"Hah— get back!" He was an old hand after all, and Xu Banxian twisted his body around at lightning speed.
He snatched up the Demon-Slaying Sword from the ground, then spun into the air. Man and sword together slammed into the Millennium Water Ghost.
"Hmph! Let's see whether you live or die..." Xu Banxian sneered inwardly.
His whirlwind swordsmanship could reach a hundred rotations per second. Each spin built on the last, increasing its explosive force, and the power of a hundred combined rotations was renowned as downright terrifying.
"Crack!"
"Crack!" Shards of broken sparks sprayed across his flushed old face like glass fragments striking the ground. Cuts opened one after another. Xu Banxian's heart lurched, and his spinning body froze.
"Screech..." The enchanting figure let out a bone-chilling ghostly wail. A sharp claw raced along the smooth surface of the Demon-Slaying Sword.
"Ghost-Shocking Talisman! Burst—" Just as the ghost claw reached the sword's hilt, at this most critical moment, a burst of tremendous force erupted from the Demon-Slaying Sword.
The force knocked the Water Ghost off course. Xu Banxian, sweating coldly, slipped past it shoulder to shoulder, grazing the claw and narrowly escaping disaster!
"Heaven truly aids me! If I don't flee now, when will I?"
Xu Banxian's heart leapt with secret joy. Seizing the opening, he pulled away and leapt toward the mouth of the ancient well.
A blood-red figure shot after him, moving at astonishing speed.
In the next instant, that taut, ghastly claw was about to reach the Bull-Nosed Daoist's heel!
"Get lost! Die for me..." Xu Banxian's heart skipped a beat. Gritting his teeth, he slapped ten burning Yellow Talismans onto the Demon-Slaying Sword and swung it with ferocious force.
Amid a thunderous, violent tremor—
A furious, bone-chilling ghostly wail rang out from the plummeting blood-red ghostly figure!
At the same time, riding the recoil force, Xu Banxian's upward flight grew even faster.
He had timed the move with practiced skill. He suspected that this old fraudulent daoist had pulled this kind of "kick a dog while it's down" trick many times before!
"Tsk, tsk, that was close! Fighting me, you're still a bit lacking!" Watching the blood-red ghostly figure fall farther and farther behind him, Xu Banxian felt a lingering chill of fear mixed with no small amount of smugness.
He had already soared up seventy meters — even if it came chasing after him again now, it would be useless!
"Sizzle—!" Sparks flashed as the ferocious claw, thick with corrosive energy, carved densely packed, terrifying black claw marks into the well's walls.
The vicious Ghost Eyes radiated enchanting Crimson Radiance and fixed their gaze on the figure fleeing upward.
A long "tail" appeared in the water ghost's red pupils. The water ghost paused and stared in confusion at its source.
Its Fangs bared, a savage glint flashing in its eyes. The ghost lifted the object at its feet in both claws, as if it had found treasure!
Sins committed by heaven may yet be forgiven,
but one cannot escape the consequences of sins committed by oneself!
As Feng Ling had said earlier, the retribution for weaving one's own cocoon... had finally arrived!
"Ahh..."
A terrified scream rang out — Xu Banxian felt a horrifying, immense force yank at his waist.
Then an upside-down figure plunged from a hundred meters above the bottom of the well. It fell at terrifying speed, as if on dry ground with no water to resist it!
"How did the tether rope come loose...?" Braving the bone-chilling cold current of the depths, he twisted his body with great effort to look down below. Xu Banxian's pupils shrank, his heart pounding as if ten thousand wild horses were stampeding through it.
The water ghost let out a "screeching" wicked laugh, its ghost claw clamped around a rope half a finger thick. One end lay in the claw of the water ghost waiting at the bottom of the well, while the other was wound tight around the Bull-Nosed Daoist's old waist!
"Cut it!" The hundred-meter gap vanished in a blink. Xu Banxian, shocked and furious, was about to gather his strength and sever the tether rope when the ghost claw reached him!
His old face flushed red as he hurriedly changed techniques to meet the attack.
At this moment of life and death, Xu Banxian, a Seventh-Turn Expert, unleashed a furious strike with everything he had. Its might was not to be underestimated!
"Boom!" The ancient well shook, and water surged through it. Amid the roar of the undercurrent, Xu Banxian stared at the enchanting, patterned ghost claw clamped onto the Demon-Slaying Sword, the corners of his eyes twitching.
"An earthquake...?"
"What's that sound? It's like... it's coming from the bottom of the well!"
The ground shook violently. Zhang Dan and the others staggered, watching the ancient well beside them with concern as its water continued to churn and splash.
The undercurrent at the bottom of the well churned, crossing hundreds of meters of depth in an instant.
A three-meter-thick column of surging water burst from the ancient well again. Zhang Dan and the others retreated in panic, only to be drenched in cold water once more.
"Boom!" A massive column of water surged past. Watching the terrifying undercurrent rushing violently toward the mouth of the well, a flicker of terror flashed across Feng Ling's eyes.
Fortunately, he sensed something was wrong and dodged in time. Otherwise, he would have had to dive down again.
"Not good!" Before the words faded, Feng Ling remembered something. He shifted into a pulsation, and his diving speed surged.
And at this moment, Xu Banxian at the bottom of the well could only be described as
utterly wretched!
The Demon-Slaying Sword had been knocked from his grip, and he had begun making "intimate" contact with the ghost!
"Screw your ghost mother, still want to bite me?"
A panicked roar rang out—
and Xu Banxian thrust out both hands,
clamping them around the two ghostly wrists that had seized his shoulders, their touch icy as Frost!
In this hair's-breadth instant,
one old leg swung sideways and kicked with all his strength into the jaw beneath that blue-faced, fanged ghost head!
Lit by the enchanting glow of the Ghost Eyes, the old Bull-Nosed Daoist's face flushed bright red.
His body trembled like a sieve shaking chaff, making the pose look exactly like that of a showboating clown!
Only, it was hard to say whether he was trembling from the cold, or from sheer terror!
"Screech!" The Millennium Water Ghost let out a bone-chilling cry. Xu Banxian, fighting with everything he had, felt his scalp go numb. His frozen hands gripping the ghost claws nearly slipped loose, while his splayed old leg trembled harder.
If an ordinary person encountered such a horrifying scene,
They likely wouldn't even dare glance at that blood-red ghostly figure, let alone do what Xu Banxian was doing.
Extensive contact with a Ghost Body! If it was brief, it wasn't so bad — at worst, one might catch some vicious illness or strange affliction. But if it dragged on too long, it would cost years off one's lifespan!
What unbearable suffering!
Xu Banxian propped himself up and glanced sidelong at the rope, snapped in two atop the corpse. His heart filled with unbearable bitterness.
He cursed under his breath: "Damn it! A thing like this nearly cost me my life..."
Earlier, after the Vicious Ghost seized the Demon-Slaying Sword, it wrenched the weapon from Xu Banxian's grip. Xu Banxian had taken only two terrified steps when the rope, like a soul-binding chain, yanked him back. The ferocious ghost claws pulsed as they waited for his chest to crash into them!
You should have seen the impressive moves Xu Banxian pulled off in his flustered state as the rope spun him around and wound him into a great "rice dumpling"!
But Feng Ling had watched Xu Banxian's entire performance of "Thirteen Essential Ghost-Warding Techniques" for some time, so he had seen it all!
"This old fellow's got some skill!" Feng Ling clicked his tongue inwardly, hovering about ten meters above the bottom of the well.
That pair of mortal-and-ghost enemies were locked in their own "intimate embrace" and did not notice him.
"Alright, that's about enough — time to make my move!"
He watched as the figure's trembling grew even more violent, seeming close to its limit.
Feng Ling's eyes turned sharp, and a crackling, restless sound rose from his fist.
Xu Banxian and the red ghostly figure were startled. The water ghost turned toward the sound, and its body began trembling alongside Xu Banxian's. Its panic made it resemble a young wife caught in bed with her lover!
"Hah—!" Amid the great shout,
a withered old hand loomed larger in the eyes of Xu Banxian and the water ghost.
The new book is struggling, so I hope all you dear readers can show your support. Xiao Xian offers his humble thanks.