The two streams of dense ghostly energy, each as thick as a barrel, resembled a pair of savage venomous dragons, shrouding the entire city in their grip.
Sinister winds howled, and the ghosts' wails pierced the soul even from dozens of miles away.
"Ghosts have encircled the city..."
Sun Ze's deeply wrinkled face tightened, a trace of wariness flashing through his cloudy eyes.
His lifespan was nearly spent, and nothing frightened him more than contact with such sinister things. Merely looking at them made him feel as though what little vitality he had left was being drained away.
Wu Tang's brows knitted tightly as well. He stopped his flying sword, his expression grave. "Judging by how dense that ghostly energy is, these aren't ordinary wandering spirits. There must be at least two late-stage Qi Refining ferocious ghosts."
"Let's go around," Sun Ze immediately suggested. "Traveling a few hundred extra miles is better than inviting this trouble."
Zhao Hao hovered at the "low altitude" of six hundred feet, his face beneath his mask utterly calm.
Late-stage Qi Refining ghosts?
Wasn't this cultivation material delivering itself to his doorstep?
"Please wait a moment, fellow Daoists."
His hoarse voice was still drifting on the wind when Zhao Hao turned into a streak of black light and shot straight toward them.
On the way, he reached into his Storage Bag with one hand and drew out a banner wreathed in black energy.
It was none other than the supreme-grade tier-one magical artifact he had obtained from Jia Ren-the Soul Summoning Banner!
"Mere little ghosts dare run rampant!"
He poured his Foundation Establishment early-stage li fire power into it without holding anything back!
Hum-!
The Soul Summoning Banner swelled in the wind. Its pitch-black fabric instantly erupted with intense dark radiance, and an enormous black vortex rapidly took shape across its surface. A terrifying suction force that made souls tremble suddenly burst forth!
The two ferocious ghosts had just charged out of the ghostly energy, baring their fangs and claws, when they instinctively sensed mortal danger. They shrieked and tried to flee.
But it was already too late!
That immense suction locked them in place like invisible iron chains.
Dragged so hard that their forms twisted, the two ferocious ghosts struggled desperately, black energy roiling over their spectral bodies as they tried to resist. But before a supreme-grade magical artifact wielded by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, their savagery was instantly drowned in fear.
"Screee-!"
Their shrill screams stretched long and thin. Like insects pinched in an invisible hand, they were swept helplessly into the vortex on the banner's surface, vanishing without a trace before they could so much as raise a ripple.
The ghostly energy entrenched above Blackstone City also seemed to have had its dragon's spine pulled out. It swiftly collapsed and dissipated into nothing.
Above the city, the winds and waves fell still.
In the distance, Wu Tang and Sun Ze froze completely.
The flying sword Wu Tang had just summoned still hovered before him; even the spiritual light at its tip seemed to have forgotten to flicker.
As an Alchemist, his spiritual sense was keen. He could clearly feel just how pure and domineering the spiritual power Zhao Hao had poured into the artifact in that instant had been. That was absolutely not something an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator could possess!
Sun Ze looked even more stunned, and the glow of the blood-red flying wheel beneath his feet dimmed slightly.
He cultivated the dao of blood and was exceptionally sensitive to matters of the soul. That banner felt more sinister to him than any demonic artifact he had ever seen!
Two ferocious ghosts comparable to ninth-level Qi Refining cultivators had disappeared just like that?
Just who was this "Fellow Daoist Zhao," who kept flying at low altitude and seemed excessively cautious?
"Let's go."
Zhao Hao casually returned the Soul Summoning Banner to his Storage Bag, feeling quite satisfied.
The soul power of those two ferocious ghosts was enough for him to cultivate two Yin Soul Nails. He now had another underhanded means of dealing with enemies.
The three concealed their auras and slowly descended into Blackstone City.
At the city gate, a middle-aged cultivator wearing luxurious red robes, with a cultivation level of seventh-level Qi Refining, was already waiting respectfully with several subordinates.
"This junior, Li Song, pays his respects to the three Foundation Establishment seniors!"
The moment Li Song saw the three land, he hurried forward with gratitude written all over his face and offered a deep bow.
"Thank you for taking action, Senior, and ridding Blackstone City of its ghost infestation!"
Zhao Hao glanced at him.
The man's aura was unstable. Although his expression held reverence, there was little of the terror one would expect from someone facing imminent disaster. This stirred a faint sense of unease in Zhao Hao.
"Are you the guardian stationed here?" Zhao Hao asked in his hoarse voice.
"Yes, Senior, I am," Li Song replied with the utmost humility.
"If this place belongs to the Thousand Buddha Temple, why have no eminent monks of the Buddhist Order come to vanquish the demons when the haunting has grown this severe?" Wu Tang could not help voicing his doubts as well.
Logically, Buddhist cultivation methods were especially effective against sinister ghosts. This place was within the Thousand Buddha Temple's sphere of influence; ghosts should not have been wreaking havoc on such a scale.
At this question, a trace of bitterness immediately appeared on Li Song's face, along with a strange look that was difficult to describe.
He gestured for the three to follow, explaining as he led the way.
"What you three seniors may not know is that the eminent monks of the Thousand Buddha Temple place great importance on 'coinnections.'"
"Connections?" Sun Ze's hoarse voice was full of confusion.
With a bitter smile, Li Song lowered his voice and deliberately stressed the first syllable. "Senior, it's the 'coin' in 'coinnections.' Without coin, they won't readily act."
Wu Tang and Sun Ze were no fools. They immediately understood what he was implying.
"You mean... spirit stones?" Wu Tang's expression became quite a sight.
Li Song nodded awkwardly. "Hiring a Foundation Establishment realm monk to take action costs at least three thousand spirit stones. Blackstone City is only a mortal city. Even three years of tax revenue from the City Lord's Mansion would barely cover that sum."
Wu Tang and Sun Ze exchanged looks, both stunned by the Thousand Buddha Temple's shameless antics-posting fixed prices and caring for money rather than dignity.
How was this any different from a Devil Dao Sect collecting protection money?
"So you simply let these ghosts linger outside the city?" Sun Ze frowned.
"Ah, Senior, there's more to it than you know."
Li Song sighed and led the three into the hall of the City Lord's Mansion, where tea had already been prepared, before continuing.
"Those two ghosts were actually quite strange. They only came once or twice a month, and each time, they drank some of the vital blood of one or two mortals, leaving them seriously ill. But they never took anyone's life."
"As time passed, the City Lord's Mansion simply kept one eye open and the other closed. After all, no one died, and nobody wanted to waste that money."
Zhao Hao's hand abruptly paused as he lifted his teacup.
They didn't take lives?
They only drank part of the victims' vital blood?
These weren't ferocious ghosts at all-they were raising livestock for blood!
Ordinary ghosts were bloodthirsty by nature. Once they tasted blood, they would only grow more ravenous. There was no way they could show such restraint.
Behind this behavior of "sustainably draining the pond to catch the fish," there had to be a master controlling them!
Beneath his mask, Zhao Hao's face instantly turned grave.
He immediately used his spiritual sense to transmit his voice to Wu Tang and Sun Ze.
"Something's wrong! These ghosts were keeping mortals as livestock. There must be a ghost cultivator controlling them. Be extremely careful!"
At his words, Wu Tang and Sun Ze felt their hearts tighten and were just about to respond.
At that very moment!
A powerful, evil pressure at the early stage of Foundation Establishment descended from outside the city without warning, instantly enveloping the entire city!
Li Song's hand trembled. His knees buckled under the pressure, and he nearly dropped to the ground in terror.
An outrageously arrogant voice rang throughout the city like an explosive thunderclap!
"Who dared lay a hand on my pet ghosts?!"