Clown

Unlike ordinary carriages, the business-class carriage was spacious, with few seats, and the aisle was wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

There was barely anyone coming and going, and it had not been noisy to begin with, so no one noticed the sudden incident in this carriage.

The burning incense quietly sent wisps of blue smoke drifting through the air.

Huang Zhongxiao stared at this ordinary person, whose vital energy was weak and who gave off not the slightest sense of danger.

Fuck.

Was he really going to lie with his eyes wide open?

He had watched the smoke enter through the boy's nose, yet he was still claiming that one nostril was blocked and the other runny because of a cold?

"Edict!"

He released the incense, retreated three steps, and flicked out yellow Talismans one after another with both hands. They flew out and nailed themselves precisely onto the sleeping passengers.

"By Heaven's decree, I seek the Dao. I beseech the Venerable One, command the Three Corpses, govern the Three Souls in their stead, become my mighty servants, and carry out all my affairs. Rise!"

The sleeping passengers rose one after another, their heads hanging low as they slowly turned around and stared at Zhang Fusheng in perfect unison.

Eerie. Terrifying.

If it had been before, Zhang Fusheng would probably have broken out in goosebumps all over, just like Chen Nuanyu beside him.

But things were different now.

"So it can be used like this?" His voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, but his eyes shone brightly. His Mental Intent had already seen through what lay beneath the surface.

Those Talismans were clearly ordinary, yet after that cultist uttered those words, they seemed to have been "activated."

From nowhere, they drew down strands of [mental will] as fine as silk threads!

Though these mental wills were weak, they were entirely capable of controlling the bodies of the unconscious people.

From Zhang Fusheng's perspective,

those invisible threads of consciousness that descended from an unknown place pierced into the unconscious passengers' bodies, as though they were

marionettes on strings.

Borrowed power.

Using Talismans, the cultist borrowed Mental Intent from the "Venerable One" he had mentioned and used it to control others.

How had he done it?

"Who are you?" Huang Zhongxiao asked calmly, his expression tranquil. "Your vital energy is utterly ordinary, and your aura marks you as a complete mortal."

"Yet you can ignore Soul-Confusing Smoke?"

"A special physique? Or...?"

With a shake of both hands, he retreated again, moving behind the passengers. The human wall formed by the passengers concealed him.

The young man spoke in a sinister tone.

"Chen Nuanyu, who is he? Have you leaked the sect's affairs?"

"The sect's affairs... have you leaked them?" More than a dozen passengers spoke in the same sinister tone, their voices exactly identical to the young man's.

A chill flashed through Chen Nuanyu's eyes. She swept out her leg, and a fierce wind suddenly rose!

"Smack!"

Zhang Fusheng caught her snow-white ankle in one hand and sighed softly.

"Are you trying to kick the throats of all these passengers to pieces in one blow?"

Chen Nuanyu said nothing. She stared at Zhang Fusheng in astonishment.

How had this guy become so much stronger??

Zhang Fusheng clicked his tongue. Suddenly, he felt that all his painstaking acting seemed to have been inferior even to this little "pet."

He stood up, ignoring the passengers glaring at him with grim expressions. Following the threads of consciousness with his gaze, he looked upward.

His eyes were blocked by the carriage ceiling, but his thoughts had already drifted out beyond it, looking into the distance in place of his physical sight.

Zhang Fusheng raised an eyebrow.

After entering the skies ten thousand meters above, these threads of consciousness vanished into thin air, as though they had hit a fault line. There was no way to see where they originated.

Did they come from some existence so powerful that it exceeded his imagination?

The Venerable One—was it a deity worshipped by the Western Sect, or perhaps...

some high-ranking figure?

His thoughts returned to himself. Raising his eyes, he saw one dull and wooden-faced passenger after another approaching, closing in around him.

His gaze passed over the passengers and settled on the young man hiding behind them.

"You don't want to make this matter too big?"

Zhang Fusheng could tell that this cultist was trying his best to keep the disturbance within a limited range.

Why?

He was already a cultist, so naturally he would not fear the authorities.

And these passengers...

Their muscles were visibly bulging abnormally. Those threads of consciousness seemed to have temporarily strengthened them.

Huang Zhongxiao raised an eyebrow and looked Zhang Fusheng up and down, as though considering whether he should act personally. In the end, however, he shook his head.

"Forget it. We'll meet again after getting off the train."

He snapped his fingers. The passengers stiffly returned to their seats, while the Talismans on their bodies spontaneously combusted. Yet the flames did not scorch the passengers in the slightest.

In Zhang Fusheng's "view," the threads of consciousness snapped one by one, and the passengers' swollen muscles returned to normal as well.

The young man formed a Zi Wu Jue again. Bit by bit, his figure faded until he vanished from where he stood.

Chen Nuanyu swallowed.

Zhang Fusheng fell silent.

He had still seen it clearly.

This guy had activated some kind of medium again, borrowing mental will from who knew where to interfere with reality and distort light, shadows, and sound...

At that moment, Zhang Fusheng's thoughts saw everything with perfect clarity. The transparent cultist was standing on tiptoe, sneaking away quietly like a thieving rat.

Wouldn't it have been fine to just leave? Did he really have to put on an act first?

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Fusheng took a quick step forward and happened to block the cultist's only path out.

Then he began enthusiastically checking on the unconscious passengers.

The corner of Huang Zhongxiao's mouth twitched. He silently cursed, "Idiot," then quietly turned around, intending to leave from the other side.

Then he saw the boy turn back again, nearly brushing past him before openly blocking the way ahead and checking on another passenger.

Fuck.

This guy really was an idiot.

Huang Zhongxiao's face twitched. If not for the regulations issued by the steward, forbidding the spread of Flesh and Blood Plague on this train and forbidding any commotion,

he would have...

He turned around again.

Then that little bastard came over again, again, and again!

Huang Zhongxiao desperately shrank to one side. Fortunately, the business-class aisle was spacious enough for two people to walk abreast with room to spare.

It was not that he was afraid of being bumped into.

It was just that being hit and forced to reveal himself at a time like this would be rather awkward.

Why didn't I just walk away normally?? Why did I use an invisibility Talisman!!

After that,

Huang Zhongxiao watched numbly as that damn bastard ran back and forth, leaving him nowhere to pass.

Not until the passengers and train attendants gradually woke up did that bastard return to his seat and stretch lazily.

Idiot!

Huang Zhongxiao slipped away quickly, his teeth aching with frustration.

Zhang Fusheng cheerfully watched his bedraggled retreating figure, while Chen Nuanyu beside him stared at him.

"Why are you looking at me?" He casually pinched the girl's cheek.

Mm, smooth and tender. It still felt just as good.

Chen Nuanyu asked expressionlessly,

"You can see him?"

"Hm? You can see him too?"

Chen Nuanyu pointed to her heart and said quietly,

"I can't see him, but I can vaguely sense him."

Zhang Fusheng was greatly surprised. Under the veil of that mental will, even one's aura was concealed. This girl had not even reached true Visualization Great Accomplishment,

yet she could sense someone through the obstruction of mental will?

Zhang Fusheng smiled.

"Then that really was awkward for him."

At exactly seven o'clock, the train arrived at Longzhou City West Station.

Following the dense tide of people out of the station, Zhang Fusheng did not call a taxi. Instead, he signaled Chen Nuanyu to come along, turned into an empty alley, and walked slowly forward.

A certain still-invisible cultist thought for a moment, then followed on tiptoe and moved ahead to block the two of them.

Just as they were about to reach him, he suddenly dispelled the invisibility Talisman.

The young man's figure slowly emerged in the air.

"We meet again." He spoke indifferently, his hands clasped behind his back. His voice mingled with the gloom of the alley, making it sound especially cold and sinister.

The corners of Zhang Fusheng and Chen Nuanyu's mouths twitched as they silently watched him.

The young man raised an eyebrow.

Hm?

Why did neither of them look surprised or horrified upon seeing him?

Instead, it was more like...

they were watching a circus performance?

Zhang Fusheng sighed.

"Buddy, your nose fell off."