The Little Paperman worked quickly, and in just a few minutes, it had determined the boundaries of the swamp and marked them with branches.
"Master, the inspection is complete, take a look~"
Yun Ran followed the Little Paperman’s lead and looked over. The Little Paperman had placed branches around the entire swamp, making it look like a fenced-off area.
Everyone else saw this too, and Xin Fu couldn’t help but twitch his mouth. Who would have thought the Little Paperman had such ’aesthetic sense’?
Ginsengfruit quickly pulled out the earlier map, found the corresponding location, and began to write and draw.
The map they had was but an aerial view of the terrain, only able to determine the rough direction.
Now having traversed the area, Ginsengfruit improved the map, thinking it might fetch a good price later.
The group carefully avoided the swamp and continued moving forward.
As they walked, Fang Yu couldn’t shake the feeling that something was drawing him in, leading him to glance at the center of the swamp unguardedly.
Just that one glance caused trouble, for he saw someone crouching in the swamp.
Realizing he’d been tricked, Fang Yu quickly turned around to alert his uncle. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel_fіre.net
But to his surprise, when he turned back, he found himself alone, surrounded by complete silence.
This brought him into a cold sweat, knowing he’d fallen into a trap, yet feeling powerless to save himself.
He had only heard stories of Death Mountain’s malevolence but never experienced it firsthand.
Now, he realized the full extent of its peril.
"Uncle... Brother Xin... Temple Master Yun..."
Fang Yu called out with all his might, even pulling out his Magic Artifact, but everything around him felt like an unbreakable cage.
Worst of all, no matter which way he walked, he ended up circling the swamp’s edges.
Meanwhile, Du Jun, Xin Fu, and Yun Ran had not yet realized anything was amiss with him.
’Fang Yu’ continued walking with the group without showing any signs of abnormality, neither in actions nor expression.
Ginsengfruit held the roasted potato Xin Fu had given him earlier, thinking to share it with Fang Yu.
His Host had previously ’lectured’ him not to be too arrogant. While apologizing was off the table, a goodwill gesture was possible.
Ginsengfruit arrogantly handed over the potato, but ’Fang Yu’ maintained that same expression.
Upon hearing Ginsengfruit’s voice, his head turned mechanically, his smile unsettling: "Thank you."
With no warning, Ginsengfruit struck ’Fang Yu’s’ hand hard, demanding fiercely: "Who are you!"
The sound drew everyone’s attention.
Du Jun saw Yun Ran’s young apprentice slap Fang Yu’s hand, and instinctively backed Ginsengfruit, not Fang Yu.
"Fang Yu, what’s going on? Why did you upset Little Guo Guo?"
Damn it, Little Guo Guo!!!
But this wasn’t the time to argue over that; Ginsengfruit ignored Du Jun’s partiality.
Instead, he turned to Yun Ran: "Master, something’s wrong with him!"
Yun Ran, having observed for a while, nodded at Ginsengfruit’s words and approached.
Examining Fang Yu with narrowed eyes: "Impressive! Even under my nose, they managed to swap him out. Quite a bit of Dao progress!"
Saying this, Yun Ran swiftly and decisively struck ’Fang Yu’s’ forehead.
A grievous scream rang out, startling the members of Sihui Sect.
Nobody had mentioned that Temple Master Yun would act against them.
They were in complete disarray, as the real Fang Yu had been replaced by a replica.
With the sound, ’Fang Yu’ reverted to a shadowy blur, collapsing wretchedly to the ground.
As it tried to flee, Ginsengfruit stomped on it.
"Think you can run! Did you ask me first?"
He had finally mustered the courage to offer a roasted potato in goodwill, only to give it to this creature.
Du Jun, witnessing his nephew transform into a shadow after Yun Ran’s strike, widened his eyes and trembled: "What happened to my Fang Yu..."
The shadow, beneath Ginsengfruit’s foot, shrieked shrilly: "Let me go, I’ll eat you all!"
Xin Fu stepped up with a displeased look: "What is this thing? Not only can it take human form, it speaks human language!"
Ginsengfruit ground his foot harder, snapped: "What else could it be? Naturally, it’s a malicious spirit trying to rob and kill us. You want to eat us, huh? I’ll stomp you to death!"
As he spoke, Ginsengfruit gestured for the Little Papermen to come over.
The Little Papermen immediately flew in, delivering punches and kicks to the shrieking shadow.
"Watch out for my invincible whirlwind kick!"
"Everyone move aside, watch me tear its mouth wide!"
The shadow, screaming wildly, was beaten to a pulp by the Little Papermen, its cries full of pleas for mercy.
The Sihui Sect members were dumbstruck by the ’ferocious’ Little Papermen. This... this is the difference between the truly powerful and us?
The Little Papermen under Yun Ran’s control far surpassed their abilities in both spirit and capability...
For some reason, Du Jun suddenly recalled the saying "when one attains the Dao, even chickens and dogs ascend."
"Speak! Where is the person you replaced?"
"By... by the swamp, I trapped him there. Once he’s dead, I can completely replace him... Ow, don’t hit me, please don’t hit me anymore..."
Upon hearing the spirit’s words, Xin Fu felt relieved; thankfully, they discovered the switch in time, or they wouldn’t even know when the real Fang Yu died.
Yun Ran waved his hand, sending one of the Little Papermen flying towards the swamp.
The other Little Papermen continued to pummel the shadow under Ginsengfruit’s foot.
Until it could no longer scream, the real Fang Yu was carried back by a Little Paperman.
In just about an hour, the real Fang Yu looked noticeably weak.
After the earlier incident, with the real Fang Yu now returned, the Sihui Sect looked at Fang Yu with suspicion.
One of them cautiously asked Fang Yu: "What’s your bank card PIN?"