Chapter 632: Colossus Ning Zhuo
“I felt myself brimming with power!”
Ning Zhuo was deeply excited.
This was the first time in his life that he had formally controlled the paper figurine colossus.
Because of the deal he had previously struck with the City Lord of White Paper Immortal City, this paper figurine colossus had already become Ning Zhuo’s property. After that transaction, the City Lord of White Paper Immortal City had passed the specific method of control on to Ning Zhuo.
Afterward, Ning Zhuo had also secretly practiced with it a few times in private. But all of it had been done quietly, just barely tasting the surface.
After the crisis erupted at the South City Gate, Ning Zhuo had rushed over immediately. He had not joined the battle at the first moment. Instead, he had first slipped into the paper figurine colossus and activated it.
After activating it, Ning Zhuo felt as though he were inflating like a balloon. In the space of a few breaths, he had become a giant, then put on a layer of paper clothing.
At first, he could still feel the difference between that paper garment and himself.
But very quickly, that sense of difference vanished without a trace, and his entire being fused completely with the paper figurine colossus.
Ning Zhuo’s mind rose to an extreme height. He could no longer feel either soul or body, and could only feel the paper figurine colossus.
From the outside, after the paper figurine colossus had kicked away the Golden Core–level Ghost General, it was also rapidly changing.
It became blue-faced and fang-toothed, bearing a ghostly visage, while yin energy gushed from its white paper body. The yin energy was like ink, turning from illusory to solid, transforming into a layer of black iron armor that armed the paper figurine colossus.
When Ning Zhuo kicked away the Golden Core–level Ghost General, it was like an ordinary person kicking away a rat.
He pressed the advantage, striding forward with great steps, then lifted his foot and stomped down viciously.
Bang.
The force in his foot was terrifying, directly stamping a deep footprint crater into the floor tiles of White Paper Immortal City.
The airwave it stirred up was like a gale, blowing the Scarlet Ghost General away.
The Scarlet Ghost General felt a chill all over his body as he stared at the footprint crater. “If that had stepped on me, I would definitely have been gravely wounded and on the verge of death!”
Yang Three-Eyes’ divine sense transmitted over, and he said to Ning Zhuo, “Ning Zhuo! Don’t chase them recklessly. Leave these Golden Core–level Ghost Generals to me! You should go deal with the big ones!”
“Alright.” Ning Zhuo agreed without hesitation.
That flying kick just now, though it had struck the Long Axe Ghost General, had only succeeded because it had come out of nowhere and caught the other side off guard.
In a real attack, although the paper figurine colossus possessed astonishing strength, it was rather slow, and every move was easily seen through.
So the stomp that followed had been dodged with ease by the Scarlet Ghost General.
“Dealing with these little things really is inconvenient.”
“Unfortunately, the paper figurine colossus really doesn’t have methods for that.”
Ning Zhuo had experienced the battle of Two Notes Nation, so he naturally possessed sufficient combat awareness.
He knew Yang Three-Eyes’ words were absolutely correct, so he decisively gave up on pursuing those Ghost Generals, took huge strides, and charged toward the Dead Bone Colossus.
Bang bang bang...
Once Colossus Ning Zhuo started running, each time his feet landed on the floor tiles, they stamped out footprint craters, making the ground shake again and again.
Bang!
With another tremendous boom, Ning Zhuo slammed directly into the Dead Bone Colossus and knocked it to the ground.
The buildings beneath the two gigantic objects were crushed and flattened in an instant.
Iron Bone Zheng’s eyelids twitched wildly at the sight, and he quickly sent a divine-sense transmission: “Don’t fight here. Get farther away from the city gate!”
Colossus Ning Zhuo stood up first, and the Dead Bone Colossus followed right after.
The latter spread its arms and swung a punch from left to right, smashing toward Ning Zhuo’s head.
Colossus Ning Zhuo ducked low, avoided the counterattack, grabbed the Dead Bone Colossus, and directly executed an over-the-shoulder throw.
Bang.
The Dead Bone Colossus crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. More than ten buildings collapsed again, paper scraps flying everywhere.
Just as Ning Zhuo was about to press his victory, he suddenly heard someone shout, “Be careful!”
A fierce wind rushed at him from behind his head.
Ning Zhuo instinctively crouched down and rolled with the motion, narrowly avoiding the heavy strike from behind.
This was a second Dead Bone Colossus!
Its fist was like a giant siege hammer. After its horizontal sweep missed, it smashed heavily into a three-story paper building at the side that had not yet fully collapsed!
Boom!
The paper building was like a powder keg with its fuse lit. In an instant, it violently deformed and swelled, then collapsed explosively, turning into countless bits and sheets of paper.
Those fragments then flew out howling like a meteor shower, smashing into the low houses in the distance and causing secondary destruction.
Ning Zhuo rolled some distance along the ground, then crouched there and turned to look back.
When he saw the two Dead Bone Colossi standing together, his heart sank. “How was this supposed to be fought?”
His gaze shifted instinctively and fixed on the ghost cultivator in another direction.
It was the Funeral Music Phantom Performer.
The Funeral Music Phantom Performer was still maintaining her Candle of the Silent Path to Return.
That candle was burning fiercely and had already burned away by twenty percent.
“She had to be killed!”
“Otherwise, there would only be more and more Dead Bone Colossi!!”
Ning Zhuo swept his gaze around and saw that Yang Three-Eyes and Bone Tomb Daoist were fighting the Golden Core–level Ghost Generals at full intensity. For the moment, they could not break through.
So Ning Zhuo decided to act himself.
But the moment he got up, he was boxed in by the two Dead Bone Colossi.
Bang bang bang...
The three giant creatures clashed head-on, launching into fierce close combat.
“After getting bigger, it was inconvenient too!”
Ning Zhuo lacked this kind of real combat experience and became entangled in battle with the two Dead Bone Colossi.
Turning, punching, stepping back, sidestepping to evade, using force against force... Though Ning Zhuo was fighting one against two, he quickly gained control of the situation and took the upper hand.
The Dead Bone Colossi were powerful and heavy, with deep defenses, but they possessed little intelligence and did not even have the most basic martial skills. That allowed Ning Zhuo to gain many advantages in close combat.
But the favorable situation did not last long. The arrival of a third Dead Bone Colossus changed the entire situation at once.
Colossus Ning Zhuo was forced back again and again.
He retreated into a cluster of buildings, and every step he took crushed a house beneath him.
“It was time to use martial arts!”
The paper figurine colossus came with several built-in methods.
Martial Art—Long-Armed Python Strangle.
Colossus Ning Zhuo’s two arms suddenly extended, attacking together from left and right like two giant pale pythons with lives of their own!
The python-arms wrapped themselves directly around the Dead Bone Colossus.
Crack crack...
The Dead Bone Colossus’ body was forcibly twisted apart, and the explosive snapping sounds ran together into one continuous burst.
To Ning Zhuo, it felt as though he were breaking apart deadwood.
Under Colossus Ning Zhuo’s strength, the Dead Bone Colossus’ bones truly snapped inch by inch like rotten branches!
The upper half of one Dead Bone Colossus was twisted until only its spine and skull remained.
Just as it was about to be completely destroyed, the remaining two Dead Bone Colossi were stimulated into action, the bone spikes all over their bodies swelling as they hugged Colossus Ning Zhuo tightly.
Many sharp, thick bone spikes pierced straight through the armor and sank deep into Colossus Ning Zhuo’s body.
Intense pain struck immediately.
Ning Zhuo let out a muffled groan, but he still forcibly maintained the Long-Armed Python Strangle martial art. Only after twisting one Dead Bone Colossus apart did he thrust both palms out, drive with both legs in coordination, and force some distance between himself and the two Dead Bone Colossi.
Many holes had appeared in Colossus Ning Zhuo’s armor and body.
Two Golden Core–level Ghost Generals drilled into the paper figurine colossus through the large holes.
Sensing this, Ning Zhuo was shocked and furious. “What was going on? What was Yang Three-Eyes doing? He actually failed to stop those Ghost Generals?”
Ning Zhuo had always highly acknowledged Yang Three-Eyes’ combat strength and had expected much from him.
But at this critical moment, he had dropped the ball.
However, when Ning Zhuo swept his eyes around and saw Yang Three-Eyes, his heart suddenly sank, and he instantly understood him.
Blood overflowed from the corner of Yang Three-Eyes’ mouth, and his chest had caved in, bearing a deep imprint from a cudgel.
He stared fixedly at the enemy who had ambushed him. “What exactly was your Soul-Devouring Sect trying to do?”
The one who had ambushed him was clearly Bone Tomb Daoist.
Bone Tomb Daoist came from the Soul-Devouring Sect and was one of that sect’s Golden Core True Disciples. He stroked the bone staff in his hand and replied to Yang Three-Eyes at leisure, “The Soul-Devouring Sect naturally wanted more.”
“However, the City Lord of White Paper cared more about her independence.”
“Even though we offered better terms, she was unwilling to cast off the Myriad Phenomena Sect and list my Soul-Devouring Sect as the number one sect here.”
“Since that was the case, then cooperating with the Lord of the Forgotten River was only natural and reasonable.”
The external reinforcements sought by the City Lord of White Paper had actually amounted to letting a wolf into the house.
Yang Three-Eyes shouted coldly, “Our Myriad Phenomena Sect has painstakingly operated in White Paper Immortal City and contributed far too much, so becoming White Paper Immortal City’s number one sect was only what we deserved.”
“Bone Tomb Daoist, next, you will pay the price for your mistake!”
Rumble...
Yang Three-Eyes and Bone Tomb Daoist clashed in battle, locked in such a fierce struggle that neither could be separated from the other.
This left Ning Zhuo in a miserable bind.
All his energy was only enough to control the paper figurine colossus and deal with the two Dead Bone Colossi outside.
He was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Being able to activate and control a Nascent Soul–level paper figurine colossus was already no easy feat.
At present, Ning Zhuo simply had no spare strength to deal with the enemies that had invaded the colossus’ interior, much less interfere with the Funeral Music Phantom Performer.
If the Funeral Music Phantom Performer was not eliminated, she would continue teleporting in even more Dead Bone Colossi!
Time was extremely favorable to the army of yin soldiers.
Rumble...
Ning Zhuo rolled on the spot, once again avoiding the pincer attack of the Dead Bone Colossi. At the same time, he also took advantage of that action to fling away the rest of the Golden Core–level Ghost Generals who were trying to drill in.
Along the path of his roll, all the buildings were crushed flat and burst apart.
Bang bang bang...
The two Dead Bone Colossi pursued relentlessly.
Ning Zhuo tried to stand up, but suddenly his knee gave way.
The Long Axe Ghost General had reached the inside of the knee and destroyed most of the formation nodes there.
“This was bad!” The fused state between Ning Zhuo and the paper figurine colossus was immediately broken.
He instantly felt extremely miserable. Every movement he made now felt as if he were bearing the crushing weight of hills.
Elsewhere, another Ghost General advanced along the left arm and charged toward the chest.
As it destroyed things along the way, the armor on Ning Zhuo’s left arm rapidly turned insubstantial and showed a strong tendency toward collapse and dispersal.
Ning Zhuo immediately felt tearing pain coming from his left arm.
Boom!
A heavy strike from a Dead Bone Colossus knocked Ning Zhuo to the ground.
That crushing blow landed on Ning Zhuo and instantly made him feel his soul being battered, producing violent twisting pain.
He could only curl his body up and defend with all his strength.
Bang bang bang...
The Dead Bone Colossi attacked one after another. Each strike was like a heavy hammer smashing into Ning Zhuo’s soul.
For a time, his ears rang endlessly, wave after wave of darkness swept before his eyes, and even fine blood-colored points of light began to appear at the edges of his vision.
He had fallen into trouble from within and without.
Even if he wanted to withdraw now, he first had to undo the close connection between himself and the paper figurine colossus.
If he withdrew rashly, it would produce terrifying backlash!
...
Underworld.
The Ritual Altar of the Offering Tribulation Grand Rite.
Soundless Ghost Monk’s black ball of returning to ruin was exhausting itself against the Lord of the Forgotten River’s torrent of ten thousand souls.
Meanwhile, his nirvanic Chan sound was driving the Lord of the Forgotten River’s subordinates to their deaths.
The Lord of the Forgotten River made his choice!
He formed hand seals and changed his offensive pattern.
The waters of the Forgotten River burst forth, transforming into several Profound Nether Water Flood Dragons!
The water flood dragons roared savagely. They were formed from tens of millions of tons of Forgotten River water, endless yin energy, vast magical power, and massive numbers of dead souls fused together.
Carrying terrifying death energy, they bypassed the black ball of returning to ruin and all lunged at Soundless Ghost Monk together.
Soundless Ghost Monk was in the middle of slaughtering the Lord of the Forgotten River’s subordinates.
Faced with the encirclement of the water flood dragons, emotion finally stirred in his clouded eyes.
A single one alone was enough to tear apart an ordinary avatar-stage cultivator, and now there were seven besieging him!
Soundless Ghost Monk brought out his natal magic treasure. It was a Buddhist wheel.
The Buddhist wheel rose into the air, and its terrifying aura shot outward in every direction. Even Soundless Ghost Monk’s own momentum climbed to its peak along with it!
The Buddhist wheel spun rapidly on its own axis. The Buddhist light it emitted opened up the battlefield, distorted space, and in an instant formed a towering, indistinct phantom of a withered and silent Buddha that reached the heavens!
Nirvanic Buddha!
The charge of the seven Profound Nether Water Dragons was blocked by the Buddha phantom and could not advance an inch!
The Lord of the Forgotten River’s expression changed.
He knew that the battle had now reached its most critical moment.
He could not retreat, nor was he able to retreat.
At the critical instant!
The Lord of the Forgotten River summoned a seal.
The entire seal was black, neither metal nor jade, its shape ancient and weighty. The seal knob was a coiled nether dragon, while the four sides of the seal body were carved with countless fine underworld runes that flowed without ceasing. It was precisely the supreme symbol of authority for ruling the Forgotten River Nether Prefecture and controlling the long river of the Forgotten River—the Seal of the Lord of the Forgotten River!
This was a national treasure!
The Lord no longer held back. He poured the cultivation of his entire life into the seal and hurled it fiercely at the Buddha phantom!
The national treasure smashed down from above and instantly made the Buddha phantom contract violently.
The national treasure hung in the air, suppressing the battlefield.
The seven Profound Nether Water Flood Dragons recovered their force, climbed onto the Buddha phantom, and tightly coiled around it.
The Profound Nether Water Flood Dragons let out flood-dragon cries, their powers resonating with one another. In the end, head and tail linked together to form locks, sealing the Buddha phantom layer by layer.
The Seal of the Lord of the Forgotten River was also enclosed within.
In the end, it formed a massive silver-gray sphere. On the sphere’s surface, seven Profound Nether Water Flood Dragons were embossed in raised relief.
Soundless Ghost Monk quietly gazed at the Lord of the Forgotten River. His tattered monk’s robe fluttered without wind, and his gaunt body began to turn transparent and insubstantial like a bubble.
In the end, he stepped back once, and ripples spread beneath his feet like waves on water. His figure merged into the dark sky and vanished without a trace.
“How decisive, at least.” The Lord of the Forgotten River let out a cold snort.
Although he had won and had sealed and suppressed the great enemy’s natal Buddhist wheel, his mood was heavy.
That was because his own Seal of the Lord of the Forgotten River had gone in along with it.
Without that, how else could he have suppressed the enemy’s Nirvanic Buddhist Wheel?
“This might be yet another scheme to weaken my battle strength!” The Lord of the Forgotten River smelled the stench of conspiracy.
But he had no choice. He could only be forced to respond step by step.
What he had lost was not only the Seal of the Lord of the Forgotten River, but also his subordinates.
Of the original five Nascent Soul cultivators, only two remained, and among the thirty thousand Imperial Guards, sixty percent had perished in that nirvanic annihilation.
“Go.” The Lord of the Forgotten River gave a soft shout and pushed out with both palms, stirring the Forgotten River soul current and sending both the black ball of returning to ruin and the Profound Nether silver sphere away from the altar and into the layers of dark clouds.
“Go!” Inside the paper figurine colossus, Ning Zhuo had been driven into a corner and could only take out his mechanical puppets.
The enemy pressure was too fierce. For safety’s sake, he brought out all his major fighting strength.
Heavy Armored Blood Ape·Great Victory.
Shadow Edge Blade·Night Tiger.
Netherworld Envoy·Qi Bai.
Buddhist Physician·Meng Yao Yin!
The Buddhist Physician held a sickle. The instant she appeared, her expression shifted slightly, and she actually took the initiative to raise her head and observe the surroundings.
Ning Zhuo: “Mother?!”