Ghosts' Lament

Boom!

An inexplicable resonance rang out, and golden light shone across the Imperial City.

In an instant, the entire Imperial City became like an ancient divine beast slowly awakening.

Some vast consciousness suddenly appeared between heaven and earth.

It was immense beyond measure, as though gazing down from the heavens upon this land and its countless subjects!

The people of the Imperial City sensed it too. They looked up at the sky, bewilderment on their faces!

"This is..." Ning Baixue, the Holy Sect's holy maiden, frowned atop the white crane and looked toward the horizon.

The white-haired Spirit Transformation elder beside Ning Baixue frowned as well. "...National fortune power!"

Although the Hua Kingdom was a nation of mortals, it had nevertheless gained the recognition of heaven and earth. As the sovereign of a nation, its emperor could still command national fortune power, despite never entering the Dao to cultivate.

"In my name, lend Prince Ying the power of the nation!" the emperor said softly.

Boom!

As the emperor finished speaking, a golden halo appeared around Prince Ying, and a golden rune flashed upon his forehead!

"What are you doing? Do you intend to make an enemy of the Holy Sect?" the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder demanded with a frown.

"We would not dare!" The emperor looked at the Spirit Transformation elder, his expression bitter yet calm. "We wish only to execute traitors to our nation!"

"Hmph!" The white-haired elder snorted. "We told you they will be Holy Sect people. They are not yours to kill!"

"They must die!" Prince Ying said.

"Hmph! You court death!" The Spirit Transformation elder's expression turned icy, and he raised his hand to strike.

"Imperial City, God-Sealing!" the emperor murmured.

Buzz!

A resonant hum rang throughout heaven and earth.

A yellow Talisman Paper flew out from the mountain behind the Imperial Palace, racing toward them like a shooting star.

The yellow Talisman Paper was dazzlingly brilliant. Its runes shimmered with divine radiance, their light so piercing that people could scarcely keep their eyes open.

The yellow Talisman Paper flew above the Imperial City and stopped in midair.

The Talisman Paper turned, and a wave of spiritual power pressed down. The white-haired Spirit Transformation expert's strength was instantly suppressed!

"That is..." An official stared blankly.

"...The Academy Dean's Deity-Sealing Edict!"

With the Deity-Sealing Edict unleashed, there could be no Spirit Transformation in the Hua Kingdom...

The Hua Kingdom was merely a nation of mortals, but it had an Academy!

The Academy stood beyond the Immortal Gates, neither joining their ranks nor emerging into the world...

The white-haired Spirit Transformation elder gave a muffled grunt. His Spirit Transformation cultivation had truly been suppressed below that realm!

His face paled as he stared in disbelief at the Deity-Sealing Edict talisman overhead.

A single Talisman Paper had actually suppressed a Spirit Transformation cultivator's cultivation below that realm. What extraordinary power was this?

The holy maiden Ning Baixue's expression shifted slightly as well, her eyes thoughtful as she studied the Deity-Sealing Edict.

Su Mo gazed at the dazzling yellow Talisman Paper overhead, ripples stirring within his heart. Is this the power of a great cultivator?

The people on the white crane's back looked at those below and fell silent.

Nearby, Prince Ying held the Holy King Spear, golden light blazing from both eyes.

"They will surely die today!"

Prince Ying turned toward Liu Cheng, who was protected by the white paper. He raised the Holy King Spear and leaped into the air.

"Boundless..."

"Holy execution..."

His spear descended!

Cold light erupted, and thunder descended upon the world.

A spear of light, identical to the Holy King Spear but countless times larger, solidified in the void, blazing with golden light as radiance rippled over it.

Following the Holy King Spear's movement, the enormous spear of light thrust toward Liu Cheng, who lay collapsed nearby.

"No!" Liu Feng cried from the white crane's back!

Rip!

The sound of tearing paper rang out. The Holy King Spear pierced the white paper protecting Liu Cheng, followed immediately by a wet puncturing sound.

The Holy King Spear plunged into Liu Cheng's chest...

Liu Cheng's eyes widened, their light slowly fading to gray.

Before he could say anything more, he breathed his last!

"No!" Liu Feng stared blankly at the sight.

Ning Baixue frowned atop the white crane. She glanced at Liu Feng with disgust in her eyes, then turned to the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder. "Let's go..."

"Wait!" Prince Ying raised his head toward the three people on the white crane.

Ning Baixue's delicate brows furrowed. "Liu Cheng is already dead. Is that not enough?" she asked coolly.

"It is not. Liu Feng must stay too!" Prince Ying looked straight at the holy maiden.

"I can pretend nothing happened regarding Liu Cheng's death. But I must take Liu Feng with me!" the holy maiden said impassively. He was needed for the most important part of her mission on this journey.

"He must die. Otherwise, I would have no face to retrieve my beloved daughter's body!" Prince Ying said hoarsely, blood trickling from his mouth.

His cultivation alone could never have broken through the Spirit Transformation elder's white paper. Although he had managed it by borrowing national fortune power, he was not the emperor. The burden of borrowing that power exceeded what his body could endure.

"You cannot stop us from leaving!" the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder said. Liu Cheng's death had already been a slap to his face, and anger smoldered within him. "Even with my cultivation suppressed, I am still not someone you can challenge!"

Spirit Transformation was still Spirit Transformation. Even with his cultivation suppressed by the Deity-Sealing Edict, he remained beyond comparison with nascent soul great perfection.

Prince Ying drew a deep breath, wiped the blood from his mouth, and raised the Holy King Spear to face the ancient Spirit Transformation expert.

Today, even if the Heavenly Dao itself appeared, he would use his antlike body to leave a scar upon heaven!

"He cannot leave!" A quiet voice rang out!

Everyone turned toward it!

They saw the youthful Su Mo, dressed in white, looking up at Liu Feng on the white crane. "You cannot leave!"

Su Mo's white robes fluttered. His bound hair gave him a refined air, and his expression was calm.

"Su... Mo..." Liu Feng stared at him, enunciating each word, towering hatred filling his eyes!

If not for Su Mo, today would never have turned out like this, and his father would not have died!

Su Mo had orchestrated everything today. He had killed Liu Feng's father. He had ruined everything.

"Su Mo..." Ning Baixue murmured, her delicate brows furrowed as she looked down at the youthful boy, utterly puzzled.

In her eyes, Su Mo was merely a minor Qi Refining cultivator who had only just entered the Dao. Why would he speak up in a situation like this? No matter how she looked at it, this was not his place to speak.

"You?" the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder asked, his gaze cold.

Su Mo did not look at the Spirit Transformation elder. He merely kept watching Liu Feng, whose face twisted with hatred toward him, and spoke as though to himself:

"I know you hate me... You hate me for causing your father's death."

"You hate me for cutting off your bright future!"

"But..."

Su Mo raised his head.

"What right do you have!"

Su Mo lowered his head, and the images of thousands of departed souls appeared before his eyes...

"Did you hear the wails of those thousands of souls beneath West City?"

"The women..."

"The children..."

"The elderly..."

"Tongtong..."

"Did you hear their unwilling roars, their terrified cries?"

"Their attachment to this world, their reluctance to leave their loved ones... Did you hear them?"

"You cannot hear them..."

Su Mo raised his head and looked once more at Liu Feng, whose pale face was still filled with hatred for him. He smiled, his smile carrying a boundless, eerie strangeness.

"Since you cannot hear them..."

"Then I will let you listen..."

The woman had said that he only needed to circulate his spiritual power beside the person who had consumed a blood pill...

The woman had said that his spiritual power... carried their towering resentment...

The woman had said not to suppress them, but to let them out... Afterward, dust would naturally return to dust, and earth to earth...

Ning Baixue frowned at the white-robed youth below. She had heard something amiss in Su Mo's words.

Ning Baixue turned to the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder. "Let's go!"

The elder nodded. Just as he was about to order the white crane to turn and leave, he saw Su Mo close his eyes.

A wisp of black smoke inexplicably rose behind Su Mo, and an utterly uncanny aura flared around him.

The smoke was extremely strange, giving the impression that it did not belong to this world.

Ghostly, ancient...

Everyone present immediately caught a fragrance...

It was...

The scent of incense offerings!

For some reason, that fragrance made their hair stand on end.

Just then, thick black mist suddenly billowed up behind Liu Feng atop the enormous white crane...

The black mist churned, soon covering Liu Feng's entire body. Countless presences seemed to move within it.

"What is this?" Ning Baixue stared at the scene, dumbstruck.

The billowing black mist around Liu Feng felt exactly like the black smoke behind Su Mo-uncanny and dangerous...

It made people afraid to approach, as though touching it might bring them into contact with something ominous at any moment.

"Hmph... Heretical tricks!" The white-haired Spirit Transformation cultivator snorted and thrust his palm through the air toward the black smoke around Liu Feng.

Yet the black smoke merely swayed. It remained condensed, continuing to surge around Liu Feng.

Suddenly, someone saw a pale, slender hand emerge from Liu Feng's body within the black mist... and climb onto his shoulder!

Everyone's expression changed, filling with terror.

Then a second pale hand appeared, and a third...

Liu Feng's face was deathly white. He could see only darkness, and faintly heard a woman screaming in his ears, drawing closer and closer...

Then came a man's roar...

A child's crying...

"It was you! You killed us!"

"You used us to refine blood pills..."

The voices drew closer and closer...

"I haven't taken home the silver I earned today..."

"I haven't had a flask of Apricot Blossom Village yet..."

"Father and Mother are still waiting for me at home..."

"It was all you, all you..."

Suddenly, he felt a hand climb onto his shoulder. It was pale and icy cold... Liu Feng screamed in terror.

"Aaaaaah!" Liu Feng screamed wildly within the thick black mist. "What is this... Get away! Get away..."

Then he felt another hand seize his foot!

"Get away..." Liu Feng roared in terror within the black mist. "Get away..."

Then came a third hand... a fourth... More and more hands reached for Liu Feng, until his entire body was completely covered by them...

Ning Baixue and the white-haired Spirit Transformation elder watched in shock.

"Go away, go away..."

"Don't touch me... Don't touch me..."

Within the black mist, Liu Feng kept screaming in terror. Gradually, his voice grew weaker, and his cries grew quieter...

The black mist churned. Half a quarter-hour later, it dispersed...

Revealing Liu Feng within, his face stark white and frozen in terror, dead from the blood pill's backlash...

Ning Baixue looked down at Su Mo, a strange expression on her face!