The Pottery Woman struck the ground with her palm, and the soil rapidly turned to ceramic. Arm-thick pottery spikes erupted from the earth.
She was one of the Three Earth Immortals, the “Pottery Immortal,” a trusted confidant of Ximen Aotian with considerable strength.
Countless pottery spikes thrust toward Yue Shi from below, but he dodged them with fluid agility.
The Paper Bride drew another stack of red paper-dolls from her sleeve and tossed them out. As they hit the ground, each transformed into a duplicate of the Paper Bride.
They wore identical wedding dresses and the same phoenix crowns and ceremonial robes. A crowd of Paper Brides surrounded Yue Shi and simultaneously lifted their veils.
Beneath the veils were faces of peerless beauty, their loveliness shining through even the heavy layers of rouge on their cheeks.
The multitude of Paper Brides opened their mouths in unison, chanting a festive yet sinister ghost marriage ballad.
“One comb for gold, two for silver, three for white bones to turn lips red.”
“A red bridal veil, four corners square; it covers not the bride, but the groom.”
“Talismans as betrothal, curses as makeup; bowing not to heaven and earth, but to the dark void.”
“The groom enters the coffin, the bride’s heart breaks; never to see the three lights for ten thousand generations.”
Surrounded by the Paper Brides, Yue Shi’s original black clothes actually began to turn red bit by bit!
“Damn it!”
Yue Shi dodged a pottery spike from below. At this moment, he felt as if he were being forcibly turned into a groom.
This was the curse of the “Paper Immortal,” another member of the Three Earth Immortals.
Yue Shi had no desire to get married for no reason, not even a fake one!
He blew apart his outer garment that had already turned red and flicked a red thread from his fingertips.
The red thread of sinful connections tangled all the Paper Brides together, stitching their mouths shut.
Then, Yue Shi vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, he was standing behind the Paper Immortal, driving a spatial slash toward the back of her neck.
Pfft!
The Paper Immortal was torn apart, her body shattering into countless tiny scraps of paper. The scraps drifted through the air before converging again, reassembling her body a few steps away.
She seemed completely unharmed, though a single shredded paper-doll fell from her sleeve.
Yue Shi frowned. “Damage transfer?”
If she had paper-dolls to die in her place, this was going to be troublesome.
Who knew how many paper-dolls she had!
The Pottery Immortal gave Yue Shi no chance to continue his attack on the Paper Immortal. She summoned a massive pottery hand that pressed down from the sky.
The hand grew larger and larger. Yue Shi looked up and saw a Five-Finger Mountain falling toward him.
The Five-Finger Mountain seemed to possess a locking property; no matter how Yue Shi moved, it remained directly above him as it fell.
Countless mirrors emerged in mid-air, forming a hemispherical dome. The Five-Finger Mountain smashed against the mirrors, while numerous spatial slashes flew out from the gaps in the mirrored dome.
The pottery Five-Finger Mountain was sliced to pieces. The fragments fell from the sky and crashed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
The Pottery Immortal let out a muffled groan and retreated two steps. Her right hand shattered with a series of cracks, and a pitch-black, foul-smelling liquid seeped from the fissures, rapidly repairing the damage.
She had underestimated this killer.
The Paper Immortal felt the same. When she heard news at the Ximen residence that the Third Young Master had been murdered, she assumed the killer had simply relied on a lucky sneak attack.
She thought victory would be guaranteed once the Three Immortals moved out.
Now, both the Pottery Immortal and the Paper Immortal realized something was wrong. This killer was truly powerful—he had likely killed the Third Young Master in a direct confrontation.
The key question was: how could there be such a powerful person whom they didn't recognize?
The great elite families had maintained control for many years; experts were supposed to only be born within their ranks!
Even if a super-genius with peerless talent was born among the commoners, they would be suppressed by the great families and never given a chance to grow.
Unless this killer was an outsider!
Yue Shi approached the Pottery Immortal and the Paper Immortal step by step, radiating killing intent.
The Pottery Immortal pressed her palms together, and a ball of dark red light emerged between them.
The orb of light expanded rapidly in the air, transforming into a massive pottery pillar covered in dense runes. With a push of her hands, the pillar hurtled toward Yue Shi.
“A pointless move.” Yue Shi stepped aside to dodge, and the pottery pillar plowed a deep trench into the ground behind him.
In the next instant, the space beneath the Pottery Immortal’s feet began to distort. One of her feet sank directly into a spatial rift.
Alarmed, she immediately abandoned the foot. Black liquid flowed from the stump, constantly repairing the severed limb.
The Paper Immortal pulled a golden paper-doll from her sleeve. As the golden paper-doll hit the ground, it transformed into a giant over ten meters tall.
But before the golden giant could even move, Yue Shi was already standing on its shoulder, tearing a rift into the top of the giant's head.
The rift extended from the crown down to the neck. The paper giant’s head split in two, and golden paper scraps scattered in the wind.
The giant did not fall. It reached out with both hands and slapped its own shoulder, intending to crush Yue Shi along with itself.
Yue Shi vanished from its shoulder just in time. The giant’s hands slammed into its own shoulder, collapsing itself with a loud crack.
The Paper Immortal gritted her teeth as she watched Yue Shi’s flowing hair. If she could just get a single strand of his hair, she could use a paper-doll to cast a Yasheng curse!
The two sides exchanged several more blows.
Yue Shi grew increasingly irritable. It had been a long time since he had encountered opponents who could last this long against him.
The abilities of these two women were quite bizarre. Once the Pottery Woman was shattered, she could draw material from the earth to reassemble herself.
The Paper Bride could use paper-doll substitutes to tank damage, giving her more than one life.
Fighting opponents with such high recovery capabilities was incredibly annoying and a massive waste of time.
Wait... wasting time!
A realization struck Yue Shi. At some point, these two women had switched from offense to defense, using every means possible to keep him here.
When he teleported, they pursued. When he attacked, they blocked. When he tried to end it quickly, they entangled him to prevent his escape.
Were they... stalling for time?
Clink, clink, clink.
The chiseling sound was still faintly ringing. During the heat of the battle, Yue Shi hadn't paid it much mind, but now...
‘This is bad. I’ve been caught!’
Yue Shi’s expression suddenly turned extremely grim.
The corners of the Pottery Immortal and the Paper Immortal’s mouths curled up simultaneously. They were highly experienced in combat, not the kind of hotheaded amateurs who only relied on brute force.
Before coming to capture this killer, they had already devised multiple combat strategies.
Capturing the killer through direct violence would have been the best-case scenario. But if their strength wasn't enough, they naturally had other backup plans.
Yue Shi didn't even know what kind of trap he had fallen into, so he planned to leave first.
But very abruptly, his body stopped obeying him. His consciousness began to scatter and was even fading away!
Clink, clink, clink.
In the distance, a man was squatting before a tombstone, using a chisel to carve words into it.
He was the final member of the Three Earth Immortals, the “Tablet Immortal.”
As long as he finished carving the target’s name on the tombstone, the target would enter a state of death.
The Paper Immortal and the Pottery Immortal had been stalling specifically to create this opportunity for the Tablet Immortal.
The Tablet Immortal’s casting time was long, but now, he had completed the killing blow.
The Three Immortals gathered and stood before Yue Shi.
“You truly don't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth.”
“To provoke the Ximen family... aren't you just asking for death?”
“Alright, enough talk. Let’s take him back as quickly as possible. I have no desire to get involved in the struggles between those young masters and ladies.”
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