Chapter 1126: Shadow Puppets

Bai Hu felt the smoke wasn't right. In this critical moment, his fading sanity started to recover a little.

He felt that the "Can Yu Zhe" who could release such dense white smoke must have had their sanity at a very low level, almost the same as his own.

His full-force "Jing Feng" unexpectedly failed to disperse all the smoke.

So, he steadied his mind, then swung both hands together, sending out a "Jing Feng" even stronger than before. But in the next second, a massive stone wall appeared in front of him within half a second, blocking most of the wind force.

Lao Sun stood not far away with bloodshot eyes, his gaze slightly vacant. Although he couldn't remember any "Hui Xiang" in "Ji Dao" called "Cong Yan," judging from where the smoke was emanating, it was almost certainly from the sabotage team Yan Zhi Chun had sent out earlier.

The other "Ji Dao" members paused for a moment upon seeing this, then continued releasing their "Hui Xiang" to disrupt Bai Hu's movements.

Since "Zhong Yan Zhi Di" made it difficult for communication devices like walkie-talkies to exist, everyone felt as if they were in a chaotic ancient battlefield. Without messengers to relay information, they had to rely on guesses for many sudden developments.

After all, Zhou Mo was only one person, and her "Chuan Yin" was mostly one-on-one, making it hard to quickly convey situations across the entire battlefield. So, to survive, they had to think more than usual.

They could only gamble that this massive white smoke was a diversion before destroying the giant clock, meaning the sabotage team had already reached the clock's vicinity and just needed one final strike.

Bai Hu grew anxious at the sight, pointing a finger at the center of the massive stone wall. The wall trembled slightly and then exploded into countless fragments, which scattered everywhere and exploded again.

The plaza was instantly filled with screams of agony. The massive scattered explosions not only injured the "Ji Dao" members but also left many rushing "Zhi Yuan Zhe" with torn skin and flesh.

The huge explosive blast acted like a mixer, sweeping the original dense fog from the plaza's center to the entire area.

A moment later, the original white mist merged with the black smoke from Bai Hu's explosions, enveloping everyone in a haze. Coughs, panicked cries, and moans of the wounded filled the air nonstop.

The many "Zhi Yuan Zhe" realized that this white smoke could serve as the best cover. They didn't have fixed teammates anyway, so in theory, they could attack anyone they saw in the thick smoke. Amid the total visibility loss, people dragged their injured bodies and fought each other once more.

Right after the massive stone wall exploded, Bai Hu was about to unleash another "Jing Feng" when he heard whistling sounds from all directions. Countless stones flew toward him, forcing him to use "Bao Ran" to block them temporarily. But each "Bao Ran" only produced more black smoke.

After clearing a large batch of flying stones, Bai Hu saw several shadows suddenly flash in the smoke. He was puzzled—these "Can Yu Zhe" had always attacked him from a distance with their "Hui Xiang," so why were they now closing in under the cover of the massive smoke?

He stared intently at the shadows in the smoke and suddenly saw a "Can Yu Zhe" with a strange figure leap out and charge at him.

The person's attacks were clearly uncoordinated, even stumbling as they moved, but Bai Hu still struck first, piercing the opponent's chest with his hand.

With his hand through the body, Bai Hu lifted his aged, murky eyes for a look and realized that the "Can Yu Zhe" in front of him had a chunk of their head blown off—they were probably already dead.

Bai Hu furrowed his brow slightly, pondering the situation, when he saw more and more shadows gathering.

"Lao Deng..."

Standing at a distance, Lao Sun called out in a daze,

"You should've used your 'Kui Lei' earlier... So many people had to die before you started..."

Lao Deng, who was short and stout, turned back and glared at Lao Sun,

"What's wrong with you? How could I use 'Kui Lei' without any dead bodies?"

"Oh... you're right..."

Lao Deng extended both hands, constantly moving his fingers in the air. His fingers looked extraordinarily flexible, as if they were independent, with each one suspended and able to move on its own.

Whenever a body fell, Lao Deng would raise a single finger, then "awaken" the corpse again. Astonishingly, he could control ten corpses at once, making them charge at Bai Hu one after another.

With the corpses only showing as shadows in the smoke, this sight made Lao Deng laugh repeatedly.

"Lao Sun... see that? It's even more like shadow play now. I'm controlling them better than before."

"Shadow play..."

Lao Sun stared at the shadows in the smoke for a moment,

"You're talking nonsense... In shadow play, the little figures fighting... they're all wearing armor..."

As soon as the words were spoken, the various corpses in the shadows suddenly became more defined, as if strange armor had formed on them, making their shadows look imposing and majestic.

And in that moment, Lao Sun's eyes became even more vacant.

"Good, that's good—puppets in armor!" Lao Deng said with a laugh, "I heard 'Tian Ji' also has 'Kui Lei'... I wonder how many bodies the 'Tian Ji' person who's good at 'Kui Lei' can control at once... Maybe a hundred?"

After hearing this, Lao Sun shook his head and chuckled dully,

"Maybe 'Tian Ji' can only control one body. After all, they're not as skilled as you at playing with shadow puppets—those abilities don't even come from them, so they're pretty weak."

"Don't spout nonsense." Lao Deng replied.

For a time, Bai Hu was surrounded by the numerous corpses. Although he wouldn't take any damage, strangely, he started losing his sense of direction in this close-quarters entanglement.

With identical fog all around, Bai Hu couldn't tell which way to unleash his "Jing Feng." Every time he was about to strike, a new corpse would lunge at him. Since they were too close for "Bao Ran," he could only swiftly break their limbs to immobilize them.

But these "Kui Lei" were not only fearless of pain but also covered in thick stone armor, forcing Bai Hu to use extra strength.

"What powerful 'Kui Lei'..." Bai Hu muttered, "To control so many at once..."

Soon, Bai Hu noticed that these "Kui Lei" were different from what he remembered. Even after breaking their limbs, they would still spring up from the ground as if pulled by invisible strings.

Bai Hu glanced at the sky, which was empty, so whatever was pulling these "Kui Lei" wasn't "lines"—it had to be "belief."

Now, even if he couldn't disperse the smoke immediately, it didn't matter. In this fog, everyone had lost their sense of direction, and they were all killing each other, which saved him the trouble.

But Bai Hu quickly realized something was off. Just about ten meters away from him, it seemed a group of people were arguing.

Those people were too close to him and the giant clock. Clearly, not only was there someone who could release "Cong Yan," but a group with different goals had gathered there.

"When did this happen...?"