Chapter 196 - 195: A Horrible Death

Chapter 196: Chapter 195: A Horrible Death

The baby ghost spun in anxious circles outside, but its survival instinct made it vehemently resist re-entering that strange loop. All it could do was repeatedly cry out, "Mama."

The cries frayed Chen Ling’s nerves. As her anger boiled over, she actually abandoned her defense and started trading blows directly with Kong Xu.

It was highly effective, but came at a steep price.

Gu Qingyin watched, shaking her head. ’So impulsive. No wonder Chen Ling never made a name for herself after all these years. Lack of strength is one thing, but the bigger problem is her temperament.’

’She’s reckless. A seventy percent chance of success drops to just forty with her.’

Gu Qingyin glanced sympathetically at Dongfang Ran. ’Of all the people to pick, she just had to choose Chen Ling as an ally. What a disastrous move!’

Dongfang Ran dodged a surrounding attack. After landing, she caught sight of Chen Ling out of the corner of her eye, and her vision went dark with rage. She roared, "You idiot! Do you want to die here?! Activate the Array!"

Chen Ling calmed down slightly, but then she began to hesitate. ’Is this really the best time? Wouldn’t it be a waste?’

Dongfang Ran was furious. She swept aside the attacking paper-men with her sword, her roar already on the verge of cracking. "Activate the Array!"

A trace of sorrow flashed in Kong Xu’s eyes. He also urged her, "Activate the Array. Don’t worry about me."

Chen Ling really wanted to roll her eyes. If the timing weren’t so bad, she would have asked him how he could still be such a simp after everything he’d been through.

Chen Ling took out a Defense Talisman and slapped it on herself. Then, using the force from Kong Xu’s attack, she floated backward and grabbed the talisman rope.

Spiritual Power surged into it madly, and section by section, the rope began to glow with a golden-red light.

Chen Ling roared with laughter, her face a ferocious mask. "Time to die!"

Huo Yunjing’s eyes flickered. He had Kong Xu fall back into a defensive stance but didn’t have him leave the Array’s range. He mainly wanted to feel the Array’s power for himself.

Gu Qingyin was thinking the same thing. She even deliberately had her paper-men move closer to the talisman rope.

But three seconds passed, and nothing happened...

Chen Ling’s expression froze, the ferocious look on her face turning somewhat comical.

Dongfang Ran, who had halfway relaxed, tensed up again. "What are you doing?! Hurry up!"

Chen Ling gritted her teeth and replied, "This is... as fast as it gets."

The talisman rope was like a bottomless pit. It would consume a massive amount of power just to move an inch. Her Spiritual Power was almost completely drained, and she had barely managed to activate a third of it!

"Get over here and help!" Chen Ling was covered in sweat, her lips pale.

Dongfang Ran was also desperate and actually went over to grab the rope with Chen Ling, pouring in her Spiritual Power. But she regretted it almost immediately. She wanted to let go but found she was already "stuck" to the rope.

Gu Qingyin was so amazed by the sight that she jumped down from the tree.

Seeing this, the others also revealed themselves, staring with indescribable expressions at Chen Ling and Dongfang Ran, who were now "trapped" by their own Array.

"Honestly..." Gu Qingyin didn’t even know what to say. She shook her head and sighed. "No one would want an Array like this even if you paid them to take it. And you spent a fortune on it. I have to hand it to you."

Chen Ling’s face, pale from excessive Spiritual Power loss, instantly flushed red with anger.

Miao Yan chimed in with a taunt, "We don’t even need to do anything. You two can get yourselves killed just fine on your own."

Dongfang Ran was now completely ignoring Gu Qingyin and the others, staring at Chen Ling with eyes full of hatred. "I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!"

Being blamed again and again... Chen Ling finally snapped!

Even a clay figure has a bit of a temper, to say nothing of Chen Ling, whose temper was bad to begin with.

A look of grim determination flashed in her eyes, and she immediately used a Secret Technique to overdraft her potential.

Sensing the sudden eruption of Spiritual Power from Chen Ling, Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow slightly. "Was that really necessary? Overdrafting your potential... even if you survive, you’ll most likely be crippled. And... you’ll age much faster, you know."

Hearing this, Huo Yunjing chuckled. ’She’s so cute when she’s poking at people’s sore spots.’

As expected, Chen Ling exploded with rage. And in her agitation, the Array was finally activated.

Gu Qingyin: "Whoops!"

The moment the Array activated, the golden-red light flared. It didn’t just cover the few square meters enclosed by the talisman rope; it enveloped a hundred-meter radius.

Gu Qingyin instinctively grabbed Huo Yunjing’s hand, trying to pull him back, but she failed.

"Yun Jing?"

Amidst the sea of golden-red light, Gu Qingyin couldn’t see clearly and could only voice her confusion.

Huo Yunjing squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I’m fine. Don’t worry."

Gu Qingyin was a little puzzled. She sensed the power released by the Array: gold was the Gold Attribute, red was the Fire attribute. Extremely strong and yang, it was the bane of all yin and evil creatures.

’So why isn’t Huo Yunjing reacting much?’

Before she could think about it further, a sharp, miserable scream came from nearby.

It was the baby ghost.

The baby ghost was being attacked by the Sword Array and Fireballs created by the Array, its small body covered in wounds.

Soon, its cries grew weaker and weaker. Its soul body grew paler and paler, until it was nearly transparent. Only then did the baby ghost whisper, "Mama..."

It knew it wouldn’t get a response, so it only dared to indulge itself and call for its mother one last time before dying.

It could pretend that its voice was too soft for its mother to hear, not that she was deliberately ignoring it.

The next second, tongues of flame engulfed the baby ghost.

Gu Qingyin sensed the baby ghost’s presence disappear.

She sighed inwardly. ’Poor child. I wonder how it managed to offend Chen Ling in its past life to deserve paying its debt by having its soul scattered in this one.’

The second to be destroyed was Kong Xu. One can only imagine the agony of having his soul burned and sliced by a thousand cuts, but he didn’t make a sound. Before he completely dissipated, his eyes held only relief and release.

"Ling’er, I’ll wait for you..."

Next were Gu Qingyin’s two paper-men.

These weren’t like the two paper-men from before that had scouted the path. Gu Qingyin had put a lot of effort into making them, and they were expensive. She had thought they would last a long time, but they ended up being single-use.

Gu Qingyin had wanted to recall them, but her first instinct was to save Huo Yunjing. By the time she remembered the paper-men, it was too late.

Though it sounds complicated, less than ten seconds had passed from the Array’s activation to the paper-men’s destruction.

Gu Qingyin and her group also suffered the Array’s indiscriminate attacks, but thankfully, a Heavenly Master is never short on defensive measures.

Gu Qingyin directly released a Divine Artifact, covering herself and Huo Yunjing, and observed the Array as she walked.

She was looking for a way to break the Array while also taking the opportunity to study it.

In that short time, she picked up Liu Ergou, Elder Miao, and Miao Yan one after another.

The three of them looked a little worse for wear, but they hadn’t suffered any substantial injuries.

Liu Ergou said, "The first few hits were fierce, but then it got weaker and weaker."

Miao Yan also nodded. "Right. It feels like it’s running out of steam."

Gu Qingyin smiled. "The overdrafted potential must be running out."

The group exchanged glances and couldn’t help but smile as well.

Truly, they had dug their own graves.

Gu Qingyin’s eyes never left the talisman rope. She even rallied the others, "Quick! While the Array is still active, get a good look. We can replicate and improve it when we get back. It might become a trump card for us."

The others deeply agreed. They all began to observe it carefully, copying down the parts they didn’t understand. There would be plenty of time to study it back home.

Unfortunately, the Array quickly dimmed.

Just then, Dongfang Ran’s bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out from not far away: "Chen Ling! I hope you die a horrible death!!!"