"Headshots? Is that something recorded in the Gu family's ancient texts?" Hu Tao asked, curious.
"Not exactly, just a personal suggestion," Gu Sanqiu replied, forming a hand seal with his left hand. A rune, glowing with iron-gray light, slowly fused into his revolver.
Demon-Slaying Revolver Supplementary Technique: Bullet Enchantment Art
Iron-Gray Rune: Sharpness Enchantment
Using his weapon as a medium, this was the only "magic" Gu Sanqiu could currently utilize.
"Caw—"
The Great Shadow Eagle let out another screech as it saw several stiff figures approaching its master. With a powerful beat of its massive wings, it sent a gust of wind that knocked several of the enemies off their feet.
"Modern clothing... not some ancient evil spirits gone rogue."
That raised a new question. For normal human bodies to turn into bloodthirsty ghouls wasn't so easy. When he saw their numbers, he knew something was off.
Noticing Hu Tao had already rushed forward, Gu Sanqiu raised his voice to warn her.
"Be careful! These guys shouldn't be able to turn into ghouls on their own—something must be manipulating them!"
"Got it! Geez, Sanqiu, you're so naggy."
Hu Tao gripped the Staff of Homa tightly, transforming into a streak of crimson light as she weaved through the stiff-moving corpses.
The flames surrounding Hu Tao didn't burn their clothes to ashes, but the ordinary ghouls were frozen in place as if an immobilizing spell had been cast on them.
"So, this is the power of Homa, purifying them from the soul, cleansing them at the core," Gu Sanqiu thought as he continuously pulled the trigger. When his revolver ran out of bullets, the Great Shadow Eagle swooped down, giving him enough time to reload.
Whoosh!
From a distance, a dark blue arrow shot toward the Great Shadow Eagle. The chill emanating from the arrow made Gu Sanqiu shiver. It was an arrow formed entirely of soul fire!
If a normal person were hit, they wouldn't just be injured—they'd be bedridden for three years, at best! Even though the Great Shadow Eagle was half a spirit beast, getting hit would still be incredibly dangerous!
"Dodge!"
The Great Shadow Eagle reacted faster than Gu Sanqiu, realizing instantly that it couldn't take the hit head-on. It twisted in mid-air, trying to avoid the arrow.
Thud—
A few feathers drifted down as the eagle let out a pained cry and collapsed mid-flight, falling limply toward Gu Sanqiu. It hadn't managed to dodge the arrow completely due to its size.
"Damn it."
"Hu Tao!"
"I've got this, leave it to me!"
The red flames returned to Gu Sanqiu's side as Hu Tao, with a stern expression, stared down their enemies while also extending part of her awareness around them.
She had also seen the soul-fire arrow, and if another one came out of nowhere, they'd be in serious trouble.
Gu Sanqiu caught the Great Shadow Eagle, collapsing to the ground under the weight. But he didn't care about himself—he quickly inspected the eagle's wound.
"Thank goodness, it just scratched the surface."
Upon seeing the faint blue glow from the wound, Gu Sanqiu let out a sigh of relief. It was far easier to treat than a penetrating injury.
He took out a treasured pill, crushed it, and gently sprinkled the powder over the wound, drawing out the corrosive soul fire from the injured area.
"Sanqiu, are you done yet? The enemies are getting more numerous. Hurry up and show off your incense-bearer demon-slaying skills!"
"To be fair, the title 'incense bearer' sounds more like a bookish scholar than a warrior. Why would you expect me to have demon-slaying abilities?"
"Wait, did you say the enemies are increasing in number?"
Gu Sanqiu paused, quickly standing up and firing off more shots. At the same time, he grabbed a handful of talismans from his waist and tossed them out. Smoke bombs, thunder fire talismans, and other explosive devices erupted with immense force!
Secret Technique: Klee's Spirit Activated!
"I should've asked earlier—what's the deal with this place we're standing on?"
"Or let me rephrase that: is there something about you that's attracting all of them? I came straight to you after entering, so it's not like I did something to anger the heavens, right?"
"That's nonsense! Weren't you the one who went off messing with the soul flames…"
Hu Tao's voice trailed off as butterflies of crimson began swirling around her once more, and she dove into the mass of ghouls, trying to avoid Gu Sanqiu's increasingly sharp gaze.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
It really is your fault!
Gu Sanqiu knew her too well. Whenever Hu Tao's voice got quieter like that, it meant that she was very likely the root cause of the problem!
"Seriously, what did you do? You didn't provoke some ancient monster, did you?"
If Hu Tao wasn't so dedicated to her work, he'd have asked if she had dug up the graves of these ghouls herself.
"No way…"
Amid Gu Sanqiu's indiscriminate bombardment, the ghouls had been cleared out of a large area, and Hu Tao had been forced back by his attacks.
"There's no big monster here, not yet at least…"
Gu Sanqiu's eyebrow twitched. "What do you mean 'not yet'? Are you planning to get us both killed?"
Hu Tao tapped her head lightly with a fist and stuck out her tongue playfully.
"Heh, you know me so well, Sanqiu."
"Cuteness doesn't work here! Tell me what's really going on!"
"We're currently standing on top of that big monster you were talking about."
!!!
Σ(⊙▽⊙")
Hu Tao's words seemed to trigger something. The ground beneath them began to rumble, and the remaining ghouls started to retreat step by step, as if something terrifying beneath their feet was about to burst forth.
"This isn't as if something's happening—it's definitely happening!"
The scene looked like the prelude to a dungeon boss emerging, complete with cinematic-level intensity, and Gu Sanqiu felt his hair stand on end.
One by one, geysers of eerie blue flames erupted from the ground. A single soul-fire arrow had already incapacitated the Great Shadow Eagle, so the scale of what they were facing now was beyond comparison!
The ancient monster really was beneath them. And to top it off, Hu Tao had been casually eating almond tofu on its head earlier. That was way worse than dancing on someone's grave!
"Put away your weapon!" Gu Sanqiu shouted.
Hu Tao trusted his judgment and quickly put away her Staff of Homa before rushing to his side.
"Sorry about this, kid!" Gu Sanqiu said, passing the Great Shadow Eagle to her. He then grabbed her around the waist with one hand and, with a quick flick of his other hand, pulled out a bottle containing a swirling mass of green wind. He threw it to the ground, shattering it.
Whoosh—
A powerful gust of wind erupted from the broken bottle. Gu Sanqiu's Wind Glider wings unfolded, and the wind propelled them upward, away from the ground.
Whoosh, whoosh—
Two more soul-fire arrows shot toward them, but the black-patterned energy on Gu Sanqiu's wings coalesced into a barrier in front of them. The arrows struck the barrier, causing ripples but failing to break through. Instead, the force pushed them even further away from danger.
Before leaving, Gu Sanqiu glanced back, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay beneath them causing all the chaos.
Below, as the geysers of soul flames subsided, a large, iron-gray horse burst from the ground, its glowing red eyes gleaming with malevolent energy.
And on the horse's back was a hulking armored figure, eyes also flashing red with fury, letting out a deafening roar in the direction of Gu Sanqiu's retreating form!
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If you spot any mistakes let me know so I can fix them.
Read up to Chapter 30! [P@treon.com/WiseTL]