Lord Lei, Help Me!

From among the leaves overhead, sharpened wooden spikes that had been hidden there shot down.

Fortunately, Jiang Yun had warned her in advance, so she was on guard. And she was nimble, too.

She threw herself to the side, tumbling across the ground.

Only then did she manage to dodge the sharp wooden spikes. And then...

With a thud, she fell into a pit.

The flying flies that had been chasing her immediately swarmed toward the pit.

The pit was narrow, leaving her nowhere to run.

Luckily, Jiang Yun had already drawn a talisman on her palm. "Heaven and earth have no limits; lend me the power of the universe!"

Boom.

A massive bolt of lightning burst out of the pit.

It blasted apart the flies swooping toward Xu Suwen.

Xu Suwen clambered out of the pit in a sorry state. She shot Jiang Yun a resentful look and gritted her teeth. "You bastard, did you make all these traps just for me?"

Jiang Yun was helpless, too. Those three evil men had stood still ever since they came in. What else could he do?

"Big Brother, was that girl using Daoist magic?" one of the evil men quietly warned Yang Qian.

Yang Qian had of course seen the lightning, and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

"Kill that scholar quickly and avenge Fourth Sister. Then we get out of here."

There was a reason they had survived the imperial court's pursuit until now.

In fact, the news they had received was that Ghost Granny had died at the hands of an Imperial Guard and a scholar.

As for the Imperial Guard, none of the three had mentioned him. They certainly weren't about to go after an Imperial Guard for revenge.

They could only kill the scholar to vent their anger.

The three didn't dare waste any more time. They rushed toward Jiang Yun.

Xu Suwen had only just climbed out of the pit. She wanted to help, but she was too late.

Still, a flicker of anticipation crossed her eyes. She was eager to see Jiang Yun make his move.

She couldn't help thinking, I don't know why, but Jiang Yun has been hiding his true strength all this time.

Now that three evil men are coming at him, they should be able to force him to act, right?

In Xu Suwen's eyes, Jiang Yun was definitely no weakling. He might even be far stronger than her.

At that moment, Jiang Yun stood calmly where he was, making Xu Suwen even more certain of her theory.

Jiang Yun didn't move an inch. In fact, he was feeling a little eager.

They're finally coming for me. There's a big pit right in front of me!

At last, all that digging wasn't for nothing.

Suddenly, a sword shot through the night sky.

With a whoosh, it plunged into the ground between the evil men and Jiang Yun.

Yang Qian and the other two stopped in their tracks. Their pupils narrowed as they looked toward where the sword had come from. "Who's there?"

"Dreams are startled by life's twists and turns; drifting clouds gather and part, their meaning hard to discern. If one could enjoy a life of leisure, who would ask about the road ahead or seek a name?"

On the roof beside them stood Xu Xiaogang, hands clasped behind his back, reciting poetry. No one knew when he had appeared.

"Xu Wuchang of the capital is here!"

Seeing the three men below staring up in astonishment, Xu Xiaogang felt a secret thrill. He was just about to leap into the courtyard—

Then he remembered the traps inside and hesitated, wary of blundering into them. After thinking it over, he sprang lightly into the air and landed in front of Jiang Yun.

Jiang Yun's standing right here. There can't be a pit here, surely.

With a thud,

another pit opened beneath him.

"That hurt like hell." Xu Xiaogang glowered as he slowly climbed out. "Why's there a pit here, too?"

Jiang Yun said, "Why do you think I've been standing here without moving?"

"All the traps in my courtyard are going to get wrecked by you siblings."

Jiang Yun hadn't moved since the three evil men came in for exactly that reason.

Far away, Xu Suwen furrowed her brows, too. She'd finally been about to see Jiang Yun in action, and now this brat had to go and ruin it.

Yang Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Xu Xiaogang in such a sorry state, he'd thought a master had arrived.

But it looked like he was nothing special after all.

At that moment, dark clouds loomed overhead. A thundercloud drifted closer, and Jiang Yun's heart stirred when he saw it.

Xu Xiaogang straightened his clothes, pulled the long sword from the ground, and said, "Are the three of you going to come up and die one at a time, or all at once?"

"What a big mouth."

Xu Xiaogang charged forward in an instant. His sword was fast.

The three evil men were driven back step by step.

But just like Xu Suwen's attacks earlier, no matter how he struck them, their wounds healed in the blink of an eye.

"Is that all you've got?" Yang Qian asked coldly.

Xu Xiaogang, too, knew things were going badly. Ordinary sword cuts couldn't hurt these three evil men.

"Heaven and earth have no limits; lend me the power of the universe!"

Xu Suwen's voice came from afar. A mighty bolt of lightning burst from her palm and slammed into one of the evil men's abdomen.

It blasted the evil man in half at the waist.

But there wasn't a trace of flesh or blood inside his body. Instead, it was filled with endless Gu worms.

The worms writhed, and the wound rapidly healed.

Xu Suwen's brows drew tightly together. No wonder these evil men had escaped capture by the imperial court for years.

Strictly speaking, they were no longer human.

They had turned themselves into Gu People.

"Hahahaha!" Xu Xiaogang laughed loudly as he looked at the three evil men before him. "Now this is interesting."

"Looks like I'll have to use my ultimate sword technique..."

Xu Xiaogang thought to himself that if he used the secret technique he'd kept up his sleeve, he'd surely be able to kill all three evil men.

And the buildup to his grand entrance would reach its glorious peak.

This is great!

But just as Xu Xiaogang finished speaking,

the thundercloud had reached the skies above Nanzhou Prefecture. Lightning flashed within it, as if it held the power of ten thousand thunderbolts, with nowhere to release it.

Rumble...

The thundercloud flashed. In the light of the lightning, everyone saw that Jiang Yun had somehow climbed onto the roof using a wooden ladder.

He carefully made his way over to an iron rod.

Jiang Yun had observed the sky that day and knew it might rain that night, so he had installed the iron rod ahead of time.

Of course, it wasn't a lightning rod.

More precisely, it was a lightning-attracting rod.

Thunder roared overhead, and fierce winds howled.

Jiang Yun looked up, formed a hand seal, and recited, "Quick as tearing down an altar and smashing a temple; once the breath is drawn, the troops must withdraw. I would see the thunder deities of the five directions—ride the clouds and unite your forms with mine!"

"Thunder God Spell!"

Then a faint thread of Magic Power shot toward the thunderclouds above.

The enormous thunderclouds flashed and rumbled.

In the courtyard, Yang Qian and the other two evil men suddenly felt an immense pressure bearing down on them.

It was as though the power of those countless thunderbolts above was about to come crashing down.

The three exchanged glances, their faces changing drastically.

"Run!"

But it was already too late!

Jiang Yun formed a hand seal with his right hand and pointed at the sky. "Lord Lei, help me!"

Boom!

A colossal bolt of lightning slammed into the iron rod.

The force of the thunder coursed along the rod and into Jiang Yun's body.

His hair stood straight on end from the shock. Lightning flickered all over him, and his aura spread in every direction, as if the God of Thunder had descended.

Xu Xiaogang looked at Jiang Yun. Only one thought filled his mind.

It's over. I've spent the whole night setting this up, and now he's the one who gets to look cool.