Teasing the Old Ghost and Leaving in Style

Chen Mu almost instinctively swung his saber backward.

The blade slammed fiercely into the ghost claw, followed by a sharp hiss.

The phosphorescent green flames on the ghost claw abruptly dimmed, their power weakened by thirty percent as the Yin Jade drew them away.

Yet the blow was still far too heavy. Chen Mu and his saber were blasted sideways together.

He crashed through an earthen wall, dragging the saber tip against the ground before steadying himself.

"Oh?"

The black-robed man's voice came from within the mist, carrying a trace of surprise.

"No wonder you could kill my Corpse King. So you have a treasure specially made to counter yin baleful energy."

"Boy, hand it over, and I'll leave you an intact corpse."

Sweetness rose in Chen Mu's throat. A mouthful of blood surged up, only for him to force it back down.

Something was wrong!

From that exchange just now, Chen Mu had immediately judged that it had not been a human hand.

In that flash of lightning and flint, Chen Mu had vaguely seen it clearly: it was a skeletal palm. After being struck by his blade, it had shattered on the spot and scattered into mist.

It clearly had no physical form, yet the blow it delivered rivaled the Corpse King's full-force chop.

What a truly mysterious and sinister method!

"You want it? Then come out, and I'll give it to you."

Chen Mu guarded against all sides, retreating beneath the archway as he spoke, probing for the black-robed man's position.

This fellow kept his head hidden and his tail tucked away. Clearly, attacks like that were not something he could launch at will.

If Chen Mu could attack his true body directly, there might still be a sliver of life!

Chen Mu's idea was naturally sound, but the black-robed man was no fool either.

With one glance, he saw through Chen Mu's plan to lure him out, and gave a dark chuckle.

"Put away your little schemes, boy. Stalling for time is meaningless."

"Won't hand it over? Then I'll refine you into a Corpse Ghost first and search you slowly afterward. Your little junior sister would make a fine ghost servant for me."

That hoarse voice drifted from the mist again, now from the left, now from the right, with no fixed direction.

Chen Mu's face darkened. He knew he could not sit and wait for death.

Run first!

He swiftly tore his robe apart, ripped off a strip of cloth, tied the unconscious girl to his back, and steadily retreated into the mist.

Visibility ahead was less than three meters.

With every step he took, the mist beneath his feet churned as though he were treading through deep water.

Chen Mu had only gone seven or eight meters when he heard an extremely faint rustling from his left.

Here it came?

Chen Mu slashed diagonally with a flash of his saber!

A bluish-gray ghost claw stretched out from the mist, followed by several blue-faced, fang-baring visages!

Three Refined Corpses came pouncing with claws and fangs bared, their foul wind rushing straight at him.

"You seek death!"

Chen Mu roared, his long saber cutting out like lightning.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Splat!

Three slashes fell, and three heads spun into the air. Chen Mu used the momentum to launch himself backward with his lightness technique.

[ Ding! Killed three Corpse Fiends. Seized Blood Essence: +30. Gained Karmic Slaughter: +30 ]

The several Refined Corpses where he had stood exploded into a huge cloud of black smoke, but it failed to touch even the corner of Chen Mu's clothes.

"Boy, stop struggling."

"Do you think you can get out? Even Meridian Opening experts who enter my Yin Mist Formation must coil up like dragons. A mere Body Tempering junior like you cannot fly away even with wings."

A sinister cackle surged in from every direction, making his ears buzz without end.

Chen Mu did not dare stop. He sprinted in the direction he remembered leading out of the village.

But after only a moment, he stopped. Directions within the mist were completely scrambled. He had just run past a thatched hut, yet in the blink of an eye it appeared before him again.

Like he had run into a ghost wall.

He would never get out by blindly crashing around like this. It seemed he could only gamble everything!

He immediately stopped where he was and wrapped the cloth strip tightly around his saber hilt, vaguely grasping the key to the situation.

This fellow had been hemming and hawing all along. He clearly had some misgivings, and the only thing Chen Mu had that could make him wary was probably the Yin Jade.

"Old bastard, you talk too much."

Chen Mu suddenly spoke, cold laughter in his voice. "You could clearly kill me directly, yet you insist on playing gods and ghosts."

"Either your formation is not as formidable as you claim, or..."

"You're afraid of what I have on me."

After saying that, Chen Mu abruptly tore the Yin Jade Pendant from his chest and exposed it to the mist.

An intense azure glow surged from the Yin Jade. Strands of black qi were forcibly drawn into it, while the surrounding fog instantly recoiled as if fleeing gods and ghosts, churning as it scattered.

"What?!"

A furious, shocked roar erupted from the mist.

Just as expected!

Chen Mu's vision suddenly cleared.

A gap had opened in the illusion formation!

The retreating mist had been forcibly ripped apart, creating a passage over three meters wide that led straight toward the village entrance archway.

Beneath the archway, the black-robed man formed a seal with one hand, a black banner planted beside him. Most of his face was hidden, revealing only a pair of startled eyes.

"It's actually a heavenly treasure capable of absorbing yin qi..."

"How could a mere Body Tempering martial man like you deserve such a treasure!"

"Bring it here for me!"

The black-robed man grinned savagely, ghostfire blazing in his eyes. He suddenly pulled up the black banner in his hand and shook it through the air.

Chen Mu charged forward before he even had a chance to act.

"Old bastard! Die!"

Amid his roar, Chen Mu's saber flashed like lightning as it chopped toward the old ghost's face.

Who would have thought that with a sweep of the old ghost's black banner, several long snakes formed of black qi shot from the mist, hissing as they coiled toward Chen Mu.

Chen Mu had long been prepared. He clenched the Yin Jade between his teeth, steadied the girl on his back with one hand, and unleashed the Hundred-Slash Saber Art with the other in a flurry of lightning-fast cuts.

In an instant, saber light flashed like tempered steel. Before the black qi snakes could approach, they were severed into several pieces.

But the severed black qi did not disperse. Instead, it exploded around Chen Mu, forcing his steps to halt.

Fortunately, Chen Mu had mastered the Grass-Top Flight lightness technique. He flashed aside to evade the yin qi, then turned and charged in again with his saber raised.

"Ignorant fool!"

Seeing Chen Mu close in, the black-robed man finally stopped holding back. With a wave of the black banner, he summoned the Phosphor-Flame Ghost Claw that had ambushed Chen Mu earlier.

In an instant, a skeletal giant hand as long as an adult's arm appeared from thin air in the mist.

Its sharp claws carried ghostly green flames as they crashed toward Chen Mu's face. Before the yin wind even reached him, it cut his cheeks with stinging pain.

Having suffered once before, how could he take another loss? He immediately roared:

"Good timing."

Rather than retreat, he advanced. He suddenly bent low, dragging his long saber as he swept it upward toward the sky, three inches of saber radiance wrapped around it as he slashed diagonally at the ghost claw.

The ghost hand was knocked flying. Phosphor flames brushed past Chen Mu's shoulder, but did not harm him in the slightest.

Borrowing the momentum of that clash, Chen Mu pressed straight before the black-robed man, killing intent surging in his eyes.

"Old ghost! Take my blade!"

A chilling saber light descended.

"You little beast! How dare you!"

The black-robed man flew into a rage and withdrew rapidly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Chen Mu burst forward, changing moves in midair and thrusting his saber fiercely ahead.

The saber tip suddenly tore open the black-robed man's hood. Beneath it was a hideous visage—half human face, half skeleton.

Chen Mu was startled for an instant, but his wrist did not stop. His saber light slashed again!

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Three streaks of saber radiance flashed in succession, like silver arcs splitting the sky.

A muffled grunt sounded beneath the black robe, and several drops of black blood splattered onto the ground by Chen Mu's feet.

Those three strikes were too fast, forcibly slicing apart half of the black-robed man's human face.

"Boy! You seek death!"

The black-robed man's rage erupted. He fiercely shook the black banner in his hand, making it whip through the air and release a huge mass of black mist.

That black mist did not attack Chen Mu. Instead, it gathered behind the black-robed man into the phantom image of a Demon Yaksha.

Chen Mu's heart jolted at the sight. He knew this old bastard was probably about to fight for his life.

He did not dare touch it recklessly, nor did he linger in battle. Taking advantage of the gap after forcing his opponent back, he simply withdrew in a flying retreat, abruptly turned around, and sprinted out of the village.

"Old ghost! Have fun playing by yourself."

Leaving behind a burst of laughter, Chen Mu's legs became flashes of lightning. He pushed Grass-Top Flight to its limit and rushed out of the mist-shrouded village entrance in the blink of an eye.

"Bastard! Cunning little brat! I will definitely rip out your soul and refine your spirit!"

The shrill roar startled flocks of forest birds into flight.

Watching helplessly as Chen Mu departed in style, the old ghost was so furious he nearly spat blood, yet he could only shout at the heavens in vain.