Chapter 101

Chapter 101

“Ah Chen!”

Ruan Mingzhu suddenly cried out, her face full of terror. “I heard her. She spoke from inside the body.”

Murong Chen, however, had heard nothing.

He took Ruan Mingzhu’s hand and comforted her. “The fact that you can possess her body proves her soul-consciousness has already been sealed.”

“Now all you need to do is enter the Blood Array, use Body Snatching to seize her body, and force out her soul. Then you can replace her completely!”

Ruan Mingzhu was still frightened, but she knew this was the only way she could “live” again.

She had waited fifty years. She did not want to wait any longer.

The so-called Blood Array was the formation used to refine the Yin-Yang Fiend.

Aside from seven drops of vital blood, fourteen strands of Supreme Yin Soul, and twenty-one strands of Living Soul,

it also required the bones of twenty-eight people who had died wrongful deaths, as well as the bloodwater formed from one measure of Ghost-God Spittle.

Above this secret chamber lay Qianqiu Garden of the Eastern Palace, which happened to be a place of supreme yin. It could nourish corpses and also lock away souls.

Yin energy gathered overhead, the equivalent of laying a barrier above the array, preventing it from being disturbed by the righteous qi of the mortal world.

At present, the Blood Array lacked only one strand of Supreme Yin Soul before it could be activated…

At that moment, Ruan Mingzhu felt both afraid and tense.

She walked to the edge of the blood pool and watched as the bloodwater, under the effect of the Ghost-God Spittle, continued to boil.

The Yin Soul and the Yang Spirit fought and devoured one another in the pool. One indistinct ghostly face after another surfaced, all twisted with ferocity.

Ruan Mingzhu simply closed her eyes. But just as she was about to throw herself into the pool, a cold laugh suddenly sounded beside her ear.

A force latched onto her, freezing her in midair.

Then her soul was violently ejected from the body and, before she could react, plunged into the pool.

Faced with a newly entered soul, the “things” below naturally gave it special attention. They surged forward almost as one and swallowed her up in an instant.

At the sight, Murong Chen’s expression changed drastically. He immediately cried out, “Mingzhu!”

By the time he rushed to the edge of the pool, Ruan Mingzhu’s ghost was already nowhere to be seen.

Clearly, she had already merged with the array.

Murong Chen’s face turned livid. Furious, he looked toward Xia Ximo beside him, his entire body brimming with Yin-Sha Qi. “Who exactly are you?”

Wuyou had already been sweating for her inside the Soul-Ferrying Lantern. At this, he could not help speaking up. “There is an extremely unusual aura on this man. It does not belong to him. Be careful dealing with him.”

Of course Xia Ximo had sensed it too, but she did not take it seriously.

From the memories she had seen after Ruan Mingzhu possessed her, she could confirm that this man was none other than Murong Chen, the Former Dynasty Crown Prince.

The skeleton that had been trapped to death in the secret chamber of Fu Tower was his.

She simply did not know what had released him from within, or what had granted him abilities beyond those of an ordinary Vengeful Ghost.

Otherwise, he could not have so easily used Body Snatching to seize the body of Crown Prince Zhao Li of the present dynasty.

“That is a question you should be asking yourself.”

Xia Ximo shot back coldly, “You committed evil while alive and brought chaos after death, and you still want to be emperor of the mortal realm?”

“Wishful thinking.”

Her words made Murong Chen even more enraged. His figure blurred, and in the next instant he was before Xia Ximo. He reached out with a hand wreathed in Baleful Qi, about to seize her by the throat.

Unexpectedly, before he could touch her, he was caught by a strange restraining force.

Then the person before him merely lifted a hand and waved lightly, and he was knocked into the pool.

But the souls within the Blood Array were clearly afraid of him. When they saw him fall into the water, they scattered in all directions and did not dare cling to him as they had before.

Xia Ximo guessed it was probably because of that “evil aura” on him.

Only after losing in a single exchange did Murong Chen realize that this woman dressed as a young male servant was not to be trifled with.

His entire body soaked in bloodwater, he instead let out a wild, arrogant laugh. Then, all at once, he swung his arms wide, and the Yin Soul at the bottom of the pool transformed into strand after strand of black qi, coiling around him.
Blood ran down his face, staining even his eyes a savage crimson.

Wuyou suddenly warned her, “He’s trying to use the array’s power against you!”

“The array may not be complete, but it’s extremely sinister. If this goes wrong, it might even… affect the living outside!”

No sooner had it spoken than the entire secret chamber began to shake.

Xia Ximo was just about to speak when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a figure appearing at the entrance to the chamber. It was Ren Fengjue.

The brief distraction was all it took for Wuyou to shout, “Look out!”

She turned back and saw a mangled, bloody head flying straight toward her.

It was hardly lethal, but it was truly disgusting.

Xia Ximo frowned, power gathering at her fingertips, only for an arm to suddenly loop around her waist and pull her back.

A tall, slender figure stepped directly in front of her.

Ren Fengjue moved with remarkable speed and reflexes. Not only had he vaulted over with a burst of momentum, he had also snatched up a candlestick from the table along the way and used it as a “weapon,” knocking the head straight to the floor.

With one candlestick gone, the room dimmed at once. He looked back, barely able to make out Xia Ximo’s expression. “Are you all right?”

Xia Ximo did not answer. Instead, she ordered, “Move aside for now.”

“…”

In the nearly twenty-one years Lord Ren had been alive, he had understood each word of that command individually. Put together, however, it was something he had never heard before.

He was about to speak when the secret chamber shook again, and every flame in the room went out with it.

Then came a faint rustling from above their heads.

Xia Ximo glanced up. Remembering that Qianqiu Garden lay above them…

Wuyou guessed, “From the sound of it, it’s like something is crawling out of the dirt. Could it be…”

“Corpses.”

Xia Ximo finished coldly.

Buried beneath Qianqiu Garden were the bodies of those Ruan Mingzhu had killed.

Now, Murong Chen had likely borrowed the power of the Blood Array to use those Yin Soul entities to raise the corpses.

Once unconscious Yin Soul entities attached to corpses, they would have no fear of sunlight. They might even go on a killing spree inside the Eastern Palace…

Xia Ximo had not expected things to become this troublesome. She immediately instructed Ren Fengjue, who stood beside her, “It’s chaos outside. Go save them.”

The aura inside him was special. Those Yin Soul entities could not harm him.

But the others…

Wuyou immediately said, “Once Yin Soul entities possess corpses, their eyesight weakens. If you encounter any Yin Corpse creatures, don’t make any noise. If you’re discovered, hold your breath as much as possible.”

Xia Ximo did not know whether that advice was reliable, but she quickly relayed it anyway.

Ren Fengjue was briefly stunned, but he did not ask more. Choosing to believe her, he only said, “Then you…”

“I can handle this.”

Her answer was far too firm.

Ren Fengjue was still uneasy, but the situation was urgent and left no room for hesitation.

Too much had happened over these past days.

Although he had long since noticed there was something strange about her, deep down, he still chose to trust her.

Of all the people he had known in his life, he had never felt this kind of trust before.

She was the only one.

“All right.”

Ren Fengjue acknowledged her, then decisively headed out of the secret chamber.

Watching him leave, Xia Ximo cast a glance into the darkness, her gaze cold and clear. At the corner of her eye, a dark red mark flickered in and out of sight.

The next second, her figure shot forward like lightning, flying above the blood pool.

Murong Chen looked up in shock. The figure suspended in midair was imposing, and a faint aura of the Netherworld seemed to emanate from her entire body.

Though he had never been to the Underworld Administration, he had heard of the terror of the Lord of the Netherworld.

Now, as his eyes met hers, he actually shuddered.

Xia Ximo spread her ten fingers and asked him, each word icy and deliberate, “Are you getting out on your own, or do I have to drag you out myself?”