Chapter 148 The Ghost Gate Formation: This blind man really courted death.
Zhou Yaren had no idea what grudge the Gu Master had against Xu Zhangfang, so why were Wang Xiang and Xu Zhangfang fighting at this time?
The Gu Master had committed numerous evil deeds and made enemies everywhere, and Xu Zhangfang was no better, being two-faced. It's no wonder that the two became enemies.
The eight humanoid phantoms relentlessly attacked Xu Zhangfang, their cooperation was very clear, half of them were responsible for restraining him and half for killing him, they were very well trained.
Zhou Yaren straightened up, leaning against the rough rock wall, and saw several shadowy shapes of different forms in the rushing river, changing with the current, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, all hidden in the dark current, all elusive.
How come so many phantoms suddenly appeared here?
In addition, dozens of human skins floated on the water, swaying in the waves.
Xu Zhangfang cleaved a monstrous elephant in two, its thick juice exploding in mid-air and flowing into the rolling Yellow River. Soon, a human skin, filled with corpse flesh, floated on the water's surface and leaped out of the water like a ghost, swinging its knife and attacking Xu Zhangfang.
Xu Zhangfang: "..." He witnessed this scene in the midst of his busy schedule, and felt that the Gu Master was truly inhuman, having done a lot of things like killing people and taking their skins.
Xu Zhangfang expressed his incomprehension: "When did I ever have any deep-seated hatred for a Gu master?"
Why are they all ganging up on him?! Or is it that this Gu Master has secretly allied with Tingfeng Zhicheng?
That shouldn't be the case.
With Zhou Yaren's pure and untainted nature, and her hatred of evil, how could she possibly associate with such a wicked and treacherous Gu master? The two of them would only be mortal enemies and would never collude together.
What are these phantoms trying to do?
Unfortunately, Wang Xiang could understand human speech but could not speak it, so he had no way to answer Xu Zhangfang's question and only wanted to take his life.
Click—
Click—
The two heads of the demons were successively severed by Qiu Jue's blade. Xu Zhangfang scanned the chaos, but still couldn't find the talking Gu Master. Finally, he glanced at Zhou Yaren below the precipice and asked, "These demons weren't summoned by you, were they?"
Zhou Yaren watched as the two dark figures slowly emerged into human form and sprang up, his brows furrowed tightly. Of course, he couldn't possibly believe that this group of unseen beings had come to help him.
Zhou Yaren spread out her divine sense, but the sound of the waves was too loud, crashing into her ears so loudly that it was difficult to hear anything else.
The Gu Master had been kidnapped by several teenagers, so he shouldn't have been able to appear nearby. However, when he saw the group of Wang Xiang gathering, he still felt a little worried, fearing that Liu Yun might have encountered an accident on the way.
The folding fan Zhou Yaren was holding shattered in two, but it was still usable. The wind blades it unleashed were still powerful enough to slash out.
While guarding against Zhou Yaren's "cold arrows," Xu Zhangfang barely rolled past A Cong's blade, nearly breaking his back. Fortunately, he was a diligent trainer with exceptionally strong and flexible muscles and bones.
However, even with all the unexpected events, he was almost overwhelmed. He dodged Zhou Yaren's attack, but the wind blades sliced against the cliff face, and then a hundred-foot-long tow rope came tangling around him. Xu Zhangfang twisted his hips to dodge, and the tow rope immediately caught a hawk and lashed it against a reef in the middle of the river, shattering the hawk and the reef into pieces, and the resulting waves surged back wildly.
Knowing the power of the raging waves, Xu Zhangfang leaped up, stepping on Wangxiang's shoulders. Just when he thought he had escaped, Xu Zhangfang suddenly froze in mid-air. The surging wave seemed to come alive, as if a water ghost was mixed in with it, and grabbed his calf.
No, isn't Wangxiang a water ghost? So the one grabbing his leg might really be a water ghost.
As the water ghost gripped him tightly downwards, another monstrous creature swung its long blade across the tide.
Xu Zhangfang kicked Langtao hard, then hurled the Autumn Strike Blade, piercing Wangxiang's heart from a distance and pinning him to the cliff face. Dark liquid gushed from the blade, flowing down the damp cliff and slowly into the river.
A shriveled human skin and a cloth garment hung on the Qiu Jue Dao nailed to the cliff face.
Xu Zhangfang leaped towards the cliff face, about to draw his sword, when an iron-masked man on his left and a Zhou Yaren on his right attacked him.
One wanted to chop off his hand, and the other wanted to cut off his head; their cooperation was remarkably seamless.
Xu Zhangfang felt a chill run down his spine, kicked the cliff face, and retreated several feet away, abandoning his sword.
The two men who were trying to kill him clashed in close combat, their blades slicing against the iron mask. The man in the iron mask then slashed open Zhou Yaren's collarbone, a ruthless act that seemed intent on killing him.
Xu Zhangfang was now certain that the two were not on the same side. He seized the opportunity to draw his sword, attacking left and right while quickly withdrawing, so that Zhou Yaren would fight with Wang Xiang. Xu Zhangfang suddenly circled behind Zhou Yaren and slashed at his back. At this moment, Acong would also circle behind him and swing his long sword at the back of his neck!
One person attacks the other, resulting in neither being able to kill the other.
When Xu Qian and the others finally arrived, they were met with this scene of indiscriminate killing, with no distinction between friend and foe, and the fighting was fierce.
Wasn't there just one blind man a moment ago? How did they suddenly become a fighting group? Where did all these people come from?
Xu Qian, who was watching the battle, was dazzled and confused: "Wait, what are they doing?"
Who is trying to kill whom?
They all seemed to want to kill each other, but they were all making things worse, and none of them succeeded.
If they had joined forces to kill one of them before turning on each other, it would have been obvious that no one here wanted to team up with anyone else, which made Xu Qian anxious for them.
"Mr. Fang," Xu Qian called out, "do you need any help?"
What good are shrimp soldiers and crab generals? Will they only make things worse?
It wasn't that Xu Zhangfang looked down on them, fine, he just didn't. But these monsters were really getting in the way, so having a few small fry to share the load would be helpful. Otherwise, what were they doing here? Just watching the show?
So Xu Qian and the others joined the battle, making the scene even more chaotic.
Despite the fierce fighting, the Wangxiang were still able to leap and jump about relentlessly, all thanks to Zhou Yaren for choosing such a good location. The Xiaoshan Mountains are vast, yet he chose the Yellow River's natural barrier, a perfect spot for the Wangxiang to maneuver. If it had been on barren land, these Wangxiang would have been dead a hundred times over.
Therefore, in the end, it was these flesh and blood beings who suffered the most, as they were truly cut and bled. In addition, Zhou Yaren suddenly slashed out "ghost whips" from the cliff, catching the people and the ethereal creatures in the chaos off guard.
The endless entanglement of the illusory spirits would cause immense exhaustion. Xu Zhangfang shifted the blame to Zhou Yaren, and while A Cong and Zhou Yaren were facing off, he suddenly drew his sword, turned around, and slashed at the group of human skins in the ditch!
The elusive creatures lurking at the bottom of the river could not be saved in time; their skins tore apart amidst the splashing water.
Xu Zhangfang thought to himself: Let's see how you pretend to be decent people now!
Without the shroud, these monstrous forms cannot take shape.
Xu Zhangfang's actions enraged the Wangxiang, causing the river to surge with furious waves. Countless dark and invisible Wangxiang rose up, resembling a large group of people struggling in the water, creating a chaotic scene on the surface that made Xu Qian and the others' scalps tingle.
Of the three factions, only Zhou Yaren stood alone, kicking Acong into the surging waves. He spun in mid-air, his billowing white robes and wide sleeves billowing in the fierce wind, transforming into blades of light that slashed at the cliff face, while several slender rope whips cleaved through the crowd in the canyon.
Xu Zhangfang leaped away.
Zhou Yaren stirred up a hurricane with his fan, causing the already turbulent canyon to tremble violently. With a flick of his sleeve, his figure seemed to transform into a raging hurricane, sweeping towards Xu Zhangfang.
The powerful wind churned and tore, almost sweeping Xu Qian and the others away. Xu Qian frantically clung to the cliff, his body lifted off the ground by the gale, and he was thrown into the air. The others, one by one, grabbed their companions' waists or legs the instant their bodies were lifted by the wind, forming a long chain.
Xu Zhangfang couldn't withstand the force of the wind. Just as he was lifted into the air, his shoulder was pressed down, and Zhou Yaren firmly pinned him down in the eye of the storm.
Xu Zhangfang turned his head, his eyes barely open.
Zhou Yaren pressed Xu Zhangfang down with one hand and nailed the folding fan into the surging waves with the other.
In an instant, the canyon trembled, and a rumbling "thunder" echoed from the depths of the earth, like the muffled sound of thousands of horses galloping or like thousands of chariots crushing down.
The shock penetrated Xu Qian's limbs and bones from his hands gripping the rock wall, causing his entire body to tremble.
As the folding fan was driven into the valley, the canyon's surging waves crashed against the banks and shattered the clouds, carving a huge whirlpool in the vast river, the turbid waves roaring and howling like a filthy maw.
If you look closely, you can see countless "twisted ropes" churning inside the swirling maw, clinging to Zhou Yaren and Xu Zhangfang like venomous snakes.
Xu Zhangfang's expression changed drastically, but by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late.
It turns out that Tingfengzhi's earlier action of severing the tow ropes on the cliff was actually to activate an array. These tow ropes swallowed corpses and entangled the vengeful spirits of countless gatekeepers who died at the Three Gates Natural Barrier, swallowed by the great river, leaving no trace of their bodies.
This whirlpool, resembling a giant maw, is the Ghost Gate of the Three Gates Natural Barrier, the most dangerous and treacherous place during floods, where countless people have perished.
In the dim light, Xu Zhangfang seemed to hear a sacrificial song amidst the roaring torrent, with the cliffs on both sides emitting undulating sobs, like the mournful cries of thousands of dead souls.
Zhou Yaren lowered his eyes, his brows damp with tears, his eyelashes casting a small shadow on his eyelids. He had no choice; he had to drag Xu Zhangfang into hell with his own hands, so he had to perish together with this man.
What is there to fear in death? He had no regrets.
Zhou Yaren couldn't tell whether the dark figures crowded in the vortex of the Gate of Hell were ghosts or spirits of the dead who had perished in the river, but they all exuded the stench of death.
Xu Zhangfang couldn't break free from the "tether" binding him, nor could he break free from Zhou Yaren's hand that was firmly holding him down. Their fates were tightly bound together, and they were gradually swallowed up by the great river.
Xu Zhangfang lowered his head. The Ghost Gate beneath him was pitch black, with vortexes seemingly nested one inside the other, bottomless.
The hurricane howled above the canyon river, and the turbid waves crashed violently against the cliffs and reefs, carrying immense force and creating towering waves that smashed the two men in black to pieces.
This is the power of a natural barrier.
Zhou Yaren chose this place because Bai Yuan had mentioned his previous life: "About a hundred years ago, you were pulling a boat along the Sanmen Pass in Shanzhou. The boat hit a reef, and you and several other boatmen who were going to serve fell into the river and drowned."
The Sanmen Pass was a natural fortress where "nine out of ten boatmen died while pulling the boats." In addition to hiring civilians as boatmen, local officials would also send death row inmates to pull the boats, which was tantamount to "using labor instead of execution."
Now Zhou Yaren has returned to this familiar place, but he will once again be a lonely ghost in Sanmenxia.
He was indeed unlucky, but he managed to take Xu Zhangfang down with him to the underworld, so he died a worthy death. From now on, Bai Yuan can rest peacefully and quietly in the Taihang Mountains, where no one will plot against her or harm her, and no one will be able to imprison her anymore.
Even if she were to be afflicted by divine retribution, those shackles would not necessarily imprison her or deprive her of her freedom.
Zhou Yaren silently planned everything, then pulled Xu Zhangfang into the whirlpool. Ghostly figures darted wildly through the perilous Ghost Gate, incredibly ferocious and treacherous, surrounding them layer upon layer, scrambling to bite and devour the two "offerings" thrown into the river like starving corpses.
Xu Zhangfang finally showed a look of terror, as if his bones had been broken, and heard a terrifying roar and wail in his ears.
The heavens and earth roared incessantly, and the raging waves isolated everything, crushing the flying stones into dust. No one could get close to this formation.
Another man in black was slammed against the cliff by the hurricane and was swept into the sky before he hit the ground.
The wind was as hard as crushing stones. Xu Qian's fingernails had already cracked and curled up, and his five claws could no longer grip the crevices in the cliff. If this continued, no one would be able to leave the canyon alive.
The intense malevolent aura emanating from the Ghost Gate was suffocating. Xu Qian's eyes bulged out, bloodshot, and he felt as if every inch of his flesh was about to be corroded away.
They had followed Xu Zhangfang around, living a life of smug success and triumph, never failing in anything they did. They were so complacent that they assumed victory was assured this time as well. Little did they know that the blind master had made a desperate gamble, setting up a suicidal formation.
Zhou Yaren closed his eyes amidst the grand formation; his shabby and wretched life had finally come to an end…
However.
The impregnable Ghost Gate, which no one could approach, was suddenly shaken by a powerful external force.
Xu Qian, who was hanging on the cliff, could see most clearly that a young man dressed in white was rushing towards them. The young man seemed to have traveled a long way through wind and rain, crossing the night without stopping for a moment, and finally arrived at the Three Gates Perilous Pass.
Lin Mu rushed over, panting, and threw the Death-Announcement Umbrella into the middle of the river. Suddenly, a figure as cold as light appeared in the raging storm, cleaving through the perilous gates of hell like a cold sword.
Zhou Yaren, caught in the middle, suddenly looked up and saw Bai Yuan standing amidst the turbulent waves of resentment, his expression extremely cold and stern, his snow-white robes seemingly capable of shaking off a long river of ice shards.
Bai Yuan immediately saw the trick – to devour the formation with one's own body.
This blind man really brought this upon himself; he probably learned this life-sacrifice trick from Sun Xiuniang and came here specifically to deliver food to the perilous gates of hell.
Without uttering a word, Bai Yuan unleashed his accumulated palm strike towards Ghost Gate Reef!
The long river was suddenly torn apart, splitting in two, crashing into the cliffs on both sides like a tsunami, exposing the sharp, knife-like reefs on the riverbed. Countless tow ropes bound to the reefs were shattered by the burst of cold light.
The Ghost Gate Formation collapsed, and the restraints on Zhou Yaren and Xu Zhangfang were suddenly broken.
Demons and monsters darted wildly in the long river. Bai Yuan grabbed Zhou Yaren and glanced at the scratch on his cheek, wondering which damned vengeful spirit had scratched it.
"Bai Yuan, you shouldn't have..." He could have killed Xu Zhangfang immediately, but Bai Yuan's palm strike ruined his plans.
Before Zhou Yaren could finish speaking, Bai Yuan threw the blind man who was courting death onto the shore without any regard for his safety. Zhou Yaren had to grit her teeth to keep from letting out a muffled groan.
“You know why I did this.” He felt that Bai Yuan should be able to understand him.
"What, should I even say a few words of praise to you?"
Bai Yuan's cold and sarcastic attitude at this moment stung him deeply, and Zhou Yaren suddenly felt a turmoil of pain in his heart.
"I've told you before, I don't need the protection of those irrelevant people. Did you not understand, or did you just ignore what I said?"
"no……"
"You handed the death report umbrella to Lin Mu," Bai Yuanyan said coldly and aggressively, "Did you even ask me?!" How dare you make such a decision on your own?
Zhou Yaren suddenly froze.
Lin Mu stood there dumbfounded, terrified into silence by Bai Yuan's appearance.
Unlike before, when Bai Yuan truly turns cold, it's frightening.
She looked down at Zhou Yaren, who couldn't even stand up, and said, "Who do you think you are, daring to make decisions for me?"
These words were truly merciless, sharper than any sword or blade that had struck him. If those swords and blades could injure his body, Zhou Yaren could endure them all, but Bai Yuan's words were like a knife to his heart, which he could not bear.
Zhou Yaren's eyes suddenly reddened.
He almost died at the gates of hell, only to be told, "Who do you think you are?"
What does that count for?
He got what he deserved.
Zhou Yaren remained silent, got up covered in blood, and turned to leave, swaying slightly.
Bai Yuan's face darkened: "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to kill Xu Zhangfang."
Is he being stubborn with her?
She knew her words were harsh, but shouldn't she have been? If she hadn't arrived in time, the blind man would already be buried with Xu Zhangfang.
Bai Yuan was so angry she almost laughed. She didn't want to look at this person even once more: "I think you're really tired of living."
Having said that, he walked straight past Zhou Yaren and swam towards the center of the river.
Zhou Yaren stared at Bai Yuan's departing figure, frozen in place. A stream of hot tears blurred his blindness, and all the bitterness and sorrow squeezed into his already narrow chest. This time, he was truly heartbroken.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
