Chapter 33 Smashing the Fishing Rod

After Zhang Guanchen finished speaking, Ninth Senior Brother's face did not loosen up in the slightest.

He knew Zhang Guanchen too well.

The more this kid smiled like nothing was wrong, the more he was digging into dangerous territory in his heart.

The dark alley inside the door should not exist.

Han Qing's old residence was only so big; The Company had measured it long ago, spanning no more than a few dozen steps from front to back, yet after the wooden door opened, a bottomless alley appeared out of thin air inside.

This was no ordinary illusion.

Ninth Senior Brother lowered his voice.

"Do not enter."

Zhang Guanchen looked at the three people under the red light.

"They cannot hold on for much longer."

The red threads in the palms of the three people expanded and contracted, and the Talisman skin on their faces rose and fell slightly in tandem.

With every rise and fall, the living Qi in their chests grew thinner by a fraction.

Xu Chengping clenched his fists.

"They are still alive?"

"Alive," Zhang Guanchen said, "but they are hanging on the hook."

Xu Chengping's face turned green.

These three were from The Company.

The Company was not some major Jianghu sect, but with their own people being dangled like this, no one could swallow this insult.

That hoarse voice inside the door sounded again.

"The little Immortal Master has good eyes."

"These three lives in exchange for you stepping three paces inside the door."

Zhang Guanchen's gaze turned cold.

"You talk too much."

The other side chuckled.

"Because I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Without waiting for him to finish, Ninth Senior Brother's right arm condensed into a large hand of golden light, which lunged into the wooden door.

As soon as the golden light hand entered the door, the three people under the red light groaned simultaneously.

The red threads in their palms tightened instantly, as if they were about to be ripped apart alive.

Ninth Senior Brother immediately withdrew his strength.

The voice inside the door carried a laugh.

"People from Mount Longhu are still so fond of using brute force."

Ninth Senior Brother's expression was grim.

This was the fishing rod.

The person inside had turned the three missing superpowered individuals into fishing hooks; if there were a forced attack from the outside, they would be the first to be hurt.

Zhang Guanchen suddenly crouched down, his fingers pressed to the ground.

The traces of the Blood Talisman, left by the vermilion handwriting, had not yet dissipated.

The talisman stele and the Blood-colored Small Stele lit up simultaneously.

He followed the broken patterns, looking forward bit by bit.

The blood threads emerged from the characters, split into three strands after entering the door, pinned into the palms of the three people, and then extended further into the depths of the dark alley.

On the surface, it looked like three lives were holding up the formation.

But the true break point was not on the three people.

Zhang Guanchen narrowed his eyes.

"Ninth Senior Brother."

"Speak."

"Later, when I break the characters at the door, you keep your eyes on that red light."

Ninth Senior Brother frowned.

"The red light?"

"The light is not a light, it is a scale weight," Zhang Guanchen said in a low voice. "It is pressing down on the three threads. If you do not smash the light, the people inside will die first."

Xu Chengping immediately asked.

"How do we smash it?"

Zhang Guanchen looked at him.

"Does your Company have anyone skilled in wind or hidden weapons? Their aim must be good."

Xu Chengping turned his head.

"Old Meng!"

A thin, small man walked out from behind the crowd. He was around forty years old and looked unremarkable, but he held three black nails in his hand.

"I can hit it."

Zhang Guanchen glanced at him.

"Don't hit the wick, hit the lamp rope."

Old Meng nodded.

"Understood."

Zhang Guanchen looked at Ninth Senior Brother again.

"The moment the lamp rope breaks, Ninth Senior Brother, use your golden light to support the three people. Do not pull, only support."

Ninth Senior Brother said in a deep voice.

"What about you?"

Zhang Guanchen raised the Heart-Calming Talisman.

"I am smashing the fishing rod."

Ninth Senior Brother wanted to say more.

But Zhang Guanchen had already stood up, his expression uncharacteristically serious.

"Trust me."

Ninth Senior Brother stared at him for two breaths.

"Only this once."

"Mm."

The next moment, Zhang Guanchen raised his hand, his palm supporting the Talisman with golden light.

This time, he did not use the entire sheet of golden light to carry the Talisman; he only supported it with a single line along the edge of the Heart-Calming Talisman. The Talisman intent did not enter the golden light, merely borrowing it to stabilize the form.

He had not forgotten Celestial Master Zhang Zhiwei's words.

If you can't endure it, don't force it.

But to dismantle this remnant Talisman at the door, he didn't need the whole sheet to carry it.

Just enough would suffice.

The Heart-Calming Talisman was pressed to the ground.

The vermilion handwriting was scorched and lit up instantly.

The hoarse voice inside the door paused.

"You dare?"

Zhang Guanchen sneered.

"You invited me here, and now you ask me if I dare?"

The Talisman intent descended.

The two characters "Guanchen" within the six vermilion characters trembled first.

These two characters were fixed with his name.

If he wanted to dismantle it, he would start by dismantling his own name.

In the Daozang Stele Forest, those broken marks of the Blood Talisman on the talisman stele glowed bright red.

Zhang Guanchen pressed down with his fingertip.

The golden light did not explode, but rather pierced into the turns of the strokes like a needle.

The first stroke broke.

The red light swayed.

The three missing superpowered individuals looked up simultaneously, the red threads in their palms tightening.

The black nails in Old Meng's hand left his grip.

Whoosh.

The first nail grazed the lamp rope.

It did not break.

Ninth Senior Brother's eyes tightened.

Zhang Guanchen did not stop.

The second stroke broke.

A small, sharp popping sound came from inside the red light.

The Talisman skin on the three people's faces cracked slightly, revealing the gray skin underneath.

The second black nail flew out.

This time, it hit the lamp rope accurately.

The lamp rope trembled, but half of it remained connected.

The voice inside the door finally changed.

"You are courting death!"

From the depths of the dark alley, a blood shadow lunged out violently.

Ninth Senior Brother's large hand of golden light swept across the door and slapped down on the spot.

Bang.

The blood shadow was scattered by the blow, but it transformed into over a dozen thin threads, stabbing straight at Zhang Guanchen.

Zhang Guanchen had been prepared; he flicked his left hand, casting the second Heart-Calming Talisman.

The Talisman paper unfolded in mid-air, its intent holding for three breaths.

Three breaths were very short.

But it was enough.

The third stroke broke.

The two characters "Guanchen" split open on the spot.

Old Meng's third black nail also flew out at this moment.

With a ding, the lamp rope snapped.

The red light fell.

Ninth Senior Brother roared angrily; his large golden hand did not grab or pull, but instead supported upward.

The three missing superpowered individuals were supported by the golden light under their chests and backs; the red threads in their palms, having lost the suppression of the red light, instantly loosened by half.

Zhang Guanchen stomped his foot and lunged half a step into the door.

Ninth Senior Brother's expression changed drastically.

"You said three paces!"

"This is only half a pace!"

Zhang Guanchen was quick with his mouth, but even faster with his hands.

The golden light at his fingertips narrowed into a single line, piercing into the gap where the remnant Talisman at the door had broken.

At that moment, the Blood-colored Small Stele and the talisman stele in the Daozang Stele Forest shone with a blinding light almost simultaneously.

He finally saw it.

The fishing rod was not in the depths of the dark alley.

It was hidden right under the threshold.

Buried beneath the threshold was a piece of black-red bone fragment.

The bone fragment was covered in Blood Talismans.

A cold light flashed in the depths of Zhang Guanchen's eyes.

"So, you are here."

The golden light in his palm suddenly took on the appearance of fire, and he slapped down through the threshold.

Boom.

The bluestone threshold cracked open.

Half of the black-red bone fragment was jarred out.

The person inside the door shrieked, and red light flashed wildly at the end of the dark alley.

"How dare you damage my blood bone!"

Zhang Guanchen grinned.

"You talk too much."

He lifted his foot and stomped down.

Crack.

A corner of the bone fragment shattered.

The dark alley twisted violently.

The red threads in the palms of the three missing superpowered individuals snapped simultaneously; they collapsed forward and were steadily caught and supported by Ninth Senior Brother's golden light.

Xu Chengping led his people forward immediately to catch them.

"They are alive!"

"They all still have breath!"

The crowd at the alley entrance was instantly revitalized.

But the dark alley inside the door did not completely disappear.

The voice from the depths turned cold.

"Zhang Guanchen."

"I will remember you."

Zhang Guanchen retreated outside the door, his face slightly pale, yet he wore a very provocative smile.

"Then your memory is quite late; I already made you feel pain yesterday."

The depths of the dark alley fell silent for a moment.

The other side was clearly stung by this sentence.

Ninth Senior Brother grabbed Zhang Guanchen by the back of his collar and hauled him backward.

"You get back here."

Zhang Guanchen's toes were lifted off the ground as he was hauled away, but his mouth did not rest.

"Ninth Senior Brother, your image; outsiders are watching."

"It would be best if you shut up right now."

Ninth Senior Brother's temple throbbed violently.

Just now, when Zhang Guanchen lunged half a step into the door, it had nearly scared the soul out of him.

Xu Chengping had his people treat the three missing superpowered individuals and sent others to seal the shattered bone fragment under the threshold.

Old Meng walked over, and the way he looked at Zhang Guanchen had changed.

"Daoist Master Guanchen, thank you for just now."

Zhang Guanchen waved his hand.

"Your nail throwing was accurate too."

Old Meng smiled bitterly.

"The first one was off."

"It was off in a very layered way."

Old Meng was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

This kid really spoke strangely.

But in that round just now, anyone could see that without him, the three people could not have been saved.

Xu Chengping also walked over, his expression solemn.

"The Company owes you a favor."

Zhang Guanchen looked at him.

"I have heard that a lot lately; can you people who owe debts queue up in order?"

Xu Chengping was choked up.

Ninth Senior Brother slapped him on the head.

"Speak properly."

Zhang Guanchen rubbed his head and stopped messing around.

He looked at the broken bone under the threshold.

Although the bone fragment was cracked, the Talisman paths on it were not yet completely dead.

Within the blood-colored patterns, there was a trace of White Qi.

Reverse Life.

Zhang Guanchen's heart sank.

This bone fragment was not the bone of an ordinary person.

It had been nourished by Blood Talismans and washed by some kind of Reverse Life White Qi.

Han Qing, Shen Zhao, the old lineage of the San Yi Sect, and the Blood Talisman.

The four threads finally twisted into one here.

Xu Chengping noticed his expression.

"Are there still questions?"

Zhang Guanchen crouched down, looking at the bone fragment through the golden light.

"This thing was not left behind by Han Qing."

"Then who?"

"The person who sent me into the game."

Zhang Guanchen extended his fingertip; he did not touch the bone, but only tapped a broken corner of a Talisman on it.

"He does not want to kill me; he wants me to see this."

Ninth Senior Brother's expression sank.

"What do you mean?"

"It means this is not yet the innermost part of the game."

Zhang Guanchen stood up, watching the dark alley inside the old residence door gradually dissipate.

"This is an invitation."

As soon as the words fell, a wisp of White Qi suddenly emerged from the shattered bone fragment.

The White Qi swirled in mid-air, condensing into a blurred character.

Shen.