Chapter 542: Opportunity for Victory
Tianshuang’s five fingers condensed profound ice, forming a pair of Frost Claw Gauntlets.
He flew straight toward Zhang Hei.
Zhang Hei only felt his vision blur as a fierce wind rushed toward him. When he focused his gaze again, Tianshuang seemed to have teleported, already killing his way directly in front of him.
The claw swept diagonally.
The Black Serpent Spear that Zhang Hei had instinctively raised to block was sliced cleanly in two.
Zhang Hei had no time to react before three claw marks appeared across his chest.
In the first instant, blood sprayed wildly. In the next instant, frost condensed over the wounds, stopping the bleeding while simultaneously invading his five viscera and six bowels, his limbs and bones.
Zhang Hei felt as if he had suddenly been thrown from midsummer into the depths of winter. His entire body froze; every movement became slow and heavy, unbearably difficult.
Tianshuang swung his claw again.
His mood was extremely foul. He intended to vent his frustration through close combat.
Zhang Hei’s eyes widened. He watched helplessly as the fatal strike descended.
Clang.
At the critical moment, Guan Hong arrived, raising the Blood Dragon Blade to block the icy claw.
Crack. Crack!
Several huge fractures appeared across the Blood Dragon Blade. It was on the verge of shattering.
The Primal Yellow Sword stabbed in from the side, aiming directly for Tianshuang’s face.
Tianshuang snorted coldly. His other hand also condensed the Nine Nether Cold Soul Claws and grabbed the Primal Yellow Sword.
Liu Er exerted all his strength, pushing the blade forward with everything he had. He strained until blood seeped from between his teeth—yet the sword did not move even the slightest bit.
Ghost cultivators were clearly not known for physical strength. Liu Er had invested tremendous effort into strengthening his physical body’s foundation. Yet in a contest of pure force, he was completely defeated.
The difference between the Nascent Soul level and the Golden Core level was obvious at a glance.
“You…” Ning Zhuo looked at the three generals standing before him, his emotions surging.
He immediately retreated backward.
Sun Lingtong was overjoyed. “Little Zhuo, you’ve finally come to your senses.”
But in the next moment, Ning Zhuo shouted loudly: “Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts, the one you want is me—come capture me!”
Sun Lingtong: …
“Hmph. Insolent brat. Once I catch you, I’ll rip out your tongue,” Tianshuang snarled. With a forceful push of both claws, he blasted the three generals away.
Blood sprayed through the air as the three generals were thrown backward.
Tianshuang charged toward Ning Zhuo, while Earth Ash folded his arms and watched from the side with a smile, enjoying the show.
“Main body, do not stain yourself with more killing karma!” the Heavenly Ghost Mask clone of Tianshuang shouted, rushing toward Tianshuang’s true body.
Bang.
Tianshuang snorted coldly. With a swing of his claw, he tore through the ghost mask body and split it into two halves.
The upper half clung to Tianshuang’s legs and continued pleading loudly, “Spare the innocent, and you spare yourself!”
Earth Ash burst into laughter.
Tianshuang lifted his foot and activated a spell. With one stomp, he crushed the ghost mask’s head. Frost exploded outward, completely annihilating the upper half.
Meanwhile, the lower half flew toward Ning Zhuo. It twisted and reshaped, transforming back into an upper body with a head and face. It spread its arms, standing in front of Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo pressed his palms together. “My Buddha above—if I do not enter hell, then who will?”
“Tianshuang, you are a renowned expert. I will surrender. Spare the others.”
Tianshuang’s face turned iron-blue with rage. Humiliated beyond measure, he sneered viciously. “You little brat—don’t put on airs. I’ll cut you into a human stick!”
Lin Bufan looked nervously toward Zhu Xuanji. “Lord Detective, should we strike together?”
But Zhu Xuanji narrowed his eyes and looked toward Earth Ash with extreme seriousness.
“As expected of the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts. It seems like he’s watching a show, but in truth he’s covering Tianshuang’s flank.”
“If we attempt a rescue, the Earth Ghost will surely intercept us with full force.”
“Their intention to capture Ning Zhuo alive is extremely clear. Perhaps the opportunity should be saved for later—rather than now, when both ghosts are on full alert.”
Zhu Xuanji hesitated.
“Waaah!”
Zhang Hei charged again at Tianshuang.
Bang.
Tianshuang casually swung a claw backward.
Zhang Hei was sent flying once more. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth as he flew through the air, leaving a trail of crimson.
After crashing to the ground, even someone as tough as Zhang Hei could not stand up. More than half the bones in his body were shattered.
“Lord Zhang Hei, go!” Ning Zhuo shouted.
Struggling, Zhang Hei forced himself onto one knee and glared with bloodshot eyes. “Damn it, Strategist—you're sacrificing yourself for others. What do you take me, Old Zhang, for?! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!”
Guan Hong arrived beside him, helping him up while channeling demonic power, infusing blood light to stabilize Zhang Hei’s injuries.
His beard fluttered as Guan Hong declared heroically, “A true man follows righteousness wherever it leads—how could he begrudge a single life!”
Liu Er: …
He had many things he wanted to say. Many sighs he wished to release. But the atmosphere had reached this point—
He stepped beside Zhang Hei as well, standing opposite Guan Hong. “The three of us swore brotherhood long ago. We did not seek to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year—but we ask to die on the same day of the same month of the same year!”
“To meet the Strategist has been my fortune in this life.”
“To live and die together—this is the moment!”
Tianshuang’s face was as cold as frost.
Earth Ash, however, clapped with delight. “Good. Well said.”
He examined the three generals curiously. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such interesting people. But you will definitely die. Ning Zhuo will not die. But don’t envy him—he will suffer a fate worse than death! Far worse than you! Hahaha!”
Yet a change invisible to everyone present—Earth Ash, Tianshuang, Zhu Xuanji, Lin Bufan, Immortal Red Sleeve, Liu, Guan, Zhang, Ning, Sun—was quietly occurring.
If Liu Er’s master were present and used a method to observe fortune energy, he would see that the fortune of the Three Generals Camp suddenly surged, blooming like flowers and undergoing a qualitative transformation.
The monkey-shaped fortune became more solid, vivid, and lively.
As the key figures shaping the camp’s collective fortune, under the pressure of powerful enemies, under the threat of death, through a chain of accidents involving Buddha thoughts and misunderstandings—they achieved true unity.
Shoulder to shoulder. Back to back. Completely opening their hearts to one another.
The monkey fortune’s eyes burst with dazzling brilliance. Its body surged with wind as it raised its head and roared toward the sky on a level unseen by anyone.
Within that fortune, an arm-shaped strand of fortune also benefited immensely.
Inside the Puppet Dragon, Sun Lingtong was frantic. Suddenly inspiration struck.
“Little Zhuo, Little Zhuo! I’ve got it!!”
He hurriedly transmitted a spiritual sense message to Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo’s eyes lit up. He thrust both palms forward, unleashing a wave of Five Elements spells.
But while the spell was still mid-air, Tianshuang exhaled a blast of freezing breath that instantly froze and suppressed it.
“Naive!”
“You actually thought you could perform in front of me?” Tianshuang sneered—then suddenly froze.
Because Ning Zhuo had taken several steps forward and stood behind the Heavenly Ghost Mask.
His earlier attack had only been a feint to draw attention.
Tianshuang instinctively sensed something wrong and immediately moved to act.
But Ning Zhuo was faster.
“This must succeed!”
His aura surged as he placed both palms on the Heavenly Ghost Mask and unleashed his greatest trump card.
Divine Ability—Life Hanging by a Thread!
A suspended puppet thread descended from the sky, falling onto the Heavenly Ghost Mask’s head.
Time seemed to slow to an extreme.
Under the intense anticipation of Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo, the thread settled onto the ghost mask’s head—
forming a connection.
Life Hanging by a Thread succeeded!
Ning Zhuo exhaled a breath of turbid air, but immense pressure crushed down on his mind, as if a mountain had settled upon it.
The Heavenly Ghost Mask was a Nascent Soul–level existence.
Created through the Ghost Mask Technique by borrowing Tianshuang’s own power, it possessed a portion of his strength and combat ability.
Never before had Ning Zhuo’s Life Hanging by a Thread ever connected to a Nascent Soul existence due to the limits of his cultivation.
Not Lin Bufan. Not even Elder Yuan.
But now he had achieved a crucial breakthrough.
There were reasons for this.
Ning Zhuo’s physical foundation had continually strengthened, allowing him to sustain more uses of the Warrior Returns Art.
Since the battle began, he had lost nearly all of his mechanical puppets. His remaining stock had fallen below one hundred. Even the Heavy Armor Blood Ape, Dasheng—his Golden Core–level construct—had been lost, and its destruction was also included within the range of the Warrior Returns Art.
On one hand, Ning Zhuo’s own strength had been magnified to unprecedented heights through the leverage of military strategy.
On the other hand, although the Heavenly Ghost Mask was Nascent Soul level, its essence had been weakened to the extreme.
Most importantly, the Heavenly Ghost Mask actively cooperated through spiritual sense communication, offering not the slightest resistance.
All these factors together made the successful connection possible.
The moment the connection formed, Ning Zhuo immediately poured the vast Buddha thoughts in his mind through the thread into the Heavenly Ghost Mask.
Buddhist light erupted from the ghost mask, shining brilliantly.
Wearing Tianshuang’s face, it now appeared full of compassion. With palms pressed together, it lowered its head and began chanting Buddhist scriptures.
Tianshuang flew into a rage and instantly rushed in front of Ning Zhuo and the ghost mask, slashing down viciously with his claw.
He wanted Ning Zhuo alive, so the attack targeted only the ghost mask.
Every moment that mask continued to exist was an insult to him.
Clang.
A crisp metallic sound rang out.
A powerful icy claw blocked Tianshuang’s strike.
The three generals, rushing back toward the battlefield, widened their eyes in disbelief at the sight.
Tianshuang himself turned pale with shock.
Because the one blocking him—
was not someone else.
It was himself.
Earth Ash’s amused smile vanished as he stared fixedly at Tianshuang.
Tianshuang knew the reason.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, an immense tide of Buddha thoughts had appeared once again.
“Why?! I never used Frost Soul Gaze to attack his Sea of Consciousness!”
The doubt flashed briefly before he realized the deeper cause.
“Damn it—it’s the Ghost Mask Technique!”
The Ghost Mask Technique borrowed the power of a great ghost to form a mask.
The stronger the great ghost, the stronger the mask.
Which meant there existed a subtle connection between the ghost and the mask.
Once Ning Zhuo connected to the Heavenly Ghost Mask, he could use it as a relay to influence Tianshuang’s true body.
And the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts had cultivated the Ghost Mask Technique to an extremely profound level—covering their entire bodies, almost like clones.
Thus the connection between them was far stronger than ordinary ghost mask spells.
Sun Lingtong, being from the demonic path, knew this secret well.
The Twin Ghosts also knew the risks, which was why they never distributed their ghost masks casually. They only exchanged them with each other.
And the two were almost never separated, always acting together so they could constantly monitor each other.
The greatest accident of this battle was that Tianshuang had been struck by the backlash of the Buddha Heart Demon Seal. Buddha thoughts had once severely restricted him.
Thus both Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo knew that Buddha thoughts were extremely effective against him.
That was why, after hearing Sun Lingtong’s proposal, Ning Zhuo was willing to risk everything.
He had grasped the hidden hint of fate—
perhaps the only opportunity for victory in this battle where the enemy was overwhelmingly stronger.
Buddha thoughts surged once more within Tianshuang’s Sea of Consciousness.
Buddha Heart Demon Seal!!!
Never before had Ning Zhuo activated this treasure with such ferocity.
Buddhist light illuminated Tianshuang’s Sea of Consciousness. Buddha thoughts multiplied uncontrollably.
“I…!”
Tianshuang tried to resist, but his normal thoughts were quickly suppressed by the Buddhist light and drowned beneath the overwhelming flood of Buddha thoughts.
Seeing the situation turn bad, Earth Ash cast a spell and launched a remote attack toward Ning Zhuo.
Boom.
Tianshuang swung his claw and stood beside Ning Zhuo, blocking the attack.
With a compassionate expression, Tianshuang earnestly advised Earth Ash:
“My companion… turn back before it is too late.”
Earth Ash: ?!!