Invisibility Talisman

"Yin and yang reversed, heaven and earth inverted, up is down, left is right, front is back, man is woman, forms exchanged..."

In the main hall of the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple, Zou Bugui's face had turned ashen, with a few streaks of gold showing through.

He murmured the words under his breath, Law Power pouring continuously from both hands. It caused the three command swords atop the temple to emit a hazy red glow and induced a strange illusion in Jin Wanliang's mind.

But without the spirit jade connected to the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation to supply power, Zou Bugui had switched the power source to himself.

It was the worst of all possible measures.

Had he not been at the end of his rope, Zou Bugui would never have chosen to fight his enemy by draining himself dry.

But he had indeed exhausted his options.

With the formation he relied on disrupted, he no longer had the ability to suppress Jin Wanliang, much less deal with Zhang Zhong and the others right beside him.

If he wanted to subdue Jin Wanliang, he needed not only to exert himself but also to have Zhang Zhong and the others continue helping.

By the time Jin Wanliang was subdued, his own lamp might have run dry.

A person was no machine. Not only was he unable to provide the steady stream of Law Power the formation required, he also lacked sufficient Law Power within him.

Feeling the Golden Toad Dharma King's poison Technique strike back inside him, Zou Bugui's face turned an earthy gray in waves.

"Your presence is extraordinary. You're already a Realm Entry cultivator. Please lend me a hand!"

Zou Bugui finally turned to Zhang Xuezhou for help.

Although a youngster like Zhang Xuezhou bore the presence of someone who had achieved Realm Entry, Zou Bugui knew perfectly well without checking that he belonged to the most useless kind of beginner Technique Method cultivator.

Beginner Technique Method cultivators were worth less than dogs. They were delicate and weak, had few tricks, and sometimes could not even cast a Technique Method. Their abilities were extremely limited.

Technique Method cultivators were also the easiest to challenge across realms. If a common soldier cut down a cultivator like Zhang Xuezhou with one stroke, Zou Bugui would not have been surprised in the slightest.

Jin Wanliang outside the temple gate was likewise a fifth-grade great demon skilled in demonic arts, yet Zhang Zhong and the others were similarly fighting him across realms.

Zou Bugui found it hard to place any confidence in Zhang Xuezhou, especially since the latter was so young. No matter how exceptional his talent, he had lacked the time to practice Technique Methods and had been forced to focus most of his attention on laying his foundations and striving for Realm Entry.

"I can't help you. I'm going to sleep soon!"

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the sky, then waved a hand.

"Sleep? At a time like this, you're still thinking about sleep?" Zou Bugui asked in disbelief.

"Yes!" Zhang Xuezhou nodded honestly. "I should fall asleep normally in one hundred and twenty breaths!"

"What?"

Zou Bugui struggled to understand such behavior, but he had no choice but to take Zhang Xuezhou at his word.

He was already terribly unlucky. If his luck got any worse, he might well run into a weirdo who slept on a battlefield.

One hundred and twenty breaths was too short, so short that Zou Bugui was once again at his wits' end.

Pain showed on his face. After several seconds, he pointed to the pouch at his waist.

"There's an Invisibility Talisman in here. Stick it on your forehead and say, 'Heaven is vast, earth is vast, but I am the greatest,' and you can conceal yourself and sneak up on Jin Wanliang!" Zou Bugui said.

"You still have something in your pouch?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise. "I remember it being completely empty!"

"Feel around again!"

Zou Bugui's face twitched, and his heart ached as he watched Zhang Xuezhou reach in and sweep his hand around.

Judging by how this little bastard had struck hard when he saw Zou Bugui in trouble, he would empty the pouch no matter how much was in it.

"There really is a scribbled talisman. Just one?"

Zhang Xuezhou rummaged through Zou Bugui's pouch and pulled out only one scribbled talisman, leaving him sorely disappointed.

But after examining it for a few seconds, he stuck it on his forehead.

"It's very expensive. If I'd known it wasn't the Golden Toad Dharma King chasing me, but this Jin Wanliang, sigh..."

Had he known his losses would be so severe, Zou Bugui felt he would certainly have used the Invisibility Talisman to escape.

The Invisibility Talisman could not fool the Golden Toad Dharma King, but it should have had no trouble fooling Jin Wanliang.

His heart ached terribly. He had one fewer of the abilities he kept at the bottom of his chest.

"Am I invisible now?"

The words "Heaven is vast, earth is vast, but I am the greatest" came from the air. A ripple of Law Power followed, then Zhang Xuezhou asked curiously.

"You're invisible. I can't see you anymore!" Zou Bugui said.

"Really?" Zhang Xuezhou asked, still uneasy. "Is there some catch to this scribbled talisman? I don't feel anything different, and I can even see you!"

"This talisman makes you invisible. It doesn't blind you, so of course you can see other people," Zou Bugui said in anguish. "I'm begging you, hurry up and help!"

"I'm really invisible? Take a look and tell me where I am."

"Three steps to the right!"

"You can see me! What use is this scribbled talisman, then?"

"I'm begging you to stop talking. Locating someone by sound is a perfectly ordinary skill!"

Zou Bugui's body was exhausted, but his heart was even more exhausted.

He pricked up his ears and listened to the sound of footsteps tiptoeing away. Entrusting the life-saving ability he had kept at the bottom of his chest to this youngster felt deeply unreliable.

He hoped Zhang Xuezhou's sneak attack would succeed, and that Jin Wanliang would not kill him in a single counterattack.

In a situation like this, even if Zhang Xuezhou merely got close enough to hit Jin Wanliang with a brick, the balance of the battle might tip at once.

Zou Bugui watched Jin Wanliang, whose senses had been thrown into disorder by the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation. Several counting rods now floated and spun around Jin Wanliang; this Law Treasure provided protection on all sides and had blocked Lady Yourong's arrows several times.

Whenever Zhang Zhong sought an opening and struck from ambush, Jin Wanliang would flick his golden robe to fend off the attack. Even the Wind-Breaking Saber in Zhang Zhong's grip looked unsteady, almost swept away by the robe.

"Hahaha, you can't do a thing to me!"

Inside the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation, Jin Wanliang was full of confidence, having recovered his composure after his initial panic.

He looked somewhat bedraggled as he parried, but each time he could sense the signs of an attack beginning.

It was not because his eyes were sharp, but because there was a problem with the formation.

It was a fine formation, and if a great cultivator controlled it, it would surely make an intruder wish for death. But when someone could barely activate it, that was another matter.

At least for now, Jin Wanliang felt he could cope with the confusion caused by the formation.

"The treasures in this golden toad demon's hands are far too powerful!"

After attacking for so long without success, Zhang Zhong could not help feeling somewhat more inclined to retreat as he held his saber.

The strategy Zou Bugui had laid out in their "whispered" exchange was effective, but insufficient. They could escape from a fifth-grade great demon, but that did not mean they could take him down.

His counting-rod Law Treasure could withstand the arrows, while the golden robe he wore could ward off the slashes of Zhang Zhong's long saber.

Jin Wanliang looked as though his liver ached, clearly having paid a certain price, but the price was entirely worthwhile.

Zhang Zhong's expression was grave as he called out to Lady Yourong.

"Two more rounds! If I can't shoot him dead, we'll have to run for our lives!"

Lady Yourong felt the three arrows in her quiver. Her reply to Zhang Zhong contained a ploy to deceive their enemy.

If the golden toad demon took her words seriously and let his guard down with the Law Treasures he was using to defend himself, her third arrow could pierce his neck.

Husband and wife spoke to each other, reaching an agreement with perfect understanding.

Their discussion drew a loud laugh from Jin Wanliang.

"Running is the right choice! Lord Jin only came to capture this old Daoist and finish his task today. I won't pay you any mind at all, so go ahead and run! Lord Jin can even give you a hundred taels of gold. Just take it and go; Lord Jin won't purs-"

Jin Wanliang activated his magic robe and repeatedly drove the counting-rod Law Treasure to spin around his body, guarding against the final two rounds of arrows.

But before the scenario he had calculated could come to pass, black ash suddenly appeared before his eyes, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

"Lord Jin's eyes... Aiya, what kind of poison is this..."

Jin Wanliang screamed.

"This little bastard seems awfully skilled at playing dirty tricks. No wonder he kept coming to pick fights with me!"

As the sound of the Wind-Breaking Saber rang out in unison with the bow and arrows, Zou Bugui, presiding over the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation, breathed a sigh of relief.

He had merely thought of having Zhang Xuezhou pick up a few stones or bricks and get close enough to launch a sneak attack, doing as much as he could to break through Jin Wanliang's counting-rod Law Treasure. Who would have thought Zhang Xuezhou would go to the kitchen and grab a handful of stove ash?

Throwing ash had little striking power and could not hurt Jin Wanliang in the slightest, but Zhang Xuezhou did not actually need to injure him.

Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong had already attacked again.

This time, their strikes landed.