Jin Heyi and Qing Han turned to Jiangchen Wushang as well, freezing on the spot when their eyes registered the same sight.
Jiangchen Wushang’s entire arm was completely soaked through, and eerie wet patches were slowly spreading through the rest of his body. Half of it was already drenched, and his uncovered hand was pale and wrinkled, as though it’d been submerged in water for quite some time.
He shook his head and once again circulated his inner energy to evaporate the water and dry himself.
Upon ascending to the void realm, a cultivator’s power transmuted from mystical force into true inner energy. It was much stronger than its predecessor on a fundamental level, and could rival the immortal energy of some true immortals.
However, Jiangchen Wushang’s sleeve was soaked through with water again soon after he’d dried it with his dense inner energy.
“What’s going on?” Frowning, Jin Heyi rushed to Jiangchen Wushang and used his own immortal energy to dry the strange, wet spots.
“Don’t touch him!” Lu Yun pulled his enemy to the side and shook his head. “He’s doomed.”
Jin Heyi’s expression darkened. “What?”
“Leave him. He’s going to die.” Lu Yun stared fixedly off to Jiangchen Wushang’s side. There was a mysterious subspace there—one that consisted completely of water. A black arm had extended from it and taken Jiangchen Wushang’s hand, slowly pulling him into the realm of water.
“What do you mean?” Alarmed, Jin Heyi followed Lu Yun’s line of sight, but didn’t notice anything amiss.
“Water Ghost Grasp…. Why is there a thing like that here?! Come on, let’s go! Once it consumes Jiangchen Wushang, it’ll come after us!” Hair all over his body stood on end. He grabbed Qing Han and made a speedy escape toward the heart of the tomb.
“Water Ghost Grasp? What’s that?” Jin Heyi was a golden immortal with hundreds of zombies by his side; naturally Lu Yun’s words wouldn’t faze him.
“Why did he run… hic….” Jiangchen Wushang couldn’t seem to think straight. He belched and threw up a mouthful of black seawater.
“You….” Jin Heyi took three big steps backward, eyes wide as his powerful consciousness scanned the area around Jiangchen Wushang’s body, but once again came up empty handed.
Water Ghost Grasp?
Jin Heyi took a closer look at Jiangchen Wushang’s left hand; it did seem like it was being held by something.
“An immortal ghost? No, that’s not it. I’ve gained the body of a zombie king and I’m only half a step away from coming back to life upon the extreme of death. Immortal ghosts wouldn’t be able to escape my detection….”
Back in the tombs of yin and yang, Jin Heyi had refrained from killing Beigong Chonglou because he’d sensed the immortal ghost possessing the prince. However, he detected no traces of immortal ghosts here.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle.
Strange noises emitted from Jiangchen Wushang’s mouth. In fact, he sounded like a drowning mortal. Then, clear water pulsated from his seven orifices.
“Senior brother… I don’t feel so good….” Anguish flashed through his face.
Jin Heyi felt a tightening of his scalp. He stared at Jiangchen Wushang and muttered, “You’re doomed, you really are doomed… I’ll take those!”
Clenching his jaw, Jin Heyi reached out and took the Bag of Corpse Refinement and Great Formation of Corpse Refinement when his questing hands found them. With another wave of his hand, he collected the crowd of zombies around them into the bag and disappeared on the spot.
Gurgle.
Jiangchen Wushang remained oblivious to his senior brother’s movements. He tipped his head up and flailed in the air, like a drowning man trying to find purchase on anything to keep him afloat.
“Senior brother… help….” He lowered his head. He was completely soaked, and the parts of his body that weren’t covered by clothes looked bloated and pale, like he’d been immersed in water for days.
An eerie smile spread over his face and he wobbled off in the direction that Jin Heyi had fled.
……
Lu Yun ran for a great distance, pulling Qing Han behind him, before slowly coming to a halt. He panted heavily, expression still tinged with shock and fear.
“What’s a Water Ghost Grasp?” It was the first time Qing Han ever saw Lu Yun flee in such a panic and it’d caught him by surprise too.
“Remember the Tiger Prince and the Dragon Prince?” Lu Yun panted. “It’s like them, but so much worse!”
Back in the burial mound, if the two princes hadn’t noticed the energy coming from the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals and allowed it to collect them, Lu Yun wouldn’t have been able to deal with them.
Water Ghost Grasp was so much more deadly than the two princes. It was a feng shui layout like Ghost Yanking Feet, which could pull people into water to drown them. However, the layout here had given birth to real water ghosts, unlike the living layouts found in the burial mound.
Water ghosts were formed from natural yin energy. Similar to zombies, they didn’t belong to any of the three realms and were beyond the five elements, treading the line between life and death. In other words, the water ghost layout was something that mashed together immortal ghosts, zombies, layouts, and other mysterious existences.
Lu Yun had never expected to find something so devious in the tomb.
“Dragon Prince? Tiger Prince? Who are they?” a familiar chilling voice sounded at Lu Yun’s ear. He didn’t have to turn around to know that Jin Heyi had caught up with them.
“Those you cannot afford to make enemies of either.” Lu Yun turned around, his face tightening. “Dammit, you led it here!”
“What?” Jin Heyi turned and flinched, finding Jiangchen Wushang’s body staggering its way toward him.
“Senior brother… save me….” Thick goop oozed out of Jiangchen Wushang’s mouth as he approached ever closer.
“Wushang!” Jin Heyi took several steps back.
“Why didn’t you save me… senior brother…” his haunting voice seemed to be whispering right into Jin Heyi’s ear.
Jin Heyi narrowed his eyes as postmortem spots emerged all over his body, marking the disappearance of his vitality as he turned into a zombie.
“Hehehe—” Jiangchen Wushang’s eyes bulged, then almost fell out of his skull as he stared mockingly at Jin Heyi.
