Chapter 1228: You Come, I Go

These tactics always came naturally to it, both in the past and the present.

But just then, shouts of battle erupted from behind Cotton Village, and an army suddenly emerged from the forest. Not only the Bixia people, but even Ghost King Xuanlu was taken by surprise. This was because the clone it had sent with Commander Shi's unit had suddenly lost contact. Commander Shi had clearly led his men to block the cave entrance earlier, so where did these more than a thousand enemies burst out from?

Ghost King Xuanlu was, after all, a master of illusions, and a moment's thought revealed the truth: a trap. Their trap wasn't set at the cave mouth, but in that patch of mixed woods! The mixed woods appeared open, so Commander Shi and his clone hadn't worried about any trickery and had led their team through them. It was likely that they had unwittingly stepped into the enemy's trap right there! The enemy must possess a spatial artifact, containing a small, self-contained world within, with its opening disguised as the mixed woods, waiting for them to walk right into the snare. Its clone would need to find an exit and a weakness to escape, which meant it couldn't be relied upon for the time being.

Along with Commander Shi, seven hundred Bixia soldiers were also trapped. Ghost King Xuanlu's expression turned grim. With Commander Shi and his clone in peril, it meant enemies were concealed within the actual stone cave, and their sudden emergence had instantly shifted the balance of numbers. The enemy numbered close to two thousand seven or eight hundred, while his own forces consisted of only thirteen hundred, plus dozens of corpse puppets!

Naturally, the Ghost King remained confident of victory. It commanded numerous Yin soldiers, and its corpse puppets boasted combat strength far superior to humans. The suicide squad, formed by three hundred Gaopu puppets, acted like a sharp blade, capable of tearing the enemy forces to shreds. These three hundred elite fighters alone possessed the combat power of at least a thousand enemy soldiers. Thus, it felt no fear.

The problem, however, was that this engagement was merely a warm-up; its true objective was Jishi Village and the Rakshasa Armor! A prolonged battle undoubtedly awaited it there. The battlefield was like a chessboard, and throwing all its pieces into play now would be ill-advised.

No, wait! It suddenly realized that if the battle at Cotton Village had already caught it off guard, it meant the enemy had anticipated its sneak attack here. In that case, was the Rakshasa Armor even still in Jishi Village?

Ghost King Xuanlu cursed and immediately ordered a retreat. Knowing it was a trap, what was the point of a pitched battle? "Retreat, all of you!"

Just as the Bixia soldiers were about to change direction, the general who had burst from the forest led his troops directly towards Ghost King Xuanlu, yelling, "Xuanlu, where are you going? Trying to abandon your comrades and flee again?"

The words stung. Ghost King Xuanlu frowned and turned to look. It was none other than Situ Yu himself leading the charge. This too was unexpected for Ghost King Xuanlu. Situ Yu had personally intervened for the sake of the boy named He? Across the field, Situ Yu clearly saw Ghost King Xuanlu's face and was instantly consumed by rage: "You shameless specter, do you have no face of your own?"

That face was all too familiar to him—it was none other than Qi Tianbo, the general of the Gaopu Kingdom, whose whereabouts had been unknown since his capture! Qi Tianbo and Situ Yu were fellow disciples and close friends. Qi Tianbo had fallen into the hands of the Bixia people before their kingdom's fall, and Situ Yu had been searching for him ever since. To his shock, he had become the skin of Ghost King Xuanlu! Ghost King Xuanlu possessed many skins, but to choose Qi Tianbo for this night's assault was clearly a deliberate attempt to provoke and disgust.

Ghost King Xuanlu turned, and using Qi Tianbo's face, chuckled at Situ Yu, the smile both familiar and eerie: "You claim to be steadfast and courageous, yet your resolve is weak. Qi Tianbo's soul was ripped from his body by me; he didn't last two days before weeping, wailing, and begging for death."

Situ Yu's face turned green with rage, but he wasted no time issuing successive commands: "Stop him! Today, we will defeat the Ghost King at Cotton Village and avenge my fallen nation and my old friend!" The Ghost King had aided the Bixia in their attack on Gaopu, so Situ Yu indeed harbored both national and personal animosity towards it.

With Situ Yu leading by example, the morale of his army soared. Commanders of all ranks worked to adjust their formations, and the gaps in the ranks, initially torn open by the corpse puppets, gradually closed. Though each possessed unique abilities, their numbers were limited. Situ Yu's army wasn't routed in a single assault; instead, after overcoming their initial panic, they began to launch targeted counterattacks.

Many javelin throwers aimed their spears directly at the corpse puppets' eyes. These corpse puppets were almost impervious to blades and spears, and for some unknown reason, their resistance to spells and magical abilities was astonishingly high. Evil spirits were deeply embedded within them, so much so that even Fu Liushan's talismans couldn't expel them. Thus, for ordinary soldiers, the corpse puppets' vulnerable eyes were the only point of attack. The tips of the thrown spears were all daubed with a reddish substance. This was a special ointment, known as "Ghost Poison Ointment," prepared by a Celestial Master using cinnabar, Ghost-Wailing Grass, and other ingredients, then refined with Samadhi True Fire. As long as a spear could penetrate a corpse puppet's eye, the Ghost Poison Ointment would take effect, either harming or dispelling the evil spirit concealed within.

Before long, two corpse puppets were struck and fell motionless—the evil spirits controlling them had vanished, but the ghost poison lingered in the puppets' bodies, preventing other spirits under Xuanlu's command from immediately taking their place. The success of these spears further confirmed to Ghost King Xuanlu that his opponents had been secretly preparing for him.

The centipede-like corpse puppet had already embraced and killed about a dozen soldiers, leaving blood and entrails strewn across the ground; no one dared approach it. As it prepared to seek out more victims, a ferocious roar erupted nearby, followed by its forehead being repeatedly struck by a heavy object. The centipede-like creature immediately coiled back, but unexpectedly, its attacker swung a thick tree trunk. As it wrapped around the trunk, its segmented blades shaved off wood chips. Had it coiled around the wrong thing? Just as it was about to release its grip, the Ghost Ape seized the opportunity, grabbed its head, and twisted it violently—the head snapped off, bursting simultaneously. Even a corpse puppet was immobile without its head.

The three or four evil spirits that had controlled the centipede fled for their lives, but the Ghost Ape calmly raised its staff and struck them down one by one. Its massive staff consumed the most Ghost Poison Ointment.

The Ghost Ape turned its head and saw the large, multi-limbed, corpulent corpse puppet chasing after soldiers, so it leaped to intercept it. While Situ Yu's army was adept at throwing spears, this particularly stout puppet could retract its head directly into its body, protecting itself with a thick layer of fat. Seeing the Ghost Ape also advance to attack, it once again retracted its head, shrinking itself into a tight ball. No matter how hard it was struck with the Violet-Gold Staff, it remained incredibly elastic; the more force the Ghost Ape used, the higher it would bounce. The outcome of relentlessly pummeling a ball was simply having to chase it everywhere.

Finally, the Ghost Ape grew impatient. Hearing its master's instructions, it extended a hand, grabbed the fat puppet's hair, and began to pull it out forcefully. The Ghost Ape's strength was immense; no matter how tightly the fat corpse puppet's head was retracted, it was slowly but surely pulled out. The few evil spirits deeply embedded within had tried their utmost, but they simply could not resist such immense strength. The fat corpse puppet's pained face finally reappeared, but its eyes remained tightly shut, as if fearing exploitation.