“Oh no, those dark red patterns on the ground are connected to the stone tablet behind the divine statue, forming a soul-locking formation! We’re trapped!”
Yun Mu’s expressionless face now looked all the more stern, a sharp glint freezing in the depths of his eyes. The Siyu Sword in his hand blazed with dazzling brilliance, its tip pointing straight at the stone tablet in an attempt to sever that bizarre connection.
Sui Yu reacted swiftly as well. The Zefeng Blade spun in his palm, releasing successive razor-sharp wind blades as he tried to hack out an escape route.
Shi Menglan and Ling Guang stood back-to-back, watching their surroundings with intense vigilance, while Jiang Yuandao and Liyue slowly closed in toward Yun Mu together. Shen Xingshuang wanted to seek Sui Yu’s protection out of fear, but they were too far apart for him to care, leaving her with no choice but to hide behind Gu Renran.
However, the patterns on the stone tablet seemed to spring to life as grayish-black smoke drifted out from them, writhing and spreading outward in all directions. Wherever it passed, the air seemed frozen, and even time grew sluggish.
“Quick! Use your spiritual power to protect your heart channels and keep yourselves from being eroded by the resentment!” Yun Mu shouted loudly, simultaneously gritting his teeth to channel all the spiritual power in his body, forming a protective shield that enveloped everyone within it.
Even so, that resentment clung like a shadow, instilling a sense of terror as if tens of thousands of evil ghosts were whispering right by their ears, attempting to break down their willpower.
Countless blue-faced, fanged ghosts emerged from the dark fog, their fingernails long enough to pierce a human throat, emitting sharp shrieks that sounded like an infant’s crying.
“Careful!”
Yun Mu swung his sword to slash apart a fierce ghost lunging toward Ling Guang, but he felt a churning sensation in his dantian. The old wounds from his fallen cultivation realm had not yet fully healed, and that single strike had drained nearly half of his spiritual power. Right now, his meridians felt sluggish, and the sense of obstruction was palpable.
He staggered back two steps, a sharp ghost claw grazing past his left shoulder, instantly charring a patch of fabric to black.
“Master!” Sui Yu’s voice was unusually laced with a razor edge.
The youth’s palm brushed across the Zefeng Blade, and white-colored Bai Ze blood merged into the blade body, bursting with blinding white light. The ghosts that had still been attacking them shrieked in terror the moment they were touched by the white light, scattering backward.
He turned back to grab Yun Mu’s wrist, dragging him behind his back while his dark-colored hair ribbon whipped wildly in the demonic Qi: “Stay back.”
Yun Mu gazed at the youth’s tense back, his throat suddenly tightening with a bitter astringency.
“Hold on! We will definitely find a way to break through the magic array!” Sui Yu’s voice rang beside Yun Mu’s ear, carrying an unquestionable firmness.
Liyue, Shi Menglan, and the others converged toward Yun Mu, trying to shield him in the center.
[Well, this is a first in a lifetime where a master needs to be protected by his disciples. If outsiders found out, they’d probably laugh their teeth off.]
Yun Mu took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay clear-headed as he searched the surroundings with his eyes, trying to rely on his understanding of this world from memory to find a way to break the spell.
Hiding behind his disciples, he kept tossing out various talismans for sneak attacks. Fortunately, although these ghosts were numerous in number, their strength varied wildly, with even the most powerful ones only at the Golden Core stage.
Right at that moment, he noticed some unusual movement behind that Soul-Devouring Banner. Within the dark fog on the banner’s surface, a bizarre smile emerged, as if mocking the futility of their efforts.
Could it be… that this Soul-Devouring Banner was the key?
Spotting his chance, Yun Mu pushed his speed to the absolute limit, broke out of his disciples’ protective circle, and charged toward the Soul-Devouring Banner.
Just as he was plastering defensive talismans all over his body while reaching out to grasp the flagpole, an icy, bone-chilling cold suddenly surged through his entire body.
Before he could pull the Soul-Devouring Banner out of the stone tablet, a male child around six or seven years old suddenly popped out from the corner right in front of him.
He wore a faded red belly-band, and the corpse spots on his face looked like ink splattered across it. His round, marble-like eyes lacked any focus, and sharp canine teeth protruded from his mouth as he mechanically gnawed on an apple like a puppet on strings, looking both fierce and adorable.
[This is… a little zombie?]
The little zombie stretched out both arms, baring its sharp, ink-colored fingernails as it flew forward to attack him.
Yun Mu watched it draw closer and closer, knowing full well he should dodge at this moment, but the flagpole in his hand had already loosened, and the array beneath his feet flickered in alternating light and shadow, showing the initial signs of breaking.
He clenched his teeth—do or die!
“Master, watch out!” Sui Yu cried out in horror upon seeing this.
He immediately chased after Yun Mu’s retreating figure, but it was too late.
Thick Yin malevolent Qi intertwined with resentment rushed straight toward Yun Mu’s face. In the nick of time, Yun Mu immediately channeled the “Nine Stars Bone-Forging Art” to neutralize it. The Soul-Devouring Banner was finally wrenched out of the stone tablet. The exact moment the array shattered, Yun Mu was also sent flying backward by the impact of the little zombie’s collision.
A dark-colored Taoist robe billowed out as it descended, and Song Ke’s arm steadily supported Yun Mu’s lower back, pulling him away from the pack of ghosts and landing in the open space outside the temple.
“Elder Yun, you’re injured!” A suppressed urgency laced his voice.
His fingertips swiftly pressed two major acupuncture points on Yun Mu’s back to temporarily suppress the churning blood-Qi, and he produced a restoration pill for Yun Mu to swallow.
“Why are you here?” Yun Mu caught the scent of South Sea aloeswood coming off the other man, and his chaotic sea of consciousness cleared up a bit.
Song Ke’s sword tassel brushed across the back of Yun Mu’s hand with a rigid warmth: “Sect Master Jiang sent me a message saying your old injuries haven’t healed, asking me to come provide backup.”
Yun Mu helplessly shook his head; Senior Brother always thought too much.
Then a dark shadow flashed before his eyes, and Sui Yu had somehow stepped directly between the two of them.
The youth’s previously docile brows and eyes were now as cold as frost. The pale-blue flames on the Zefeng Blade burned even brighter, causing even the blade edge to glow a faint greenish-blue.
“Clan Head Song,” he called out softly, though the tail end of his voice carried barbs, “Many thanks for stepping in to save my Master. I am deeply grateful.”
Song Ke’s grip around Yun Mu’s wrist tightened slightly before ultimately letting go.
He glanced at Sui Yu’s tense shoulder line, then swept his gaze over Yun Mu’s slightly pale lips, silently taking half a step back as his profound-iron sword unsheathed and he joined the battle inside the temple.
“Ghe-ghe…”
A childish, eerie giggling sound suddenly rang out from near the divine statue—it was the little zombie from just now.
“Master, watch out!”
Seeing it fly toward Yun Mu once again, Sui Yu swung the Zefeng Blade to channel a burst of spiritual power toward the little zombie, only to find the creature suddenly vanish on the spot. When it reappeared, it was already directly above Yun Mu’s head, its ink-colored fingernails plunging straight toward his crown!
Frightened out of his wits, Yun Mu instinctively covered his head and crouched down, but the expected pain never arrived.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Sui Yu blocking that strike with his left arm, the Zefeng Blade piercing straight through the little zombie’s abdomen.
“Is this… Shang He?” Shi Menglan guarded Ling Guang as she fought and retreated, staring in shock and suspicion at the berserk little zombie. “I’ve seen it in local miscellanies before fifty years ago, the wealthiest family in Ping’an Town had a little young master who died prematurely at six or seven years old. When he was buried, he was wearing this exact red belly-band.”
Before her voice faded, the little zombie shrieked and thrashed its limbs, and demonic Qi instantly permeated the entire temple. The monster statue on the altar rolled its eyeballs, and its clay-molded fingers slowly curled inward.
“Form the Ghost-Trapping Array!” Liyue’s voice echoed from inside the temple.
The Luoxuan Sect’s senior grand-disciple strode out wielding a heavy sword, his sword tip tapping the ground as eight stone pillars instantly rose from the earth, trapping the little zombie right in the center.