Refusing to believe his eyes, Zuo Lin'an checked again and found that the man had indeed passed out.
However, he still gave the player another blow to be safe before slinging him over his shoulder and carrying him away. He planned to keep this one in reserve.
If he had the chance, he would repeat his previous operation to gain another unsolvable specter.
Of course, this method was a bit of a shortcut.
It was only effective against players with weak minds, a lack of composure in the face of trouble, and insufficient strength.
If it were someone else...
For example, Zhong Cheng, or Jin Youwu and Zhou Shan, who were still together at this moment.
And Zhang Tinglei, who was in the Xiantian Rank.
If they encountered this situation, they would definitely realize immediately that it was a living person and would not strike so easily.
“Sigh, as good as this method is, it can only fool these poorly trained cannon fodder,” he muttered.
He was about to go look for the rabbit he had hidden, but then... he sensed something was wrong in the distance.
“Hmm?”
Zuo Lin'an quietly closed his eyes, focusing his attention on a certain part of the dungeon.
Perhaps Zhang Tinglei had heard the scream of the unlucky player earlier, or perhaps he had grown tired of the game of cat-and-mouse with General Zhong Cheng.
He was starting to get serious!
From a distance, Zhang Tinglei threw a palm strike toward Zhong Cheng.
Clearly, he was also wary of Zhong Cheng having something that could injure him, so he used a palm strike to test the waters first.
With his Xiantian Rank true qi released externally, the biting palm wind roared toward him. Zhong Cheng knit his brows tightly and twisted his body to dodge the strike.
However, Zhang Tinglei clearly had no intention of letting him go. He immediately changed his palm strike into a finger thrust, gathering a thread of true qi at his fingertip, and casually pointed toward the direction of Zhong Cheng's escape.
A needle-sized bolt of true qi shot from his fingertip, flying toward his target with incredible speed.
This time, Zhong Cheng was not as lucky. The true qi pierced into his back.
Of course, true qi was formless and could not actually damage his flesh, but it surged straight into his meridians.
“Ah!”
Zhong Cheng had to run his qinggong at full power, which was already constantly depleting his true qi.
With Zhang Tinglei's thread of true qi intruding so suddenly, he was caught completely off guard and had no time to react. A sharp pain tore through his meridians, sending him crashing directly to the ground.
Fortunately, his reflexes were quick. Enduring the excruciating pain, he tapped several acupoints on his body to seal off that strand of violent true qi.
Although his damaged meridians could not recover in a short time, the situation would not get any worse.
Of course, that was assuming Zhang Tinglei did not attack him again.
Zhong Cheng forced himself up and turned to glare at Zhang Tinglei, who was approaching with leisurely steps.
Naturally, his opponent did not rashly draw close, instead stopping about thirty feet away. He casually stroked his beard with one hand while keeping his other hand behind his back.
Zhong Cheng did not know if his opponent was holding a specter item behind his back that could be used at any moment.
He did not know, but Zuo Lin'an could see it clearly.
There was indeed something in Zhang Tinglei's hand behind his back—a pink seashell the size of a fingernail, which he was idly playing with.
Zuo Lin'an guessed that this was likely a defensive consumable specter item, meant to protect him in case Zhong Cheng was cornered and driven to desperate measures.
Zhong Cheng's expression was grim.
“Zhang Tinglei, we have no quarrel with each other. Why be so aggressive?”
A somewhat rogue-like smile played on Zhang Tinglei's face, but his words were quite serious.
“General Zhong Cheng, you are deeply trusted by the Emperor and have guarded the western border for many years. During your tenure, the western enemies didn't dare to draw near, making you the guardian deity of the western border's people.”
“To be honest, I truly admire you. If possible, I wouldn't want to fight you. After all, regardless of what you think in your heart, you have indeed protected the common people.”
At this point, Zhang Tinglei's tone shifted.
“However, I heard that the Emperor recently sent you a secret letter? Ordering you to dispatch troops to the north to deal with our rebel army?”
Hearing this, Zhong Cheng's mouth twitched.
The Emperor had indeed sent a Dark Dragon Guard to deliver a secret letter, and it was indeed to request troops, but he had only just received the letter and had not even had time to reply.
Who would have thought that this rebel leader operating in the northern border would already know about it!
He was the only one on his side who knew about the secret letter. This meant the leak must have come from the Emperor's side, which showed just how terrible the situation in the imperial capital had become.
“I was born in the western border, and my entire life will be dedicated to the western border!”
He did not state it directly, but he subtly conveyed his attitude to Zhang Tinglei.
But Zhang Tinglei hadn't made it this far by being easily fooled.
“Tell me, how do you plan to handle the Emperor?”
“The current Emperor has been acting like a mad dog ever since he returned from the National War Dungeon. Don't tell me you plan to defy his orders.”
Zhong Cheng let out a long sigh.
“You said it yourself, the Emperor has been rather crazed lately, but it is not because of the northern border.”
Zhang Tinglei frowned. “Then why? Don't even think about lying to me!”
A flash of embarrassment crossed Zhong Cheng's eyes.
Although his goal had always been to protect the western border from the raids of the bandits outside the pass, having been loyal to the Emperor for so many years, it was truly hard for him to accept that the Emperor had turned into this.
“I questioned the Dark Dragon Guard who delivered the secret letter.”
Zhang Tinglei was skeptical. “The Dark Dragon Guard are the Emperor's death sworn. Why would they reveal anything?”
Zhong Cheng felt completely helpless.
“I only asked casually at first, since the secret order I received was so unbelievable. I didn't actually expect him to answer, but he ended up telling me anyway.”
As for why he spoke, Zhong Cheng had also asked, but the Dark Dragon Guard had remained silent and refused to answer.
Zuo Lin'an had been paying close attention to their conversation.
In fact, the moment he heard them mention the secret letter, he understood. Xuan Jingyuan, who had successfully cleared the National War Dungeon, must have ordered Zhong Cheng to search for the so-called "divine technique" that Feng Xingyun had spoken of.
Because Xuan Jingyuan only knew of a rough, general area, he needed a vast number of people to search the mountains, scouring them inch by inch.
Xuan Jingyuan had completely lost his mind.
On top of that, there was the Crown Prince, who had been poisoned by Feng Xingyun without his knowledge and could usurp the throne at any moment. Time was running out for Xuan Jingyuan.
The words Zhong Cheng spoke next were indeed exactly as Zuo Lin'an had guessed.
“The Dark Dragon Guard said His Majesty has gone mad. He indeed ordered me to personally lead fifty thousand troops away from the western border, but not to the north. Instead, we are to go directly to the imperial capital.”
“After arriving at the imperial capital, I am to take him with me and head east to search for something in a certain place.”
“I don't know what it is exactly, and neither did the Dark Dragon Guard. All we know is that His Majesty said once he has that thing, he will be able to rule the world once more.”
Zhang Tinglei looked astonished.
“What does that mean?”
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