After being accused by the ghost cultivators of damaging the Ghost City, Mo Tiange and the other three stopped their attempt to break through the mountain wall to avoid angering the dozen or so Nascent Soul ghost cultivators before them. No matter how arrogant they were, they wouldn't think that just four people could stand against them. Moreover, this was the ghost cultivators' territory, so it was better to be polite.
Unexpectedly, these ghost cultivators attacked as soon as they spoke. As soon as Wensi finished speaking, over a dozen Nascent Soul ghost cultivators swarmed forward.
Among these ghost cultivators, Wensi was at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, while the others were all at the early stage. If they were human cultivators, the four of them wouldn't be afraid; any one of them had the strength to fight multiple opponents. However, these were ghost cultivators, and they had absolutely no experience dealing with them...
"Boom!" The small stone cave couldn't withstand the pressure of Nascent Soul cultivators taking action. With a loud explosion, rocks flew everywhere. Before they even clashed, the area around them had been cleared for dozens of zhang.
Seeing this, Qin Xi withdrew his sword light. Originally, there was only a small cave opening between them, which he could occupy. Even if the other side had over a dozen Nascent Soul ghost cultivators, only two or three could attack at once. But now, the surroundings were empty, enough for them to be surrounded like an iron barrel.
These ghost cultivators, though their expressions were stiff and unlike living beings, were not stupid at all.
Mo Tiange took out the puppet and had it manipulate the Fusheng Sword. The puppet wore a magic robe and wielded the Fusheng Sword, enough to match an early-Nascent Soul cultivator.
A ghost cultivator charged at her. Mo Tiange waved the Heaven-Earth Fan, and countless flowers and plants flew out from the fan, entangling toward the ghost cultivator.
The ghost cultivator held a white bone club and swung it without any fancy moves, knocking down all the flowers and plants. Then, the bone club came slashing toward her.
Mo Tiange's expression turned serious. In terms of cultivation, she and this ghost cultivator were about equal. However, the ghost energy seemed to have a restraining effect on her magic treasure. The flowers and plants transformed by the Heaven-Earth Fan lost control as soon as they touched the ghost energy.
Without time to think more, the bone club whistled toward her. She raised her hand, and a huge rock appeared out of thin air, pressing down heavily on the bone club.
The Heaven-Earth Fan could transform into all things between heaven and earth, and with her Five Spiritual Roots aptitude, she could easily manipulate anything.
Just as she suppressed this ghost cultivator, needle-like projections transformed from ghost energy flew toward her like a dense shower. Mo Tiange raised her hand, and a ball of golden lightning appeared in her palm, quickly transforming into a dazzling golden net that was too bright to look at directly. She swung her hand, and the lightning net met the ghost needles.
"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!" Sounds continued as the ghost needles vanished without a trace upon colliding with the lightning net.
Lightning was the most yang and righteous force in the world, the bane of all ghostly and demonic evils. Wherever the net went, ghost energy disappeared.
Seeing this scene, the ghost cultivators erupted in uproar.
Among the four of them, Qin Xi's Vermilion Bird Flames were extremely troublesome. Even with Wensi leading four Nascent Soul ghost cultivators, they couldn't trap him. Jing Xingzhi was also not someone to be trifled with. Sword cultivators themselves pursued extreme lethality, and Jing Xingzhi's personality carried a ruthless edge. Once he drew his sword, he dared to slash at anything blocking his path. The ghost cultivators surrounding and trying to kill him were immediately suppressed. Nie Wushang wasn't bad either. The Primordial Devil Art she cultivated was an extremely domineering technique that directly countered ghost energy. If she hadn't just formed her Nascent Soul and wasn't yet familiar with her divine abilities, the ghost energy might have been devoured by her devil energy instead. Adding Mo Tiange with her golden lightning that suppressed evil, none of the four were easy to deal with.
These ghost cultivators originally thought that with over a dozen people against four, they would quickly resolve the matter. Unexpectedly, they were instead locked in a stalemate. If not for their numerical advantage, they might have been wiped out right from the start.
Seeing this, Wensi shouted, and the dozen or so ghost cultivators retreated together, then each took up positions.
Wensi looked at the four of them and said gloomily, "You all have impressive skills. It seems we can only let you taste the flavor of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Soul Formation!"
After speaking, he lifted the book scroll in his hand and shouted, "Ten Thousand Ghosts Assemble!"
The dozen or so ghost cultivators raised their ghost tools together. Countless streams of ghost energy shot out from the tools, surging toward the book scroll in Wensi's hand.
Seeing this, Qin Xi stepped forward, merging the sword light of his Three Yang True Fire Sword and pouncing toward Wensi.
However, he was still a step too late. Just as the sword light reached Wensi, the surroundings suddenly darkened, all light disappearing.
"Woo..." Sharp ghost wails sounded. The sword light of the Three Yang True Fire Sword stopped in mid-air, having lost its target.
Qin Xi looked around and found himself trapped in darkness. Not only could he not see the surrounding scenery, but he had also lost track of Mo Tiange and the other two.
"Heh heh!" "Ee ya!" "Woo woo!" The wails of fierce ghosts continued incessantly. Mo Tiange focused her mind to listen.
Surrounding her was boundless darkness, empty, as if placed in nothingness.
This darkness wasn't the kind where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Rather, no matter how far you looked, the void was endless, and no matter how you walked, you couldn't reach the end. Being in this darkness felt as if even light had been devoured.
Behind her, a female ghost with disheveled hair suddenly appeared, its long five fingers silently stabbing toward her.
With a "sizzle," just as the ghost claws touched her, a layer of golden light rose from Mo Tiange's body.
"Ah!" The female ghost let out a miserable scream and was quickly devoured by the golden lightning.
The moment the female ghost disappeared, a headless person slowly walked toward her.
Saying "walked" wasn't quite right; more precisely, it floated over. Behind the headless person closely followed a bloody, skinless ghost creature.
Mo Tiange felt a chill run down her spine. She knew these ghost creatures were illusions conjured by this Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Soul Formation and weren't her match. She had also seen many bloody scenes and wasn't timid. But looking at these terrifying ghost creatures, she couldn't help but feel nauseated.
More and more ghost creatures floated toward her. Gritting her teeth, she suppressed the feeling of her hair standing on end and focused on dealing with these ghost creatures.
The cultivation of these ghost creatures was only equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage. Before they even touched her, they were struck by the golden lightning and instantly turned to ashes. However, the ghost creatures were endless, preventing her from finding an opportunity to break the formation. What was worse, the cultivation of the ghost creatures was getting higher and higher.
For large formations that required multiple people to activate, generally speaking, as long as there was enough power, they could be broken. However, Mo Tiange didn't think the four of them fighting separately would have enough power to break the formation.
What to do?
Meanwhile, outside the storeroom.
"Old witch, you came all the way to the Tianji Region to search for treasures, not to fall here, right?" Venerable Songfeng, hidden within the black clouds, glanced at the icy-purple-robed woman beside him.
"What do you want to say?"
Demon Lord Yeshuang wasn't angry at all at being called that; her expression didn't even flicker. She just coldly looked at the numerous ghost cultivators before her. However, the maid named Hongxiao showed an indignant expression on her face.
"Heh heh!" Venerable Songfeng said, "This old man has had no rivals in the Tianji Region for many years and has been quite lonely. If I fight enough all at once, it wouldn't be beautiful. How about we save it for later?"
Demon Lord Yeshuang glanced at him with a half-smile. "This seat came to the Tianji Region from afar, not to fight."
"You! Hmph!" Venerable Songfeng said coldly, "Do you really think you can walk out of here alone?"
"Sir," Demon Lord Yeshuang glanced at him sideways, "This seat isn't from the Tianji Region. There's no need to keep up the airs of the Tianji Region's number one cultivator, right?"
"..." The black clouds swelled and contracted continuously. Obviously, Venerable Songfeng was very angry, but there was nothing he could do. Although he was the number one cultivator in the Tianji Region, this little girl wasn't weak either. She was also at the late-Nascent Soul stage, and her divine abilities were only slightly inferior to his. If he really wanted to finish her off, it wouldn't be a matter of a short while. And the crisis before them was already pressing.
Fortunately, Demon Lord Yeshuang didn't target him further and said lightly, "Fellow Daoist, I'm leaving first. You can stay if you wish."
After speaking, her purple silk ribbon released frost. Devil energy flickered and vanished as she charged toward a ghost cultivator surrounding them.
As soon as it touched the icy devil energy, the ghost cultivator was instantly frozen. Demon Lord Yeshuang swung her purple ribbon, and the ghost cultivator shattered with a crash.
However, ghost cultivators had no physical form. Against them, this icy devil energy had limited effectiveness. As the purple ribbon retracted, the ghost energy wavered and gathered again.
"Hmph!" Venerable Songfeng also didn't show weakness. The black clouds transformed into a vortex, suddenly sucking in, drawing all the weaker ghost cultivators toward it.
The leading Nascent Soul ghost cultivator roared in anger, manipulating his ghost tool to attack the black clouds.
Mo Tiange's hands never stopped. As soon as ghost creatures appeared, the Heaven-Earth Fan swept toward them. For a time, ghost creatures fell one after another.
Half an hour had already passed. These ghost creatures surged like a tide. She hadn't stopped at all and thus never found a chance to break the formation. She grew anxious inwardly. Although a Nascent Soul cultivator's dantian could hold a vast amount of spiritual energy, it couldn't withstand such continuous fighting. Especially since the ghost cultivators' main base was right here. If another powerful ghost cultivator came, wouldn't they be stewed in one pot?
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly heard a phoenix cry. Amidst a red light, a Vermilion Bird composed of flames appeared in the darkness, instantly tearing it open.
Beneath the Vermilion Bird, Mo Tiange saw Qin Xi.
Her heart leaped with joy. She swung the golden lightning to block the ghost creatures and ran toward Qin Xi.
"Senior Brother!"
Qin Xi turned his head and smiled slightly, withdrawing the Vermilion Bird Bow and still manipulating the Three Yang True Fire Sword to exterminate the continuously surging ghost creatures.
The darkness was slowly devoured by the Vermilion Bird Flames, and light reappeared. Immediately after, Jing Xingzhi and Nie Wushang ran toward them, and the four reunited.
"Disgusting me to death!" Jing Xingzhi looked at these ghost creatures with disgust. "Do people lose their sense of aesthetics when they become ghosts?"
Either missing arms and legs or bloody all over—could they really disgust someone to death?
Even so, looking at him, he still had strength to spare.
Seeing the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Soul Formation broken, Wensi shouted, "Form the formation again!"
How would Mo Tiange and the others give them this chance? Sword light and lightning simultaneously struck toward Wensi.
"What should we do?" After disrupting their formation, Mo Tiange said, "This can't go on. They have numbers, and this is inside a mountain. We can't kill them all, and we can't escape. We'll be worn down."
If they were outside, escaping would be easy. Nascent Soul cultivators weren't so easy to keep. But this was inside a mountain.
"I have an idea," Nie Wushang said. "Go back. Let's return to the sacrificial temple. They definitely can't enter."
"Right!" Mo Tiange suddenly realized. When they were in the Guixu Sea, those demonic creatures couldn't enter the Vermilion Bird Hall. Presumably, it was the same for the White Tiger.
Qin Xi made a decisive decision. "Let's go!"