Chapter 495: Chapter 433: Luring the Enemy with a Clone

Matsuo led five Earth Dark Sect cultivators and secretly infiltrated Golden Ox Beach.

The group didn’t stay close to the seabed. Instead, they navigated the middle depths, patrolling back and forth.

Traps generally covered an area of several dozen zhang and didn’t extend more than thirty zhang high. This way, they wouldn’t have to worry about triggering any traps laid by the Chenghua Sect.

However, underwater combat was different from fighting on land or in the air, and the seabed offered a greater tactical advantage.

Matsuo, bold in the power of his Divine Sense, could detect things at a much greater distance and didn’t fear a surprise attack.

He guessed that Zhao Lin must be hurrying to lay more traps. They had to stop him as soon as possible, or the beach would soon be lost.

At that point, never mind killing Zhao Lin, they wouldn’t even be able to set foot on the beach.

After advancing a short distance, Matsuo spotted someone in the water not far away. The person was emitting a familiar aura...

It was Zhao Lin!

Matsuo’s heart leaped, and he immediately came to a halt.

The other cultivators were baffled. Just as they were about to ask, Matsuo quickly motioned for them to be silent.

"Zhao Lin is up ahead!"

Matsuo created a barrier around them and spoke in a hushed voice.

"Zhao Lin! What’s he doing here?"

A cultivator named Tang Wan asked in astonishment.

"If I’m not mistaken, the Chenghua Sect members are below us, laying traps. Zhao Lin is standing guard up here to prevent us from launching a surprise attack."

Matsuo stroked his beard and said with a sneer.

"Should we surround and kill him together?"

The Earth Dark Sect cultivators all drew their brow blades.

"Not yet."

Matsuo held up a hand to stop them. After a moment of thought, he said, "His power is a cut above all of you; you’d be of little help. In fact, with a crowd, you’d just get in my way."

"You all go down below and cut off his retreat. If anyone from the Chenghua Sect comes to help, block them all."

"I will deal with Zhao Lin alone!"

Previously, Matsuo had felt the advantage was on his side and hadn’t wanted to fight Zhao Lin head-on. He was getting old, and even a minor injury could damage his Dao foundation.

But now the tables had turned, and he had no choice but to make a move.

"Yes!"

The five cultivators received their orders and swam downward.

Matsuo gripped his saber, concealing his aura as much as possible, and slowly approached Zhao Lin.

’Trying to sneak up on me?’

In truth, Zhao Lin had discovered Matsuo long ago using echolocation and was deliberately feigning ignorance.

If Matsuo and his men had gone down to stop Sun Jue’s group from laying the traps, he would have warned them immediately. But from the looks of it, Matsuo was clearly coming for him.

That being the case, Zhao Lin decided to play along and turn the tables.

When Matsuo was about fifty zhang away from Zhao Lin, he took a deep breath and suddenly charged forward. His saber transformed into a brilliant streak of white light, parting the water as it slashed toward Zhao Lin.

Zhao Lin was already prepared. With a wave of his hand, he condensed a blade of ice to meet the attack.

The Moon-Cutting Saber was more powerful, but its weight made it a fraction slower to handle. That slight difference in speed meant it could never quite keep up with Matsuo’s saber.

That was why Zhao Lin had directly condensed an ice blade for this fight.

BANG!

The ice blade met the saber, halting its advance before shattering into countless shards.

"So it’s you, Matsuo, you old thief!"

Zhao Lin roared, pointed a finger, and condensed a Water Demon Fist that shot toward Matsuo.

Hearing Zhao Lin call him an old thief, Matsuo flew into a rage. With a flick of his sleeve, a white light shot out as he bellowed, "Water Mirror!"

A Water Mirror materialized in front of him.

The Water Demon Fist struck the Water Mirror and instantly dissipated. Immediately after, a torrent of water erupted from the mirror, forming a giant, watery fist that flew back at Zhao Lin.

That wasn’t all. Worried that Zhao Lin might flee toward the seabed, Matsuo directed his saber to suddenly veer and stab at Zhao Lin’s legs from below.

Faced with the Water Demon Fist and the saber, Zhao Lin’s expression changed. He snatched up the Moon-Cutting Saber to parry the incoming blade, then dodged the Water Demon Fist and fled in another direction.

The direction Zhao Lin fled was exactly where Sun Jue had set up the Thousand-Layered Water Spear trap.

’Trying to kill Matsuo with raw power is too difficult,’ he thought. ’I have to use the traps. The only question is how to lure the old thief into one.’

Seeing Zhao Lin head toward the seabed, Matsuo immediately suspected that Zhao Lin was trying to lure him into a trap. His guard went up instantly.

He locked his Divine Sense onto Zhao Lin, following the exact same path. He would rather take a detour than risk a shortcut.

One fled while the other gave chase, and the distance between them rapidly shrank.

After a dozen breaths, Zhao Lin saw the reef marking the trap zone ahead. He abruptly slowed, pulled out a Concealment Talisman, and slapped it with his palm.

With a POOF, the talisman exploded, releasing a cloud of black smoke.

’A Concealment Talisman?’

Matsuo also stopped, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the black smoke.

He neither charged in nor launched an attack with a magical artifact. He wanted to see what kind of trick Zhao Lin was trying to pull.

A moment later, the black smoke dispersed. Zhao Lin’s figure reappeared. He shot a glance at Matsuo, a flicker of panic in his eyes, and once again swam forward.

"Let’s see you run!"

Matsuo sneered and gave chase at full speed, his saber thrumming in his hand, ready to deliver the fatal blow to Zhao Lin.

’Once I kill Zhao Lin,’ he thought, ’the remaining Chenghua Sect cultivators will be fish in a barrel, mine for the slaughter.’

Just then, a HUMMING sound started beneath his feet, and a powerful tremor spread through the water.

The surrounding water pressed in on him. To his astonishment, Matsuo found it difficult to move, as if he were fighting against immense resistance!

"A trap!"

’This is bad,’ Matsuo thought, a great sense of dread washing over him. He couldn’t believe he had actually fallen for the trick.

’No, wait. Zhao Lin is in the trap too. Isn’t he afraid of dying?’

Matsuo’s mind raced. A sudden thought struck him, and he whipped his head around. There, in front of a reef behind him, was Zhao Lin, striding toward him.

Zhao Lin’s hands were forming an incantation seal. Above his head, a translucent, rapidly spinning ice hammer materialized!

"What? A Thunder Shadow Clone?"

Matsuo cried out in disbelief.

The Thunder Shadow Clone was an exclusive Magic of his sect. As a Thunder Element Magic, very few people cultivated it. How could Zhao Lin have learned it?

’This is impossible!’

With no time to think, he spun around and fled like a scalded cat.

Zhao Lin had used the cover of the black smoke to cast his Thunder Shadow Clone, letting the clone flee ahead as a decoy while his real body used the Breath Concealment Skill to hide behind the reef.

Zhao Lin actually had a chance to ambush Matsuo from behind during the chase, but that wouldn’t have been enough to kill him. Instead, he had waited until Matsuo entered the trap’s effective range before revealing himself and casting his Magic.

"Spinning Frost-Hammer!"

A cold glint flashed in Zhao Lin’s eyes. With a point of his finger, the ice hammer crashed down on Matsuo.

The clone didn’t remain idle, either. It cast a Void Trapping Skill to block Matsuo’s escape route.

Trapped with no way forward and no way back, Matsuo felt despair rise in his heart. He knew he was going to die today.

At this thought, his expression turned vicious. He gritted his teeth and snarled, "Even if I die, I’m taking someone with me!"

With that, he simply stood his ground and slashed his saber through the water at Zhao Lin’s clone.

BOOM!

The trap activated. Countless thick spears of water shot out, blanketing the area and instantly engulfing both Matsuo and Zhao Lin’s clone.

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