Qin Bo's entire presence surged in an instant. The kitchen knife in his hand seemed to merge with him, radiating a sharp killing intent.
He brought the knife straight down, cleaving the enormous mass of flesh at the very center in two.
Then one slash followed another as he cut back and forth.
He chopped the remaining minced flesh like meat, reducing it to a whole ground of tiny scraps.
Qin Bo looked at the minced flesh covering the ground and breathed lightly.
"Whew... I refuse to believe you can revive after being chopped up like this!"
Sure enough, as soon as his voice fell, a kill notification rang out in his mind.
[ Ding, slain Resentful Corpse Aggregate ] [ Obtained 18 years of lifespan ]
"18 years?!! Holy crap, this thing gives a lot of lifespan."
"Resentful Corpse Aggregate... Does that mean this thing is some bizarre entity formed by fusing many corpses together?"
"18 years... Could that mean there were 18 corpses?"
Qin Bo muttered inwardly.
Just as he took a brief rest, he suddenly felt the surrounding fog begin to churn violently.
A far more powerful and sinister aura rapidly surged over from afar.
Then it abruptly contracted again.
The dense fog around them began slowly gathering toward the depths.
"Hm?! What's going on?"
"Why is all the fog heading toward the deepest part?"
Qin Bo was puzzled.
In the distance, the dense fog actually converged in the sky into a gigantic funnel shape.
Then, beneath the funnel, a huge dome covered the mountain hollow.
"Gasp... Could that be where Dong-ge and the others are?"
"Could that old Daoist be there too?"
A bad premonition welled up in Qin Bo's heart.
He no longer cared about the fatigue from his recent battle. He took off running toward the place where the fog had gathered.
Along the way, the fog grew thinner and thinner, all of it sucked toward the enormous funnel.
"My lifespan! Don't let it get stolen!"
Qin Bo soon drew closer and closer.
That powerful, sinister aura grew increasingly intense. Qin Bo could even feel the earth beneath his feet trembling faintly.
At last, he reached the edge of the enormous funnel-shaped mass of fog.
Through the gaps in the fog, he vaguely saw numerous figures shifting within.
"That many?!"
Qin Bo was just about to charge inside when he discovered that he couldn't get in.
He discovered that he couldn't get in.
It was as if an invisible barrier stood across his path. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through.
Qin Bo was frantic. He repeatedly slapped and felt along the invisible barrier with both hands, trying to find a way through.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Qin Bo couldn't help cursing.
"Damn it, I refuse to believe I can't cut you open!"
He drew his kitchen knife and brought it straight down.
Within the dense fog.
A female evil spirit was battling the old Daoist.
The old Daoist was not idle either. He circulated the strength of his entire body's qi and blood, raised his peachwood sword, and charged forward.
The female ghost's neck twisted strangely by a hundred and eighty degrees.
In her hollow eye sockets, inky blood tears seeped out. Her shriek shook everyone's eardrums painfully. "Blood... blood..."
The old Daoist's sword stabbed into the black fog, but it could go no farther!
The female ghost let out a shriek, and ghostly energy erupted from her body.
It blasted him straight into the air.
The old Daoist staggered and dropped to one knee. The peachwood sword in his hand had broken into two pieces.
The red cord wrapped around the hilt had been corroded by the ghostly energy until only a single frayed strand remained.
As he watched the female evil spirit slowly devour all the resentful spirit bodies, the ghostly energy surrounding her grew increasingly dense.
"This is bad. She's only one step away from breaking through and becoming an 'evil spirit.' When that happens, the entire Li Family Village will become her food."
The old Daoist's expression changed drastically.
Then his gaze sharpened, and he sat down cross-legged.
The qi and blood around the old Daoist boiled, and the veins on his neck bulged.
His hands formed complex seals, and he chanted under his breath:
"Yin and yang reversed, the universe as a prison!"
"Talismans, emerge! Formation, rise!"
"Bind!"
The Daoist robe on the old Daoist's body burst apart, forming talismans that flew into the air.
Those talismans wove together in the air into a gigantic golden net, trapping the female ghost tightly.
The female ghost let out a heaven-shaking roar. The ghostly energy around her surged madly against the net as if it were solid.
The golden runes continuously disintegrated under the corrosion of the ghostly energy, giving off a harsh sizzling sound.
He turned his head and looked at Li Dong and his wife in the pit. There was no hesitation left in his eyes.
"With my blood, I suppress this evil!"
The old Daoist bit through his fingertip, and his vital essence blood shot out like a scarlet rainbow.
It congealed in the air into an archaic Daoist seal, which slammed heavily into the frantically struggling female ghost.
The ghostly energy collided with the Daoist seal, exploding in a blinding white light. The ground split open with web-like cracks, and shattered stones mixed with sinister energy shot into the sky."
"The fire of qi and blood, condense!"
The old Daoist mobilized the qi and blood throughout his body, and blazing flames surged around him.
"Today, this old Daoist will suppress you with his life!"
The flames rose into the sky like a scarlet flood dragon.
Under the frenzied circulation of qi and blood, the veins throughout the old Daoist's body bulged one after another, while an eerie scarlet hue spread across the surface of his skin.
The female ghost let out a terrified shriek. The ghostly energy that had originally expanded began shrinking inward.
The black robe was scorched by the raging flames, revealing the rotten, pus-covered body beneath.
Ancient runes faintly appeared within the flames around the old Daoist.
Those runes seemed to be peeled from his flesh and blood. Each time they flashed, the old Daoist's face aged another degree.
The black fog in the corpse pit was forced back step by step by the flames, but in midair it condensed into a gigantic ghost face that opened its bloody maw and lunged to bite the old Daoist.
"Boom!"
The fire of qi and blood collided violently with the ghost face, and the ground within several yards instantly split apart.
The old Daoist's body swayed. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the flames, and the fire suddenly surged.
The ghost face twisted under the impact of the suddenly strengthened flames. Its originally ferocious form could barely hold together.
"Stinking... Daoist, you think you can stop... me!?"
With the female ghost's furious roar, the sinister energy in the sky streamed into her body.
Her originally somewhat illusory body completely solidified.
She successfully advanced from an evil-grade aberration to a malevolent-grade aberration.
As the female ghost successfully advanced to a malevolent-grade aberration, a terrifying, peerless aura spread wildly outward with her at the center.
The old Daoist felt as though an invisible mountain were pressing down on him, making even breathing exceedingly difficult.
His face instantly turned as pale as paper. Burning his qi and blood just now had already dealt a heavy blow to his vitality.
Now, facing the female ghost after her advancement, a feeling of powerlessness welled up in his heart.
But he gritted his teeth, and determination still shone in his eyes.
Even if he had to stake his final breath, he could not let this female ghost bring disaster upon the human world.
"Looks like I have no choice but to fight to the death! What a pity... I haven't even found a successor before this old Daoist..."
As he thought this, he forcibly raised the qi and blood within him, and the flames upon his body rose once more.
Outside the barrier, Qin Bo was already panting heavily.
"What kind of barrier is this? Why is it so hard?"
"System, how many years of lifespan do I have now?"
[ Ding, remaining lifespan: 32 years ]
"I refuse to believe it! I'll spend my lifespan to cultivate the Ancient Desolation Body Tempering Technique!"
Before you continue