The Fourth Trial Begins, Ghost Douluo Appears

Suotuo City.

Ning Rongrong and Ye Lingling had respectively obtained their fourth and sixth spirit rings.

Bai Yi told the two of them to hide well in Suotuo City.

Because next, he needed to prepare for the fourth Qitian Trial.

Bai Yi left the inner city and headed toward a desolate wilderness forest outside the city.

His target was Spirit Hall.

When he had first arrived in Suotuo City two years ago, Spirit Hall had already set its sights on him.

A Soul Douluo named Yin Wushe had entered Suotuo City in secret with several attendants, repeatedly investigating Bai Yi's background, origins, and family.

During that period, Bai Yi had maintained an ambiguous attitude. He neither rejected Spirit Hall's recruitment nor fully agreed to it.

After investigating for two years, Yin Wushe had never found any trace of a family power backing Bai Yi.

This gradually caused Spirit Hall to lose patience.

Bai Yi understood all of this perfectly well.

Half a month ago, he had deliberately provoked a conflict with Yin Wushe and decisively rejected his recruitment offer.

Yin Wushe had left in a rage.

And Bai Yi knew that his anger would soon draw someone of higher standing.

At the very least, a Title Douluo.

Bai Yi stepped into that barren forest.

Although he was not sure whom Spirit Hall would send.

He had Ye Lingling, and the Nine Heart Begonia now possessed the ability to bring the dead back to life.

He could make multiple attempts.

So even if he faced pursuit from a Title Douluo, he still had a way out.

After Bai Yi entered the barren forest, several tails had been following him.

Those people were Spirit Hall spies. Their cultivation was not high, but their ability to conceal themselves was exceptionally strong.

Bai Yi paid them no mind and simply continued deeper into the forest.

He stopped beneath a tree and waited quietly.

A moment later, a figure suddenly appeared before Bai Yi.

The figure was shrouded in a voluminous black robe, like an afterimage blending into the night.

His form was illusory, and an iron-gray mask covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of dim eyes exposed.

Those eyes rested on Bai Yi without warmth or emotion.

Ghost Douluo, Ghost.

A level ninety-five Title Douluo.

Sure enough, it was one of Chrysanthemum and Ghost.

Bai Yi recalled the information he had on Ghost Douluo.

This man's martial soul was highly unusual. He had once died as a child, and only after his soul reentered his body had he awakened the Ghost martial soul.

In a sense, he was a living dead man. Physical attacks had an extremely limited effect on him.

He feared martial souls and powers of the light attribute. The holy light of the Six-Winged Angel could directly restrain him.

If Bai Yi relied only on the Golden Cudgel's weight to smash him, he would likely find it difficult to inflict any effective damage on this ghost.

But the Golden Cudgel's fourth soul skill, when used in conjunction with magical power, carried the properties of banishing evil and subduing demons.

It was a force more primordial and purer than holy light.

More than enough to restrain this thing.

Bai Yi sorted through this information in his mind, while his expression remained calm and unreadable.

Ghost Douluo spoke first.

His voice was hoarse and gloomy:

"You actually dared to come out alone. Admirable courage. I'll give you two choices: join Spirit Hall, or die."

Bai Yi glanced at him, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

He looked Ghost Douluo's illusory figure and iron-gray mask up and down, then said lightly:

"I've seen plenty of frightening ghosts. But an ugly ghost like you, wearing a mask because you're afraid people will see your face, is a first."

Ghost Douluo's expression changed.

A sharp, icy gleam flashed through his dim pupils, and the surrounding temperature seemed to drop several degrees at once.

He hated it most when others attacked his appearance.

The air around Ghost Douluo began to distort, and faint gray mist seeped from his body.

His voice was even hoarser than before, carrying the chilling menace of a vengeful ghost:

"Now, you only have one choice left."

The instant his words fell, the gray-black mist exploded.

A twisted figure emerged from the fog—it was the phantom of his martial soul, Ghost. Its limbs were contorted, its face indistinct, and its insubstantial mouth gaped in a silent howl.

Ghost Douluo raised his right palm, gray-black Soul Power gathering in it to form a roiling vortex.

Fourth Soul Skill.

Ghost Shadow.

The vortex exploded with a boom, and countless twisted black ghostly shadows surged from his palm, pouncing toward Bai Yi like a swarm of starving evil spirits.

Those ghostly shadows had no physical form. They twisted and warped through the air, letting out piercing shrieks.

Bai Yi stood where he was without retreating.

His hands formed a seal before him, and his lips moved faintly.

God-Driving.

One of the spells of the Seventy-Two Transformations.

An invisible ripple spread from his body, like a massive hand sweeping across the void.

As the black ghostly shadows rushing toward him touched that ripple, they seemed to slam into an invisible wall. They let out miserable shrieks and instantly shattered into fragments.

The fragments vanished into the air, leaving behind not even the slightest trace.

The God-Driving art had never driven gods away. What it expelled were the demons and fiends clinging beneath divine names.

It was perfectly suited for dealing with sinister entities like Ghost Shadow.

Bai Yi remained where he was, his hands still held in the gesture of a seal.

Deep within his pupils, a flash of golden light appeared and vanished.

The essence of the Lingming Stone Monkey quietly circulated within his body.

Using the transformative art of the Seventy-Two Transformations, he suppressed every change within his body. Outwardly, he still appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary human soul master.

Watching those ghostly shadows be swept away in an instant, Ghost Douluo finally showed a trace of surprise.

A mere Soul Ancestor had actually blocked his fourth Soul Skill.

He stared at Bai Yi for a moment, his voice several shades lower than before.

"What kind of technique is that?"

Bai Yi lowered his hands and chuckled.

"If you really want to know, why not show me some real skill and find out?"

Ghost Douluo fell silent for a moment.

Then the gray mist around his body surged again, thicker than before.

The mist condensed around him into distorted human faces that continuously emerged and vanished.

This time, Bai Yi moved first.

He formed a seal with one hand, pressed two fingers together, and drew them lightly through the air.

Divine spell, Light Generation.

A dazzling golden radiance burst from his fingertips, slashing into the gray mist around Ghost Douluo like a sharp sword.

Wherever the golden light passed, the gray-black haze melted and broke apart like snow meeting boiling water, hissing sharply.

Ghost Douluo's body tilted back slightly. The golden light stung his eyes beneath the mask, making him instinctively close them for a moment.

A flicker of pain crossed his eyes, followed by an indescribable sense of revulsion rising in his chest.

That light made him extremely uncomfortable.

Bai Yi did not let the opportunity pass.

He unleashed his soul rings, and a layer of golden lightning patterns covered the staff.

Third Soul Skill, Thunder Wings: Sky-Sundering Slash.

A pair of golden thunder wings abruptly spread behind Bai Yi. His entire body transformed into a bolt of golden lightning, instantly crossing the distance between them.

The Golden Cudgel swept down through the air, its tip trailing a blinding streak of golden lightning as it slammed viciously into Ghost Douluo's shoulder.

With a sharp explosive hiss.

The instant the Golden Cudgel touched Ghost Douluo's body, the dark-golden evil-breaking power on its shaft surged forth, violently colliding with the essence of his Ghost martial soul.

Ghost Douluo staggered back two steps from the blow. His black robe tore open at the shoulder, exposing a wisp of gray-black mist beneath it that twisted and dissipated.

He was injured.

Though it was not serious, the power within that staff had pierced through the incorporeal defense he prided himself on and truly injured his actual body.

Moreover, the power within it caused him excruciating pain and could not be erased.

Ghost Douluo lowered his head and stared at the wound on his shoulder that refused to close. Beneath his mask, his face was so grim it seemed capable of dripping water.

Shock and disbelief churned in his heart.

A level ninety-five Title Douluo had actually been wounded by a Soul Ancestor.

And every one of that brat's abilities carried an aura that made him sick.

That golden light, that staff—they all possessed a power that completely countered him.

He absolutely could not allow this kid to grow any stronger.

Ghost Douluo raised his head, sinister killing intent roiling within his dark pupils.

His voice was even hoarser than before, shrill and piercing like that of a vicious ghost:

"You're simply courting death."