Yue Honghai felt he was really unlucky.
Back in the East Sea, everyone seemed straightforward. Many great demons did not bother hiding their auras on ordinary days. Their strength was displayed outright, or at least one could gauge it roughly.
But the Central Plains were completely different.
Many experts liked to blend in with mortals. Unless the cultivation difference was vast, if they did not deliberately reveal it, even he could not detect their true strength.
He had not expected the yang world to be like this, and even the Netherworld was the same.
On this day, Yue Honghai carried the Wuliangye he had saved over the past few days. He also begged Aunt Liu to fish out two roast chickens and five jin of braised beef from the vat for him. Happily, he arrived at the city god temple to drink and eat meat with Xin Zhanting.
Xin Zhanting was training yin soldiers at Yelan Mountain in the Netherworld. Hearing of Yue Honghai’s visit, he set aside his tasks and joined him for drinks.
The two ate and drank. When they got excited, they sparred directly: Tiger Roar straight blade against serrated knife. It was an even exchange, though Xin Zhanting was much weaker than Yue Honghai, so they only compared blade techniques, not cultivation.
At that moment, a ghost drifted into the edge of their senses, seemingly just passing by. However, its path overlapped somewhat with the area they were fighting in and moving through.
Yet the ghost did not alter its course. It continued straight ahead, ignoring Yue Honghai and Xin Zhanting’s clash.
Yue Honghai glanced at the ghost and waved a steel whip strike towards it.
“Where did this little ghost come from? Get out of the way. Do not disturb your grandfather’s mood, or I might accidentally scatter your soul!”
Yue Honghai did not put much force into this strike. He just wanted to knock this oblivious little ghost away and make it stay far off.
Though he had helped Xin Zhanting fight several battles against ghost kings coveting Yelan Mountain in the Netherworld, he did not indiscriminately create killing karma.
After all, even for the city god temple, conflicts with ghost kings were about authority and territory. They did not slaughter innocent ghosts in the Netherworld.
However, Yue Honghai’s whip did not achieve its intended goal.
The ghost casually blocked it, deflecting the water-tempered fine steel whip. Then a yin nether hand reached towards Yue Honghai’s chest.
“Bang!”
With a light thud, Yue Honghai was sent flying. Yin qi entered his body, injuring him directly.
“An expert!?”
Xin Zhanting was startled. His divine dao mana surged skyward. He swung his blade, and roars of fierce tigers echoed around. Sharp blade qi swept towards the ghost.
Yet the ghost neither dodged nor evaded. Its form suddenly enlarged, becoming a giant over two zhang tall. Corpse qi was incredibly dense. It actually took Xin Zhanting’s blade qi head-on.
“A ghost king! Giant corpse!”
“Heh heh heh, you two fellows. This king was just minding his own business passing by. I did not provoke you, did I!”
Now visible, the ghost was over two zhang tall, with long legs and arms, its body greenish-blue all over, looking like sun-dried clay.
On its wagon-wheel-sized head was sparse whitish-green hair. Its face was a standard ferocious corpse visage: withered skin, vicious eyes, and black-yellow sharp teeth, as if it could tear a person to pieces the next moment and stuff them into its mouth bit by bit to devour completely.
But before Xin Zhanting could reply, the ghost king continued. “So, since you provoked me, if I eat you both, you should have no complaints, right?”
Xin Zhanting: ???
So your weak appearance earlier was bait for enforcement?
Yue Honghai spat, rolled to his feet, steel whip in one hand and serrated knife in the other, and charged at the opponent.
…
Moments later.
Fortunately, the two were not weak. Yue Honghai and Xin Zhanting covered each other in a battered escape, dispersing their subordinate yin soldiers and ghost generals along the way. They fled straight through the Yin-Yang path back to the yang world territory.
“He won’t chase over, will he?” Yue Honghai turned to ask Xin Zhanting.
Xin Zhanting blinked. “Ghost kings wanting to invade the yang world generally dare not come over, but if just for a visit to the yang world…”
“Boom!”
A fist smashed open the space between the two realms. Then the giant corpse drilled through.
“Though the two realms are mostly separate, the area around the Yin-Yang path is unstable. What use is sealing just the Yin-Yang path?”
“An incense deity and a century-old demon. Perfect to take back as my dinner.”
“Dinner your ghost!” Yue Honghai cursed fiercely. “If I kill you, I am heading home for dinner!”
The giant corpse grinned viciously. “Kill me? Run ten li first, then say that!”
“Why would I need to run? Save those words for yourself. If you have the ability, do not run back to the Netherworld!” Yue Honghai retorted, then shouted confidently. “Young Master! Are you here yet?”
Giant corpse: ???
Xin Zhanting: ???
Lu Zheng and his group, who had just arrived nearby, were also baffled.
“I thought you had some real skill. Turns out you called for help? In a mere small county town, what help can you summon? Come on, I will take them all!”
Yue Honghai chuckled. He clanged his steel whip and serrated knife together, sparking embers, and revealed a ferocious grin. “Then you had better catch this well!”
“You do have confidence. This fellow’s yin qi is perfectly integrated without leakage, his aura heavy as a mountain. Detaining him will not be easy!”
Lu Zheng revealed himself, stared at the giant corpse, then said to Yue Honghai.
Yue Honghai turned and blinked. “Ah? You want to detain him?”
This giant corpse had injured him in one strike—a top-tier ghost king for sure. His cultivation was definitely high, perhaps nearing a thousand years of dao. Yue Honghai’s plan was to team up with Lu Zheng and Shen Ying to drive him back to the Netherworld and call it a win!
“Ah? Not detain him?” Lu Zheng looked at Yue Honghai and blinked back.
But before Lu Zheng’s side could align their thinking, changes occurred on the giant corpse’s side.
“Hm? Such a pure female ghost!” The giant corpse spotted Yi Xiaoqian at a glance. “Though no longer a pure yin body, still an uncontaminated pure constitution. Good, good, good. Perfect for my harem. Come enjoy pleasures with me!”
The giant corpse threw its head back in laughter, then strode forward. One hand reached to grab Yi Xiaoqian.
Yi Xiaoqian’s face paled in terror. She felt confinement from all directions. Suddenly she could not move at all. The world went quiet. She could only watch wide-eyed as the massive hand approached.
Time seemed to slow dozens of times. Just as Yi Xiaoqian watched the hand reach three zhang before her, a clear shout rang out.
“Scram!”
Countless peach blossom sha suddenly appeared, hazy and dense, yet seemingly sparse, blocking before the hand. Though the giant corpse’s hand was door-sized and seemed mountain-like, it could not advance an inch.
At the same time, a white cloud great hand seal appeared, slapping straight down towards the giant corpse’s head.
The giant corpse’s eyes glared. It had not expected Yue Honghai to really summon two experts.
However…
As the white cloud great hand seal pressed down, the giant corpse merely glanced up. Then, shockingly, it made no resistance and was directly smashed into the ground by the seal.
Yue Honghai was startled. “Young Master, you are this powerful now?”
“No!” Lu Zheng’s pupils contracted. “It is earth escape technique!”
