The ghouls’ heads slammed into the stone wall, their eyes went rigid, and they collapsed limply to the ground.
Saltcue stepped over the paralysed monsters and gazed ahead.
Three large skeletons stood opposite him on a third-stage black tombstone. They arched over each other, their upper and lower jaws opening and closing with an ear-splitting rattling sound.
Dark green spectral fire erupted from the skeletons’ eyes.
Before being touched by the green fire, Saltcue merged into the dirt beneath his feet, and a moment later he appeared by a patch of rubble diagonally in front of him.
Amidst the uninterrupted web of fire woven by the three skeletons, Shiohisa walked idly.
“I told you, this won’t work on me.”
“I meant no harm.”
The response was an even more frantic spurt of spectral fire.
Shiojyuu’s figure disappeared from its original spot and appeared under the black tombstone.
The three-tiered structure Black Tombstone was constructed from a mixture of clay and masonry throughout, with an overall stepped shape, shaped like a small cone-shaped fortress.
At the top of the cone was a black monolith – more like a black square stone pillar in appearance.
Skeletons spewing spectral fire grew out of the tombstone, like grotesque masks hanging from it. They were the Black Tombstone’s most important means of attack, manipulated by the ghosts within the tombstone.
To all of this, Saltcue was already too familiar.
It had been sixty years since he came to the Ghost World, and he had always dealt with these black tombstones, ghouls, and ghosts.
Any profession that was patiently polished for fifty years would have some insight.
The black tombstone was the foundation of this world’s composition.
It is the basic unit that makes up the tombs, but it is also a house and a home, a sentry tower and a fortress, and a new kind of spectacle. The inhabitants of this world all lived around the black tombstones, and it was the towering plain black stone tombstones that gave them a sense of security.
It reminded Saltjou of the Yao Clan’s Ghost Lighthouse.
The positioning of the two was actually different.
The Ghost Lighthouse had no combat characteristics, it was an open building belonging to the ghosts, a bridge between the dead and the living.
The Tombstone was on the other extreme, extremely closed and xenophobic. Even ghosts and ghouls might attract a spectral fire attack once they intruded into the area of other black tombstones.
It looks like a strange congregation of tombstones, but it’s more like an independent fortress, arranged in an orderly fashion at the behest of the gods.
Saltjou had suffered a lot from the black tombstones early on.
Once the spectral fire burned the body, it would cause constant pain and weakness, and its killing power was not bad, and the higher the grade of the black tombstone and the more layers it had, the more powerful the spectral fire would be.
It was good that he was now a Sand Walker, able to exist and change in the form of sand, as long as his feet were on the earth, Salt Long was able to make use of the arranged sand to make rapid shifts and change his orientation.
Sand was his most important tool.
The Black Tombstone’s weakness was inside.
As long as he could break through its attack range and enter the inner perimeter, he would be able to subdue the controlling ghost inside.
The only pity was that the Black Tombstone’s surroundings were mostly muddy and wet environments. If it was a dry ground or even a desert environment, Saltjou’s moveable range would be much greater.
Even after breaking through the distance of the Black Tombstone’s spectral fire attack, he still had to deal with the sleeping ghouls underground.
Saltcue was enjoying his encounters with the ghouls.
It reminded him of the past, the days when he physically fought with the Transcendents in the Eastern Continent to seek a breakthrough. Usually, Saltcue was on point and would not kill the opponent, as well as circumventing the ghoul’s self-explosion.
Ghouls retained a beastly nature, they had no formal professional training, resulting in empty explosive power and resistance to blows, and attacks with poisoning effects, but could not fully utilise their combat power.
Salt long thought about it, if it was Salt City’s Commander Botu to specially train these ghouls, he himself would have a very tough time facing them.
In the constant fights with the ghouls and black tombstones, Saltcourt felt that he also kept getting stronger until he entered a new bottleneck.
Nowadays, it was easy for him to deal with most of the ghouls.
It wasn’t just the class suppression, but also the fact that Saltcue knew their attacks and behaviours like the back of his hand.
Salt Long walked through the inner perimeter and stepped inside the stepped tombstone.
Facing the intruder, the dozen or so ghosts backed away.
“Don’t come over here!”
“Lord Apostle is already on his way, aren’t you afraid of divine punishment!”
“You crazy person, why do you always like to destroy our house! Where the hell did you come from!”
“It’s not like anyone messed with you!”
The ghosts were talking at cross purposes.
Saltcue just said, “Walker was passing by and came in to take a look. Excuse me.”
He looked around.
Like the other tomb clusters he had visited before, the interior of this tombstone was simple, like a grocery warehouse.
There were many things piled up inside, including some stones of different colours, stone carvings, bones, wooden poles, wooden tables and chairs, various kinds of clay pots …… and even a muddy ground surrounded by stones, in which a kind of semi-transparent slug was kept, which was a pet favoured by the ghosts.
The ghosts of the Spectre Realm had more particular tastes.
After the tour, Salt Long asked, “Do you guys know where the Fourth Order Black Tombstone is?”
“Fourth Order? There is no fourth order.”
“That’s just a legend, and legends are all false.”
“Third order is the best, and we have the best house here! With the best skeletons! And the strongest and smartest ghouls!”
Speaking of the Black Tombstone, the ghosts were filled with pride again.
Saltcue mentally said it was a pity.
He had already visited twelve third-order tombstones, but had not found any four-storey buildings further up the ladder.
Rumours circulated in the ghost world, saying that the fourth-stage black tombstone would metamorphose into the [Madness Tombstone]. Ghoul hunters would be born from it, creating even more powerful ghouls with stitches.
The legend has been around for a long time, but it’s hard to tell if it’s true or not.
Saltguy wanted to see it.
He twisted his head and looked at the wall next to him.
One wall away.
Salt Long could sense that there was a powerful Transcendent staring right outside.
He knew who it was.
“Sorry for taking the liberty of visiting.”Saltcue said before disappearing into thin air.
The ghosts in the tombstone breathed a sigh of relief.
They looked at each other, then whispered.
“Does it have a real problem with its head?”
“Definitely, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Sandwalker …… what kind of race is this. It’s fortunate that he’s the only one of this kind of lunatic in our world, otherwise that would be troublesome.”
“One day, the gods will definitely split this madman to death.”
“Nope, guys.”
One of the ghosts was suddenly overjoyed, “Lord Apostle is here! I can feel it, it’s Lord Bloo! Sandwalker is afraid!”
The apostle’s appearance meant that the gods were also displeased with this Sandwalker and were going to rain down divine punishment on him.
The end has come for this madman who trespassed on the tombstones!
The ghosts were all fastidious one by one.
……
A patch of rocky hillside.
Saltcue looked at the figure in front of him.
“How’s the consideration going?”The other person asked him.
The one who spoke was a human with a normal face.
He was about the same height as Saltcue, looked to be around thirty years old, had pale eyes with only a little green pupil, and his skin took on a corpse-like greenish-grey colour. The entire person exuded an aura of twilight death.
“Thank you very much for the god’s appreciation.”
Shiohisa said politely, “However, allow me to decline, I cannot become an apostle of Lord Psi-God. I have my own gods that I follow, and I will not betray my faith.”
“You’d better get it right, Lord Psi-God can crush you with just one finger.”The green-skinned man said.
“I know that, Buro-san.”
Saltcue was very frank, “The might of the gods cannot be challenged by mortals.”
“Since you know that, then you should understand that the god-sama is already tolerant and patient enough with you. Otherwise you would have been a corpse long ago.”
Buluo sighed, a little helpless, “If you weren’t somewhat capable, I wouldn’t waste my time talking to you so much.”
Salt Long also knew it by heart.
If you wanted to live in this other world, you had to show your strength and value.
This was easy to say, but very dangerous to implement.
It was necessary to show off one’s ability, yet not to anger or offend the local gods. That was why he challenged the Black Tombstone all the way to the point, never injuring the ghosts, and never even killing a single ghoul.
He frequented as a practitioner, challenging all powerful opponents, and later even took the initiative to spar with Apostle Blo.
The two sides were in the middle of the pack.
Saltjou didn’t think that he had entered the apostle level.
He knew in his heart that what Buluo was good at was not fighting. Buluo was a Mortician, and Morticians were the most important demographic group in this world, but also the least numerous.
Rotting corpses and skeletons would react marvellously in this world, and after breeding over time, most of them would generate ghouls. However, there is also a very small portion that will evolve into funeral races.
The Funeral Race and the Ghouls are the two branches of this world where the dead return.
They retained a clear sense of self and would sprout intelligence, and also possessed the ability to create black tombstones.
What Blo was good at was mobilising and building black tombstones.
“The gods you follow don’t even have the intention of transforming you into an apostle.”
Bu Luo persuaded, “Lord Psi-God, however, holds talent in high regard, so he put aside the battle of faiths to recruit you. The gods are superior to each other, aren’t they?”
“No, you misunderstand.”
Saltcue said calmly, “I didn’t become an Apostle of the Gods because I wasn’t qualified enough, and any of the Apostles under the command of the Lord Gods are far superior to me. I am still far from the Apostle Lords.”
Bu Luo didn’t believe it at all.
Put in any of the Gods’ divine kingdoms, this Sandwalker in front of him, regardless of rank, practical combat ability, or mind, belonged to the upper-middle class in the group of apostles. Otherwise, Lord Psi-God wouldn’t have gone through so much effort to try to bring him under his command.
Buluo continued to hammer away, “Salt long, you should be clear that the gods won’t always tolerate you.”
“Understood.”
Salt Long simply said, “All I can do is just continue to cultivate.”
“Do you think you can change your destiny if you have a high enough rank?”
“Cultivation is a way of survival.”
The Sandwalker wore a smile, “In my limited life, I want to see how far I can go. To be able to go farther and see more scenery.”
Bro was exasperated in his heart.
This guy is really …… admirable and annoying.
Suddenly, Bu Luo’s entire body trembled.
He closed his eyes and his face became incomparably grave.
After opening his eyes, Bu Luo fiercely looked at Yanjiu, “The divine country you’re in, is the Bamboo Reed Country?”
“No, as I said, I’m an ordinary cultivator of the Yao Clan.”Yanjiu corrected.
Although Bu Luo had already thought of it, he still asked one more question for safety’s sake.
Salt Long realised, “Something happened?”
“……”
Buro was silent for a moment, “The war is about to begin, a divine kingdom is overlapping with the Phantom Realm. I have to go, so you take it easy in the meantime.”
Salt Long was a personal witness to the divine war.
In this world, he had also endured a lot of tolerance and care.
Saltcue pondered for a moment and asked, “Do you need help?”
“This is our war, no need for outsiders to get involved.”
Buro turned to leave.
