Chapter 110: The Subtle Strength of the Team Leader

Zhang Pu hadn’t entertained this thought for long before he suddenly saw Elder Ge.

Elder Ge—by now, he must have recovered to roughly the same state as last night, Zhang Pu thought to himself.

Without hesitation, Zhang Pu broke into a light jog toward Elder Ge’s location.

Before reaching him, however, he suddenly employed a technique akin to secret sound transmission and whispered his current situation to Elder Ge.

Elder Ge was momentarily taken aback; he had not expected anyone to be tailing Zhang Pu.

But upon Zhang Pu’s reminder, he began to suspect as much.

Without delay, Elder Ge agreed to Zhang Pu’s plan.

He immediately took a shortcut to confront the person following Zhang Pu.

In his heart, Elder Ge thought: I never imagined anyone in the campfire circle would dare defy me.

He had assumed that after last night, he had already made those people restless and fearful. He never expected to be outmatched by Zhang Pu, and that too so utterly, leaving him completely powerless.

One Zhang Pu was bad enough, but now there was yet another person utterly unafraid of him. Truth be told, a flicker of anger kindled in Elder Ge’s heart.

With no outlet to vent his frustration on Zhang Pu, he decided to unleash it on this newcomer instead.

As Elder Ge floated along the shortcut toward Lin Hongbin, the latter immediately sensed his presence.

“Ghost Shadow—” Lin Hongbin exclaimed, unsure whether to shout in alarm or excitement.

He suddenly felt that this Ghost Shadow was unlike some mere charlatan playing tricks, yet his fighting spirit surged anew.

As Elder Ge drifted closer, Lin Hongbin swiftly assumed a state of heightened alert.

Elder Ge, still floating lightly, barely regarded Lin Hongbin as a threat. But in an instant, he saw Lin Hongbin draw a Ghost Head Blade from his back pack with incredible speed.

The blade flashed under the faint moonlight, and even Zhang Pu, hidden behind the grass and trees, clearly sensed a dazzling gleam.

That gleam from the Ghost Head Blade instantly dispelled some of the dark winds Elder Ge had summoned.

Is he a martial arts grandmaster?

In that moment, not only Zhang Pu but even Elder Ge, standing opposite Lin Hongbin, felt a profound sense of awe. Lin Hongbin’s strength was extraordinary!

Neither Zhang Pu nor Elder Ge knew that Lin Hongbin had once defeated two martial arts grandmasters. Since Lin Hongbin never underwent any formal test to claim that title, few were aware of his true power.

Lin Hongbin’s Ghost Head Blade not only cut through Elder Ge’s dark winds but also radiated a fierce aura that nearly sliced Elder Ge’s shadow itself.

Though Elder Ge lacked a physical body, his shadow could feel pain. Truly, the blade’s radiance caused his very soul to throb with agony.

Both Elder Ge and Zhang Pu were struck with astonishment, while Lin Hongbin, seeing how one strike had broken Elder Ge’s momentum, felt a surge of pride.

Just as he prepared to deliver a finishing blow to this advanced trickster, suddenly a dense fog descended from the sky!

Zhang Pu immediately recognized that Elder Ge was deploying the same old trick from that night.

A fog barrier!

Elder Ge intended to use this fog barrier to gain the upper hand, preventing the formidable Ghost Head Blade wielder from seeing him clearly, allowing him to strike from the shadows.

But once the fog barrier appeared, Lin Hongbin knew the situation was turning unfavorable.

He leapt into the air, the blade’s light intensifying as countless gleams formed a glowing ring around him.

Using this ring as a shield, Lin Hongbin advanced through the fog to attack Elder Ge.

Though Elder Ge relied on the fog’s concealment, several of his attacks were shattered by Lin Hongbin’s fierce blade light.

Zhang Pu, hidden in the shadows, gradually realized that Elder Ge might not be a match for this mysterious team leader if things continued like this.

For Lin Hongbin, this only reaffirmed his belief that all such supernatural trickery would crumble beneath his relentless assault. So far, Lin Hongbin saw Elder Ge as just another charlatan like Old Yang or Liu Yingde, refusing to believe Elder Ge was anything more. As for Elder Ge’s current powers, Lin Hongbin regarded them as merely a slightly higher level of sorcery compared to those others.

Lin Hongbin was confident that under his fierce attack, the Ghost Shadow would soon be unmasked.

He pressed the offensive, his blade slicing through the fog time and again, leaving Elder Ge with nowhere to hide.

Finally, Lin Hongbin found Elder Ge’s shadow.

“Show yourself!” Lin Hongbin roared, his voice shaking the very ground.

Even his mighty shout seemed capable of dispersing Elder Ge’s ethereal shadow.

Under the blade’s radiance, Elder Ge’s shadow was about to be cleaved in two when—

Suddenly, a loud “bang” echoed. Lin Hongbin felt his Ghost Head Blade strike something unyieldingly hard, even causing a tingling numbness in his hand.

Had the trickster struck back?

Lin Hongbin’s mind raced as he prepared to respond, but in the blink of an eye, the shadow he had locked onto vanished.

At the same time, a thick fog surged toward him, driven by a tremendous force, carrying a strange, unsettling scent.

Lin Hongbin held his breath and retreated. Once he had backed far enough to gather his energy and counter the toxic fog, he sensed that the Ghost Shadow had already fled.

Indeed, Elder Ge and Zhang Pu had moved to a spot some distance away from Lin Hongbin.

Just moments before, it had been Zhang Pu who blocked Lin Hongbin’s fierce attack and saved Elder Ge.

Zhang Pu had only intended to test Lin Hongbin’s power; he had no desire for a full-scale battle just yet. This brief encounter had given him a rough estimate of Lin Hongbin’s strength—it was indeed formidable.

Yet, for various reasons, Zhang Pu felt he still had a fair chance of victory.

After hiding out, Zhang Pu and Elder Ge exchanged a few words before parting ways.

Zhang Pu instructed Elder Ge to continue trailing at the rear of the group during the upcoming march. With Elder Ge’s presence, even if the mysterious team leader sought him out, Zhang Pu would be there to disrupt any such attempts.

After the fog dispersed, Lin Hongbin failed to find Elder Ge again and seemed unwilling to pursue further. The intense resistance he had encountered left him uneasy.

The immense power behind that force chilled him to the bone in retrospect.

Lin Hongbin thought to himself: If that was the Ghost Shadow’s counterattack, then his power surpasses all expectations. And if the Ghost Shadow has allies of similar strength, my situation could become extremely precarious.