where the Demon Cultivator was fighting the Puppets. The Demon Cultivator must have realized this as well, which was why he chose to confront the horde of Bronze Puppets at that specific location.
He tried to break the Grand Array, only to find that the outer Spiritual Energy Net was not the array itself.
To break it, he would need to get close to the three innermost layers of Spiritual Energy Nodes near the tower.
’There’s no other way. It seems this is my only option...’
A bold idea flashed through his mind. Lü Zhong’s gaze fell upon the Demon Cultivator battling the Puppets. The defensive line formed by his horde of corpses was no longer impregnable. Under the assault of newly appeared Puppet Archers, it was on the verge of collapse.
He first moved to a safe distance and deactivated his Concealing Breath and Concealing Trace Techniques, then revealed himself to the Demon Cultivator.
Lü Zhong’s appearance immediately caught the Demon Cultivator’s attention.
Just as the man was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to abandon his defense or hold his ground, Lü Zhong spoke up with a proposal.
"What if we join forces?"
"Join forces?" A hoarse voice emerged from beneath a black gauze mask.
His tone was laced with surprise and suspicion. The Demon Cultivator stared at the suddenly-appeared Lü Zhong, his mind racing with theories, trying to guess the man’s intentions. All of his assumptions trended toward malicious scheming.
’Could this be a trap?’
’Is there something inside that I don’t know about?’
As one thought after another raced through his mind, the Demon Cultivator eliminated the incorrect possibilities and arrived at a surprising conclusion.
"They say the righteous and the demonic can never stand together. You’re certainly not one for convention, to actually propose joining forces with a member of the Demon Dao like myself!"
"Demon Dao, righteous path—what does it matter? Since our goal is the same—to enter the tower—why don’t we set aside these vague principles for now and deal with these Puppets first?" Lü Zhong slowly advanced, summoning his Qingyang Mirror and intentionally flaring its Spiritual Artifact aura to intimidate the visibly agitated Demon Cultivator.
The man had already turned his White Bone Fork toward him, clearly on guard.
Lü Zhong glanced at the distant tower and added, "Cooperation is mutually beneficial. Otherwise, neither of us has any hope of entering the tower alone."
Hearing this, the Demon Cultivator turned his White Bone Fork away and gave a sinister laugh. "Your words are reasonable. Then let us join forces. We’ll deal with this horde of Puppets first, and worry about the rest later!"
And so, the two began to work together, fighting the horde of Puppets.
Though they were both on guard and unwilling to reveal their trump cards, the horde of Puppets was still steadily pushed back.
Lü Zhong was Casting Fireball Bullets, blasting the distant Puppet Archers that were attacking the corpse horde to prevent the Demon Cultivator’s defensive line from being breached. At the same time, he was secretly pondering, ’How am I going to get rid of this Demon Cultivator afterward?’
After all, cooperating with a Demon Cultivator was like bargaining with a tiger for its hide.
Their partnership wasn’t reliable in the slightest and could shatter at any moment.
Lü Zhong didn’t for a second believe the other man wasn’t plotting against him in turn, so he became even more cautious of the Demon Cultivator.
In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the routed horde of Puppets had fallen back to the front of the tower.
With only a dozen or so Puppets left, entry into the tower was just moments away. But at that exact moment, as if by some unspoken agreement, both men stopped fighting.
"Your Magic Skills are sharp. Why don’t you finish off these last Puppets?" the Demon Cultivator’s voice grew sinister.
"However sharp my Magic Skills may be, they are nothing compared to your prowess with Refining Corpses. I think it would be better to leave them to you," Lü Zhong replied calmly.
Hearing this, the Demon Cultivator just snorted coldly and made no move.
The two were locked in a stalemate.
Lü Zhong, however, was not anxious. He had just replayed the scene and learned of the situation inside the tower. Su Xu’Er was in no mortal danger; she was merely restrained on a stone monument.
That being the case, he didn’t mind playing a waiting game with this Demon Cultivator.
The Demon Cultivator, on the other hand, only appeared calm. Inwardly, he was extremely anxious.
He, after all, had no idea what was happening inside the tower.
The Demon Cultivator’s name was Guna. He was hunting Su Xu’Er for a rare Golden Threaded Ghost Flower, which he needed to remedy a hidden flaw left by his Demon Technique and reduce the risk of suffering a Qigong Deviation.
Once picked, the flower had to be preserved in Yin Jade, or its medicinal properties would rapidly fade.
The problem was, Su Xu’Er didn’t know this. She had only used an ordinary jade box. This was why Guna was so anxious; as time passed, the Golden Threaded Ghost Flower’s potency was rapidly fading. Two full days had passed, and the Spirit Flower’s medicinal properties were about to drop to a critical level.
