Yet He Lingchuan had fought battles in Panlong City, enduring blinding flashes of light countless times whether in the Martial Review Hall or on the battlefield; on two occasions, they had even forced him straight offline.
Having suffered such torment, his instinctual reaction upon encountering sudden intense light was not to turn his head away, but to throw up his left hand immediately. The Soul-Snatching Shield materialized over the back of his hand, bracing squarely against the piercing white radiance.
After intense light descended, a tempestuous assault almost always followed.
Having gone to the trouble of seizing the initiative, how could an opponent ever let it go to waste?
In a moment like this, He Lingchuan had no time to ponder that both the fireball and the blinding light had been unleashed by Bai Ziqi.
In truth, less than a second after the white light struck the earth, it transformed into four giant serpents that lunged straight toward the two of them.
Each measured over four feet across and nearly ten zhang in length, exuding tremendous menace. A mere glance from an ordinary person would likely have scared their gall to pieces!
Cheng Yu was hurled through the air before he could put up any real resistance.
One of the giant serpents wheeled around to pursue Cen Boqing, while two others held their course, each spitting a blast—one of ice, one of fire—and their target was He Lingchuan!
The last serpent gathered its strength for a moment, brilliant lightning crackling within its half-opened maw.
Fortunately, before unleashing their divine powers, they had to tilt their heads back.
That brief half-second delay gave He Lingchuan room to breathe after the flashbang. Though his vision remained blurred, one hardly needed sharp eyesight to see three colossal monstrosities looming ahead—especially when they radiated glaring light.
He Lingchuan sprang to the side, evading the ice blast.
The fire blast arrived right behind it, seemingly calibrated to strike precisely where he landed.
He Lingchuan channeled strength into both arms and raised his shield to block. With a deafening boom, he was blasted backward over four zhang, snapping a sapling in his wake.
Wasn't this basically an artillery shell? The force felt straight out of a cannon barrel—monstrously strong!
It was lucky he had endured the Emperor's Flowing Dew twice, making his physique far tougher and sturdier. Had he taken this blow five months ago, his arms would have snapped instantly and his internals ruptured.
Even so, his vital organs rattled and his arms throbbed with intense pain.
Where had these damn things come from, and why were they attacking him?!
Yet his primary focus was the third giant serpent. Crackling with blue-white lightning all over, it finished charging its power, opened its jaws wide, and discharged a lightning bolt.
It traveled several times faster than the ice and fire. Almost the instant a flash ignited in its mouth, the lightning detonated right before He Lingchuan.
With a sizzling crack, dirt and gravel sprayed everywhere, gouging a crater a zhang wide in the earth. The soil within vitrified instantly, its surface gleaming with a glassy glaze.
The lightning had not struck He Lingchuan directly because a towering silhouette had abruptly interposed itself before him—
A golden-armored guard!
This was the upgraded version of the bronze automaton: fully armored and armed, with a frame taller, thicker, and harder than the original. In its right hand was a spear, and in its left, a massive tower shield.
The lightning bolt struck square against the shield, making even the golden-armored bronze general shudder twice.
Here the quality of the materials provided by Fu Shanyue showed their worth, and the palace craftsmen he had brought had cut no corners. The crafted golden-armored guard shook off the numbness after just a moment and charged the fire serpent, thrusting straight for its eyes.
He Lingchuan drew his Soaring Dragon spear and hurled it at the lightning serpent while leaping away from his spot, for the ice serpent had already pounced!
Every inch of earth it touched froze over with a thick crust of ice.
After He Lingchuan leaped away, it swung around to strike at the golden-armored guard, coiling around one of its legs while it was occupied with the fire serpent.
The guard's rear leg froze solid immediately, its knee locked stiff.
Ignoring the Soaring Dragon spear embedded in its eye, the lightning serpent dipped its head to snap at He Lingchuan.
He Lingchuan raised his shield, parrying four strikes in under a second.
The lightning serpent was shockingly agile, possessing none of the clumsiness typical of colossal beasts. Fortunately, the shield's mirrored surface reflected a portion of the force, jarring the creature and dealing it recoil damage.
It also whipped its long tail around from behind him.
This bastard was charged with electricity head to tail; letting it graze any part of him was no laughing matter.
Fortunately, He Lingchuan kept his head clear. Just as the great serpents launched their attack, he had already hollered:
"Emissary Bai, save me!"
This was no time to care about saving face.
None of these sudden giant serpents possessed bodies of flesh and blood, and they blazed with white radiance that looked both majestic and sanctified. There was no way under heaven this had nothing to do with Bai Ziqi!
Bai Ziqi caught up as well. Hearing He Lingchuan cry for help, he immediately held up that stub of gold-flecked white candle and beckoned with a hand. "Stop fooling around! Get back here, all of you!"
The three giant serpents abandoned He Lingchuan and the golden-armored guard at once, turning into streaks of light that flew into Bai Ziqi's hand.
With three soft hisses, the candlewick ignited.
The pale white flame flickered a few times before settling.
Sure enough, these three giant serpents were manifestations of the lamp spirit too.
"My apologies. These fellows are still rather disobedient; once they spot living creatures, they can't rein themselves in." Holding the candle, Bai Ziqi walked over, looking remorseful. "Are you all right?"
He Lingchuan drew several ragged breaths and shook his numb hands. "Emissary Bai truly has formidable methods."
These lamp spirits were brutally difficult to handle; in just two exchanges, he had nearly been overwhelmed.
Had Bai Ziqi waited a few breaths longer to intervene, He Lingchuan would have had to pull out every trump card he had hidden away.
He Lingchuan suddenly gave a shiver as several faint threads of pale blue electricity crackled across him.
The residual current hadn't dissipated yet; his entire body felt pins and needles.
He looked at his battered, disheveled self, then at Bai Ziqi's calm composure. Was this bastard trying to put him in his place?
Bai Ziqi pretended not to notice the double meaning in his words. Looking at the golden-armored guard, he smiled. "This golden puppet is remarkably well-crafted—unusually agile."
The golden-armored guard followed its master's commands to the letter, effectively serving as an oversized avatar for He Lingchuan. Mastering the art of dual-tasking his mind like this had been no easy feat. Moreover, handling the golden-armored guard felt far better than the bronze automaton: action followed thought effortlessly, and its agility, offense, and defense operated on an entirely different level.
Alas, you truly got what you paid for.
He Lingchuan put away the golden-armored guard. By now, the other giant serpent had overtaken Cen Boqing, constricting him with its signature technique until he could hardly breathe.
Cen Boqing was, after all, a native of Lingxu City with an official rank, so Bai Ziqi had not been ruthless.
Cheng Yu, however, fared terribly. He had been fleeing at the very front, so the brunt of that light burst had slammed into him. Man and wolf were blasted over four zhang away, knocked completely unconscious.
It was no different from taking a cannon shell to the chest.
The puppet wolf that absorbed most of the impact lay motionless after tumbling across the ground, its fur catching fire and smoking with a hiss.
Bai Ziqi gave a wave of his hand, and the giant serpent released Cen Boqing.
The latter gasped violently for breath, coughing repeatedly.
Bai Ziqi strolled over, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked down at him.
"Still hoping to put up a desperate fight? Vast as the world is, there is no longer any place for you."
A suspect targeted by Lingxu City had nowhere left to run!
Cen Boqing stumbled back two steps, his legs giving out as he fell to his knees with a thud.
He was practically unharmed, his martial prowess intact, yet from the moment he fell from the wolf's back, he could not muster even a shred of fighting spirit.
To have reached this dead end—what point was there in struggling any longer?
Total despair.
Only then did Bai Ziqi wave to the giant serpent.
"All right, be good now. Come back."
The next second, the enormous serpent reverted to a tiny lamp spirit, drifting leisurely toward Bai Ziqi's hand, crawling back onto the wick, and merging once more into that tiny flame.
He Lingchuan could tell at a glance that only the stub end of the candle remained.
Evidently, while the lamp spirit was deployed, the candle had been burning away, nearing the end of its life.
Noticing where he was looking, Bai Ziqi explained, "No matter. This is merely a minor avatar of the Everlasting Lamp spirit."
He Lingchuan appeared thoroughly convinced, his expression tinged with a touch of awe. "Truly formidable."
A single avatar of the Everlasting Lamp had brought down both Cheng Yu and Cen Boqing, while battering He Lingchuan into utter disarray.
If the giant serpents formed from the lamp spirit were truly disobedient, how could Cheng Yu and Cen Boqing still be alive?
They had handled the two fugitives with kid gloves, yet unleashed an all-out onslaught against him, an innocent special envoy of Chiyan Kingdom. If there was no direction from Bai Ziqi behind it, He Lingchuan would never believe it!
Yet trying to act tough or making an issue of it now was pointless; he could only swallow the loss.
Seeing the expression on his face, Bai Ziqi's smile grew warmer.
Zhongsun Mou, Cen Boqing, and the Fan brothers had suffered setbacks one after another at this youth's hands, which had likely led him to think Lingxu City possessed no capable men.
No matter their flaws, they were officials of Lingxu City; how could an outsider be permitted to teach them a lesson?
No matter who one was, so long as one stood upon the soil of Beijia, one must hold Lingxu City in reverence.
Naturally, dealing the youth a small punishment was enough.
He Lingchuan obediently dragged Cheng Yu back and tossed him beside Cen Boqing. "Apprehended and accounted for. That wraps it up!"
Bai Ziqi glanced at him, then suddenly raised the Everlasting Lamp candle toward Cheng Yu's face.
The flame turned an eerie, ghostly green, sending a faint chill through He Lingchuan's spine.
Moreover, the area illuminated by the green flame blurred slightly.
He Lingchuan asked warily, "What's wrong with him?"
Bai Ziqi merely swept the green glow past Cheng Yu's face and drew it back, passing so close it nearly singed his nose.
In that brief breath of time, He Lingchuan discovered he could see through flesh: inside Cheng Yu's skull, a translucent phantom seemed to flicker.
Was that... Cheng Yu's soul?
Before He Lingchuan could look closer, Bai Ziqi pulled the candle back, blew it out, and smiled. "Both his body and soul suffered minor injuries, but nothing severe. He'll live."
He Lingchuan turned his head with an air of casual indifference, silently thinking, *Close call.*
Fortunately, when he first grabbed Cheng Yu, he hadn't used the soul-snatching mirror to harvest the wretch's soul, or wouldn't this scan have given him away?
This Emissary Bai's meticulous attention to detail was chilling.
He Lingchuan looked back at the swarm of stag beetles, only to find them hunkered obediently against the ground, scuttling about on their six spindly legs without a single one taking flight.
They crowded across the dirt in a dense, writhing black mass.
Surprised, He Lingchuan asked, "What happened to them?"
"Their wings are useless; they can't fly anymore." Bai Ziqi picked up the cloth doll from the ground, brushed off the grass and dust, and examined it closely. "This is quite a neat trinket."
A seam ran along the doll's belly. He reached inside, felt around, and pulled out a golden stag beetle.
Its color was striking, though its body was actually smaller—scarcely the size of a thumb—and it struggled desperately in Bai Ziqi's palm.
"This is the beetle king."
With their king captured, the swarm of stag beetles on the ground grew agitated, crawling swiftly toward Bai Ziqi.
Smiling, Bai Ziqi said to He Lingchuan, "If you can tame the beetle king, this nest of critters is yours. What do you say?"
A slap followed by a sweet date? He Lingchuan saw no reason to refuse. "I can give it a try."
The other man might look down on this nest of stag beetles, but He Lingchuan found them rather useful.
Bai Ziqi stuffed the beetle king back into the cloth doll and tossed it over to him, waiting to see just how he intended to tame it.
Chapter 530