As soon as the army of lamellar armored ghosts appeared, Long Hua and the others decided to put some distance between themselves and the site of the commotion.
"Hmm."
Ever since that beam of golden light had appeared last night, Long Hua has been unable to peek into the imperial palace in detail through his divine senses. All he can get at this time is an aerial view of the palace—without being able to see the many buildings' interiors.
"That barrier was already there in the beginning, but it's been strengthened recently… Someone must have gotten inside of the palace, and tinkered with it. There might be some good treasures to be found—since they need to have something to power an array this large."
Towards Long Hua's remark, Tian Cheng asks—
"What's the plan then, master?"
"Let's just watch for now. From what I know, Zhou-laoye and that surnamed Yang are old friends, why is it that they suddenly seem like old enemies instead? If it's because they've recovered their memories from when they were practitioners, I wonder how much of it they've recovered?"
...…
"…"
As Yang Ning continues to aim at the double doors of the gate, the arrow of blue light that is notched onto his bowstring grows in size.
"…"
Tightening his hold over the trident, Zhou Chen rushes forth to confront the stone soldiers.
As Zhou Chen approaches, the stone soldier closest to him strikes with its heavy fist!
*Boom!!!* receiving the strike with his trident, the grounds beneath Zhou Chen's feet shatters!
In the same instance—
"All troops take aim at the stone soldier furthest to the back! Do whatever it takes to keep the enemies off General Yang!"
*Boom! Boom! Boom!* following Xiang Yu's orders, bombardment is commenced on the second stone soldier—causing portions of its body to break off and fall.
...…
"…"
Raising a flare gun, Zhui Yun pulls the trigger, and shouts—
"All NPI agents to me! We're taking the right side!"
In the same instance, Hong Xuan shouts—
"All Moon Guards to the left!"
With both sides of the streets covered—
"Hold the rear!"
Shao Tianming leads the members of the hall to cover the rear.
...…
[This looks like a mess…]
[Those stone soldiers look cool.]
[Think the old guy might have busted his back?]
[Would the stream just end if everyone dies here?]
Throwing out comments of this nature—from the comforts of their homes, are the viewers of the livestream.
...…
"Hmph!"
Raising a cold snort, Zhou Chen pushes back the stone soldier's fist—knocking it off balance.
Leaping into the air, Zhou Chen closes in on the stone soldier's chest, and lunges his trident forward!
As soon as the trident lands onto the stone soldier's chest—
*Boom!!!* white flames explode in an X-pattern!
Kicking his feet against the stone soldier, Zhou Chen puts some distance between it and himself.
Spinning the trident, and shrouding the entirety of it in white flames, Zhou Chen raises it to the side, and—
*Boom!!!* conjuring a colossal blade of flames, which can easily cut through an entire skyscraper, Zhou Chen rotates his body, and swings the weapon towards the stone soldier!
*Siiii!!!* receiving the fiery blade with the side of its abdomen, steam emanates from the stone soldier, as molten lava drips—as blood would on a living person.
Simultaneously, Yang Ning releases his arrow—causing an overwhelming flash of blue radiance to go off, which is then followed by a thunderous explosion!
As soon as the blue radiance turns dim, the gate is revealed to have a giant hole present between its double doors.
"Gateway cleared! Char-!"
Before Xiang Yu could give the orders to charge through the opened gates, his complexion turned pale.
"…Uh?"
"…!"
One by one, lamellar armored ghosts rise from the grounds of the imperial palace.
And similarly to a flood, these lamellar armored ghosts pour out of the gate's breach!
However, instead of attacking the nearby weapon spirits, the flood of ghosts presses themselves onto the stone soldiers.
Within the blink of an eye, the missing portions of the stone soldiers—along with the cracks that are on their bodies, are filled in by the lamellar armored ghosts, making it seem as if their scars and wounds are spewing blue flames.
As the stone soldier that Zhou Chen is attempting to cut apart—lunges its right-hand outwards, a phantom spear manifests in its grip!
"Uh…!"
Extinguishing the white flames, Zhou Chen barely manages to evade the spear before it could skewer him!
...…
"…"
Observing the situation, Long Hua raises a frown.
"Master, is your Soul Extraction Art ineffective against those things?"
Towards Tian Cheng's question, Long Hua replies—
"The fact that bullets actually work on those things—means that they're not actually ghosts. And even if the Soul Extraction Art does work on them, I don't have the spirit Qi needed to use it on all of them. As for what they really are, it's anyone's guess."
"Are they perhaps…? Weapon spirits in their Weapon Spirit True Body states?"
Hearing this from Lin Yu Heng, all eyes simultaneously turned towards his direction.
Chuckling aloud, Qing Ming Yang replies—
"Lin-xiong, how could they possibly be weapon spirits in their Weapon Spirit True Body states? They don't look anything like the ones that we're familiar with."
"Qing-xiong, Weapon Spirit True Body states didn't always look like the ones that we're familiar with right off the bat. The word "spirit" in weapon spirit, it refers to them being energy-based lifeforms—rather than flesh and blood lifeforms. Those ghost-like entities, they fit that description fine."
"…"
Hearing this, Qing Ming Yang turns silent, whereas Long Hua chuckles, and remarks—
"Living things evolve to gain a higher chance at survival. I didn't expect the weapon spirits of this world to be the same. Hmm, their identical appearance right now—makes you wonder how old this remnant of the previous world is."
Turning to Qing Ming Yang, Long Hua adds—
"Surnamed Qing, once you head back to the Ling Yuan family, remember to read a few books."
"…Ai."
Other than heaving a sigh, Qing Ming Yang couldn't say anything else.
Raising a storage pouch and having Tian Cheng enter it, Long Hua says—
"Honestly, I'm starting to wonder how those weapon spirits managed to imprison that Wang Bei Mu, who was originally a Nascent Soul realm practitioner. Their current strength really doesn't seem too impressive to me."
Rotating the Yin and Yang Cloud Ink Incantation, Long Hua causes his dark hair to grow in length.