Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 185 - 135: One Dead, One Escapes!

For evil cultivators, shadow puppetry wasn’t something to be concerned about. If cultivated to great success, the skin would merge with the spiritual flesh, making it a formidable body technique magical artifact—something truly rare.

Unfortunately, relations between evil cultivators were inherently unstable. Evil Cultivator Zhang had no intention of selling his technique to anyone else.

Seeing him stay silent, that other evil cultivator smiled faintly, a flash of gloom passing through his eyes.

"Will Fellow Daoist Mo also take a step?" Evil Cultivator Zhang looked at him with a grin.

As fellow evil cultivators traveling together, when faced with danger, of course there was no way one would face it alone.

Mo, the evil cultivator, understood the unspoken rules, nodded, then slapped a talisman onto his body; a radiance enveloped him.

He didn’t have a technique like shadow puppetry, so he could only rely on this talisman technique for protection as he entered the Shi Mansion.

"Where is the master of the mansion?"

A shadow puppet and Evil Cultivator Mo stepped through the doors, shouting toward the startled servants nearby. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Have him come out to meet me."

They knew there was an ambush inside, but they weren’t afraid. Their plan was to trick Shi Cong into coming out, control him first, and figure out the rest later.

Inside the room, Shi Cong was growing restless. As soon as the servant delivered the message, he couldn’t help glancing at Lu Chang’sheng beside him.

He made a gesture.

Earlier, Lu Chang’sheng had informed everyone that immortals had excellent hearing—if they spoke, they’d likely be overheard. Because of this, most of their communication was through looks and gestures.

Lu Chang’sheng took one look and instantly understood what Shi Cong was thinking.

The latter was hesitating, unsure if he should go out there.

Lu Chang’sheng’s mood shifted as he looked at the reporting servant.

There was no real link between himself and the two out front.

Those two evil cultivators didn’t know Shi Cong or Lu Chang’sheng at all. As long as he kept a tight grasp on things, nothing in his words would give them away.

"Just invite them in," he said.

The servant hesitated.

To serve as the Shi Mansion’s doorman, you naturally needed a bit of perceptiveness. When he saw those two evil cultivators, he immediately suspected their identities weren’t ordinary, and he had no fear about standing before his own master.

Normally, men of that caliber should be met personally by the master.

But Lu Chang’sheng had spoken, and Shi Cong kept frantically gesturing by his side.

So the servant quickly nodded and withdrew.

"Sirs, my master invites you inside."

"Heh heh~"

Evil Cultivator Mo licked his lips.

"Looks like your lord here sensed something. Well then—"

Under the servant’s horrified gaze, Evil Cultivator Mo’s body suddenly expanded a full head taller, and a sheet of shadow swallowed the man whole.

A pained shriek marked the start of the slaughter.

"Attack!"

A cang ying soared upward into the sky, letting out a piercing shriek.

No one hesitated—this was their agreed-upon signal to strike. However, the evil cultivators hadn’t entered the kill zone, so most of the true qi realm martial artists didn’t know where the targets were; only those nearer the mansion’s main gate caught sight of the two evil cultivators in the distance.

"Whoosh!"

When the signal came, one true qi realm martial artist drew his crossbow to full strength. The loud snap of its string immediately drew the evil cultivators’ attention.

But the arrow was loosed all the same.

Unfortunately, the evil cultivator suddenly moved, his massive frame leaping forward like a cannonball, crashing down in front of the house.

A thick cloud of dust billowed out. That oversized hand snatched up a true qi realm martial artist by the throat and violently hurled him, sending him crashing into another building dozens of meters away.

While the body was still airborne, an arrow shot from a loophole, piercing straight through the true qi realm’s body, before Evil Cultivator Mo’s fist brought him down in a heap.

This man, like a rage-fueled dinosaur, smashed through two buildings in a row, shattering both the crossbows and the true qi martial artists within.

"Send the signal!"

Lu Chang’sheng seemed to have foreseen this outcome all along.

The true qi realm martial artists who’d helped him trap Meng Ping earlier grit their teeth, turned their crossbows, and tried to take down their foes.

"Immortals are not to be confronted by force!"

Behind a courtyard wall, Sun Wu, standing beside a mounted crossbow, turned ashen-faced—the terror Meng Ping once instilled in him flooding back to mind.

While he’d been careless during that previous fight, he knew all he could do now was avoid making an utter fool of himself.

That thought alone had him already preparing to retreat.

Once he decided, he acted at once.

To attain the level of innate martial artist, you needed decisiveness. So, instead of firing his crossbow—risking the evil cultivator’s attention—Sun Wu simply abandoned his weapon and ran for his life.

······

"Left Section Armor 12 didn’t fire!"

Lu Chang’sheng quickly received a report from the inspectors.

This ambush of the evil cultivators had been launched under official authority by Shi Cong. Even though evil cultivators were still making trouble throughout Jinghua Prefecture of Great Yuan, the government still largely held sway. No one could say for certain that the evil cultivators would really topple the dynasty.

So, no one dared to openly disobey Shi Cong’s orders.

Not even Sun Wu, who’d just advanced to innate martial artist, was an exception.

Thus, the many martial artists gathered here had come in answer to a government summons. With official oversight, it was only natural to send out inspector teams.

Of course, since these elite martial artists were the real main force, the inspectors could never deal with deserters as harshly as the army might. Their job was to report and record absences, with punishment left until after.

Sun Wu’s escape now made it clear he had no faith in official victory.

And he wasn’t alone. Not long after the evil cultivators attacked, inspectors reported three separate desertions—in less than a minute, three more had left.

"Bang!"

Shi Cong smashed his palm down on the nearly-new table before him, splintering it into several pieces.

"Let’s ignore them for now."

Lu Chang’sheng said in a low, steady voice.