Golden Light Breaks the Enemy

Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde watched with great novelty as Shi Xuan applied talismans to himself. The Disaster Aversion and Blessing Incantation and the Righteousness and Evil Resistance Incantation in front were fine. The former showed no unusual signs, while the latter merely manifested as a white light that circled his body once before disappearing. However, the Earth Absorption Armor Technique that followed opened their eyes. A mass of yellow earth, completely ignoring the stone slabs on the ground, extended upwards from beneath their feet to their heads, covering them entirely except for their eyes and nostrils.

Both men murmured, "Immortal techniques, truly immortal techniques..." They were completely captivated by such unfathomable sorcery.

After applying the spells, Shi Xuan said to the two, "Gentlemen, the Golden Light on the door won't last much longer. I don't see too many ghostly creatures outside, perhaps only about a hundred. With Great Hero Yan's and my strength, combined with these techniques, we can handle them."

He looked at Ding Mingde. "Brother Mingde, you don't know martial arts. It would be best for you to stay inside. Even if some ghostly creatures manage to break in, you can use the techniques on you to stall them and retreat to another room, buying us time until we can come to your aid. That should be fine, right?"

Then Shi Xuan gestured to Yan Jujian. "Great Hero Yan, let's go out and deal with these ghostly creatures. Follow closely behind me, and be careful not to get surrounded."

Ding Mingde understood his own limitations; going out would only be a hindrance. He agreed and retreated to stand by the wall. Yan Jujian said nothing, merely gripping his greatsword tightly and nodding to Shi Xuan to indicate he was ready.

Outside, the Head Steward was directing the ghostly creatures to spread out around the room, preparing to attack from all sides. Once the Golden Light was broken, Shi Xuan and the others would be overwhelmed and unable to resist.

Who would have thought that as soon as the Head Steward finished assigning the ghostly creatures, leaving only about thirty to attack from the front with him, the door would suddenly open on its own? A figure in a grayish-blue Daoist Robe shot out rapidly from within. When they reached the ghostly creatures, he stopped abruptly, raised his hand, and hurled a bright yellow object directly into their midst.

As Shi Xuan burst from the room, he had already prepared a Golden Light Soul Breaking Talisman. Taking advantage of the ghostly creatures' unpreparedness, he closed in on them before activating and throwing the talisman. It was then that Shi Xuan noticed that most of these ghostly creatures were the farmers and farmhands he had seen during the day. Now, their faces were bruised and purple, terrifyingly ferocious, and their skin occasionally bulged, looking incredibly horrifying. The other ghostly creatures were the corpses of fierce animals, such as wolves and wild dogs.

Although these ghostly creatures looked frightening, they seemed to lack intelligence and moved slowly. Seeing the talisman falling, they ignored it and continued to advance slowly towards Shi Xuan. Only the Head Steward desperately tried to dodge backward, but he was holding an object, the talisman had already been activated, and the other ghostly creatures blocked his path, making evasion impossible.

A majestic golden light ignited among the ghostly creatures. Centered on the talisman, it spread outwards like ripples on water. Wherever the ghostly creatures touched the golden light, they let out piercing screams, their skin began to smoke, and soon their skin and muscles started to fall off, until finally, their skeletons collapsed. The souls of the ghostly creatures had already escaped as their muscles disintegrated, but in the golden light, they seemed to melt, slowly fading and vanishing.

The ghostly creatures closest to the talisman were quickly annihilated. Then, after slightly dimming, the golden light surged towards the second layer. In this way, after the golden light dissipated, only five or six of the thirty-odd ghostly creatures remained.

The Head Steward held a strange, long banner. On its dark, gloomy surface, ferocious ghost heads appeared. Two long ribbons made of human white skulls hung from the sides of the banner. The ghost heads spat out streams of black light that enveloped the Head Steward. The golden light, when it struck the black light, only caused ripples.

Yan Jujian, who was closely following Shi Xuan, swung his greatsword with agile footwork, easily severing the heads of three slow-moving ghostly creatures. However, as he swept towards another three, they had already recovered. They let out long cries to the sky, stomped their feet, creating small pits, and swung their arms to block the greatsword. Seeing that these ghostly creatures possessed surprising strength, Yan Jujian did not confront them head-on. He employed his less-favored nimble footwork, dodging and weaving, and within moments, the heads of these three ghostly creatures were also severed.

Half of the ghosts that escaped drifted towards the black banner and then burrowed into its black surface. The other half frantically lunged at Yan Jujian. Shi Xuan's attacks had no effect on them. As they approached Yan Jujian, their vigorous Qi and Blood burned them, causing them to smoke. At this point, the black banner remotely shot several streams of black light at them, and they seemed to recover from their injuries, fearlessly lunging forward again.

Shi Xuan was attacking the black banner with a Qi Induction Thunder Talisman, but the cyan lightning could only make a few of the black banner's streams of black light disappear. However, the ghost heads on the banner continued to spit out the missing black light, even managing to divert a few streams to assist the ghosts.

Seeing that Yan Jujian could not resist the ghosts, Shi Xuan had no choice but to throw a Golden Light Soul Breaking Talisman at him. He had experimented with it before; the talisman was ineffective against humans.

As Shi Xuan's attention was divided, the Head Steward saw the defensive pressure lessen and began to manipulate the black banner, intending to attack Shi Xuan directly. However, the black banner seemed to be disobedient, and he could only shake it three times, ordering the ghostly creatures that had surrounded the room to quickly return and attack.

The ghosts lunged at Yan Jujian. At this moment, a white light shone on him, repelling the ghosts. But under the ghosts' frantic, successive impacts, the white light shattered like glass. The ghosts passed through Yan Jujian's body, seemingly taking some of his Qi and Blood with them, causing his face to instantly turn pale. Just then, Shi Xuan's talisman reached him. The golden light was not dazzling but was solemn and majestic, precisely the bane of ghostly creatures.

The three ghosts attacking Yan Jujian quickly dissipated in the golden light. The golden light continued to spread far and wide without obstruction, reaching the sides of the room and annihilating nearly ten ghostly creatures before vanishing.

Shi Xuan was helpless against the black banner, and the Head Steward could not effectively control it to attack the enemy. Both of them had to shift their attention elsewhere. Because the courtyard was not large, the surrounding ghostly creatures had already begun to return. Due to their low intelligence and the Head Steward's clumsy commands, the ghostly creatures crowded densely from the room to the center of the courtyard where the Head Steward stood. Shi Xuan saw the two maids who had helped them make their beds in the evening among them, towards the back. These were the two ghostly creatures with slightly less spiritual intelligence than the Head Steward.

After the ghosts were annihilated, Yan Jujian quickly used his Lightness Skill to reach Shi Xuan's side. Shi Xuan took out two Golden Light Soul Breaking Talismans. Under Yan Jujian's protection, he chanted the incantation, circulated his Qi, and simultaneously threw the two talismans to the left and right sides of the ghostly creatures.

Seeing that Shi Xuan still possessed those terrifying Golden Light talismans, the Head Steward hurriedly manipulated the black banner, ordering the ghostly creatures in front to attack Shi Xuan and his companion regardless of their own safety, while also trying to gather the souls of the ghostly creatures behind into the black banner.

In the flow of golden light, all beings that violated the laws of life and death were decomposed, melted, and annihilated. It was righteous and filled with cold indifference. The Head Steward only managed to collect seven or eight souls. Apart from the four or five ghostly creatures that had already rushed in front of Shi Xuan and his companion, and two powerful ones, the rest were reduced to ashes in the golden light.

The ghostly creatures that rushed to Shi Xuan and his companion, though immensely powerful, moved slowly. In front of the agile Shi Xuan and Yan Jujian, they were like playthings being toyed with, especially since the two of them were protected by a layer of earth armor and were not afraid of their attacks. These few ghostly creatures quickly fell to the ground, leaving only their souls to float towards the black banner.

Shi Xuan did not want to let them go so easily. He chanted and activated a Qi Induction Thunder Talisman. The cyan lightning easily caught up to these souls. After a crackling sound, the souls and the lightning vanished simultaneously. The few streams of black light shot from the black banner only managed to sway up and down in place.

A shrill scream came from behind. Those two maids, due to their position towards the back and their inherent strength being greater than ordinary ghostly creatures, had not yet dissipated. However, beneath their tattered clothes, one could see black holes formed by the loss of muscle. Most of the skin on their faces had melted away, and a small portion had even lost its flesh, looking both terrifying and disgusting.

Shi Xuan signaled Yan Jujian to go deal with the two maids while he kept an eye on the Head Steward and provided support. Although Yan Jujian had been attacked by the ghosts earlier, his martial arts were strong, and he had only sustained minor injuries. Therefore, he did not refuse and immediately lunged forward.

The two maids did not attack. Their ghosts leaped from the crowns of their heads. One opened its mouth and shrieked, unleashing the Ghost Howl Technique that the ghostly creatures in the room had used earlier to attack the spirit. The other opened its mouth and spat out a black water arrow towards Yan Jujian.

The Righteousness and Evil Resistance Incantation talisman on Yan Jujian's body had long been broken by the ghosts' attack. Now, facing the shriek, he could only forcibly concentrate his spirit, enduring it bitterly. He couldn't even dodge the black water arrow when it reached him.

Shi Xuan had not expected these two female ghosts to know some techniques. Although Yan Jujian appeared to be in danger, he was protected by the earth armor, and the black water arrow would not cause significant damage, so Shi Xuan was not in a hurry to rescue him. Instead, he took out two Qi Induction Thunder Talismans and chanted the incantation. The Head Steward on the opposite side tried to attack Shi Xuan with the black banner but couldn't control it well. Frustrated, he finally managed to send a stream of black light towards Shi Xuan.

The talismans Shi Xuan activated, one struck the black banner, directly meeting the incoming black light. In their collision, the black light was overcome by the lightning and could not resist. The lightning traveled all the way to the Head Steward's side before being blocked by several streams of black light. The other lightning bolt flew horizontally towards the two female ghosts who were casting spells.

The black water arrow hit Yan Jujian, emitting a sizzling corrosive sound. It penetrated nearly half of the yellow earth armor before disappearing. Yan Jujian, having seemingly adapted to the ghost howl, actually lunged back towards the two female ghosts.

The lightning flashed rapidly. The shrieking female ghost had no time to dodge and was directly reduced to ashes. The female ghost casting the black water arrow dodged behind her own body. The lightning, after passing through the first female ghost and her body, became very weak but still struck the second female ghost.