"Your intentions are no longer important. What matters is that countless demons and monsters are lurking outside, and they won't let a single living person leave this place. So, Commander Zuo, Minister Fu, and everyone else, this is not the time to concern yourselves with loyalty. This is a war between humans and demons. If you survive tonight, I believe you will understand what I mean."
"Impossible. I am an official appointed by the imperial court. Those demons and monsters always avoid me. To dare to besiege the imperial soldiers is to oppose the Great Jin Dynasty. No demon with any intelligence would do such a thing."
"Yes, no demon with any intelligence would do that. But these days, they don't seem to care much about your Great Jin Dynasty anymore."
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Chapter 364 Battle of Wits (Part 1)
Many folk tales include the claim that those in official positions are immune to magical harm. This is, of course, nonsense. Offensive magic doesn't discriminate; it will still inflict damage. The difficulty of being harmed by magic here refers to whether the caster dares to use it.
Every intelligent demon or cultivator knows one thing: the lives and fortunes of officials are linked to the fate of a dynasty. Killing an official harms the dynasty's fate and will inevitably result in a backlash from it. It's a matter of cause and effect.
Therefore, ordinary demons and monsters wouldn't easily attack high-ranking officials. Of course, those low-intelligence mountain spirits and wild monsters, ignorant of rules, would act without restraint. Special zombies like giant corpses, with little consciousness, naturally wouldn't care about these rules.
Before Zuo Qianhu could respond to Lu Xuan, a sudden change occurred.
First, the rain outside suddenly stopped. Accompanied by a flash of lightning, you could even see countless raindrops suspended in the air.
Lu Xuan flicked his right hand, and the Five Elements Mirror left his body. It emitted an earthy yellow light that enveloped the room where everyone was. The next second, countless water droplets in the sky suddenly turned pitch black.
Black raindrops fell onto the light shield of the Five Elements Mirror, emitting wisps of black smoke, like some kind of corrosive liquid. It seemed that the rainwater surrounding Zhengqi Manor had all turned into some kind of poison.
In the black, poisonous rain, a rustling sound drifted faintly. At first, it was very weak, like the indistinct whisper of an ordinary person, yet it also sounded like the grinding of the teeth of some wild beast.
Then the sound became clearer and clearer, even penetrating my ears and seeping into my bones.
Lu Xuan felt his entire body, flesh and bones, tremble slightly at the sound. An extremely awkward and uncomfortable feeling filled the depths of his flesh, making him want to tear open his skin to see what was happening underneath.
It was a combination of sound waves and mental attacks. This time, the opponents were clearly not the monsters with only innate supernatural abilities he had encountered before, but rather more than one genuine heretical cultivator. Strictly speaking, this was actually Lu Xuan's first time fighting against high-level heretical cultivators.
Clang... A rough, crisp metallic clang was heard. It was the sound of Lu Xuan taking out two longswords and using his spiritual power to clash them together.
Lu Xuan wasn't particularly skilled in music, but he didn't intend to compete with his opponent in sonic magic. He simply needed a brief period of neutralization.
As the longsword trembled, twelve silver nails appeared in front of Lu Xuan.
With a thought, the long nail pierced through the rain and shot into the darkness. A silver light flickered, but it didn't seem to hit anyone.
Lu Xuan's movements didn't stop for a moment, his hands forming a hand seal. The clouds in the sky surged. Dozens of bolts of lightning descended from the sky.
Azure lightning illuminated the surroundings. Lu Xuan vaguely saw four figures dressed in red robes surrounding the manor. The black rain blocked Lu Xuan's divine sense, so he could only use this method to ascertain the situation outside.
"You've got some skills! Little Taoist, I've heard you have a special technique called True Sun Fire. Show it to me, this old Taoist. Otherwise, with your amateurish thunder magic, you probably won't make it out of here."
In the rainy night, a sharp voice reached everyone's ears.
However, Lu Xuan did not respond. He was currently focused and serious, maintaining the hand seals in his hands. He had already handed over control of the Five Elements Mirror to the two female ghosts, instructing them to protect everyone in the room, while he himself devoted himself fully to this magical battle.
Through the rain, the black-robed Taoist who had spoken earlier took out a blue gourd.
"Black Fiend Gale!" he screamed. A black gale blew out from the gourd's mouth, carrying with it the surrounding black rain, and washed over the Five Elements Mirror's protective shield.
The two female ghosts, Xiaoqian and Xiaolan, let out a soft groan, clearly feeling somewhat powerless.
At that moment, a flash of blue lightning appeared in Lu Xuan's eyes. Lightning surged forth, but this time it didn't come from the sky, but rather burst forth from the ground.
When Lu Xuan first attacked, the twelve silver nails he shot out were a hidden attack. These silver nails were a type of magical artifact that Lu Xuan frequently used, possessing various forms of obstruction. Previously, when facing Granny Jue, he used earth runes to block her escape route.
This time, however, he threw out a combination of lightning runes. The lightning he had summoned earlier hadn't missed; instead, it had been stored in the lightning rune combination underground.
The instant his opponent attacked, Lu Xuan also suddenly struck. A violent vortex of lightning formed, instantly engulfing the Taoist who was wielding the black gale.
"A mere trick..." Before he could finish speaking, a flash of blue lightning appeared in the sky, and the endless lightning seemed to be attracted by something, being drawn into the lightning vortex on the ground.
Amidst the raging lightning, a black-gold light shone forth. It was the Taoist priest who had raised a tainted Buddhist alms bowl, barely managing to shield himself.
"Blackwater Immortal, Blood God Child, Demon General, save me!!"
However, no matter how much it cried for help, its three companions remained motionless, watching helplessly as it was swallowed by lightning.
This was a spell Lu Xuan had developed through his research on lightning magic. It was still immature and required prior setup of ground runes. However, once mastered, it was almost guaranteed to kill any enemy. Lu Xuan's only regret was the indifference of the other three, which prevented his charged attack from achieving greater results.
"Alright, Black Wind Ancestor is done. Blood God Child, is it your turn or mine?"
The speaker was likely Blackwater Master, responsible for the black rain that enveloped the entire manor. This black rain not only contained potent poison but also possessed a strong corrupting effect. It had a corrosive effect on spiritual energy and magical artifacts, making it an extremely disgusting auxiliary supernatural power.
"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Blackwater still needs to maintain the power of Ghost Rain, so I'll take over this battle." With that, he slammed his right hand heavily on his chest.
A loud, resounding heartbeat echoed. Lu Xuan felt his own heart skip a beat. As the heartbeat continued, he felt his heart being pulled into a strange rhythm. It could only be said that these evil cultivators' methods were increasingly bizarre. The heart, before achieving the Nascent Soul stage or cultivating some special supernatural power, was an absolute vital point.
"Fellow Daoist, how is my tribulation of shared hearts?"
Knowing he couldn't fall into his opponent's rhythm, Lu Xuan clenched his right fist and pounded his chest, using brute force to slow his heartbeat and forcefully break free from his opponent's rhythm.
The next second, a silver spear crackling with lightning pierced the darkness. Lu Xuan, wielding the Thunder Spear, charged directly out of the Five Elements Mirror's protective range and thrust it towards the Blood God Child in mid-air.
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Chapter 365 Die
In mid-air, Blood Master's entire body exploded, turning into countless streams of blood that covered Lu Xuan's body.