Chapter 1404: 妖傀出战

After the explosion, Little Peach Villa descended into chaos.

Guests who had come to visit were scattered throughout the villa. Initially worried they wouldn't see the Qi family patriarch or be able to present their gifts, they now scrambled to flee, fearing the next explosion would send them directly to heaven. Important guests were escorted by guards towards the entrance. Everyone thought of their own safety first, making the situation tense and chaotic.

However, after reassuring several important guests and issuing various critical orders, Qi Yunsheng didn't even have time to go to his elderly mother's courtyard. He raised his hand, summoning a blue bird from the night sky. "Where is the son-in-law?" he asked.

"He went north! Fighting on the Xuanhe Hall."

"North?" Qi Yunsheng was greatly surprised. "Why north? Did the fugitives go that way?" To the north lay only a cliff where the wind howled. Why didn't Xue Zongwu first rendezvous with his subordinates before pursuing the arsonists? As he pondered this, he didn't stop moving, gathering his team and heading north.

When he had parted ways with Xue Zongwu earlier, they had quietly discussed their plan: Qi Yunsheng would rush to help capture the enemy once he confirmed the banquet hall's safety. Although many influential figures were present today, Qi Yunsheng still believed it was highly probable that Xue Zongwu was the troublemakers' target. This was his intuition.

"Yes, two escaped to the north, then became three," the blue robin added. "Three men in black, the third wearing armor and emitting black smoke, fighting General Xue to a standstill!"

"Wearing black armor and emitting black smoke?" Qi Yunsheng frowned. "It's certainly a very good imitation." However, anyone who could fight Xue Zongwu to a draw was definitely no ordinary practitioner. Xue Zongwu's abilities had surpassed his teachers long ago; it was hard to find an opponent for him within the State of Yao. Where did such a group suddenly appear from?

Just then, two people, both under thirty, rushed forward. They were his last two disciples, Bao Xin and Fu Wending, whom he had taken on before his retirement from Qingniao Mountain. Taking advantage of the Yao King's celebration, they had also come to visit their teacher and had been in the banquet hall until now.

"You've come at just the right time," Qi Yunsheng said, pleased to see them and have two more skilled individuals available. "Let's go." At the villa master's command, a team of forty to fifty people was instantly ready and set off together to support Xue Zongwu. With him, the local expert, leading the charge, and a master-disciple team working together, Qi Yunsheng was confident the enemy would be easily trapped. Once caught, he would make them pay dearly for what they had done to Little Peach Villa!

As Qi Yunsheng hurried along, he questioned the robin about the details of the fight. However, before he had gone fifty steps, as he passed his side garden, he suddenly heard a rustling sound in the bushes. Something was there? In the rainy night, it was dark everywhere and hard to see clearly. The garden originally had two wind-resistant lanterns, but for some reason, they had gone out.

Qi Yunsheng pointed at the rhododendron bushes. "Force it out!" No sooner had he spoken than the rhododendron bushes swayed violently, and a huge monster lunged from them, attacking the group! When Qi Yunsheng first saw it, he thought it was a tiger demon, although its fur was a bit lighter in color and lacked stripes. However, when the creature revealed its full form, Qi Yunsheng was startled: The monster didn't have a tiger's tail; instead, it possessed a massive scissor-like tail! The tail was like a pair of scissors. The yellow tiger had just knocked down a villa guard when the scissor-tail extended and severed the man's windpipe. The yellow tiger and the scissor-tail could apparently attack independently without interfering with each other. Just as Qi Yunsheng was about to act, another grunt came from the bushes, and the next monster made its appearance—a giant porcupine with very long quills!

Qi Yunsheng considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable, but he had never seen a porcupine of such enormous size. The moment it appeared, the garden seemed to shrink. As soon as it emerged, this creature curled itself into a hard ball and rolled directly towards the crowd. Seeing its aggressive intent, no one dared to stop it, including Qi Yunsheng's two disciples. Even Qi Yunsheng, facing its complete defense, momentarily didn't know where to attack. Wherever this curled-up porcupine rolled, both villa guards and guests frantically dodged, terrified of being hit by it and flattened into various shapes of meat patties.

The enemies scattered like birds and beasts. The porcupine, annoyed that it hadn't impaled anyone, took a deep breath after it stopped rolling. Its size doubled, and its quills stood erect, looking even more menacing than a cactus. Qi Yunsheng understood and immediately ordered, "Take cover! Find something to shield yourselves!" But it was too late. With a surge of power, the porcupine shot its quills in all directions!

As mentioned before, this side garden was not large, only able to accommodate seventy to eighty people; any more would have to wait outside. The villa guards now regretted that the garden was too small and the plants too sparse to block the porcupine's quills. Several fell instantly, while the rest were injured to varying degrees, grimacing in pain from the impalements. Without elemental energy protecting them, every porcupine quill caused real, tangible damage.

Qi Yunsheng's face was grim as he threw a red hoop towards the porcupine. His aim was precise, landing it perfectly in the porcupine's path. The creature, having just heard the screams and contentedly grunting, stepped over the hoop, unaware of the danger. As the red hoop landed at its feet, it expanded into a circle two zhang in diameter. Qi Yunsheng clenched his fist again, and the red circle embedded itself into the ground, emitting a faint glow. Then, the porcupine slammed into an invisible barrier and was bounced back. Confused, it crashed again, only to be repelled again, its small eyes filled with bewilderment.

The "Imprisonment Circle" technique has many variations, and Qi Yunsheng's move was one of them, capable of immobilizing enemies in place and preventing escape arts. It was highly effective against less agile or less intelligent foes. "Kill it!" he ordered the villa guards, pointing at the porcupine. This creature was slow-moving but highly destructive, with a wide-ranging, indiscriminate attack. The "Imprisonment Circle" spell's maximum duration was only a quarter of an hour, so Little Peach Villa needed to dispatch it quickly.

The villa guards, raising their spears and swords, went to stab this living target, but soon reported, "Master, this thing curls into a ball; we can't pierce it!" Realizing it was trapped and unable to move, and that the small figures around it were stabbing it with weapons, the porcupine instinctively curled head-to-tail, its quills bristling outwards, becoming a colossal, living cactus ball. The obvious solution was the best solution. Its shell was too hard, impervious to blades, and the villa guards lacked elemental energy, leaving them temporarily helpless, like a mouse trying to pull a turtle.

Qi Yunsheng, who had been about to rush towards the scissor-tailed tiger, turned back, muttered a few words, and formed a hand seal. The ground beneath the porcupine suddenly rippled, and then dozens of earth spikes, each seven feet long and spear-tipped, shot up from it. Most of the earth spikes were ineffective, but one perfectly pierced a gap in the porcupine's curled form, instantly puncturing its relatively soft belly. Black blood splattered everywhere. The porcupine's pained squeal could be heard five li away. Yet it didn't die; instead, the pain ignited its ferocity, causing it to ram the invisible barrier even more frantically after the earth spikes vanished. Pig blood flowed all over the ground. This was a demonic puppet created by combining a porcupine with a woodlouse, thus demonstrating the tenacious vitality characteristic of insects.

This scene was quite spectacular; not only did the villa guards stop to watch, but even the fleeing guests paused in their tracks. Qi Yunsheng urged repeatedly, "What are you staring at? Kill it!" The "Imprisonment Circle" technique has a strength limit! He had been in retirement for a long time, and this was not Qingniao Mountain, where cultivators gathered. Little Peach Villa was mostly inhabited by ordinary people, with only a dozen or so guards who knew some spells and techniques—normally, this would have been sufficient. Mang Continent was in the heartland of the State of Yao; who would have thought anyone would dare to cause such trouble here? Therefore, to deal with such unusual enemies, Qi Yunsheng had to personally intervene.

While the villa guards clutched their long weapons and tried to attack the porcupine's wound, Qi Yunsheng shifted his attention to the scissor-tailed tiger. This strange creature was exceptionally agile; the tactics used against the porcupine wouldn't work on it. Fortunately, Bao Xin and Fu Wending had teamed up to deal with it, cornering it in a section of the garden, which prevented further casualties. Qi Yunsheng was also secretly anxious. The appearance of these two monsters was too coincidental; they must have been unleashed by the masterminds behind the explosion, specifically to tie up Qi Yunsheng and prevent him from assisting Xue Zongwu. By releasing two such devastating weapons consecutively in Little Peach Villa, the enemy's objective was indeed achieved. Qi Yunsheng could not abandon the villa's esteemed guests and allow these creatures to kill indiscriminately. The death of any one of the important guests present today would lead to endless trouble. Furthermore, who was to say the enemy could only unleash two monsters? What if other monsters lurked in the shadows, waiting for Qi Yunsheng to leave before being released to cause even greater chaos?

All Qi Yunsheng could do now was weigh his options. And he needed to make a decision immediately.

Before he could speak, a massive boom echoed from the north—another explosion! Qi Yunsheng looked north, seeing flames soar into the sky. The Qionglin Grand Hall, which had been under renovation for five and a half years and completed only last year, had met a great disaster tonight! He took a deep breath and said gravely, "Bao Xin, Wending, head north and support your senior brother. Leave this place to me!" He chose a compromise.

"Yes!" The two retreated at his command. The scissor-tailed tiger seized the opportunity to lunge, but Qi Yunsheng threw out two fire talismans, blocking it. He hadn't fought an outsider in many years. Qi Yunsheng took a deep breath, took a few steps forward, and confronted the rampaging beast. His two disciples quickly ran north.

The moment the explosion occurred, the hall's roof collapsed, and everyone fighting on it fell into the interior of the hall. Dust billowed, but the light wasn't dim, as the fire started by the Squatting Shoulder Beast was already spreading. Its flames consumed everything; how could this grand hall withstand it? Falling wood and tiles ignited the wooden structures inside the hall. The Weng brothers dodged the falling debris, then looked back to see flames erupting all around. At this rate, the entire hall would be ablaze within a quarter of an hour. Playing with fire was very dangerous. They dared not stay, covering their heads and running out.

Before they had run two steps, they spotted Lu Ping. This man had terrible luck. He and another guard had fallen from the hall roof and were pinned down by a large tree demon. The tree demon mounted them, unleashing a barrage of attacks that instantly killed the guard. Lu Ping, riddled with holes, managed to break free only after forcefully hacking off two branches and severely injuring his right hand. Just then, the Weng brothers passed by, and seeing their arch-rival's left leg still entangled by the tree demon, they smiled unkindly. What were they waiting for? This was a godsend!