A massive psychic wave, like an invisible spike, wrapped in bone-chilling yin energy, shot viciously toward the people locked in fierce combat!
"Not good, there's a formation set up in the courtyard!"
Wu Tong, at the front, bore the brunt of it. His movements seized up instantly, pain twisting across his face. He nearly fell prey to a monster attacking from the side.
Several soldiers dropped their guns outright, clutching their heads as they rolled on the ground and screamed. Black blood began to seep from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
Even Chen Mo, hiding far behind them, felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his head. His vision darkened, and countless malicious whispers exploded in his ears.
Fortunately, the Moonlight Treasure Mirror in his sea of consciousness trembled faintly. Silver light flowed across it, keeping most of the psychic attack at bay.
He fought through the dizziness and sent the Weaponized Paper Puppet charging at the monster that had nearly hurt Wu Tong. At the same time, he dug his fingers hard into his thigh. The sharp pain cleared his head.
"Someone's controlling it from inside!"
Chen Mo could vaguely sense that the psychic wave was coming from deep within the main house.
It seemed that a vicious gaze was fixed on them from there.
I have to take it out, or we're going to get screwed!
His thoughts raced. Rather than charge inside, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a palm-sized Paper Doll.
He poured a thread of pure Taiyin Qi into the talisman paper, then flicked it with a finger!
The Paper Doll quickly swelled to a little over a foot tall, taking on a humanoid shape with all four limbs, though its craftsmanship was clearly crude.
It was an ordinary Paper Doll he had crafted earlier. It had no real combat ability, but it was just what he needed now.
Chen Mo swiftly pulled a grenade from the belt of an unconscious soldier, yanked the pin, and shoved it into the Paper Doll's hands.
"Go!"
He activated it with a thought, pouring in an even stronger surge of Taiyin Qi to make it move faster.
With a whoosh, the Paper Doll darted forward like a gray shadow skimming the ground. It nimbly dodged the soldiers rolling on the floor, as well as the crisscrossing bullets and flashing blades, then slammed hard into the invisible barrier at the doorway.
Deep inside the main house, Soul-Stitching Crone was shaking the Bone-Skin Banner and exerting all her strength to drive the Hundred-Eye God-Peering Array. Through the formation, she immediately sensed the inconspicuous little thing speeding toward her.
She froze for a moment. Then she saw the grenade in the Paper Doll's arms, smoke hissing from it, and her cloudy old eyes flew wide open!
"What the hell is that?!" Soul-Stitching Crone cried out in shock and fury. She stopped casting her spell to interfere with the front courtyard, and instinctively swung the Bone-Skin Banner in her left hand, trying to summon yin energy to block the Paper Doll.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out inside the main house, accompanied by the old woman's shrill cry of pain!
Her cry was quickly stifled, but the relentless psychic assault clearly stopped.
The pressure in the front courtyard eased sharply.
Not only had the constant psychic interference vanished, but the flesh puppets also seemed to falter for an instant as the formation took damage.
"Now's our chance!" With the pressure off, a murderous glint flashed in Wu Tong's eyes. He seized the opportunity and decapitated the monster in front of him with one slash!
He glanced toward the spot where Chen Mo was hiding. His expression was complicated, but there was no time to say anything.
"Charge! Get inside! We can't let them cast any more evil spells!" Wu Tong roared, leading the way toward the main-house entrance.
Chen Mo didn't follow right away in person. He simply controlled the Weaponized Paper Puppet to stay close behind Wu Tong, while he himself followed a few soldiers who had recovered, keeping to the rear.
From what he could sense, besides the injured old woman, there was another presence in the main house, one reeking of blood and clearly formidable.
If he went in now, the old woman would probably take her rage out on him.
It was only an exam. Risking his life would be going too far.
By now, Wu Tong had already charged into the main house, where the smoke had yet to clear.
The room was dim, lit only by a few oil lamps in the corners, their weak light wavering across the darkness.
Along with the wreckage from the explosion, pottery shards and dark, organic-looking fragments littered the floor.
The air was thick with a nauseating stench of corpses mixed with burnt flesh.
Deep inside the main house, Soul-Stitching Crone staggered to her feet, her left hand pressed to her chest. Her gaze was as venomous as a needle dipped in poison.
But the culprit hadn't entered the room, so she had no choice but to vent her fury on Wu Tong.
"Butcher, kill... kill them all!"
The formation's destruction had clearly dealt Soul-Stitching Crone a serious backlash. Even her voice came in broken, halting bursts.
The Butcher rose beside her, his massive frame like a small mountain on the move, blocking most of the oil lamp's light.
His gleaming scalp shone with grease, and the cleaver in his hand, as broad as a door, dripped with thick, viscous liquid.
He glanced at Wu Tong and the few soldiers who had followed him inside. Grinning cruelly, he lingered a moment longer on Wu Tong.
There was a cruel curiosity in his eyes, like he'd just spotted a fascinating new toy.
"Heh-heh... don't worry, Granny. Not one of them will get away." The Butcher's voice was rough and hoarse. "That kid's skin is mine to peel!"
Soul-Stitching Crone panted, glaring hatefully toward the doorway.
"Finish them quickly! Don't let them get near the Divine Child!" As she spoke, her left hand began laboriously forming hand seals, preparing to summon the formation again.
"Understood!"
The Butcher let out a feral grin and didn't waste another word. His huge frame swept up a gust of bloody wind as he swung his cleaver down at Wu Tong!
The blow was heavy and powerful, utterly without flourish, yet carried a suffocating pressure.
Wu Tong was already on full alert. Seeing the ferocious blow, he didn't dare take it head-on and dodged in a flash.
At the same time, his long blade became a streak of cold light, stabbing straight at the opening below the Butcher Liu's ribs!
It was a crafty, vicious variation of the Wind-Breaking Style from the Wind-Breaking Three Styles.
Clang! Butcher Liu reacted with lightning speed, pulling his cleaver back to block. Metal shrieked against metal once more.
Wu Tong felt immense force travel up his blade, numbing his hand. His heart sank: This guy's too strong!
The two clashed in an instant.
Wu Tong's blade work was exquisite. He unleashed the full strength of his blood-and-qi-like-mercury cultivation, a faint red mist of blood swirling around him.
But the Butcher was not only monstrously strong and thick-skinned; he was also immensely experienced in combat. His cleaver swept in a tight, impenetrable arc, deflecting every one of Wu Tong's attacks. Every so often, he countered with a single slash, forcing Wu Tong into a perilous scramble.
Wu Tong had already been injured. As the battle dragged on, cold sweat streamed down his forehead and his breathing grew more and more labored.
Squad Leader Wang and the soldiers who had come in behind them tried to provide covering fire, but the room was dim, and the two men were tangled in close combat. They couldn't get a clear shot, and stray bullets might hit Wu Tong instead.
The soldiers had no choice but to aim at Soul-Stitching Crone and take turns firing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunshots rang out especially sharply in the dim main house.
But the ordinary bullets slowed to a crawl a foot or so in front of Soul-Stitching Crone, as if they had struck an invisible wall. They finally clattered to the ground at her feet.
The bullet heads were twisted out of shape, coated in a layer of ashen frost.
It was the Yin Barrier she had formed with her remaining magical power. Though nowhere near as powerful as the Hundred-Eye Formation had been, it was more than enough to stop ordinary bullets.
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