Chapter 236: Wait

Chapter 236: Chapter 236: Wait

The Soul-Calling Banner in his hand whipped about with wild abandon, pulling the lingering souls of the dead—men from every faction, from all walks of life—into its depths. Its presence made the ravaged battlefield even more grim and terrifying, enough to make one’s blood run cold.

He was acting on the orders of the Ghost King, Sect Leader of the Netherworld Mansion, to collect the souls of all cultivators slain in battle.

In the current war between the righteous and demon sects, there was an unwritten rule.

To prevent the conflict from escalating, no one was allowed to deploy Golden Core Cultivators. Even Foundation Establishment Late Stage and Perfection Cultivators were forbidden from joining the fray.

Thus, the war between the righteous and demon sects should have been an excellent opportunity to harvest souls and enhance the power of the Soul-Calling Banner. But these restrictions put a stop to that, preventing him from doing anything at all.

But the Ghost King was not just anyone. Despite the limitations, he still found a way.

He would entrust the task of collecting souls with the Soul-Calling Banner to a subordinate who could actually go to the battlefield.

And so, Young Master Ghost successfully vied for the position and landed this thankless job.

Of course, Young Master Ghost didn’t consider it a thankless job at all.

He had to shuttle back and forth between various battlefields every day, so busy that he never had a moment’s rest.

But for any disciple of the Netherworld Mansion, wielding the Soul-Calling Banner—even temporarily—was a great honor.

Besides, the Soul-Calling Banner was incredibly powerful and provided a massive boost to one’s personal strength.

Almost no one could withstand the Soul-Calling Banner’s assault.

Young Master Ghost had always taken pride in serving the Ghost King, so he generally forbade anyone from disturbing him while he collected souls.

But today, a subordinate hurried over, interrupting Young Master Ghost’s work.

"You know full well that if this isn’t important, you’ll be the next soul collected by this banner." His work interrupted, Young Master Ghost was in a foul mood. He glared sinisterly at the clueless disciple.

"Re-Reporting, Young Master! It’s about that matter you told us to monitor closely!"

Young Master Ghost frowned.

’The matter I told them to monitor closely?’

’Could it be...?’

"Out with it!" Young Master Ghost urged.

"Yes, sir!" The subordinate didn’t dare hesitate. "The day before yesterday, Young Master Yellow Springs of the Biluo Demon Sect was killed! The murderer was the Profound Origin Sect’s Fire Phoenix Fairy. The word is that Young Master Yellow Springs tried to ambush her, but she saw through his trap and killed him instead!"

’Fire Phoenix Fairy?’

’Not the Thunder Knight?’

"Is this information reliable?" Young Master Ghost’s tension eased slightly as he asked for confirmation.

The subordinate hurriedly replied,

"I confirmed it through multiple inquiries from reliable sources. Even the members of the Jade Heart Association, which Fire Phoenix Fairy founded herself, are saying the same thing!"

Young Master Ghost nodded slowly and waved a hand, dismissing his subordinate.

After his subordinate had gone, Young Master Ghost mulled the matter over in his mind.

’Isn’t this a bit too convenient?’

’Did the Thunder Knight actually die over a month ago? With injuries that severe, would one month be enough for a full recovery?’

’I’ve never heard of Fire Phoenix Fairy being this powerful before. How could she possibly kill Young Master Yellow Springs?’

Young Master Ghost decided he needed to be cautious.

He stopped collecting souls and flew directly toward the nearest temporary Demon Sect stronghold.

...

"Not only is this guy far away, but he’s also flying all over the place!"

Jiang Xu complained as he tracked Young Master Ghost’s aura.

Young Master Ghost had actually gone nearly a thousand kilometers away.

While he hadn’t crossed into another State Domain, he was right near the border.

Furthermore, he was zipping around erratically every day, which greatly frustrated Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi.

They had already been traveling for two days and still hadn’t reached Young Master Ghost’s position.

"Brother Jiang, why do we have to go after Young Master Ghost second? Didn’t I say he was the hardest to kill? Especially with that Soul-Calling Banner of his—it’s incredibly tough to deal with. There must be millions of evil ghosts in that thing!" Zong Ziqi was perplexed.

"If it weren’t for what Yan Chunyu did, our second target would have been Wuji Fairy."

"But since Yan Chunyu took credit for killing Young Master Yellow Springs for us, Young Master Ghost won’t be as on guard as we’d anticipated."

"After all, if we went to kill Wuji Fairy, we can’t be sure there’d be a second Yan Chunyu to take the credit for us. Besides, even if someone did help, that would make two people dead. Even an idiot like Young Master Ghost would sense that something was wrong."

"And as for his Soul-Calling Banner, you don’t need to worry about it."

A ray of golden light shot onto Zong Ziqi, and a shield made of pure light instantly materialized around him.

"This Golden Light Spell is the perfect counter to Young Master Ghost’s Soul-Calling Banner. It can suppress ghostly spirits, which is why I’m confident enough to make him our second target."

"To me, Young Master Ghost is not the most difficult one to deal with!"

They flew for the better part of the day, only arriving at a spot forty kilometers from Young Master Ghost’s position as evening approached.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to get any closer.

The main issue was the place where Young Master Ghost was currently located; they didn’t dare approach it rashly.

And where was that?

A temporary encampment established by the Netherworld Mansion.

Inside were at least several hundred Qi Cultivation Demon Cultivators, along with ten or twenty Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Most importantly, there was a high chance of a Golden Core Demon Cultivator being present!

Jiang Xu couldn’t afford to provoke someone of that caliber in the slightest!

Even with the current restrictions preventing Golden Core Demon Cultivators from joining the war.

But if you went looking for death by trespassing, no one would be able to save you.

And no one would hold the Golden Core Demon Cultivator accountable for it.

"Brother Jiang, the guy’s so slippery. What do we do now? Go after Wuji Fairy instead?" Zong Ziqi asked hesitantly.

Jiang Xu was also in a bind. After a moment of thought, he decided not to leave. They would simply wait Young Master Ghost out.

A battle of attrition.

He stroked his chin, analyzing the situation aloud.

"Going after Wuji Fairy isn’t a good idea. It’s clear now that Young Master Ghost is extremely crafty. If we were to successfully kill Wuji Fairy, it would have to be done without a trace. But that’s impossible, because the Demon Sects have Soul Lamps."

"Once Young Master Ghost finds out Wuji Fairy is dead, he’ll either go into hiding for the rest of his life or surround himself with companions. Either way, we won’t be able to get to him."

"We wait. For now, we just wait."

"A few days ago, I noticed that Young Master Ghost was incredibly busy, rushing from place to place every single day with barely a moment’s rest."

"What do you think that means? It means he has a task that must be done daily, one that requires him to travel between different locations."

"And when did he stop all that and go into hiding? The day after we killed Young Master Yellow Springs."