Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Murderous intent flashed across Saint Lady’s deep, glittering eyes. She continued, “You don’t need to get yourself involved with the Qis. The imperial court and the Yin and Yang Sect will take care of them. With your current cultivation, they would crush you like an ant.”
Blackie was disdainful. He muttered, “So you think you are that great? Pretending to be the big bad wolf? If he hadn’t saved you, you would have been crushed by Qi Hong yourself! You might die an even more horrendous death.”
Dark furrows appeared on Saint Lady’s forehead. Had her cultivation not been lost, she would certainly have taught the cat a painful lesson.
“Shut up.”
Zhang Ruochen scolded Blackie. He glanced over at Saint Lady, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry, Your Excellency. This cat deserves a slap across the face. He’s always so rude. Don’t take it to heart.”
With her cultivation wholly lost, she would need to rely on Zhang Ruochen’s protection to escape. Saint Lady would certainly not hold them responsible for Blackie’s impudence.
She said, “If we go back to the Yin and Yang Sect, we will be waylaid. It would be suicide.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression was solemn. “Your Excellency, don’t tell me you believe what Qi Hong said before his death?”
He continued. “These medieval ruins are very peculiar. They can seal off your aura. You can’t even send a Signal Flare anywhere. I don’t think it likely Qi Hong could have sent a message back to the Sect.”
Saint Lady shot a glance at Zhang Ruochen. “You haven’t reached the Half-Saint realm, so you wouldn’t know their means of communication. When a Signal Flare is impossible, Half-Saints can communicate with Sacred Thought.
“Our only way out is to hide in the ruins and wait for people from the imperial court and the Yin and Yang Sect to rescue us.
“You’re right, these ruins are certainly very peculiar. They can seal your aura in. That could be detrimental to us
“But, let’s look at this from another angle. Thanks to the strange environment, the Saint from the Qis won’t be able to locate us very easily.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded. He thought that her analysis made sense.
Zhang Ruochen removed the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak from Qi Hong’s body and put it on again. He did not find anything else of value.
Saint Lady stood beside him, looking very cultured and elegant. After Zhang Ruochen finished searching the body, she said indifferently, “You must be out of your mind! Are you so poor that you need things from the dead?”
Zhang Ruochen glanced at her. “Why not? You think no Monk lacks cultivation resources? Not everyone is like you!
“Take Qi Hong’s Half-Saint’s Light, for example. If I can refine it, I will break into a new realm within a short period of time. Otherwise, it will take me a very long time.
“For you, all you need to do is to ask, and someone will purchase it from the Auction House for you.
“You may not need anything from the dead. But many people in Kunlun’s Field would queue up for this stuff.”
Saint Lady stopped smiling as she suddenly understood. She had been so pampered. Perhaps, that was why she suffered this ordeal.
“You’re right. I owe you an apology! If we manage to escape, I’ll give you a lucky break and pay back the debt I owe you.”
Lin Yue’s capabilities had earned Saint Lady’s affirmation.
She had now secretly designated him as one of the nine Kunlun Heirs.
Zhang Ruochen simply shook his head. He was not interested in the big break that she was promising. Now that he had confirmed the presence of the Heaven and Earth Altar, he had no further reason to stay in the Yin and Yang Sect.
Whether “Lin Yue” would exist in the future remained to be seen.
Of course, if his identity remained secret, he would only leave after the Sword Technique Conference. After all, he had learned so many things from the Yin and Yang Sect and profited much. He ought to give something back in return.
Zhang Ruochen suddenly detected a strange movement underground. He stopped walking and quickly grabbed Saint Lady’s wrist, pulling her behind him.
“What are you… doing?”
She glared at him, trying to twist out of his grip.
Zhang Ruochen gripped her wrist even tighter. His guard was up. “Don’t move. Something strange is happening.”
She realized that he was not deliberately trying to be disrespectful, so she stopped struggling. She started observing the surroundings, trying to detect what Zhang Ruochen had.
Although her cultivation was gone and her sensory abilities were quite ordinary, her eyes were still very sharp. She soon detected something odd.
“Are those wraiths?”
Saint Lady’s face turned pale. “Lin Yue, open your Sky Eye. You may find something interesting.”
A white speck of light emerged from between Zhang Ruochen’s brows. It turned into a vertical eye. He glanced around and soon discovered a terrifying sight.
All around the tombstones, illusory human images were materializing. They stood on the tombstones, grotesque and sinister.
The closest was 30 meters to Zhang Ruochen’s left. It was a hunchbacked, white-haired old woman. She looked very eerie.
Zhang Ruochen had long known that a Sky Eye could detect ghosts. He was mentally prepared, but he still had shivers up his spine.
A Martial Soul was quite obviously different from a ghost.
Martial Souls were “living souls.” They helped a Monk mobilize Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and attack someone.
Ghosts were “dead souls.” They could not mobilize Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, but they could devour other ghosts, or even a human or martial soul. It enhanced their power.
After a ghost had grown strong enough, not only could it devour a Martial Soul, but it could also make practical strikes.
With his Genuine Qi, a warrior of the Black Realm could dispel ordinary ghosts.
However, if he encountered ghost soldiers, he would be in big trouble.
Quite obviously, the ghosts soaring out from these tombstones were no ordinary ghosts. Each of them emanated a very powerful Yin Qi. Their presence made the young warriors feel like they were in Asura Hell.
“Why are there suddenly so many wraiths?” Blackie’s eyeballs shifted quickly around as he caught sight of them.
The white-hair old woman nearest to Zhang Ruochen suddenly raised her head. She had a black void where her face should have been. All they could see were two blinking ghost flames in place of her eyes.
“Rustle!”
The white-haired old woman cackled and streaked toward Zhang Ruochen like a black shadow.
A Monk standing beside Zhang Ruochen without a Sky Eye would not be able to see her. All he could see would be a gushing wind coming straight at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his Genuine Qi and struck out with his palms.
A vortex gathered on his abdomen. Swirling rapidly, it emanated a powerful, masculine Qi. It then coursed out from his palms, forming a crimson fire cloud.
When his attack hit her, the white-haired old woman gave an ear-piercing scream. Her wraith form dissipated into plumes of ghostly air.
A masculine Qi could suppress a ghost very effectively, but the white-haired woman was no ordinary ghost. Her wraith body had not dissipated entirely.
Her dark Ghost Qi penetrated his palm power. Soon, a wraith converged again before Zhang Ruochen.
Her form had turned wan, but it was still very ferocious.
“She wasn’t destroyed.” Zhang Ruochen was quite surprised.
He made a swift decision. He injected Holy Qi into his Shooting Star Invisible Cloak. It glowed with a white brilliance.
“Ch-ch!”
The white-haired old woman clawed at Zhang Ruochen’s chest. She grazed the light on the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak. Tiny energy rippled out at once.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen stuck out both hands. His arms closed, catching the woman in between.
BAM! The woman’s wraith form exploded once more.
This time, even her Ghost Qi was utterly shattered. She had completely disintegrated.
Zhang Ruochen gave a muffled grunt and retreated a step. His chest was hurting dully. Her claws had injured him a little.
“Are you alright?” Saint Lady asked.
“I’m fine.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “I was too careless. I didn’t know the wraith was powerful enough to reconverge after her form had been dispelled. So, she caught me off guard.”
Saint Lady was highly intelligent. Although Lin Yue did not say it, she knew that he could easily have dodged the wraith’s strike, even under those circumstances.
He did not, though, because she was standing behind him.
She could tell that this fellow was not that bad after all. He had some backbone. He was not someone who feared death.
She analyzed the situation. “The wraith who fought you was only a ghost soldier.
“Ghosts can be divided into three levels: Demon Sly, Demon Fierce, and Death Messenger.
“A Demon Sly has the strength of a Monk from the First to the Seventh Change of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
“A Demon Fierce is at least as powerful as a Monk of the Seventh Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. The strongest Demon Fierce could rival a first-level Half-Saint.
“Death Messengers have the power of the Half-Saint Class. They can also take a physical body, making them almost impossible to detect among humans.
“I think wraith you destroyed was a Demon Fierce.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes glanced coldly at the gathering ghosts. “Looks like they are all Demons Fierce. Let’s hope a Death Messenger doesn’t turn up.”
“If I recovered 10% of my cultivation, I could disintegrate them all with my awe-inspiring, righteous Qi,” Saint Lady said.
Zhang Ruochen held the Void Sword in his hand, and his aura became fierce and keen. “Let’s go. Blackie, take care of Her Excellency. I’ll lead the way and try to break out.”
Zhang Ruochen needed the Saint Lady’s power to deal with the Qis. If she died, he would not have an easy time outside, even if he escaped the ruins.
Therefore, he could not cast her aside, no matter what.
Zhang Ruochen strode forward, releasing all the masculine Qi in his body. It merged with the Holy Qi within him, surrounding him in a crimson fire cloud.
After mastering the seventh palm of the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm, the masculine Qi within Zhang Ruochen’s body was now ten times greater than an ordinary person’s.
A convergence of his masculine Qi and Holy Qi would prove lethal to ghosts.
