The Youming Sect Appears

In front of the Wang Mansion, Wang Fu paced anxiously back and forth. When he saw Ye Yun hurrying over, the old steward rushed forward as if he'd seen his savior. "Lord Ye! You're finally here! That Prefect Zhou brought four black-robed men into the rear courtyard and ordered everyone to stay away..."

Ye Yun didn't slow down, but his voice turned grave. "How long have they been inside?"

"About half an hour." Wang Fu wiped the sweat from his forehead. "This old servant thinks something's wrong. Those men didn't look like proper officials. They seemed more like..."

Ye Yun had no time for more. He flashed through the front courtyard. The closer he came to the haunted yard, the heavier the chill in the air grew. Though it was high noon, the sunlight seemed blocked by some invisible barrier. Vines crawling over the courtyard walls had turned a sickly gray-black, and tiny ice crystals edged their leaves.

Just as I thought. Something's wrong...

Ye Yun stopped outside the courtyard gate, his ears twitching slightly. Through the heavy wooden door, he heard deep chanting, occasionally punctuated by the sharp scrape of chains dragging across the ground. Stranger still, the courtyard was noticeably colder than outside. Wisps of white mist seeped through the crack beneath the door and condensed into frost on the ground.

Ye Yun kicked the courtyard gate open. The sight before him made his pupils contract—

In the center of the courtyard, four black-robed men stood at the corners of a square, each holding a chain black as ink. The other ends disappeared into an ancient well and shuddered violently with every impact from within. Prefect Zhou stood beside the well, holding a blood-red banner and muttering an incantation. A complex formation had been drawn on the ground in cinnabar, its lines pulsing with dark-red light and writhing like living things.

Most horrifying of all, a white figure hovered above the well—the same white-clad female ghost from the day before! But now blood-red runes coiled around her, her face twisted as she let out a shrill scream.

"Didn't I say no one was to come in without my orders?" Prefect Zhou snapped around, his narrow eyes flashing coldly.

Ye Yun pretended not to notice and clasped his hands in greeting. "Your subordinate came to assist, my lord. This female ghost is dangerous. Should we send for reinforcements?"

"Get out!" Prefect Zhou roared, whipping his banner. A streak of blood-red light shot out and exploded at Ye Yun's feet, corroding a bowl-sized hole in the ground.

A cold glint flashed in Ye Yun's eyes. What sort of official method for laying spirits to rest was this? It was clearly the evil art known as the Blood-Cleansing Curse! He calmly retreated half a step, but his gaze swept rapidly across the courtyard. The four black-robed men were locked into maintaining the formation and couldn't break away; Prefect Zhou's cultivation was around the peak of the 7th Rank; and though the female ghost appeared trapped, the yin energy around her was several times stronger than yesterday...

"Submit to me, and I'll grant you freedom," Prefect Zhou hissed at the female ghost, no longer paying Ye Yun any mind. "Otherwise, today will be the day your soul is utterly destroyed!"

The female ghost's shriek abruptly stopped. She slowly lifted her head, a strange smile spreading across her deathly pale face. "Thirty years ago, you said the same thing..."

Before the words had faded, she suddenly struck! The blood-red runes wrapped around her body snapped apart one by one. Her hair shot out like venomous snakes, instantly coiling around one black-robed man's neck. With a sharp crack, his head lolled at a grotesque angle, and he died on the spot.

The formation immediately developed a gap. The female ghost seized her chance, broke free, and drifted onto the courtyard wall. A fierce yin wind sprang up. Her tattered white dress snapped in the wind, and her fingernails stretched more than a foot long, gleaming with a ghostly blue sheen in the sunlight.

"You don't know what's good for you!" Prefect Zhou bellowed in fury, whipping his banner and sending three streaks of blood-red light flying. "Do you have any idea how many supernatural creatures want to join the Youming Sect?"

"The Youming Sect?" Ye Yun's heart jolted. Uncle Fu had once mentioned this demonic sect, a thousand-year-old lineage that cultivated sinister arts, using the blood and essence of the living to nurture ghosts and refine corpses. Righteous cultivators regarded them as a thorn in their side. Thirty years ago, the seven great sects had joined forces to hunt them down. He couldn't believe they dared to show themselves in public!

"Prefect Zhou!" Ye Yun shouted, cutting him off. "What's the punishment for an official of the imperial court colluding with a demonic sect? This female ghost must be destroyed!"

"You're asking for death!" Prefect Zhou's face twisted. He pointed his banner at Ye Yun. "I was going to spare your life... You four, kill this brat!"

At his words, the four black-robed men immediately changed formation. Three continued maintaining the formation to restrain the female ghost, while the one whose neck had been twisted around lurched to his feet! His neck still bent at an unnatural angle, but an eerie green light shone in his eyes. With a strange groan, he charged at Ye Yun.

"Corpse Puppet technique!" Ye Yun's pupils contracted. This was the Youming Sect's signature evil art, which could refine the newly dead into puppets while preserving seventy percent of their strength in life. The Corpse Puppet before him had been at least an 8th Rank martial artist when alive. Its movements were stiff now, but its strength had grown even greater!

The Corpse Puppet swung a fist, its knuckles wreathed in a stench of decay. Ye Yun dodged sideways and countered with a slash at its neck—but with a clang, the blade struck as if it had hit iron or stone, leaving only a faint white mark.

"Useless," Prefect Zhou sneered. "A Corpse Puppet's skin is like bronze and its bones like iron. Ordinary blades and swords can't harm it... What?!"

Before he could finish, Ye Yun's sword technique abruptly changed! Golden light blazed along his long saber as he brought it down hard on the Corpse Puppet's chest. This time, the blade sliced through flesh as easily as tofu, cleaving the Corpse Puppet in half!

The True Martial Gangkqi really did counter sinister forces, just as the manual said. Ye Yun's confidence returned. He pointed his saber at Prefect Zhou. "You're next."

Prefect Zhou's expression shifted between dark and light before he suddenly sneered. "A constable with quite a few tricks up his sleeve! But..." He bit through the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood mist onto the banner. "Did you think this was over?"

Blood-red light flared from the banner. The lines of the formation twisted like living things. The remaining three black-robed men screamed in unison—their bodies visibly withered as the formation drained their blood and essence, turning them into three arrows of blood that shot toward the female ghost!

"Blood sacrifice to refine a soul!" Alarm bells rang in Ye Yun's mind. This was one of the Youming Sect's most vicious secret arts, forcibly raising a ghost's power with the blood and essence of the living. If it succeeded, the female ghost would lose her mind completely and become a vengeful spirit that knew nothing but slaughter!

The female ghost was struck by the arrows of blood and let out a scream of pain. Her body twisted and swelled, her white robes turning red as her fingernails grew longer and sharper. Most terrifying of all, the yin energy around her nearly condensed into solid form. The temperature in the courtyard plunged, and thick frost spread across the ground.

"Hahahaha!" Prefect Zhou roared with laughter. "If I can't make you submit, I'll refine you into a Blood-Fiend Ghost Slave! Brat, dying at the hands of a 7th Rank vengeful spirit is an honor!"

The female ghost's eyes had turned completely bloodred. She slowly turned her head and fixed her gaze on Ye Yun. In the next instant, she vanished—and reappeared three feet in front of him!

So fast! Ye Yun only had time to raise his saber to block. Her ghostly claw collided with the blade in a dazzling shower of sparks. The tremendous impact forced him back seven steps. His thumb web split open, and blood ran down his wrist.

The female ghost pressed her advantage, flickering like a specter as she attacked from every angle. Ye Yun pushed the Mountain-Crushing Saber Technique to its limits, yet he was still driven back step by step. Worse, each clash between blade and claw sent a chill flowing along his saber and into his meridians, gradually slowing his movements.

I can't keep this up... Ye Yun's thoughts raced. Then he suddenly remembered the Soul-Suppressing Seal described in the True Martial Secret Manual. It was designed to counter spirits, but required blood essence as a catalyst. Using it would take a heavy toll on him in his current state.

With death staring him in the face, Ye Yun stopped hesitating. He bit through the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the blade. At the same time, he formed a seal with his left hand and traced a complex pattern through the air. The drops of blood on the blade floated up strangely, gradually forming a blood-red rune as his hand sign changed.

Ye Yun bellowed, swinging his long saber at the female ghost with the blood-red rune blazing along its edge. She instinctively sensed the danger and tried to dodge, but it was too late—the rune struck her forehead with unerring precision, and blood-red light flared!

"Ah—!"

The female ghost screamed as if her heart were being torn apart, the yin energy around her roiling like boiling water. Her form began to blur, as though she might dissipate at any moment. But just then, Prefect Zhou hurled his banner. It unfurled like a gaping maw and swallowed the female ghost whole!

"I never thought you'd know the long-lost Soul-Suppressing Seal..." Prefect Zhou's face was as dark as water. "I can't let you live after all!"

He formed a hand seal, and the banner shuddered violently. The female ghost's screams grew weaker and weaker. Ye Yun knew this was the Youming Sect's ghost-refining art. Once it was complete, the female ghost would be refined into a mindless killing tool.

I have to stop him!

Ye Yun endured the agony of the yin energy invading his meridians and charged at Prefect Zhou with his saber. At that moment, an unexpected change erupted—

The banner suddenly exploded! A figure streaked with red and white burst through it. It was the female ghost! But now half her face was as pale as paper, while the other half was red as vermilion. Her eyes flickered between lucidity and madness.

"You... all of you... deserve to die!" The female ghost's voice shifted between shrill and soft. She was clearly caught in a tug-of-war between being refined and fighting back. She swept out both hands, sending ten arrows of yin energy shooting toward Prefect Zhou!

Prefect Zhou dodged in haste, but three streaks of yin energy still struck his right shoulder, tearing flesh to ribbons. He grunted, pulled a small bottle black as ink from his robes, and gritted his teeth. "If I can't control you, then we'll die together!"

The moment he pulled out the stopper, a nauseating stench of rot filled the air. Dozens of black wisps flew from the bottle and turned into hideous little ghosts as they hit the ground. Shrilling, they lunged at the female ghost and Ye Yun.

"Soul-Devouring Ghosts!" Ye Yun was appalled. These evil things had been refined from babies who died before their time. They fed on living souls and were vicious beyond measure. He quickly circulated his True Martial Gangkqi to protect himself and whirled his saber in a tight, impenetrable defense, cutting down the little ghosts one by one.

The female ghost fared even worse. Though her strength had greatly increased, her mind was clouded, and the little ghosts tore at her as she screamed in agony. Amid the chaos, she suddenly looked at Ye Yun. A flicker of clarity passed through her bloodred eyes. "Help... help me..."

Ye Yun froze. Before he could react, the female ghost became a streak of white light and disappeared into the long saber in his hand. Frost instantly covered the blade, but the True Martial Gangkqi quickly dispelled it.

"Bitch!" Prefect Zhou shook with rage. "You'd dare recognize him as your master just to survive?!"

He tore open his robe, revealing a hideous tattoo of a ghost's face on his chest. As he chanted an incantation, the tattoo slowly rose from his skin and became the phantom of a gigantic ghostly head, its jaws opening to bite at Ye Yun!

At the critical moment, the long saber suddenly shuddered violently. The female ghost's voice rang in Ye Yun's mind: "Use me... to cut it down..."

There was no time to think. Ye Yun poured all his Essence Qi into the long saber. It burst into unprecedented radiance, one half blazing gold and the other an icy blue. As the ghostly head lunged toward him, he unleashed the strongest form of the Mountain-Crushing Saber Technique—

Mountain-Crushing Saber Technique, Sixth Form: Annihilation!

The saber light poured down like a river of stars and crashed into the ghostly head. The terrifying shock wave razed the courtyard walls to the ground, sending dust billowing into the sky. When it settled, Ye Yun was kneeling on one knee, his long saber buried in the ground to support his body, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth.

Ten zhang away, a hideous wound across Prefect Zhou's chest had nearly split him in two. He stared at Ye Yun in disbelief, his Adam's apple bobbing as he forced out a few final words. "The Youming Sect... won't let you get away with this..." Then he died.