Rumble!

It was at this moment a bolt of lightning struck down from above.

The clouds were dark, but the thunderbolt was as bright as light and as clear as water.

The thunderbolt instantly shattered Ghost Taisui into pieces. A tremendous amount of yin qi was purified and annihilated as well.

“Argh! The Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism! Is there where I die?”

Ghost Taisui screamed in pain, anger, frustration, and madness.

The thunderbolt was called the Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism, and the heavenly tribulation was called the Heavenly Tribulation of Exorcism.

Although the Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism was just a small thunder tribulation of the Seventy Two Earthly Fiends Tribulations, it was exceptionally deadly against evil and corrupt beings.

If Ghost Taisui was at his full strength, then the Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism would not have been a problem. However, the heavenly tribulation just had to take place at his weakest moment. It was hail on top of snow; the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“No! I don’t believe it! I won’t accept this!”

Roaring, a giant maw opened in Ghost Taisui’s stomach and spat out massive quantities of fine sand. The sand was flawless white, but it was overflowing with dark, evil, and deathly qi. It looked like it was ground from human bones.

The sky was filled with white sand in the blink of an eye. As the sand rode the wind into the sky, they abruptly transformed into countless wailing skeletons. For a moment, it was as if hell had ascended to the human world.

The white sand was Ghost Taisui’s Bonded Strange Artifact, the Divine Sand of Bones.

The Divine Sand of Bones was created using the bones of 9,999 humans who were born on a yin day of a yin month of a yin year. Forged using all sorts of materials and treasures, the skeleton of each human produced exactly one speck of Divine Sand of Bones. In other words, Ghost Taisui had killed ten thousand people to forge his Divine Sand of Bones.

Considering that he killed ten thousand people to forge his Strange Artifact, it was quite powerful as a matter of course. Not only could he manipulate its form with a single thought, he could use it to corrupt another human being or Strange Artifact, and wound their body and soul. If the 9,999 specks of Divine Sand of Bones were deployed at once, it could blot out the sky and annihilate countless.

Boom…

Boom…

The second Ghost Taisui tossed out the Divine Sand of Bones, several bolts of Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism struck them and purified several hundred of them. The loss pained Ghost Taisui to say the least.

Still, the Divine Sand of Bones did not disappoint him. It managed to block the Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism.

Unfortunately, he didn’t even get the time to rejoice before the clouds slowly changed from black to white. On the other hand, the clear thunderbolts had turned into black.

It was obvious which one was scarier than the other.

“The Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder? How can this be?” Ghost Taisui blurted out in despair.

It might look like the thunderbolts had just changed a color, but its power was incomparable to what it was before. It was like the difference between a firefly and the moon.

It was because this heavenly tribulation was the Dark Crushing Heavenly Tribulation, one of the Thirty Six Heavenly Stars Tribulations!

The Heavenly Tribulation of Exorcism was only deadly against evil and corruption, but the Dark Crushing Heavenly Tribulation was deadly against anything and everything. It was a heavenly tribulation that even he at his full strength would have been terrified of, much less now.

Before Ghost Taisui could react, a Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder struck down from above.

Unlike the grand and bright Heavenly Thunder of Exorcism, the Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder descended without a sound. However, the entire sky was twisting and breaking as if the thunderbolt was too much for it to bear. Everything around the thunderbolt was dyed black as well.

The skyful of Divine Sand of Bones was ripped in half just like that. Countless specks of sand were annihilated almost as if the Bonded Strange Artifact was made of paper.

“Argh!”

Ghost Taisui let out a bloodcurdling scream, and his yin qi dissipated into nothing. It looked like he could no longer maintain his ghost form.

This was just the beginning, however. The white clouds churned, and the Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder gathered itself for a second strike.

“This is it… this is it…”

Ghost Taisui muttered tragically and despairingly, “I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”

“I can save you!”

It was at this moment a voice suddenly boomed inside Ghost Taisui’s head.

“W-Who? Who are you?” Ghost Taisui blurted out in shock and panic.

“That is not important right now. I ask you: Do you want to live, or do you want to die?” The voice inside his head asked.

“I want to live! I want to live!”

“Good. Lower your mental defenses and worship me as your lord. If you do so, then I will save you,” the voice inside his head declared.

“Okay! I will do anything if you save me!”

Ghost Taisui did not hesitate. He did not have the time nor room to negotiate even if he wanted to.

Ghost Taisui immediately lowered his mental defenses as the voice commanded, and a ray of clear light immediately entered his mind. Before he could react, the clear light transformed into many mysterious and complicated restrictions that imprinted themselves onto his mind.

As if on cue, the Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder descended a second time.

“Save me, senior! Save me!”

Death had never felt so close. Ghost Taisui screamed at the top of his lungs.

It was at this moment a silhouette appeared on top of Ghost Taisui’s head. He summoned a silver truncheon into his head and swung it at the Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder.

There was a soft pop, and the Dark Crushing Heavenly Thunder was scattered into nothing as if it was no more harmful than a drop of water.

Not done yet, the silhouette looked up and swung the silver truncheon at the tribulation clouds.

“Disperse!”

When the silver truncheon completed a full swing, the tribulation clouds scattered just like that.

The sky cleared up, and peace and tranquility returned to the world once more.

“What in the…”

Ghost Taisui was stunned to say the least. He knew full well just how scary the Dark Crushing Heavenly Tribulation was. He had felt it with his body and soul after all. And yet, the silhouette had scattered it so easily he almost wondered if he had imagined the whole experience. It was simply unbelievable.

There was no time for astonishment though. The next moment, Ghost Taisui’s mind scattered into ten thousand wisps and escaped in every direction.

This was his life-saving Magia, the Ghastly Silhouette Soul Scattering Great Art. It could scatter his mind and ghost body into thousands and thousands of wisp in an instant. So long as even one wisp of his existence still existed, then he would survive and be reborn eventually.

Although the silhouette planted a restriction inside his mind earlier, the Ghastly Silhouette Soul Scattering Great Art boasted another amazing ability: It could split apart a Magia or a secret art. For example, if he was attacked by a Magia or restricted by a secret art, he could execute the Ghastly Silhouette Soul Scattering Great Art to split up the spell he was afflicted with. He could even shift, spread, and control the size of the spell as he pleased.

After splitting up his mind, he had shifted the restriction he was afflicted with to all other portions except one. So long as the unaffected portion of his mind managed to escape, he would be reborn as a free man eventually.

This was why he dared to accept the unknown person’s help without the slightest bit of hesitation.

As for why he didn’t use it to escape the heavenly tribulation earlier, that was because a heavenly tribulation and the victim shared a karmic bond. He wasn’t sure if the Ghastly Silhouette Soul Scattering Great Art would work against it.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He was, however, extremely confident that it would work against a restriction because he had done it countless times as early as when he was a weakling. He did not believe that this would be an exception.

The fool thinks he can enslave me? Dream on!

Ghost Taisui was extremely impressed with his own intelligence.

It was at this moment a sense of great terror gripped Ghost Taisui.

The next moment, every wisp of Ghost Taisui’s mind froze in their tracks. The ones holding his consciousness were no different.

“Did you really think you could fool me with parlor tricks?”

A man’s voice rang inside his mind, and Ghost Taisui discovered in shock and horror that his split minds were converging back into one against his will. It wasn’t long before his ghost form was reformed. Then, the mysterious restrictions slowly manifested into view and burst into green flames.