If nothing unexpected happened, all she had to do was hold on a bit longer, and Hua Jian would reach the battlefield.
.
Linglong’s thinking was correct—Hua Jian was indeed already close.
In fact, she could already hear the distant rumble of thunder from the battlefield—proof that Linglong was locked in a tough fight.
The reason was simple: she’d been hearing thunder for some time, and knowing Linglong’s fighting style, she’d never toy with her opponent for long.
If Linglong hadn’t settled it by now, it meant she’d encountered a formidable foe.
“There’s actually someone in Hei Long Gang who can trouble Linglong?” Hua Jian mused, confused. This was not what she’d expected.
Linglong fighting Hei Long Gang—a true dragon against a fake one—it should have been a massacre. Yet now, it looked more like a fish in a pond fighting back.
Had Linglong weakened? No, Hua Jian was confident in her strength.
Anyone who could lock Linglong in a protracted fight had to be extraordinary.
“Time to get ready for battle.” She pulled a heavy sniper from her Storage Pouch, loaded a Demonic Qi bullet, and sped toward the battlefield.
Soon, she saw a scene of utter chaos—Linglong dueling a Monster neither human nor dragon in a classic beauty-and-the-beast confrontation, and from the looks of it, Linglong seemed at a disadvantage.
She buried some Array of Bewilderment components in the ground, but didn’t immediately join the fight. Linglong looked like she could last a while longer, so Hua Jian decided to observe first.
As she set up and watched, Hua Jian gradually understood why Linglong was losing ground.
“Can’t inflict enough damage—she can only be slowly worn down by that guy?”
With this kind of opponent, Linglong was stymied. Without overwhelming firepower, unless she risked backlash using a stronger Spirit Technique, her only options were defeat or retreat.
Even using a stronger technique might not defeat the Monster; Linglong was already fighting all out, but every strike at the Monster’s body produced only shallow wounds.
She could harm its hide, but not much else.
Linglong’s Spiritual Power, once spent, was gone. The Monster’s support, on the other hand, was endless.
But now—the situation had changed!
Because Hua Jian had arrived!
“If it’s a numbers game, I can’t compare with her, but in terms of mechanics, mist is my specialty.” She lifted her Array Plate, and a fog descended over the forest.
The moment the Array of Bewilderment took effect, Hua Jian sensed the big Array’s pull—she saw that the Array formed by dozens of cultivators was devouring her own.
Her Array of Bewilderment stood no chance against the grand Array, but the intended illusionary effects were not fully resisted.
She saw with her own eyes that several cultivators in the Array became dazed for a moment before regaining clarity.
“There’s an enemy! Prepare for battle!” The Array cultivators realized something was wrong and shouted warnings.
“Haha, with our Array, no number of enemies can stop us.”
“That’s right—even that white-haired girl tried to break our Array, and got nowhere!”
Hei Long Gang’s cultivators were confident, and not without reason.
Earlier, Linglong had attacked them while circling the Monster, launching a prepared deadly strike at the Array. The fully-prepared blow barely caused a ripple.
Lightning was like a frail snake, swallowed by the Array and turned into black energy.
The Array cultivators only felt a brief numbness, like being shocked by a tiny current—unpleasant, but not dangerous.
“Our Array devours everything—even a Ling King can’t do anything to us!”
Hua Jian heard the self-assured boasts of Hei Long Gang’s cultivators, then tested the Array with Maple Explosion.
Fiery red leaves flew at the Array, but the instant they struck, the Array’s power shredded them.
“So it devours everything…” Hua Jian narrowed her eyes. This Array would be tricky.
Thinking back, Hua Jian noticed that while her mist was devoured, the cultivators weren’t fully immune to the effects.
They’d briefly fallen into a daze—so the Array didn’t make them completely immune, just diluted and spread the effects among all.
That made single-target damage ineffective, but Hua Jian had plenty of ways to deal with this gluttonous turtle shell.
If it liked to eat, she’d let it try her Demonic Qi!
Hua Jian parted her lips and blew gently toward the Array.
A wisp of fragrant air slipped into the mist, spreading toward the Array.
None of the cultivators noticed the contaminant mixed in. They kept operating the Array, drawing in Spiritual Power as usual.
The secret of the Array was that the cultivators’ bodies served as processing units, converting regular Spiritual Power into black energy.
Thus, once Demonic Qi was drawn in, it didn’t affect just one or two, but everyone in the Array.
At first, minor glitches appeared in the Array’s operation. Soon, small problems multiplied, becoming a crisis.
In less than a minute, things spun out of control—the Array entered collapse.
The cultivators were all stunned. What happened? Why did the Array fall apart?
Because of the collapse, all suffered internal injuries. Grimacing in pain, they started accusing one another—who made the mistake? Why did the Array fail!
From Hua Jian’s perspective, these cultivators were all talking to themselves, arguing with imagined companions. That was why the Array collapsed so quickly.
For a massive Array to work, all must act as one. If each follows their own ideas, the formation falls apart.
After inhaling Demonic Qi, the cultivators entered a state of illusion. Everything they saw, heard, or felt was fake—they tried to reform the Array with illusory teammates.
Each had their own illusion, none alike. Cooperation broke down.
When problems arose, everyone “fixed” the Array according to their own illusions—adding fuel to the fire.
Thus, in less than a minute, the Array collapsed completely, severing the Monster’s support.
With the Array dealt with, next was the Monster itself.
Hua Jian took the sniper rifle from her back and aimed at the Monster’s back.
She trusted Linglong to create the perfect opening; until then, she’d simply line up her shot.
Mist swirled, the Array collapsed. For Linglong and Protector, the meaning was very different.
“Well done!” Linglong’s eyes brightened—waiting for Hua Jian had been the right move.
She didn’t know when it started, but Hua Jian had become an irreplaceable part of her life. Whether in battle or anything else, Linglong always factored in Hua Jian’s presence.
And Hua Jian had never let her down—always giving support even Linglong herself hadn’t expected.
Like now—silently destroying the Monster’s backup. Without the Array, even if Hua Jian did nothing else, Linglong was confident she could take down the Monster.
While Linglong felt relief, Protector was filled with disbelief and a faint fear.
The Array fell apart too quickly, too quietly—before he even realized, his trump card had vanished.
He didn’t even know why or how it had failed. All he knew was that a terrifying presence might be lurking in the mist, ready to strike at any moment.
When that moment came, perhaps he too would vanish as silently as the Array.
The unknown bred fear. Even if he still seemed to have the upper hand, retreat now seemed tempting.
But his job was to guard this place—if he abandoned his post and the Gang Leader found out, he’d die for sure!
Unlike other Hei Long Gang members, as a Protector, he was deeply bound to the gang.
If he betrayed them now, while the Gang Leader lived, he’d be hunted to the ends of the earth.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Protector could only grit his teeth and attack Linglong more ferociously—maybe he could defeat her and then drag out the hidden foe.
It was his only shot at survival!
Protector’s sudden onslaught forced Linglong to give ground. Sword clashed with claw, and she was steadily pushed back.
After so long fighting, Linglong was indeed growing tired, but that didn’t mean she’d fall easily.
Her skill and technique were superb, while Protector’s anxious fury left him riddled with flaws. She parried with ease.
And mentally, they couldn’t be more different—Linglong had help on the way, so she wasn’t worried.
Protector, on the other hand, had nowhere to retreat and grew frantic.
The more anxious he became, the more mistakes he made.
When Protector lunged too hard with a claw, Linglong backflipped away, leaving him off-balance.
Seizing the chance, Linglong kicked off the air mid-backflip and lunged at Protector, thrusting her sword at his chest.
Protector brought his left arm up to block, taking the counterattack head-on.
The Ling Sword pierced his scales, leaving a one-centimeter-deep wound.
Normally, after landing a blow, Linglong would withdraw and look for another chance.
But this time, she did something Protector hadn’t expected.
White lightning flared all over Linglong. The electricity poured along the Ling Sword into Protector, who was locked in a grapple with her.
Protector had no time to react—the lightning surged into his body, leaving him paralyzed.
Damn it—I can’t move! Protector struggled to budge, but his body wouldn’t obey.
This lightning wasn’t a killing technique—it was for control!
So—why use it now?
Of course—to buy time for the other person hidden in the mist!
Linglong hadn’t used this move before because it was pointless; she couldn’t attack while controlling him.
But now Hua Jian was here—the fight had become a two-on-one. Linglong could safely use a control technique to set up Hua Jian’s killing blow.
Hua Jian, it’s your turn! Linglong called in her heart.
At that moment, a beautiful rainbow-hued bullet tore through the mist, flying straight at Protector’s head.
Hua Jian didn’t miss. The moment she saw Linglong immobilize the Monster, she fired at its head.
Protector felt a sting at the back of his skull—his instincts screamed that he had to dodge or he’d die horribly.
But Linglong’s full power held him fast; he couldn’t move at all, forced to await the bullet in despair.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.
In a blink, the rainbow bullet struck his skull, shattering on his armored scales.
No pain? Swathed in colored mist, Protector was stunned, then overjoyed.
Hahaha—all that setup, and this was the best they could do?
“Die!” Seeing the white-haired maiden in front of him slumped with Spiritual Power exhaustion, Protector gleefully lunged at her.
Die, die, die! He didn’t notice that none of his attacks landed on anything solid.
It was as if… he was striking at an illusion.
.
“Mission accomplished.” Hua Jian shouldered her rifle and emerged from the mist, giving Linglong a “praise me” grin.
Not far away, the Monster was furiously attacking thin air, venting its strength.
That’s always how it was for those untested by Demonic Qi—they’d fall straight into hallucination, and without outside help, could stay trapped for days.
After all, this Monster was only a Spirit Master—if he’d had the strength and soul of a Ling King, Hua Jian’s control would have been much less reliable.
Like in the Illusory Dream Flower Secret Realm before—her Demonic Qi bullets would only induce sleep bubbles, and a Ling King could wake up with a touch.
“By the way, what exactly is that thing? It kinda looks like you—”
Before Hua Jian could finish, Linglong pulled a sour face, as if to say “Say another word and I’ll hit you.”
Okay, clearly Linglong didn’t like being compared to that Monster.
Hua Jian hastily raised her hands in surrender. “My bad! Spare me, Saintess!”
“You… That thing is Hei Long Gang’s Protector. Our suspicions were right. Hei Long Gang is indeed tied to the Magic Path—and they even got the Dragonification Secret Art from them.”