As Xie Jiuyi fought the evil ghosts with everything he had, Shen Jiyue decisively made her move as well.
At a moment of crisis like this, naturally, they had to give it everything they had.
A moment of carelessness could cost them their lives!
Shen Jiyue held a heavy Xuanhua Axe in her right hand, while her left hand casually flung out three talismans.
The talismans stuck firmly to the Xuanhua Axe's blade and emitted a faint golden glow.
She charged straight toward the evil ghosts!
Under the watchful eyes of one evil ghost after another, Shen Jiyue gripped the axe handle tightly with both hands.
Suddenly, she leaped high into the air!
"Evil ghosts! Come and die, now!!!"
Accompanied by a furious shout.
Her entire body easily leaped more than ten feet into the air, then she brought the axe crashing down with both hands!
The Xuanhua Axe, radiating a faint golden light, traced a golden arc through the night.
The evil ghost she had targeted first clearly had not expected a woman to be so ferocious—to charge straight at it wielding a giant axe.
And Shen Jiyue was fast.
Before that evil ghost could react, before it had time to make any other move...
The axe blade...
came down.
Whoosh—!!!
Shen Jiyue split the evil ghost in two with a single blow. The Xuanhua Axe slammed into the ground, shattering even the flagstones beneath it.
Violent, to say the least!
Shen Jiyue abruptly spun around and put her strength into both hands. The heavy Xuanhua Axe seemed as light as cotton in her grip.
She raised the axe and hacked toward another evil ghost.
This evil ghost reacted in time and dodged to the side, but one of its hands was still sliced off.
The intense pain made the evil ghost let out a shriek.
Its deathly pale face was filled with agony.
Shen Jiyue seized the opportunity to step forward and swung the Xuanhua Axe horizontally. The evil ghost's head exploded beneath the blow.
She charged into the ghostly horde alone, axe in hand...
It was nothing short of turning the enemy ranks upside down!
These ordinary evil ghosts were no match for Shen Jiyue.
After all, she was a Squad Leader of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau.
Her strength was unquestionably formidable.
After hacking several evil ghosts to death in succession, Shen Jiyue showed no joy on her face. Instead, her expression grew increasingly grave.
There were simply too many evil ghosts. Killing a few of them now amounted to nothing.
Moreover...
The ghost bride in the great red bridal sedan had not made a move from beginning to end!
This made Shen Jiyue exceptionally wary.
Her subconscious told her that the ghost bride in that great red bridal sedan was definitely incredibly powerful!
She was a Great Omen of Disaster ghost!!
Shen Jiyue felt that she might not necessarily be unable to defeat the ghost bride, but the troublesome evil ghosts were not limited to the ghost bride alone.
The ghost bride also had many helpers.
That was the truly thorny problem!
Besides, how had so many evil ghosts slipped into Baihe County without making a sound?
Shen Jiyue could not understand it no matter how hard she thought.
Suddenly.
She seemed to sense something, and then she heard a scream.
It was Xie Jiuyi's voice.
That voice was so distinctive that Shen Jiyue could not possibly mistake it.
In the rush of the moment.
She turned her head.
She saw Xie Jiuyi spraying blood wildly from his mouth and nose, flying sideways like a broken kite.
His entire body slammed heavily into a wall.
The wall caved in with a large dent, and dense cracks spread across it.
At last, he fell awkwardly to the ground.
"Cough, cough!"
Xie Jiuyi coughed heavily several times. The talisman in his hand turned to ash.
He murmured under his breath, still shaken: "If I hadn't used the Body Protection Vajra Talisman in time, I would've been done for."
He struggled to his feet. He looked terrifyingly battered, but because the talisman had protected him, his injuries were not actually severe.
Xie Jiuyi hurriedly twisted aside because an evil ghost had tried to take his life while he was down.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged in time.
A vicious glint flashed through Xie Jiuyi's eyes.
He bit through his fingertip, rapidly chanted a spell, formed a sword-finger gesture, and thrust it straight at the charging evil ghost.
The evil ghost let out a shriek.
Its soul scattered, its spirit dispersed!
Seeing that Xie Jiuyi was temporarily in no danger, Shen Jiyue shifted her gaze away from him and toward the horrifying ghostly shadow beside the eight-carried bridal sedan.
That ghost should have been the one who sent Xie Jiuyi flying just now!
This was the ghost groom who had come to "fetch the bride"!
Shen Jiyue discovered that as she watched the ghost groom, the ghost groom was watching her as well.
Her expression was far from pleasant. "If it were only those ordinary evil ghosts, Xie Jiuyi's cultivation would be enough to deal with them. But with that incomparably Baleful ghost groom added to the mix..."
"Xie Jiuyi probably won't be able to hold out."
Dealing with so many evil ghosts, an as-yet unmoving ghost bride, and Xie Jiuyi being rather unreliable...
All these factors combined made Shen Jiyue feel exceptionally hard-pressed.
Moreover, there were only two of them—her and Xie Jiuyi.
She could hold back a few evil ghosts, or perhaps more than a dozen, but any more than that...
She could not stop them.
Shen Jiyue acted swiftly and slapped an evil ghost charging toward the inn away with a horizontal swing of her axe.
Yet quite a few evil ghosts still passed her and rushed toward the inn.
This made her extremely anxious.
But there was nothing she could do.
The ghost bride inside the great red bridal sedan had remained motionless, making Shen Jiyue deeply apprehensive.
Behind her, the ghost groom was also watching her like a tiger eyeing its prey. She had no idea when he would attack.
Shen Jiyue realized that she could not escape!
All she could do was watch helplessly as one evil ghost after another surged toward the inn.
"This is bad!"
Shen Jiyue was frantic with worry. "They may not want to get entangled with me at all. They only want to keep me occupied, then take the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin!"
She clearly saw several evil ghosts swiftly float into the inn.
She nearly ground her teeth to pieces in fury!
Ever since becoming a Squad Leader of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, she had never experienced such a feeling of powerlessness.
There was nothing she could do!
However...
The next instant!
Several sudden, mournful wails came from inside the inn.
Shen Jiyue could not help but freeze.
Very soon, it was as if she had witnessed something extraordinary. The anger on her face transformed into astonishment, and her eyes widened.
She saw that the evil ghosts that had floated into the inn moments ago were letting out incomparably shrill wails and rushing out of the inn at an even faster speed!
Something was wrong.
They had not rushed out of the inn on their own. They had been forced out, sent flying backward!
The screaming evil ghosts flew backward and slammed heavily into the building opposite the inn.
Their ghostly bodies seemed to have suffered some kind of devastating blow.
Before even one breath's time had passed...
They dispersed!
The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was inside the inn. Whether they were evil ghosts trying to seize it or Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi trying to protect it, everyone was drawn toward the commotion.
Immediately afterward, both sides saw... a tall, burly figure slowly stride out of the inn.
That figure was carrying an extraordinarily enormous, peculiar greatsword in one hand.
In his other hand, he held an evil ghost that was struggling desperately!
Bang!!!
A sound like something exploding rang out, and Shen Jiyue's eyes widened even further.
She saw the head of the struggling evil ghost get crushed outright!
The evil ghost stopped struggling.
Because it had been obliterated, body and soul!
"F-Fellow Daoist Fan?"
Shen Jiyue recognized who that figure was. Wasn't he Daoist Fan Wu from Prison Dragon County?
He...
had made his move?!
Before you continue