It was only the time it took for a thought to flash through my mind when the Great Ghost Emperor gave a low shout, squeezing out the last of the strength in both claws. Masses of ghostly energy instantly dyed the surrounding area pitch-black!
Before I could react, the Great Ghost Emperor had already appeared far behind me and was fleeing toward the imperial palace! He seemed completely unaffected by the backlash of the innate demonic energy!
I held the two ghost hands that had lost all their strength, unable to help staring blankly for a moment. When I came back to myself, the two ghost hands had somehow turned into soul dust and vanished like wisps of cloud and smoke!
The Great Ghost Emperor had actually abandoned those two incomparably powerful ghost hands, which could dissolve the Heavenly Son's Wrathful Lightning Essence! Not only that, he had fled straight back to the imperial palace!
"Speak! Are you a demon or a ghost?" I roared. But by then, guards had already filled the area in front of and behind the Great Ghost Emperor, along with several Ghost Emperors and Dao Ghosts!
"What do you mean, demon or ghost? Immortal Xia, have you lost your mind?!" The Great Ghost Emperor looked displeased. His hands had already returned to normal, completely lacking the neither-demon-nor-ghost properties of those ghost hands from before!
My heart clenched. The runes just now had actually been connected to the ghost hands. Although I couldn't see the mysteries of the formation, if Little Immortal Si were here, she would have immediately understood what was going on. Based on my guess, this should have been a demonic technique, absolutely not a normal ghost-path spell!
That wasn't to say a Dao Ghost couldn't use demonic artifacts or techniques related to