Chapter 399: Ten Thousand Ghosts! Kill! Kill! Kill! Leave No One Alive!

She reached out her hand, and a black banner appeared in her grasp. With a light flick...

Whoooosh!

Billowing black smoke surged outward, and from within it, countless fierce ghosts began to crawl and writhe their way free. There were hanged ghosts, headless ghosts, starved ghosts, beheaded ghosts, lustful ghosts, malignant ghosts, all manner of twisted shapes and hideous visages.

Most terrifying of all were the vicious spirits whose murderous intent filled the air. Among them were even monster souls, a sign that this black banner contained innumerable bound souls, a truly ominous artifact.

Within the horde were two Ghost Kings, known as the Mighty Ghost King and the One-Eyed Ghost King, each radiating an overwhelming aura.

People speak of the Hundred-Ghost Procession, but this seemed more like the release of ten thousand ghosts!

In broad daylight, the sky dimmed, and the land below turned into a ghostly hellscape. The dense yin qi continuously eroded the spiritual essence of the Taixu Temple’s Mountain-Guarding Formation, causing the ambient qi of heaven and earth to thin to a trickle.

The chill of the ghostly realm spread outward, while the old scholar’s brows furrowed deeply.

“This... may have gone terribly wrong.”

He stirred his intent, and his form dissolved into a gust of wind, sweeping away into the distance.

“Why should

I

take the blame for the demons’ incompetence?”

He decided that upon returning, he would make sure to turn the prince against the White Marsh Demon Kingdom, and let

them

bear the weight of this disaster.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

***

At Mingyue Cottage...

The place was blessed with excellent feng shui. It was luxurious, yes, but arranged with an unmistakable Daoist subtlety.

A sudden gust swept through, and the air temperature inexplicably dropped several degrees. The servants shivered involuntarily, glancing about in unease, but saw nothing.

They quickly lowered their heads and resumed their duties. After all, the pay here was generous, the surroundings beautiful, and the master, Daoist Shou Yi, was a mild-mannered, scholarly gentleman.

It was only strange that, from time to time, maids and attendants would abruptly resign or vanish, saying they were going “back home.” No one could quite explain why.

Then, a dark silhouette appeared upon a nearby wall. It was a figure wearing a bronze mask, its expression unreadable. From Taixu Temple to here had taken him little time, and now the ominous phenomena erupting above the temple had already stirred the world into uproar.

The black-robed figure slowly lifted his head, his gaze turning toward the distant heavens.

“What dense yin qi... truly, scholars have the dirtiest hearts,” the Wrath Lord of the White Marsh Demon Kingdom muttered darkly.

He had just sensed the aura of Mingyue Cottage, yet found no trace of Daoist Shou Yi. That in itself was strange.

Casting a spell, he lifted the area’s restriction. The wall rippled like water, slowly revealing an ornate doorway.

With a flash of his figure, he stepped through. The moment he entered, his brow furrowed deeply.

Such an overwhelming stench of blood!

His heart sank, and before he could react, a cold saber light came slicing toward him!

Clang!

The sound rang out like a dragon’s cry. Caught off guard, he instinctively summoned his power, and a vast aura burst from his body.

BOOM!

The air vibrated like a great bell, shaking heaven and earth. Before the Wrath Lord could even grasp the situation, a violent gust of force struck him full in the chest. His qi and blood surged wildly as he staggered backward several steps, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

A single scale on his body flared with dazzling light, illuminating the entire room.

He steadied himself slightly; that scale was from a thousand-year flood dragon, a near-impenetrable protection.

But in that instant, Li Yanchu’s killing intent poured into the Jiaoslayer, and a brilliant arc of saber-qi tore through the air, cleaving the Wrath Lord cleanly in two. The Jiaoslayer, enhanced nine times, possessed absolute dominance over creatures bearing draconic lineage. Even a hint of its true power was enough to shear the scale apart with ease!

Ling Fengzi stood frozen, utterly dumbstruck.

That... that was the Wrath Lord! His body was impervious, his sorcery terrifying; he was a high envoy of the White Marsh Demon Kingdom!

And he’s dead. Just like that!?

Even the orange cat beside them was stunned.

That saber was truly unstoppable. So the young Daoist

had

been holding back before!

She analyzed icily; even at her peak strength, she could never withstand that saber’s edge.

The fox and the cat exchanged a single look, both silently acknowledging the terrifying power of this man. Within the span of moments, the White Marsh Demon Kingdom’s entire operation in Xuzhou Prefecture with its demons, agents, and even the Wrath Lord himself, had been utterly annihilated.

Their forces had collapsed completely.

Li Yanchu glanced briefly at the merit tally that appeared before him; this battle alone had earned him 123,000 points of divine merit, from the slaughter of dozens of man-eating demons.

Individually, they were weak, as none had reached the third realm, but their sheer number made the merit staggering.

“Congratulations, Senior!” Ling Fengzi stepped forward, flattering eagerly. “You’ve completely destroyed the White Marsh Demon Kingdom’s power in Xuzhou Prefecture!”

“Mm.” Li Yanchu responded icily.

Clang!

He raised the Jiaoslayer and brought it down in a single, thunderous strike, which was faster than lightning. Ling Fengzi didn’t even have time to react before his head was cleaved clean off!

His eyes bulged wide with fury and disbelief, and he died utterly unconvinced, staring blankly even in death. Never in his wildest imagination had this dashing young Daoist turned out to be so ruthless, so utterly without mercy!

Li Yanchu calmly retrieved the

Heaven-Illuminating Seal

and unleashed its power, reducing the corpses of the demons to ash.

Then he formed a hand seal and began chanting one of the Eight Great Divine Mantras, the Mantra of Purifying Heaven and Earth.

A radiant light swept through the air, washing away every trace of demonic miasma. When the last of it faded, he raised a finger, and before the orange cat’s astonished gaze, the impregnable restriction around the chamber split open like silk, revealing a gap.

Daoist art: Wall Opening!

With effortless grace, the man and the cat stepped through, reappearing inside Mingyue Cottage.

The instant they emerged, Li Yanchu felt it a dense, oppressive wave of yin qi hanging over Taixu Temple in the distance.

His brows knitted tightly. “This aura... why does it feel so familiar?”

The orange cat’s voice came softly, “Young Daoist, you forged a spirit contract with that Ling Fengzi. Why kill him? Wouldn’t it be better to keep him as a helper?”

Li Yanchu gave her a cold look. “Ling Fengzi was a man-eating demon, steeped in resentment. What use would I have for such filth?”

The cat tilted her head. “So you never planned to tame him at all?”

Li Yanchu blinked, then replied bluntly, “Of course not. I don’t trust that ‘spirit contract’ nonsense. For such monsters, there’s no turning back once they cross my path.”

The orange cat fell silent for a moment, then sneered softly. “Didn’t expect someone so young to be such a born killer.”

Li Yanchu smiled faintly. “So, are you still following me? You saw what happened back there; those demons all died by my hand.”

The cat’s fur bristled. “What, you think I’m afraid of you!?”

Li Yanchu’s gaze was calm, indifferent. “You’re not?”

The orange cat lifted her chin, eyes tilted toward the sky at a perfect forty-five degrees. “Hmph! My background would scare you to death. Your meager Daoist tricks are nothing to me.”

Li Yanchu couldn’t help but chuckle.

Without another word, he stepped forward, grabbed the cat by the scruff, and leapt onto a rising auspicious cloud, soaring into the sky.

“Hey!”

“What are you... wait, I haven’t finished talking... Aaaahhhhhh!”

Her protests quickly turned into a trail of windblown wails.

***

At Taixu Temple...

Celestial Maiden Huayang stood with her Moonshadow in hand, her face pale.

She could scarcely believe it, as this was her very first battle after entering the third realm, and her opponent was this powerful!

The young woman from the underworld was terrifyingly strong,and her mastery of spellcraft was superb.

Huayang’s cultivation was only at the early third realm, and her realm was not yet stable, so she was simply no match. Defeat loomed right before her eyes.