Chapter 72: Horde of Demons
Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Horde of Demons
A figure seemed to be standing in the darkness not far away.
The Raincoat Fisherman struck out with his fishhook, and the figure immediately fell apart.
"Raincoat Fisherman, give me back my father’s life!"
The voice came from the hillside.
It was the son of the Ju Zi from the Mengla Slope Third Village, a Second Realm Mechanism Master.
What the Raincoat Fisherman had just shattered was merely a humanoid puppet!
Next to the Mechanism Master, wooden animals of various shapes were lined up in a row.
"You think a few low-level puppets can stop me?"
The Raincoat Fisherman’s eyes blazed with anger as his fishhook swept forward with incredible speed.
In an instant, everything—the man and his puppets included—was reduced to splinters.
But that momentary delay was enough to slow the Raincoat Fisherman down for a split second.
And in that brief moment, the terrifying Great Ape caught up.
"Stay!"
The Great Ape seemed to have guessed from the Raincoat Fisherman’s strength that his status was unusual, so it did everything in its power to keep him there.
The Raincoat Fisherman glanced back at the Great Ape, but his eyes also took in the Black Tiger and the other entities.
’There are too many of them. I can’t win!’
’I have to run!’ the Raincoat Fisherman muttered. The fishhook floating by his side flared with brilliant light.
"Back off!"
With a low roar, the Raincoat Fisherman sent his fishhook spinning behind him, aiming for the Great Ape’s neck as if to pierce it through.
But the Great Ape seemed to sense something and abruptly halted.
WHOOSH—
The fishhook sliced through the air. The Great Ape dodged the attack and suddenly opened its mouth. A phantom image of sharp teeth materialized and clamped down on the hook.
The Raincoat Fisherman’s pupils contracted, but he didn’t stop running.
He hadn’t gotten far, however, when another figure and a wooden puppet appeared.
"Damn you, Mo Family!" the Raincoat Fisherman roared. "I am a Third Realm Jingzhe Official! If you stand in my way, I’ll slaughter your entire Mengla Slope Third Village one day!"
However, the wooden puppet didn’t respond.
"Zhu Ge, get over there and stop those puppets!" the Raincoat Fisherman ordered viciously.
Zhu Ge went over, putting on a show of fighting the puppets, appearing very obedient.
As he fought, he moved in the same direction the Raincoat Fisherman was fleeing.
However, as the Raincoat Fisherman escaped his pursuers, he discovered even more First and Second Realm anomalies ahead!
"Something’s not right!!"
’These First and Second Realm entities are all anomalies from around Yuan Yang City! They should be under the control of the Red River Dragon Python. Why have they all gathered here?!’
’Could it be that the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python have joined forces?!’
The Raincoat Fisherman muttered under his breath, his eyes darting back and forth, his expression a fascinating series of changes.
’The Plague God Sparrow is plotting against Yuan Yang City... what about the rest of Yunjiang?’
’When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.’
’The Red River Dragon Python and Yuan Yang City have always minded their own business. For it to act now, it must have been plotting for a long time.’
’If Red River Prefecture is descending into chaos, what about the rest of Yunjiang?’
’If war erupts all over Yunjiang, what about the other territories of the Da Sheng Dynasty?’
The more the Raincoat Fisherman thought, the more terrified his expression became.
’This is far too abnormal...’
A faint unease grew in the Raincoat Fisherman’s heart, and as he saw more and more anomalies, the disquiet on his face intensified.
It was far too abnormal!
But just then, the Raincoat Fisherman seemed to catch sight of something, and his body froze.
In the distance, a Second Realm Tiger God emerged from the woods, accompanied by a mountain-full of Believers.
On the left was the Tiger God; on the right, a cricket.
And in the middle stood a man with the character for "Confucian" carved over his heart.
Under the moonlight, the figure stood in the very center, his heart pulsing visibly, his eyes filled with indifference.
"Yu the Scholar?!"
Seeing Yu the Scholar, a cold glint flashed in the Raincoat Fisherman’s eyes. "So you haven’t given up your wicked ways! Zhu Ge, he’s from your village. You deal with him!"
"Yes!"
At this, Zhu Ge broke away from his fight with the puppets and rushed ahead of the Raincoat Fisherman, as if to intercept Yu the Scholar.
However, just as he was passing the Raincoat Fisherman, the fish basket descended from the sky, aiming straight for Zhu Ge.
Zhu Ge had been watching the Raincoat Fisherman’s expression the whole time.
He didn’t believe the Raincoat Fisherman’s performance for a second—the shock, the anger, the order for him to take the lead—it was all probably an act.
So he had remained on high alert. The moment he saw the basket, he did a quick donkey roll and tumbled out of the way.
BOOM!!
The fish basket missed Zhu Ge; he had dodged it.
After getting back to his feet, Zhu Ge instinctively looked toward the Raincoat Fisherman.
"I knew something was off. You really are unresigned," the Raincoat Fisherman sneered. "Just as I thought. A filthy, untamable peasant. Today, I’ll wipe out your entire Jianshan Village!"
’So that attack really was a test,’ Zhu Ge understood inwardly.
The Raincoat Fisherman was cunning by nature and didn’t trust anyone easily.
Zhu Ge could have chosen not to dodge that last attack. If he hadn’t, he would have, at most, been trapped under the fish basket.
After all, that fish basket was a defensive Spiritual Artifact, controlled by the Raincoat Fisherman’s Divine Sense.
As long as Zhu Ge could prove his loyalty, the Raincoat Fisherman could have easily released him.
The problem was, Zhu Ge was done acting.
"Untamable? We of the Human Race should stand tall and proud between heaven and earth. Why is it that there are always people who want us to kneel, to be tamed?"
After dodging the basket, the corners of Zhu Ge’s mouth curled up, but his eyes were ice-cold.
"I’ve had a great time watching you being played this whole way. I wonder, did you enjoy being played?"
As he spoke, Zhu Ge rapidly retreated.
The Raincoat Fisherman’s eyes widened abruptly, his face a mask of incandescent rage.
But seeing the Raincoat Fisherman like this only made Zhu Ge more vigilant.
His interactions with him along the way had taught him that the Raincoat Fisherman was not the type to fly into a helpless rage.
Right now, the Raincoat Fisherman’s performance was clearly an act!
’He wants to escape! Just like before!’
"You little bastard." The Raincoat Fisherman suddenly started laughing too, a chilling smile on his face. "I have plenty of tricks I haven’t used yet. You’d better hope you don’t fall into my hands."
"Other tricks? Fall into your hands?"
Zhu Ge also broke into an uninhibited smile, which turned into a hearty laugh.
"Are you talking about that general at the border? Or the people in the city? Haha, none of them are coming to save you. The arrival of the Plague God Sparrow has only hastened your doom!"
"Once caught in my net, even the Plague God Sparrow would die, so who do you think you are? Raincoat Fisherman, you have no chance of turning this around... Scholar! He’s trying to run! Be careful!"
The moment Zhu Ge’s words fell, Yu the Scholar responded from a distance.
"A hatred spanning ten generations can still be avenged!"
Yu the Scholar’s voice was loud and clear, brimming with grim satisfaction.
This was the release of long-suppressed anger, resentment, and hatred...
And resolve.
The sudden eruption of it all surprised even Zhu Ge.
WHOOSH!!!!
Yu the Scholar raised his hand and swiped. A jet-black ink stroke surged from the brush in his hand.
Although it wasn’t as brilliantly radiant as the one he used against the Fungus God, it carried a vast and mighty presence.
CRACK!!
The brush he had used for years instantly shattered into splinters as this power burst forth.
A single, uninhibited stroke.
Upon seeing that ink stroke, even the Raincoat Fisherman’s pupils couldn’t help but contract.
But he just sneered dismissively. "If you were a Confucian Scholar, I would have to accept my defeat. But you’re merely a Confucian Adept. What can you possibly do to me?"
The Second Realm of the Confucian Dao is called "Adept," and the Third Realm is called "Scholar"!
As he spoke, the fishhook by the Raincoat Fisherman’s side shot out and collided with the ink stroke.
But in the next moment, the Raincoat Fisherman’s expression changed.
The ink stroke suddenly stopped, spun around like a bolt of cloth, and wrapped the fishhook in layer after layer.
The fishhook’s light instantly dimmed, and it fell from midair.
"Hahaha, Zhu Ge was with you for a long time. He knows your capabilities well. Once your fishhook appears, it’s life or death. Even a Second Realm expert is nothing but a paper ant before it."
Yu the Scholar laughed, and as he laughed, tears streamed down his face.
"But both your fishhook and your Flying Boat are controlled by your Third Realm Divine Sense. We have been guarding against your Divine Sense day and night, so of course we knew that a Confucian Dao power fueled by one’s own life force can defend against it."
"However, I never expected that life force combined with the Gongyang Confucian Dao would have such a miraculous effect!"
"Life force, life force... I have nothing of value, but I have plenty of life force to spare! I am willing to die to kill you, this scourge of the Human Race!"
As he spoke, the fishhook had already hit the ground, leaving the Raincoat Fisherman both shocked and furious.
Behind him, the various Third and Second Realm entities were drawing ever closer.
The Raincoat Fisherman’s brow was now deeply furrowed, and he stopped running forward.
He stopped, and many of the pursuing anomalies stopped as well. They began to circle him warily, sizing him up.
Suddenly, the Third Realm Black Tiger lunged, its gaping, bloody maw wide open.
"You hurt me. I want you dead!"