Chapter 92: Revealing the Health Bar

When they first saw the paper figure riding a bird, the constables were overjoyed. They thought it was reinforcements sent by the shaman official, and that they were safe at last.

They never imagined that once the bird-riding paper figure arrived, it would be driving them back into the strange mist.

The constables instantly exploded in panic.

They had only just escaped, and they wanted no part of going back into that eerie, dangerous fog.

At this point, though, they still did not suspect the paper figure on the bird, much less the shaman official. They only assumed the people on the other side did not understand what lay within the mist, and hurriedly explained:

“We cannot go back!”

“Honored paper lord, you do not know this, but nothing can be seen in that fog, and it hides all manner of evil things. Look at our brothers here — they were all killed by the horrors in the mist!”

“Please report to the shaman official at once. There are many serpent demons in there, each more deadly than the last. Tell him to act quickly, slay the monsters, and rescue our trapped comrades.”

Yet the paper rider’s reaction was utterly beyond their expectations.

It paid no heed to their explanations at all. It seemed uninterested in the strange dangers within the fog, and only urged them to return at once.

“By order of the shaman official, only entry is permitted on Cloudflower Mountain today. No one may leave!”

After urging them several times and still seeing the constables refuse to obey, the eyes drawn on the paper figure suddenly flashed red, and its voice instantly filled with murderous intent as it thundered, “Those who defy orders shall be killed without mercy!”

“Honored paper lord, we are not trying to defy orders...”

One constable still tried to explain, but the bird-riding paper figure in the sky suddenly plunged toward them at astonishing speed.

Only then did the constables realize that this thing had not come to save them at all. It was trying to force them onto a path of certain death!

And if they refused to step onto that road to ruin, it would simply kill them itself!

Terrified beyond measure, the constables spun to run, but it was already too late.

The paper figure’s dive was far faster than their reactions.

In the blink of an eye, it had flown above one constable’s head, and the paper bird’s talons, sharp as blades, struck down toward the man’s skull.

If that hit landed, his head would surely be smashed to pieces!

Fortunately, there was one person whose speed was no slower than the paper rider’s.

The moment the paper figure swooped down, Shanglu had already raised the torch in his hand.

Third Madam worked with him in perfect understanding and immediately used her fire stick to light it.

At nearly the same instant, Shanglu stirred his blood energy, and, meeting the torch and the diving paper rider head-on, spat out the strong liquor he had been holding in his mouth before shouting, “Down!”

With the force of his blood energy, the liquor he sprayed shot out like an arrow straight at the bird-riding paper figure.

As it passed the torch, the stream of liquor caught fire, becoming a ferocious fire dragon.

“Boom!”

The fire dragon was incredibly fast. It struck the paper figure before it could seize the constable, erupting in a vast blaze.

The raging flames were like a gaping maw, swallowing the bird-riding paper figure in an instant.

The constables cheered at the sight.

But in the next moment, it was as if invisible hands had seized their throats, cutting off the cheers at once.

In horror, the constables saw that the bird-riding paper figure had passed cleanly through the inferno without the slightest injury.

It was not afraid of fire?!

Having burst through the flames, the bird-riding paper figure abandoned the constable who had been right before it and lunged straight at Shanglu.

The fire had not harmed it, but it had enraged it. It had resolved to kill Shanglu first, then deal with the rest of the constables.

If these people refused to return to Cloudflower Mountain of their own accord, then it would drag their corpses back itself!

The paper rider came on with overwhelming force, but Shanglu did not turn and run.

Though the flames had failed to burn the paper figure, they had allowed Shanglu to gauge its strength.

The bird-riding paper figure was far weaker than the ghost hand summoned by the shaman talisman. Its power was roughly somewhere between the initial and advanced stage of the Meridian-Opening realm.

After all, it was not meant to deal with the demons, ghosts, and spies who broke into the mountain. It was there to stop constables and local militia from fleeing. Its power need not be great; it only had to be stronger than the constables and militia.

For Shanglu, this was a fight worth having.

He took another swig of liquor, then tossed aside the gourd, quickly shifted the torch to his left hand, and gripped the bull-tail saber stuck in the ground with his right.

“Pfft—”

Shanglu sprayed every last drop of the strong liquor in his mouth onto the bull-tail saber, then set the blade alight.

Torch in his left hand, flaming saber in his right, he strode toward the bird-riding paper figure.

“Come on then. Let me see whether you truly fear no fire!”

In the next instant, Shanglu’s blazing blade struck the paper rider.

It really did not fear flame, yet Shanglu’s slash cleaved it cleanly in two.

But it was still a paper figure. Split in half, it did not merely keep moving; its attacks only became even more bizarre.

The two halves of the paper figure struck from left and right, attacking Shanglu together with remarkable coordination.

Shanglu immediately adjusted his strategy.

He no longer used the edge of the blade to hack at the bird-riding paper figure. Instead, he used the flat of the saber to slap at it.

With a sweep of the bull-tail saber, he struck the half of the paper figure rushing in from the right.

But that half was not knocked away. Instead, like a snake, it wound itself around the saber and slithered along the blade toward Shanglu’s hand.

At the same time, the other half from the left severed the torch and shot toward Shanglu’s front.

A strange, savage grin spread across half the paper face as it reached out and clawed at him.

Its hand looked as thin as cicada wings, seemingly without much force, yet it was incomparably sharp.

Even with Shanglu’s blood energy protecting him, and though his flesh had been tempered until it was as tough as cowhide, it still left a gash.

Having landed a hit, the half-paper figure tried to press its advantage.

But Shanglu reacted in time, kicking out with the tiger-tail sweep from the Tiger-Step Technique. A burst of force slammed into the half-sheet figure and blew it away.

This was also a lesson learned from the earlier slash that struck the paper figure yet got entangled.

But by then, the other half of the paper figure, clinging to the bull-tail saber, had also surged up through the flames, aiming to sever Shanglu’s hand and tear out his heart and lungs.

Shanglu did not hesitate. He directly urged his blood energy and flung the bull-tail saber, together with the half of the paper figure wrapped around it, away from him.

Though he had lost an exchange almost immediately and even lost his blade, there was no trace of panic on Shanglu’s face.

With the blessing of the Liver Spirit, he could see a swath of black qi on the bird-riding paper figure.

It was this black qi that allowed the paper figure to withstand the fire.

It was also this black qi that controlled it.

As long as this black qi remained, the bird-riding paper figure could continue fighting and entangle its enemies even if chopped to pieces!

Shanglu did not know whether this black qi was a kind of sorcery or some ferocious corpse-spirit troop, but based on the experience he had learned from the shaman-priests, if he wanted to destroy the bird-riding paper figure, he would have to destroy the black qi first.

The trouble was that the black qi was extremely cunning, as though it possessed a will of its own, shifting rapidly all over the paper figure’s body.

After the paper rider had been split in two, the black qi had also divided into two strands, attaching itself to both halves and continuing to control them.

Destroying it would not be easy.

But Shanglu was not afraid of difficult things. He only feared having no chance at all.

Now that he had seen the black qi, he had his opening.

The bird-riding paper figure was no longer invincible. It had revealed its health bar.