"You... who are you?"

The Array was broken. A black-clad figure halted the motion of trying to rescue the Array Flags, staring at Lu Zheng in shock.

Lu Zheng looked over and saw the man in a murky black robe, round face and small eyes, a ring of beard on his cheeks, and two hard, long horizontal mustaches above his lips, jutting out to both sides. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lu Zheng couldn't even be bothered to answer him. On the other side, Ao Kuo had already leapt forward, spear lancing straight at the man's throat.

The man's figure flickered and he instantly appeared at the main hall's doorway, turning to rush out of the hall.

Only, just as he reached the door, a thin layer of white cloud appeared before him, covering the entire front hall gate.

The black-clad man stretched out his hand and thrust it into the white cloud. The cloud looked thin and sparse, yet his hand couldn't probe in even an inch, and at the same time the White Cloud Qi wrapped around his hand, dense and continuous, like being pricked by needles.

The black-clad man was startled, hurriedly pulled his hand back, then turned to dodge Ao Kuo's thrust. With a grab, he drew a longsword, swept aside Ao Kuo's spear, and looked again at Lu Zheng. "You're a disciple of White Cloud Temple?"

Lu Zheng held Lin Wan's hand, eyes fixed on the black-clad man, and asked calmly, "And who are you?"

"Me?"

The black-clad man's eyes rolled. While exchanging blows with Ao Kuo, he said to Lu Zheng, "This official is the Water God of the Gui Ling River!"

"Courting death!"

Ao Kuo roared angrily at the words. His spear became as fierce as a rainstorm, whipping up a violent gale that made even the Water Mansion's hall, reinforced by the Array, sway.

Lu Zheng's eyebrow arched. "You actually have the mood to spout nonsense?"

At this moment the black-clad man and Ao Kuo were evenly matched in Dao Practice, but Ao Kuo's Dragon Power was vast, and he excelled in close combat, so he had the black-clad man suppressed.

Meanwhile, Lu Zheng had used Innate Cloud Qi to seal the hall's doors and windows, cutting off the black-clad man's escape route.

How did he dare?

Lu Zheng's eyes flickered. The next moment, the front hall gate was kicked open from outside, and another black-clad man with very similar features to the one inside strode in, turning back to strike at the White Cloud Qi covering the doorway.

There's another one! And brothers?

The black-clad man inside saw his brother arrive and immediately disengaged, then joined the other in attacking the White Cloud Qi. The two combined their strength and tore that layer of White Cloud Qi apart in an instant.

"The target's tough, and there's two of them!"

"Use Double Fish Swallow!"

As the words fell, the two black-clad men turned toward Lu Zheng and the others, opened their mouths wide, and sucked in fiercely.

The next instant, a terrifying suction force appeared along with a vortex of pull, enveloping Ao Kuo, Yue Honghai, and Lu Zheng with Lin Wan together.

"Hm!?"

Ao Kuo was taken aback and hurriedly forced his body under control, for he could feel that if he were dragged by that suction, his body would have his Protective True Qi worn away in transit, then be shredded to pieces at the vortex's end.

This Double Fish Swallow, combining both their powers, actually managed to put Ao Kuo at a disadvantage.

Even Ao Kuo's body was being tugged; needless to say, Yue Honghai was directly dragged in. Suspended in mid-air, his body began to shrink as he was pulled. Even as he swung his Serrated Saber and Nine-Section Steel Whip with all his might to resist, one glance back showed the sharp fangs in those two black-clad men's mouths, like towering mountains of grinding blades.

Yue Honghai turned pale with fright. "Young Master, save me!"

"Old Yue, you're supposed to be my bodyguard!"

Lu Zheng shook his head helplessly on the surface, but his hands were anything but slow. In an instant he pinched a Seal Technique.

Western Extreme Wind-Calling Curse—seal formed, wind rise!

A blast of Geng Metal Divine Wind swept across sideways, immediately breaking their Double Fish Swallow.

"What!?"

The two black-clad men stared at Lu Zheng in shock, never expecting that Lu Zheng would break the trump-card Spell they used together so easily?

With Double Fish Swallow shattered, Yue Honghai, who was halfway through the air, returned to his normal size and dropped to the ground, letting out a long breath of relief. Then he clacked Serrated Saber and Nine-Section Steel Whip together, eyes vicious as he glared at the two black-clad men, itching to rush up and hack off one head with a blade and smash one skull with a whip.

Lu Zheng looked at Ao Kuo. "Brother Ao, I'm going to make a move now?"

From the moment they encountered the enemy, since this place was the Water Mansion and Ao Kuo was the host, he had been the main force in battle. Aside from helping break the Array, Lu Zheng had merely stood to the side to support, only sealing the doors and windows to stop the enemy from escaping.

Of course, mostly because Lu Zheng could tell that the opponent was indeed a notch weaker than Ao Kuo.

But now…

There were actually two of them; in that case, Ao Kuo was clearly outmatched.

Ao Kuo scratched his head, feeling rather embarrassed.

He'd needed help breaking the Array, and now it turned out he also needed help repelling the enemy.

Luckily their relationship was good, otherwise Ao Kuo really would have been too embarrassed.

"Then I'll trouble Brother Lu!"

"You're welcome, it's only right."

Lu Zheng nodded with a smile, then turned to the two black-clad men, sending a voice transmission to Lin Wan at the same time. "Watch your husband show off."

Lin Wan nodded repeatedly, and then saw Lu Zheng stretch out a finger. From the gourd at his waist, a Banner flew out.

The White Cloud Banner hovered in front of Lu Zheng, and dense, continuous Innate Cloud Qi instantly surged forth, filling and permeating the entire front hall.

"This one's nasty!"

"Time to bail!"

With Lu Zheng's full-force move, he could no longer conceal his Cultivation and Dao Practice. The two black-clad men were shocked to discover that Lu Zheng's True Qi was so vast they couldn't even see how deep it ran.

This young man with the Scholar's appearance was actually a grand expert far beyond Ao Kuo!

What kind of joke was this? Had the Jade Dragon Race become this extravagant?

A Jade Dragon expert with a thousand years of Dao Practice assuming the post of Central Plains Water God actually had to bring along an even stronger grand expert as a bodyguard?

The two black-clad men turned deathly pale, then spun around together and retreated toward the front hall gate.

Only…

The wall of Innate Cloud Qi they had just managed to punch through together now felt like solid copper and iron. No matter how they combined their strength to attack, it didn't budge in the slightest.

The other party's Dao Practice was terrifyingly high!

The pupils of the two black-clad men shrank sharply. Working together, even a Dragon Race being with a thousand years of Dao Practice would not be their match, yet they couldn't break through this wall of Cloud Qi?

"Pisces Break!"

The two exchanged a glance, their Demon Power intertwining, and a ferocious fish head full of sharp fangs formed before them. The fish head opened its maw and bit down hard at the Cloud Qi ahead.

"Crack!"

Fangs shattered, teeth splintered.

And the Cloud Qi wall still didn't move at all.

"What?"

"Impossible!"

They said "impossible," but the hearts of the two black-clad men sank without end.

They were done for!

When the two turned back again, they found white Cloud Qi spreading all around, to the point that they couldn't even see five feet ahead.

The next instant, endless White Cloud Qi turned into dense layers of steel needles, grinding away at their Protective True Qi. No matter how they twisted and leapt, attacked or defended, they couldn't touch the edges of the hall, couldn't step beyond the range of this White Cloud Qi.

A short while later, Innate Cloud Qi poured into the bodies of the two black-clad men, sealing their Dantian Sea of Consciousness.

As the Cloud Qi slowly dissipated, Ao Kuo and Yue Honghai, standing by Lu Zheng's side, saw the two black-clad men slumped near the front hall gate.

Lu Zheng nodded. "Done."