Chapter 139: Who is the Hunter?

"Damn it, things really aren't that simple!" Lu Yang frowned.

The town mayor, or rather the monster, was inside the ancestral hall, making their situation exceedingly perilous.

"What do we do?" Meng Jingzhou's expression was equally grim, his brain working at lightning speed to find a countermeasure.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Yang caught sight of the rules posted at the entrance of the ancestral hall.

Rules of the Buyi Town Ancestral Hall

Rule One: If you are wearing black or white clothing, and you experience dizziness, blurred vision, or black hair growing on your arms, please enter the ancestral hall, pay respects to the Buddha statue, and drink the water in front of it.

Rule Two: Within the ancestral hall, the Buddha statue cannot be destroyed.

Rule Three: There is a man-eating monster inside the ancestral hall.

Rule Four: The ancestral hall is safe.

"Into the ancestral hall!" Lu Yang made a prompt decision and dashed inside.

The third and fourth rules of the ancestral hall seemed to conflict, suggesting one was false, but that was actually not the case.

Based on Lu Yang's familiarity with the rules over the past few days, everything written in the rules was the truth, which meant there had to be a self-consistent explanation for these two rules—it was true that there was a monster in the ancestral hall, but the monster could not eat people inside it.

Therefore, entering the ancestral hall was the safest choice!

The two rushed into the ancestral hall and finally beheld the town mayor's appearance, a monster the likes of which they had never seen before.

The mayor was half-human and half-beast, his body standing two stories high, with an upper torso not much different from a human's, except for an extra eye in the center of his brow and a mouth that split all the way to his ears like a python.

The mayor's lower body resembled a tall stallion, yet no stallion would possess eight legs, let alone human feet.

Lu Yang also noticed a thick tail behind the mayor, which lightly brushed the ground and kicked up dust, though the light in the ancestral hall was too dim to discern what kind of demon race the tail belonged to.

No ancestral tablets were placed in the ancestral hall; instead, a half-naked Buddha statue with its eyes covered stood in the center, enchanting yet eerie.

Three bowls of clear water sat before the Buddha statue, which ought to be the water mentioned in the first rule capable of dispelling the black dog transformation.

The mayor looked down, watching the two intruders with some surprise: "You two really aren't simple, making a judgment so quickly. It seems my coming out personally to deal with you was correct."

"Thank you for taking the trouble to come out personally, Mayor. Why don't you just head back instead!" Meng Jingzhou was as sharp-tongued as ever.

The mayor spoke no further; he had noticed Lu Yang's group when the flying carriage crashed to the ground, but because Daoist Buyu possessed the highest cultivation and had left the town, and these two were merely juniors with low cultivation, he had paid them no mind.

Later, the mayor discovered they had used the rules to eliminate the shop assistant, which made him take them seriously, realizing they seemed very adept at utilizing the rules and posed a hidden threat.

The mayor wanted to eliminate the two, but they would not fall into a trap easily, so he chose to beat them at their own game.

He could know everything that happened in Buyi Town; the two writing their escape plan on paper could not hide from his three eyes.

Geniuses of this sort always suffered from arrogance, believing no one could outsmart them, and the mayor exploited this mentality, letting them come up with a way to leave and allowing them to make a fool of the government runners until the final moment, when he stole the jade pendant, shattering their plan, and dealt with them in the ancestral hall.

These two were very cautious and would not leave the inn at night, so the mayor deliberately revealed a flaw to lure the snake out of its hole.

Now, it was time to reel in the net!

Both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou looked miserable; they were clever individuals and understood in an instant that all of this was the mayor's conspiracy.

They had been careless!

The mayor spoke no further, his tail striking like lightning, and before Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou could even react, they were sent flying and slammed against the wall.

Fortunately, based on the rule that the ancestral hall was safe, the two were unhurt; otherwise, this single blow alone would have killed them on the spot!

Their hearts sank; the disparity in power and speed between the two sides was too vast to be bridged by any means, let alone the fact that the mayor was immortal—even if he could die, they could not harm him.

The mayor knew he could not kill them inside the ancestral hall, so he would simply push them out directly!

Outside the ancestral hall, he was invincible!

The mayor charged at them with his massive frame, and seeing things take a turn for the worse, the two needed no discussion of strategy; they struck each other's palms to send one another flying, rolling away to evade the mayor's coordinated attack.

"You do have some skill." The mayor sneered, completely indifferent; such minor tricks could only be pulled off once against him.

"Flank to the back!" Lu Yang shouted loudly; the mayor's physique was simply too massive, making it difficult for him to turn around in the cramped ancestral hall.

When the mayor turned around, he saw Meng Jingzhou hoisting the Buddha statue and hurling it right at him.

Within the ancestral hall, the Buddha statue cannot be destroyed.

An indestructible Buddha statue was the finest weapon!

"Is this it?" Facing the Buddha statue carved from giant stone, the mayor remained unmoved.

He threw a punch at the two, breaking the sound barrier and whipping up a hurricane in the narrow ancestral hall—what tremendous might!

As the fifth person of the Body Integration Stage, he had chosen to become the town mayor not for amusement; during his period of slumber, something went wrong with his body, equivalent to physical death.

Upon waking, only his soul remnant remained, and in order to contend for opportunities in the great era, he possessed the mayor and utilized an ancient cultivation method to modify the mayor's body into this form.

Though this appearance was ugly and grotesque, to a cultivator, power surpassed all else; this form was his strongest state, bound to make a mark in the great era!

This punch was irresistible, and Lu Yang was blasted straight backward; he executed a ordinary Tiger Punch, mimicking a tiger to adjust his body in time, landing lightly to neutralize most of the force.

Meng Jingzhou clung desperately to the Buddha statue, resulting in both man and statue flying out of the ancestral hall together.

"Don't let the Buddha statue touch the ground! If the statue shatters, you will die!" Lu Yang bellowed.

Meng Jingzhou also realized where the danger lay; what he was holding now was not the hope of reaching the outside world, but a magical treasure that could detonate at any moment!

Meng Jingzhou roared, his muscles swelling, his skin turning crimson as veins bulged, stomping his feet onto the ground and exerting force with both arms to steady his body and the statue, preventing it from hitting the ground and breaking.

"Hurry back to the ancestral hall!" Lu Yang shouted; they were all outside the ancestral hall now, and a single hit from the mayor meant death!

"Want to come in?" The mayor sneered; the doors of the ancestral hall were two stories high, and he happened to block the entrance; with him there, these two little brats could not possibly enter the ancestral hall!

"Let's risk it!" Lu Yang charged at the mayor, his footwork agile, hoping it might be possible to slide under the mayor's body.

How could the mayor fail to see through Lu Yang's intention? He stepped out with his two front feet, intending to crush this annoying fellow.

To his surprise, Lu Yang's footsteps shifted, and he dodged straight to the side, causing the mayor to stomp on empty air.

"I finally lured you out." Lu Yang revealed a strange smile.

Seeing Lu Yang's smile, the mayor felt a terrible premonition; he snapped his head up and saw Meng Jingzhou hoisting the Buddha statue once more, throwing it right at him!

The Buddha statue shattered, and the chaotic passage leading to the outside world unfurled beneath the mayor's feet; the passage held bone-dissolving astral winds that blew against the mayor like tens of thousands of knives slashing open skin, scraping flesh and carving bone, a pain that pierced deep into the marrow, causing the mayor to scream in agony.

The mayor tried desperately to flee but was trapped by the chaotic passage, unable to leave.

At the inception of designing the passage, the ancient Body Integration experts had established that once one stepped into the passage, death was certain, and no one could ever hope to escape!

Those who attempted to escape the town by breaking the Buddha statue faced nothing but a path to death!

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou curled their lips into a cold smile from the side: "Those who enter the passage must die, yet you possess an immortal body; I'd like to see whether your rules or the passage's rules are stronger!"

From the very beginning, the two had never intended to seek help from the Daoist Sect using the jade pendant.

The jade pendant was merely a decoy thrown out to deceive the mayor.

(End of Chapter)