The Siege

But the ghosts' insubstantial claws fell on the runic armor like icy phantoms, tearing away only a few fragments of spiritual light. They posed no threat to the Dao soldiers themselves.

The next instant, halberds struck down like thunderbolts. The shattered soul bodies were instantly set ablaze by blood-red light, as though a blazing fire were burning away filth. Within a breath, they vanished without a trace.

Lin Xu glanced over the battlefield. The ghost horde, which made up the bulk of the enemy, had failed to break through the Dao soldiers' line, and he finally set his mind at ease.

Xuanwei Monastery had built its foundation on the Dao of Soul Refining and had considerable mastery over soul-related Dao arts.

The Soul-Slaying Technique, for example, was not difficult to learn. Even Dao soldiers with no talent for Dao arts could master it easily, and it was exceptionally effective against spirit bodies.

The heavy runic armor offered not only solid physical defense but also considerable protection against souls and spells. These low-level ghosts were like eggs hurled against a stone; no matter how many there were, they could hardly pose a threat.

As Lin Xu cast spells to refine the ghosts, he watched the most threatening targets among them.

The yin soldier corporal had already engaged the elite hanged ghost. With the boost from its cultivation method and having undergone Lin Xu's refinement and deliverance by water and fire, its combat power had risen sharply.

It now held a firm advantage. Its paper spear pierced the ghost's body again and again, steadily weakening the hanged ghost as it waited to deliver the final blow.

The vengeful soul Dharma Protector had likewise begun fighting the elite vengeful soul. Both were skilled in illusions and assassination, and their two flickering figures darted back and forth through the ghost horde, with neither able to gain the upper hand for the moment.

Lin Xu turned his gaze back to the ghost bride. The four fierce Soul Shock Blasts from before had severely injured her, and even after absorbing a large amount of soul-body essence, she had failed to recover completely.

She was clearly far more cunning than ordinary ghosts. Wary, she drove the ghost horde against the Dao soldiers' line like surging waves, while she hid behind it, casting spells from afar and tangling with the Dharma Protector Evil Eyes.

Seeing the ghost bride's hesitation, Lin Xu immediately abandoned his plan to continue attacking her. He kept part of his attention on her movements, focused mainly on the ghost horde, and expanded the illusion realm formed by the candlelight even further.

Whenever the incoming ghosts entered this area, their once-savage expressions gradually grew peaceful.

One after another, they chased the dazzling path of light like moths drawn to a flame, only to fall into the lamp and be refined into lamp oil in the blink of an eye.

Within a few breaths, the lamp oil overflowed from the spiritual lamp. He had no choice but to turn it into Dharma Coins and collect them one by one.

The Dao soldiers fought at the front while Lin Xu busied himself behind them, gathering ghosts and refining them into Dharma Coins. Before the militia guarding the supply train even had a chance to enter the battlefield, more than half the surging ghost horde was gone.

A few minutes later, as the last few wandering ghosts were slain by the Dao soldiers' halberds, the battlefield finally fell quiet.

Lin Xu glanced over the empty battlefield. Piles of grayish-white embers glimmered faintly, leaving little marks across the ground.

Item: Soul Embers

Grade: cyan, common

Type: material

Effect: Soul Refining efficiency +2%, soul body recovery +10%. Can serve as one of the main materials for refining Soul Refining pills, or as a supplementary material for refining soul-attribute artifacts.

Description: Residue left after a spirit body dissipates. Contains faint fluctuations of soul power.

These were the last remains of the wandering ghost horde. Aside from a mere two wooden chests and these Soul Embers, the most numerous drops were Source Fire Fragments.

Lin Xu looked across the battlefield. The two elite vengeful souls were still playing hide-and-seek, while the elite hanged ghost was already at death's door under the yin soldier corporal's assault.

The black smoke that had once wreathed its body had dissipated, and its tattered soul body was like a guttering candle in the wind, ready to fall apart at any moment.

With a thought from Lin Xu, the yin soldier corporal's final blow stopped an inch short. By now, the elite hanged ghost had even lost the ability to flee.

A beam of candlelight became a chain, coiled around the hanged ghost, and dragged it into the spiritual lamp.

Several bursts of flame erupted as Lin Xu suppressed its final struggle. His gaze fell on the ghost bride.

The boss that had commanded the ghost horde was now a commander without an army. The ghosts under her had all been killed or wounded, leaving only the fastest elite vengeful soul still struggling.

As though sensing that things were going badly, the ghost bride had begun to think of retreat. She hovered indecisively two or three hundred meters from the battlefield, letting out hateful shrieks from time to time.

"Her resentment is too deep; it has clouded her mind..."

Watching the ghost hover, Lin Xu shook his head slightly and ordered the Dao soldiers to surround her slowly.

According to scattered remarks circulating on the Spirit Realm Forum, boss-level monsters were quite intelligent and had more spirit than stiff, mechanical NPCs.

They adjusted their tactics to the course of battle and sized up the situation, fleeing the battlefield at critical moments.

The ghost bride clearly intended to flee, but resentment drove her to linger indecisively. Now that the outcome was settled, Lin Xu had no intention of letting her go.

If I can capture the ghost bride, enlighten her, and refine and deliver her into a Dharma Protector deity, my strength won't be inferior to Xuanwei Monastery's three true disciples!

Lin Xu's heart burned as he walked slowly behind the Dao soldiers.

These past few days, he had not shut his ears to everything outside his window. Through his connections with the two inner disciples, including Chen Yuanfu, he had learned who the monastery's upper-ranking figures were.

Xuanwei Monastery boasted three halls and six divisions and seemed large, but in truth, even counting the outer disciples, it had fewer than three hundred people in all.

Apart from the monastery master, there were two elders and three true disciples. Even the inner disciples numbered only twenty or thirty; the rest were outer disciples of little use.

Add two or three hundred Dao soldiers and four or five hundred menial workers, and that was everyone in the monastery.

While he was lost in thought, the Dao soldiers had surrounded the ghost bride on all sides. She could no longer hold back. Seeing the enemy close in step by step, she took the initiative to attack the approaching Dao soldiers.

Her long black hair danced wildly like snakes, bloody tears streamed from her hollow eye sockets, and the blood-red hairpin in her hand stabbed toward the nearest Dao soldier.

The Dao soldiers quickly adjusted their battle tactics, forming up in groups of five to withstand the ghost bride's sudden assault.

Meanwhile, another squad of five Dao soldiers closed in from the side behind her.

The moment the blood-red hairpin pierced a Dao soldier's chest, Lin Xu formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation. The Bright Light Lamp's candle flame turned into a rain of light that poured down from the sky.

The Dharma Protector Evil Eyes all turned their gazes at once, and their psychic power locked onto the ghost bride's soul body in an instant.

The ghost bride's movements faltered. Her long black hair curled and recoiled as though scorched by fire, and her bloody tears evaporated into a foul-smelling mist.

"Kill!"

Soul-Slaying Halberds flickering with blood-red light chopped down fiercely. The ghost bride shifted slightly, seeming about to turn into wind and smoke and escape.

But just then, an invisible psychic force struck, freezing the ghost bride's shifting form for an instant.

Paralyzing Gaze stopped the ghost bride's escape. Though she broke free of its hold the very next moment, she had no time to dodge again.

Swish!

Several streaks of light flashed past, tearing dark red gashes in the ghost bride's scarlet wedding dress. Great billows of gray-black smoke poured out like a ghost's blood.