Chapter 190 – Paper Figures Playing Ghost!

The Foreign Races did not believe Mu Lin could escape the pursuit of the Jade Lake Dao Academy disciples, and Chu Hongxuan and the others… thought the same.

Especially after a series of searches and chases, they had nearly wiped out all the Paper Figures summoned by Mu Lin, which made them even more relaxed.

As the number of Paper Figures dwindled, some even began to feel pity for Mu Lin.

“Being able to summon so many Paper Figures and unleash such a powerful Curse Art, Mu Lin’s strength is quite impressive. It’s a shame his biggest mistake was being too arrogant and provoking us.”

“Exactly. If he had been a bit more humble and hadn’t angered us, with his abilities, he would’ve easily been in the top five. Now, if he isn’t the first to be eliminated, it’ll only be because of sheer luck.”

“It’s always better to keep a low profile. Hopefully, this lesson will stick with him, haha…”

While their subordinates were relaxed, Chu Hongxuan and the others felt the same way.

In fact, with victory seemingly within reach, Yan Zhanpeng even began thinking about the future.

“Mu Lin’s strength is quite decent, and his Curse Art is especially effective for ambushes. With such abilities, he has a high chance of entering the Jade Lake Dao Academy. Perhaps I could try to recruit him and bring him under my wing.”

Confident in his own strength and family background, both of which he believed surpassed Mu Lin’s, Yan Zhanpeng actually considered the idea of subduing Mu Lin, and he saw nothing wrong with such a thought.

Just as he was pondering this, with a “boom,” the last Paper Figure was burned to ashes by Yuan Ce, and the streets were now empty of wandering figures.

Seeing this, the Jade Lake Dao Academy disciples gathered once again and used a tracking technique to search for Mu Lin’s aura.

This time, Chu Hongxuan’s subordinates were slower, taking great effort to finally locate some traces of Mu Lin.

However, upon sensing this, Yan Zhanpeng and the others weren’t angered but instead felt relieved.

“Being so difficult to track, this must be his Main Body.”

“Victory is near.”

With this thought, they rushed toward Mu Lin’s location, fearing he might escape.

With various techniques speeding them along, they soon arrived outside a Red Eerie Theater.

“Hiding among Anomalies? Not a bad idea, but it’s useless… Peng You, tell me, which one is his Main Body!”

At this moment, Chu Hongxuan and the others were brimming with confidence and high spirits.

However, just a few moments later, their relaxed expressions vanished, replaced by grim faces.

Staring at the eerie and ominous Theater Stage not far away, even after asking multiple times, Chu Hongxuan couldn’t help but turn to his subordinate and ask again, “Are you sure that’s Mu Lin?”

“Yes, the martial actor in red is him. But… I can only track his aura. I can’t determine whether that person is a Paper Figure or his Main Body.”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

After a long while, an exhausted and furious exclamation broke the silence.

“Damn!”

“What a troublesome guy. I never expected his Paper Figures could not only disguise themselves as humans but also as Anomaly Evil.”

“Why aren’t those Evil Spirits attacking him?”

After chasing for so long without finding Mu Lin’s Main Body, Chu Hongxuan and the others were both frustrated and bewildered.

They couldn’t understand how Mu Lin managed to disguise his Paper Figures as Evil Spirits or how he made them coexist peacefully with the Anomalies.

To this, Mu Lin would only say it was instinctive.

Paper figures are not human to begin with, so having them disguise themselves as living people is actually more difficult than pretending to be evil aberrations.

After all, lacking the aura of the living, they are inherently a type of yin ghost or evil spirit.

As for the issue of lacking the aura of the living… aside from that, Mu Lin could also draw upon the anomalous power from the Land of Sky Burial to descend into this realm.

At this moment, Mu Lin was using the anomalous power of Sky Burial City to mask the aura of the living.

Well… the fact that the paper figures could wander near the theater stage was also related to Mu Lin’s exceptional Painting skill.

As a Grandmaster-level skill, Mu Lin could not only paint skin and bones but also capture the essence and spirit.

At the same time, human painters never limit themselves to painting only human figures; landscapes, depictions of deities, and scenes of malevolent ghosts devouring people—Mu Lin could paint them all.

With his Grandmaster-level Painting, Mu Lin had imitated the essence of malevolent ghosts and evil spirits to the bone—he had passed through this place before and witnessed the spirits here.

This extraordinary imitation made Mu Lin’s paper figure martial performers resemble evil spirits more than the other martial performers on the stage, and thus, they could naturally blend in perfectly.

At this point, Mu Lin’s response was quite clear.

Realizing that the disciples of Jade Lake Dao Academy were going all out to deal with him, and that the paper figures he had sent out were being quickly eliminated by them, if Mu Lin were still under the influence of the Vow-Power Heart Lamp, he would undoubtedly rely on his pride to charge out and confront them head-on, engaging in a direct battle.

‘Even if you outnumber me, so what? I, Mu Lin, fear nothing.’

However, Hua Meng’s sword strike had already snapped Mu Lin out of it.

Realizing that something was wrong with him, he shifted his mindset.

  ”The disciples of Jade Lake Dao Academy are no weaklings. The top-ranked ones like Chu Hongxuan and Yan Zhanpeng each have their own ultimate moves and trump cards. If I charge out recklessly, the chances of my defeat are high.”

“In that case, I’ll engage them in guerrilla tactics… no, I don’t even need to go out. With Nailing Seven Po, as long as I drag this out, victory will be mine.”

Once he confirmed this, Mu Lin hid even deeper. At the same time, to confuse the enemy, he folded the paper figures into the forms of evil spirits and, using his Painting Brush and Ink along with the anomalous power of Sky Burial City, transformed all the paper figures into paper figure evil spirits.

From the looks of it now, the effect was excellent.

…

Blind and helpless—that was how Chu Hongxuan and the others felt. Gathered together, they weren’t afraid of the anomalous theater building before them.

In fact, Yan Zhanpeng was confident that he alone could dismantle this theater building.

What troubled them was that they couldn’t locate Mu Lin’s Main Body.

If they couldn’t find it, they couldn’t deal with him.

And since Mu Lin’s paper figures were here, what about the other places occupied by demonic monsters? Could there be more there? They couldn’t possibly fight their way through every single one, could they?

Just as they were unsure what to do, Hua Meng, who had been cursed first, actually attempted to answer the previous question.

“Hehe, I think it’s normal for evil aberrations not to attack them. After all, those paper figures aren’t living people—they’re just sheets of paper. Even evil spirits wouldn’t attack houses, rocks, or soil for no reason.”

It must be said that Hua Meng was indeed knowledgeable. She answered the previous question, but this offered no help in figuring out how to deal with Mu Lin.

At the same time, her nonchalant demeanor also annoyed the others. Chu Hongxuan and his companions hadn’t forgotten that their confrontation with Mu Lin was largely provoked by Hua Meng.

“You seem quite at ease.”

This was sarcasm, but upon hearing it, Hua Meng not only didn’t get angry but instead replied cheerfully, “Why shouldn’t I be at ease? I think my expression is much better than your orphan-like dead face.”

“You!”

“What about me? Want to fight? Come on, hehe…”

“Everyone, shut up! Now is not the time for infighting. We need to think about how to deal with Mu Lin!”

The one speaking now was Yan Zhanpeng. After his words, he also ordered his subordinates to cast a Calming Charm.

“Hum…”

As the Calming Charm was released, Yuan Ce, Chu Hongxuan, and the others’ emotions stabilized somewhat.

However, this did not make them happy; instead, their expressions grew even more grim.

They had already sensed something unusual.

“That curse isn’t just a mark or something that injures our hearts. It also inflicts pain and torment, making us restless.”

“And our alertness.”

The last remark came from Yuan Ce, who said with a grave expression:

“In the past, before encountering Evil Spirits, I would always have a Sudden Premonition and would never be ambushed by them. But now, I’ve encountered Evil Spirits several times and fought them multiple times, yet not once has a Sudden Premonition been triggered.”

These words made the others’ faces darken even further.

“We must deal with Mu Lin, otherwise, we’re in big trouble.”

“Indeed, the first curse sealed our alertness. What about the second one? Could it bring us even greater trouble?”

They were troubled, and if Mu Lin had been nearby, he would have sighed in admiration: Aristocratic Families are indeed Aristocratic Families, completely different from Demonic Cultivators.

He hadn’t forgotten that when he used the Nailing Seven Po curse on a Demonic Cultivator, just one Coffin Nail caused the soul spirits the cultivator had devoured to riot, nearly driving him into Qi Deviation.

And the second Coffin Nail even caused his body to begin rotting and decaying.

In comparison, the disciples of the Aristocratic Families merely felt somewhat inconvenienced.

This is the difference between righteous cultivation and unorthodox methods. The latter indeed allows for faster cultivation progress, but it also carries immense hidden dangers. With just a little targeting, problems can easily arise.

Righteous orthodox sects, on the other hand, advance step by step, with terrifying stability.

Of course, although they were temporarily unharmed, they couldn’t find a way to deal with Mu Lin either.

“Mu Lin’s Curse Art is indeed a major problem, and we truly don’t have much time. But how do we deal with it? Attack that martial performer?”

This suggestion left them silent. They all knew that attacking the martial performer was merely a temporary solution, not addressing the root cause.

However, they soon discovered they didn’t need to agonize over it themselves.

While they hesitated, the martial performer had already launched an attack.

What horrified them even more was that the martial performer’s attack not only carried the power of the Paper Figure Technique but was also infused with the anomalous force of the Theater Stage.

“Yi~ ya!”

(End of Chapter)