Chapter 182
Chapter 182
Outside the doors, overlapping peaks rose beneath moonlight that spilled across a thousand mountains.
A long-haired woman in red walked barefoot and unhurriedly through the courtyard.
Compared with the grotesque Vengeful Ghosts, her slender, delicate figure appeared entirely unthreatening.
Yet her composure and measured steps made her intentions impossible to discern.
Only Yan Zhengchu recognized her. The words “Miss Xia” nearly burst from his mouth, but he remembered her warning and swallowed them again.
Still, he breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief.
Only one thought remained in his mind: Mount Yunhe would most likely be saved now.
The Vengeful Ghosts had all looked vicious and ferocious. But the moment they sensed the dense Baleful Qi behind them, they hurriedly turned around.
Their imposing air weakened in an instant.
The Yin-Sha Qi from the frigid depths of the Nine Abysses made even these Vengeful Ghosts, which had lingered in the mortal world for decades or even a century, tremble.
“It is a Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner…”
“How could a Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner come to the mortal world?”
“An evil god is supposed to be suppressing that place…”
…
The Vengeful Ghosts whispered among themselves, deeply curious about her despite their fear.
The Nine Abysses were not a place just any ghost could enter.
Even the most powerful Vengeful Ghost among them would merely be cast into Yinshan Prison after reaching the Underworld Administration.
The century-old Vengeful Ghost leading them heard the whispers all around. Displeased that they had lost their nerve before the battle even began, it deliberately tried to bolster their courage.
“A Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner is still a ghost! Now that she is in the mortal world, would she oppose us rather than Mount Yunhe?”
The other ghosts did not dare answer. Clearly, they remained wary.
The woman in red stopped at the entrance to the hall and swept a cold gaze over them. Then she spoke words that made every Vengeful Ghost’s blood run cold.
“You think yourselves worthy of opposing me?”
“…”
Realizing she was not to be trifled with, some of the more perceptive Vengeful Ghosts began quietly retreating.
The leader immediately roared in fury. “That old Daoist suppressed us underground for decades! If we do not kill a few of his disciples tonight, can any of you swallow this resentment?”
At those words, some of the Vengeful Ghosts remained unwilling to let the matter go and turned toward the young Daoists inside the hall.
The tension instantly rose again.
But just as they stretched out their hideous ghostly hands to attack the young Daoists, a strange power stopped them midway.
No matter how they strained, they could not move an inch.
The people hiding beneath the statue stared at the ghostly hand poised to crush them, their faces ashen.
It took no imagination to know that if it truly came down, they would end up like the shattered doors and windows, broken to pieces…
Yu Lang had encountered plenty of strange events since leaving the Capital.
He had seen man-eating monsters, walking corpses returned from the dead, and wronged souls that stole shadows. He had even experienced the most yin and wicked of gu poisons.
But none of those things compared with the scene before him now…
For the first time, he truly understood what it meant to hang by a thread between life and death.
His heart leaped into his throat. Yet the ghostly hand remained frozen in midair. The next instant, it began crumbling inch by inch from the fingertips, turning directly into black ash…
Only then did the Vengeful Ghosts that had not attacked understand the true meaning of fear…
Suppression by a talisman still left a chance to rise again.
But if their souls were scattered, it would all be over.
They turned as one toward the woman in red at the entrance, knowing full well that the Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner had to be responsible.
If they could not afford to provoke her, could they not at least hide from her?
Someone cried out in alarm, and the frightened ghosts scattered in every direction.
The scene resembled nothing so much as mice fleeing a cat…
The leading Vengeful Ghost was humiliated and enraged, but did not dare direct its anger at the Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner.
It had the largest body and could easily catch the fleeing Vengeful Ghosts.
Those it caught were swallowed on the spot.
There was nothing unusual about one Vengeful Ghost devouring another.
In a world where the strong consumed the weak, this was the best way to increase one’s soul power in a short time.
The woman in red remained motionless at the entrance. She watched the Vengeful Ghosts slaughter one another with a cold gaze, not a ripple of emotion on her face.
Inside the hall, Yu Lang stared at her back, troubled by an indescribable sense of familiarity.
Unable to contain his puzzlement, he asked Yan Zhengchu, “Daoist Yan, who exactly is that woman in red? Why does seeing her make me think of Miss Xia?”
Yan Zhengchu panicked inwardly but immediately found an excuse. “Do not make wild guesses. Miss Xia is human. As for this lady… perhaps the Underworld Administration sent her to help us.”
Yu Lang turned and looked at the statue of Mount Yunhe’s Grandmaster behind him, assuming that the sect must have connections in the world below.
He believed Yan Zhengchu’s explanation without question.
Outside in the courtyard, the fleeing Vengeful Ghosts were devoured one by one in the blink of an eye.
The few timid ones that remained were terrified into submission and no longer dared flee.
The leading Vengeful Ghost, meanwhile, had consumed so many of its kind that its Baleful Qi and soul power had soared.
Believing itself capable of fighting the Nine Abyss Soul Prisoner, it finally dared question her. “We bear you no grudge. Why do you interfere with us?”
The woman in red gave it another cold glance, her gaze still filled with disdain.
This time, however, she answered.
“Do not be impatient. You will have your answer soon.”
The leading Vengeful Ghost started slightly.
But a cold smile rose on the woman in red’s face, and icy mist seemed to gather in her eyes. Slowly, she raised both hands.
The mountain wind stirred her hem and long hair. The next instant, a Red Lotus ghost seal appeared upon her brow.
The Vengeful Ghost stared in shock and finally understood.
The Ghost King Seal…
The Earth Lord had sent her!
It was him…
As astonishment filled its face, the woman in red gently spread her ten slender fingers.
The Vengeful Ghost immediately felt its soul body being bound, followed by a burning sensation that spread from within.
It looked down in terror and discovered that a hole had somehow appeared in its chest, with firelight faintly shining from within.
A mass of Red Lotus Karmic Fire from the Netherworld…
Even the Vengeful Ghosts it had just swallowed began burning inside its body.
“No!”
Unable to believe it, the Vengeful Ghost lunged toward the woman in red in a final burst of defiance.
But the red figure merely flickered and instantly changed position, moving as swiftly as lightning.
Only then did the Vengeful Ghost understand the gulf between them. Seeing the flames on its body burn brighter and redder, it hurriedly dropped to its knees and began kowtowing for mercy.
“Please spare me! If you let me go, I swear I will follow you unto death from this day forward!”
The woman in red remained utterly unmoved. She watched coldly as it slowly burned to ash, speaking only when nothing remained.
“I have no use for worthless things.”