Netherworld Mountain

Netherworld Mountain towered into the clouds, majestic and steep. The mountain was barren, with only a rugged path winding through jagged rocks and drifting mist. It was impossible to tell whether they were on the mountain or among the clouds.

Everything was hazy and indistinct, and a mysterious feeling lingered in their hearts.

The Demonic Dragon asked the skeleton, "You've been on Netherworld Mountain for so long. Don't you know what's at the summit?"

The Great Desolate Skeleton replied carelessly, "What's so great about the summit? It's obviously an ominous place."

The Demonic Dragon mocked it. "So you were too scared to go up. There doesn't seem to be anything frightening here. So far, all we've met is the likes of you."

The Great Desolate Skeleton said indignantly, "What, you want to taste my Bone Prison again?"

The Demonic Dragon scoffed. "You got punched straight through. Pathetic fool who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth."

Ji Tian had no time to pay attention to their bickering. He wondered what exactly this mountain held. They had already climbed halfway, and he was sure there was something extraordinary here. It was impossible for so much Power of Creation to have given birth to nothing but a little bone spirit.

The higher they climbed, the more the chilling wind blew, penetrating to the marrow. Gray-white mist mingled with it, shifting into one ghostly face after another.

As soon as the gray-white ghost mist spotted living beings approaching, it began to seethe as if alive, surging toward the three of them.

If ordinary creatures were touched by this gray mist, their Essence Blood would be drained at once, and they would die as withered corpses. Their souls would become part of the ghost mist, trapped on the path of ghosts with no way to escape.

But the three of them had all grown by absorbing such things, so they naturally had no reason to fear this mere Earth Ghost Mist.

Ji Tian opened his mouth and inhaled. The ghostly faces were swallowed into his primordial spirit one after another. They were also a great tonic for his ghostly body.

Under cover of the ghost mist, little Fierce Ghosts launched sneak attacks on the three of them. The Demonic Dragon spat out a Dragon Breath, freezing the ghosts into blocks of ice.

Before they knew it, the group had entered the depths of the ghost mist. Its color, too, began to darken, gradually turning black from its original gray-white.

The Demonic Dragon smugly darted through the ghost mist, stirring up the Yin Energy as if it were a fish in water. After all, its flesh and blood came from Malevolent Qi, so this was a perfect chance to get its body moving.

Suddenly, the wails of ghosts rose around its ears. After a wave of dizziness, its entire body began to tremble uncontrollably, beyond its power to stop.

Just then, a faint gray figure, almost impossible to make out, shot from the mist on the other side. In a flash, it was in front of the Demonic Dragon. The dragon had no time to dodge, and its exposed eyes were filled with horror!

Ji Tian roared, "Hah! A mere Ghost King dares to act so brazenly in front of me!"

As he spoke, he cast a Soul Seal. With a wave of his hand, countless strands of Ghost Qi gathered into chains, trapping the black shadow as it tried to invade the Demonic Dragon's body. He pointed a finger, and the ghost shuddered all over. Its Ghost Qi melted away like snow, and Ji Tian swallowed a pure stream of Soul Power.

The Demonic Dragon silently berated itself for being careless. It had nearly been possessed by a Ghost King.

Ji Tian circulated his primordial spirit and let out a Ghost Howl. With a great ghost like him here, who would dare act out of line?

A chorus of ghostly howls answered him. Millions of ghosts surged forward, baring their claws and waving their arms in a show of force.

Ji Tian felt a pressure, as if it came from his bloodline, that briefly disrupted the flow of his Soul Power.

"Ke-ke-ke, so you're just a wandering ghost without any ghost power." A towering ghost appeared before the three of them.

The Great Desolate Skeleton said, "Heavenly Ghost, it's been a few years. Your cultivation has improved quite a bit."

The Heavenly Ghost replied, "Why is a bone spirit like you working as someone else's lackey?"

The Demonic Dragon was furious and bellowed, "Insolence!" As it spoke, it swept at the Heavenly Ghost with its enormous tail.

The Heavenly Ghost immediately turned into a cloud of black mist, and the dragon's tail passed right through it.

Where the black mist dispersed, a refined Corpse Ghost appeared. It was struck so hard that green smoke billowed from its body and light flashed everywhere. But the monster corpse merely bared its teeth, then swelled larger and larger, raising its brutal arm to smash at the Demonic Dragon.

The Great Desolate Skeleton said, "Puppet Divine Ability. That's a Corpse Ghost, strong as an ox and tough as old leather."

A series of cracking sounds rang out as the Corpse Ghost was sliced into several pieces by the Demonic Dragon's sharp claws, wreathed in black light.

The Demonic Dragon raised its black claws and said, "The more you bring, the more useless they are."

At this sight, the black mist shuddered. A blood-red glow, more than a dozen zhang tall, appeared beside it. In the blink of an eye, the glow gathered into a giant blood blade, which viciously hacked at the Demonic Dragon.

With a light clang, the blade struck the Demonic Dragon's head. It rang like metal, unable to cut into its body at all.

The Demonic Dragon said nonchalantly, "That only tickled."

The Heavenly Ghost reappeared. Seeing that its attack seemed to have failed, it flew into a rage. It flipped one hand and grabbed the blood blade, then swung it at the Demonic Dragon, wrapped in an overwhelming blood-red glow. It seemed intent on chopping the dragon into pieces to vent its fury.

Ji Tian held a black longsword and blocked the blood-red blade. Killing intent surged forth, blasting the entire blade into a wash of blood-colored light.

"You merely refined Yin Energy and dare call it ghost power? I'll show you what ghost power really is." Ji Tian circulated his Soul Power and drew on the Killing Thought Sword in his sea of consciousness. A force of slaughter erupted around him, forming three black longswords in the air. Controlled by his Soul Power, they relentlessly stabbed at the Heavenly Ghost.

"There are many kinds of Yin Energy in the world. Some exist on their own, while others are fused together. They can be refined into your own strength by relying on the distracting thoughts in your heart. When all the distracting thoughts in your heart fuse into a single force, you call it ghost power. Don't you know it's just one kind of power?"

"This is the power of slaughter, one kind of Yin force." As he spoke, he slashed out three sword auras, directly shattering part of the Heavenly Ghost's body.

The Heavenly Ghost endured the assault of the power of slaughter. Even when it became black mist, the killing intent still locked onto it, preventing its body from melting into the ghost mist and escaping.

The Heavenly Ghost let out a roar and a Ghost Howl. Countless ghosts rushed toward it, and its Soul Power surged, forcing the relentless power of slaughter out of its body.

At the same time, boundless Yin Energy churned violently and poured into the Heavenly Ghost.

The Great Desolate Skeleton cried out in alarm, "Ghost Devour Divine Ability!"

The Demonic Dragon called out, "What's so special about that?"

The Great Desolate Skeleton said, "The Heavenly Ghost is a ghost born from the essence of Netherworld Mountain's Yin Energy. It can command all ghosts, and its special trait is that it can travel through the void. Ghost Devour gathers boundless Yin Energy and ghosts into one enormous Corpse Ghost. That Corpse Ghost is the Fengdu Corpse Ghost."

It was dozens of zhang tall, its entire body covered in scales. Its flat face was hideously grim, and an eye on its forehead was shrouded in black mist. It held a blood-red blade backward in one claw.

Ji Tian's heart stirred. His opponent had used this method to greatly increase its cultivation, and it had already reached the peak of the Void Transformation realm. Not bad.

"Ten Directions Absolute Kill!"

Countless strands of killing intent gathered from Netherworld Mountain, forming small black swords.

Ji Tian swept his longsword forward and shouted, "Go!"

The little black swords howled as they flew toward the Heavenly Ghost.

The Heavenly Ghost swung its blood-red blade, knocking down the countless small swords that filled the sky. They turned into billowing Yin Energy.

The Demonic Dragon cried out in alarm, "Such powerful Yin Energy! It refined the opponent's killing intent for itself."

The Heavenly Ghost opened its mouth and sucked in. An enormous phantom maw swallowed toward Ji Tian.

Ji Tian raised a phantom fist and smashed it at the giant mouth. The two phantoms vanished in midair, and boundless destructive power rippled outward like waves.

The Great Desolate Skeleton's bones shattered into fragments in the invisible ripples. The Demonic Dragon fared a little better, but its flesh and blood were still torn apart.

Ji Tian had no choice but to take his opponent seriously. He drew the black sword back to his chest and summoned all his Soul Power. His strongest Divine Ability was the one combined with the spirit of slaughter. Last time, he had used it against the Raging Ape only to test its power. This time, he had no choice but to unleash it with all his strength.

Ji Tian continuously poured the countless strands of Soul Power in his sea of consciousness into the humanoid bat. The bat grew increasingly solid on the sword mountain. Its tightly shut eyes slowly opened, and the entire sea of consciousness was instantly filled with killing intent. The power of slaughter around Ji Tian continued to rise.

"Demon Kills the World!"

The humanoid bat held a black longsword and turned into a streak of Flowing Light, slashing toward the Heavenly Ghost.

The Heavenly Ghost seemed to have built up its own momentum as well. It swung its blade swiftly at the streak of light. The light instantly split in two, but the blood-red blade turned back into blood mist.

The Heavenly Ghost was congratulating itself when a sudden change occurred. One half of the streak of light lunged at it. The Heavenly Ghost turned into black mist, but the light still pierced through its chest.

Behind the Heavenly Ghost, the humanoid bat appeared. It moved, flapping its wings once. Countless blades formed from killing intent slashed at the Heavenly Ghost, which was dismayed to discover that it could no longer turn into black mist and escape.

The Heavenly Ghost's scales flew everywhere, and countless ghosts were forcibly cut out of its body.

The Heavenly Ghost grew weaker and weaker as the ghosts forcibly gathered together leaked out one after another.

Under the Great Desolate Skeleton's persuasion, the Heavenly Ghost reluctantly surrendered.

After passing through the Heavenly Ghost's territory, they had already covered two-thirds of the journey. The closer they got to the summit of Netherworld Mountain, the more an invisible pressure bore down on them. A terrifying feeling lingered in their hearts.

Thunder roared, drawing closer and closer, and the sound exploded in their ears. Boundless lightning spread over Ji Tian and the others.

Lightning was the natural bane of ghostly bodies. It often contained the power of pure Yang and could break through certain evil properties.

The Demonic Dragon laughed loudly. "Little skeleton, is this why you stopped here? Since you knew, why didn't you tell Master? Do you have ulterior motives?"

The Great Desolate Skeleton panicked and said, "No, I didn't think this would be difficult for Master."

The Demonic Dragon sneered. "You're hiding something sinister."

Ji Tian pondered. Was this where he had to stop?