Chapter 110: The Ancient Castle, First Night

  A massive granite canyon, about 200 meters deep, with a river that can be compared to a small stream at the bottom. The cliff face near the canyon is almost bare for about 100 meters, with hardly any vegetation, but further away, trees become denser. Following the canyon forward for over ten kilometers, on a small hill in the depths of the mountains, stands an old, dilapidated and ancient castle.

  Deacula gazed at the ancient castle in the distance with a nostalgic look, chuckled and forced out a few smiles, saying: "This duel location is not bad, right? Kill someone and throw them directly into the canyon behind, simple and clean."

  Sakura looked at the old castle with curiosity and asked: "Why do I feel like there's something strange inside that old castle?"

  Deacula burst out laughing: "Do you know why I chose this place as the site of our duel? Because in the underground chamber of the ancient castle, there are several thousand-year-old ghosts... They're my old friends, heh heh, they possess extremely powerful magic. We can rest assured near the ancient castle, while those fools will be tormented by the ghosts."

  Yi Chen laughed, and De Kula also smiled. However, a thousand-year-old ghost sounds like a pretty interesting thing. And it's not just that, on the way here, there are too many mountain people in this desolate mountain, and they look quite awkward, their body hair is also too thick. The dark mass moved quickly, and unexpectedly gathered so many people.

  Yi Chen began to consider whether he should take matters into his own hands and secretly deal a blow to Arthur, making it impossible for him to return to London.

  Sakura was enthusiastically selecting a camping spot, and before long, a flat area next to the ancient castle was chosen. Here, with the castle at its back and facing the valley in front, the view was wide open and the scenery was not bad either. Compared to the desolate mountain slope behind, the terrain was much better.

  The movements of these ninjas under the cherry blossoms were cautious and orderly, and in just three minutes, they had set up comfortable tents and outdoor dining tables, etc. Of course, for some reason, these tents seemed to be able to accommodate less than a hundred people.

  Yi Chen also showed a bit of luxury, a rented helicopter brought in a large batch of food and fine wine. Of course, after Yi Chen and Sakura's cordial conversation, Sakura smiled and paid for all the expenses. The face of Sakura's mentor was so cold that it could be scraped off with a knife, staring at Yi Chen viciously. Yi Chen whistled lightly, not even bothering to look at him.

  Chekhov, meanwhile, had already lit a large hemp and was enthusiastically leading the seven Skye towards the ancient castle. Dracula looked at their backs with a strange gaze and said in a low voice: "Little friends, I hope you won't be scared... Hehe, my friends love to play with little kids."

  Yi Chen smiled strangely: "Oh? It's really interesting, Mr. Cain. Take care of Chekhov in the past and don't let him do something bad."

  On this side, several agile special ninjas had already taken out steaming hot food from the camping stove and respectfully placed it on the dining table. Sakura smiled and invited: "Yi, Mr. Dekula, let's have some food first. Savoring delicious food in such a deep mountain is really a pleasure."

  Yi Chen smiled and pulled Dekula towards the dining table, then a miserable howl echoed through the ancient castle, it was Chekhov's scream of being frightened to death. Afterwards, a strange noise started, Dekula and Yi Chen suddenly turned their heads, only to see two dazzling silver lights shooting out from the ancient castle, blasting those broken bricks and stones everywhere, the high tower in the center of the castle collapsed amidst black ripples.

  Then, countless diamond-shaped silver light rainbows flew back and forth, which were Chekhov's flying knife pieces. He seemed to be frightened, and those flying knife pieces brought strong momentum, piercing in and out of the castle walls of the entire ancient castle. Large and small holes immediately filled this already dilapidated ancient castle wall.

  Phil and Goll gazed at each other, let out a loud roar: "Boss, we're going in to take a look." Then, two tornadoes suddenly rose from the ground, Phil and Goll disappeared into the wind, immediately followed by two columns of fire that thundered towards the ancient castle.

  Sakura and the strong men from the four major families next to her almost popped their eyes out, Sakura looked at Yidun with a somewhat guessing gaze: "Yi's subordinates all have such power? Then what about Yi himself? But I can't feel any energy aura on him at all."

  A massive fire cloud soared into the sky, and a dozen or so dark shadows shot out of it like arrows. Cain, Chekhov, Phil brothers, seven vampires were blown back by an irresistible force, and at the same time, the entire castle collapsed in the sunset. Jester stood tightly beside Yichen, looking a bit tense towards the direction of the castle, saying in a low voice: "Boss, it seems like someone is coming."

  Chekhov yelled on the ground: "Boss, there are several old devils inside."

  The masters around Sakura had swiftly taken up positions and formed a defensive formation all around.

  A greenish-blue light flashed, and five angry ghostly shadows appeared in the air more than two meters above the ground. The old man with a long beard in the middle roared: "What are we dead souls bothering here? You actually came to demolish our house... Quickly rebuild it for me, otherwise I'll skin you alive... Eh? Damn it, you're still here, you dead bat? The Vatican's bastards didn't kill you?"

  Five ghosts cheered and rushed up, Deacula also smiled and welcomed them. He heavily hugged these five transparent but almost substantial bodies of ghosts and said with a smile: "Kuku the Great Magician, long time no see! What's new? Have you researched something fresh? Oh, right, these little friends are my companions."

  A specter hastily interrupted Dracula's words, shouting in surprise: "God is below, my head is above, and you, an old bat, are traveling with food? Oh heavens, has my brain gone bad?"

  "Ha ha ha! Hanks, your brain has been rotten for five hundred years, I've seen it in your coffin... But Dracula, how come you're with humans? This isn't like you at all."

  "Decula smiled and explained: 'We set a small trap for the people of the Holy See, just waiting for them to fall into it.' He went on to explain in detail how Sakura had become enemies with Arthur, how she had delivered the challenge letter to Arthur according to Yichen's plan, and everything else that had happened until Decula met Yichen."

  As they chatted, the five old devils had already hooked their arms around Dekula's shoulders and sat down at the dinner table, slapping the table with gusto and laughing loudly. Cook cackled with laughter and said: "Ah, teasing the Vatican's little brat? I love it, I love it... However, Chinese boy, you have to compensate me for my ancient castle, otherwise I'll haunt your home every day." Cook snickered mischievously as he rolled his eyes a few times.

  "Kuk, you old scoundrel! You're the one who scared people and caused trouble in the first place, aren't you? And it was your magic that destroyed the castle in the end, wasn't it? Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?"

  Yi Chen, however, was in a good mood and respectfully said: "Master Cook, your wish is my command. I'll immediately assemble a construction team to rebuild the ancient castle for you... Hmm, what style of castle do you like? Spanish? Moroccan? Or..."

  Cook and the other five old ghosts looked at each other, pouted their mouths and muttered: "Really not interesting, this kid actually compensates us? Spit, we're used to living in this ancient castle... Hum, don't want any weird style."

  Under everyone's gaze, the five old ghosts stood in a regular pentagram shape. A burst of green light flashed by, and all the flying sand and gravel slowly rose from the ground, block by block, back to their original places. In less than ten seconds, the ancient castle that had completely collapsed was restored to its original state.

  Chekhov stared at the scene with his eyes wide open and shouted loudly: "Oh God, it's really too magical! You several great masters, how did you do it?"

  Kuk waved his magic wand with a pleased smile and said, "Little friend, do you want me to teach you? This spell requires talent, if you don't have the right talent, you won't be able to learn it... Hmm, what do you plan to do after learning it?"

  Chekhov revealed a lewd smile: "Oh my, if even a collapsed castle can be repaired, then it shouldn't be a problem to repair a little girl either? That way, I'll have a virgin for the whole night... Hmm."

  "A stifled groan, Cook raised his hand and a huge fireball sent Chikov flying out, roaring: 'Damn it, you bastard, magic is noble, how can you use it like that? I'm going to die, I'm going to die.'"

  Yi Chen couldn't help but laugh to death, aren't you already dead? However, the strength of these five old ghosts is indeed astonishing. No wonder Dequla carefully chose this place as the location for the duel, he had no good intentions from the start and planned to get rid of Arthur and the others.

  Dacula passed by Cook and whispered a few words to him. Cook chuckled strangely for a while, then he and his four companions rushed into the ancient castle with a gust of cold wind. After that, a burst of eerie howls echoed from inside, followed by an unsettling silence.

  Yi Chen smiled and asked Dekula: "What did you say to them?"

  "Deacula sneered coldly: 'I want them to prepare some fun things, to welcome our guests.'"

  Sakura walked over: "You two, since those seniors have left, let's enjoy our dinner first. As for how to deal with Arthur and the others, we have several days to slowly discuss it."

  Yi Chen smiled, and De Kula followed Sakura to the dining table. At this moment, the roar of a helicopter came from the sky. Arthur and more than 100 people rented three large helicopters, first transporting some equipment here. Ten Round Table Knights supervised the hired workers, carrying down all the supplies. Yi Chen and others occupied the flat ground in front of the ancient castle, these Round Table Knights surveyed for half a day, reluctantly choosing to set up camp on the mountain slope behind the ancient castle.

  It was very strange, Yi Chen and the others were having a big feast on this side, while under the sunset, ten Knights of the Round Table stood in a row 100 meters away, staring at the people on this side with a fierce glow in their eyes. The workers who didn't understand what was going on looked at these people in confusion, quickly unloading the goods, they didn't want to stay in such a deep mountain for long. Soon, a small mobile house frame was set up, white thin wooden boards contrasting with the rocks and trees behind, it had a bit of a villa feel to it.

  Three helicopters took away those workers, ten Round Table Knights stood silently on the spot, watching Yi Chen and others take turns eating, then drinking tea, chatting, and also looking at Jester, Chekhov and seven strange-looking kids staring at themselves with their noses up.

  Several helicopters flew over again, Arthur and the others escorted the two dukes off the plane, without even looking this way, first sending the two long-traveled old dukes into the mobile house, and then settling Troy and other ascetic monks in the mountain forest behind, only then did Arthur and the four main people walk slowly towards this side.

  Deacula grunted and walked into his own tent, too lazy to say anything to the people from the Vatican.

  Sakura was the first to greet them, while Yī Chén followed closely behind with a strange smile on his face. Jester and the others firmly protected Yī Chén. As for Sakura's subordinates, except for more than 200 special ninjas who had already hidden themselves, other powerful men divided into two groups, half of whom followed up.

  Arthur stretched out his hand towards Sakura and smiled: "The time hasn't come yet, but everyone has arrived. It seems we're all thinking the same thing."

  "Hey, we're on the same page, so there's no need to say more. We've got a few days left, let's get ready and then go our separate ways." The two men clasped each other's hands tightly before quickly releasing them.

  Hagen grinned and extended his hand to Yichen: "How should I address this gentleman? Nice to meet you."

  Cain silently extended his hand, Arthur's face changed, and Hagen had already tightly grasped Cain's hand. The cracking sound of the bones and joints was clearly transmitted, Cain let out a muffled hum, his whole body's muscles tensed up, and a powerful surge of true yuan energy gushed out like a tidal wave.

  A faint "thud" sound, two tall figures let go of each other's hands and took a step back. Hagen's physical strength was no match for Cain's, his right index finger had been pinched into three or five pieces by Cain, and he was now forcibly enduring the pain while circulating the holy power within his body to repair his finger bones. Meanwhile, Cain's true yuan force was not as strong as Hagen's, and he was knocked back several steps by the powerful holy power, his head buzzing with discomfort.

  Ace smiled wryly and extended his hand towards Skrull, saying with a sly smile: "Sir, oh great noble holy knight sir, let's shake hands, shall we?"

  "Sneer, you're not my opponent. Bring a Grand Duke-level person instead. Second, I won't have any physical contact with filthy creatures like you, except when I cut off your heads."

  The twelve Grand Dukes behind him let out a loud roar, their figures flashing as they appeared in the arena. With sinister intent, they said: "You damned little brat, what did you just say? What did you say our bloodline is?"

  "Hey, big shots, look at this! These guys are saying our bloodline is filthy and lowly. Satan above, they didn't give us any face at all!"

  Several grand dukes were about to take action, and Yichun hastily gestured for them to stop: "Everyone, don't be too impulsive, we are all people of status and refinement. The time for dueling has not arrived, how can we recklessly take action? Some people's character is indeed poor, but we mustn't let ourselves get angry because of his filthy mouth... If a dog bites us, there's no need to bite back." Those grand dukes heard this and slowly withdrew their hands.

  Si Keer's face changed color, staring fiercely at Yi Chen, and his heart suddenly felt a wave of surprise: "What is this ordinary person doing here? Hmm, he must be the notary from that side. However, his tongue should be cut off."

  "Then, we don't need to waste our breath anymore. The matter between us can only be settled with swords and blood. Japanese people, we were originally suspicious of why you attacked us, but since you have become companions with vampires, everything can be explained. I, Sacred Knight Skell, swear that I will not let you off."

  Sakura nonchalantly spread out her hands, not taking Skrull's threat to heart at all. She turned around and walked away, muttering: "Oh? We don't necessarily have to lose..."

  Yi Chen smiled and slightly bowed to Arthur, saying: "Duke, it's an honor to meet you. As a subject of the British Empire, I shouldn't be here, but since I'm Mr. Sakura's friend, I have the obligation to be his witness, don't I?"

  Arthur nodded slightly and silently led the person away.

  "Walter muttered under his breath: 'Damn it, these damned human brats are really arrogant, just watch me suck them dry.'"

  Si Ke stroked his chin, casually pulled out a large hemp and took a puff: "Forget it, forget it, damn it, we're not opponents of the Holy Knights, after all, they are the highest-ranking figures in the Vatican, and we're not the top layer of the Dark Council, the gap in strength is there."

  Fǎ ěr guài guài de kàn le yī yǎn Yīng de bèi yǐng, dī shēng shuō: "zhè xiǎo zǐ jiù píng jià lǎo bǎn suǒ shuō de nà bǐng bǎo jiàn, jiù kě yǐ chóng shāng yī gè shén shèng qí shì?"

  Deke gazed at Sakura's 'Killing Moon' with a hint of envy, muttering: "Should we get rid of this little guy and then..."

  Chikov slyly chimed in: "This won't do... The boss is still counting on making money off this kid, damn it. Although I, Chikov, can't stand the Japanese, who says they don't have a way to make money? Be careful not to kill this kid, or the boss will get angry. Haven't you noticed that this kid is ridiculously good-looking? He's almost as pretty as that chick Fei Li. Damn it, this kid comes to find the boss every day, and he spends more time in 'Chinatown' than in his own casino."

  Seven evil vampires' eyes immediately brought a kind of unspeakable, inexplicable infatuation, their eyes rolled around Yī Chén and Sakura's bodies, with an expression of sudden enlightenment.

  Skei said seriously: "We can't afford to anger the boss, otherwise we won't have a place to stay." The other six vampires nodded in agreement.

  Night was falling, and the two sides were separated by an ancient castle. They began to arrange their night watchmen. In comparison, Yichen's side only had four or five people on guard, while Arthur's side was much more tense, with a full twenty people sitting near the campsite, staring intently at Yichen's side with wide eyes.

  The night grew deeper, and Yī Chén and others had fallen into a sweet sleep. The creatures that were active at night began to stir again. Some eerie figures moved back and forth in the vicinity of the ancient castle. In the valley below, many unidentified black shadows came and went, whispering to each other about something.

  A gust of eerie wind suddenly blew out from within the ancient castle, followed by a deafening "clang" sound, and then accompanied by a slight tremor on the ground. Twelve gigantic steel statues burst out from within the ancient castle, swinging massive solid iron hammers in their hands, charging towards Arthur's camp. Thin strands of eerie green electricity flashed across the surface of these statues, occasionally sparking with sharp electrical sparks.

  They were startled awake, and they rushed out of the tent one after another, watching with schadenfreude as twelve steel giants, each over three meters tall, charged towards Arthur and his men. The night watch priests cried out in alarm: "Enemy attack! What kind of monster is this?"

  The eyes of the statue flashed red light, and a huge iron hammer slammed into the ground. Immediately, from the point where the iron hammer hit the ground, a deep fissure with a "crackling" sound rushed towards Arthur's camp, at the same time, strange airflow could be seen swirling above the fissure.

  A Skarrak-summoned arbiter stood before a rift, opening a holy shield of light. The shield shattered with a deafening crash, the figure flew back, and then the massive iron statue surprisingly leapt high into the air, bringing down a heavy hammer blow.

  Arthur appeared, fully armed with the Stone Sword in hand and wearing his battle armor. With a fierce thrust, he charged forward. A piercing, teeth-grinding metallic screech echoed through the air as Arthur's body was forced back several dozen meters by an enormous force. The other person's hammer handle was severed, their entire body crashing heavily to the ground. They struggled to get up, only to be punched into a meat patty by the same executor from earlier.

  "Everyone be careful, this monster is unbeatable! Where did these damn things come from?"

  Three sacred knights plus Arthur as the main attacker, ten Round Table knights as assistants, they jumped and stabbed back and forth among twelve giant iron statues, while other clergy members launched their most skilled holy light attacks. For a moment, the statues were splashed with a riot of light, white and green hues mixed together, it was quite a sight to behold. But Arthur and his companions didn't think it was fun anymore, these statues weren't afraid of being hit at all! Their heavy blows and piercing stabs concentrated on the statues, but a powerful dark energy emanating from the statues neutralized their attacks, at most only scraping off some metal powder.

  Jester crouched on the top of the ancient castle tower, laughing and shouting: "Ahah, Lord Skell, you're really unlucky... Ah, be careful, his hammer is heading towards your noble buttocks! Be extremely careful not to become a half-paralyzed person... Oh my god, Lord Hagen, my beloved war god of the Church, be careful with your shield... Oh, if only you had listened to me, this wouldn't have happened. Can't you even pretend to be a real war god? You're flying so high!"

  Jester was wildly humiliating these high-ranking members of the court, wildly venting his grievances and hatred. At some point, Chekhov and Skye also climbed up to the tower, clapping their hands and stomping their feet as they shouted: "Charge! Kill! Don't give us any face! Screw it, get rid of all this trash for us... Oh, steel little darlings, you're so cute, you're adorable. Right, right, right, hit that Arthur guy's head, yes, bullseye... Dammit, how did we smash another person's head?"

  Arthur and his men were busy dealing with those monsters, while nine thugs on the other side were causing trouble. Under the pressure, Arthur almost got hit by a hammer on the head. Hagen, who had the worst temper, let out a loud roar and rushed out of the formation, shouting at Jester and others on top of the tower: "Damn bastards, come down here and I'll teach you a lesson!" His armor and weapons began to emit a dazzling white light.

  Chekhov stood uncivilly on the tower, then urinated downwards, shouting loudly in his mouth: "Damn it, why should I, Chekhov, listen to you? You call me down and come down, I'm too embarrassed... You climb up for me."

  Hagen's face turned red with rage, and with a wave of his hand, a sharp holy light ball flew out, smashing towards Chikov's head.

  Jester's hands burst forth with threads of black flames, coldly laughing as he grasped the Holy Light Orb in one hand. In a piercing 'creaking' sound, these black flames incinerated the Holy Light Orb...

  A gentle voice sounded: "God said, let there be light, and this world had light." More than 20 extremely soft sacred lights shot out from the woods behind, shining on these steel human statues. The green electric lights emitted a 'crackling' sound, jumping wildly for a while before disappearing. The steel human statues, however, let out an inexplicable howl, struggling and jumping in this gentle light, before falling to the ground with a 'thud', the red glow in their eyes gradually fading away, turning into a pile of scrap iron.

  Troy walked out alone, his ethereal eyes glanced at the ancient castle, slightly furrowed his brow, and said in a low voice to Sker: "Why did you agree to duel them here?"

  Skerrett looked puzzled: "Excuse me, Mr. Troy, is something wrong here?"

  Troy nodded: "This ancient castle looks a bit strange, huh? These people seem to be manipulated by dark forces and were attracted to the holy power on our bodies, so they rushed towards us... Haven't you discovered their weakness? Don't confront them head-on. If you use 'Purification Light' from the start and drive out the evil powers on their bodies, you can easily knock them down."

  Troy slightly bowed and carefully sized up the people in Yichun's camp before slowly walking back into the woods.

  Arthur and the others looked at each other in dismay. Ah, to dispel evil spirits, wasn't it necessary to use 'Purification Light'? Why did they have to stupidly clash head-on with these iron guys?...

  Suddenly, a pack of wolves howled in the distance. The people on Yichen's side saw that the excitement was over and one by one they retreated back to their tents to rest. Only the nine standard thugs stood on the tower, continuing to mock loudly before smugly leaving.

  In the tomb beneath the ancient castle, Cook and four other old ghosts laughed so hard they almost scattered their own shadows. "Ah," Cook exclaimed, "our years of research have paid off! Look, twelve ordinary iron puppets have them running around like headless chickens!" He pointed at a mirror in front of him, through which they had just witnessed everything.

  Hanks chuckled and said, "Well, although there's still a bit of weakness, just like that ascetic said, the 'Purification Light' might be able to easily take care of these ordinary puppets, but our top-level puppets won't be afraid of that thing."

  Cook's hands rubbed together uncontrollably, and he said excitedly: "Great, great, we can report this result to the Speaker... Hmm, how long have we been in hiding?"

  The other four old devils looked at each other in dismay and were unable to answer his words.

  "Ah, who cares about that now? Ah, we've finally achieved something! Hmm, with these results, our position in the council will definitely be greatly improved... and when the time comes, we'll need five good bodies to restore our physical forms... Ah, delicious food, fine wine, beautiful women... it's all so wonderful."

  The five old devils burst into a loud, eerie laughter. One of the old devils flew around in circles at incredible speed, bellowing: "That Skerl, I want his body, I want his body, I want him, I want to destroy his soul with my own hands and then occupy his body... He's handsome, isn't he?"

  Another burst of wailing cries.

  On this side, Arthur stared at Yi Chen's camp and asked: "Could it be that they are playing tricks?"

  Skull shook his head: "Impossible, this doesn't seem like the way the Dark Council would act, but it's a bit like..."

  A Round Table knight cautiously chimed in, "Medieval black magic puppetry?"

  Everyone fell silent for a moment, and Sker ordered: "Let's take a rest, when it gets light, we should probably go inside the ancient castle to survey it, got it? Stay vigilant and conserve your strength."

  Everyone nodded and continued to surround the twelve giant steel statues, chattering for a while before dispersing.

  Yi Chen is laughing secretly in the tent, who would have thought that the five old ghosts would play such a joke on Arthur and his group. It's really interesting... From the current strength comparison, it can be said that I have already won, should I get rid of Arthur?

  Deep in thought, Yidun fell asleep...