Chapter 1306: He Has Much More Backbone Than You

Having committed to his actions, Zhao Guangzhi no longer bothered jumping over walls. Instead, he used his axe to smash through two mud walls, knocking aside anything in his path.

His strength had always been astonishing; the mud walls of civilian houses were like building blocks to him, crumbling upon impact.

After seven or eight resounding crashes, the path ahead suddenly opened up.

He had burst onto the main street.

With fighting raging inside the city, Yang Meng and the garrison forces still blocked outside, and his own men not yet arrived, only a few people were left on the street. Zhao Guangzhi quickly oriented himself and dashed towards the city gate.

Once he reunited with his army, he could launch a counter-attack!

However, he had only run two steps when the mud wall of the adjacent general store collapsed with a roar, and a gigantic creature burst out from the swirling dust.

It was at least a zhang tall, with a body thicker than a door and longer than a wall. Before Zhao Guangzhi could even clearly see its true form, a pair of tusk-like weapons emerged from the dust, aimed right at his midsection.

What's more, two sharp blades were attached to those tusks, making their total length exceed seven chi.

The two were incredibly close, no more than five chi apart. If he were accurately pierced, he would surely become a human skewer.

Zhao Guangzhi didn't care about looking awkward; in a panic, he exerted force with his waist and legs, throwing himself to the side and narrowly dodging the thrust.

He lacked experience in dealing with such monsters. Otherwise, he would have known that after its tusks missed, it usually had a whole set of follow-up moves. For example, its four pillar-like thick legs would come down for a stomping attack, or even more deadly and flexible weapons than its tusks and legs could be brought into play…

But Zhao Guangzhi finally discovered what this thing was:

A giant elephant.

It was a tusked giant elephant covered in heavy armor from head to toe, its head and face covered like a black-armored knight, but with eerie red light emanating from its eyes. Its size was at least a circle larger than a regular elephant, though it appeared a bit lean.

After he jumped aside, the giant elephant tilted its massive head back, and its nimble trunk immediately wrapped around him!

The attacks came one after another, and this time, Zhao Guangzhi finally couldn't dodge.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror in He Lingchuan's arms cried out joyfully, "Oh-ho! Caught him, I caught him!"

This giant elephant was a corpse puppet He Lingchuan had given to the mirror in Mian Village. Originally, Ghost King Xuanlu had placed two imps inside to control the elephant corpse puppet in attacking Situ's army. After the mirror received it, it followed suit, sending two mirror spirits to inhabit it. They had practiced diligently these past few days, working the two mirror spirits to exhaustion, so its control was quite skilled.

Corpse puppets modified with divine blood possessed a certain degree of vitality, allowing them to be driven by evil spirits.

However, He Lingchuan also asked Dong Rui for help with modifications, which involved removing two pairs of tusks, eliminating unnecessary mutations, and reducing its size by a circle. This made it more powerful and stable, beneficial for running and turning. The remaining hair of the tusked elephant had also fallen off, and its overall color had turned light brown. According to Master Dong, the original corpse puppet was "large and impractical"; only after being concentrated did it become refined.

When returning to Yangshan Islands, He Lingchuan also specially commissioned a full suit of armor for this elephant puppet. After it was donned, almost no one could tell there was a mummified corpse underneath the armor—except for its slightly lean appearance.

Its appearance had changed significantly; even if Situ Yu, who participated in the Battle of Mian Village, saw it, he might not necessarily connect it with the Ghost King's giant elephant corpse puppet.

The tusked elephant made a meritorious contribution on its first release; how could the Soul-Capturing Mirror not cheer?

But before it finished celebrating, Zhao Guangzhi's body contracted, and he effortlessly squeezed out of the elephant's trunk's embrace like a loach escaping its hole.

"Heretical trick!" the mirror cried out furiously. "Again!"

But the moment Zhao Guangzhi landed, he ran towards the city gate without looking back.

A black figure also appeared on the giant elephant's back, raising its hand to fire two crossbow bolts.

Zhao Guangzhi's senses were quite keen, and he dodged them both with excellent footwork.

Who knew that as he turned his body, just after dodging the second crossbow bolt, his shoulder suddenly felt cold, then a sharp pain—

He was pinned to the wall by a javelin.

The enemy behind him had accurately calculated even his footwork and reactions. The javelin was thrown as if Zhao Guangzhi had willingly moved to get impaled.

Zhao Guangzhi cried out. How could he surrender willingly? He raised his other fist, intending to smash down the mud wall.

At this moment, his mind was still clear: the javelin stuck in his back would be hard to pull out, but smashing down this wall would be easy.

However, just as his fist tightened, another javelin came whistling through the air, pinning that hand to the wall as well!

"Ah...!" Zhao Guangzhi desperately twisted his head. But the giant elephant had sucked up a large amount of dust and debris from the ruins and sprayed it all over him with a whoosh, "Pfft, pfft!"

Only then did the Soul-Capturing Mirror say with satisfaction, "With so much dry powder sprayed on him, I'd like to see if he can escape next time!"

"No chance," He Lingchuan said. He stood atop the elephant corpse puppet and, from his elevated position, fired two more arrows, pinning Zhao Guangzhi's left and right legs to the wall one after the other—

Accompanied by two screams of agony.

Now it was truly secure.

Zhao Guangzhi couldn't see him, but he felt a prickling sensation from being stared at by his gaze and could only shout, "How much did Yang Meng pay you? Let me go, and I'll pay you double—no, five times that amount!"

Of course, he didn't believe the other party was truly chasing him because of his heinous crimes.

"Interesting, City Guardian Liu seemed to say the same thing just now," He Lingchuan said with a deep chuckle. "You two should bid against each other and see who wins in the end."

The Soul-Capturing Mirror chimed in for its master: "I'm rooting for this Zhao fellow. He's been looting towns one after another; he must be super rich."

Zhao Guangzhi indeed pleaded for mercy: "Spare my life, and I'll offer all my treasures to you! One hundred thousand taels, it's all yours!"

The pain inflicted by the dark flames was just about to fade when the despair of having his limbs pinned swept over him.

His cries echoed throughout the entire street.

"Really?" He Lingchuan asked, tilting his head to look at him. "Swear an oath?"

"I swear, I swear!" Zhao Guangzhi clutched at this straw of hope and declared loudly, "I..."

He Lingchuan interrupted him: "Who are you?"

"I—I am Zhao Guangzhi!"

"Louder."

"I am Zhao Guangzhi!" He let out a long howl, his voice piercing the sky. "As long as..."

He suddenly faltered. What was the name of this guy in front of him?

"As long as you spare my life, I will reward you with one hundred thousand taels of gold! If I break this oath, may my head fall!"

Once he stated his name and pleaded for mercy, the surrounding residents all peered out, unable to contain their curiosity. Zhao Guangzhi begging for mercy—they simply had to see it.

The bolder ones were no longer content with peeking through door cracks; instead, they brought ladders, climbed onto courtyard walls, and popped their heads out to watch the spectacle.

"Oh, wow, this elephant is so big, and its tusks are so long!"

Is this bleeding man pinned to the wall really Zhao Guangzhi, the cannibal?

Legend has it he's incredibly powerful; even City Guardian Liu was so scared he fled without a fight.

So what's the background of that black-armored knight who beat him into such a wretched state?

"Hmm," He Lingchuan said unhurriedly, "Never mind."

"......What?"

"The famed Zhao Guangzhi, who knew he'd be such a spineless coward afraid of death!" A sigh came from beneath the dragon-head mask. "I've dealt with another cannibal; he had far more backbone than you."