PD -Chapter 17 Legendary Figures

The figure charging toward me was dressed in a magnificent opera robe of red and yellow, wearing a warrior’s costume complete with banners and pheasant feathers. In its hand was a command flag tipped with a spearhead.

It looked exactly like Mu Guiying stepping straight off an opera stage!

With a flash, it appeared before me, the sharp spear tip of its command flag thrusting toward my heart.

I cursed under my breath, grabbed my case, and retreated a step before darting behind a display cabinet.

I remembered seeing a painted opera mask earlier—a face with willow-shaped brows and phoenix eyes hanging on the wall. It was identical to the face Mu Guiying wore now.

It seemed likely that this spirit had been deeply connected to that mask in life. Its resentment had attached itself to the mask, allowing it to emerge and wreak havoc through it.

If I wanted to destroy it, I had to get that mask off its face.

Taking a deep breath, I wrapped the Spirit-Binding Ruler around my arm and once again cast the Demon-Burning Incantation. Flames instantly erupted from my hand as I grabbed the spear tip that was stabbing toward my chest once more.

The command flag, already fully materialized after absorbing spiritual energy from the Spirit-Gathering Array, was immediately ignited by the spiritual flames on my arm.

Seeing that I had gained the upper hand, I snorted coldly and leaped out from behind the display cabinet, reaching directly for the mask on Mu Guiying’s face.

But the spirit was far from easy to deal with.

Its ethereal body flickered and vanished from before me, reappearing five meters away.

Grinding my teeth, I jumped into the formation. The Demon-Burning Flames in my hand surged as I charged toward Mu Guiying.

To my surprise, although the command flag in its hand had been ruined, there were still four more stuck behind its back.

I had assumed they were merely decorative props like those used in traditional opera performances.

I was wrong.

The spirit lowered its head, and the four flags instantly shot toward me.

They moved with terrifying speed.

A sense of danger exploded in my mind. I immediately tried to dodge, but the flags seemed equipped with tracking devices. Their sharp spearheads locked onto me relentlessly.

Gritting my teeth, I tugged the Spirit-Binding Ruler wrapped around my arm and rapidly formed hand seals.

“Within the Three Realms and beyond, the Dao alone is supreme. Golden light covers and protects my body!”

This was the Golden Light Incantation.

Unfortunately, I had only cultivated it to the first level.

Because I wasn’t exactly diligent in my training, my first-level Golden Light Incantation functioned mostly as a defensive spell—and even then, it only worked some of the time.

But I had no room to hesitate.

I immediately poured spiritual energy into the spell.

The moment the incantation ended, a faint golden radiance enveloped my body.

The four command flags were instantly blocked less than five centimeters from me.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

Golden light radiating from my hands, I grabbed the flags and snapped them apart with sharp cracking sounds.

The flags instantly turned to dust and vanished.

The moment they disappeared, Mu Guiying’s body shuddered.

Its previously solid form became noticeably more ethereal.

Delight rose within me.

It seemed the command flags were directly linked to the spirit’s essence. Destroying them had injured it as well.

Without hesitation, I formed a finger seal and lightly touched the characters “Control” and “Shatter” engraved on the Spirit-Binding Ruler, rapidly channeling spiritual energy into them.

Then I gripped the ruler like a whip and lashed it toward the spirit.

The black iron plates embedded at its tail shot forward with lightning speed, smashing toward the spirit’s face.

Realizing the danger, the spirit did something horrifying.

It twisted its head a full one hundred and eighty degrees to protect the mask on its face.

Then its entire body flew sideways, desperately evading my strike before extending both hands like claws and lunging straight for my throat.

Though the spirit looked fierce, I had already sensed the steady decline of the spiritual energy surrounding it.

My confidence immediately increased.

Rather than retreating, I controlled the Spirit-Binding Ruler with both spiritual energy and willpower.

The ruler shot forward like a swift serpent, wrapping around the spirit’s neck and yanking it violently to the ground.

Taking advantage of the still-active Golden Light Incantation, I immediately stepped forward and stomped directly onto the spirit’s face.

A crisp cracking sound rang out beneath my foot.

The spirit’s opera-clad body flickered like a damaged film reel before instantly dissolving into thin air.

Seeing the danger pass, I let out a long breath.

The golden light around me gradually faded.

Looking at the mask now shattered into countless fragments beneath my feet, I pulled out a prepared yellow talisman, ignited it with spiritual energy, and tossed it onto the debris.

The flames quickly consumed the fragments, reducing them to black ash.

As I watched them burn, I suddenly remembered what Zhu Zhu had said earlier.

Every item in this collection was worth a fortune.

Panic crept into my heart.

If Zhu Shengxing demanded compensation, I probably wouldn’t be able to repay him even in my next life.

Sighing, I comforted myself with the thought that at least the matter had finally been resolved.

Just as I turned to leave the collection room, the lights flickered.

The entire room suddenly darkened.

At the same time, the red cords of the Spirit-Gathering Array I had previously set up lit up once more with a dim crimson glow.

My heart lurched.

I lowered my head toward the flames.

The spirit should have already been completely annihilated.

So what was happening now?

“Brother Han, run!”

Standing at the doorway, Liu Xiaopeng had also noticed something was wrong and shouted at the top of his lungs.

At that moment, the wall covered with all kinds of opera masks beside me suddenly rippled with red waves like the surface of a lake.

Then three enormous shadows burst out of the wall.

Before my eyes, their blurry forms gradually solidified into physical bodies.

The sight left my mind completely blank.

These were three imposing figures, each mounted on a magnificent warhorse.

One had a red face and a long beard, wielding a massive saber.

Another had leopard-like eyes and carried a serpent spear.

The last had unusually large earlobes and held a slender sword in each hand.

“Big Brother, Second Brother, stand back. I’ll deal with this villain myself!”

The red-faced, long-bearded warrior suddenly opened his previously narrowed eyes.

Blood-red light glowed within his pupils.

His saber pointed directly at my head.

Seeing this scene, I was completely dumbfounded.

If I didn’t still remember everything that had happened moments ago, I would have thought I’d somehow been transported into a television drama.

Wasn’t this famous trio none other than Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei?

My legs began to tremble.

What kind of fate had I offended?

I had barely finished dealing with a Mu Guiying spirit, and now I was supposed to fight the three sworn brothers of Shu all by myself?

The godlike Beautiful-Bearded Lord gave me no time to think.

His arm moved slightly.

The blade of his saber suddenly shone brilliantly.

The carved Azure Dragon on the weapon actually came to life.

It burst out from the blade, its body expanding rapidly.

A gigantic dragon claw swept down toward me.

In that critical moment, I cast the Golden Light Incantation once more, intending to block the attack with my protective golden aura.

But to my horror, the razor-sharp dragon claw tore through the golden barrier instantly.

The next second, it was about to pierce straight through me.