The sun set in the west, and the sky gradually darkened.
The convoy had no choice but to stop and set up camp.
The old Centurion commanded calmly. Before long, the remaining twenty-odd soldiers had felled a large number of trees and built a simple camp.
They lit fires and cooked.
They fed the horses.
The old Centurion untied a small pouch from his waist. It contained white powder, which he scattered in a circle around the entire camp.
Another half hour passed.
The sun vanished completely.
Night shrouded heaven and earth.
A black shadow in the forest was watching them.
As night fell, those things no longer seemed inclined to conceal their tracks.
"Tell the brothers not to stray too far from camp."
The old Centurion pressed a hand against his saber hilt, holding a bowl of hot food as he warned the young men who had traveled through hardship alongside him.
A young soldier, his mouth full of hot food, asked indistinctly, "Chief, Wang Tiewa had to take a dump earlier. It happened while we were cooking, so he went a little farther away. He should be fine, right?"
Seeing the old Centurion's grave expression, the soldier hurriedly set down his bowl, wiped his hands on the corner of his clothes, and rose with his saber in hand. "I'll go look for him."
"No need."
The old Centurion stopped him.
There were many of them gathered together, their yang energy strong. Those ghostly things still did not dare make a move.
Once they split up, however, they would be picked off one by one.
If luck favored them, Wang Tiewa might still return alive.
If not, going now would merely add another corpse out of thin air.
Another half hour passed.
Wang Tiewa still had not returned.
The old Centurion's heart skipped a beat.
He had actually understood long ago that the instant they spotted the black shadow, they had already been targeted.
Just seven days ago.
Those things were unlike bandits—they would not rest until they achieved their aim.
If they encountered mountain bandits, even a hundred of them would not be able to do anything to this group.
But against these things, the old Centurion had no confidence at all.
He hurried back to the carriage and took out the Soul Banner.
It was an immortal master's dharma artifact. Perhaps they could not use it, but at least it would give them some peace of mind.
It would be even better if it could deter those ghostly things.
Tu Shan Jun finally saw daylight again.
He sized up the man holding the banner.
He was a tough old man around fifty, his dark skin covered in intertwined wrinkles and scars.
He brimmed with Baleful Intent.
There were likely quite a few lives beneath his hands.
"So they ran into trouble." Tu Shan Jun understood.
Ever since they had left the city, a vague sinister aura had been trailing behind them. Now, there was far more than one such aura in the surroundings.
They had clearly been targeted by something.
"Wooo!"
A drawn-out, mournful, low howl rang out.
The people who had been dozing after their hot meal were startled awake at once.
They sprang up, hands on their saber hilts, and nervously scanned their surroundings.
It was not their first time encountering such things. They were not exactly seasoned hands, but neither were they making a mountain out of a molehill.
Still, fear lingered in their hearts.
"Thud."
The sound of a heavy object landing on the ground.
A figure emerged from the darkness, silhouetted against the bright flames.
The man wore embroidered robes, a long saber hanging at his waist. His face was withered, and his eyes were a ghastly white.
"Tiewa!"
The young soldier beside the old Centurion cried out and was about to step forward to receive him.
But the old Centurion grabbed him.
The old Centurion shook his head at the young soldier.
Then, suppressing the fear in his heart, he called out, "What immortal is showing himself here? We are the Great Liang Embroidered Uniform Guard. Could you do us a favor and release my little brother?"
Tiewa, his face withered and his eyes a blank expanse of white, moved stiffly and took two more steps forward.
He stopped only when he reached the white line.
He stretched out an arm and pointed toward the carriage.
The old Centurion followed the direction of his finger.
"This is trouble."
His heart sank again.
They knew better than anyone what was loaded in the carriage.
It was the corpse of an immortal master from the Attendant Hall.
These ghostly things had come for the immortal master's body.
Ghosts and monsters were skilled at eating people.
If they obtained an immortal master's corpse, they would naturally grow stronger.
Then these twenty-odd living people would never make it to Liang Capital.
Seeing the old Centurion hesitate, that thing actually raised its foot again, intending to cross the white line.
"Clang."
Sabers left their sheaths.
The instant the old Centurion drew his blade, all twenty-odd soldiers under his command drew their sabers as well, forming a military formation and standing ready in grim array.
'Tiewa' seemed somewhat afraid of the white line.
His raised foot did not come down. Instead, he pointed at the carriage again.
The meaning could not have been clearer.
Losing an immortal master's corpse was a grave crime.
If they returned to Liang Capital empty-handed, not only would they suffer, their families would be implicated as well.
Unless they all died here.
The honorable name of dying in battle would not only protect their families, but would also bring favor to their wives and sons.
"My lord, why don't we give them the immortal master's corpse rumored to belong to a Demon Cultivator and trade it for peace?" the young man beside him suggested quietly.
Their party had originally been tasked with protecting the immortal masters and waiting for them to finish their battle before returning.
Who would have thought that, upon reaching Eight Directions Prefecture City—
That Demon Cultivator would be so powerful.
Only after two immortal masters had died were they able to exchange their lives for the Demon Cultivator's death.
The corpses of the two immortal masters could not be handed over, but they could use the Demon Cultivator's corpse to buy peace.
Before the old Centurion could react, Tu Shan Jun within the Soul Banner was already furious enough to make his hair stand on end.
Whoever dared touch Li Qingfeng's corpse, he would make them suffer misfortune.
The old Centurion shook his head. "You cannot negotiate with these things."
No agreement could be reached.
Using a corpse to beg for survival would only make them think this group was easy to bully.
They were like ravenous beasts driven mad by hunger.
After eating the corpse, they would continue following them.
Seeing that the old Centurion still had not spoken, 'Tiewa' clearly grew impatient, and his foot came down.
"Sizzle!"
It was like a branding iron being driven fiercely into raw flesh.
It cooked through instantly.
The smell of charred flesh spread at once.
A shrill scream rang out.
A blurry shadow hurriedly burrowed out of Tiewa's body.
But the white flames simply could not be extinguished.
In mere moments, the thing was burned to ashes.
Tiewa's corpse also turned into a dried husk under the searing white ash and toppled into the circle.
Everyone let out a breath of relief.
Fortunately, the lime powder infused with gold powder and an immortal master's power worked.
Two men hurried out from the military formation, ran to Tiewa's scorched corpse, and dragged it back.
Yet the shadows in the forest had not diminished in the slightest.
A flash of red light passed by, and small ghostly creatures carrying a sedan chair landed on the ground.
Dark figures crowded together, surrounding the convoy like refugees.
A pale, withered finger extended from the red bridal sedan.
It pointed toward the carriage compartment.
"I'm afraid we cannot comply."
The old Centurion shouted harshly, "You vile creatures, retreat at once, or I'll make you vanish in smoke and ashes!"
"Roar!"
A sinister wind howled in fury.
Gray yin energy burst from the curtains of the red bridal sedan.
The old Centurion's words seemed to have enraged them.
As a violent gale rose, the white powder line on the ground was blown apart.
"Bring out the black dog blood!"
Thump.
Thump.
Four buckets of black dog blood were carried out.
"Dip the blades in blood!"
The soldiers rinsed their waist sabers in the black dog blood, then each grabbed a handful and smeared it across their faces and bodies.
"Form up!"
The old Centurion roared.
The twenty-four soldiers formed five small military formations, five men to a squad.
As the white line on the ground was blown until only faint traces remained, the hidden ghostly things could no longer hold back.
They swarmed forward.
The long night blazed like fire, while demons and monsters ran wild.
Fierce flames boiled like oil, and strange creatures revealed their true forms.
"Kill!"
The black dog blood, empowered by dharma power and gold powder, was like a layer of armor.
Blades hacked and axes chopped.
The soldiers in formation swiftly minced the wandering souls and ghostly creatures.
The old Centurion covered three steps in two, charging straight at the bridal sedan with his waist saber in hand.
With a wet slash of his blade—
He chopped off the head of a small ghostly creature.
He gripped the foot-long Soul Banner tightly and thrust it at another white-faced ghost charging toward him.
The instant it was pierced, the white-faced ghost was absorbed by the Soul Banner before it could even scream.
Tu Shan Jun nodded slightly.
Not bad. Replenished with wandering souls and Baleful Intent, part of his injuries had recovered again.
The thing inside the bridal sedan suddenly sprang out. Yet instead of causing trouble for the old Centurion, it turned and fled.
Like a strip of flying white silk, it shot into the forest and vanished in an instant.
Surprised, the old Centurion looked at the foot-long Soul Banner in his hand. "An immortal master's treasure is this powerful?"
Tu Shan Jun laughed soundlessly. He was not yet a dharma treasure.
Still, the old man had a good eye.
Unfortunately, he was not a Qi Refiner.
With the leading ghost gone, most of the remaining ghosts and monsters died miserably beneath the soldiers' blades.
Black dog blood combined with a military formation left these unranked ghostly creatures with no power to resist.
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