“Young Master Lu!”
A faint call woke Lu Zheng from his sleep.
“Hm?”
Lu Zheng instantly opened his eyes, immediately realising the call came from outside the door.
At the same time as Lu Zheng opened his eyes, Liu Qingyan also woke up.
“Lu Lang, someone is calling for you.”
“This is… Inspector Duan?” Lu Zheng blinked, instantly alert, recognising the voice’s owner.
It was indeed Duan Zhong, the city patrol inspector of the City God Temple.
Liu Qingyan hurriedly released her arms from around Lu Zheng. Lu Zheng stood up, dressed in his inner garments, and opened the bedroom door.
Duan Zhong stood at the doorway.
“What brings Inspector Duan to me?”
Duan Zhong quickly cupped his hands and said, “Young Master Lu, your senior brother, Taoist Yuanjing, and Master Guangyue from Jiming Temple chased a ghost into the Netherworld, but they encountered a formidable ghost. General Xin and Lord Wei, the City God of Pingtang County, are currently rescuing them, but the ghost king is powerful. General Xin sent me to ask for your assistance.”
Lu Zheng immediately asked, “Has anyone gone to Shaotong Mountain to inform my master?”
“Taoist Yuanjing said that Taoist Mingzhang has gone to visit friends on a cloud and is not at the mountain.”
Lu Zheng nodded, “I understand, let’s go now.”
Turning back, he saw Liu Qingyan already fully dressed, “Lu Lang, Qingyan will go with you.”
“To make General Xin seek help…”
“Qingyan is no longer weak,” Liu Qingyan said firmly.
Seeing her determined gaze and considering his own strength, Lu Zheng nodded in agreement.
“Good, let’s go!”
In a few moments, Lu Zheng was ready, and together with Liu Qingyan and Duan Zhong, they hurried to the City God Temple, entering the Netherworld through the Yin-Yang Road.
“Where are they?” Lu Zheng asked.
Duan Zhong pointed northeast, “A hundred miles away, there’s a black bamboo forest, that’s the place!”
Lu Zheng nodded, took Liu Qingyan’s hand, and in the blink of an eye, they were far gone.
Duan Zhong was stunned, hurriedly following, but the distance between him and Lu Zheng only grew wider.
Lu Zheng, leading Liu Qingyan, sped along and soon sensed Buddhist light and Taoist charm in the distance, along with several streams of ghostly aura piercing the sky.
Additionally, there was a patch of eerie green ghost fire spreading in all directions.
“Such terrifying ghostly aura!” Liu Qingyan remarked, and in the next moment, her body emitted a faint glow, with three shadowy figures appearing behind her, swaying in the wind.
White clouds drifted, and a gentle breeze blew.
Lu Zheng was nearing the threshold of cloud-soaring. Carrying Liu Qingyan, he practically floated to the battlefield.
In mere moments, a great battle came into their view.
On their side were four people: besides Yuanjing, Guangyue, and Xin Zhanting, there was a middle-aged man in the black robes of a City God official, wielding a brush that splashed out clumps of ink, resisting the pervasive green ghost fire.
On the other side was a single figure, a white-faced fierce ghost floating in mid-air, dressed in a green robe and wearing a black wooden crown.
This fierce ghost hovered in the air, waving its hand to unleash a shower of ghost fire, transforming into threads or sparks of flame, carrying burning and corrosive power, besieging the four.
One ghost against four, yet it held the upper hand. The four tried several times to break out but struggled, only able to move slowly.
Around the black bamboo forest’s perimeter, a hundred or so ghost soldiers stood scattered, but they stayed far from the battlefield, not daring to approach.
Those who had tried to help had all been burned to ashes.
The arrival of Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan immediately drew the attention of those in the battle.
“Junior Brother!”
“Brother Lu!”
“Brother Lu!”
“Senior Brother! Master Guangyue! Brother Xin!”
Lu Zheng called out, his hands not idle, launching a Flying Cloud Evil-Breaking Charm at the hovering fierce ghost.
At the same time, Lu Zheng shouted toward the centre of the battlefield, “Senior Brother! How did you end up in the Netherworld and provoke such a ghost king?”
“Hmph? Reinforcements?” The fierce ghost coldly glanced at Lu Zheng, “You harmed my son’s century of cultivation! You all must die!”
A wisp of ghost fire floated over, bursting with a sizzling sound, breaking the charm. Then, a green spark emerged from the ashes, spinning toward Lu Zheng.
“Break!”
Lu Zheng patted his gourd, and a peachwood sword instantly appeared in his hand. A white cloud sword qi shot out, annihilating the spark.
With just one strike, Lu Zheng gauged the ghost’s strength, indeed formidable, comparable to the Black Wheel King.
“This ghost’s son was sneaking into the mortal world, abducting three to five women daily into the Netherworld. I, a monk, couldn’t stop him, so I asked Brother Yuanjing for help,” Guangyue, glowing golden with a radiant relic above his head emitting boundless light to fend off the surrounding ghost fire, said urgently, “Today, we managed to intercept and kill him, but a wisp of his true spirit escaped and fled back to the Netherworld.”
Yuanjing continued, “So we chased after him, intending to eradicate the evil, but we didn’t expect this ghost to have a father.”
“Father…”
Lu Zheng, bewildered, asked, “Can ghosts marry and have children? Are the offspring of ghosts also ghosts?”
With the battle raging and the four struggling to fend off the ghost fire while trying to break out, Lu Zheng, after clashing with the ghost, started asking about whether ghosts could have children?
Was he serious?
Was the focus now on how ghosts have children?
Xin Zhanting roared in frustration, “They were father and son in life! Brother Lu, hurry, help us break out! The City God Temple’s Yin-Yang Road has a ghost soldier formation that this ghost can’t break!”
Lu Zheng, hearing this, observed the four’s battle formation. If he assisted from outside, he could indeed help them break out or at least speed up their movement toward the Yin-Yang Road.
However…
Lu Zheng laughed heartily, “Break out? Since this ghost allowed its son to do evil, why not just take it down?”
The City God, wielding the brush, looked at Lu Zheng, “This fierce ghost has cultivated the Jade Phosphor Fire, which corrodes everything. It’s very powerful. Young Master, don’t underestimate it. It’s better to rely on the ghost soldier formation.”
“Is that so?”
Lu Zheng smirked, “Let’s see how powerful this fire is!”
The next moment, Lu Zheng pulled Liu Qingyan and charged into the Jade Phosphor Fire sea.
“Junior Brother!”
“Be careful, Brother Lu!”
In the sky, the white-faced fierce ghost saw Lu Zheng’s audacity and sneered, waving its hand to conjure a sea of fire that enveloped Lu Zheng.
Then…
“What?” The white-faced fierce ghost was dumbfounded.
The ghost fire, within three feet of Lu Zheng, seemed to hit an invisible barrier. No matter how hard the ghost tried, it couldn’t advance further.
Then…
Lu Zheng, leading Liu Qingyan, passed through the sea of fire unscathed and arrived beside Yuanjing and the others.
“Jade Phosphor Fire? Nothing special!”
