Chapter 159: Three Great Con Artists

Luo Yu and the other two were startled in unison. Panic was plastered all over Luo Li's face as she cried out, "Taotwu! It caught up so fast!"

Surprisingly, Bai Wuhuo was calmer than ever. In a deep voice, he said, "It merely discovered us with its spiritual sense. It is still some distance away."

Luo Yu hurriedly hoisted Qin Yue onto his back, pulling out the flying ribbon with the intention of fleeing. Suddenly, Bai Wuhuo reached out and stopped him, asking, "Just now, you said... it was once trapped by your illusion technique?"

Luo Yu nodded. "What are you planning to do?"

A fierce glint flashed across Bai Wuhuo's crimson eyes. "Set a trap!"

Luo Yu lost his mind. "What time is it?! The opponent is at the Integration Stage! Let's get out of here!" His illusion technique wouldn't do much against it, and even if they set a trap, the ordinary arrays he had on hand were useless—the beast would just shatter them with a few brutal charges! Unless they used a large-scale offensive array—not to mention that they didn't have such an array on hand, even if they did, the beast would arrive long before they finished setting it up!

Bai Wuhuo did not argue. He simply said calmly, "Mirror Origin Realm."

"Eh?" Luo Yu understood what he meant in an instant.

The Mirror Origin Realm was Bai Wuhuo's innate divine ability, which both Luo Yu and Luo Li had previously experienced.

Out of curiosity, Luo Yu had once captured Bai Wuhuo to study it: the technique seemed to be a spell existing somewhere between a barrier and spatial distortion. Lacking sufficient scientific knowledge, Luo Yu could only guess that the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox utilized its innate abilities to send the target into a mirror world resembling an "anti-space," generated from the exact moment the target entered. Time flowed backward within this anti-space; yet because the Mirror Origin Realm was already situated at the very starting point of time, all internal original scenes remained frozen and unchangeable, and time within was no exception—with the sole exception of outsiders, of course.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan had always used it as an illusion technique, but in reality, it was a spatial spell. Theoretically, if a living being were trapped inside indefinitely, they could even grow younger and younger until turning into infants, ultimately perishing due to a lack of energy replenishment and extreme bodily fragility.

Executing this spell required a massive consumption of magic power. If the opponent had no way to break the spell, given Bai Wuhuo's current cultivation level, he could trap the target for at most a few hundred years. Moreover, his spiritual sense had to be on par with the opponent's for them to fall victim to it unknowingly.

Although Bai Wuhuo had begun practicing the *Qingming Secret Scripture*, he had started somewhat late after all. His spiritual sense could not rival that of that Taotwu; therefore, they could only take a gamble and see if they could create an opening for it to fall into the trap after it was hit by the illusion and its spiritual sense relaxed.

Luo Yu felt it was a bit too risky. "If we fail, we won't even have a chance to escape!"

Bai Wuhuo said, "Just leave me to cast the spell. You guys flee first."

Luo Yu gritted his teeth and said, "We cannot split up. If we lure it away, the trap will have been set for nothing... Let's just gamble together!"

When Taotwu finally shook off its daze, those few snacks had already vanished without a trace.

"These little brats actually have some tricks up their sleeves!" It let out a cold snort. Instead of pursuing them immediately, it closed its eyes and stood quietly in place, as if sensing something.

A moment later, a sinister sneer curled the corners of its mouth, and it leaped into the air, darting toward the northeast. As long as the resentment worms inside their bodies remained, they would never escape the palm of its hand!

Luo Yu's lips parted slightly, and colorful light flickered within his mouth as a butterfly, transparent as ice, emerged abruptly. It shimmered with the brilliant brilliance of a diamond, fluttering lightly in a patrol around the air. As it danced, it left behind trails of even smaller butterflies wherever it passed. Like the first, these tiny butterflies fluttered back and forth, up and down, left and right, shedding even smaller trails of butterflies in their wake. Soon, a single butterfly multiplied into a vast swarm. Finally, they abruptly faded into the air and vanished without a trace.

Luo Li's pretty face tightened into a stiff mask as she said coldly, "I can sense it coming!"

Bai Wuhuo flicked his tail, and a humanoid monster standing six to seven meters tall suddenly materialized beside him. It was wreathed in ghostly yin energy, with a cyan face and terrifying fangs.

"No matter what, we must hold the line! Lord Shuten-dōji, I'm counting on you!" Bai Wuhuo said fiercely.

Hearing this, Luo Li also summoned her Xiezhi. A flash of golden light gleamed in Luo Yu's hand as eight puppets materialized out of thin air—they didn't carry many of these things; apart from the eight flying ones guarding the Four Cardinal Heavenly Gates, the rest were left behind in the Heavenly Court to continue serving as guards.

"Hahaha! Quite an impressive formation!" Accompanied by a rolling, thunder-like laugh, a streak of dark clouds appeared in the southern sky, rolling toward them with lightning speed. As the distance closed, the dark clouds grew larger, resembling towering waves whipped up by a tsunami, surging forward boundlessly and mightily. In an instant, sand flew, stones rolled, and branches whipped across the air... The entire sky was suddenly plunged into pitch darkness where one could not see one's own fingers. Truly, the winds and clouds changed color, and the momentum was earth-shattering.

Luo Yu raised his hand and tossed a sturdy, miniature protective array over Kunlun Lan, calling out loudly, "Senior, wait! We have no grievances or enmities; why must you insist on eating us? Is there any other solution? If you need to nourish your body, I can brew some immortal pills for you to try. I am a very powerful alchemist!"

Having arrived directly above the group, Taotwu heard these words from within the clouds and found this phoenix quite amusing—flattering it when death was imminent.

It sneered sinisterly, "Ao here was injured by that half-demon, yet you lot stubbornly refused to let go, which shows how deep your brotherly affection is. How could I not harbor resentment?! If I were to spare you lot, who knows whether presenting pills in the future would bring him back from the dead or shatter his soul and sever his life! Better to swallow you all right now; why bother seeking afar what is close at hand?"

"Senior is far too suspicious." A flattering smile suddenly blossomed on Bai Wuhuo's face as he respectfully cupped his fists and bowed to Taotwu. "Even though Senior injured our brother, you also showed us mercy by not killing us. How could we repay kindness with enmity? Besides, whether something is medicine or poison, with your cultivation, you can certainly tell the difference. Senior also knows that I belong to the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan, and I am somewhat versed in the medical arts... Please forgive my bluntness, Senior, but even if you swallow us now, it treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. In the future, you will still have to rely on continuing to devour divine descendants to enhance your physical strength..."

Bai Wuhuo's expression grew extremely earnest. "However, with us here, it will be different. Junior can formulate the best treatment plan for Senior, and he can refine the finest pills for you, treating whatever ailment arises. Senior will never have to worry about your cultivation bottleneck again!"

Taotwu was slightly moved by their words. *This little fox speaks the truth; my body has flaws and cannot connect with the Great Dao, so I indeed rely on devouring divine descendants to forcibly repair myself. However, there are not many divine descendants left whom I can target. Either they are sheltered by old monsters of the same or higher tiers, or they hide where they cannot be found. If not for inexplicably receiving a message this time, how could I have discovered these four little fellows so quickly?!*

*Still, as long as I consume them, I can probably advance to the Mahayana stage immediately and become an immortal entity. At that time, I can leisurely seek out famous alchemists and physicians; I can also devour many old rivals who once opposed me, along with their children and grandchildren, and some targets I previously dared not touch...*

The three of them watched Taotwu's expression intently. Seeing its look shift from mockery to hesitation, and from hesitation to ruthlessness, Luo Li immediately shouted, "You cannot be so short-sighted! If I were you, I would choose to let us cure you first before eating you! Do you know how hard it is to find a renowned physician? Are you perhaps afraid that we will run away?"

Upon hearing this, Taotwu's eyes lit up: *This little girl's idea is not bad! Catch all these little fellows, slap a restriction on them, and bind them with a few chains... Could they possibly escape from the hands of an Integration-stage divine descendant? Even if they ran, I could just catch them back!*

Taotwu's mood soared. "Splendid! Since you have such self-awareness, stop chattering nonsense. Come over obediently and let me plant restrictions on you, lest this deity has to do it myself!"

Hearing this, the trio's hearts sank as they all assumed defensive postures.

Seeing this, Taotwu froze in confusion. "Looking at your expressions, could you be feeling unwilling? Since that is the case, you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!" With that, it took a step forward; yet the moment it stepped out, its head grew dizzy once more...

Seeing the creature's body tilt, Luo Yu and the others were instantly ecstatic: *It's taking effect! The delaying tactic succeeded!*

"Kill!" Luo Yu let out a violent roar, and the eight puppets turned into streaks of golden light, dashing out with a *whoosh!* Shuten-dōji and the Xiezhi were not to be outdone either—one wielding a sharp blade, the other raising its single horn, they charged forward fearlessly, ready to face death.

Taotwu raged, "You tricked me!" It whipped its tail around, lashing toward the swarming enforcers.

Squinting his red eyes, Bai Wuhuo sneered with an expression of unspeakable malice. Coolly, he said, "Since Senior is angry, Junior will send Senior to a quiet place to cool off. Please never come back to find us again, or we won't be polite next time we meet!"

With a single swipe of its tail, Taotwu smashed the eight leading puppets to pieces and whipped the two subsequent charging combatants into bloody pulps. Just as it was about to step forward and tear out this fox's heart... it suddenly felt the world spinning, and its vision turned into a blur of crimson... When it finally steadied its stance, the scenery around it had turned bizarre: the mountains were still those mountains, and the water was still that water, but everything had turned blood-red... And those little beasts had vanished as well... What kind of place was this?

"Hahahahahaha!" Luo Li laughed wildly. "It worked! May the evil big boss just reverse-age inside there until he dies!"

Luo Yu still felt a lingering fear and cautiously sought confirmation from Bai Wuhuo. "Are you confident about how long you can trap him?"

Bai Wuhuo replied, "If he cannot break the spell, he should stay there for a hundred years, I suppose? Look, with so much time, by the time he comes out, he'll be the one being chased and beaten by us."

Luo Yu still felt it was rather sketchy: Didn't he and the cat come out quite quickly last time? And time inside was slightly out of sync with the outside... They had better leave this place of right and wrong quickly!

He waved his hand to recall the eight puppets, taking a brief look: all of them had broken arms and missing legs, and they couldn't be used without repairs.

Luo Li and Bai Wuhuo also recalled their fighters: Shuten-dōji was heavily injured and needed recuperation; the Xiezhi had practically died once more, its yin energy largely scattered, and its belly nearly cleaved in half... None of these fellows could be used again in the near future. Although the losses were heavy, as long as the green mountains remained, there would be no lack of firewood!

*(Note: The author's note at the end of the original text about Grandma's birthday has been intentionally excluded as per instructions not to include formatting wrappers or extraneous notes.)*