Chapter 268
Chapter 268
Once his wife crumbled to ashes, the skeletal general flew into a towering rage.
Each stroke of his saber fell harder than the last.
Drawing talismans and casting spells were no trouble for Yan Zhengchu. But he certainly could not match the martial skill of a general who had once dominated the battlefield.
The general might be nothing but a skeleton, yet every move was devastatingly fierce.
Pursued by several slashing blows, Daoist Yan was almost defeated.
With no other choice, he called for Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang to help.
Of course, those two had not been idle. The ghost soldiers swarmed like fish crossing a river, seemingly impossible to eradicate…
Daoist Yan had given them a ritual implement called the Soul-Pointing Brush to deal with these lesser ghosts.
But faced with such enormous numbers, they could barely keep up.
Hearing Yan Zhengchu’s cry for help, Yu Lang glanced over just in time to see the skeletal general’s saber almost cleave into him.
Daoist Yan dodged, but he looked bedraggled and hard-pressed.
“My lord, Daoist Yan can’t hold out much longer. I’ll help him. Be careful!”
Even while fighting, Ren Fengjue kept glancing toward Xia Ximo nearby.
Knowing they were no match for her, the two Faceless Ghosts maintained their distance throughout, lurking out of sight, appearing briefly, and feinting in one direction before striking from another…
Xia Ximo had seen through their tricks long ago. She held her ground, waiting for an opening.
Suddenly, mist rose around her feet, and the sounds of fighting vanished from her ears.
Wuyou warned her from the lantern, “Mogu, be careful of an Illusionary Realm. Don’t fall into their trap.”
Looking around, Xia Ximo found herself surrounded by emptiness.
There was nothing but drifting mist…
Then someone seemed to blow a cold breath beside her ear, followed by a roar of noise.
“Quick! Close the gates!”
“The she-devil is coming to kill us!”
“Master, take shelter!”
“Mogu, you slaughtered your own fellow disciples! You…!”
Fighting, cries for help, and accusations mingled in chaos…
Xia Ximo felt as though something had stabbed her heart.
Then many pairs of eyes appeared in the Illusionary Realm, filled with anger, fear, disappointment, shock, resentment…
At last, they spat at her in unison. “Heartless, faithless traitor! I curse you to be cast into the hell of unending torment after death, to suffer endless agony and never be reborn!”
The stabbing pain in her chest deepened, as though one person had knifed her and then many more had followed.
Each drove in a blade, as though determined to cut her into a thousand pieces.
What have I done wrong?
Xia Ximo looked at those eyes, yet could not voice the question.
The words gathered within her like trapped blood pressing against her heart.
Wuyou cried urgently, “Mogu, wake up! This is an Illusionary Realm, an Illusionary Realm! Don’t fall into the Faceless Ghosts’ trap!”
The next moment, Xia Ximo spat out that mouthful of “blood.”
It was as though, after pain and struggle, she had suddenly let it all go.
She looked coldly at the eyes before her. A chill smile rose to her lips as she immediately singled out one pair that gleamed with unmistakable cunning.
“Found you.”
Without hesitation, she reached toward those eyes. The Illusionary Realm vanished, and she held both Faceless Ghosts in her grasp.
Knowing that capture meant there was no escape, the Faceless Ghosts began pouring their insidious whispers into her ears.
“Don’t kill us! We can still be useful! Very useful!”
“We know your past life! I know what happened before!”
“Don’t you want to know those things? If you spare us, we can help you!”
They truly were adept at reading hearts.
Xia Ximo cast them a cold glance, utterly unmoved. “Do I need you to tell me?”
The Faceless Ghosts froze at her words. The next instant, the agony of searing flames gradually twisted their faces.
In moments, a blaze of red lotus fire consumed both ghosts completely.
The other ghosts all sensed that this was the Netherworld’s fire from the Underworld Administration. Their ranks fell into chaos, and more than half fled at once.
Those who remained still resisted stubbornly, but their morale was plainly failing.
The skeletal general grew even more furious. He swung his heavy saber, and a lesser ghost’s soul was instantly annihilated beneath the blade.
“This is the fate of any deserter!”
He had said the same words while fighting on the battlefield in life.
Now a ghost, he still possessed a commander’s authority.
Sure enough, the ghosts no longer dared flee.
Even combining their efforts, Yan Zhengchu and Yu Lang could only hold the skeletal general to a stalemate.
“Who would have thought his saber technique was so masterful…”
Yu Lang had trained in martial arts, but his playful disposition had led him to dabble in too many disciplines. He knew a little of every kind of weapon and mastered none.
He had practiced the saber for a time as well and knew that most saber techniques relied on broad, sweeping movements that severely tested endurance and basic skills.
Even a single day of laziness could leave a flaw for an opponent to exploit.
Yet this general’s technique was solid and disciplined. His skill was unquestionably formidable.
Yu Lang could not help telling Yan Zhengchu, “It’s fortunate he’s only a skeleton now. Otherwise, we’d probably already be dead beneath his blade.”
He had barely spoken when the skeletal general drew out the smaller blade. With both mother and son sabers in hand, he became even more lethal.
At last, the two could no longer withstand him and were forced back again and again.
“My lord, we can’t hold out!”
Yu Lang had just shouted when Xia Ximo stepped in before Ren Fengjue could.
She carried no weapon. Yet simply by standing there, she kept the skeletal general from bringing his saber down.
As the standoff continued, the skeletal general realized that she was his true formidable opponent.
Even so, he did not dare show fear.
“Those Faceless Ghosts boasted of how powerful they were, only to be subdued by a slip of a girl.”
“Your turn is coming,” Xia Ximo replied.
Knowing that he was no match for her in his present state, the skeletal general gave an eerie laugh. “Since you have stopped me from returning to the Yang World, stay here and be buried with me!”
He suddenly flung out his arms. A centipede emerged from the top of his head and gave a piercing shriek.
The ghost soldiers and generals nearby involuntarily clapped their hands over their ears, apparently in great pain…
Then the familiar rustling rose through the burial chamber again. In an instant, the Yin Souls became insects and crawled toward the skeletal general.
Yan Zhengchu understood. “So those Yin Souls were hiding inside the insects all along.”
After the general’s statue collapsed, the insects had answered the summons and become Yin Souls.
Now, they had changed back into insects…
Yu Lang shuddered again. “What… are those insects doing?”
Yan Zhengchu was taken aback as well. All the insects crawled onto the skeletal general. In moments, they covered his entire skeleton.
Beneath the armor, a dense, seething mass of insects was all that remained visible, chilling to behold.