At this critical moment, time was of the essence. I dashed at my maximum speed on the snow for half an hour, but I couldn’t find Li Mazi.
Where did Li Mazi go?Â
Moreover, there is no stream in this area. How could he cast the Five Elements Great Formation? Did Ye Chen show me the wrong way?Â
While I was puzzled, Li Mazi called me. As soon as the line went through, Li Mazi’s scream reached my ear. “Little Brother Zhang, where the hell are you?! Mr. Jin is here! Ye Chen and I have to hide in the Five Elements Great Formation to protect our lives. He’s possessed. He’s so strong. The bodyguards can’t subdue him!”
“What did you say?” I was shocked. “You mean, you are with Ye Chen now?”
“Yeah, if you linger there, our lives would be over…”
After listening to Li Mazi, I thought I could cry.
Shoot
, I
 wasÂ
tricked! That Ye ChenÂ
wasn’t
 the real one!
However, I hadn’t sensed Dorgon’s aura on him. Did a ghost in the mountain impersonate him?
While thinking about this, Li Mazi’s voice came from behind me. “Little Brother Zhang!”
Instinctively, I turned and saw Li Mazi and Ye Chen supporting Mr. Jin, who was unconscious. They walked toward me.
If Li Mazi hadn’t called me, I would have believed the people in front of me were the real ones. If they wanted to impersonate Li Mazi and play with me, I would go along with them! My hand slowly moved to my hip. I wanted to see what kind of ghosts they were!
Those weren’t normal wandering ghosts. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to transform into particular people. When they came closer, I pretended to help them. Then, I abruptly slashed the Sirius Whip while reading the Big Dipper Sirius Spell!
The three people in front of me didn’t expect that I would take action first. In just a blink of an eye, the Sirius Whip hit them. They screamed and fumed into black smoke. Then, they turned into white shadows and fled.
I looked at those white shadows in a daze. After they disappeared from my sight, I finally pulled myself together. Those freaking things weren’t ghosts! They were the three badgers!
I had heard that there were many animals, like wolves and badgers, that had cultivated and become monsters on Mount Changbai. They often transformed and pretended to be humans to trick the hunters and eat them. I had finally gotten a chance to see them.
If it were a normal day, I would go after them and capture them all. However, since Li Mazi was in danger, I had to give up this thought.
Although I wasn’t afraid of those badger monsters, I was worried that they would cast some illusional magic and waste my time. Resolutely, I decided to invite a spirit to help me travel.
Since I had brought all of my assets with me, I was soon able to invite a wild ghost to carry me. This wild ghost had a fierce face with a build of two or three meters. He was probably a Yaksha who guarded this mountain.
The ghost carried me on his back and ran fast. I closed my eyes to sense my surroundings. A cold wind howled past me, and my hair was blown backward. I felt my scalp tingling.
The Yaksha stopped after a few minutes. I opened my eyes and looked around. There was a flickering candlelight.
It had to be the candle Li Mazi had lit for the Five Elements Great Formation. However, there was just a short distance between us, so why didn’t the Yaksha bring me there? I looked at him and saw fear in his eyes.
I guessed he had sensed Dorgon’s aura and didn’t want to take the risk. I sighed and offered him a drop of blood to let him go. Then, I strode toward the light.
From a distance, I heard Dorgon’s crazy laughter. “Haha, the sky does have eyes! Tonight, I will kill all of you to take revenge for my Erniang!”
I followed the voice and took a few steps forward. I saw Mr. Jin. He was wearing the Qing dynasty soldier uniform, drawing his bow. There were many drawings on his face.
Although I didn’t understand the Manchu characters, I knew he wanted to make a sacrifice. Dorgon had come here to worship the sacred mountain!
Li Mazi and Ye Chen were shivering. They were hiding in the Five Elements Formation. They were holding the lit candles, which were enough to complete the Five Elements along with their surroundings. The power of the Five Elements moved like a big wok that covered and protected the two of them. If they didn’t do this, Dorgon would soon get what he wanted.
However, Dorgon didn’t want to let the Five Elements Great Formation stop him. He drew the bow and shot a fiery arrow. The arrow pierced through the void in front of Li Mazi, making it shake a little bit.
Fortunately, the candle in Li Mazi’s hand wasn’t blown out, but it had only weakened. The smile on Dorgon’s face froze. Right after that, he acted like a maniac and continuously shot arrows at Li Mazi. While shooting, he shouted, “I’ll kill all of you. I won’t let any of you live!”
I was even more frightened. When the bow was in Abahai’s hands, she could only give Mr. Jin a headache or make him restless. However, when it was in Dorgon’s hands, it could shake even the Five Elements Great Formation. Moreover, since the fiery arrows came in waves, the candles could be put out!
If the candlelight was put out, the Five Elements Formation would be deactivated. If that happened, let alone Li Mazi, even I wouldn’t know how to get out of this alive.
At the moment the candle in Li Mazi’s hand was blown out, Dorgon changed his target and aimed at Ye Chen. Fortunately, they had brought many candles. They would be able to endure things for a while.
Dorgon seemed to recognize the situation. After shooting for a while, he stopped and shot me a dark glance.
“Oh shoot.” It seemed he had noticed me.
My heart sank. I clenched my jaw and took a few steps forward. I called Li Mazi and Ye Chen, “There’s no need to be afraid as long as you can keep your candle burning until the break of dawn!”
Then, I grabbed my Sirius Whip and cautiously looked at Dorgon.
“I had planned to let you live one day longer, but if you come to my door, I’ll let you taste the Sacred Fiery Bow of our Great Qing!” He almost yelled at me. Due to his wrath, his eyes had become blood red, and his face was twisted.
It appeared he had a deep grudge against me after I had forced his mother to commit suicide. At this moment, I didn’t want to look him in the eye.
Li Mazi saw my strange expression. From his spot, he screamed, “Little Brother Zhang, get a hold of yourself together! If you lose, we will lose all of our lives!”
“You’re courting death!” Dorgon screamed. Then, he drew his bow and shot at me. I reacted fast enough and managed to dash aside to dodge the attack.
Since my speed was fast, he couldn’t hit me even after several arrows. I exhaled, thinking that he wasn’t as fierce as I had imagined. As long as we could resist until the morning, we would have a chance.
However, he seemed to get my idea. He changed his target. This time, he shot himself. The arrow hit the middle of his thigh, and blood spurted at the wound.
“You can hide, but he can’t!” Dorgon sneered. Then, he shot another arrow at his other leg. He shot himself while possessing Mr. Jin. Soon, he would kill the poor man!
It was obvious that Dorgon was about to kill his hostage. My heart sank and my mind went blank. I couldn’t think of a solution. However, I couldn’t just stand and watch Mr. Jin die in front of me. I shouted, “What do you want?!”
“I want to kill you all!” Dorgon pulled the string of his bronze bow and shot at Mr. Jin one more time.
Seeing Mr. Jin bleeding hard, I felt somewhat desperate. There was no way to negotiate with Dorgon. His only request was our deaths, but we couldn’t satisfy him!
While I didn’t know what to do, Li Mazi rushed out of the formation and bumped into Dorgon. Then, he seized the bronze bow.
Since Dorgon’s focus was on me, he couldn’t react fast enough. However, he was much stronger than Li Mazi. He grabbed the bow and started to pull it against Li Mazi.
Instinctively, I thought about storming forward to help Li Mazi. However, Li Mazi screamed, “Little Brother Zhang, don’t come here. Set up the formation! Hurry!”
Li Mazi wanted to hold Dorgon back and buy time for me. He wanted me to use the surroundings to set up the formation one more time to capture Dorgon.
However, he wasn’t Dorgon’s equal opponent. After a few seconds, Dorgon took back his bow. Since his anger had arisen, Dorgon punched Li Mazi, sending him directly to the ground. He then pulled the string of the bow and aimed it at Li Mazi’s head!
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