Chapter 29: Host and Guest Exchange Positions

That shadow guard staggered a bit, then quickly disappeared from sight.

A Nuo chased him directly.

Lu Xingzhou turned over and sat back in his wheelchair, sighing: "All the Ho family's children have a shadow who grew up with them since childhood. At crucial times, they are actually body doubles who die in their place. Back in my childhood, someone from the Ho family also approached me, hoping I would become your shadow... How could I not know what you were thinking? But honestly, how could you possibly match me..."

Ho Yu gnashed his teeth.

Indeed, knowing yourself and knowing your enemy is the most important thing in the martial world. It's a pity that this lesson was too painful; the first time he learned it, he had to pay with his life.

Lu Xingzhou mocked himself: "Look at how loyal he is. Just like that, he ran away?"

Ho Yu looked in the direction where the shadow disappeared, seeming somewhat disheartened, and murmured in disbelief: "You... that child by your side, is actually a ghost child from Yan Luo Hall! Then you... you are..."

No wonder the high-ranking officials of Yan Luo Hall all have nicknames. Who would have thought...

No wonder this battle has such a strong Yan Luo Hall style... This is entirely a matter of the Yan Luo Hall people from beginning to end...

"Don't shout like that. A Nuo really hates that nickname. She'll be angry if she hears it." Lu Xingzhou smiled, his eyes narrowing as he bent down and reached out, searching Ho Yu's body for a while. He confiscated all the magic treasures that hadn't been used yet and then took off the ring on Ho Yu's body.

"Not bad. The medicine and spirit stones inside the ring are quite plentiful. It's just what I need."

A Nuo returned at this time and said in a low voice: "He got away."

Lu Xingzhou nodded: "Shadows have their own unique methods of concealing traces and hiding tracks. Once you lose sight of him, he immediately hides, and then you can't find him. Forget it, it's not important anyway."

He smiled slightly at Ho Yu and said: "Young Master Sixth, please be on your way."

"Bang!" A palm print landed on his head, and Ho Yu's eyes were wide open, his breathing instantly stopping.

"Let's go," Lu Xingzhou returned to his wheelchair and laughed easily: "Let's go to the City Lord's Mansion to see the excitement."

A Nuo smiled mischievously and pushed the wheelchair forward: "I didn't expect this Young Master Ho Sixth to be so weak... Among the people in the hall, Liu Qingcang is the most fierce, causing a bit of trouble."

"Ha... Liu Qingcang has also lived long enough. He causes endless trouble every day. He should rest and rest..."

Master and disciple laughed and left all the way.

Not long after, the shadow gasped and ran back to Ho Yu's side, bent down to check on him for a while, and exhaled. Suddenly, he lifted two fingers parallel and inserted them into Ho Yu's chest, digging out a pill from the chest bone.

The pill was like white jade, with a soft light flowing, and its spiritual energy was invigorating.

"Lu Xingzhou is just so-so, heh..." The shadow got the pill, gasped a few breaths, as if relieved of a heavy burden.

Just as he was about to leave, A Nuo's voice suddenly rang out behind him: "Little brother, what are you doing?"

"Whoosh," the pill, without anyone knowing when, had already been snatched into A Nuo's hand and then swiftly stuffed into her bosom.

The shadow was horrified and was about to snatch it back and run, when Lu Xingzhou leisurely entered from the side door: "Young Master Sixth, you've returned safely."

With a "whoosh," Lu Xingzhou waved casually, and a fierce light flashed. The shadow let out a miserable cry, and his two legs were broken.

The shadow painfully hugged his legs and curled up, his voice trembling: "You... you..."

Lu Xingzhou didn't even look at him, sliding the wheelchair everywhere and continuously inserting array flags in various places on the ground, seemingly setting up an array.

He casually replied: "I told you, shadows die in place at crucial times. Did you guess that I wouldn't suspect that Ho Yu was fake from beginning to end, and the shadow was the real Ho Yu?"

The shadow... no, Ho Yu hugged his legs tightly: "What basis do you have for guessing that? Was he not overbearing enough towards me?"

"Because Liu Qingcang didn't recognize Ho Yu at first, and Ho Yu had to explain nicely that he was still young and hadn't grown up... Why would he explain this to Liu Qingcang? It had a bit of a forceful self-introduction flavor. Shouldn't it have been 'You don't actually recognize this young master, give me a slap in the face'?"

Ho Yu: "...Just because of that?"

"There's more suspicion than that..." Lu Xingzhou finished setting up the array, returned to the corpse, and lifted it up, revealing a mask. Indeed, the corpse on the ground was wearing a human skin mask resembling Ho Yu.

Lu Xingzhou played with the mask, seeming to smile but not quite, and sighed: "Why bother, Young Master Sixth? With so many magic treasures on his body, aren't you much weaker? Oh, was it because you were originally much weaker than him, so it's better to put him on the surface?"

Ho Yu was so angry he twisted: "If you suspected me from the beginning, why didn't that ghost child continue chasing me just now? Weren't you afraid I would actually run away?"

"My bone nail is on your body. Where could you run?"

"...Then why go through this act?"

Lu Xingzhou's expression became a little distant. He raised his head and looked at the starry moon in the sky, and only after a long time did he say: "Since you recognize me, you should naturally know that I am very clear about the meaning of that pill furnace back then. It contains extremely dense creation qi, which can cure the flesh of dead people and restore broken bones. The spiritual energy that remains in the Ho family now is what remains from it... Using that pill furnace to refine restorative pills makes it truly possible to give a second life."

Ho Yu stared at him intently.

Lu Xingzhou continued: "Of course, relying solely on the pill furnace is not enough. The pill itself needs to be of sufficient grade. There are not many such pills. The direct descendants of the Ho family can share one each, which is about right. In an emergency, it can save a life... And this life-saving item will not be directly placed in a ring where it can be easily searched. I don't know where you would hide it. Therefore, I had to set up a trap to make you take it out yourself. Killing everyone might not have worked."

Ho Yu murmured to himself: "Originally... your goal from beginning to end was just this..."

"If the item was on your body, at the moment the bone nail burst, your body would have suffered heavy injuries, and you would necessarily take the pill to save your life. I would know then. If the item was on his body, you might not be willing to lose this treasure and would necessarily come back to get it. I would also know." Lu Xingzhou finished speaking calmly: "In this trap, whether you are Ho Yu or a shadow makes no difference. It doesn't matter if I guessed wrong. Do you have any other questions?"

As his words fell, blood light suddenly erupted from four places on Ho Yu's body. The nails casually placed on his body at this time surged and burst, like death by a thousand cuts.

Ho Yu let out a miserable cry and curled up into a ball again, sweat pouring down: "Ho Qing! What kind of hero is it to torture people? If you have the guts, give me a quick death!"

Lu Xingzhou said faintly: "You misunderstand... At least back then you were still young, and the attack on my house didn't involve you. There's no point in me torturing you. The reason I'm talking to you so much is nothing more than waiting for someone."

"Whoosh!" In the distance, thunder and lightning flashed. Ho Lei and Ho Ting, the brothers, finally broke free from the delay by Yan Luo Hall and rushed straight to this place.

A Grade Five assassin chased behind them, shouting somewhat awkwardly: "Judge... Sir, we did our best. These two are very strong. We couldn't trap them for too long. Be careful!"

Lu Xingzhou raised his head and smiled: "Enough, you've already exceeded expectations. I was just waiting for you for a while."

Ho Yu said fiercely: "You guys hurry up and leave. There's an array here, and there's still the ghost child..."

Before he could finish speaking, A Nuo sealed his mute point.

Actually, at this moment, the heavily injured Ho Yu's voice was too low, and Ho Lei and Ho Ting couldn't hear clearly. Seeing that Ho Yu seemed to have been captured, their hearts were anxious, and they rushed over at lightning speed.

As soon as they rushed into the courtyard, fires erupted from all sides, and ten thousand sword qi crisscrossed.

The two were suddenly unprepared. This was their own courtyard, how did it become the enemy's main battlefield?

They could only condense their Gang Qi and withstand the blows. Beside them, a round, plump child gripped a small fist like a cannonball and shot out, hitting Ho Lei's waist hard.

The Yan Luo Hall assassin followed like a shadow, and a long sword flew and stabbed Ho Ting in the back.

At the same time, several talismans floated up into the sky and burned in the air without fire.

"Boom long long!" Thunder as thick as a child's arm struck down directly.

Like a blooming flower rain filling the sky, sadness and beauty intertwined with endless death.

Lu Xingzhou leisurely unfolded a small banner.

The Ten Thousand Soul Banner was his, not A Nuo's.

Thousands upon thousands of dark ghost qi wrapped around them like ten thousand ghosts tearing at their hands and feet, refusing to let go.

His strength was still far from Grade Five. He could bully Ho Yu who didn't know the enemy and defeat a Grade Six like Ho Yu, but he had no output against these Grade Five strongmen. However, he could still interfere and restrict them. As long as he could restrict them for a moment, the outcome would be decided immediately.

"Bang!" A Nuo slapped away Ho Lei's sword with a palm, and her small fist hit the opponent's chest hard. It seemed like a soft fist touching him, and then his chest caved in, and his five organs were shattered.

The Yan Luo Hall assassin flashed past with a "whoosh," and a bloodstain appeared on Ho Ting's throat.

Ho Yu on the ground watched with wide eyes as his two strongest guards fell into a death trap. Although they fought for a few breaths, they didn't even cause a ripple and both fell.

In their own main battlefield, they were ambushed and killed by the enemy, dying so easily.

The Yan Luo Hall assassin bowed respectfully to Lu Xingzhou with joy: "I never thought I would have the chance to set up a trap under the command of Judge Lord and wipe out all enemies of the same level without much effort. I haven't experienced such exhilaration in a long time. I miss it very much."

Judge... Ho Yu didn't even have the strength to complain.

He thought he was dealing with a cripple, but his opponent was actually a veteran strategist of Yan Luo Hall, the builder of Yan Luo Hall's organizational structure, Yan King's left and right arm. Who was it who was the praying mantis trying to stop a chariot?

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand: "Be careful with your words, I am no longer a judge. Go now. It's not convenient for you to show up for the matters behind. Your task is complete. Remember not to tell the higher-ups you saw me when you go back."

"Understood. We don't need to report the employer's information either." The assassin bowed respectfully again and instantly disappeared.

A Nuo happily touched the corpses, searching for spoils of war. After finishing, her eyes gleamed as she stared at Ho Yu: "Master, the bait has been used up. Should I kill him now? He dared to scold me."

Lu Xingzhou shook his head: "Unseal his mute point, he's still useful."

Ho Yu, who had already been used as bait to cause the death of his own guards, heard that he was still wanted as bait and became even more uncontrollably angry: "Ho Qing! If you have the guts, just kill this young master directly. A hero doesn't even frown!"

Lu Xingzhou smiled brightly, his tone kind: "Young Master Sixth, how about I give you a chance to live?"

Ho Yu clearly knew that the possibility was almost zero, but his desire to live still made him ask: "How do you mean?"

Lu Xingzhou raised his head and looked at the City Lord's Mansion where demonic qi was surging into the sky, seemingly hearing the distant sounds of fighting: "Demon monsters are rampant, but they are our common great enemy. If you can command Xu Bingkun to control the demons he raised, this great merit can naturally be exchanged for your life. Even if I want to kill you, Sheng Yuan Yao and the others will stop me, right?"

Ho Yu was stunned for a moment. His heart flashed back to some of Xu Bingkun's attempts to cover up before... Was it true that Xu Bingkun raised the demon monsters?