Putting on an Act
The woodland in sight was pitch black and uniform, without any light or shadow, and without the wind rustling the branches and leaves; the entire space was eerily quiet.
Lu Heng stood still, his breathing extremely shallow, his chest rising and falling so subtly as to be almost imperceptible. He was well aware of his weaknesses. He had accumulated countless Paranormal Entity, his experience was almost nonexistent.
The greatest risk lies in the unknown.
He couldn't pinpoint the opponent's lurking range, couldn't fathom the rhythm of their attack, and was even less certain whether such spirits possessed deadly tricks. A direct confrontation was the stupidest option; once the opponent's abilities exceeded his comprehension, it would instantly become a life-or-death situation.
After a brief deliberation, Lu Heng quickly finalized his strategy.
Use the old method: feign weakness to lure the enemy.
He deliberately let go of all his tense defensive posture, his shoulders relaxed, his wrists no longer locked in power, and his entire outward appearance was completely relaxed. To outsiders, he was just a survivor whose investigation had yielded no results, whose mind had been empty, and whose vigilance had waned.
His right hand, gripping the Bronze Hunting Blade, was deliberately loose and powerless. He casually raised his arm and swung it haphazardly at the empty, dark area in front of him.
The blade tip sliced through the air without any point of contact; its trajectory was chaotic and its amplitude arbitrary, completely lacking the precision of a probing attack.
After a few haphazard slashes, Lu Heng slightly tilted his head, his gaze sweeping aimlessly across his surroundings, his eyes deliberately revealing a hint of bewilderment. He slowed his pace, his feet lightly scraping the ground as he slowly retreated, his movements sluggish and casual, every detail deliberately conveying a signal: he couldn't find his target, his senses were completely disabled, and he was utterly passive and defenseless.
The entire set of feints was fluid and seamless, all deliberately performed for the purpose of showing off to something in the shadows.
Lu Heng's mind was completely calm, his inner state was the complete opposite of his outward appearance.
He activated all his senses to the fullest, precisely capturing every tactile sensation on his skin, the subtle shifts in the air's stillness, and the barely perceptible movements in the surrounding deathly silence. He was waiting, betting that the hidden Night Ghost would be tempted by the numerous flaws he had deliberately revealed.
In the depths of darkness, an invisible spirit remains dormant.
The Night Ghost has no physical form, only a condensed, cold consciousness, silently clinging to the dark forest. Its perception is completely different from that of flesh-and-blood creatures; it does not rely on sight or hearing, but only on the aura of living beings and the ferocity of weapons.
It immediately locked onto the Bronze Hunting Blade in Lu Heng's hand.
The oppressive feeling emanating from this blade was piercing and real; it was pure restraint and a deadly threat. The spirit's instincts were frantically warning that once it was touched by this blade with Spirit-Breaking properties, its condensed yin spirit body would directly disintegrate and break apart, leaving no room for resistance.
This is fear etched into the very essence of the supernatural.
But the next second, the state of the humans before it completely overshadowed its instinctive fear.
The humans in sight were disorganized in their attacks, blindly probing, retreating step by step, and revealing their weaknesses.
Without locking on, without anticipation, without any buildup, it appeared to be just an ordinary survivor, overwhelmed and helpless by the unknown darkness. In the Night Ghost's perception, this was prey delivered right to its mouth—no threat, no defenses, a single close-range surprise attack would be enough to instantly annihilate it.
On one side is the instinctive fear of a sharp blade, and on the other is the readily available opportunity to hunt.
The spirit's consciousness was violently torn and wavered.
Afraid of knives, yet even more tempted.
In the deathly silent woods, a silent game of strategy was fully underway.
Lu Heng remained outwardly relaxed and bewildered, his retreating steps unhurried, deliberately maintaining a false state of weakness, patiently waiting for his opponent's mentality to become unbalanced. He knew all too well this kind of game; the biggest weakness of stealthy monsters was greed. Once they were certain that their opponent was incompetent, they couldn't suppress their desire to strike.
He made the right bet.
A hidden, chilling aura crept in silently, and the previously solidified, deathly darkness gradually gathered. That chilling aura made no outward movement, did not penetrate flesh or leave a trace, but was a targeted hunting lock, firmly gripping Lu Heng's figure.
Night Ghost finally overcame his fear of the blade and chose to strike.
Greed overcame fear; it became convinced that the weakness of the humans before it was real, and that the murderous blade had no chance to strike.
It was that moment of greed, that instant of underestimating the enemy, that opening.
The confusion in Lu Heng's eyes vanished instantly, all his relaxed posture instantly straightened, his loose muscles suddenly tensed, and his body, which had been preparing for a long time, instantly straightened up.
His feigned backward steps suddenly stopped, and his wrist, which had been hanging casually, suddenly exerted force.
There are no unnecessary moves, no fancy opening moves.
The Bronze Hunting Blade, carrying a brief, crisp flash of cold light, slashed precisely horizontally, instantly cutting through the newly formed Night Ghost spirit in the darkness.
With a hiss, an invisible severing occurred.
There was no splattering of blood and flesh, no shattering of bones, only a faint tremor in the void as the spirit was forcibly severed.
This elusive Night Ghost didn't even have time to launch a full attack before its body was severed in two by the sharp blade. The long-accumulated aura of malevolent energy instantly collapsed, disintegrated, and dissipated into the dark forest, leaving it with no room to struggle.
With a single strike, the scene fell silent once more.
Lu Heng stood with his knife in hand, his body steady and motionless. After a few seconds, he slowly exhaled, his mind finally at peace.
It was crystal clear in my mind.
The terror of supernatural creatures never lies in their hardness, strength, or physical combat.
What makes them truly deadly is their ability to conceal their movements, launch surprise attacks, and possess unpredictable and bizarre abilities. Ordinary people can't even find where their enemies are, let alone fight back; they will ultimately be devoured by these evil spirits in endless fear of the unknown.
However, these kinds of spirits are extremely fragile.
As long as the location can be locked and the body can be hit, weapons that can counter spirits can unleash their full power.
He looked down at the Bronze Hunting Blade in his palm. The blade was clean and cold, without any residue, yet it had just slain an invisible monster.
The sword's ability to Spirit-Breaking was far more crucial and practical than he had imagined.
Tonight's risky move, seemingly daring and reckless, was in fact a steady and methodical one.
Without this Bronze Hunting Blade specifically designed to subdue evil spirits, no matter how reliable his tactics or how convincing his disguise, he would never dare to use such a method of creating an opening to lure the enemy. If he were to be lured out but unable to kill them instantly, the result would be that he himself would perish in a sneak attack by the evil creature.
The entire game was a silent contest, devoid of any dramatic or intense battle, but rather a tug-of-war between the human heart and the spirits of the underworld.
In the end, he was still the one who was more skilled.
Using deception to lure the enemy into a trap, remaining still while waiting for them to move, they employed the most reliable tactics to capture the most elusive prey.