Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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He pulled out three nails and held them in his hand, unrolling and reeling the red line. At that moment, they all heard the sound of footsteps approaching on the snow, moving very quickly.
Fang Zhe looked up, and in a split second, the creature came close. It was a pure black leopard!
Its form resembled a mass of black smoke, and as it ran so fast, its tail lashed out, the tip even spreading slightly, only to condense once it had stabilized.
The leopard charged forward with unstoppable momentum, stomping down on the rocks with a swift stomp!
Startled, Fang Zhe rolled twice on the ground to avoid the leopard, landing right where he had been.
The leopard looked back at Fang Zhe, then at Pheasant Brother, pacing twice. While both Fang Zhe and Pheasant Brother were strangers to him, Fang Zhe was still human and had hidden himself. Pheasant Brother, on the other hand, was different. Its blood had been spilled, now glowing in the darkness, making it incredibly conspicuous to these insidious creatures.
Therefore, the leopard only glanced at Fang Zhe before focusing on Pheasant Brother, intending to start with him.
Seeing that the leopard had turned its head and ignored him for a moment, Fang Zhe felt as if he had been saved. He scrambled back, panting heavily. Then he quickly raised his head and looked over there.
The black leopard had no physical form at all, its body passing through the red lines. These lines had been specially treated to give it discomfort, making each step seem a little slow and slow, and it growled in frustration.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Brother Pheasant cried out in despair.
Fang Zhe’s heart tightened, and he formed a magic spell with his hands, shouting, “Heaven and earth, I pay my respects to Master Lu Ban of Hongzhou. Today, I have erected an iron siege, obscuring all sights. A rope eight feet deep, with iron locks and copper ropes at the center. Even a golden knife or jade scissors cannot touch the rope, and no magic can penetrate it!” The red rope, which had been gray and hazy since the time of Youdu Mountain, now shone brightly, emitting a faint golden glow.
The black leopard’s cry suddenly changed, and he looked up, pacing aimlessly within the red rope’s confines. He could no longer see Brother Pheasant, as if he were truly trapped within the siege.
“Teacher Xie, I don’t dare approach the leopard just now, but I’ve lost three nails in my formation, and I’m afraid it’s incomplete and won’t be able to fit it into the box. Can you help me reset it? I’m controlling the formation, and it’s trapped inside and can’t get out.” Fang Zhe asked, still holding the magic formula in his hand.
“Okay, you tell me how to set it.” Xie Lingya stood up and walked over.
As expected, the black leopard couldn’t see outside from inside.
Xie Lingya squatted beside it, only about two meters away, and it couldn’t even look at Xie Lingya.
Fang Zhe exclaimed, “So the hole should have been dug. The first door nail is exposed about an inch and a half!”
Xie Lingya: “… Damn, how am I supposed to know what an inch and a half is! Does it have to be exact?”
Fang Zhe: “Of course it has to be exact! One inch is approximately 3.3 centimeters, so an inch and a half is about 5.3 centimeters!”
Xie Lingya: “…”
Xie Lingya was anxious. “Only a fool could get 5.3 centimeters right! I haven’t studied the Lu Ban Classic!”
He thought to himself, “I’ve almost forgotten. I’ve seen this guy’s carpentry. Sometimes he doesn’t use nails, but instead visually determines the tenons and mortise, making for a perfect fit.” He didn’t know if this was innate or honed over time, but Xie Lingya couldn’t do it.
Shi Changxuan was speechless at the sight and quickly stepped forward, pulling out his phone. There was no signal here, but luckily he had downloaded a ruler app that allowed him to measure.
Shi Changxuan opened the app, and the two of them used their phones to compare the lengths of the nails, wrapping them with red string, and reinserting them.
At that moment, a distant tiger roar echoed. The black leopard inside paused, ears perked, and roared back, then began to spin around within the formation.
Fang Zhe’s face darkened. “Oh no! Hurry! It’s following the sound to a breach!”
Not only that, but another sinister creature seemed to be on its way.
Xie Lingya quickly grasped the remaining two nails, listened to Fang Zhe’s instructions, measured them, and inserted them back. Just as he inserted the second nail, the red string swayed, loosening all the nails and putting him in a precarious position.
Just as Xie Lingya had driven the third nail into the ground, a black tiger swooped down from the sky and pounced.
Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan each rolled to the side, barely avoiding its claws.
Xie Lingya glanced at the nails in his hand, and sure enough, the black leopard burst through the formation, sending all the wooden nails flying out of the ground. The red string tangled and enveloped Brother Pheasant. Brother Pheasant let out a loud cry and rolled to the side, but unfortunately, he could only move a few centimeters. Fang Zhe felt a fishy taste in his throat, but he forced himself to swallow the blood back, then raised his hand and threw the two swords away.
Xie Lingya caught the sword with his backhand, flipped his wrist, and held it horizontally in front of him. “Damn, why do we still have to fight hand-to-hand?”
Shi Changxuan also smiled helplessly.
The black leopard was not attracted by the rooster this time and even growled at the black tiger. The black tiger had originally slashed at Brother Pheasant, but the black tiger’s roar made it withdraw a few inches. Even so, Brother Pheasant’s buttocks lost a lot of hair and seemed to be bleeding. He cried out loudly, “Oh, oh—”
The two evil creatures stared at Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan, roars leaking from their teeth.
The tiger and leopard circled a few steps, then they crouched down, and pounced with a deadly aura!
This thing was unlucky to touch. Xie Lingya backhanded and stabbed it with his sword. The black leopard cried out in pain. The death aura dissipated where it was stabbed but quickly gathered again.
“Youdu Mountain is the source of their power; even if injured, they quickly recover. They can’t be stabbed to death directly, so they must be trapped and subdued.”
In the background, the pitiful cries of Brother Pheasant were heard as it tried to move toward Fang Zhe. Seeing it was stuck, Fang Zhe slipped over to untie it but tied its feet to prevent it from wandering too far and getting lost in Youdu Mountain.
Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan also deliberately lured Black Leopard and Black Tiger to the side to prevent them from hurting Fang Zhe and Brother Pheasant.
Xie Lingya shouted, “Hurry up and set up another formation while you can! Don’t waste forty minutes!” Fang Zhe grumbled, but gritted his teeth, grabbed the red string, and began. Fortunately, there were some traces on the ground, which he could easily identify with a glance.
Xie Lingya produced a handful of talismans; it was better than nothing—they were native to Youdu Mountain, and their effectiveness was greatly reduced here. Thus Xie Lingya’s talismans only stopped the attack for a short while.
Fang Zhe’s forehead was covered in sweat as he frantically set up his formation while the two men clashed with the beasts. If Brother Pheasant had a human form, he’d probably be furious by now.
“You…” Fang Zhe looked at the stiffened Brother Pheasant. “Forget it!”
He simply picked up Brother Pheasant and slammed its bare, injured buttocks into the ground a few times, rubbing some fresh blood onto it, using it as the center of the formation. Then, red thread and wooden pegs flew through his hands, his mind intensely focused.
….
Over there, Xie Lingya, already heavily dressed and still struggling with the beasts, couldn’t just chop them down, so he dragged them along for a walk, panting heavily.
The two beasts were surprisingly tall, and after a while, he realized they were hanging on to him and instantly intensified his attack. A puff of black air erupted, spreading along the ground like smoke.
Xie Lingya didn’t understand what it meant at first, but soon realized the ground seemed slippery. The ground had been frozen, and now, covered with snow, it was suddenly even harder to walk on.
Fortunately, Liu Lingtong and Phytolacca God were shouting warnings over them.
The Black Tiger swooped down, and Xie Lingya dodged to the left. While Shi Changxuan dodged to the right. The Black Leopard attacked Xie Lingya from the side, and Xie Lingya simply rolled on the ground, kneeling on the ground and striking with his sword.
Phytolacca God frantically warned Shi Changxuan, but Shi Changxuan’s movements were so rapid and the situation shifted so rapidly that it could barely keep up. This caught the Black Tiger’s attention. He tilted his head, as if he could faintly hear the wood spirit’s voice, realizing it had foiled its plan.
Phytolacca God gasped for a moment, then suddenly cried out, “Oh my god! There’s a snake!”
A snake? Where did it come from?
Shi Changxuan looked down and saw a layer of black air covering the ground. He glanced and saw a black snake actually leap out from it!
Hidden within the black air, the snake remained unseen until Phytolacca God shouted.
Shi Changxuan didn’t care but took a large step back and raised his hand to block it.
The black snake was entangled in Shi Changxuan’s sword, its body on the verge of collapse, yet it continued to swim upwards, opening its mouth and rapidly protruding its fangs, attempting to bite the Phytolacca God.
The Phytolacca God cried out, “Ahhhhh!”
Shi Changxuan knew he could no longer evade. He thus chanted an incantation and swung his sword, instantly dissolving the snake into a puff of black air.
Before the Phytolacca God could even breathe, the black tiger seized the opportunity and tackled him.
The Phytolacca God trembled, “Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!”
The black tiger, completely captivated, let go of Shi Changxuan’s neck and opened its mouth to bite the Phytolacca God.
Shi Changxuan raised his sword and slashed, severing the black tiger from below!
Before the tiger could even howl, it was split in two, dispersing into a black mist…
Shi Changxuan breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, Xie Lingya let out a hurried cry, and Phytolacca God let out a soft “Ah.” Shi Changxuan instantly sensed something was amiss, but then the black energy suddenly rekindled, gathering into a beastly maw that snapped and bit the tiny arm of the innate wood spirit just within reach!
Shi Changxuan chanted an incantation and slapped it again, completely dispersing the maw. However, a small wooden hand fell away, tumbling backwards down the hillside, swallowed by darkness.
“Phytolacca God!” Shi Changxuan shouted, his anger evident.
The Black Leopard, seemingly frightened by the fate of the Black Snake and Black Tiger, took two steps back, feeling timid.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhe also shouted, “It’s done!”
The formation was set up, having taken him only twenty minutes.
Xie Lingya, anxious too, drew a talisman on his palm, stepped forward, grabbed the Black Leopard’s tail, and flung it out. “Go!”
The Black Leopard’s claws scratched the ground comically, and with a swagger, Xie Lingya threw it into the Golden Lock Siege Formation. Fang Zhe quickly opened the Luban box and chanted the incantation: “Look up to the blue sky, the master is before you. One, gather evil; two, gather evil; three, gather the souls and spirits of the dead…”
Xie Lingya didn’t have time to pay attention to him. In a flash, he slid over to Shi Changxuan and pulled out all his talismans.
Shi Changxuan picked up one and wrapped it around the Phytolacca God. “All officials receive the spirit, and the pure void is shrouded!”
The Phytolacca God was unlike Liu Lingtong. Liu Lingtong was a post-natal creation, a fusion of wood roots and spirits. The Phytolacca God was an innate wood spirit, and his body was far more important to him. He only gained consciousness after growing into a human form, especially since he hadn’t yet cultivated enough merit.
After Shi Changxuan finished applying the talismans, he held the silent Phytolacca God in his arms, feeling a little uncomfortable.
Xie Lingya also carefully touched the Phytolacca God. “Little cutie, are you…are you okay?”
The next moment, the Phytolacca God burst into tears, unable to stop.
Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan breathed a sigh of relief!
It seems that the previous step was right. The talisman was used in time to fix the spirit of Phytolacca God. In addition, Phytolacca God already has Shi Changxuan as his master and is sacrificed to every day… In short, it can still cry. As long as it hasn’t dissipated, it’s okay!
Xie Lingya said in fear: “Fortunately, it’s okay.”
Phytolacca God wailed: “How is it okay? My hands are gone!”
Xie Lingya hesitated and said: “…But you didn’t use your hands before. You couldn’t even move them.”
….
After a deathly silence, Phytolacca God broke down and cried uncontrollably.
T/N: Brother Pheasant is much more hardy than me…. I would have died about 10 times till now…
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