"But... I don't think I sensed the slightest fluctuation of magic power from Fellow Daoist Fan just now?" Shen Jiyue whispered in shock, her face filled with disbelief. "He... used only the strength of his physical body to crush a vengeful ghost's head with his bare hands?"
"He relied on the qi and blood carried by his formidable physical body, along with yang energy as vigorous as a furnace, to beat that vengeful ghost into complete oblivion?!"
Shen Jiyue had heard Xie Jiuyi mention some of Fan Wu's feats before.
But hearing about them from someone else and witnessing them herself...
gave her two entirely different impressions!
This was the first time she had ever seen someone crush a ghost with his bare hands until its soul scattered and its spirit dispersed!
Wasn't this a little too exaggerated?
Just how abundant was the qi and blood within Fellow Daoist Fan? How scorching was the yang energy in his body?
He was practically a humanoid magical artifact!
Hiss!!!
Under the watchful gazes of the two people and the horde of ghosts, Fan Wu felt not the slightest trace of fear.
He raised his head and glanced at the pitch-black night sky.
Then he turned expressionlessly toward the group of vengeful ghosts.
The attribute information of every vengeful ghost appeared before his eyes.
With a single glance, he saw through all of them.
Fan Wu basically ignored the ordinary vengeful ghosts that were nothing more than minions, because their attributes were too low.
They were too weak.
They were not worth his attention.
However, the Ghost Groom beside the eight-bearer sedan and the Ghost Bride inside the red bridal sedan... their attribute information was enough to make Fan Wu cast them a sidelong glance.
[Hundred-Year Ghost Groom--Life: 658--Strength: 11.9--Skills: Dual Soul Merging, Ghost Possession, Black Curtain Barrier, Yin Qi Corrosion...] [Hundred-Year Ghost Bride--Life: 610--Strength: 10.2--Skills: Dual Soul Merging, Black Curtain Barrier, Soul Descent Technique, Female Ghost Bewitchment...]
The Ghost Groom and Ghost Bride both had extremely high attributes, at least far higher than those ordinary vengeful ghosts.
At the same time...
they were also slightly stronger than Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi, the two members of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau.
That was precisely why the two of them felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
They had even pessimistically believed that, even if they had to die here in battle, they could not allow the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin to fall into the hands of the strange creatures.
The Ghost Groom and Ghost Bride were indeed quite powerful.
If possible... Fan Wu would have been too lazy to get entangled with these vengeful ghosts, but who could have expected that the few vengeful ghosts who had entered the inn would seemingly mistake him for an ally of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau?
Not only had they failed to seize the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin first, they had actually intended to deal with Fan Wu inside the inn before anything else!
And then...
they paid an exceedingly painful price for that suicidal act.
At the same time,
they had dragged Fan Wu into the matter.
This left Fan Wu in a thoroughly foul mood.
And when his mood soured, the savage killing intent deep within him spread out without the slightest restraint.
The atmosphere abruptly turned cold and severe!
That aura, several times more terrifying than the vengeful ghosts, made Shen Jiyue's heart throb with fear!
It left Shen Jiyue clicking her tongue in amazement!
"How... how many strange creatures has he killed? Or... how many living people? How else could he have cultivated such an utterly savage killing intent?" Shen Jiyue felt her mouth go dry.
Earlier, she had not understood why Xie Jiuyi treated Fan Wu with such courtesy—almost to the point of humility.
Now, she understood.
Facing a man who was practically a ferocious beast...
it really was better to lower one's attitude a little.
Otherwise...
it would be even more desperate than facing a vengeful ghost!
Shen Jiyue knew she should not make such guesses about another person.
But the terrifying aura lingering around Fan Wu truly made it impossible not to think too much!
Xie Jiuyi, having witnessed Fan Wu's strength long ago, appeared a little more composed than Shen Jiyue.
Even so, Xie Jiuyi could not help swallowing secretly and clicking his tongue in amazement. "Fellow Daoist Fan seems even more terrifying than he was a few days ago."
He did not know whether it was an illusion.
He felt that Fan Wu was stronger than he had been a few days ago!
This...
Xie Jiuyi was startled by his own conjecture.
That shouldn't be possible, right?
Only a few days had passed. How could Fellow Daoist Fan have become stronger again so quickly?
Perhaps this was just his illusion.
Yes.
An illusion!
Taking advantage of this opening, Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi immediately gathered together. Judging by their heights, Shen Jiyue was more than a whole head taller than Xie Jiuyi, making the difference between them especially obvious.
"Something isn't quite right." Shen Jiyue forcibly shifted her stunned gaze away from Fan Wu and swept it across the vengeful ghosts in Willow Alley, especially the Ghost Groom whose form had already been revealed.
Shen Jiyue took a deep breath and whispered solemnly, "Just now, these vengeful ghosts were practically desperate to tear the two of us apart. But the moment Fellow Daoist Fan appeared, they stopped? Were they intimidated? That seems to be part of the reason, but I still feel that something isn't quite right..."
"That Ghost Groom's current state seems very wrong!"
"The Ghost Groom?" Xie Jiuyi turned his head to look and discovered the strange situation as well.
The Ghost Groom was no longer staring at the two of them.
Instead, with a pair of hollow eyes brimming with boundless resentment, it stared fixedly at Fan Wu, who had walked out of the inn!
That gaze was not directed at an ordinary enemy.
It was as though it were staring at an enemy from ten lifetimes ago, or the murderer of its father!
Those sinister eyes made one's hair stand on end!
Xie Jiuyi seemed to recall something, and a trace of reminiscence colored his voice. "I remember that the last time we encountered that strange shadow creature, something similar seemed to have happened..."
"Hm?" Shen Jiyue did not understand.
Xie Jiuyi could not explain it clearly either. He merely felt that, whenever these strange creatures faced Fan Wu...
it was as though they had encountered an old enemy.
It struck him as extremely strange.
At one end of Willow Alley,
the Ghost Groom had already locked its gaze firmly onto Fan Wu.
Its lifeless eyes, filled with resentment, were enough to make ordinary people afraid to meet its gaze!
If someone without cultivation met its eyes even once...
they would certainly return home and fall seriously ill!
Its upper and lower lips peeled back, and the two rows of teeth kept grinding and clacking against each other, producing a series of clear, ear-piercing sounds.
"Click, clack, click, clack..."
"Click, clack, click, clack..."
Black veins rose and surfaced across its deathly pale, terrifying face, making that ghostly visage appear especially gloomy and horrifying!
It seemed to be enraged.
It seemed to be furious!
The festive ceremonial robe worn by the Ghost Groom fluttered incessantly beneath the blowing yin wind.
The yin qi in Willow Alley had already grown exceptionally dense.
The entire alley was shrouded in layer upon layer of white mist.
"The Great Venerable... has ordered... upon seeing... this person..."
"Kill!"
"No!"
"Mercy!"
A strange voice, like a jammed spring mechanism, rumbled faintly from the Ghost Groom's throat.
That deep, feeble voice... Xie Jiuyi and Shen Jiyue could not hear it clearly.
But Fan Wu heard every word!
Sensing the chilling killing intent enveloping him, Fan Wu felt not the slightest chill run down his spine.
He merely looked up at the sky in speechless exasperation.
Then he let out a soft sigh.
Sure enough.
Earlier, when he learned that another group of strange creatures had come for that Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, he had already sensed that something was amiss.
After all, before he came to Baihe County, he had encountered that strange shadow, which also seemed to want to seize this Heavenly Mechanism Coffin. And the strange shadow seemed to have some subtle connection with the Great Venerable.
Now that a group of ghosts and monsters with the same goal as the strange shadow had appeared... Fan Wu immediately thought of the Great Venerable.
At first, he had still held onto a sliver of hope.
But now...
that last bit of hope was gone.
His premonition had once again come true.
Damn!!
Before you continue