Ghostly Nonsense

Everyone inside the temple hurriedly reversed the circulation of Detailed Explanation of the Dao Truth Jade Pivot, feeling their connection with the great temple grow ever weaker. They rushed outside.

Behind them, the White-robed Nuo Immortal came charging.

A woman turned her head and saw the White-robed Nuo Immortal with his back to her. His back split open to either side, transforming into a mouth so huge it defied reason.

The woman screamed, and in the next instant, the White-robed Nuo Immortal swallowed her whole!

His skin-bag writhed for a moment. When it opened again, it spat out a white skeleton, then lunged at the others. Light and airy, drifting like the wind, he floated back and forth through the great temple. Every time he caught someone, his back opened and swallowed them.

Still, quite a few people escaped the temple. Xu Ying dragged Yuan Qi into a desperate leap, landing on a massive boulder. Yuan Qi was about to jump to the next boulder when Xu Ying stopped him. "Don't move!"

He suddenly activated his Sword Qi and brought his sword down, cleaving the boulder in two.

The boulder beneath them could not bear their weight. It slowly sank, as though the stone had fallen into water.

Seeing this, the people charging behind them followed suit. They leaped onto boulders and split them in two. However, there were too many people on the stones, and they immediately plummeted, falling faster and faster.

On one of the stones, a group of people clung to one another and screamed in terror.

Yuan Qi lay at the edge of the boulder and looked down. "At this speed, most of them won't survive the fall."

The others became much more cautious, afraid to cut away too much of the stone at once.

Suddenly, the great temple shook with a thunderous boom. It seemed to have grown countless legs, tearing itself from the earth and pouncing after those who had escaped.

The White-robed Nuo Immortal's voice rang out as he laughed. "I must have been so furious that I forgot—I can't leave the temple to capture you, but I can make the temple chase you. Where have that little sword-wielding brat and that slippery snake gone?"

The temple gates were like a devouring maw from heaven, chasing after the people.

"Merge with me, become me, and I will grant you supreme glory and eternal life!"

Xu Ying looked up and saw people constantly falling from the sky. They had yet to hit the ground, but their screams rang out without end.

There were also people treading through the empty air, and others walking on clouds of Qi. More people could not fly, so they followed the example of those before them, jumping onto boulders and using their weight to force the stones downward.

Yet enormous deities leaped from the edges of the various immortal mountains. The deities took countless forms, their feet treading on incense clouds as they intercepted the fleeing people. Some boulders transformed into flesh and blood, their blood vessels lashing about like tentacles as they snatched people from all around.

For a time, the dead were everywhere.

"A Ying, is that a Nuo Master's treasure on your back?" Yuan Qi suddenly asked when he saw the mask behind Xu Ying.

Xu Ying was both startled and delighted. He hurriedly took off the Wuchang Mask and said with a smile, "Little Seven really is learned. I obtained this mask by chance. An official from Yongzhou Prefecture put it on and transformed into a Wuchang Ghost. It was quite strange."

Yuan Qi said, "I read about it in a book. When Nuo Masters refine treasures, they often capture powerful creatures such as Demon Gods and ghosts and deities, cut off their faces, and refine the essence of those powerful creatures into masks. Once the mask is complete, anyone who puts it on can transform into the form those powerful creatures possessed in life and gain their corresponding abilities. That mask of yours is most likely the face of a Wuchang Ghost."

Xu Ying was startled and wanted to throw the mask away, but after thinking it over, he stopped himself.

The boulder beneath them was still plummeting when lightning suddenly flashed across the sky and thunder roared. Xu Ying looked up and saw Yongzhou Prefect Zhou Heng and Ling Tongpan joining forces to besiege the great temple!

Light blossomed behind Zhou Heng's head, revealing a Sea of Chaos. Within it floated a Cave within a Cave Heaven of unfathomable depth. Spiral patterns appeared around its exterior as it rotated and extended into the dark void.

Inside that heaven was a second heaven. Clouds of Qi surged and swirled, forming the outer structure of the heaven before continuing deeper into the Sea of Chaos.

Within the second heaven was a third, extending even deeper into the Sea of Chaos than the second. It was astonishing.

Xu Ying focused his eyes and saw five Cave within a Cave Heavens beyond the heavens behind the head of the enormous, corpulent Yongzhou Prefect!

"Fishing for Ni Wan in the Sea of Chaos! This Yongzhou Prefect is a supreme expert—he has opened the fifth layer of the Ni Wan Secret Treasury!"

Xu Ying was green with envy. The half-burned ancient book in the stone chamber of Qin Yan Cave said that opening the Ni Wan Secret Treasury required the aid of a great Nuo. One had to strike the chaotic primal egg of the Ni Wan with one's strongest attack, blasting open a heaven within the chaos, then fish out the vitality of the Ni Wan from that heaven!

In the past, Xu Ying had never understood how to fish out the vitality of the Ni Wan. But after seeing Yongzhou Prefect Zhou Heng battle the White-robed Nuo Immortal, he finally understood.

"The brain is a sea of chaos containing endless energy. A heaven within is like a deep well. It sinks deep into the chaos of the brain, like drawing water from a well, bringing the energy in the Sea of Chaos out without end." He silently thought.

Ling Youdao, the Yongzhou Ghost Prefecture's Tongpan who had joined forces with Prefect Zhou Heng, was also astonishingly powerful. With a judge's brush in one hand and a Book of Life and Death in the other, this Ghost Prefecture Tongpan possessed unmatched divine power. Countless golden characters flew from the book and blasted into the great temple.

He was a Tongpan of the Yin Court and enjoyed the incense offerings of Yongzhou Prefecture. Not only did the common people worship him, but the deities of Yongzhou's mountains, rivers, villages, and towns also had to worship him!

He had managed Yongzhou for far too long, and his Incense Qi was incomparably dense. It even surpassed the stone-statue deities of the five immortal mountains by a wide margin!

Yet even with the two supreme experts joining forces, they were still in grave danger before the great temple.

The great temple was the White-robed Nuo Immortal's Hidden Scenery Sublimation Land. It was formed from countless Great Dao Manifestations, which shaped the temple's waterfalls and vegetation. Every scene was a terrifyingly powerful divine ability!

The White-robed Nuo Immortal stood behind the temple gates. Sometimes he waved a hand lightly; sometimes he pointed a finger. One terrifying divine ability after another flew from the waterfalls, striking the two supreme experts until they vomited blood and retreated again and again.

Suddenly, the aftershock of a divine ability descended from the sky. With a clang, it struck the boulder where Xu Ying and Yuan Qi stood, sending a corner of the boulder flying into the sky.

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi stared blankly for a moment. The boulder beneath them immediately began plunging toward the ground at terrifying speed.

They were still several li above the ground. At this speed, they would be smashed to pieces without a doubt!

Xu Ying hurriedly leaped from the boulder and shouted, "Yuan Qi, wait for me at the temple gates!"

Yuan Qi wrapped his more than ten-zhang-long body around the boulder, trembling all over. But after the boulder fell a hundred-some zhang, its descent gradually slowed, and he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He looked up and saw lightning flash and thunder roar in the sky, like a flood surging violently. It was clearly the phenomenon created by the divine abilities of the White-robed Nuo Immortal, Prefect Zhou Heng, and Ling Tongpan!

Amid that chaotic space, a tiny figure could vaguely be seen riding a Great Bell of ancient bronze as it wove between the lightning. Then a raging flood swept over, carrying the bell-rider and the bell away to who knew where.

"A Ying will surely survive by virtue of his good fortune," Yuan Qi silently thought.

Amid the violent storm and flood, Xu Ying rode the bell forward. Wind and rain tossed him about like a small boat on a stormy sea. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the bell's wall dead-on.

The Great Bell rang with a deep boom. Countless intricate and profound patterns surfaced across its wall, forming a heavy barrier of light. It hummed and spun, scattering the surrounding aftershocks of divine abilities!

The Great Bell's power burst forth, but the strike also blasted it into an unstable form. It tumbled through the air with Xu Ying and crashed into an immortal mountain to one side.

A large swath of the mountain forest was swept flat. The bronze bell then bounced up and fell again, its ringing echoing through the valleys and startling the awakened statues of deities in the mountain into looking up and following the sound.

Xu Ying staggered to his feet, feeling unimaginable pain throughout his limbs and bones. The Great Bell beside him was also wreathed in smoke, the various patterns across its surface in complete disarray.

Suddenly, the mountain forest shook and roared as powerful beings clashed. Xu Ying crept forward and hid behind a boulder. When he peeked out, his heart jolted.

He saw a Ghost-faced God swing a sword and sever the head of a Raging Ape!

The headless body of the Raging Ape rapidly shrank into a middle-aged man. Its severed head rolled away, its face reverting from that of the Raging Ape to its normal appearance. Its eyes were wide open, and it had died with unfulfilled regrets.

"Yongzhou Judicial Inspector, Zhou Zheng!" Xu Ying hid behind the boulder, his heart pounding violently.

Zhou Zheng's strength was extraordinary. He had never expected such an existence to die at the hands of the Ghost-faced God. One could imagine how terrifying the Ghost-faced God's strength was!

The Ghost-faced God suddenly turned its head, its sharp gaze sweeping toward him.

Xu Ying hurriedly ducked back.

The Great Bell hurriedly said, "A Ying, this is bad! That Ghost-faced God is coming over!"

On the other side of the boulder came heavy footsteps. Clearly, the Ghost-faced God had noticed his presence!

Xu Ying suppressed his restless heartbeat. "Master Zhong, after raising a bell for a thousand days, one uses it in a single moment! Can you be as mighty as you were just now?"

"Raise my ass!"

The Great Bell spat furiously. "If you had really raised me for a thousand days, Master Zhong could have smashed ten Ghost-faced Gods to death! The problem is, you haven't raised me that long! This Ghost-faced God is far stronger than the City God. I'm no match for it now!"

Cold sweat poured down Xu Ying's forehead. "Then what about running?"

"We definitely can't outrun it!"

The Ghost-faced God vaguely heard voices coming from behind the boulder. Its ferocious face reached the boulder and suddenly thrust its head around the side, revealing its savage appearance.

When it saw the "person" hiding behind the boulder, it froze. It let out a roar of dissatisfaction, but its killing intent gradually faded.

There was no person behind the boulder. Instead, a Wuchang Ghost God more than a zhang tall was hiding there.

The Wuchang was as thin as a skeleton, its face deathly pale without a trace of blood. A long, scarlet tongue hung from its mouth.

Wuchang Ghosts were common ghost gods of the underworld, and the Ghost-faced God was familiar with them. This Wuchang, however, was even thinner, as though malnourished. It also seemed pitifully timid, trembling behind the stone.

The Ghost-faced God said to the Wuchang Ghost, "Ha hu hu lu (Take this)!" As it spoke, it handed the Wuchang Ghost a blood-soaked cloth bag.

The Wuchang Ghost hurriedly nodded and accepted the bag. It had been looted from Zhou Zheng.

The Ghost-faced God walked ahead without looking back. "Bo ye hu lu (Follow me)!"

The Wuchang Ghost obediently followed, one foot higher than the other.

Suddenly, the Ghost-faced God lunged forward with murderous intent. The Wuchang Ghost hurriedly poked out its head and saw dozens of disciples from the martial world besieging another deity. That deity had a bull's head and a human body. It was covered in wounds and hanging on by a thread.

However, with the absurdly powerful Ghost-faced God joining the battle, it quickly slaughtered all those Nuo Masters!

The Ghost-faced God was covered in blood and waved to the Wuchang Ghost.

The Wuchang Ghost obediently walked over, holding out the cloth bag.

The other Ox-headed Deity carefully picked two Myriad Spirit Pills from the pool of blood and said to the Wuchang Ghost, "Sou ha hu lu (Open it)!"

The Wuchang Ghost hurriedly opened the cloth bag. The Ox-headed Deity placed the Myriad Spirit Pills inside, then said to the Ghost-faced God, "Bo se bo se hu lu (This brat looks suspicious)!"

The Ghost-faced God said, "Hong bo dan hu lu (Coward)!"

The Ox-headed Deity chuckled gruffly and reached out to tug on the Wuchang Ghost's long tongue.

Xu Ying nearly cried out. The Wuchang Ghost was naturally him.

There had been nowhere left for him to retreat behind the boulder. In a flash of inspiration, he had removed the Wuchang Mask and put it on.

This was Xu Ying's first time wearing a Nuo Master's treasure. He did not know whether he could transform into a Wuchang Ghost, but fortunately, the moment the mask touched his face, he truly transformed into an underworld ghost god and managed to fool them.

Strangely enough, after putting on the mask and transforming into a Wuchang Ghost, he somehow understood the two ghost gods' endless ghostly babble without any instruction.

But when the Ox-headed Deity tugged on his tongue, it nearly pulled the Wuchang Mask off, scaring him half to death.

The Ox-headed Deity released his tongue. The two towering deities walked side by side, sandwiching Xu Ying between them as they headed toward the mountaintop.

In Xu Ying's mind, the Great Bell's voice came through, filled with concern. "A Ying, how long can this mask last? What if there's a time limit..."

"Then I'm dead for sure!" Xu Ying whispered.

The Ox-headed Deity and the Ghost-faced God suddenly turned their heads in unison and looked at him suspiciously. Clearly, they had heard him.

Xu Ying kept his expression calm. "Bo ha bo ha, na mo bo ha (I just died. I can speak human language)!"

The two ghost gods did not suspect a thing and continued up the mountain.

Sandwiched between them, Xu Ying quietly opened the cloth bag and looked inside, his heart pounding. There were seven or eight Myriad Spirit Pills in the bag. Some of them must have been collected by Zhou Zheng!

They arrived before another altar. The Ghost-faced God opened its mouth and spat out several souls, which the statue of the deity before the altar absorbed.

The statue awakened, exchanged a few words of ghostly babble with them, and joined the group.

As they traveled, the Ghost-faced God awakened deity statue after deity statue. Thirteen deities gradually gathered around Xu Ying. Aside from the statues they had awakened, there were also deities who had come from other immortal mountains.

Xu Ying had transformed into a Wuchang Ghost more than a zhang tall, but compared to these deities, he was still a tiny thing. Among the many deities, most of whom were five or six zhang tall, he looked exceptionally small.

Whenever any of the deities had Myriad Spirit Pills, they would have Xu Ying open the cloth bag and place the pills inside.

Before long, there were a full fifteen Myriad Spirit Pills in the cloth bag!

"With so many Myriad Spirit Pills, if I pocketed them and ran..."

Xu Ying's eyes shifted as he thought, I'd definitely die a spectacularly miserable death, right?

The Myriad Spirit Pills should have been offerings from the various deities to the White-robed Nuo Immortal. These deities had gathered together, most likely to head to the great temple, pay their respects to the White-robed Nuo Immortal, and offer the pills!

Thus, this was a pilgrimage!

"But for me, it's a journey to my own funeral!" he thought darkly.