novelbin Chapter 985 536: Is He Someone from the Heavens? (Part 4)
Chapter 985 536: Is He Someone from the Heavens? (Part 4)
The number of Techniques that the Deep Mansion Courtyard Technique can lend out has increased, and their strength has also gone up quite a bit.
The Shadow Hanging Technique had been simplified; before summoning the Shadow, as long as there was no need to formulate any special tactics, the meeting segment could basically be skipped.
On the night of the seventh, Li Banfeng went to Rock Tower Village and found Jin Shunying at the inn.
Jin Shunying had already prepared the bait, organized her gear, and also dug up some intel: "That high-level Fighter has been active at the construction site to the east of the village lately. A few days ago a group of Hunters crossed hands with him. They didn't win, but there were no casualties either; you could say they got away in one piece."
Li Banfeng looked over Jin Shunying's equipment; he quite appreciated this girl's professional standards.
"What wish did you make this time when the Great Deity descended?"
Jin Shunying glanced at Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng raised an eyebrow: "If it's inconvenient, you don't have to say."
"It's actually not that it's inconvenient. I didn't want to say it because I was afraid the wish wouldn't come true, but keeping it bottled up inside and not saying it is actually pretty uncomfortable too.
Boss, you're right. If you want to make something of yourself, you've got to reach for the big business. I'm still young, I still have dreams. The wish I made is that this time we absolutely will catch that high-level Fighter."
"That's the wish you made?" The muscles in Li Banfeng's cheek twitched.
"Is it a bit greedy?" Jin Shunying lowered her head and said, "I heard the boss say that right here in this inn, a woman who'd been blind for many years made a wish to the Great Deity, and overnight she was able to see again.
This time the Great Deity is especially efficacious. It's not just the boss saying so; I believe he'll keep watching from the Heavens and bless us so we can pull off this big job."
"Keep watching..." Li Banfeng drew in a deep breath.
Jin Shunying felt a little embarrassed: "I was just talking off the top of my head."
Of course it was off the top of her head. The Great Deity has rules: he comes on the sixth, leaves on the seventh. It was already the night of the seventh; how could he stay just for the sake of this one wish of Jin Shunying's?
But Li Banfeng still hesitated: "Let's move the operation to tomorrow."
The change of plan was a bit sudden, but Jin Shunying didn't ask much and agreed immediately.
On the night of the eighth, Li Banfeng and Jin Shunying arrived at the construction site to the east of the village.
This site was still stuck at the demolition stage. Back then they'd negotiated the compensation contracts with the villagers and the work had already begun, but later there was some issue with funding, the project halted, and the site was just left abandoned here.
Jin Shunying lit the Incense Candles. These candles were made by her personally using high-grade ingredients. This was her unique Soul Summoning method, and also one of the hunting costs for a Souls Hunter.
Li Banfeng walked a circuit around the site and didn't find anyone else.
When he returned to Jin Shunying's side, he saw that quite a few Lost Souls had already gathered near the Incense Candles.
Listening to how lightly she'd spoken of it before, in reality she'd done very thorough prep work. The intel she'd dug up earlier had also been bought at a high price. The seller took enough money and didn't spread the news around, which was what ensured there were no other competitors at the site tonight.
More and more Lost Souls gathered near the Incense Candles; some clearly lacked Spiritual Wisdom and were driven away by Jin Shunying.
Of the Lost Souls with passable Spiritual Wisdom left over, Jin Shunying released two Ghost Servants to screen them.
The screening process was simple: those who could exchange a couple of moves with the Ghost Servants clearly had combat capability; those could stay.
If they were scared stupid by the Ghost Servants on contact, or couldn't mount any response at all, they were driven away immediately.
Those who could fight the Ghost Servants to a draw or even gain a slight upper hand—those Lost Souls had to be handled with caution, because Jin Shunying didn't know if she had the ability to control them.
Watching the clashes between the Ghost Servants and the Lost Souls, Li Banfeng knew very well that the Lost Soul of that high-level Martial Cultivator was definitely not among them.
Once the screening was almost done, there was only one Lost Soul who could barely exchange a couple of moves with the Ghost Servants. Jin Shunying took him in; the other Lost Souls were all driven away.
Jin Shunying checked the time; it was already past midnight.
More than half of the Incense Candles had burned away. Any Lost Souls that could be lured here should have long since arrived, and that high-level Fighter, perhaps because his level was too high and he was unwilling to show himself, or perhaps because he simply wasn't in the vicinity.
The intel she'd bought at a high price had gone down the drain. Jin Shunying was a bit dejected, and the Ghost Servant she'd captured wasn't even enough to cover the cost of the Incense Candles.
But after so many years as a Hunter, she was used to things like this. She tidied up her stuff and was just about to leave when she suddenly noticed that Li Banfeng was gone.
Li Banfeng had heard something.
Someone was walking toward the Incense Candles, then suddenly stopped halfway.
Then came the sound of bricks and rubble grinding against earth and stone. The sound was very faint, but the Silk-pulling Earrings could hear it clearly.
Following the sound, Li Banfeng heard a halting song: I Am Your Pot Helmet, though cheap as can be, I can still fill your belly...
"Boss, it's him." The Silk-pulling Earrings recognized the voice; she was sure this person was Chu Zikai.
Chu Zikai was using a Sound Cultivation Technique.
Li Banfeng fully mobilized the resistances from his Home Cultivation, and combined with the shielding from the Silk-pulling Earrings, he reduced the impact of the Sound Cultivation Technique to the minimum.
When he got to where he could just barely make out Chu Zikai's figure, he saw the battle between him and the Lost Soul.
Chu Zikai was dressed as a boatman as always, wearing a coarse cloth vest, a bamboo hat, and a mask, using his singing to control the Lost Soul in the pile of rubble.
The Lost Soul seemed to have its limbs bound by the song, but its feet were still struggling on the rubble, which was why Li Banfeng could hear those faint scraping sounds.
Singing as he went, Chu Zikai took out a cloth bag. He was preparing to take this Lost Soul in.
Looked like he really was strapped for cash—not only had he taken the initiative to get involved in the business, he even took the initiative to join the hunt.
The cloth bag opened its mouth toward the Lost Soul, and the Lost Soul's outline began to distort slightly.
He was about to claim his prize.
Li Banfeng definitely couldn't let him take the Lost Soul away. He opened his throat, adjusted his breath, and let out a low, prolonged howl.
This kind of long note seemed technically simple, but it was very easy to throw a singer off.
Chu Zikai was a Sound Cultivator from Above the Clouds; logically, he shouldn't fear this kind of interference.
But the Techniques that Li Banfeng had borrowed were vicious enough that after two howls, Chu Zikai really did go off-key.
Once the song slipped off-key, the binding force dropped sharply.
The Lost Soul trapped in place suddenly recovered its mobility and kicked up a sheet of bricks that flew toward Chu Zikai.
"Buzz!"
Chu Zikai also let out a low hum; the bricks in front of him shattered layer by layer into dust.
It had to be ground to an extremely fine dust; otherwise every shard of brick and tile thrown by the opponent could become a top-tier Weapon.
The Lost Soul's attacks didn't stop; it kept hurling bricks at Chu Zikai.
Chu Zikai didn't dare relax in the slightest and continuously used Sound Cultivation Techniques to grind the bricks into dust.
The dust piled up thicker and thicker; Chu Zikai realized something had changed.
The silhouette of the Lost Soul had vanished.
When the Lost Soul appeared again, a brick in his hand, he was already right next to Chu Zikai.
Chu Zikai let out an admiring sigh: "What a fine Evil Ghost. I didn't expect you to have such skills, and to bring along a fine helper as well."
The admiration had a tinge of mockery. Chu Zikai had been watching the brick in the Lost Soul's hand this whole time and was already prepared. No matter what kind of Weapon the Lost Soul turned this brick into, Chu Zikai had a way to deal with it.
At the same time, Chu Zikai also started guarding against Li Banfeng in the dark.
"Who are you calling an Evil Ghost?" the Lost Soul shot back, and the ragged clothes on his body split apart.
This caught Chu Zikai off guard.
The torn threads shot into Chu Zikai's body from all sides, and the Lost Soul asked, "Do you recognize your Second Master Lu?"
Second Master Lu...
Li Banfeng recalled the Contract Book the Wizards Association had used to summon the Lost Soul; the last line said he was a handsome man from an ancient world.
That translation might have been wrong. Just as Public Security Team Member Zhuang Shuxing had said: after three twists, five twists, seven or eight twists, by the end the meaning was already distorted.
What they'd summoned wasn't "a handsome man," but "a man named Jun."
And that was the crux of the problem: just how was Lu Dongjun summoned?
Where had Lu Dongjun's Lost Soul actually been before that?
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