Chapter 66: Lu Zhishen Stands, Battle with Lu Zhishen – 2

“Yang Zicang!”
In the scarlet light curtain, Yang Zicang, who had just turned a corner from a metal passage, heard Director Huang’s incredulous voice.
“Ha, I knew it was you,” Yang Zicang said loudly. “You’re doing well for yourself. You’ve changed your name, haven’t you? Does your father know about your name change?”
A buzzing echo reverberated through the passage.
“Stop your bullshit over there. My associated monster is called Huang Zhong. What does that have to do with me, Huang Xu?”
“Looks like the nightmare hasn’t completely rotten your brain yet.”
Yang Zicang turned into an afterimage and rushed into the passage, quickly arriving at the spot where Director Huang had been, but the guy had already vanished.
A nightmare that can burrow into the ground—how troublesome.
Yang Zicang looked up; from the high pipes above his head came noisy sounds, as if someone had followed in.
……
By now, Huang Xu had already fled back.
“This is bad, it’s that Yang Zicang,” he reported.
“Yang Zicang?”
The man under the code name Lu Zhishen felt like his head was about to explode; the Defender’s killing intent had overwhelmed him.
He yanked Huang Xu over, shoved the book into his hands, and said, “Your turn.”
As the book entered his hands, Director Huang felt as if his spirit had suffered a heavy blow, momentarily disoriented and unsure of where he was. He could only drift along, channeling his mental energy based on the information flooding into his mind, maintaining the phantasma born from this book.
After walking out, Lu Zhishen let out a breath of relief, gasping for air. He felt like he had come back to life again.
Containing the Defender was indeed an exhausting task.
“Huang Xu!”
The echo rang far and wide outside the tunnel.
The large man frowned, glanced at the dark red wristwatch coiled around his wrist as he walked out, and gave a cold snort.
“Don’t rush it. Grandpa here will take you on.”
He walked to the edge of the broken pipe, and at the same time, Yang Zicang’s figure appeared down below.
Their eyes met, and Lu Zhishen couldn’t help but silently commend him. Such a spirit and energy were even purer than Lü Bu’s, like a martial arts master who had trained for countless years.
“Impressive spirit. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you,” Lu Zhishen said with a hearty laugh.
“Oh?”
“Because Ma Chao wants to butcher you himself.”
Yang Zicang was taken aback for a moment, then curled his lips in a mocking smile.
The phantom echo of the train rang through the nest.
Hearing this familiar sound, Lu Zhishen was somewhat bewildered. At this time, shouldn’t Ma Chao be on the other side? Why would he come here?
He checked his own consciousness, found no fluctuations, but the next moment saw the shadow of a station platform appear behind the young man below.
“Heh, so that’s how it is.”
Lu Zhishen showed a sardonic smile, looking at the young man as if he were already a corpse.
……
Several folded lines shot toward Director Huang’s chest, but he couldn’t afford to be distracted to receive these, controlling the Secret Treasure as he was. The Xiongying Team, realizing the switch, quickly tried to contact Lu Zhishen directly.
A deep red folded line shot toward the small red ring that automatically materialized over Lu Zhishen’s chest.
[Good thing you showed up. Hurry, take Ma Chao’s body back—there’s a chance to revive him. Watch out for his Nightmare; it can devour your soul!]
“What the hell?” The big man was stunned.
Bang! A reddish-yellow train roared through the phantom, revealing a section of one carriage, which emerged inside the station behind Yang Zicang.
Strangely, Yang Zicang did not fall asleep.
The White Shadow Thought-Dragon appeared, its mouth holding Ma Chao’s mental-energy body, of which bit more than half remained.
Lu Zhishen looked at this thing with confusion, then instantly understood what it was! His eyes widened, staring at what was behind Yang Zicang in disbelief; red veins burst forth as his gaze grew fierce.
“Hey! That’s Ma Chao! What have you done to him?”
“This was its choice. Ma Chao is my stead now.”
Fully aware he couldn’t possibly fall asleep, Yang Zicang spoke deliberately.
Footsteps approached from behind—after a glance over his shoulder at the new arrivals, he noticed something.
“Yang Zicang, stop right now! Don’t interfere with the Hero Team’s containment, or you’ll bring on a great calamity!”
The people before him wore red and white circular emblems on their chests, and the two sides were unusually intermingled for a common cause.
Yang Zicang’s eyes turned cold, “It seems the councilor’s guidance is not as powerful as the Hero Team’s prestige.”
There was no way he could defy the councilor again. His future wasn’t limited to just this place; only by moving forward could he uncover the reality of this world.
Just as he opened his palm to unleash some skill, a shout suddenly rang out from the tunnel behind.
“Yang Zicang, go ahead and act bold! Let me, your old man, deal with these worthless losers!”
The young man’s pupils slightly widened—that voice sounded somewhat familiar.
It was Luo Xin and his team members.
This place was saturated with the overwhelming aura emanating from the Defenders; merely stepping into such a space was a feat achievable only by extraordinary individuals who were like dragons among men.
These people blocking the retreat were just pitiful souls driven by the Hero Team. Just as they adjusted their formation to cut off Yang Zicang’s escape route, a flash of fire suddenly erupted.
“Brother Yang, I’m here too.”
Over there, a graceful figure appeared riding a motorcycle. Liang Xi jumped off, and with just one move sent two flying. The cool silhouette glanced coldly in this direction, and her motorcycle roared as it rammed into the one charging forward with a raised sword.
Within moments, chaotic shouts of battle arose from the other end of the tunnel.
A solemn look emerged deep in Yang Zicang’s eyes as he raised his hand. The Chrono Weapon, which had belonged to Ma Chao for fifty years, traced a sword flower and pointed diagonally upward.
“The annoying flies have their hands full. What about you? Any last words?”
“The Cloud-Rifting Sword—that Chrono Weapon!”
Lu Zhishen raised his left fist, and a red quadrangular glow flashed!
The watch face on his wrist expanded, clicking and clacking as second hand sounds spread out layer by layer, pressing down on his heart like the heavy, urgent footsteps one after another.
“Come on. My Chrono Weapon and the bound nightmare spawned from it, I’ll tell you straight up, also fifty years. I never imagined these two weapons would fight against each other one day.”
Bang! On the scalpel’s gleaming surface, swirling pointers clattered like scissors, enveloping and closing in.
The entire space was instantly engulfed as if by a vermilion fiery glow.
A surge of overwhelming crisis rose in Yang Zicang’s heart. He yanked the train door, and the train let out a sharp whistle as it blurred out of sight, piercing through the expanding sapphire watch face that loomed over, rushing toward the rapidly emerging energy platform inside the giant man’s mind.
“It actually…”
Sad and furious, Lu Zhishen realized that nightmares were, after all, just nightmares. There was no loyalty to speak of.
Yang Zicang straddled the train door, extending his weapon like a knight thrusting his spear: “Was that so hard to guess?”
Lu Zhishen’s mind went blank for a moment, but the watch face on his wrist flashed in the next instant, jolting him awake just as a gust of wind swept toward the back of his neck.
The train hurtling from ahead suddenly appeared sideways behind him, a sword stabbing out with a red phantom in one swift thrust.
“Entire Time Sequence!”
[Because I am a quadrilateral, I can achieve a fourfold amplification! 39996N!]
Bang! The sword’s radiance lifted the giant man into the air.
Only with the entire Time Sequence could a single strike be fatal!
“It… is so obedient to you!”
The giant man’s figure flew through the air, and his wristwatch once again manifested a mirrored surface that caught his falling body.
[I canceled 20000N.]
A faint, intangible armor-like aura appeared around Lu Zhishen’s form.
Yang Zicang narrowed his eyes. “You have a defense module.”
“Ha, so don’t kid yourself into thinking you can kill me with one blow, you fool.”
A massive fist came swinging with a red glow, Lu Zhishen’s posture bold and sweeping, his punch casting shadows.
The air exploded with a boom, yet it couldn’t track the elusive figure darting before him.
The sword in Yang Zicang’s hand flickered like a swimming dragon, piercing through the dense rain of fists to strike his throat. Bang!
[I canceled 20000N.]
That layer of aura wavered only faintly, weaker than before.
“I don’t believe it can block indefinitely.” Yang Zicang swung his sword viciously.
“True, but neither do I believe you have that much Time Sequence!”
Tick tock, tick tock, roar!
[I neutralized 999N.]
Yang Zicang vaulted over the train doorway, a red light suddenly flashing in his hand, the roar of flames erupting with a golden-red illusory blaze.
[I neutralized 20,000N.]
[Morey!]
{They’re here, all updated, brand new 9,999N!}
The figures of the pair crossed again, fists and swords flickering, their legs colliding in a kick as they momentarily clashed before springing back apart.
[I was neutralized by 39,996N.]
In an instant, within milliseconds, the fresh 9,999N was neutralized, leaving not even a second behind.
“Take this punch!”
[Morey!]
Yang Zicang dared not meet his opponent’s left fist, clad in a Chrono Weapon, with any part of his body, for doing so could easily exceed his defensive time resistance beyond the limit of 9,999N’s amplification and result in instant death.
Fortunately, the long training in his dreams had honed his finely-tuned control over his body to the limit of human potential.
His figure instantly retreated backward, the punch brushing past the tip of his nose just before he stabbed upward with his sword from below towards the opponent’s ribs.
Simultaneously, Morey had already sent a new infusion of 9,999N Chrono power to himself.
A quadrilateral flash flickered as the tip of the sword, touching the fabric, instantly emitted a golden-red ethereal flame, shattering the clothes and thrusting into the skin.
Clang!
[I was neutralized by 20,000N.]
Morey of the Hub Town broke out in a cold sweat.
Good heavens, is this what high-level combat is like!
Varq!
One lapse in concentration could result in a comrade’s death or send the opponent to a dire place.