Two mud duplicates.
One bore Lu Fei's face, the other Jing Jian's features, both wielding identical staffs and enchanted swords.
What was this evil spirit planning?
Lu Fei and Jing Jian stared at each other in bewilderment.
The two mud figures approached, mimicking their movements, and soon became identical to them.
The two widened their eyes.
They looked at each other, then back at themselves.
"Holy shit! I can't tell which one's fake!"
"Stop guessing—they're exact copies! The Nifu Ling's transformations are flawless in the water..."
Before they could react, the mud figures smirked eerily, brandishing their magical tools as they charged forward.
The duo hurriedly defended themselves, only to find the mud figures using identical techniques to their own.
It was like fighting mirror images of themselves.
Staring at those identical faces felt like looking into a mirror. Though aware they were fakes, Lu Fei felt an indescribable discomfort, momentarily paralyzed by hesitation.
"Lu Fei—you attack mine, I'll attack yours!"
But Jing Jian suddenly switched positions with him, eyes blazing with excitement as he thrust his sword toward the other Lu Fei.
Channeling his magic, the strike pierced straight through the duplicate's body.
Mud slurry instantly gushed out.
The ferocity of the attack made Lu Fei shoot Jing Jian a sidelong glance.
"Brother Jing... why do I get the feeling you're enjoying this?"
"I've always wanted to beat up this unscrupulous merchant—finally got my chance!"
Jing Jian grinned, growing fiercer with each strike, forcing the mud figure into retreat.
"After all I've done for you, this is how you repay me?"
Lu Fei sighed in exasperation and turned to face Jing Jian's mud duplicate.
Though the figures mirrored their appearances, they were mere imitations. Once mentally adjusted, they proved manageable foes.
But the crux of the problem was that these mud figures simply couldn't be killed.
Jing Jian unleashed a frenzied bombardment of attacks, but the shattered mud figures kept reconstituting themselves.
"Lu Fei, don't you think this Mud Binding Spirit is perverse? It actually enjoys being beaten!"" Jing Jian kicked away a mud figure while gasping for breath.
"It's not that simple. The Dragon Scale also drains magical power. We can't stay underwater forever.""
"Is it trying to exhaust us to death? What else does this thing fear besides sunlight?""
After pondering, Lu Fei said: ""Mud Binding Spirits excel at transformation and possession. If we can find a living host for it to possess, attacking that host should weaken its power.""
"There's only two of us in this riverbed! Where would we find another living creature? Even if we did, that evil entity wouldn't willingly possess it just to let us attack!"" Jing Jian frowned.
"Then we have no choice but to fight head-on! Mud Binding Spirits are born from resentment condensed in sludge. There must be a core of resentment - only by attacking that core will we succeed.""
Lu Fei retrieved the black umbrella again.
"We don't know what form the core takes, but it must be inside those two mud figures. Let's try cutting them apart again.""
Thin strands of hair flew out, weaving into a sharp black net.
The two followed behind the dark hairnet, waiting to search for the resentment core the moment the mud figures were shredded.
The mud doppelgängers made no attempt to dodge. As the black net approached, they suddenly grinned eerily and instantly dissolved.
Immediately after,
the riverbed began violently shaking, throwing both men off balance.
Billowing sludge churned the river water inside the house into murky turbulence, creating a thick fog-like obscurity around them.
"Disaster!""
Struggling to stabilize himself in the chaos, Lu Fei felt ominous foreboding - he and Jing Jian had been separated during the tremor.
Surrounded by turbid water, he couldn't tell where Jing Jian might be.
Clutching the black umbrella, he began moving cautiously when he suddenly sensed water currents shifting behind him. He whirled around immediately.
Black hair wildly shielded in front of him.
Amidst the murky waters, a figure gradually emerged, looking exactly like Jing Jian.
"Lu Fei, it's me!"
"Are you really Brother Jing?"
Lu Fei looked skeptically at the newcomer.
"Of course it's me!" Jing Jian flicked his Seven-Star Magic Sword, its blade glimmering with faint starlight.
"Are you alright?" Lu Fei sighed in relief.
Mud figures had no magical power, so this person was undoubtedly Jing Jian.
"Perfectly fine! I just saw two figures over there. Might be Mudbound Spirits. Let's hurry before they escape again."
Jing Jian urgently waved at Lu Fei.
"Alright!"
Moving cautiously through the turbid river, they advanced together.
Two shadowy figures indeed wandered ahead, seemingly searching for something.
They stealthily circled behind the figures.
The doppelgängers mirrored their exact appearances.
Had Jing Jian not manifested his magic earlier, Lu Fei couldn't have distinguished real from fake.
"Strike now!"
Lu Fei raised his black umbrella as hair strands drifted stealthily through the murk.
Beside him, Jing Jian lifted his Seven-Star Sword - only to suddenly thrust it towards Lu Fei.
Too late to react!
By the time Lu Fei sensed something wrong, it was too late. The enchanted sword thrust straight toward his heart. He hastily raised his arm to block, deflecting the blade at the cost of a gash across his forearm.
Blood instantly bloomed in the river water.
"Brother Jing, what are you doing?"
Clutching his wounded arm, Lu Fei stared at Jing Jian in disbelief.
Black hair whipped back violently, writhing in fury.
"You're an imposter!" Jing Jian snarled, lunging forward with another merciless stab.
"You're mistaken! I'm real - look!"
Lu Fei desperately manifested electric sparks along his jujube wood staff as proof, but Jing Jian paid no heed, attacking with frenzied strikes.
The commotion alerted two other figures.
As they rushed over, Jing Jian immediately disengaged from Lu Fei and clashed with the newcomers.
Magical energies crackled from the artifacts in their hands - electric arcs and starlight shimmering through the water.
How could they also wield magic?
Lu Fei stood utterly bewildered.
"Wait! Everyone stop!" He tried to make sense of the chaos, but the relentless attacks forced him to frantically defend himself.
"I'm the real one!"
"No, I'm the real one!"
When the turmoil subsided, four figures stood knee-deep in the murky river, eyeing each other with identical suspicion.
All could channel magic through their artifacts.
Even more chillingly, an identical wound now marred another Lu Fei's arm.
How was this possible?!
The mud figures have no mana, but there couldn't possibly be two Lu Fei and Jing Jian either.
Looking at the other three individuals, Lu Fei finally realized.
The Mud Binding Spirit itself possesses no mana, but it can absorb their abilities!
Earlier, allowing them to attack wasn't because it enjoyed being hit, but to absorb their powers and then assume their forms to lure them into mutual destruction.
What a freak!
What to do?
Lu Fei's heart sank.
This Mud Binding Spirit's ability was truly insidious - it could even mimic mana. How were they supposed to deal with this?
Even if they wanted to escape, they needed to find the real Jing Jian first.
Lu Fei frowned deeply as black hair strands floated before his eyes, seemingly reminding him of something.
"Hmm?"
Lu Fei looked up.
He suddenly noticed the other Lu Fei wasn't holding the black umbrella.