Chapter 657: Ninety-Nine Times!
“Are you looking to die?!” the Chen Clan patriarch roared, his face twisting with vicious anger. The next moment, he appeared in the location Bai Xiaochun had just teleported away from, whereupon a thunderous boom could be heard as the entire area was destroyed. Then he vanished as he continued the chase.
By this point, the Cai Clan patriarch was rushing back to the city to join the Chen Clan patriarch. Once he arrived, things would be even more difficult for Bai Xiaochun.
As for the special formations that required special means to enter, although Bai Xiaochun could use the Undying Hex to get into them, that required extra time.
The Chen Clan patriarch was as quick as lightning in his pursuit. It was when Bai Xiaochun had just encountered the second of the unique, locked-down formations that the patriarch appeared up above. Bai Xiaochun hadn’t even had a chance to activate the teleportation function.
It was a relatively remote location in the west of the city, surrounded by quite a few ancient buildings and pagodas. In fact, many of them were as old as Giant Ghost City itself.
Not many soul cultivators lived in this area, making it a relatively quiet place. Because of the chaos in the city, the populace was shivering in fear, and at the moment, the only person visible in that entire part of the city was the Chen Clan patriarch.
“You’re out of chances now, Bai Hao!” Killing intent raging, the patriarch waved his hand in the direction of Bai Xiaochun and the giant ghost king.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as a huge hand appeared up above. Everything began to shake wildly, and the buildings below began to collapse into rubble.
Although Bai Xiaochun’s face was ashen with fear, his eyes shone with determination. He knew that this was a critical juncture, and that he couldn’t escape easily. Furthermore, if the teleportation formation was destroyed, he would have to run and find another one, a process that would be fraught with deadly peril.
With such thoughts on his mind, he lifted the giant ghost king over his head to block the incoming palm attack, and then reached his left hand down toward the teleportation formation.
It was a daring plan: use the giant ghost king to absorb some of the force of the blow, and then redirect it to activate the spell formation.
The giant ghost king was frustrated, but completely helpless. He knew that it was a critical moment, so all he could do was unleash what little of his cultivation base was possible... and bear the brunt of the blow....
All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but actually took place in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. The Chen Clan patriarch’s palm slammed into the giant ghost king, who grunted and then coughed up a mouthful of blood, along with chunks of some internal organs. Clearly, he had been very seriously injured.
Bai Xiaochun was also injured, and coughed up some blood. However, when his hand made contact with the teleportation formation, bright light shone up.
“Teleport!!” he shouted. Rumbling echoed out... but no teleportation began. Instead, random pieces of wood suddenly began to fly into the air from within the rubble of the surrounding destroyed buildings!!
There were also assorted bits of metal, which whizzed through the air toward Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun’s jaw dropped, and even the giant ghost king, who was still coughing up blood, stared in amazement. As for the Chen Clan patriarch, an uneasy feeling rose up in the pit of his chest.
Before any of them could react, cracking sounds filled the air as the pieces of wood and metal began to interlock and fit together almost like machinery. In the blink of an eye... a trap golem had formed right in front of Bai Xiaochun, dozens of meters tall!!
The trap golem had three heads, six arms, and a beast-like body with four legs. The surface of its body was speckled, and radiated an ancient air, as if it had existed since the most ancient of times. Almost as soon as it appeared, it threw its head back and howled.
The sound of the howl seemed to ripple with the fluctuations of a deva, something that caused all powerful experts within Giant Ghost City to start in shock.
The Chen Clan patriarch’s eyes went wide with disbelief as he gasped, “A deva-level trap golem!! How is this possible?!?!”
The patriarch wasn't the only one to be stunned; the giant ghost king was completely flabbergasted. He had already been surprised at how many teleportation formations Bai Xiaochun had at his disposal, so the fact that a deva-level trap golem was in the city shocked him to the core. Although the trap golem was clearly not completely functional, and would obviously only last for a short time....
It was still a deva-level trap golem!!
The secret magic used to create trap golems was a lost art in the Wildlands, and yet... right here in Giant Ghost City, this Bai Hao had summoned one!
The giant ghost king had absolutely no idea what other sorts of divine abilities this Bai Hao had at his disposal. The things he had done in the short half year he had been in Giant Ghost City were shocking, to say the least.
It all seemed completely unbelievable, especially since Giant Ghost City belonged to the giant ghost king, and yet even he had no idea how all of this had been set up. Then he thought about how he had fallen into Bai Hao’s hands, and even resorted to giving him his own restrictive spell, and he suddenly realized that both he and everyone else... had completely underestimated Bai Hao. However, a moment later, his eyes glittered as he came to the conclusion that the spell formations must not have been set up by Bai Hao. He was only using them.
Regardless, the fact that he was making use of so many incredible resources made him a profound an accomplished schemer and a truly consummate chosen!
Shaken, the giant ghost king looked over at Bai Xiaochun, his eyes shining and a complicated sense of admiration beginning to grow in his heart.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times in shock at the sight of the astonishing trap golem. Lu Shiyou had not been lying; his ancestor really had left a trap golem behind, hidden in one of the teleportation formations.
Heart pounding, he shouted, “Kill that man!”
The trap golem’s eyes began to shine with crimson light, and cracking sounds could be heard as it leaped into the air and shot toward the Chen Clan patriarch.
A boom rang out, and everything in the area trembled as they began to fight. As for Bai Xiaochun, he took a deep breath and then pushed his hand down onto the ground again, whereupon the ripples of a teleportation spread out, and he and the giant ghost king vanished.
The Chen Clan patriarch wanted to give chase, but the trap golem wouldn’t let him. Enraged, he began to attack with full strength. As for the trap golem, it was an ancient thing, and although it was able to cause problems for the deva patriarch, it wouldn’t be long before it simply began to fall apart.
However, even as the patriarch gained the upper hand, the trap golem’s eyes suddenly flickered. At the same time, the patriarch’s face fell as he remembered the stories he had heard about trap golems, and how they all had a terrifying self-destruct function.
“Not good!” He immediately prepared to back up, but before he could, a hidden spark inside the trap golem suddenly ignited. Within the blink of an eye, the entire trap golem was a mass of billowing flame, exploding out in all directions.
The air twisted and distorted as a shockwave rolled through all of Giant Ghost City. Countless faces fell, and numerous cries of alarm could be heard.
Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun appeared in another location some distance off in the city. As he did, a wave of heat surged by, blowing his hair up behind him.
“Trap golem self-detonation!” he gasped.
At this point, the giant ghost king was still coughing up blood, and his face was slack. However, his eyes burned with fiery passion.
As the flames faded away, a howl of rage could be heard, which came from none other than the Chen Clan patriarch. His hair was in disarray, his robes were in tatters, and he was shaking visibly. Although he wasn’t dead, the way he coughed up blood indicated that he had been seriously injured. At the same time, his hatred for Bai Xiaochun couldn’t have been any greater.
However, he didn’t hesitate to make the same decision as the Bai Clan patriarch. Roaring in rage, he became a bright beam of light that shot toward the Chen Clan. Considering how little he trusted anyone, his main priority now was to heal his own injuries.
When everyone in Giant Ghost City saw that, they gasped, completely shaken and terrified by Bai Hao.
“Heavens, the Bai Clan patriarch tried to kill Bai Hao and got seriously injured! Now the same thing happened to the Chen Clan patriarch....”
“Just how many tricks does this Bai Hao have up his sleeve? He’s terrifying!!”
“He’s a deva-killer!! A complete animal!”
Whether it was the three great clans, the armies of the six heavenly marquises, or anyone else, nobody could remain unterrified by what they had seen. As for the forces of the heavenly marquises, they did not have any devas on their side, and thus, were incapable of actually chasing after Bai Xiaochun. At the moment though, they were actually glad about that.
Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun felt more pleased with himself than ever.
“Did you see that?” he shouted loudly. “Don’t provoke me! When I attack, I frighten even myself!! I can use that same divine ability ninety-nine more times if I feel like it!”