Impudent ghost fiend, how human do you think you look?! (Double-length chapter, please vote with your monthly tickets!)

The sounds of slaughter shook the heavens along the stretch of road assigned to the Eight Gates Martial Hall.

The snow on the Official Road had long since been soaked through with black blood. Every step landed amid mud and shattered bones.

"What did you say?"

The Overlord Spear in Ma Teng's hands abruptly stopped, a still-twitching Lesser Ghost skewered on its tip, blood dripping down the red tassel.

His bloodshot eyes turned toward the Eight Gates Martial Hall student holding the messenger pigeon. His chest heaved, dragging out ragged breaths like a pair of bellows.

"The Shocking Heron Martial Hall—arrived?" He briefly lost focus, as though his pride had been lashed with a vicious whip.

Frightened by the Killing Intent radiating from Ma Teng, as though he might choose someone to devour, the student retreated half a step and stammered, "Y—

"Yes, that's what the letter says. The Shocking Heron Martial Hall not only arrived, they were the first to arrive."

"They met a wave of the Ghost Tide spilling out of the woods head-on and wiped it out completely."

"Wiped it out completely..."

The corner of Ma Teng's mouth twitched. An indescribable mixture of shame and anger shot straight to the crown of his head.

Who was he? He was Ma Teng, the final disciple of the Eight Gates Association's old Grandmaster, a member of the Green Faction Warlord's inner circle. His lineage had placed great hopes on him since childhood, and he had never lacked resources of any kind.

Yet now, the Shocking Heron Martial Hall had outpaced them.

Ye Qingyao, who had once trampled his dignity beneath her feet in the Arena, had actually pulled ahead of him again.

"I refuse to believe it! I, Ma Teng, have trained bitterly with the Overlord Spear for twenty