Divine & Bizarre: Increasing Points to Invincibility-Chapter 23: Ghost Blinding Illusion Formation, Cannot Be Passive_1
The voice of Escort Master Lin startled all the escorts present, and they quickly turned their heads to look back.
Once they looked back...
Their reactions were much the same as Escort Master Lin’s.
"Hiss!" An escort broke out in cold sweat, "The road behind us, it’s... it’s really gone!!"
All they saw was...
The road they had come by had vanished without a trace.
In its place was... a dense thicket of brambles.
The thorny bramble blocked the way behind them.
Looking around...
There wasn’t the slightest sign of a path.
For a moment, everyone’s hair stood on end, as they realized... they had encountered something strange!!
A wave of inexplicable panic spread among the escorts.
Fortunately, they were a group of escorts with fairly strong mental fortitude, for if they were ordinary folk, they would probably have been scared witless, desperate to leave this cursed place.
After all, those who venture out as escorts must have much greater courage than others.
In this world of gods and mysteries...
How could the faint-hearted dare to be escorts?
"Sir, what should we do now?" Escort Master Lin quickly decided to seek the advice of a professional.
He thought that Little Banner Officer from the Qintian Department inside the carriage was the most expert person present!
What widened Escort Master Lin’s eyes even more was that the Little Banner Officer from the Qintian Department’s response was unexpectedly, "I don’t know."
"Ah?" Escort Master Lin gaped, "Sir, are you kidding at a time like this?"
"Indeed, I don’t know." The carriage’s curtain had been drawn back.
The Little Banner Officer inside the carriage glanced at some of the nearby scenery and then said, "Our current guess is that we have entered some kind of ghost-blocking illusionary formation. Generally, in this situation, trying to go back is not going to work."
"Ghost... ghost-blocking?" Escort Master Lin touched the hilt of the treasured saber slung at his waist as if this could make him slightly less anxious.
He quickly asked, "Then... Then what can we do to make it work?"
The Little Banner Officer from the Qintian Department stepped down from the carriage and said simply, "Just kill the one who set up the formation."
"Then... Sir, do you know where the person who set up the formation might be?" Escort Master Lin asked curiously.
"I don’t know," replied the Little Banner Officer from the Qintian Department quite candidly.
Escort Master Lin: "..."
He was beginning to regret taking on this escort task.
In the past, when escorting for the Qintian Department, things went smoothly and normally.
Why did it turn out like this on this trip?
The Little Banner Officer’s "I don’t know" to every question made Escort Master Lin feel even more unreliable!
"Let’s go check out that shop up ahead!" said the Little Banner Officer from the Qintian Department, "In such a place, to encounter a shop, and then such an incident. To understand what’s happening, the only option is to go over and take a look."
"Look, that fellow from Qiulong Temple is already heading towards that shop."
...
Fan Wu just knew that nothing good ever comes from getting involved with people from the Qintian Department.
Strictly speaking, he had no relation to this Little Banner Officer, not even friends.
But as fate would have it, they were heading in the same direction!
And now, trouble had indeed arisen.
The group of escorts still did not understand the situation, unaware of what was happening... Because their ordinary human eyes could not see much else.
But Fan Wu’s eyes were different from a normal person’s due to multiple enhancements!
In his eyes... the surroundings were already enshrouded in layers of yin energy.
The dense yin energy was like a blanket of white fog.
He could faintly see the vague shapes of ghost shadows.
There were only three possibilities in such a situation.
The first: they were simply unlucky, accidentally entering a place they shouldn’t have, a mere coincidence.
The second: they were suffering from the misfortune brought by the people behind them.
Third: His previous act of killing Xuan Shizi in Qiulong County might have been discovered by the followers of The Great Revered One, and the current situation he was encountering could very well be targeted at him.
No matter the reason, Fan Wu was not willing to find himself in a passive position.
So...
He led Old Blue Ox directly to the front, to the establishment bathed in the light of a fire.
"Inn."
Fan Wu looked up at a signboard above the building, which simply read "Inn", giving anyone who glanced its way an instinctive hunch—this was a shady place!
At this time.
The group of escort masters, led by Lin, also carefully followed suit.
This group of escort masters consisted of roughly a dozen men, each with muscles like coiled dragons, armed with weapons, capable of taking on several men at once.
But even the best of fighters would feel a chill in their hearts when faced with such eerie occurrences!
"Sir, are we really going to go in?" Lin, an old hand at this, was also very nervous. He had encountered ghosts and spirits before, but had never seen one capable of causing such a major disturbance!
"Hmm," the Little Banner Officer from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau nodded.
Then he turned his gaze to Fan Wu, curiously asking, "Fellow Daoist, have you noticed anything unusual about this place?"
The most unusual thing... is you, a person with a man’s body, speaking in a woman’s falsetto.
Fan Wu calmly said, "No."
Fan Wu couldn’t even be bothered to look back at this guy, as he couldn’t bear to directly look at... a man with a small mustache, with such a soft voice.
"Oh! Right!" The Little Banner Officer suddenly remembered something, continuing, "I haven’t yet let you know my name!"
I actually couldn’t care less.
"My surname is Xie, my given name is Jiu Yi."
This fellow seemed very familiar, "Originally, when the Imperial Astronomical Bureau took us in, there were more than a hundred of us beggars, and I just so happened to be the ninety-first. Thus, the Hundred-Household Master who taught me the ways of exorcising ghosts and demons gave me such a name."
"I don’t know if you, friend..."
"Fan Wu." Fan Wu casually replied and then pushed open the tightly closed doors of the inn, walking straight in.
The moment the inn’s doors opened, a more intense wave of Yin Energy assaulted their faces!
Feeling the extremely concentrated Yin Energy, Xie Jiu Yi’s smiling face slightly stiffened.
His expression turned somewhat serious and solemn.
He instructed the escort masters behind him, "You don’t need to enter, just gather around and protect that item."
"If something appears, take the black dog blood powder I gave you earlier, wet it with water, any water will do, and coat it on your weapons."
"Remember... at all costs, do not allow the cargo to be damaged!"
Xie Jiu Yi ominously said, "Otherwise, if it’s traced back, you’ll die."
"And I, too, will die."
Such a tone made Lin the Escort Master feel ill at ease, but at this point, what else could he do?
He had no choice but to go all out!
Lin the Escort Master gritted his teeth and declared, "Brothers, no matter what, we have to deliver this consignment for the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to Bai He County! If anyone dies in battle today, their family will receive triple the death benefit. Those who survive, your share of the payment for this escort assignment will also be tripled!!"
Lin the Escort Master still had a good grasp on the desires of those with him.
Undertaking a life-threatening journey day and night...
Wasn’t it all for a few pieces of silver?
Xie Jiu Yi stated, "If the cargo safely reaches Bai He County, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau will not shortchange you."
Having said that.
He formed a hand seal and the Yin Energy that was surging into the inn seemed to be blocked by a thin membrane, unable to erode his body.
Xie Jiu Yi also stepped inside.
The next instant...
Bang!!!
The inn doors that Fan Wu had pushed open...
Slammed shut!
...
...
