Monster Hero

"Hiss... that talent, those skills!" Lin Xu's pupils contracted sharply as he looked at the Ghost Bride's status panel.

The monsters of the Spirit Realm could generally follow two different paths of evolution. Those specializing in individual combat strength, for example, could advance to elite or even champion.

Those specializing in command, on the other hand, advanced to boss (hero) or even chief (lord).

Ghosts like elite wronged souls had strengthened their individual power. Judging by her panel, the Ghost Bride specialized in command, but her Blood Hairpin Nether Hair skill displayed tremendous individual killing power, clearly showing potential for individual evolution as well.

The wedding procession, originally made up of two or three hundred ghosts, had now been cut in half by the soul shockwave. The twenty or thirty ghosts closest to the Ghost Bride had already been obliterated, their souls scattered, including an elite hanged ghost.

"How dare you harm my wedding procession! You deserve death!" The Ghost Bride flew into a rage. Her black hair surged across the sky, turning into ghastly nether threads that swept out in every direction.

Driven by her fury, the surviving ghosts erupted into a frenzy, charging at the baggage train like a tidal wave.

As the crimson oil-paper umbrella spun, ghostly flames rose. Yin Qi condensed into frost within ten zhang, and even the air seemed to freeze into blades.

Her eyes were red as blood as she fixed them on Lin Xu. "Today, I shall sacrifice your souls to my dead husband's wedding robes!"

The blood hairpin cut across her fingertip. The instant her purple veil billowed, countless nether threads poured down like a waterfall, crossing hundreds of meters in a flash and bearing straight down on Lin Xu.

Lin Xu's expression grew grave. The Bright Light Lamp in his hand suddenly blazed, its flame blooming like a golden lotus and burning all the incoming nether threads to nothing.

Using the momentum, he shot back three zhang, evading the edge of the blood hairpin as it stabbed silently toward him. With a sweep of his sleeve, several paper figures grew in the wind and merged with the yin soldiers and resentful ghosts. In an instant, they swept past the militia and charged into the oncoming horde of ghosts.

After merging with the paper figures, the yin soldiers' combat strength soared. They brought their weapons down on the frenzied ghosts.

As neatly as paper being cut, the ghosts struck by the yin soldiers were instantly torn open, thick black smoke gushing from their wounds.

By the time the ghosts recovered, their once-solid ghostly bodies had turned transparent.

Weaker ghosts were cut down by the yin soldiers' blades, dissolving into wisps of green smoke amid screams.

Just then, an invisible mental ripple spread out, enveloping a group of wandering ghosts.

The hideous ghosts immediately began tearing at one another, as though they had seen enemies with whom they could not share the same sky.

This was the Wronged Soul Dharma Protector's Mind Bewilderment Technique. Ever since it had been awakened and granted sentience, its illusion techniques had grown more and more powerful.

Lin Xu glanced at the incoming horde and breathed a small sigh of relief.

The ghosts looked astonishing in number, but most were actually lone souls and wandering ghosts at level one or two, with very limited strength.

"Militia, protect the ox carts! Dao soldiers, form ranks and engage!" Lin Xu issued orders as he cast spells.

The Ghost Bride did not advance either. Holding her red paper umbrella aloft, she darted about freely, her black hair whipping like dragons and serpents as she drew the nether threads down from the sky for another killing assault, only for them to be burned away by golden flames.

The man and ghost traded spells across the distance. Firelight and black hair intertwined, while bursts of yin wind howled and fierce flames hissed.

The Evil Eye Dharma Protectors' ghostly pupils flickered as they stared at the ghostly figures darting back and forth.

Rays of mental light pierced through illusion and struck at the soul, forcing the Ghost Bride to divide her attention to dodge.

The Evil Eye Dharma Protectors' gazes felt like sharp points at her back. Amid the wild dance of her black hair, the Ghost Bride had no choice but to rein in her assault. Her red umbrella spun open, forming a barrier of Yin Qi to ward off the encroaching mental light.

A surviving elite wronged soul roared and lunged at the Evil Eye Dharma Protectors, crossing a hundred meters in an instant.

"Squeak!"

The enemy that suddenly appeared before Qiuqiu gave it a fright. Screeching, it swung its tentacles, mental lightning gathering around them, and lashed viciously at the wronged soul right in front of it.

"Crackle!"

The elite wronged soul that had just appeared froze for an instant under the Evil Eye's Paralyzing Gaze. The next second, several tentacles wreathed in mental lightning struck it hard.

"Ahh!" The elite wronged soul wailed and fled, several cracks splitting open across its soul body. Wisps of smoke poured out like a ghost's blood.

Regaining its senses through the pain, the elite wronged soul looked at the Evil Eye with hatred. It was just about to launch another sneak attack when a ghostly figure intercepted it: the Dharma Protector Wronged Soul.

Under their squad leader's command, the paper-figure yin soldiers weaved against the flow of the ghost horde, avoiding elite ghosts and picking on the soft persimmons. For a time, they were like fierce tigers among sheep, killing or wounding ten or twenty ghosts in short order.

"Kill!"

The Dao soldiers stepped forward, dark red light flashing over the Soul-Slaying Halberds in their hands like blood.

The Soul-Slaying Technique was a spell all Dao soldiers of Xuanwei Monastery had to learn, and it was especially effective against spirit-type evil beings.

The halberds swung, tracing arcs of blood-red light. The dozen or so ghosts at the front were instantly hacked into pieces.

"Ahh!"

Blood-red light spread along the wounds in their soul bodies, preventing them from healing.

Great clouds of black smoke poured out. The shattered soul bodies rapidly faded and dispersed, turning to smoke and dust in the blink of an eye.

The fully armed Dao soldiers marched on without stopping, advancing in neat ranks. With every step forward, they brought their halberds down once more. Ghosts struck by the Soul-Slaying Halberds were torn apart and disintegrated on the spot.

Ghosts were ripped apart in swaths like scraps of paper. The whole battle was a one-sided slaughter.

Lin Xu was startled. He knew the Dao soldiers were especially effective against spirits, but he had not expected these ghosts to be so feeble.

He glanced at the Ghost Bride. Her red umbrella trembled slightly, and her black hair surged like a dark tide. In an instant, she crossed hundreds of meters and came straight at him.

But a flash of illusory mental light caught the incoming black hair, freezing it in midair as though an invisible hand had seized it.

Another beam of mental light struck across the distance, sending the Ghost Bride staggering backward. Her red umbrella flew from her hand, its canopy splitting open.

A shriek escaped her throat, and her black hair broke off inch by inch, falling to the ground like scorched snakes. She had no choice but to dart away again, evading the lock of the mental light.

Lin Xu felt a little more at ease. Seeing the Dao soldiers intercepting the ghost tide like a wall of bronze and iron, he made a snap decision and aimed directly at the horde of ghosts-better to sever one finger than injure all ten!

The candlelight suddenly shone bright, and a group of ghosts caught within it instantly went blank. Their once-hideous, terrifying faces gradually grew serene.

This was Lin Xu's illusion technique. The ghosts drawn into the illusion had their minds bewitched, the obsessions they had carried in life fulfilled one by one. Without a sound, they walked along the path of light...

Lin Xu watched the horde of ghosts travel along the candlelight. Their illusory forms rapidly shrank, becoming bean-sized spirits that fell into the Bright Light Lamp.

Such was the wonder of illusion techniques. Pitifully, these ghosts, so steeped in malice, never understood their own predicament, even in death. They followed the light, yet it was just like walking into a net.

He did not even need to attack. He merely maintained the illusion formed by the candlelight, and the bewitched ghosts fell into the lamp in an endless stream.

The candle flame in the Bright Light Lamp crackled, its light flickering with the colors of the rainbow. After a few breaths, several dozen drops of lamp oil had appeared in the lamp.

The battle continued. The surging ghost tide attacked in wave after wave, seeking to use its superiority in numbers to smash through the Dao soldiers' formation.