Golden Light Defeats the Enemy

Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde watched curiously as Shi Xuan bestowed talismans upon himself. The earlier Disaster Aversion and Blessing Incantation and Righteousness and Evil Resistance Incantation were nothing much—the former showed no unusual outward sign, while the latter merely sent a streak of white light circling his body once before vanishing. But the final Earth Absorption Armor Technique left their eyes wide open. A stream of yellow earth completely ignored the stone slabs beneath their feet, rising all the way to their heads and covering them everywhere except their eyes and nostrils.

The two muttered, "Immortal methods, immortal methods..." They had been utterly conquered by such inconceivable sorcery.

After applying the techniques, Shi Xuan said to them, "Gentlemen, the golden light on the door will not last much longer. There do not seem to be too many ghosts outside, only around a hundred. With Yan's and my strength, along with these techniques, we can deal with them completely."

He looked at Ding Mingde. "Brother Mingde, you do not know martial arts. You should remain inside. Even if a ghost accidentally breaks in, rely on the techniques on your body to hold it off for a while, retreat into the rooms beside you, and hold out until the two of us come to rescue you. That should not be a problem."

Then Shi Xuan gestured to Yan Jujian. "Yan, let us go out and deal with the ghosts. Stay close behind me, and be careful not to let them surround us."

Ding Mingde understood his own capabilities. Going out with them would only cause trouble, so he agreed and retreated to stand in a corner. Yan Jujian said nothing, merely gripping his greatsword tightly and nodding to Shi Xuan to show that he understood.

Outside, the Head Steward was directing the ghosts to spread around the room, preparing to encircle it from all sides and attack from every direction. Once they broke the golden light, Shi Xuan and the others would be beset on all sides, unable to defend themselves.

Who could have expected that after the Head Steward had assigned the ghosts, leaving only thirty or so to follow him in attacking from the front, the door would suddenly open on its own? A figure in a blue-gray Daoist robe shot out at high speed, then abruptly stopped when it reached them and flung a bright yellow object into their midst.

When Shi Xuan rushed out of the room, he had already prepared the Golden Light Soul Breaking Talisman. Taking advantage of the ghosts' lack of vigilance, he pressed all the way up to them before activating and throwing the talisman. Only then did he notice that most of these ghosts were the farmers and farmwives he had seen during the day. Their faces were now blue-purple and grotesque, while their skin constantly bulged in places, making them terrifying beyond measure. The rest were the corpses of ferocious animals, such as wolves and wild dogs.

Though these ghosts looked frightening, they seemed to possess little intelligence and moved sluggishly. Seeing the talisman fall, they simply ignored it and continued shambling toward Shi Xuan. Only the Head Steward desperately tried to retreat. However, he held an object in his hands, the talisman had already been activated, and the other ghosts blocked his path. He had no time to evade.

Dignified and righteous golden light bloomed amid the ghosts. Centered on the talisman, it spread outward like ripples across water. The moment the ghosts touched the golden light, they let out piercing shrieks. Smoke rose from their skin, then their skin and flesh quickly began to fall away, until at last even their skeletons collapsed. Their souls had already leaped free when their flesh fell away, but within the golden light, they seemed to melt, slowly fading and slowly vanishing.

The ghosts closest to the talisman were swiftly wiped out clean. Then, after dimming slightly, the golden light surged straight into the second layer. By the time it vanished, of the thirty-odd ghosts, only five or six remained.

The Head Steward held a strange long banner. Grotesque evil ghost heads surfaced upon its dark black fabric, while two long streamers strung with white human skulls hung from its sides. The evil ghost heads spat out streams of black light that enveloped the Head Steward. When the golden light struck the black light, it could only raise wave after wave of ripples.

Following close behind Shi Xuan, Yan Jujian wielded his greatsword with nimble footwork and easily cut off the heads of three sluggish ghosts. But when he swept toward another three, they had already recovered their senses. They threw back their heads and howled, stomped hard enough to leave three small pits in the ground, and swung their arms up to block the greatsword. Seeing that these ghosts seemed immensely strong, Yan Jujian did not clash with them head-on. He employed the agile movement technique he did not much like, and amid flashing turns and swift shifts, these three ghosts also lost their heads.

Half the escaping ghost souls drifted toward the Black Banner and burrowed into its black surface. The other half frantically pounced at Yan Jujian, whose attacks had no effect on them whatsoever. When they reached him, his vigorous Qi and Blood scorched them until smoke began to rise from them. Yet the Black Banner shot several streams of black light at them from afar, healing their wounds. Fearless once more, they continued hurling themselves bodily at him.

Shi Xuan was using a Qi Induction Thunder Talisman to attack the Black Banner, but the blue lightning could only disperse several streams of black light. The evil ghost heads on the banner continued spitting out replacements for the lost black light, and could even spare several streams to aid the ghost souls.

Seeing that Yan Jujian could not withstand the ghost souls, Shi Xuan had no choice but to throw a Golden Light Soul Breaking Talisman onto him. He had tested it before; the talisman was ineffective against humans.

The moment Shi Xuan divided his attention, the Head Steward saw the pressure on his defense lessen and began trying to manipulate the Black Banner into directly attacking Shi Xuan. Yet the Black Banner seemed unwilling to obey his command. He could only shake it three times, ordering the ghosts that had gone to encircle the room from all sides to hurry back and join the siege.

The ghost souls pounced onto Yan Jujian. White light flared from his body and bounced them back, but beneath their frenzied, successive impacts, the white light shattered like glass. The ghost souls passed through Yan Jujian's body, seemingly taking away some of his Qi and Blood. His face turned pale in an instant. At that moment, Shi Xuan's talisman had already reached him. The golden light was not dazzling, but it was upright and solemn, majestic and austere—the natural bane of ghosts.

The three ghost souls attacking Yan Jujian soon dissipated within the golden light. Unobstructed, the light continued spreading far into the distance, flowing to either side of the room and killing nearly ten ghosts before it vanished.

Shi Xuan was helpless against the Black Banner, while the Head Steward likewise could not effectively wield it against his enemy. The two could only turn their attention elsewhere. Since the courtyard was not large, the ghosts that had gone around to encircle the room were returning one after another. Their intelligence was low, and the Head Steward's command was clumsy, so the ghosts packed the space from the room to the Head Steward in the center of the courtyard in a black mass. Shi Xuan spotted the two maidservants who had helped make their beds that evening near the rear of the crowd. They were precisely the two ghosts whose spiritual intelligence was only slightly inferior to the Head Steward's.

After the ghost souls were destroyed, Yan Jujian hastily used his Lightness Skill to reach Shi Xuan's side. Shi Xuan drew out two Golden Light Soul Breaking Talismans. Under Yan Jujian's protection, he circulated his qi and chanted an incantation, then threw the two talismans toward the ghosts' left and right flanks.

Seeing that Shi Xuan still possessed those terrifying golden-light talismans, the Head Steward hurriedly manipulated the Black Banner. On one hand, he ordered the ghosts at the front to attack Shi Xuan and Yan Jujian without regard for themselves; on the other, he tried to draw the souls of the ghosts in the rear into the Black Banner.

Within the flowing golden light, every creature that defied the laws of life and death was broken apart, melted away, and annihilated. Its righteous aura carried an icy indifference. The Head Steward only managed to collect seven or eight ghost souls. Apart from the four or five ghosts that had already rushed in front of Shi Xuan and Yan Jujian, as well as two powerful ones, all the rest vanished into ash and smoke beneath the golden light.

Though the ghosts that had rushed before Shi Xuan and Yan Jujian possessed tremendous strength, they moved slowly. Before the nimble Shi Xuan and Yan Jujian, they were like toys being played with. Especially with a layer of earth armor protecting the two men, leaving them unafraid of the ghosts' attacks, these few ghosts soon lay scattered across the ground. Only their ghost souls escaped, drifting toward the Black Banner.

Shi Xuan had no intention of letting them off so easily. He chanted an incantation and activated a Qi Induction Thunder Talisman. Blue lightning effortlessly caught up with the ghost souls. After a crackling burst, both the souls and the lightning vanished. Several streams of black light shot out by the Black Banner only had time to sway up and down in the empty air.

Miserable screams came from behind them. Because they had stood near the rear and were stronger than ordinary ghosts to begin with, the two maidservants had not yet dissipated. Beneath their tattered clothes, black holes formed by fallen flesh could be seen all over their bodies. More than half the skin on their faces had melted away, and in some places even the flesh was gone. They looked both horrifying and revolting.

Shi Xuan signaled for Yan Jujian to deal with the two maidservants while he kept his eyes on the Head Steward and covered him from the side. Though Yan Jujian had been struck by the ghost souls earlier, his martial arts were formidable, and it counted as no more than a minor injury. He did not hesitate and charged straight at them.

The two maidservants did not advance to attack. Instead, each of their ghost souls sprang out from the crowns of their heads. One opened her mouth and shrieked, using the Ghost Howl Technique that attacked the mind, the same technique the ghost in the room had used earlier. The other opened her mouth and sprayed a black water arrow at Yan Jujian.

The Righteousness and Evil Resistance Incantation on Yan Jujian's body had long been broken by the ghost souls' assault. Faced with the shriek, he could only force himself to focus his mind and endure bitterly. He could not even evade the black water arrow when it reached him.

Shi Xuan had not expected these two female ghosts to know several techniques. Yan Jujian appeared to be in danger, but with earth armor protecting him, the black water arrow would not cause too much harm. Therefore, Shi Xuan did not rush to save him. Instead, he drew out two Qi Induction Thunder Talismans and activated them with an incantation. Across from him, the Head Steward tried to use the Black Banner to attack Shi Xuan, but could never control it properly. Flustered and frantic, he finally managed to split off one stream of black light and shoot it at Shi Xuan.

Of the talismans Shi Xuan activated, one bolt struck the Black Banner, meeting the incoming black light head-on. The black light was countered by lightning and could not resist. The lightning cleaved all the way to the Head Steward before several streams of black light intercepted it. The other bolt of lightning slashed sideways directly at the two female ghosts casting their techniques.

The black water arrow struck Yan Jujian and hissed with corrosive force, piercing nearly halfway through the yellow earth armor before disappearing. Yet Yan Jujian seemed to have adapted to the Ghost Howl and actually lunged at the two female ghosts once more.

The lightning was swift. The female ghost who was shrieking had no time to evade and was directly reduced to ash and smoke, while the female ghost using the black water arrow hid behind her own body. After piercing through the first female ghost and her body, the lightning had weakened considerably, but it still struck this female ghost.