Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Zhang Ruochen put on the Shooting Star Invisibility Cloak. Hiding his aura, he passed through the spatial door and appeared in the cold, dark netherworld.
There were countless huge cracks on the ground. Some of the lava had melted into a red lakes. In other places, miles of land were sealed in ice.
A battle between two equally powerful Saints had destroyed this land completely.
The battle had ended long ago, but remnants of Ghost Qi and Buddhist Qi remained in the air.
A Saints’ battle is honestly terrifying. This place won’t recover for more than 100 years. Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
In Kunlun’s Field, a long battle between Saints would turn the land hundreds of miles around the spot into no-man’s land for a century. Any mortal or low-level martial artist that entered would be killed by the remaining Holy Qi.
He wondered who won this battle.
The surroundings were silent. He could only hear eerie wind brushing past the tombstones. The beautiful Ghost King and Buddha Xinshu must have left.
Zhang Ruochen activated the invisibility power of his cloak. Hiding his aura, he used a physical technique and went to the side of the Blood River again. This had been the center of the battle. The remaining shockwaves were strongest here as well.
Zhang Ruochen gazed at the river. There was actually a blood-red crescent moon printed on the bloody river. He slowly raised his head to look up.
So strange, he thought. There’s no sun, no day, and no night in the netherworld. How can there be a blood-red moon?
He didn’t know how far away the moon was from the ground. At least, he was sure that he couldn’t fly that far with his current cultivation. Even more strange was that the moon’s light only fell upon the river. It couldn’t shine on anywhere else.
Whoosh.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was pondering, a gust of icy wind blew across the river.
There was rustling and a thin layer of ice appeared on Zhang Ruochen’s skin. It covered him entirely. The invisibility function of his cloak was obviously affected too.
If someone was watching, they would see a human-shaped ice statue suddenly appear beside the river.
A female ghost had appeared on the river without anyone realizing. She stood soundlessly on the water. The Ghost Qi radiating from her was very powerful. It consolidated into dark red ghostly clouds.
The ghost’s long hair fluttered in the wind. Her robe was tattered, revealing the snowy skin of her chest, stomach, back, and arms.
Yes.
She had skin just like humans. She wasn’t an insubstantial dead soul.
Though she was a female ghost, she had extraordinarily beautiful features. Her tattered robe only covered her private parts. Her long and slender legs were exposed. They looked smooth and delicate.
This sexy and beautiful yet eerie female ghost kept stimulating Zhang Ruochen’s nerves. However, he didn’t have any inappropriate thoughts. The only thought in his mind was: run.
Run as fast as possible.
Because she was the beautiful Ghost King. Who would’ve thought that she was still near the Blood River?
Whoosh!
Powerful fire-elemental energy surged within Zhang Ruochen. His body was soon covered in flames, which melted the ice.
The Fire Spirit Treasure Body of the Five Elements Treasure Body came in handy now.
One should never even dream about fighting a Ghost King. Using the saint decree to escape was the only way out.
But just as Zhang Ruochen took out the saint decree, his wrist was tangled up in black thread before he could activate the power.
No, it wasn’t black thread. It was the Ghost King’s hair. It carried eerie Ghost Qi that cut open Zhang Ruochen’s skin like a sharp knife. Then it tightened, digging into his flesh. As soon as blood seeped out, it would be absorbed by the hair.
The pain in Zhang Ruochen’s arm felt like something was drilling into him. His blood kept getting absorbed and his wrist was about to break.
How can this be? Do dead souls drink blood, in addition to devouring souls?
What Zhang Ruochen didn’t know was that the average dead soul couldn’t drink blood, but a Ghost King could do it to solidify their bodies. The higher class the blood was, the more beneficial it was.
The next moment, the Ghost King was right before Zhang Ruochen’s eyes. Her cold, deep, and fierce eyes stared at Zhang Ruochen from a hair’s breadth away.
“Sword!”
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Ruochen started manipulating his sword intent. He summoned the Abyss Ancient Sword and activated a sword technique. Leaving a trail of black light, he slashed at the beautiful Ghost King.
Whoosh!
The Ghost King extended two fingers and caught the Abyss Ancient Sword. She waved her arm casually and the sword flew toward the Blood River. It landed on a small island in the river with a huge boom.
“Your cultivation is a bit low, but your blood is of great quality. This means that your soul is probably delicious too.”
The Ghost King stared at Zhang Ruochen as if commenting on a tasty dish. Other than that, she had no other emotions.
Right now, Zhang Ruochen was completely restricted by the beautiful Ghost King. He couldn’t even use his Holy Qi or spiritual power, let alone use time or spatial power.
Whoosh!
The beautiful Ghost King’s snowy-white fingers sharpened. She pressed down on Zhang Ruochen’s head and started extracting his martial soul. At this moment, the image of the old lord of the Xun Saint Sect getting his saint soul extracted appeared in his mind. He refused to admit defeat now.
No, I can’t die. I cannot die here. I have to go back to the Emperor Ming City to pay homage to my mother. I have to take revenge on Chi Yao. I have to find the truth of what happened 800 years ago. How can I die here?
“I refuse!” Zhang Ruochen roared.
Just then, the various deity prints in his Sea of Qi shook violently. They flew out from between his eyebrows, radiating brilliantly, and hit the beautiful Ghost King’s body.
Boom!
Her bloody robe crumbled to dust. She flew back with a muffled grunt. In the sky, her ghost body shattered, turning into a patch of black Ghost Qi.
Then the deity prints flew back into Zhang Ruochen’s Sea of Qi. They returned to the walls and settled down.
Feeling like he’d just saved his life, Zhang Ruochen half-knelt on the ground. He supported himself with one hand and gasped for breath. But before he could relax, the Ghost Qi in the air reformed quickly, consolidating into the beautiful Ghost King.
Her hair still fluttered in the air, but now, she hovered there, completely naked.
What?
Unexpectedly, she hadn’t died. But despite reforming her ghost body, her aura had weakened greatly. She was nowhere close to how she had been before.
“You’re actually protected by various deity prints. I underestimated you.”
The beautiful Ghost King’s body seemed translucent. Every inch of her skin was like flawless porcelain. She was definitely a beauty. If she was in the Kunlun’s Field, she would definitely be a goddess pursued by all the Talents and Conquers.
However, Zhang Ruochen had witnessed how terrifying she was. He didn’t dare have any inappropriate thoughts even when seeing her naked body.
He squeezed his saint decree and pulled out all the Holy Qi. But he didn’t escape immediately, because he could sense that the beautiful Ghost King was very weak now. She wasn’t much stronger than him.
He suddenly had a daring thought. If I can capture this Ghost King, I can definitely force some valuable information out of her. Such as, where the god’s corpse is, the secret of the Pill of Resurrection, and maybe even where the Thousand-bone Empress went.
Wuchangs might not know these secrets, but a Ghost King possibly did. This was a gamble, but if Zhang Ruochen could capture her, the profits would be 1,000 times higher. If he failed, he could still escape. After all, the beautiful Ghost King was at her weakest state now.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Ruochen expelled his negative thoughts and looked back at the beautiful Ghost King. Chuckling, he said, “If I’ve guessed correctly, you must have gotten injured while fighting Buddha Xinshu from the Death Zen Sect, right?”
The power of the various deity prints was powerful, but Zhang Ruochen wasn’t able to manipulate all the power. Thus, they could only defend him passively. Their power was very limited. It was impossible to scatter a Ghost King’s body.
There was only one explanation: the Ghost King had been hurt gravely before this.
This was also why she wanted to devour Zhang Ruochen’s soul—to recover.
The blood-red moonlight shone on the beautiful Ghost King. Her porcelain-white skin was dyed red. Every curve on her body was gentle and beautiful. She was enough to take someone’s breath away.
But her voice was icy as she said, “If not for his cassock with 10,000 Buddhist weapons unleashing power at the same time, he wouldn’t have been my match.”
Zhang Ruochen’s was shocked inwardly. Had Buddha Xinshu really brought the Thousand-treasure Cassock into the netherworld? This wasn’t good news at all!
Buddha Xinshu’s cultivation was already terrifying. If he also had the Thousand-treasure Cassock, no one could be his match.
The Death Zen Sect definitely had a bigger motive for entering the netherworld.
If this human can be protected by various deity prints, then his soul must be special, the beautiful Ghost King thought. If I can devour his soul, I will definitely recover completely. If I can refine the deity prints within him, my body will also become strong enough to withstand the next ghost challenge.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was deep in thought, two balls of fire flared in the beautiful Ghost King’s deep eyes. Turning into a streak, she reached out with her snowy-white arms, attacking once again.
