Early morning, behind Nuoding Academy.
"All right, here."
Xiao Wu rose onto her toes, rolled her wrists, then turned to look at Luo Yan, her eyes gleaming with mischief.
"Weren't you pretty good at stirring things up last night? Come on, let's see what Heaven Dou City's big shot is really made of."
Luo Yan stood about ten steps away, still chewing half a fried dough stick.
He looked at Xiao Wu, then Tang San, and suddenly smiled. "Are you two planning to gang up on me? Or take turns?"
"Your choice."
Xiao Wu said, "I suggest picking me. If Third Brother makes a move, you won't even get the chance to run."
"No."
Luo Yan swallowed the dough stick and clapped his hands. "I pick both of you. Come at me together."
Tang San said nothing, only rolled up his sleeves.
He had wanted to test Luo Yan for a long time.
Not that ghostly act from last night, but a genuine contest with Soul Power laid bare.
Since returning, this person's Soul Power had become much deeper. Tang San could feel it.
"Stop at the right point," Tang San said.
"Don't worry." Luo Yan smiled and wiped a hand across his face.
The Elation Mask appeared soundlessly. One yellow and one purple Soul Ring spiraled out beneath his feet, and his voice became light and hollow through the mask. "Come on. Let me see how much Notting City's monsters have improved."
Xiao Wu's eyes instantly widened.
"A... thousand-year?!"
She pointed at Luo Yan, her voice changing. "Your second ring is thousand-year?! Why didn't you tell us earlier?! You... you're the masked man from Notting City?"
Tang San was stunned as well. He had guessed that Luo Yan had grown stronger, but he had not expected him to become this absurdly strong.
A thousand-year second ring, and the aura of those rings was exactly like the legendary "one yellow, one purple" he remembered hearing about.
Luo Yan turned the mask's smiling lines toward them. His voice drifted out from beneath it, a little hazy. "Right. Are there that many mask Martial Souls? If not me, then who else? But for now, let's not talk about that."
He spread his hands, and the purple Soul Ring lit up.
"Floating Life Like a Dream."
Xiao Wu and Tang San both felt their vision blur.
Another person appeared beside Luo Yan, someone identical to him.
It stood to Luo Yan's left, tilting its head as it "looked" toward Xiao Wu and Tang San.
"A fake." Tang San spoke softly as Blue Silver Grass spread across the ground.
"Is it?" Both Luo Yans smiled at once.
The moment the words fell, the "Luo Yan" on the left suddenly charged at Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu took a step back, bent her waist, and swept out with a high kick.
The "Luo Yan" was struck and scattered into a cloud of gray mist with a crash.
Yet the mist did not disperse. Instead, it curled in midair and transformed into a red-clad shadow.
"What the hell is that?!" Xiao Wu blurted out, her pupils shaking.
The red figure's bridal gown billowed in the wind as it lunged straight at her.
Xiao Wu cried out and leaped backward.
Tang San lashed his Blue Silver Grass toward the red figure like a whip.
The grass blades passed through the shadow and struck the tree trunk behind it.
The red shadow dispersed, then gathered again three steps away.
"An illusion?"
Tang San and Xiao Wu nearly retreated at the same time.
The hem of that red dress dragged along the ground with a rustling sound. It wore no shoes.
One foot was deathly pale, while the other wore a dark crimson Embroidered Shoe.
Xiao Wu's scalp tingled. "The shoe! It stole your shoe! Luo Yan! Get out here!"
No one answered. The red shadow only smiled at her.
"Blue Silver Grass!" Tang San shouted, and grass whips closed in from three directions.
But the red shadow bent sideways and slipped through the gaps in the grass. That movement was not something a human could make.
"It's coming!" Xiao Wu kicked out.
She put all her strength into that kick, even using Waist Bow.
But her toes passed through the red shadow as though she had kicked into a pool of icy water.
The red shadow scattered with a crash. The next second, it was already pressed against her back.
A hand as cold as ice rested on her shoulder.
"Ah—!"
Xiao Wu sprang up, swinging an elbow backward, but struck only air.
The red shadow had moved three steps away again, standing in the gray fog and laughing softly.
Sweat had already formed on Tang San's forehead.
The thing before them had no weight, no aura, nothing he could grab hold of.
The Sleeve Arrows he fired all passed through the red shadow's body and thudded into the trees behind it.
"This won't work."
He spoke quietly, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. "Luo Yan has to be nearby. We need to find him, or we'll just be worn down to death."
Xiao Wu gritted her teeth. "But how do we find him? This whole place is covered in fog!"
The fog had indeed grown thicker. It was as though they had been enclosed in an extremely small arena.
The trees, stones, and trail around them had all become gray and hazy. Even the sunlight seemed separated by several layers of paper.
Tang San suddenly realized that from the very beginning, Luo Yan had been leading them by the nose.
"Tang San..." The red shadow suddenly spoke.
Its voice sounded like many women calling out together, thin and drawn out.
"Are you looking for me?"
Tang San's face turned pale.
The red shadow walked toward him. Every step seemed to land on his heartbeat. Blue Silver Grass lashed at it and dispersed; Sleeve Arrows shot at it and passed through.
The Clear Sky Hammer appeared, yet it too struck only a patch of fog.
Xiao Wu darted in from the side with a whip kick, but it still missed.
Furious, she turned and shouted, "Luo Yan! If you've got guts, fight me head-on! What kind of man hides around pretending to be a ghost?!"
"But I'm not a man to begin with~" The red shadow actually answered her, its voice soft and eerie.
"Giggle, giggle, giggle~"
Xiao Wu trembled with rage. She was genuinely a little frightened.
This thing could not be hit or caught, and it could even imitate people's voices. She had never fought anything like this in either of her lives.
"It touched me just now."
Xiao Wu gritted her teeth. "I don't care anymore. I can't catch it. Third Brother, let's stay together. Don't get too far apart."
Tang San nodded. The two stood back to back as Blue Silver Grass formed a circle around their feet.
The red shadow drifted through the fog, circling them.
One moment it was in a tree, the next behind a rock, its bridal gown like a puddle of blood that would not disperse.
"Like this."
Tang San suddenly lowered his voice, speaking softly enough that only Xiao Wu could hear. "When I count to three, you run left and I'll run right. That thing can only chase one of us."
"Whoever gets chased circles back to that old locust tree. Luo Yan won't let us get too far away. He must be behind the tree."
"How do you know?" Xiao Wu asked.
"Because of the wind."
Tang San said, "The fog is moving. Only the fog behind that old locust tree can't be seen."
Xiao Wu gritted her teeth. "All right."
Tang San closed his eyes and silently cocked his Sleeve Arrows. He did not know whether Luo Yan could hear them, but he could no longer worry about that.
"Three!"
The two charged in opposite directions at once. The red shadow gave an "Eh?" and did not chase Xiao Wu—it chased Tang San.
"Damn!" Tang San looked back and saw the red shadow flying low along the ground like a strip of red cloth, so fast it was terrifying.
He sharply turned and rushed behind the old locust tree. The fog parted before him, and there really was someone behind the tree.
Luo Yan was crouching there, still holding half a handful of melon seeds.
"Oh." He looked up and smiled.
Tang San gave him no chance to speak. Blue Silver Grass shot out with a swish and wrapped around Luo Yan's wrist. Luo Yan cried out and was yanked forward.
Just as he tried to hide in the fog again, Xiao Wu came charging from behind. With a flying kick, she struck him squarely in the lower back.
"Ah—!"
Luo Yan landed face-first on the ground. Xiao Wu straddled his back and smacked the back of his head. "Still pretending? Still going to turn into ghosts?!"
Tang San rushed over as well. With a pull of Blue Silver Grass, he bound him tightly.
He was just about to speak when he saw "Luo Yan's" lips curl upward in an extremely strange smile.
"Did you... catch me?"
That voice was light and sticky. Xiao Wu froze, then lowered her head and found that the "Luo Yan" beneath her was growing thinner.
His clothes, hair, and skin slowly collapsed bit by bit.
"Fake!" Tang San reached out and yanked Xiao Wu away.
Bang!
A faint sound rang out.
The "Luo Yan" on the ground exploded entirely, gray smoke billowing out.
The smoke even carried the lingering sound of Luo Yan's earlier laughter.
Tang San pulled Xiao Wu backward, and the two retreated again and again.
The gray smoke rolled across the ground, growing larger and denser.
The grass blades were pressed flat to either side.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass seemed to have been targeted by some ferocious beast. Every blade stood upright, not daring to move.
Within the gray smoke, a Large Serpent slowly rose.
Its body was blackish gray, its scales like pasted paper, yet each layer overlapped the next, gleaming with a cold dark light.
Its head was nearly half as tall as Xiao Wu. It flicked its tongue, hissing.
That tongue was gray too, like a paper cord half-burned by fire.
"Fuck..." Xiao Wu cursed, her voice trembling. "Luo Yan, you..."
The Large Serpent gave her no chance to finish. It whipped its head and lunged at them.
Tang San shoved Xiao Wu away and rolled aside himself.
The Large Serpent crashed into the spot where they had just stood. The ground boomed, and grass clippings flew everywhere.
"What is this thing?!" Xiao Wu climbed up and swept a whip kick at the serpent's body.
The serpent did not react.
Its body twisted, and its tail whipped in from the side, fast as a lash.
Xiao Wu failed to dodge. Her shoulder was struck, and she flew three steps before falling into the grass.
"Xiao Wu!" Tang San's Blue Silver Grass shot out with a swish, trying to bind the Snakehead.
The instant the grass blades drew close, the serpent suddenly opened its mouth and spewed out a cloud of gray fog.
The Blue Silver Grass drooped limply.
Tang San's face went pale. This was the first time his Blue Silver Grass had been so "disobedient."
"Tang San..."
That soft, gentle voice sounded again. Tang San whipped around.
The red shadow stood five steps behind him. At last, he saw clearly what it was—a floating... bride?!
"Why isn't your grass listening to you anymore?"
Before you continue