Chapter 172
Chapter 172
Before entering the cave, Ren Fengjue had asked whether the Corpse Gu was connected to Mount Yunhe.
Knowing he could not conceal it, Yan Zhengchu had simply given him a general account of what he had learned several hours earlier, after going up the mountain to meet Master Tianji, so that he would know what they were facing.
“That crooked sorcerer is most likely my martial uncle.”
“But he was expelled from the sect long ago for secretly practicing a forbidden art.”
“Master said that although he hasn’t seen Martial Uncle again all these years, he has sensed him lingering around Mount Yunhe. His intentions cannot be good.”
“Martial Uncle once secretly studied the Forbidden Ghost-Commanding Art. It requires sending one’s primordial spirit out of the body, using blood to cast the incantation, forming a soul array, and borrowing soul power. It is an exceedingly sinister art.”
“Grandmaster drove him from Mount Yunhe before he mastered it. Now that he is cultivating this gu, I fear the Corpse Worms are one part of the Forbidden Ghost-Commanding Art.”
“Master said that once the art is complete, no one living below Mount Yunhe is likely to survive.”
“That is why he spent several months in seclusion devising an array to break Martial Uncle’s art.”
“Master originally intended to descend the mountain himself, but his vital energy was badly depleted, and he feared he could not intervene too much. So he taught the array to me instead.”
Realizing how grave the situation was, Ren Fengjue asked, “What must we do when the time comes?”
“Two steps.”
Yan Zhengchu first handed him a Yellow Talisman. “Once he sends his primordial spirit out of his body, I will keep him occupied. Take the chance to seal this talisman over his Baihui point so his primordial spirit cannot return to its body.”
Then he tossed over an ink line and continued, “The Ink Line has been coated with ‘gold powder’ taken from the gilded statue of the Grandmaster. It can imprison his primordial spirit. When the time comes, the two of us will have to work together…”
…
Now, at Yan Zhengchu’s shout, Ren Fengjue moved with astonishing speed and slapped the Yellow Talisman hidden in his sleeve directly onto Tianwen’s original body.
Next, he took out the Ink Line, wrapped its leading end around his palm, and tossed the other end back to Yan Zhengchu.
“Tianwen” was mildly surprised to find that Yan Zhengchu had come prepared. But on second thought, this was no more than children’s play and posed no threat at all.
The moment Yan Zhengchu caught the Ink Line, a sheen of sweat broke out across his palm.
He was more nervous now than he had been at any earlier point. But remembering his master’s instructions, he had no choice but to steel himself.
While racing down the mountain, he had searched for signs of the Corpse Gu while trying to digest the incantation his master had taught him. He had finally committed it to memory before reaching Tu Family Village.
Yet this was his first time using the array, and not the slightest mistake could be allowed. The pressure immediately rose within him once more.
Just as he was floundering in his anxiety, Ren Fengjue gave the Ink Line a gentle tug from the other side, signaling that it was time to act.
Yan Zhengchu moved through the intricate Nine-Palace Eight-Trigram Steps while silently reciting the incantation. After exchanging a look with Ren Fengjue, he tossed the ink reel back to him.
Between their fixed positions, golden threads crossed and interwove, forming an array that trapped “Tianwen” within.
“Tianwen” had paid it no mind at first. But then Yan Zhengchu suddenly released one hand and softly chanted a spell. Amid a burst of golden light, Tianwen’s primordial spirit was hurled out of Li Cheng’s body.
“It seems I truly underestimated you.”
His primordial spirit trapped, Tianwen realized that this golden-thread array was a technique his junior brother had devised specifically to restrain him.
He said coldly, “Since you show me no mercy, don’t blame your senior brother for resorting to cruelty.”
Yan Zhengchu did not dare relax. He formed a hand seal and was about to cast the final soul-locking spell when the hand holding the ink reel suddenly trembled.
Then a dark shadow descended over him. It tore his soul bodily from his flesh and dragged it into the array.
Ren Fengjue was startled, but he remembered Yan Zhengchu’s warning.
“Do not let go until his primordial spirit is completely locked down.”
The cave was shrouded in gloom. Just then, a gust of yin wind swept through it.
The Corpse Worms grew even more frenzied. They no longer feared Ren Fengjue’s pure yang qi and dared approach him, though they still did not dare touch him.
Yan Zhengchu was clearly in far greater trouble.
Once his soul had left his body, nothing remained but an empty shell. The Corpse Worms had no fear of him and scrambled over one another to crawl up his body.
They were about to burrow into his mouth and nose when a shrill hiss rang out. Every Corpse Worm froze in place.
Only then did Ren Fengjue realize that Xia Ximo had somehow seized the Gu King in her hand.
Her fingers were so slender and fair that they appeared incapable of inflicting any harm. Yet she held the Gu King between them without the slightest effort.
Ren Fengjue was stunned.
So were Tianwen and Yan Zhengchu inside the golden-thread array.
Corpse Gu were nurtured inside corpses and grew by feeding on corpse qi and resentment. They also drank the blood of living people each day, making them extraordinarily sinister creatures.
An ordinary Mother Gu obeyed only the person who had refined it. If anyone else dared approach, it would burrow into that person’s flesh within moments and kill them instantly.
Thus, even Tianwen would never have dared touch the Gu King this way.
But now the Gu King had fallen into Xia Ximo’s hand and was letting out uneasy hisses.
It was afraid, and every other gu insect in the cave was even more terrified.
As Xia Ximo gazed at the creature in her hand, a Red Lotus Seal faintly surfaced on her brow, and a spark of fire seemed to flash through her eyes.
Then she opened her hand without expression. The Gu King fell into the swarm and instantly burst into flames.
Inside the array, Tianwen stared until his eyes seemed ready to split, overcome by a terror unlike anything he had ever known.
“How can this be?” he exclaimed in disbelief.
A red-glowing flame reduced the Gu King to ash. The green light shining from within the swarm gradually dimmed with it.
The cave inexplicably sank into such profound darkness that no one could see a hand before their face.
Ren Fengjue clutched the Ink Line without daring to ease his grip in the slightest. Instinctively, he called, “Miss Xia?”
No one answered.
Inside the array, however, Tianwen distinctly sensed a shadow drawing near behind him.
He spun around and froze in shock once more.
A barefoot woman in red, her expression cold and aloof, had entered the array without his noticing and was walking slowly toward him.
Tianwen instinctively retreated several steps. “Who… who are you?”
The woman in red swept him a frigid glance. “Did you think I could do nothing to you once you left your body?”
Tianwen immediately understood. “You’re the woman from just now…”
The woman with the strange fate and the aura of Netherworld ghost qi.
So his guess had been right.
The woman outside was only the mortal shell she wore in this world. This was her true form.
“You did guess correctly.”
The woman in red slowly raised both hands. Her fingers remained beautiful and exquisitely proportioned as they stretched and plucked at the air like those of a woman playing a zither.
Then she said coldly, “Once you reach the Underworld Administration, ask around and find out who I am.”
Tianwen felt that uncanny power once more, sweeping over him like an icy current.
Panic gradually gave way to despair.
His primordial spirit was trapped within the array, with nowhere to flee. He could only watch helplessly as his body stiffened as though sealed in ice.
Then, like ice shattering, he melted away entirely.