"Impossible. The token? I clearly saw it put away in the storage pouch." A moment later, the man let out a low cry.
Unwilling to accept this, he upended the storage pouch in his hand onto the ground.
A streak of white radiance sprayed from the pouch mouth, and a pile of mediocre magical tools and a mere handful of low-grade spirit stones appeared on the ground.
The instant he made out what lay before him, the man's face turned deathly pale. Green light suddenly blazed around his body, and without a word he transformed into a streak of brilliant rainbow light, fleeing toward the hall's entrance.
A long sigh echoed through the great hall. Then the silver light on all four walls flickered to life. Layer upon layer of silver light barriers surged forth like waves, merging into a massive dome of light that encased the man within.
The man snorted coldly. His escape light showed not the slightest intention of stopping. Instead, he slapped a pouch at his waist with one hand, and a pitch-black spirit beast resembling a pangolin burst forth from it, slamming headfirst into the barrier wall ahead.
A muffled bang rang out. The silver barrier didn't even tremble, simply rebounding the spirit beast away.
A chill shot through the man's heart at the sight, but he gritted his teeth and spat a blue flying fork from his mouth. In an instant, the weapon and his escape light merged into one, transforming into a thick blue rainbow that smashed violently into the barrier wall.
Another muffled boom followed. The blue light was unceremoniously bounced back several zhang. It circled once and nearly tumbled to the ground.
"Brother Gu, no need to trouble yourself. This great hall is in fact the very center of the entire Yellow Dragon Mountain grand formation — the place where the restrictions are most formidable. Since you've fallen in here, don't even think about leaving." A calm voice drifted through the hall, so familiar it might have belonged to the scar-browed big man himself.
"So you really didn't die. That corpse was a flesh puppet, wasn't it? I'd heard before that the Nine Nations Alliance had a mysterious cultivator skilled at crafting blood-and-flesh puppets identical to the originals — indistinguishable from the real thing. I didn't expect it to be true." The blue barrier dimmed and a figure materialized within — none other than Gu Shuangpu of the Spirit Command Sect.
His face was pale, his eyes dark and brooding, yet he still managed to maintain a semblance of composure.
"Brother Gu certainly knows a great deal about our Nine Nations Alliance. You even know a thing or two about substitute puppets. Indeed, what you destroyed moments ago was merely a puppet I was controlling from afar. The fact that even a Nascent Soul cultivator like yourself couldn't tell the difference goes to show that on the outside, at least, it can pass convincingly for the real thing."
Outside the hall, white light flickered, and the scar-browed big man's figure appeared. He looked at Gu Shuangpu within the light dome, then at the substitute puppet that had already dissolved into a puddle of foul blood, and spoke calmly.
"Hmph! What good is looking the same on the outside! If I hadn't been wary of arousing your suspicion and refrained from scanning that puppet carefully with my spiritual sense, a mere hollow shell would never have deceived me. Besides, I should have figured it out long ago. The Two-Tailed Emerald Serpent, after centuries of my painstaking cultivation, is certainly extraordinarily venomous — but it could never so easily kill a Nascent Soul cultivator. I originally only intended to use it to wound you severely. The fact that it succeeded in one strike led me to mistakenly believe I'd underestimated the spirit serpent's toxicity. It seems I was indeed a bit too arrogant." Gu Shuangpu spoke with a face as dark as still water, a trace of remorse flickering in his eyes.
"Heh heh! I had someone craft that substitute puppet on a whim, of course. I never truly believed such a dead thing could compare to something like a Corpse Clone. And yet, this single puppet was enough to flush out a traitor like you, Brother Gu, who's been colluding with the Mulan cultivators. All those spirit stones were well spent." The big man surnamed Lu laughed rather than grew angry.
Gu Shuangpu's face twitched, and he fell silent for a time. But after a long pause, he asked coldly: "Judging by your tone, it seems you knew I would come looking for you — that you'd prepared the substitute in advance. Did you spot something wrong the moment I arrived at Fire Dragon Mountain?"
"Not at all. Why would I arbitrarily suspect an elder of the Spirit Command Sect? I merely received a tip from someone else. At first, Brother Lu here was half-believing, half-doubting. But now there is no longer any doubt. Fellow Daoist Han, Brother Ma — come on out." The scar-browed big man shook his head, then called out to both sides of the hall.
Gu Shuangpu's composure shattered completely upon hearing these words, and his expression changed dramatically.
From the stone walls on either side of the hall, yellow light flashed and a figure emerged from each — the calmly composed Han Li and the grim-faced elderly man surnamed Ma.