Chapter 11653 — Zhang Tailing Is Left Speechless

As for this disciple of his, Li Hongshou, he had always believed he understood her well enough.

Her birth and temper might be a touch pampered, but her heart was not bad; even if she was occasionally willful, she would never sink to such depths.

Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that, without his noticing, Li Hongshou had changed into someone he could scarcely recognize.

To avenge their young junior brother, she had not only poisoned her own husband, the Prince of Qi, with her own hands—now she meant to bury the entire Prince of Qi's Estate with him.

And that was not all: she meant to go further still, to spread the ruin to the whole Inner Royal Court!

Even a lovesick fool ought to have some limit.

For a moment, Zhang Tailing was overcome by a tangle of emotions.

As though trying to convince herself, Li Hongshou pressed on with her defense: "You said it yourself, Master—even if the Inner Royal Court faces an upheaval without precedent, lives will be lost either way. Who's to say everything I've done isn't itself a destined part of that upheaval?"

"…"

This outrageous declaration left everyone dumbstruck.

Even Wei Zhao, who had seen more than his share of oddities, could not help but feel a flicker of admiration for the workings of her mind.

Lovesick fools were truly formidable—she had actually found such a bizarre angle to justify herself. The woman might be unhinged, but she was by no means necessarily brainless.

Zhang Tailing said in anguish, "You keep saying it's all for Xiaonan—but Xiaonan was such a kind child. If he could see this scene before us now, what do you think he would say?"

Li Hongshou said faintly, "Junior brother would understand me."

At that moment, Wei Zhao suddenly spoke, cutting short the master and disciple's argument: "You two had better hold off a moment—don't you see they're moving again?"

At this, everyone was startled once more.

Sure enough, the crimson ape that had descended first had changed its posture at some unknown point.

This time the shift was far greater than before; not only these seasoned experts, but even an ordinary person could have told it clearly.

It had indeed moved.

Zhang Tailing could not help asking, "When did it move?"

Everyone turned to look at Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao shook his head. "I didn't see it either. By the time I noticed, it was already like this."

Then, the very next second, everyone was startled yet again.

While Wei Zhao had been speaking, one of the crimson apes had stirred once more—yet just as before, by the time anyone looked, it had at once reverted to its invincible, petrified state.

As for exactly how it moved, all these many experts present were utterly unable to catch it in the act.

But this time, the crimson ape's movement left everyone even more thoroughly unnerved.

There was no other way to put it: the previous two times it had merely shifted its posture, whereas this time it had unmistakably taken a step forward!

Though so far these crimson apes had not harmed a single hair on anyone's head—and indeed, whenever people looked at them, each stood perfectly still and obedient—still, given their nature as outlandish fiends, to claim they posed no danger whatsoever would be sheer nonsense.

Their petrified invincible state alone had already left everyone at a loss.

The tall elder said in a low voice, "From where I stand, I can't see them, and even my divine sense cannot perceive their presence in the slightest. What about the rest of you?"

Everyone shook their heads.

They could see the creatures with their eyes, yet could not sense them at all with their divine sense.

A thought stirred in Wei Zhao's mind: his own divine sense likewise could not detect the three crimson apes before them—and yet, shifting to the perspective of the World Will, that too could not clearly detect their existence.

That was simply absurd!

To Wei Zhao, the World Will had always been an all-conquering, cheat-like divine artifact.

With its heaven-high level, it had never once failed.

This was the first time in all his experience.

Still, that said, from the World Will's perspective he could at least make out some traces—at the very least, it was not a total blank.

Wei Zhao observed in silence for a while, and when the crimson apes moved again, his hypothesis was immediately confirmed.

"They only move when no one is looking at them. The moment any gaze falls on them, they instantly enter their petrified invincible state."

Hearing this, Zhang Tailing seemed to think of something, and his expression turned incomparably grim.

"I once read in an ancient text that there is said to be a kind of outlandish fiend whose whole body is invincible, and which only human gaze can restrain. The instant that gaze is averted, they pounce and devour their prey clean."

"And their favorite prey is human cultivators."

At these words, a collective chill ran through everyone present.

The crimson apes before them clearly fit the description.

Given the level of everyone present, against an ordinary outlandish fiend, even if it lunged and bit, they might not have taken it seriously.

After all, with their defenses, ordinary attacks could not even break through.

But having witnessed with their own eyes the strangeness of these crimson apes, not to mention the three ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate, even Wei Zhao—whose foundation was a mid-grade divine body—dared not make such a guarantee.

He had seen their petrified invincible state clearly enough. The all-around defensive power of a mid-grade divine body was formidable indeed, but compared with these crimson apes, it was plainly not enough.

By the same token, once they were allowed to move freely, their attack power would likewise be nothing to scoff at.

One misstep, and every last person present could well end up ground up in the jaws of these crimson apes.

"One each—keep an eye on one apiece. We absolutely cannot let them move again!"

The gaunt elder at once proposed in a low voice.

Everyone responded at once in unspoken accord.

Apart from the tall elder, who because of his angle could not see the three crimson apes behind him, that left, besides the madwoman Li Hongshou, Zhang Tailing and four others—five people in all—more than enough to watch three crimson apes.

But then, everyone discovered another problem.

Blinking.

Blinking is humanity's most primal instinct. At a level like that of a Venerable, one can already dispense with many necessary physiological activities, including eating and sleeping—but blinking was not among them.

In fact, had they not encountered monsters like these crimson apes, no ordinary cultivator would ever have thought to train in such a respect.

After all, the more primal the instinct, the harder it is to overcome.

And the crux of it: even if you spent every ounce of your strength and finally succeeded in overcoming the blinking instinct, never needing to blink again for the rest of your life—what would be the point?

The instant of a blink meant the crimson apes could move.

Even with everyone's gazes staggered, there would always come a moment when they all blinked together.

The result was that the three crimson apes drew ever closer to the tall elder, whose back was to them!

Though the tall elder said nothing aloud, from the expressions of the others he could tell that his prospects were now bleak indeed.

The crux was that he could not perceive the crimson apes' movements at all; everything depended on his own imagination and wild guesses.

Suspecting every shadow, his pressure was magnified without limit.

Such terror was enough to shatter the mental defenses of any expert.

And then, a fourth crimson ape descended.