Chapter 114 The Ghost Soldiers
The evil spirit's swordsmanship was no ordinary matter; its parries were impenetrable, almost unpredictably deflecting the Soul-Hooking Lock's attacks from all directions, with intense sparks flying at the points of contact. Because both sides attacked at speeds too fast for the naked eye to follow, under the dark sky, arcs of red fire appeared and disappeared intermittently, resembling from a distance a stealthy spirit beast with electricity lurking on the mountaintop—dazzling yet discreet.
At first glance, Bai Wuchang's unstoppable killing intent seemed to overwhelm the evil spirits, who could only parry and were completely at the mercy of their opponent. However, Zhen Su, an outsider, clearly saw that the evil spirits' movements were not chaotic due to being forced to retreat, but rather quite the opposite. The red light on the long sword in the evil spirits' hands seemed to be accumulating, and with each parry, it became redder and darker.
Black Impermanence also saw it and circled behind the evil spirit, intending to lend White Impermanence a hand and work together to defeat it.
Unexpectedly, Bai Wuchang gritted his teeth and angrily said, "Get out of my way! Don't block my way!"
Black Impermanence slowed down, but it was clear that he did not intend to really obey White Impermanence. In just a few breaths, he spun around and swung the Soul-Hooking Lock, attacking the evil spirit.
But then, an unexpected turn of events occurred. Just before his soul-snatching lock was about to strike the evil spirit, the evil spirit's longsword was completely coated in red light, suddenly splitting into four longswords. These four swords darted and weaved through the gaps in the soul-snatching lock's net-like structure, striking simultaneously from both ends, aiming to pierce the head of the Black and White Impermanence—
"!!" Bai Wuchang's scalp tingled with fear as he focused his mind, realizing he had to dodge as quickly as possible. However, what was terrifying was that he also clearly realized he couldn't dodge.
Since Hei Wuchang was attacking from behind, he was unable to prepare a fighting stance, and his evasive footwork was too slow to be fully utilized.
Everything seemed to have been decided in an instant, but the figure of someone who should have been watching from the sidelines was no longer there.
Just as the red light was about to penetrate the foreheads of the Black and White Impermanence, with only half an inch remaining, the momentum of the longsword was abruptly stopped, and the entire sword disappeared into the air.
The longsword, which was about to devour the soul energy, showed no reaction whatsoever. The evil spirit was taken aback. Upon closer inspection, it saw a young man in white robes strolling in the fierce wind whipped up by the soul-snatching lock. His black hair fluttered in the wind, yet not a single strand was cut off. And upon closer inspection, it was clear that the young man was holding four scarlet longswords between his fingers.
Evil spirit: "...How come?"
However, before the word "maybe" could be uttered, the young man had already raised his left hand and grasped the countless soul-snatching chains in his hand as easily as plucking a flower.
"Lend me the chains." Zhen Su said, and before the two Wu Chang could stop him, he appeared behind the evil spirit. In the blink of an eye, the evil spirit felt a sudden tightness in his throat. He found that the soul-hooking chains around his neck were tightening with terrifying force, and his soul energy was almost being squeezed to the point of bursting, as if his head and body would be separated at any moment.
"I...I've lost!! Don't kill me!" the evil spirit begged for mercy.
A moment later, a chilling breath brushed against his ear, followed by the boy's pleasant voice: "Form a soul pact with me, or else..."
Seeing the menacing Black and White Impermanence approaching, the evil spirit dared not hesitate and immediately nodded frantically.
"Bite it open." Shinju forcefully inserted two fingers into the evil spirit's mouth and commanded.
The evil spirit never imagined that it would be suppressed to this extent by a young man who looked even younger than its grandson. So, filled with resentment and anger, it used its canine teeth to pierce Shinjuku's finger and then swallowed the blood.
With a stomp of his heel, the ground around the evil spirit sank with a deafening roar, instantly whipping up a fierce wind that sent dust and debris swirling everywhere. Shinju pulled out two fingers, then spread them into a five-finger gesture, tightly covering the evil spirit's face and violently pressing it into his forehead! Imprisoned in the position of the Three Corpses!
As the smoke and dust cleared, only Shinjuku remained standing.
When the Black and White Impermanence arrived, they saw Shinju wiping blood from the corner of his lips with his finger, his eyebrows drooping, saying, "I was careless; he still managed to get away."
Upon hearing this, both Black and White Impermanence were greatly shocked, especially White Impermanence.
Bai Wuchang was confident he could subdue the evil spirit single-handedly, but he never expected to suffer such a terrible loss. Had he truly taken that fatal blow, he would probably be...
The speed of the longsword was faster than lightning. Bai Wuchang couldn't understand how the boy before him had blocked four swords from different directions in an instant... He couldn't even see it clearly at the time, and if he hadn't witnessed the sword appear in the boy's hand the next moment, he wouldn't have believed it either.
Previously, we couldn't even see any ghosts... Just who is this kid...?
Bai Wuchang stared intently at Zhen Su, his peach blossom eyes becoming dry. He narrowed his eyes slightly, oblivious to the blood welling up in his clenched fist. As the blood fell to the ground, it turned into black mist and dissipated.
After his initial shock, Hei Wuchang realized what was happening and looked at Zhen Su with a somewhat complicated expression.
The brutal way the Soul-Hooking Lock was used inexplicably reminded him of that person not long ago.
Shinju didn't know what the two were thinking, but he felt that their eyes were very intriguing and he couldn't understand them, so he stopped worrying about it and went forward to return the Soul-Hooking Lock to Bai Wuchang.
At this moment, because the Realm of Evil Souls had disappeared, Ox-Head and Horse-Face finally came looking for them.
"What on earth happened?! Why didn't you respond when I called you?!" After roaring, the bull-headed man looked down at the large crater in the ground and the mess around him, guessing that a chaotic battle must have just taken place here.
Bai Wuchang explained, "It was my recklessness that led me to the location of an evil spirit. Without informing anyone, I went to fight it alone."
"A demonic spirit?!" Ox-Head and Horse-Face's expressions changed drastically, clearly not expecting to actually encounter a spirit of this level.
"Where did it go?"
"I failed, and he escaped."
When Shinju saw that Bai Wuchang had taken all the blame onto him, he couldn't help but look over. Bai Wuchang ignored Shinju's gaze and continued, "We cannot be certain yet that the evil spirit is related to the missing soul case in that village, but now that we have discovered such a being, we must eliminate it. I will report back when I return, and next time we will definitely capture this evil spirit!"
"..." Masakura pressed his chest guiltily and remained silent.
Black Impermanence glanced at him but remained silent, only lowering his head to await the judgment of Ox-Head and Horse-Face.
Bull Head waved his hand dismissively and said, "We'll settle this when we get back!"
As dawn approached, none of the underworld soldiers and messengers found any further clues in Yilian Village, so they decided to head back to the underworld. As for the wine-tasting banquet in the outer village that they had discovered in the dream, they also needed to reconsider their plans upon returning.
As dawn broke, Zhen Su, at the very back of the line, stepped into the dark coffin. A sharp pain shot through his lower abdomen, and his senses heightened dramatically. He instinctively felt danger lurking behind him, and just before being teleported away, he abruptly activated his divine sense—
On the mountainside of the second hill, a tall woman with her hair in a bun and adorned with a gold hairpin was holding a small bundle in her arms. Her face was turned toward the dark coffin, as if she were gazing into the distance.
Even though he couldn't discern the woman's facial features with his divine sense, Shinju inexplicably felt that the woman was "shedding tears."
Before he could look again, a flash of red light swept past, and Zhen Su's consciousness was pulled back into darkness. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the Soul-Hooking Division's office, which was covered with black banners.
Zhen Su had expected that Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang would take him along to give a report, but they didn't. The two looked at him with complicated expressions, thanked him, and then let him return to the Di Sha Courtyard.
Even after sitting down on his bed under the watchful eyes of the snow fox and the big-eared fox, which he thought were well hidden, Masakatsu was still shaken and it took him a long time to realize where he was.
The woman's sorrow was so intense that he couldn't ignore it, and it even deeply affected him, almost preventing him from escaping from that emotional abyss.
"This is too strange... Yilian Village." Shinju wiped his face, intending to wash it, but suddenly felt extremely tired. The four-petal tattoo on his back was faintly warming up again, but he didn't notice it because the sides of his head and tailbone were even hotter at the moment, and the branding heat took away all his attention.
A strange force began to rampage through his body, threatening to shatter his bones, flesh, and internal organs, before violently pulling Masakatsu's consciousness downwards.
.
Nianchao, the imperial palace.
In the past two days, the King of Zhen has finally stopped dreaming about those enchanting scenes of Longyang, but he sleeps very lightly at night. He can wake up immediately at the slightest sound outside the palace.
So when it got to midnight, he simply stopped lying down and got up to meditate and refine the dragon energy.
Even so, he couldn't suppress the anger that suddenly rose up from nowhere, making him feel both irritable and empty, often with a sense of unease as if his feet couldn't touch the ground.
Pu Xun was also greatly surprised after his audience with the king. He had clearly sealed and suppressed the ten petals on the king's body, but for some reason the king's malevolent aura was getting stronger and stronger.
That day, they secretly discussed with the Prince of Zhen how, in order to end the current dynasty's rule as soon as possible and move on to the next dynasty, they needed to see what achievements the Prince of Zhen had made before he lost his memory. So they searched every nook and cranny of the imperial study.
When he had almost finished calculating, he was about to say something to the King of Zhen when he noticed that the King of Zhen had his eyes downcast, staring intently at a scroll in his hand, his brows furrowed, and upon closer inspection, his hand was even trembling.
Pu Xunzhi wondered if he had made some major discovery, so he quickly went closer and found that it was a piece of calligraphy with the real name of the King of Zhen written on it, rather than the name of the current emperor.
Suddenly, the King of Zhen asked him, "What do you think of this character?"
Pu Xunzhi remained silent for a long while before finally saying, "...Although it 'slightly' fell short of His Majesty's usual standards, however... however..."
The King of Zhen roared, "This is not my handwriting!!" Even with his non-dominant left hand, he could not write such shapeless, boneless, and unsightly characters.
Pu Xunzhi was utterly astonished. In this small world, someone actually knew the Poison King's real name?! Just who was this person to earn the Poison King's such trust?
"Is there a signature?" Pu Xunzhi craned his neck, trying to see clearly.
The King of Zhen stared intently at the calligraphy, not answering. But when the name was mentioned, a blurry image flashed through his mind. Unfortunately, he couldn't grasp any details. He tried desperately to recall, but all he could remember was that he had lost something extremely important.
The King of Poison then flipped over a few more sheets of paper, the handwriting on which was very similar to his, and it was clear that they were imitations of his.
But he still couldn't figure out who wrote it.
Unwilling to let others know about his amnesia, the King of Poison ultimately did not send anyone to inquire. The violence in his heart almost burst out of his chest, and unintentionally, the several sheets of paper crumpled into a ball in the King of Poison's palm, no longer the same.
The King of Zhen felt a strange sense of panic, but he suppressed the urge to iron the paper, threw aside the crumpled paper, and turned to read the book.
Pu Xunzhi glanced at the crumpled paper in the corner before turning his attention back to the discussion.
.
In the mortal realm, in the world of cultivation, in the underground palace of an imperial mausoleum.
Unlike the previous cold and desolate atmosphere, within just a few days, many ghosts moved in from within a hundred miles. There were little ghosts, mournful ghosts, evil ghosts, and even four or five fierce ghosts, all of whom were well-known figures in the underworld.
They were all people who came to seek refuge with the ghost general in the underground palace. They were about to perish because of the ghost general's rapid and ruthless expansion of territory. But one day, the ghost general suddenly stopped violently eliminating them and instead offered to recruit them to his cause.
The ghosts, who had been like a scattered pile of sand for so many years, included those who were afraid of death, those with lofty ambitions, and those who simply wanted to have fun. They all came together.
These past two days, the ghost general has not dreamed of the boy's figure again, which has made his rare moment of clarity unclear again, and even worse. Every day, he either mutters about wanting to find a golden-eyed boy, or he goes mad and indiscriminately devours ghosts, and whoever gets close will be unlucky.
The ghosts below were all afraid of him; what else could they do but obey?
So the ghosts took the initiative to find people for the ghost general.
"Boss, could you elaborate? Besides having golden eyes, what other features does that person have?" Although golden eyes are unusual, the cultivation world is vast and isolated, with many places that are completely cut off from the world. Searching for someone based on just this is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The ghost general remained silent for a long time.
The ghosts below could only ask proactively: "Is it male or female? How old are you? Who is in your family? What is your cultivation level? What do you look like?"
Unexpectedly, the ghost general remained silent, not responding at all. Just when all the ghosts thought he wouldn't answer, he suddenly spoke up: "Six inches long."
The ghosts were all stunned, and asked in unison, "Where is that?"
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Author's Note: [Edited] I've made some polishing.
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