Chapter 18: The Last Counterattack!

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Boom!

Simultaneously, within Daqing Mountain, the booming noise continuously erupted as Ghost Doll tensed its muscles, furiously bombarding the cave entrance wrapped in azure light over and over again!

One punch after another, as if to shatter the entire mountain.

Chen Qing, covering his ears, said to Ghost Doll, "Be careful not to hurt yourself..."

Ghost Doll's face flushed at the caring words, and it chuckled, "Don't worry, Daddy. Nezha knows restraint and won't hurt himself."

"Good...", Chen Qing smiled and then turned to look at the cave entrance, "That black-clothed sorcerer has suffered severe injuries. He won't be able to maintain the Reversal Sorcery seal on the cave entrance for long. There's no need to rush."

"Alright, Daddy..."

In the cave...

Master Huang carefully supported Mr. Miao, whose complexion was even worse than before, as pale as gold paper, giving off the impression that he could perish at any moment.

Outside, each hammering blow from the monster sounded like thunder, as if every strike was landing directly on Mr. Miao's chest, causing Master Huang to watch anxiously by the side.

Just as they were about to take action, Mr. Miao had used up all his tricks, taking both of them into Azure Dragon Cave. Using his technique to decode, he forcibly activated the Azure Dragon Seal to block the entrance, thus granting them a moment to catch their breath.

But it looked as if...

Master Huang glanced at Mr. Miao, whose complexion was getting increasingly worse, feeling like he might not last much longer.

"Hei Wu... is dead!"

Mr. Miao, clutching his chest, struggled not to let his life's breath dissipate and weakly gasped out the words.

"Hei Wu is dead? How could this happen?" Master Huang turned pale at the words. Hei Wu's techniques were particularly effective against martial warriors like Ghost Doll and Weichi Peng. Therefore, as soon as Mr. Miao was injured, they had immediately sent a message to Jiangnan to have Hei Wu come over for support.

Yet he hadn't expected that Hei Wu would perish so quickly...

"Sigh..." Mr. Miao exhaled, "I've warned him time and again not to confront Weichi Peng unless absolutely necessary. He just wouldn't believe me. Sure, his technique suppresses warriors, but it also depends on who he's up against..."

"What should we do now?" At this moment, Master Huang was completely panicked.

Hei Wu... was almost their last resort.

If he could have arrived in time, with his techniques and Mr. Miao's help, if not capturing Ghost Doll, at least making a safe retreat wouldn't be a big problem, but now...

If only they hadn't let Mountain Ghost leave Lyuzhou to support Capital City...

"At this point... we have to take a gamble!" Mr. Miao pushed himself up with difficulty as Master Huang quickly offered support.

"Gamble with what now?" Master Huang sighed, "Or else, shall we just do as he says and hand over Mirror Master?"

"Shut your trap!" The Mirror Demon inside him immediately cursed out loud.

"It's no use..." Mr. Miao grimaced with a wry smile, "Do you really think your student is a good person? With such cold-hearted schemes, he mustn't have the disposition of a gentle person. The effects of Mirror Master are too unnatural; it's best the fewer people who know about it, the better. That's simple logic. Shouldn't he understand that?"

"This damned kid, King of Qin was right, human nature is fundamentally evil!" Master Huang was so angry that his beard bristled.

Mr. Miao shook his head amusedly at this remark. The old man still had such a self-centered nature. When he/we were skinning and dismantling the Human Race, did he/they not talk about his/their own nature then?

"At this rate, I'm not going to make it, but you still have a sliver of a chance..." Gasping heavily, Mr. Miao pointed to the nearly completed puppet on the ground.

"Wang Ye?" Master Huang was puzzled, "What use is he now?"

If they had finished him earlier, they could have taken advantage of the time to send Wang Ye into Capital City to help Ali with the final step, but now... They couldn't even get out of the cave, so what good would completing Wang Ye do?

"The core of Wang Ye hasn't been installed yet, has it?" Mr. Miao chuckled.

"You..." Master Huang turned his head sharply, looking at the grinning Mr. Miao, probably guessing what he was thinking.

"Just as you're thinking..." Mr. Miao pointed at his own head with a smile, "Merge my core with Wang Ye's and finish the final step!"

"This..." Master Huang immediately stood up, "No, no, no... Without the core, you'll be beyond saving."

"What are you pretending for, old man?" Mr. Miao glanced at him, "Don't you already know my chances of survival? Aren't you just waiting for me to die before taking this step?"

"Nonsense... I'm not!" Master Huang got up, his hands twisting unnaturally, clearly betraying his emotions.

"I know you've wanted to do this for a long time..." Mr. Miao shook his head with a smile, "Ever since my father passed the core to me, you've been coveting it, haven't you? You've been wanting to try this out, right?"

"Not at all!" Master Huang, as if caught with his pants down, screeched defensively, "If I had such thoughts, could you have lived until now?"

"You had the idea, but you've withheld..." Mr. Miao continued with a roll of his eyes, "After all, my father was your lifesaver. If you tampered with his son's brain core, that really would be heartless..."

"You..." At that, Master Huang's beard twitched in anger.

"Actions are judged by their consequences, not intentions..." Mr. Miao gazed sincerely at Master Huang, "You didn't go through with it back then, and you raised me diligently – you've been good to me..."

Master Huang: "..."

"Come on... don't hesitate." Mr. Miao closed his eyes, "If I die and the brain core goes out of control, the success rate will be even lower. We can't have any more mishaps at this critical moment. Merging my techniques with Wang Ye's inherent power of Dusk, we'll stand a fighting chance against that Ghost Doll!"

Master Huang remained silent, not moving.

"Stop dawdling..." Mr. Miao gasped for breath, "If you don't act now, I really won't last much longer. Don't feel guilty either; I have my conditions. You know where my descendants are, right? Once this is all over, transplant the crystal core merged from Wang Ye and me into my descendants. Heh, exchanging the power of Dusk for my life isn't too bad of a deal!"

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Hearing this, Master Huang, who had originally been silent, suddenly burst out laughing, "How beautifully you dream. Your old Miao family started as traveling merchants, and even after several generations, you can't change the sly merchant's true nature!"

Mr. Miao closed his eyes with a smile, no longer responding.

Ever since his grandfather's generation, this old fellow had clung to his family, accompanying his grandfather, his father, and then himself. If possible, he truly wished that this old fellow could continue living, continuing to accompany the new generation of the Miao family.

The King of Qin's idea was not wrong, monsters... and humans can coexist!

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"What's wrong?"

Outside the cave, Chen Qing, curious, looked at the Ghost Doll. Since a moment ago, the Ghost Doll seemed to have become inexplicably agitated, no longer as relaxed as before.

"Daddy!" the Ghost Doll said with a rare look of seriousness on his face, "Move back a bit, that old bastard inside doesn't know what he's doing, and it seems like something dangerous has appeared."

Something dangerous?

Chen Qing was startled. At this stage, what could be dangerous? The most dangerous thing in Azure Dragon Cave was you, Ghost Doll, wasn't it?

Mister Hua Pi doesn't have combat strength, and Mr. Miao is indeed pretty impressive, but he is also at the end of his strength; what else could be dangerous... Wait a second!

Chen Qing suddenly remembered something, and his expression changed!

It couldn't be... that, could it?

He recalled that in his previous life, there had been a very crazy magician enthusiast who, in pursuit of higher-level techniques, fused his core with the core of a sealed magician boss, and in the end, he actually succeeded.

At that time it sparked a popular fusion trend, causing the brain cores of high-level magicians to become extremely valuable. Even the magician players began to kill each other, the spectacle was extremely beautiful.

He remembers that they were discussing whether to bug-fix and seal off this feature...

Was it sealed off at the time?

If it wasn't sealed off, then...

Chen Qing frowned, "Nezha, break the seal as quickly as possible!"

"Okay, Daddy!" The Ghost Doll's face flashed with excitement, and his muscles suddenly swelled like a balloon. Just as he was about to make his move, a cry of an eagle came from the sky!

"Huh?" The Ghost Doll turned his head sharply, looking warily towards the sky: "It's that guy from the city!"

Chen Qing also looked up. The person who swooped down from the sky, if not Weichi Peng, who else could it be?

Why has he come?

Had that fake Academic Commissioner in Lyuzhou City been dealt with so easily? Was he that easy to take down?

"Ha, I've finally found you, you monster!"

Weichi Peng roared excitedly, drawing his large knife, ready to join the battle when Chen Qing hurriedly shouted, "Is the coming one General Weichi Peng? This humble official Chen Qing, has the honor of meeting General Weichi!"

These words made Weichi Peng, who was swooping down, halt his approach instantly, looking confusedly at the thin scholar, "You are Chen Qing?"

It seems Wei Gongcheng had told him about me.

Without hesitation, Chen Qing threw the token Wei Gongcheng had given him up to Weichi Peng.

Weichi Peng caught it with a frown and took a look before his expression grew serious, "This is Wang Ye's token, true enough, but how come you are with this monster?"

Being called a monster, the Ghost Doll's forehead veins jumped, barely holding back the urge to pull that winged fellow down and give him a beating.

Chen Qing's eyes shone, and he quickly stepped forward with a bow, "This is the Ghost Doll, whom my Chen Family's ancestor from five generations past had made acquaintance with. It is a spirit that has guarded my Chen Family for generations. Please rest assured, General; ever since the Ghost Doll has been with my Chen Family, it has never harmed a person!"

"What?" Weichi Peng was taken aback, looking incredulously between the Ghost Doll and Chen Qing, "Really? There's such a thing?"

Weichi Peng had seen monsters and humans mingling together before. After all, during the final period of the previous dynasty, there were indeed some cases of that. From what his father had said, the King of Qin, who nearly unified the land, held the idea of coexistence between humans and demons.

"Absolutely true!" Chen Qing immediately stepped forward, "In the past few hundred years, General, have you heard of any incidents of the Ghost Doll harming anyone?"

"This..." Weichi Peng was taken aback again. The Record of Unusual Tales documented the cruelty of the Ghost Doll, but indeed... there had been no reports of the Ghost Doll harming anyone for centuries.

If during all these centuries this thing had been with the Chen family, as the other party claimed... it kind of... makes sense, right?

"No, that's not right!" Weichi Peng reacted, "Last time in Lyuzhou City, weren't countless injured or killed because of it?"

"Bullshit!" The Ghost Doll immediately roared, "You damn bird-man falsely accuse Nezha! Those injuries and deaths were clearly your doing. Nezha was careful not to hurt bystanders on Daddy's orders, and then you suddenly swooped down from the sky..."

"Daddy?" Weichi Peng was taken aback, his face full of black lines. What kind of address was that? And what the hell was 'bird-man'?

"General!" Chen Qing stepped forward hastily, "Now is not the time for such talk. Lord Wang has been captured by Mister Hua Pi inside the cave, and his life is in peril. We've been blocked by this seal for some time, and if we keep delaying, I fear Lord Wang might be in more danger. Please, General, assist me!"

Upon hearing this, Weichi Peng's face went pale, feeling as though he was being played, but what the other man said seemed irrefutable...

"Fine, I shall trust you this time. Tell me, how can I assist you?"

Seeing his bluff succeed, Chen Qing was inwardly pleased, ready to say more, when suddenly a loud bang resounded. The seal at the mouth of the cave shattered all on its own!

The Ghost Doll quickly retreated to protect Chen Qing, and Weichi Peng swooped down even more vigilantly to watch the cave entrance.

After a long while, as the smoke dispersed and the three of them saw what was inside, they were all shocked!!