Chapter 73

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In order to reduce the time difference between switching accounts, Ning Chen even spent 3 points to exchange for a jade talisman for short-distance transmission, and threw himself into the room on the second floor.

The elders of Liuyun Sect were already like this when the vests were cut to. Ning Chen even doubted his own eyes for a moment.

He thought about it and it seemed that he had not agreed to anything just now?

So what are these old guys talking about when they keep saying "no young friends"?

On the other side, Xie Tingyun was already walking quickly towards this side. He first nodded to the elders, but found that the elders all looked back at him with eyes full of understanding, and when he walked to the side of Ning Chen, they consciously kept a distance from him.

Xie Tingyun was stunned for a moment, a little confused, and asked Ning Chen: "What's wrong?"

Ning Chen said: "I don't know."

Xie Tingyun then asked, "The Demon Lord just released his pressure, are you injured?"

The pressure from the Nirvana Realm was not fatal to the Mahayana cultivators on the scene, but for a Jindan-stage disciple, it was a big deal.

Ning Chen was stunned for a moment. He thought that he seemed to be a little too angry at that time and didn't notice to restrain the pressure. However, this vest is just a puppet, and it should not be hurt by the pressure of the original body, right?

So Ning Shen said, "No, don't worry."

Xie Tingyun looked at him from left to right for a long while, and confirmed that Ning Chen was still alive and kicking, so he felt relieved and said, "Let's go. It's time."

Kong Ling was the only one in the inn who was in a state of panic. Xie Tingyun asked everyone to leave first, and he went to help the waiter who was shivering in the corner. He comforted him in a low voice for a long time, and then stuffed the bag of spirit stones that Kong Ling had just given him into the waiter's arms.

Xie Tingyun said softly, "I'm very sorry. Consider this as compensation. If it's not enough, there will be more."

Ning Chen: “…”

The waiter was startled. Seeing that the bag of spiritual stones Xie Tingyun stuffed over was of high quality and large in quantity, he was embarrassed to accept it all. He could not help but hurriedly pushed it back and said with a red face, "Too, too much."

Ning Chen had destroyed the inn himself, so there was no reason for Xie Tingyun to clean up the mess for him, so he ran to the system mall to exchange for two bags of high-quality spirit stones. He pulled Xie Tingyun away, forced the two bags of spirit stones into the waiter, and said, "I'll do it."

Waiter: “…”

The waiter hurriedly said, "This is more, sir!"

Xie Tingyun glanced at the fellow practitioners who were gradually walking away, frowned and said, "What are you trying to steal from me? It wasn't you who broke it."

Ning Chen didn't give the waiter a chance to shirk his responsibility. He cast a spell to make the storage bag stick to the waiter's arms, and then forcibly dragged Xie Tingyun out, saying, "You didn't break it, did you?"

Ning Shen thought: Don’t talk about our ancestors.

"..." Xie Tingyun couldn't persuade him, so he turned his head and apologized to the waiter: "I'm so sorry."

*

The two of them quickly followed.

On the way, Xie Tingyun seemed to still feel a little guilty, and whispered: "When you go out, remember to remind me to come back and visit. I hope their business has not been affected."

Ning Chen said: "I guess this money is enough for them to run away."

Xie Tingyun: "..."

Ning Chen has lost count of the points he has used up along the way, but fortunately he now has a lot of points, so he doesn't feel so bad about spending them now.

The inn was not far from the ghost realm, and they arrived there soon.

In front of him was a spooky barrier, and a dark river stretched across the ghost realm, also exuding a deadly atmosphere.

Ning Shen hardly felt angry at all.

This place is even more filled with resentment than the Pingjing Village they had been to before. Pingjing Village is a ghost village where earth-bound spirits gather, and the ghostly aura itself is very strong, but at least during the day it can still be maintained as it is thanks to Achao's talent.

The realm of resentful ghosts is even worse than that. The entire area enclosed by the barrier is filled with gloomy ghost energy and resentment, and it is almost impossible to see the scene inside. Once you get close to the barrier, the ghost energy inside will rush towards you, making strange laughter.

There is also the black river next to it. Ning Shen remembers its name, which seems to be called Endless Abyss. I heard that it is a river with one entrance but no exit. Once you enter it, no one can get out, and you will never know whether you live or die.

There is a high probability that he is dead. Even if he is alive, he cannot break through the natural barrier of the abyss and will be trapped to death in it.

By now, most of Kong Ling's injuries had healed, but the remaining damaged spiritual power and meridians could not be healed by elixirs alone.

It seems that Tian Xiao held back very wisely. He did not touch the sword cultivator's hand, nor his meridians, nor did he use the devilish aura that the demons usually use to try to destroy his spiritual roots and foundation.

This will allow Kong Ling to recover most of his strength in a short period of time.

However, no matter whether it is demonic energy or ghost energy, they both have the characteristic of easily invading through wounds. Even though Kong Ling's injuries have recovered by more than half at this time, he still needs to be more vigilant. Due to the concentration of ghost energy in the ghost realm, if he is not careful, he may be infiltrated by the ghost energy and then he will be in trouble.

It was obvious that the evil spirit there was not as merciful as Tian Xiao.

Ning Chen whispered, "How do we get through this barrier? Can we just go in directly?"

Xie Tingyun nodded and said, "The barrier protects against things inside, not outside. It is very easy for someone with ulterior motives to get in."

Xie Tingyun walked forward, raised his hand and pressed it on the barrier, then closed his eyes.

Spiritual energy flowed out slowly from his palm, silently eroding the barrier to create an exit large enough for a person to enter. The ghost energy wanted to take the opportunity to escape, but was blocked by the invisible barrier, so it reluctantly bumped into the gap opened by Xie Tingyun.

Xie Tingyun nodded to the Mahayana monks and said, "Take care, everyone. I hope we can meet again after this trip."

Ning Chen followed Xie Tingyun and whispered casually, "Life and death are determined by fate. Why make the atmosphere so solemn and solemn? If it were you, you should just become sworn brothers, and whoever comes out alive will collect the bodies for the rest. That would be a show of loyalty, right?"

Xie Tingyun: "..."

Xie Tingyun disagreed: "You should also be more serious. You have the lowest cultivation level and will be the first to die in there. I will go to hell to pull you back."

Ning Chen liked the feeling of talking about life and death without any scruples, so he said openly: "Don't worry, I can't die here."

"Oh, right," Ning Chen suddenly thought of something and asked, "When is your next sect competition?"

While Xie Tingyun maintained the entrance to allow others to enter, he said, "It happens once a hundred years. The next time will be in about ten years."

"...More than ten years?" Ning frowned and said, "A long time. Can it be advanced?"

Everyone had already entered. Xie Tingyun patted Ning Chen, motioned him to go in, and said, "It doesn't matter if he comes early or not. As long as you stay alive, there will be plenty of opportunities to participate."

As Ning Chen entered, he felt a chilly breath blowing towards his face.

That kind of coldness penetrates deep into the bone marrow, freezing a person's flesh and blood completely and thoroughly, and sucking away all vitality before it stops.

Ning Chen couldn't help but shudder. Xie Tingyun beside him raised his hand and covered it with a handful of fire in his palm.

Ning Shen groaned for a moment, took a little of Xie Tingyun's fireball into his hand, and continuously injected spiritual power into it, saying: "I can do it too."

The people who came in first waited at the front, and only after the last two people came in did they gather around.

Yuqing whispered, "Although this is a restricted area, when it was first designated as a restricted area, there was no ghost energy so dense that it was about to turn into a physical form."

What does this mean?

This shows that over the years, either someone has died here for no reason or in a horrible way.

The dense ghostly aura ahead had almost turned into a gray substance, and the road ahead could not be seen clearly at all. Everyone had no choice but to grope their way forward.

Xie Tingyun was carrying a soul lamp that was wrapped and isolated by a spiritual barrier. The soul lamp was dying, flickering on and off. It would only react when Xie Tingyun injected spiritual power into it, licking Xie Tingyun's cold fingertips with its waning flames.

After Xie Tingyun injected spiritual power, he observed the reaction of the soul lamp, then changed direction and walked towards that place.

Yu Qing was also holding a similar soul lamp in his hand. He stared at the soul lamp for a long while, then said after a moment of silence: "Thank you, fellow Daoist. Southeast direction?"

The other Mahayana monks were also here to look for their missing disciples, and they were heading in the same direction, both southeast.

Xie Tingyun's face darkened slightly, and he said, "... Demon Lord."

Ning Chen's heart sank as he looked at the resentful ghost realm that had been silent for such a long time.

Not true.

That's totally wrong.

The Ancient Evil Array is a killing array set up by the original body against Xie Tingyun, and it will only be triggered when Xie Tingyun enters.

But they have been here for such a long time and there is no movement at all.

The feeling that the situation was out of control made Ning Shen subtly irritated.

The ancient evil formation does not require the person who sets up the formation to maintain it all the time. After the person sets up the formation, it becomes completely independent of anyone. Therefore, after the original body deployed it, he forgot about it and just waited for the opportunity to lure Xie Tingyun over.

This also means that if this ancient evil formation is tampered with by someone or used for other things, Ning Chen, the person who set up the formation, will be completely unaware of it.

Ning Chen already had a bad feeling in his heart.

The traces of the Demon Lord were found in the Resentful Ghost Realm, the disciples of various sects in the cultivation world disappeared in the Resentful Ghost Realm, and the ancient evil formation set up by the Demon Lord's original body was also suspected to have been tampered with.

Even a fool can connect the dots.

The soul lamp in Xie Tingyun's hand suddenly lit up at some point, as if it sensed the approach of people.

They walked in the direction indicated by the soul lamp and finally came to a large open space. The ghostly aura in the space was strangely thinner.

Then everyone saw a large number of wooden crosses densely packed and erected in the middle of the open space.

What made everyone shudder was that there was a human figure tied to each wooden cross.

Some of the bodies had somehow corroded so badly that only pale, dry ribs remained in the abdominal cavity.

Some of their chests were still rising and falling slightly, and their bodies were obviously still intact. Judging from their clothing, disciples from all sects were wearing the same uniforms. Ning Chen even saw the uniforms of Liuyun Sect disciples in the first few rows.

Yuqing also saw his own disciple, and his usually calm face finally showed some excitement. He said, "He's still alive!!

"Qinggu...Qinglin..."

"Can you hear me? If you can, please respond."

Strangely, however, there was no response from the living.

Their bodies were still alive, tied tightly to the cross by green vines. The surrounding demonic energy continuously flowed into their bodies and out of their seven orifices, as if they were performing some unspeakable evil sacrifice.

Yuqing took a step forward subconsciously, but stopped abruptly the next moment.

At that moment, the intuition honed from the Mahayana realm warned him not to go any further.

However, at this moment, countless souls appeared silently in the shadows around them. Those souls had no physical faces, but their bodies were intact, as if they had been carefully preserved by someone, but their faces had been deliberately wiped off.

In addition to these faceless ghosts, the disciples who were tied to wooden crosses, with their eyes closed and dying, also underwent some changes.

The dazed souls were forced out of their intact bodies, which had not yet died. They remained in the same intact appearance as when they were alive, but they were inexplicably horrified to find that their perspective had been reversed, and they could only watch their still-living bodies being trapped in this world.

The souls of these disciples were no different from their flesh and blood bodies, except that their figures had begun to fade, and they were drenched in a sinister ghostly aura. They looked exactly like the ghosts of the dead, with no difference at all.

They turned around and saw their elders looking at them with an unpleasant expression. They suddenly turned around and said blankly, "... Senior Brother?"

"Uncle Yuqing?"

"Senior Brother Kong Ling!!"

"Why are you here? I... why am I here?"

"Ah! My body!!"

When those faceless souls saw the fresh soulless body, they rushed into the body as if they had seen something delicious. Some faceless souls even fought with their own kind in order to seize a living body.

The disciples in spirit form stared at all this in amazement. Some of them rushed forward to try to get their bodies back, but they found that they could not get back into their bodies at all. They were also pushed and attacked by the faceless spirits who were fighting for their bodies as competitors.

How could these newly born souls be a match for these old ghosts who have been wandering for thousands of years? Now they can only stand by and watch their bodies being snatched away, anxiously turning around: "Uncle Yuqing... I can't get in! !?"

The disciple who spoke was a nephew whom Yuqing had watched grow up. This time when his nephew went down the mountain to gain experience, Yuqing specially refined a few protective jade talismans as a gift for him.

However, all those jade talismans completely shattered at a certain moment. Only then did Yu Qing realize that the reason for abducting the disciples of various sects must be serious.

There were at least hundreds of wooden crosses on this open space. Every dead body was decayed beyond recognition. Large patches of dried blood were on the wooden crosses, and the brown marks were crooked, revealing the intensity of the struggles their owners had gone through in their lifetime.

The nephew looked at his body being completely taken over, and even his eyelids began to tremble. Yuqing finally couldn't help but take a step forward.

Unexpectedly, Ning Chen stared at the light red mark under the wooden cross, and suddenly said, "Don't go over there."

That is... the seal of the ancient evil formation.

The formation that was supposed to have only one formation seal now appeared under the feet of every disciple who was still alive.

Yu Qing was frozen for a while, then said in a low voice: "...I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."

Xie Tingyun's fingers were clenched until they turned pale. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered, "Ningchen."

Ning Chen said nothing, but kicked the stone lying quietly on the ground in annoyance.

Ning Chen kicked the finger-sized stone into the group of wooden crosses and it suddenly disappeared at a certain moment. Then the next moment, a sudden and unexpected evil wind blew in the air, carrying with it some fine sand and gravel that made his cheeks hurt.

Yuqing couldn't help but shiver.

Is this a warning to him about the consequences if he rashly goes in?

There are seven Jindan-stage disciples in Yuqian Sect, and each of them is a beloved disciple cultivated with great care by the sect’s elders.

There were his nephews and some young disciples whom he had met once or twice and who would always glance at him and say hello.

If so...if so.

If we can bring them out, it would be worth it to kill an old man who has lived for a thousand years.

Yuqing walked towards the wooden cross without hesitation.

He took a few steps, and just as he was about to raise his hand to drive away the faceless ghost that had occupied his disciple's body, a red light suddenly appeared under his feet, and the evil formation started to move silently. Demonic energy suddenly surged in from all directions and completely engulfed Yuqing's body.

Ning Chen's expression suddenly changed.

Xie Tingyun's face turned pale.

No one present could recognize the evil spirit, but Xie Tingyun was the only one who could recognize it at a glance.

This is the unique demon aura belonging to Demon Lord Tianxiao.

These demonic auras were cold and lifeless, completely different from the lively and agile demonic aura of that person, which would pester him to ask for some spiritual power to eat, and would rub against his fingertips and act coquettishly.

The two were extremely cold and cruel. If Xie Tingyun was not so familiar with this aura, he would have thought that these two auras belonged to two different demon clans.

However, before entering the realm of resentful ghosts, the man was still in front of Xie Tingyun. Even though he was furious, he did not kill Kong Ling. If he stretched out his hand to block him, he would really be obedient and would not go up to chop people.

Ning Chen tried to mobilize the demonic energy coming out of the evil formation, but for some reason, these demonic energy that had been injected into the ancient evil formation and became part of the operation of the evil formation were no longer under his control.

Ning Chen could guess why, and the demonic auras emitted by the two people with different souls were also different.

Ning Chen was simply unable to control the demonic aura that carried his original body's will.

“Yuqing!!”

The other Mahayana cultivators' pupils shrank upon seeing this. They also recognized the owner of this devilish aura one after another and could not help but grit their teeth and said, "...Demon Lord Tianxiao?!"

"No wonder, no wonder the Demon Lord didn't attack us even though he got here. Was he waiting here?"

"…Among the people who came here, only the Demon Lord did not enter the realm of resentful ghosts."

Xie Tingyun stared at his junior brother who was at a loss but could only be knocked to the ground again and again by the faceless spirit that robbed his body. The blood in his chest seemed to have frozen into ice chips, completely piercing the blood in the surrounding meridians, causing so much pain that the blood turned into ice.

He murmured hoarsely: "...Tian Xiao?"

At a certain point, Xie Tingyun began to doubt himself completely.

Was it Tianxiao who did it?

If so, why?

Is it because he saved him and so many righteous disciples that these lives belong to Tianxiao? Does he want to wait until the last moment to take them all back?

But... the Tianxiao he knew was not like this.

Ning Chen caught a glimpse of Xie Tingyun's pale face, and suddenly felt something was wrong. He reached out to grab Xie Tingyun and said, "Xie Tingyun..."

However, Xie Tingyun pushed him back with his backhand. His eyelashes were shaking unconsciously, and he still tried to keep his voice steady. He raised his hand and quickly set up a barrier to cover Ning Chen in place. He said, "Ning Chen, stay here and help me watch them. Don't come in."

Afterwards, Xie Tingyun shook off Ning Chen's hand, followed Yu Qing's steps, and walked towards the group of wooden crosses.

A red light flashed under Xie Tingyun's feet, and this time, the icy demonic aura, which was several times more powerful than the one that swallowed Yuqing, completely surrounded Xie Tingyun's body.

Those evil spirits seemed to have overwhelming malice towards Xie Tingyun. Xie Tingyun was very sensitive and could recognize that it was the cold murderous intent and hatred that emanated from a person when he truly wanted someone to die.

That feeling was so familiar, so familiar that Xie Tingyun felt as if he were in another world.

He had fought with this kind of murderous intent and malice for half his life, and after that duel where he was almost killed, every demonic aura he encountered would only try to get close to him, act coquettishly, and ask for spiritual power.

Ning Chen tried to pull him hard but failed, and he could not help but curse. He simply and roughly kicked the barrier set up by Xie Tingyun to pieces, then followed him into the ancient evil formation.

This time, the evil spirits seemed a little confused and hesitant. They slowly circled around Ning Chen's body, and finally swallowed Ning Chen completely.

Kong Ling angrily punched the wall next to him, stared at his disciple's dwindling soul, and walked in as well.

No matter what, no matter whether this was a trap set by Demon Lord Tianxiao or not, now that they were already here, there was no way they would just watch their disciples die here, watch their still living bodies being snatched away and occupied by a group of faceless spirits, and then watch these confused souls being gradually corroded by the ghostly energy.

If their guess was correct, after these bodies were occupied, the living souls had nowhere to go and could only wander in the realm of resentful ghosts, watching their own bodies being driven around by others with joy, and they could only watch helplessly as they were eroded by the ghost energy over the years, until all traces of themselves were wiped out and only a relatively complete soul body was left.

Then, when the next batch of new living people come in, they become new faceless souls, and compete with all the new and old, dead and living ghosts for new bodies.

This realization caused the remaining Mahayana practitioners to feel an icy chill deep inside their bodies.

…They seemed to have some idea where these countless faceless spirits came from.

I also understood why in the realm of resentful ghosts, the overwhelming resentment almost covered the sky, and no sunlight could be seen anymore.