34: Chapter 34 The seal is hot to the touch, but I'll hold on tight.

The corpse wind inside the Funeral Home seemed to be choked by an invisible hand, and the whimpering sound abruptly stopped.

Chen Fan had just hoisted Su Shuang onto his back, the resolute killing intent not yet faded from his eyes, when the warm blood judge seal in his arms suddenly turned scalding hot, almost searing through his chest!

"Beep... beep..."

A series of intermittent noises exploded in his ears, cold, mechanical, and devoid of any emotion: "...Shadow Judges have moved... Dual targets locked... Cleanup countdown: 2 hours."

Chen Fan's steps instantly froze in place, his pupils contracting violently.

This seal was not just a terminal for a life-taking command; it was also the announcement device for the killing rhythm within the Order Alliance!

Two hours. This was the hourglass of life left for them.

"Don't take the main road..." Su Shuang leaned against his broad shoulder, her voice as faint as a candle in the wind, but her consciousness was exceptionally clear.

She forced herself to raise a hand, her pale fingertips lightly tapping her own temple, seemingly activating some hidden ability, "The Shadow Judges walk the Yin line; their attack method is very peculiar; they specifically target... areas where shadows overlap."

A painful tremor ran through her voice: "I can... sense their 'Shadow Threads,' like an invisible spider web, spread rapidly along the veins of all shadows, creeping close to the ground."

Chen Fan's heart tightened, and he understood instantly.

The Shadow Judges were not ordinary assassins; they were phantoms lurking in the shadows!

Just as he was about to forcefully break open the Funeral Home's main door, a withered figure leaning on a bronze-headed cane silently blocked the entrance.

It was the Old Bronze guarding the manor.

The greenish lantern in his hand swayed faintly, casting his face like dried tree bark, deeply furrowed with ravines.

"You can leave," Old Bronze's shriveled lips parted, spitting out a few hoarse words, "but you must leave something behind." His cloudy eyes rolled back and forth between Chen Fan and Su Shuang, "Choose. Leave your life, or leave the tea."

Chen Fan's brow furrowed deeply, killing intent surging.

At this moment, he had no time to entangle with an old man playing mysterious tricks.

However, Su Shuang on his back made a move.

She laboriously shook out half a packet of tea leaves wrapped in oiled paper from her sleeve, which was already soaked with blood—it was the rare frost moon Red.

The tea packet drew an arc in the air, landing precisely in the withered claw Old Bronze extended.

Old Bronze brought the tea packet close to his nose, closed his eyes, and a look of near-greedy intoxication appeared on his face as he inhaled deeply.

That crisp and unique tea fragrance seemed capable of suppressing the corpse miasma and bloodiness filling the manor.

"Heh..." He grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth, "Good tea. Good tea can suppress corpse qi, and it can also... buy a path to life." He withdrew his smile, lowered his voice, and tapped his cane on the ground, pointing to an inconspicuous corner in the Funeral Home's backyard, "Take the 'Earth Crevice Path.' That place never sees light, the Yin energy is too heavy, the Shadow Judges' 'Shadow Threads' cannot spread there; it is their blind spot."

He paused, his voice dropping lower, almost swallowed by the wind: "But that path has the 'Wailing Soul Wind.' The wind will imitate the voice of the person you are most familiar with and closest to, calling you from behind. Never... never look back." His gaze became extremely grave, "Those who turn back will have their souls hooked and can never walk out again."

Chen Fan took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.

He untied the broken string of bronze bells from his waist, re-tied them, and his fingertip brushed across the cold metal body, muttering softly, as if speaking to the bells, or perhaps to himself: "This time, I won't listen to ghost talk."

Just as they turned, a scarlet figure slid down from the shadow of the rafters like a phantom—it was Chi Tong.

She was expressionless, but in her hand, she held a strip of cloth saturated with dark red bloodstains.

"Gray Hawk hid this under his tongue before he died," her voice was as cold as ever, "I retrieved it for him."

Chen Fan took the cloth strip, and a strong smell of blood rushed to his nose.

On the cloth, a line of text was scribbled messily in blood: "Shadow Judges are dual entities, one illusory, one real. The illusion confuses the heart; the reality claims the life."

Those short twelve characters exploded in Chen Fan's mind like a clap of thunder!

Dual Entities!

No wonder Su Shuang said the 'Shadow Threads were creeping along the ground'; it turned out the enemy wasn't one person, but two assassins fighting in coordination!

One was responsible for creating chaos with illusory shadows to confuse the senses, while the other hid in the most fatal corner to launch the killing blow!

He suddenly turned back, looking at Su Shuang on his back whose breathing was growing fainter, and anxiously asked: "Can you distinguish which is the illusion and which is the reality?"

Su Shuang did not open her eyes, merely burying her cheek deeper into his back, using all her strength to gently nod: "You move... I sense."

The moment she nodded, the critical hit system in Chen Fan's mind suddenly vibrated, and a line of brand new golden text appeared:

[Cooperative State Activated, Perception Shared...]

[Host will temporarily gain partial 'Shadow Perception' ability from Su Shuang; Su Shuang will gain feedback from host's partial 'Combat Intuition'.]

Chen Fan's heart settled, and he no longer hesitated. Carrying Su Shuang, he strode rapidly toward the corner pointed out by Old Bronze.

The Earth Crevice Path, rather than a path, was more like a narrow fissure squeezed out by the mountain body, less than a meter wide. The stone walls on both sides were slippery and cold, constantly seeping black water with a muddy stench. Above, only a sliver of daylight remained, making it as gloomy as a tomb leading to the Underworld.

The sound of the wind was infinitely amplified here, ceaseless in its wailing, like countless wronged souls crying by their ears.

Chen Fan concentrated, guarding against danger, placing every step extremely steadily.

Su Shuang's even breathing patted his nape. Her perception, channeled through the system, transformed into a cold tactile sensation, allowing him to clearly 'see' the flow of the surrounding shadows.

Midway through, the bizarre 'Wailing Soul Wind' finally arrived.

"Brother... save me... I'm so scared..."

A childish and familiar voice, laced with crying, drifted faintly from behind them.

It was Xiao Tao!

It was his little sister Chen Xiao Tao's voice!

Chen Fan's footsteps abruptly halted, his heart feeling as if it were tightly clenched by an invisible, giant hand!

He knew it was fake; reason told him it was the wind's trickery, but the voice was too real, filled with helplessness and fear, almost tearing his reason apart!

The lingering bell at his waist trembled slightly at this moment, but it did not issue a warning.

The system interface was dead silent, with no prompts.

Just as his mind wavered, Su Shuang suddenly reached out, her nails digging deeply into his arm!

"It's the illusion!" she hissed urgently, her voice carrying a trace of decisiveness, "Xiao Tao's vocal pitch is half a tone lower than this! Don't believe it!"

Before the words finished, on the smooth stone wall to the left, a human figure suddenly bulged out like an ink wash painting, transforming from a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional entity!

A black-robed figure with a blurred face, holding a sharp blade, silently slashed toward Chen Fan's neck!

Illusion confuses the heart!

This strike was faster than the limit of vision!

Chen Fan, almost relying on the sharp pain from Su Shuang's sharp shout and the shared combat intuition, instinctively rolled to the right!

Shhh-la!

The blade edge grazed past his left shoulder, stirring up a spray of blood!

Sharp pain erupted, and his life value instantly dropped below the 20% warning line!

At the critical moment, the system prompt exploded in his mind!

[Defense Critical Hit x 2 Triggered!]

[This damage is forcibly reduced by 90%!]

[Host enters brief Super Armor state!]

The fatal damage was forcefully endured!

Chen Fan used the momentum of his roll, roared in anger, turned around, and unleashed a heavy punch carrying the force of wind and thunder, smashing fiercely towards the midsection of the black-robed shadow figure!

However, his fist passed right through the body without resistance!

That shadow seemed truly like a mass of formless ink, stirred by the punch's wind, yet completely unharmed.

"Hit the real shadow! He is behind you! In your own shadow!" Su Shuang's sharp cry exploded by his ear like an alarm bell.

Chen Fan's pupils shrank to pinpoints, the hairs on his body standing on end!

He spun around abruptly, and in the corner of his eye, he horrifyingly glimpsed his own shadow wriggling and elongating on the ground where he had just stood. A black-robed figure identical to the previous illusion was slowly 'standing up' from that shadow!

Reality claims the life!

The real Shadow Judge held a poisoned dagger, silently positioned against Chen Fan's back!

Only a hair's breadth away from piercing his heart!

In that instant between life and death!

The blood judge seal in Chen Fan's arms, which had been silent, once again erupted with a soul-scorching heat without any warning!

This time, it did not issue a countdown warning. Instead, a cold, arrogant female voice, laced with a trace of broken static, sounded: "Within the Order, aberrations... must be eliminated..."

It was Cold, Saltless!

This sudden voice seemed to generate some form of resonance and interference with the Shadow Judge's own command flow!

The real Shadow Judge's killing intent and movement exhibited a barely perceptible 0.3-second delay!

Among masters, a hair's breadth makes a thousand miles difference!

This 0.3 seconds was the distance between life and death!

"Stop!"

Su Shuang, lying on Chen Fan's back, spat out one word using the last shred of her strength.

[Charm Critical Hit Triggered! Target's spirit suffers a severe shock, forced Stasis for 1 second!]

The real Shadow Judge's movement instantly froze, as if the pause button had been pressed!

Now!

The blood in Chen Fan's body boiled instantly. All his strength, anger, and will to survive converged onto his right fist!

He let out a roar suppressed to the extreme and hurled out a punch fiercely!

[Attack Critical Hit x 3 Triggered!]

"Boom—!!!"

With a dull explosion, the real Shadow Judge's chest burst open, transforming into black mist scattering everywhere. The entire body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the hard stone wall, never to make a sound again.

And the illusion responsible for confusion also dissipated like green smoke.

Chen Fan gasped for air, the wound on his left shoulder throbbing painfully, cold sweat soaking his back.

The blood judge seal in his arms vibrated once, and the scorching heat quickly receded. The cold mechanical voice sounded again:

["Shadow Judge" threat eliminated, command flow interrupted.]

The battle was over.

Chi Tong's figure walked out from the shadows ahead again. She glanced at the gradually dissipating corpse on the ground, then at Chen Fan. For the first time, a trace of ineffable fluctuation appeared in her cold eyes.

She murmured softly: "They are starting to be afraid."

"Afraid of the blade in your hand, and even more afraid that you... can use their blade to slay their ghosts."

In the Earth Crevice Path, the Wailing Soul Wind had stopped at some unknown time, leaving only a deathly silence.

Chen Fan slowly straightened up. The weight of Su Shuang on his back seemed to have become heavier.

He could feel that although the blood judge seal in his arms had quieted down, some deeper connection seemed to have been established.

He was no longer just the prey; he had also become the hunter.

He raised his head and looked toward the faint, fish-belly white daylight at the end of the fissure.

That light seemed to herald the arrival of a blood-colored dawn.