Ghost Beast

Yu Ci turned his head just in time to see a massive ape head rising at the edge of the slope, its robust body akin to a giant elephant following in the blink of an eye. The ground shook once more as this giant ape, standing two zhang tall, leaped onto the slope, crouching half-mast with its furry arms supporting the ground, fierce light flashing in its bell-like eyes.

Ye Tu gasped in alarm, but Yu Ci instead let out a breath of relief. He had seen such giant apes a few times within the Zhaoshen Map, so he consoled, "It's fine. This thing looks robust, but it's actually all brute strength..."

At this, he abruptly stopped, his subsequent words cleaved away by a sudden force.

Atop the giant ape's head, an ashen claw suddenly pressed down, covered in slender down yet armed with blade-sharp talons.

It was truly "blade-like" in scale. The giant ape's head was already quite substantial, yet the five long talons gathered in this tub-sized head with utmost ease. With a single closure, it shattered into pieces. Red and white mixed gore spurted, and then that claw casually twisted. The giant ape's neck and above vanished completely, leaving only the surging blood and qi from within its chest cavity to splash every corner of the slope.

Beside him, Ye Tu's breathing abruptly halted. Yu Ci took a deep breath and yanked the youth behind him. Until this moment, he discovered that the surroundings of the slope were overly, truly quiet. The previous panic and chaos had all vanished, or perhaps this negative situation had developed to an extreme, entering a most fatal, deathly stillness.

Clearly, the latter was far more realistic.

The ashen claw moved, like parting a blade of grass, shoving the giant ape's headless body down into the ten-thousand-fathom abyss below. Then, another claw of equal scale reached up, slapping against the edge of the slope.

With a crash, the slope seemed to collapse by half, large swathes of earth and rock tumbling down, yet the two claws still gripped firmly. Then, with a visible magnitude of force, the body still concealed on the outer flank of the slope hoisted itself up. The first thing to emerge remained a massive head. Clearly, the previous giant ape's head bore no comparison to it whatsoever.

Absurdly, at such a time, Yu Ci thought of an unrelated figure—namely, that "fellow practitioner" from several months ago in the dilapidated temple thousands of li away. Just as Ye Tu had said, some matters simply settled deep within consciousness, churning up under reality's stimulation to manifest clearly:

When the old Daoist killed it back then, this head alone was the size of a millstone, and its body was even on par with this Daoist temple...

That swindler called Xuanqing evidently had not expected his idle, random nonsense to become reality before Yu Ci's eyes. Judging purely by sight, the beast's head was definitely on par with a millstone, and presumably, its not-yet-fully-revealed body, even if not as exaggerated as a house, would not fall far short.

What Yu Ci noticed first was that right in the middle of this beast's forehead were three thick, short horns. So-called thick and short was also relative; all three horns were half a foot long, arranged in a triangle. They did not look sharp, but their pale blue color was exceedingly bizarre.

The beast's face resembled a fox yet also a wolf. Strictly speaking, it was not ugly, but a magnified face always imparted a strong sense of oppression. Moreover, that pair of beastly eyes resembled burning coals, their fiery red color emanating a scorching heat, yet gazing straight into them revealed a profound inner chill.

Beyond this, Yu Ci also felt an indescribable madness within that pair of beastly eyes.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate, this not-yet-fully-manifested behemoth did not care about the two little bugs on the slope; it merely hoisted its massive body up entirely, occupying a large expanse of the slope. Observed at close quarters, the beast's body was indeed as tall and robust as a mountain.

Its physique resembled that of tigers and leopards, slender-bodied and on all fours, yet it was seven or eight chi taller than the bipedal giant ape, dragging a furry tail behind it a full zhang in length. What caught one's eye was that a light mist seemed to hover over the beast's ashen pelt, resembling burning fire-smoke that circled its entire body and lingered long. Even without looking at its physique, one could consciously distinguish it from ordinary fierce beasts.

The gale of the canyon blew past, bringing the scent of the beast. Touching this thing at close quarters, he always felt that amid the fishy stench, there was something else besides. More importantly, this aura was truly somewhat familiar.

Not much time passed before Yu Ci came to with a start: "Ghost beast!"

The moment the words left his lips, past memories all returned. The big fellow before him turned out to be the ghost beast that the Poisonous Snake Monk and others had racked their brains to deal with. A few days ago, Yu Ci had smelled its residual scent in the distant pine forest, and his impression remained very deep.

Yu Ci felt somewhat vexed; he had been careless. Although the scents of various fierce birds and beasts in the Sky Rift Valley were mixed together, interfering with his olfactory sense, and he had previously been engrossed in the cultivation knowledge taught by Ye Tu, being approached by such a dangerous aura right under his eyelids was still an unforgivable lapse.

Yet regret was already too late now, so Yu Ci decisively suppressed all useless thoughts, shielding Ye Tu as he retreated in tiny steps. He prepared to seize the opportunity to leap down the cliff with Ye Tu, utilize the speed of the fall to escape the ghost beast's line of sight, and then rely on the floating magic robe on Ye Tu's person to escape with their lives.

The plan was sound, but at this moment, the ghost beast finally moved. As for how it moved, Yu Ci did not see clearly.

He merely felt the layer of fire-smoke and mist outside the ghost beast suddenly blur, and a sharp pain stabbed his eyelids. His reaction was top-tier; the very moment the sudden change occurred, he fell straight down while simultaneously sweeping his arm back to pull Ye Tu down.

Yet his arms clutched at empty air!

The youth's miserable groan rang out, accompanied by a crisp sound of bone fracture. Yu Ci's scalp exploded, inevitably recalling that unlucky ghost named "Hu Ke," whose entire body had been battered into a nearly pulpy state. He bounced up from the ground, and before he could discern directions, he collided with a wall—he had crashed into the ghost beast.

Unbeknownst to him, the ghost beast had already lunged to his side. Its muscles were as hard as steel, and though covered by a layer of long down outside, taking a strike from it was no pleasant matter. This big fellow was truly demonic to the extreme; its hill-like, massive body moved like lightning upon retreat and advance, completely silent, utterly shattering the common sense Yu Ci had formed over twenty-some years.

He now understood why those herb gatherers said ghost beasts seemed to ride the mists and clouds. With such speed coupled with the fire-smoke frequently circling its exterior, Yu Ci felt it was indeed so.

Perhaps feeling an itch, with a wu sound, the zhang-long tail lashed out like swatting an annoying fly. Yu Ci had no chance to dodge whatsoever, barely managing to erect the Nine Yang Talisman Sword before being struck square by the long tail.

The next moment, he felt as though he were riding the mists, flying straight away to crash into the cliff wall at the end of the slope, then bouncing back to the ground. He barely managed to prop his body up, but his internal organs felt as though they had turned upside down twice over. Wanting to vomit yet unable to, he felt extremely wretched.

Fortunately, the Nine Yang Talisman Sword had not slipped from his grip. His hand's tactile sensitivity had reached its peak when gripping the sword, promptly dissolving a portion of the impact. Even so, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger had already split, dripping with blood.

He cursed softly, gritting his teeth to spring up, utilizing the momentum to swing his sword and slash at the ghost beast's forelimb joint. Yet although a fiery streak cleaved the void, it failed to singed even a hair of the ghost beast's pelt.

What kind of monster is this?!

Yu Ci could not help thinking that within that pine forest, Hu Ke had set such a formidable trap, turning an area of an mu into scorched earth, yet it had failed to harm the ghost beast. This indicated that the big fellow before his eyes far exceeded the tier they currently inhabited—it could only be a demon born of the Nether Prison Yellow Springs!

As for those three, the Poisonous Snake Monk and company, just how stupid could their brains be to actively provoke such a creature?!

Even as he thought this, before deeper negative emotions could churn, Yu Ci had already leaped. During the brief period his body was suspended in the air, the ghost beast's flexible and resilient long tail lashed out once more. This time, Yu Ci calculated the angle accurately, employing an even cleverer force-dissipating method. Unlike last time when he was wretched enough to nearly vomit all his internal organs, he even used the momentum to slam his body onto the ghost beast's spine.

The ghost beast's spine was fairly broad, spacious and comfortable enough for seven or eight people to sit upon, but having someone leap onto its back clearly altered the big fellow's mood. A fraction of a second earlier, Yu Ci had already let out a miserable groan.

When this monster's entire coat of long fur hardened, it was actually comparable to steel needles. Worse still, the temperature of that fire-smoke-like mist was terrifyingly high, and just the instant of impact had nearly roasted him alive. Yet paradoxically, his clothes remained completely undamaged, which was exceedingly bizarre.

Yu Ci did not dare linger, springing up once more to flip toward the ghost beast's head. The ghost beast did not lash its long tail again, merely shaking its body like shedding fleas from its fur. Yet with just this single motion, the external fire-smoke surged like waves, its steaming heat curling Yu Ci's hair.

By this time, Yu Ci had already flipped past the ghost beast's head. Enduring the agony of his internal organs feeling as though they were burning, he glanced downward to see that Ye Tu was indeed pinned to the ground by the ghost beast's giant claw, his life or death unknown. Yu Ci pressed his lips together, instantly casting aside all useless thoughts and striking out with his sword once more.

The crimson sword light swept flat, aiming for the ghost beast's eyes.

Yu Ci was confident in his hand-eye precision, yet a sword strike like this missed entirely. The sword light clearly swept across the target, but the tactile sensation in his hand was utterly empty, leaving only a gradually blurring image facing him with unspeakable mockery.

His expression unchanged, he instantly shifted his strategy, relying purely on olfactory sense to locate the spot where the ghost beast's fishy stench was most intense. Without using any muscular force, the true qi within his body surged, echoing with the true spirit shining within his brain palace to achieve the state of spirit and qi embracing each other that Ye Tu had spoken of.

The sword radiance of the Nine Yang Talisman Sword flashed, a fiery streak cutting the void, whereupon a clang rang out as if the sword radiance had collided with some hard object.

That's... teeth! The leaping force driving Yu Ci at this moment was spent, and his suspended body inevitably descended, yet his eyes remained fixed on the blurry image ahead.

The state of spirit and qi embracing each other still persisted, and the deeply hidden Primordial Spirit manifested its vitality under this state. Yu Ci suddenly felt everything outside his body become different; his spiritual awareness and mental thoughts became tentacles extended by the Primordial Spirit, dancing through the open air to carve out a very limited yet exceptionally clear space within the boundless void.

At this moment, Yu Ci saw that the ghost beast's pupils, resembling burning coals, were concealed behind the thin fire-smoke. No emotion could be discerned within them; it merely raised the forelimb pinning Ye Tu, intending to swat away this "stinking bug" before it.

To the ghost beast, the "dancing" Yu Ci before its eyes was nothing more than a stinking bug.

Subsequently, the sole patch of clarity was also invaded by the fire-smoke, turning murky and indistinct. The ghost beast's ability could actually block even the probing of spiritual awareness. What Yu Ci could rely on now was only that instantaneous memory, along with his still-serviceable body.

Harnessing his waist and abdominal strength, he arched his body, shifting his angle. Just as he finished this single motion, the giant claw swept down. Yet Yu Ci coordinated with utmost subtlety; a single sidestep caused this immense force to merely graze past, the sweeping power instead becoming the source of his own propulsion, driving him to lunge toward the ghost beast's massive face.