My wife is the stand-in.

The Taoist priest opened his eyes wide and raised his voice:

"My magic has made a decisive breakthrough! We can change our appearance and act as humans. We can infiltrate the middle and upper echelons of this country and reconnect the history that was severed by mortals!"

"Ouch!"

Another burst of howling and wailing erupted, this time accompanied by intense excitement from everyone.

The Taoist priest sat up, clenched one hand into a fist, and swung it down heavily.

Then the photo switched, and Amanosaki's face appeared.

“These people, this person is of utmost importance to us.” The Taoist Master revealed an evil smile.

"His superpowers are extremely versatile; according to the information I've gathered, they change almost every day."

He leaned forward, his eyes filled with fervor and excitement.

"Most importantly, the things he transforms with his magic possess their own consciousness! He calls these substitutes!"

"A substitute! The superpower is the master's substitute! Ah~ what a beautiful word."

"If we can obtain him and dissect him for study, my magic can devour every advantage of him and complete the final step in his evolution."

"At that time, everyone will be able to parasitize the bodies of mortals in the form of superpowers."

"Yes Yes!"

The Taoist priest muttered incoherently, his fanatical pupils reflecting the fervent gazes of the demons.

The photos shift again, showing a group of crazed gamblers on the streets, prisoners in despair in jail, and men glaring at their enemies with murderous intent...

"Mortals crave magic... oh, they call it 'superpowers.' These frustrated souls in the corners of the world will trade with us for a sliver of hope. As gods, we are naturally generous and will help them achieve their goals."

"But by then, their bodies and souls will be our reward."

"Imagine that we will become magical beings, leaping across one body after another, gaining immortality and endless domination."

"This kingdom, this land, will return to our embrace, and under our rule, the gods will be reborn!"

The Taoist master, in a state of blissful ecstasy, poured out his emotions and his teachings, preaching to his subservient disciples. His followers responded with loud roars, cheering for the seemingly bright future that was just around the corner.

But the monotonous sound of footsteps from the end of the cave broke the revelry, and a somewhat frivolous voice broke in:

"So this is what you've been trying so hard to do: turn back the clock of history and restore the feudal imperial system and the culture of gods and demons?"

"Ah, our distinguished guest has arrived!"

The Taoist priest stood up and bowed respectfully.

A tall figure cast a huge shadow on the dark rock wall.

The newcomer was enveloped in a dazzling crystal layer. Even in the dim cave, these crystals refracted a dazzling light, as if they had their own light source.

Amanosaki returned the greeting with his hands clasped together.

"I'm begging you, please adopt some form of capitalism, but such feudal thinking is just too low."

"Haha, you really have a silver tongue."

Despite being ridiculed, the Taoist remained calm and unperturbed.

"But you arrived much earlier than I expected. Did you receive my gift? That should make you very..."

"You mean the evil spirits and other things you hid in those fake caves? I burned them all down, seven or eight caves here and there, and the fire spread like wildfire!"

Amanosaki interrupted him mercilessly.

The Taoist priest's face stiffened.

Then, he sighed with obvious disappointment.

"We originally wanted to invite you to join us in creating a better future, but unfortunately, our distinguished guest will not have the opportunity to learn the truth of the world."

"It's alright, it's alright. Once we arrest you, the police will slowly extract all your 'truths' from you."

Amanosaki scoffed.

With that, he waved his hand, and a group of knights emerged from behind him, their supernatural powers instantly illuminating the entire cave!

"There's no need to talk about chivalry with these evil heretics. Let's all charge forward side by side!"

The evil forces roared in retaliation, revealing their claws and fangs. Without a word, the two groups immediately clashed!

Chapter 234: Encirclement and Counter-Encirclement

The cave is spacious, but that's only relative to normal human beings.

This seems too narrow a scope for hundreds of chivalrous heroes and dozens of heretics who have been transformed by the Taoist priest.

The two groups were practically locked in a life-or-death struggle, a situation that even a master of stealth and assassination would find challenging.

They had nowhere to hide; there were feet everywhere, and traces of weapons and supernatural explosions everywhere.

Zile Daoren stood on the innermost side, calmly watching Amanosaki struggle to rely on Hinata Hyuga to clear a path with Gentle Fist, while he carefully used the Spear of Longchinus to deflect the damage.

"I have stated my conditions. The future of your race has already been sealed by humanity. Only I can help you live in a different way. The choice is yours: to be bound by flesh and blood and live like wild beasts, or to create a new world for yourself."

His mouth, sealed with bandages, moved, uttering a bunch of incomprehensible words.

There was no response; the cold pool water rippled as the high-calcium groundwater dripped from the stalactites.

In the almost transparent water, some grayish creature slipped away silently, distorted by the ripples.

'If you survive, sir, my lord will be willing to discuss this further with you.'

A murky thought, following a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual tendril, touched the Taoist's forehead, causing him to chuckle slightly:

"Ha, survived, huh? That beast really likes to look down on people."

He raised his voice, his hoarse, mocking tone carrying across the chaotic battlefield to reach Amanosaki's ears:

"Nozaki-kun, this place is too cramped; it doesn't allow you to fully display your skills. How about we go outside?"

After he finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and a gash appeared on the rock wall covered with layers of yellowish-white calcified material.

"I'll go ahead and wait for you outside!"

After saying that, he slipped inside.

A demon shaped like a pillar howled as it jumped into the icy pool, its body swelling up like a sponge.

"It's a sponge!" Li Junzi, who was most familiar with biological structures, immediately warned.

The sponge demon shrank its body and exhaled a large plume of damp, thick smoke, enveloping all the demons within it.

Amanosaki gave a signal, and Hinata Hyuga stepped forward, shouting to the other heroes, "Get out of the way!"

With chakra flowing through her palms, Hinata Hyuga stood at the forefront, like a wall, shattering all the spreading toxic fumes!

Soft Fist Technique: Bagua Sixty-Four Palms!

As the poisonous fog began to dissipate, Amanosaki and the knight-errant clad in armored warriors rushed in first, only to find that, apart from two unlucky demons who had been hit by Hinata, the rest had already gone up the tunnel.

"Go back the way you came!" Amanosaki roared. "There are already troops stationed on the surface; they can't escape!"

He dared not lead people through the tunnel left by the demons, partly because he was worried that the Daoist had left one or two burly demons to block the way, and partly because he was afraid that they had planted bombs or something in this escape route—Amanosaki did not hesitate to assume the Daoist with the utmost malice.

Spielberg and his photography team were so excited their faces turned purple.

The bizarre and wonderful scenes inside the cave greatly shocked everyone.

They had never seen so many bizarre-looking creatures moving together before, and the people followed the group, trembling as they muttered "amazing."

Amanosaki, who was hanging at the very end, took out several empty gems and drained the life force of the demon before using a burning magic spell on it in the cave.

As flames licked the film and the futon, the damp, cold cave was engulfed in intense heat.

Amanosaki walked up the winding tunnel and heard a series of screams around a corner.

"Hero Amanosaki! Come quick!"

The knights-errant shouted in unison.

Amanosaki tore apart a tentacle with a single shot at the cave entrance, and upon exiting the cave, he found the situation had deteriorated significantly.

The riverbank was in complete chaos.

Jiryo-dojin did not anticipate Amano-saki's determination to kill him, and therefore did not anticipate that the army would arrive in time to carry out the punitive expedition.

As soon as the heretics emerged, they slaughtered a circle of soldiers. Soon after, the soldiers found themselves surrounded. The heretics' greedy killing spree made the surrounding troops more unrestrained, and rockets and artillery rained down one after another.

But neither the knights nor the army expected that the Taoist priest had already planned a counter-encirclement.

His original plan was to lure Amanosaki and the others into the cave, then escape through a secret passage, join forces with the Four-Clawed Scaled Fish, and calmly surround the besieged heroes by the river, before launching a surprise attack on their reinforcements.

The desire of the four-clawed scaled fish to ensure the survival of their species drove them to war against human armies.

But with the human army arriving ahead of schedule, his plan failed... or rather, both sides were locked in a stalemate.

The evil forces that planned to use their special abilities to surround the heroes and trap them in the cave were entangled by the army. However, the heroes, who had communicated with the Taoist priest in advance, managed to attract a large group of four-clawed scaled fish, which were then easily dealt with by the heroes who were skilled in killing fish.

Everyone is calling for Amanosaki, because he is the key to breaking the deadlock.

Amanosaki arrived first, cooperating with the army to deal with the evil forces, and then had the army turn around to bombard the fish.

If the Queen Fish arrives first, then under its guidance, these four-clawed scaled fish can repeat the mistake of the previous branch-level heroes who were injured—the large group, stimulated by hormones, will use their collective advantage to block the river, create a huge tide, and overwhelm the army.

The rock strata shook, and amidst the bloody resistance of the heroes, the entrance to the cave at the foot of the mountain suddenly exploded. Amanosaki's entire body of crystalline armor expanded, and Hinata Hyuga used her Byakugan to find the weakness in the rock strata, then broke the rock strata with her Gentle Fist technique.

Amanosaki, who had transformed into a crystal behemoth, lifted the mountain rock above his head!

In an instant, the magic reserves of three million-dollar pigeon-egg-sized gems were drained, and the crystal armor expanded to a height of seven or eight meters. Dazzling light shone on the magic circuits that Amanosaki had awakened later.

He was like a giant supporting the sky, carrying the huge mountain rocks on his back, reminiscent of a Hercules who moved the Taihang and Wangwu Mountains.

"Smash it for me!"

Amanosaki roared like a tiger, and the Crystal Armor raised its arms, which were holding the rock behind its back, in reverse, and hurled the rock towards the great river where the fish were causing chaos!

Blood splattered, and pieces of flesh flew everywhere.

Driven by enhancement magic and gem magic, the weight of this rock was beyond imagination. After entering the water, it was as if dozens of torpedoes had been detonated in the river at the same time. The water was tremored, and a dense number of four-clawed scale fish floated to the surface in a daze.

Many more were crushed to death by the massive rocks.

"I'll kill myself!!!"