Chapter 73: The Blackwater Monster Lake and the Rain Invocation Spell

With a thunderous explosion, the entire courtyard and its surrounding walls within several dozen yards were flattened by the blast wave. The earth shook violently, the roof was flung skyward, and thick black smoke billowed, visible for miles.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, for slaying a Commander-level corpse and a master of the Celestial Realm! You have entered the early peak stage of Spiritual Transformation. Current essence value is 655,360 points! Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing the Bronze Guard Lord's bounty task. Permanently gain five points each to hit rate, resilience, movement speed, critical strike, attack speed, evasion, damage immunity, and penetration. Under the effect of the Godslayer Pursuit Curse, host's lifespan has dropped to sixty-eight percent! Ding! Congratulations, host, for obtaining three skill points. You may select new skills or upgrade existing ones!]

A triple advancement!

Han Chong emerged from the ground, his lips twitching slightly, and walked to the ruins to search, but found nothing. The two women had vanished without a trace, their bodies obliterated.

Two sword-bearing maidens, who had been hiding in the corner of the courtyard, rushed over and knelt, crying bitterly.

Han Chong sighed, retrieved the jade coffin, and found several bundles of pungent buckwheat purchased by the veiled woman among the collapsed rooms.

He could not linger. Rising on his sword, he surveyed the city from above. Only the eastern gate was embroiled in fierce battle; the other three gates remained relatively quiet.

He flew toward the eastern gate, where the Judge and the man in black robes had gathered, besieged by the Bronze-armored General and four Decisive Captains, yet still resisting.

Corpses littered the ground—demon-slaying officers, Decisive officers, Bronze Guards, monsters, and demons. Hundreds of common Black Scarf soldiers and government troops lay dead or wounded.

As Han Chong descended from above, the crowd stirred—could it be?

“Haha, Officer Han, you’re here at just the right time. Is the masked woman dead?” the Bronze-armored General asked with a hearty laugh.

“She is,” Han Chong replied with a calm smile and nod.

Judge and the black-robed man exchanged horrified glances, the urge to escape already rising in their hearts. They both attempted to sink into the earth!

The Bronze-armored General and the four captains reacted instantly, hammering the ground with their attacks. Two muffled groans sounded from below, then silence.

“Damn it! These two fiendish ghosts both know earth-burrowing techniques!” the general cursed, helpless.

Han Chong had already leapt underground, sensing their auras—one chillingly ghostly, the other strangely demonic.

The Judge resided beneath the Cliff of Innocent Souls, easy enough to find. Han Chong pursued the demonic aura, fortunate that both had been shaken and injured by the earlier blast, their energies chaotic; otherwise, they would have left no trace.

Ahead, the black-robed man realized Han Chong’s burrowing speed far surpassed his own, the gap rapidly closing.

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Driven by desperation, he burst from the ground, transforming into a crystalline black lotus that soared into the sky, accelerating.

Han Chong followed closely. They had left the city—heading west, it seemed. Rising on his sword, he pursued.

Ahead, the black lotus trailed a streak of black light, rotating slowly yet swiftly, its pace nearly matching Han Chong’s sword-flight.

Han Chong had guessed: this black-robed man must be the one mentioned by Duan Wenxuan, whose soul had been grafted onto a lotus stalk. Could his true form be similar—a transformed black lotus?

They sped across dozens of miles. Suddenly, the black lotus halted in mid-air, veering to envelop Han Chong.

“Young man, you have guts, daring to chase me! Court your death!”

The black lotus spun, unleashing a rain of endless black sword energy, stabbing at Han Chong. Simultaneously, clusters of ink-like devil flames floated down, swarming him like ants.

Han Chong retreated swiftly, slashing back with sword energy, and spat out emerald spiritual flames to meet the attack.

Now, with his advanced realm and enhanced attributes, Han Chong’s strength had soared, allowing him to contend with the foe, albeit barely.

But to capture him would be nearly impossible. Han Chong focused his mind into the system, selecting the immobilization technique he had long coveted.

Immobilization: Fixes the body and soul of a target—even divine beasts or objects—rendering them immobile.

This black-robed man’s realm surpassed Han Chong’s by two major stages; the effect of the technique was uncertain.

The crystalline black lotus saw Han Chong only able to defend, unable to counterattack, and prepared to finish him off. But Han Chong extended his arm, his fingertip gleaming with pure white light, pointing at the lotus.

It was just a finger, with no visible sword energy or force, yet the lotus felt a sudden pressure, as if an invisible force pressed from all directions. His magic slowed, his form faltered.

The rotating black lotus abruptly froze, its sword energy and dark flames scattering like headless flies. Han Chong’s crisis vanished!

He rejoiced inwardly, but saw the lotus recover within a breath.

His finger, however, remained extended, the immobilization technique ongoing. Every two breaths, the black lotus stalled again, struck repeatedly by Han Chong’s sword energy, trembling with each blow, the emerald flames swirling in.

The black-robed man was horrified. How had this youth mastered the legendary immobilization spell? Were it not for his superior realm, he’d be at Han Chong’s mercy.

The black lotus, consumed with thoughts of escape, turned west and fled.

Han Chong cast immobilization with his left hand, slashed with sword energy in his right, flying on his sword, almost toying with his foe.

The black-robed man, exasperated, dropped to the ground and burrowed in again, but Han Chong’s speed underground was even faster, wielding the true form of the Qingming Sword for greater damage.

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Truly, there was no escape above or below. The black-robed man endured a barrage of attacks, frustrated beyond measure, until he finally reached a vast black-water lake. His burrowing speed surged, and in a blink, he vanished without a trace.

This villain was indeed a transformed black lotus; only such a being could gain speed in water!

Whether the lake was a chance occurrence or his lair, Han Chong could not tell. His vision blurred, making pursuit difficult, and other urgent matters pressed.

Outside Yunzhou City waited tens of thousands of Black Scarf soldiers. If the government troops rained arrows upon them, the consequences would be dire. Helpless, Han Chong left the black lake and returned on his sword.

Back outside Yunzhou City, he saw that at each of the four gates, the disorganized Black Scarf troops—lacking leadership—were scattered like ants from a broken nest.

Landing at the southern gate, he found the Bronze-armored General and others at the gate, frowning as they looked down at the chaotic masses. Thousands of government soldiers stood ready with bows drawn, waiting for the order to unleash carnage.

Seeing Han Chong return, the generals expressed their delight and admiration.

“Haha, Officer Han, your safe return puts my mind at ease. Were you able to catch that villainous demon?”

“The black-robed demon fled into a black-water lake to the west; pursuit proved impossible. Is the city secure?” Han Chong replied, bowing.

“This time, we have achieved a resounding victory. Though we lost over twenty demon-slaying officers and a thousand soldiers, we preserved the city—a remarkable triumph against the odds.

But what to do with the tens of thousands of bewildered Black Scarf troops outside the gates? That’s the real headache.”

“Yes, these Black Scarf troops are inexplicably dazed, yet ferocious and violent, bordering on madness. But they were originally poor peasants—what drove them to this?”

The dark-faced captain nodded in agreement.

“Generals, these Black Scarf troops have been drugged with a soul-befuddling potion. I have procured some pungent buckwheat, enough to brew a remedy and cure them,” Han Chong said thoughtfully.

“Oh? Officer Han, your foresight is impressive. But these maddened troops won’t willingly drink the antidote. What should we do?”

“That is indeed the problem,” Han Chong mused, searching the system for answers. After a moment, he found a Rain Prayer technique.

Rain Prayer: A spell to summon rain over a designated area.

Confirming his selection, Han Chong instinctively extended his hands, shrouded in faint gray light, toward the city below.

The soldiers and generals watched as he cast the spell, and clouds gathered out of nowhere above the city gate, covering several acres. Soon, a gentle drizzle began to fall from them.

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