Conspiracy Statue

The instant Origin Thunder struck Gaste, he let out a scream.

This time, he had failed to use the Magic Mirror to evade the damage.

"Sure enough, the Magic Mirror's ability has limitations as well. There has to be a certain interval between uses—or, in other words, a 'Cooldown Time'..."

Bai Xiaowen's gaze swept over the miserable Gaste as he silently mused.

This was the third time Bai Xiaowen had witnessed the Magic Mirror's ability.

The first time had been on the Eastern Continent of the Dark Ages Plane, when he killed Tyrant Ni Bu Luo Zi and Purple Shadow of the Hidden Society appeared to steal the kill.

Although Purple Shadow had failed to steal the kill, he had still departed unscathed with the Magic Mirror's bizarre ability.

The second time had also been on the Dark Ages Plane. Bai Xiaowen had used part of the Death God Bones—known as God-Demon Skeletons on the Dark Ages Plane—as bait to Ambush the Hidden Society. Given Bai Xiaowen's thorough preparations, he should have been able to wipe out the Hidden Society in one fell swoop.

Yet the Hidden Society members had still used the Magic Mirror's ability to escape with their core members.

Bai Xiaowen had been pondering the Magic Mirror's secrets all along. Combined with the name God of Shadows, he had come up with a hypothesis:

The Magic Mirror was not some defensive shield-type skill at all, but a Stealth Skill.

When they were about to suffer unavoidable damage, Hidden Society members could activate the Magic Mirror and briefly slip into another plane—perhaps the God of Shadows' domain, temporarily dubbed the Magic Mirror World.

This created the illusion that an attack which had clearly landed had missed.

This ability was quite shameless. More importantly, it could break free from the Qi Lock of many powerful foes. In terms of evading damage, it was even stronger than Bai Xiaowen's Shape Shift Dao Technique.

However, every ability had weaknesses, and the God-given Ability Magic Mirror was no exception.

The first thing Bai Xiaowen had considered was the number of activations. This had already been proven when he Ambushed the Hidden Society on the Dark Ages Plane: each Hidden Society member could only activate the Magic Mirror a limited number of times.

The second was the interval between consecutive Magic Mirror activations—the Cooldown Time.

After activating the Magic Mirror once, it could not be activated again for a short time!

Especially when Bai Xiaowen timed his attack for the instant the opponent had just emerged from the Magic Mirror World. At that instant, Gaste clearly could not slip into the Magic Mirror World again and could only take the damage head-on.

Gaste did not possess any outstanding defensive skills—which was perfectly normal. Any Evolutionist with the Magic Mirror's ability would consider himself very safe and see no need to specially train defensive skills.

Thus, Gaste suffered badly. When Origin Thunder struck, he had only his basic Protective Energy to resist it automatically.

By now, the power of Bai Xiaowen's Origin Thunder was completely different from when he had fought on the Dark Ages Plane.

The Lightning Force was like sentient Spirit Snakes, slipping through weak points in the Protective Energy and burrowing into Gaste's body to wreak havoc.

"What terrifying damage... what terrifying power..."

Gaste suddenly crashed to the ground.

"It's over."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Bai Xiaowen accumulated True Yuan Power and thrust out two fingers in succession, unleashing two more bolts of Origin Thunder. Their power was no less than the previous one.

Yet at this moment, a sharp gleam flashed in Gaste's eyes.

"Hmph, don't underestimate the Chosen of the God of Shadows!"

Gaste suddenly raised a dim gray statuette.

The statuette was extremely bizarre. It depicted a naked man hanging upside down, with his wrists and ankles nailed to a Wooden Frame. There was even a trace of bloody rust visible upon it. It looked exactly like a miniature Transformation of a real Hanged Man, possessing a strange spirituality, as though it might come alive at any moment.

A faint light flashed, and Gaste and Bai Xiaowen abruptly exchanged positions.

Bai Xiaowen felt himself pulled by a strange force, as though he had activated the Shape Shift Dao Technique. The next second, he was standing where Gaste had originally been—the point where the two Origin Thunders converged! At the same time, he lost control over both bolts of Origin Thunder.

The pulling force was extremely strange. It seemed to contain a trace of law, something that could not be resisted through Spiritual Power alone.

Even more terrifyingly, the Qi Lock of the two Lightning Forces had shifted from Gaste to Bai Xiaowen.

The Lightning Force crashed down!

Gaste also caught his breath. The Flower Sword erupted with astonishing Sword Radiance and shot toward Bai Xiaowen!

This was Gaste's counterattack. Using the Scapegoater Conspiracy Statue bestowed by the God of Shadows, he launched a desperate counteroffensive.

In Gaste's eyes, "Lü Wang" was locked onto by two terrifying Lightning Strikes and could never evade them. He was bound to be scorched beyond recognition; meanwhile, Gaste's sword qi, unleashed with all his strength, would take advantage of Lü Wang's Weakness and kill him!

Though Bai Xiaowen was somewhat surprised, he still reacted at top speed.

He raised both hands and forcibly seized control of the two descending Origin Thunder bolts! They scraped past the side of Bai Xiaowen's head, transforming into two thunder snakes that poured into the ground.

Fortunately, he had Antahe's Psionic Secret Art, as well as Expert Level 5 Spirit Power Mastery! Anyone else could only have taken the strikes of those two thunder snakes head-on.

However, Gaste's all-out thrust was blocked by a huge, bloated figure.

Butcher Pudge had been temporarily summoned by Bai Xiaowen and blocked the attack!

The Butcher's belly, more than two meters thick, was directly torn through by the Flower Sword's battle qi vortex. Foul Blood and fragments of black organs burst outward. The remaining force of the battle qi vortex continued toward Bai Xiaowen, but it was already at the end of its strength and was easily neutralized by him.

The Butcher's Health Value dropped sharply, but he could still hold on. He was a Lord renowned for his ability to take a beating.

"You've displayed another special ability... forcibly exchanging positions? No, it can simultaneously alter the Qi Lock and control of skills. It's practically like changing the 'Trajectory of Fate.'"

Bai Xiaowen examined the upside-down male statuette in Gaste's hand. He noticed that the strange spirituality contained within it had vanished, leaving it no different from an ordinary statue.

"Unlike the Magic Mirror's ability, this exchange ability was activated through the statue and can only be used once?" Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes. Seeing the Butcher's grievous injuries, a chill flickered in his gaze.

"..." Gaste inwardly cursed. He had never expected Bai Xiaowen to so easily evade such a desperate situation, and for a moment, he did not know what to say.

Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "Not fleeing while you had the chance just now was your greatest mistake."

"What do you mean? Don't get too cocky!" Gaste felt that Bai Xiaowen was merely talking big.

Bai Xiaowen rose from the throne and lightly stomped his foot.

In an instant, rays of Array Talisman and Immortal Talisman light shot into the sky, transforming into a double-layered cage that enclosed the two of them.

The inner layer was the Four Symbols Formation, an ordinary formation constructed from Shangqing Sect talismans.

The outer layer was the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Array, an Immortal Array recorded in Symbol Refinement, one of the six major Immortal Technique branches of the Classic of Supreme Emptiness.