Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio#
It was the skin of an amiable-looking old man, who wore monk’s clothing. Su Yu had a deep impression of him. He was none other than the elder who had recommended them to the Eighteen Linked Mountains, Jiu An!
Su Yu took the skin and stroked it. It seemed from the slit upon it that it had just been opened recently. Moreover, there was still a faint trace of Ghost Energy remaining within it.
“Sheng Ge, do you know what’s going on with this?” Su Yu’s wrist shone as he summoned Sheng Ge.
After she came to stand beside him, her gaze immediately fell upon the skin and she furrowed her brows as she said, “It’s the Ghost Clan’s Painted Skin. After obtaining a living being’s skin, they can use a special method to refine it into a skin that ghost’s can wear. This allows them to disguise themselves as that living being! Such a method deceive most people, and it’s difficult for anyone, apart from ghosts, which are sensible to Ghost Energy, to recognize it.”
She then added, “In the war between the humans and the ghosts that occurred a hundred years ago, the human clan suffered great losses because of this method. Also, as the ghosts, who wore the humans’ skins, were mingled among them, they were able to obtain a great amount of intel for the Ghost Clan, which helped them to defeat the human clan.”
Painted Skin? Su Yu’s eyes slightly flickered as he wondered… Do ghosts really possess such an ability?
However, as he thought about the fact that Sheng Ge was capable of secretly hiding among humans, even deceiving Elder Jiu’s senses and escaping into the Mysterious Heavenly Divine Pavilion. it seemed to him like ghosts really did possess great talents in such aspects.
Ding!
A badge suddenly fell out of the Painted Skin and landed upon the altar. When he lowered his head and looked at it, he found that it was a scarlet badge, which had the three words “Ghost Prison Envoy” written on it. The badge gave Su Yu a familiar feeling, as if he had once seen or heard about it somewhere before.
Swoosh!
As Su Yu thought of something, the ring in his finger flickered and a scarlet badge appeared on his palm. It was such a deep scarlet color that it seemed like it was made of fresh blood. It also had the three words “Ghost Prison Envoy” written on it.
The two badges were exactly the same. The only difference between them was that the number 10,000 was depicted on the back of the badge that was taken by Su Yu, while the number 9,000 was depicted on the back of the badge that he found in the skin.
“The Ghost Prison’s badge?” Sheng Ge spoke suddenly as she looked in disbelief at the two Ghost Prison’s badges in Su Yu’s palm. Her eyes were filled with excitement, respect, and longing.
Su Yu raised his brows. “Well? What do you know about this?”
Sheng Ge’s pretty eyes were incapable of leaving the blood-red ghost badges, while she spoke quickly in excitement, “I obviously know about them! They are the noblest badges in our Ghost Clan! Only envoys can get them!”
She then added, “The only way of getting such badges is by fighting, and as long as your fighting prowess in the Ghost Clan is ranked among the top 10,000, then you will be qualified to get the Ghost Prison’s badge and become a Ghost Prison Envoy!”
Su Yu looked carefully at the Ghost Prison’s badge in his palm, then asked curiously, “Then, what cultivation base is needed to get the lowest tier Ghost Prison’s badge?”
“The early stage of the Divine Master Realm. All those ranked between 9,000 and 10,000 are early stage Divine Masters. As for those ranked ahead of 9,000, they are at the very least at the middle stage of the Divine Master Realm.” Sheng Ge licked her lips excitedly.
As she spoke, Sheng Ge clearly wanted to continue, but she stopped herself and hesitated, then said, “Master, can you…”
“Take them.” After Su Yu heard her explanation, he threw the badges to her casually. After all, since those objects were useless to him, he figured that he would just give them to Sheng Ge.
Sheng Ge was stunned by this sudden luck! The Ghost Clan had several hundred million members, so getting to be ranked among the top 10,000 was the dream of all of the ghosts. As such, many of them, including Sheng Ge, didn’t dare to have such great aspirations.
In the past, she had just been an ordinary soldier, who was just like disposable cannon fodder. She didn’t expect that, after surviving such a great crisis and being sealed within the Zhenlong World’s Dragon Abyss of the Nine Underworlds, she would end up becoming Su Yu’s slave.
She had already accepted her face and resigned herself to it. But, now that she had just received these two extremely precious Ghost Prison’s badges, the tides might have turned!
If she could cultivate the inherited cultivation technique within them, then her power would surely rise, and she might even have a chance of advancing into the Divine Master Realm and turning from a Heavenly Ghost into a Ghost King!
“Many thanks master.” Sheng Ge felt heartfelt gratitude toward Su Yu.
Su Yu waved his hand at her indifferently. “If you work properly and honestly for me, then you are bound to get many benefits.”
Sheng Ge stood beside him obediently when she heard his words. Su Yu let out a breath as he looked at the Painted Skin. It seemed like Jiu An had already died long ago. Now, just a body that was possessed by a ghost remained.
However, Su Yu was still bewildered by something…The ghost envoys should have already gone back to the Ghost Prison a hundred years ago, so why would one of them suddenly have appeared here? Moreover, where did he come from?
Su Yu couldn’t help but start examining the altar as he pondered this. There were many of the Ghost Clan’s symbols, all of which formed the Illusory Spirit Departed Soul Formation, within the surroundings of the altar.
Su Yu was also puzzled by the formation’s use, so he asked, “Sheng Ge, you once said that only All Creation Realm ghosts can set up such a formation. Is that really the case?”
Sheng Ge nodded.”Yes. Only a Ghost Prison Envoy at such a realm could carve the formation’s symbols. Even Divine Masters are incapable of achieving such a feat successfully.”
Su Yu asked another question as he looked at the Painted Skin in front of him, “The Ghost Prison Envoy that possessed Jiu An’s body should have been an All Creation Old Monster when he was alive, right? Then, why was he quite weak?”
Su Yu, who once fought the Blood Emperor, felt that, even if an All Creation Realm ghost’s power recovered just up to the middle stage of the Divine Master Realm, they would still not be as weak and frail as he was. Sheng Ge just blinked her eyes at him when she heard his question, as she didn’t really understand what he meant.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
At this moment, Su Yu’s ears twitched as he extended his hand, put it on Sheng Ge’s shoulder, then took her back to the Nine Jade Spiritual Pearl. The four demons, as well as the five elders, had found the cave at the peak of the mountain easily, then followed the Ghost Energy into it and arrived at the ancient altar.
“Junior brother Su!” Bai Shanliang’s expression eased upon seeing Su Yu alive. He had assumed that Su Yu had failed to save Xue Qi and suffered the ghost’s vicious assault.
“You are actually still alive!” Bing Wuxin snorted coldly.
Su Yu smacked his lips. “I’m sorry for disappointing you, I was luckily saved by a youthful expert who was passing by.” Su Yu’s expression was still calm and composed, and his casuals words managed to wholly divert the people’s attention from him.
“Junior, quickly recount the whole process.” The eyes of the iron chain elder, Bai Yang, flickered as he instructed him. He was extremely interested in this white-haired youth.
Su Yu replied carefully, “Elder, when I was just about to create a diversion to save Xue Qi, I was discovered by the ghost. I assumed that I would surely die, but a white-haired youth unexpectedly passed by and saved Xue Qi, then led the ghost away. I have no idea about what happened to them after it.”
He carefully mixed genius and fake parts together, which made it difficult for anyone to notice the falsity of his report. The people here were all disappointed, as until now, they still didn’t know the identity of this strange and mysterious youth.
“Fine, you can stand aside for now. Is this where Xue Qi was being held?” Bai Yang surveyed the surroundings with his gaze.
Su Yu nodded. “Yes… The ghost was on the altar…”
The people looked at the altar when they heard him, and they easily noticed the skin, with which they were familiar.
“A Painted Skin?” Bai Yang, as well as the other elders, clearly knew the ghosts’ Painted Skin.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The five people, all of whose expressions were quite grave, flickered like lightning, as they went over to it.
“We weren’t mistaken! According to the various records about ghosts that were collected by the Elegant Spirit Mountain, this is obviously the ghosts’ special skin. Who would have expected that the body of Jiu An, who accompanied us for many years, would be unexpectedly possessed by a ghost?” Bai Yang took a deep breath as grief appeared in his eyes.
Just after this, his expression became ice-cold. “The Ghost Clan, which already retreated from the continent a hundred years ago, wouldn’t come back to Jiuzhou without a good reason. If we linked this to the fact that many small factions in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands have suffered an unknown faction’s assault, then we have a valid reason to assume that the Ghost Clan of the past has started operating once again, and they might probably invade us soon!”
“Correct, it’s fortunate that the Palace Master will come here soon, so she can make a decision about this matter herself,” one of the elders said.
The hearts of Su Yu and the four demons shuddered slightly upon hearing this, while they all wondered… Will the Ghost Clan really invade us again?
If this was truly the case, then a great disaster would surely befall the human clan! If the Ghost Clan invaded them once again, there wouldn’t be anyone capable of confronting the peerless Ghost Prison’s great emperor!
As everyone was pondering this, the ambiance became quite heavy. The five elders sent some people to guard this place, then led Su Yu and the others back to the camp.
“Your name is Su Yuxian, right? Don’t walk away, as the Manor Master will shortly come back and will have some questions to ask you,” Bai Yang said.
Su Yu nodded, then waited quietly with the four demons in the camp. After an hour, Xue Qi, whose face was deathly pale, came back. She was weak, but she hadn’t sustained any major injuries.
After hearing that she had come back safely, Bai Yang came to the camp once again and started questioning her about the whole process.
“Senior sister Xue Qi, congratulations on your safe return.” Su Yu revealed a faint smile.
Xue Qi was greatly frightened by the dangerous situation that she had just gone through, and she could only smile weakly. “Junior brother, many thanks for your concern.”
Gongsun Wuxie rolled her eyes slightly and chuckled. “Senior sister, you don’t know how anxious everyone was after you disappeared. Su Yu even braved death to look for you!”
Xue Qi gazed at Su Yu, a warm feeling welling up in her heart. They were just strangers, who had just gotten acquainted, yet Su Yu had still braved death for her. In fact, it was only because of his devotion that she had been saved.
“Many thanks,” Xue Qi thanked him once again as she looked at Su Yu with a gaze that was filled with gratitude.
Su Yu chuckled indifferently. “It isn’t as exaggerated as she said, so you don’t need to care much about it. Besides, I still haven’t repaid you for warning me about the Shao Family.”
At this moment, the tent’s curtain was lifted open and senior sister Jiyu and the others, all of whom had just gotten news about her, entered to visit with her.
“Junior sister Xue Qi, it’s really good that you managed to come back safely.” Jiyu wanted to curry favor with Xue Qi, and it was also the case for the four inner sanctum disciples behind her, as it seemed like Xue Qi had quite a high status in the inner sanctum.
Xue Qi revealed a faint smile. “Thanks for your concern. It’s only thanks to junior brother Su, who braved death for me, that I was saved.”
Su Yuxian? Jiyu couldn’t help but look at Su Yu, while she mumbled inwardly… This outer sanctum guy is really quite different from the masses.
