Checking the time, he saw that a system hour had already passed. Huohuo waited anxiously for Grandpa Tail to return, while Bai Sheng glanced at the time once more before taking out Pandora.
Asheng, are we going to go find that Mara-struck Cloud Knight now?
Huohuo also took out her small banner. Whether it was because Bai Sheng was here or not, Huohuo was not nearly as scared this time. Usually, if she encountered this kind of situation, Huohuo would typically wait in some corner until Hanya or Xueyi resolved the enemy before coming out to handle the cleanup work.
"Actually, Huohuo, if you're scared, you can just hide. I can handle it."
Bai Sheng saw Huohuo's slightly trembling legs.
"N-no, it's fine. I can do it. Please trust me, Asheng! I won't hold you back!"
Seeming afraid that Bai Sheng would leave her behind, Huohuo blurted those words out very quickly.
"Then what about Grandpa Tail? Can we... spare him? Let him stay locked in my tail to reflect on himself, okay?"
Huohuo asked.
Looking at Huohuo's worried expression, for some reason, Bai Sheng felt a slight pang in his chest, but he still shook his head and said helplessly:
"What else can we do? We'll do as you say and toss him back into your tail. With all the years the two of you have spent together, it wouldn't be right for me to just eliminate him directly. We can just easily grab him back in a moment. However, I won't be this polite to him from now on."
Finished speaking, Bai Sheng forced himself to endure the heavy mental burden of wide-range spirit puppet coverage and began searching for the target.
"Huohuo, keep up."
Bai Sheng led Huohuo through the crowded streets, beginning a carpet-style search.
The spirit puppet's coverage was very broad. Soon, Bai Sheng found a group of suspicious-looking people. Among them, a few were wearing the attire of the Alchemy Commission, and the person surrounded in the middle was wearing Cloud Knight armor! At that moment, they were talking near the opening of a small alley.
Bai Sheng timely reached out his hand to signal Huohuo to stop, extending his index finger backward, but accidentally pressed it against Huohuo's lips.
"Hush..."
Huohuo was stunned by Bai Sheng's action, her face turning crimson as she nodded.
Bai Sheng also sensed that his previous action had been a bit too over the line, and whispered:
"Sorry."
Huohuo shook her head to indicate it was fine, and then, no longer dwelling on such a small matter, she focused intently on listening to the conversation in the alley.
"Old Li, it's been so many years. Are you really content to just be a nameless grunt? The two of us have a friendship going back over three hundred years. Join us, and the leader will promote you. When that time comes, won't you have whatever you want?"
A yellow-haired man wearing the attire of the Alchemy Commission said, while resting his hand on the shoulder of the Cloud Knight named "Old Li".
Old Li abruptly raised his hand and swatted away the hand resting on his shoulder.
"Get lost! If it weren't for you people, how would I have ended up with no way out now! Having killed an underworld emissary, how am I supposed to go home and see my daughter?!"
Old Li's emotions were highly agitated, and as he spoke, several golden ginkgo leaves sprouted from his Cloud Knight armor.
"Stop talking for a moment, Old Li. You're simply afraid of those Judge Commissioners coming after you. Join us, join the Medicine Master's Secret Transmission.
Lord Leader will protect you, and you won't have to live a life of hiding anymore. Aren't you utterly disgusted by the human-ghost monstrosity you've become? Lord Leader can turn you back; you won't have to tear at the Path of Abundance blessing on your body every single night.
Don't you want to see your daughter again?"
The yellow-haired man said with a smile, his eyes filled with disdain.
"Don't you dare try to threaten me with my daughter! If I had known back then that you were a member of the Medicine Master's Secret Transmission, I would never have saved you from that pack of Buli Ren!"
As Old Li's agitation grew, more and more ginkgo leaves sprouted from his armor, and Old Li clutched his head in agony as he collapsed to the ground.
"Oh, Old Li, Old Li, why must you be this way? I only wanted you to leave with some dignity, but you don't seem to appreciate it. Then you have only yourself to blame."
The man was about to place his hand on Old Li when he saw a ball of cyan flame suddenly ignite all over Old Li's body.
"Ugh!"
The man was burned, hurriedly pulling his hand back.
"Old Li, since you are so unappreciative, I won't stand on ceremony either."
With that, ginkgo leaves began to sprout from the man's body, countless leaves bursting forth from his flesh and blood. In an instant, the man transformed into an Inner Core Disciple of the Medicine Master's Secret Transmission.
Seeing this, the surrounding individuals also transformed one after another, turning into Mara-struck soldiers.
"Get him!"
At the man's command, the Mara-struck soldiers brandished their arm-blades and charged at Old Li.
However, "Old Li" merely smiled, dodging the attacks in a few nimble movements.
"Honestly, if I wasn't worried about having nothing to eat later, I'd scatter all your ashes to the wind!"
The cyan flames on "Old Li" grew even more intense, and with deft twists and turns, he knocked down three Mara-struck soldiers. Yet those soldiers continuously climbed back up, relying on their extremely high regenerative power to launch reckless, death-defying attacks.
"And here I thought this was some high-end ability. It's just controlling the Mara-struck, treating Xianzhou people like puppets to manipulate. I was wondering why I couldn't possess him."
Old Li smiled. Because those Mara-struck soldiers possessed tenacious vitality and couldn't be killed at all without specialized targeted weapons, this body was growing increasingly frail, so he needed to finish this quickly.
Without hesitation, "Old Li" waded straight in, using several close-combat techniques to break the soldiers' arms and jam their own arm-blades into their bodies, preventing them from self-healing for a short time.
Finishing that, "Old Li" immediately charged toward the Inner Core Disciple. Seeing this, the Inner Core Disciple was also taken aback. Judging from his long contact with Old Li, the man could not possibly possess such formidable strength, let alone subdue three burly soldiers.
"No, you're not Old Li! Who are you? How can you be this strong?"
The Inner Core Disciple panicked. His combat prowess was inferior even to those Mara-struck soldiers, and since he was someone who clung desperately to life, he made a decisive choice to flee.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't run off! If you run, that brat Bai Sheng won't return my energy!"
"Old Li" accelerated once more, kicked away an obstacle shoved by the Inner Core Disciple, and with a single gentle punch, knocked the Inner Core Disciple to the ground.
"Hero, good sir, spare my life! Don't kill me—I, whatever you want, I can give it to you. Stay back!"
The Inner Core Disciple panicked because he sensed a chilling intent to kill radiating from "Old Li".
"I won't kill you, but the master of this body certainly doesn't want you to stay alive. Still, you've got great utility as far as they're concerned, right? Bai Sheng kid, and little crybaby?"
"Old Li" turned his head to look toward the gloomy wall. Sure enough, two dark shadows leaped out from behind it.
They were none other than Bai Sheng and Huohuo.
"Not bad, Tail. You're amazing. See? Didn't I tell you so?"
Bai Sheng said to Huohuo.
Huohuo merely nodded slightly, and said to Tail with heartfelt sincerity:
"Thank you, Grandpa Tail..."
Before you continue