Chapter 240: Something Is Amiss

Chapter 240: Chapter 240: Something Is Amiss

But to his surprise, what he considered a very ordinary question provoked a torrent of curses from the brawny man.

"You cunning Righteous Cultivator!"

"It’s so obvious, and you still think we can’t see it?"

"You’ve already killed three evildoers. It’s clear you’re just using us as stepping stones to make a name for yourself!"

"If we don’t band together to fight you, won’t you just pick us off one by one?"

Zong Ziqi was stunned at first, only realizing what was happening after a moment of being cursed at.

So, Young Master Ghost had exploited the fact that he’d killed too many evildoers, using it as a pretext to trick these two Cultivators from the Barbarian Race into joining him.

The reason Zong Ziqi had previously been so zealous about killing Demon Cultivators was out of guilt toward Jiang Xu.

But now that he had seen Jiang Xu in person, he certainly wouldn’t be fighting so desperately anymore.

At most, he would dabble when his Sect assigned a mission or when he got an itch for a fight. He would no longer proactively hunt down top-tier Demon Cultivators to kill.

But these two Cultivators of the Barbarian Race didn’t know this. They were convinced Zong Ziqi would come for them sooner or later, so they figured it was better to strike first.

"Enough talk! He’s probably recovering his strength!"

At the sound of Young Master Ghost’s impatient voice, the two men from the Barbarian Race immediately attacked Zong Ziqi.

The brawny man of the Barbarian Race, Wu Tuo, felt his eyes harden. Recalling the earth-shattering sword strike he had just witnessed from Zong Ziqi, a fierce battle lust ignited within him.

He sank his thick legs deep into the earth as a primal power surged from the soles of his feet through his body. His muscles seemed to swell again, gleaming with a bronze luster in the moonlight.

Then, like a loaded cannon, he shot off the ground. The earth trembled slightly from the force, sending rubble flying everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, he became a massive dark shadow, hurtling toward Zong Ziqi with unstoppable momentum. His ferocious, peerless charge was like a flash flood, threatening to grind anything in its path to dust.

Meanwhile, the lean, elderly Sacrificial Priest, U Damo, refused to be outdone. He muttered an incantation, tossing the staff in his hand—a staff carved with mysterious totems—forward. As his Spell finished, the staff was instantly enveloped in dense Spiritual Power, its size expanding rapidly until it became a colossal pillar that seemed to touch the sky.

The once-still totems on the pillar seemed to spring to life, their Spiritual Movement uncanny as light flowed across them. After a brilliant flash, a massive, lifelike wolf leaped forth from the pillar. With crimson eyes and sharp fangs, it charged madly toward Zong Ziqi, ready to tear him apart and devour him.

Seeing this, Zong Ziqi felt no fear. Instead, his will to fight surged.

"Perfect! I’ve just had a breakthrough in my Cultivation of the Celestial Thunder Cloud Dragon Sword, but I haven’t had a sparring partner to test its power. What a great day. Two durable opponents... It looks like I’m the lucky one!"

Zong Ziqi laughed heartily as he mobilized the Magical Power in his body, guiding the Power of Thunder between Heaven and Earth to converge upon his Profound Dragon Sword. The once-ordinary blade was instantly shrouded in brilliant, dazzling lightning, as if a coiled thunder dragon lay within, ready to strike.

"First Form: Clouds Rise and Thunder Roars!"

Zong Ziqi tapped the tip of his sword to the ground. Instantly, the sky filled with dark clouds as lightning flashed and thunder roared. Sword Qi rose from the earth like a newborn thunder dragon, soaring to the heavens and locking his opponents under its immense power.

"A fine attack!"

Wu Tuo let out a deafening laugh. The totems on his body, as if stimulated by some mysterious force, began to glow brightly.

A primitive, wild aura erupted from the totems, making the once-still patterns seem to come alive in the moonlight. Following the ripples of his muscles, the light gradually converged behind him, forming the massive, lifelike, and incomparably fierce phantom of a great beast.

Wu Tuo clenched his fists. His bronze skin was instantly covered in an ink-black sheen, like the darkness before nightfall swallowing the ambient light.

Every vein and joint pulsed, accumulating enough power to shatter mountains. The next moment, Wu Tuo’s form became a black bolt of lightning, his fists whistling through the air as he charged, aiming straight for Zong Ziqi’s face.

The battle over there was raging, but Wuji Fairy took no part in it.

Instead, she moved to the side of the Soul-Calling Banner, taking up a strange stance as if to guard it.

And at some unknown point, Young Master Ghost’s figure had actually emerged from the Soul-Calling Banner, taking hold of the banner once again.

It was just that his current appearance was dreadful. He looked like an old man on the verge of death. His whole body trembled, his face was covered in wrinkles, and the slightest movement left him gasping for breath. No one would be surprised if he dropped dead from old age the very next second.

"What in the world happened to you? How did you end up like this? Can ghosts get old and die?"

Wuji Fairy was extremely curious about Young Master Ghost’s condition.

Although she was a Demon Cultivator, Ghost Cultivators were not the same; it was a separate Cultivation Path. As such, she didn’t know much about their affairs.

Seeing that the battle wasn’t likely to involve her for the time being, Wuji Fairy was naturally a little bored.

Watching the men up ahead fight amidst flashing lightning and earth-shaking tremors, Wuji Fairy, finding herself with nothing to do, was rather enjoying the break. She couldn’t help but start a casual conversation with Young Master Ghost.

"Of course not. Becoming a ghost doesn’t make you immortal. Ghosts are entities akin to spiritual bodies, and the mark of our existence is worn away by the river of time. At most, our Lifespan is only double that of a human."

Young Master Ghost grew melancholic as he spoke.

"A Ghost Cultivator’s entire life of Cultivation is spent resisting the erosion of the spirit. Only by reaching the highest Realm and becoming a Ghost Immortal, an Immortal Ghost, can one ignore this degradation and live forever. But that step is incredibly difficult to take."

"I just used the Substitute Death Talisman gifted to me by Lord Ghost King. I used a massive number of souls from within the Soul-Calling Banner to construct a double, while my true body hid inside the banner itself. That’s how I managed to trick the Thunder Knight."

"But the requirements to use this Soul Talisman are simply too high. I forced myself to use it, resulting in severe spiritual erosion. In human terms, you could say my Lifespan has been drastically reduced. I’ll have to recuperate for a long time after this. Still, to eliminate a major threat, it was worth it."

Wuji Fairy was quite impressed by Young Master Ghost’s ruthlessness. She could never be so merciless—not to others, and certainly not to herself. Young Master Ghost was just too cruel.

"Also, I feel like there’s something fishy about this whole situation."

This time, Young Master Ghost didn’t speak. Instead, he used his Divine Sense to transmit his words directly to Wuji Fairy.

"I’ve been thinking about it again and again. When the three of us had the Thunder Knight surrounded, his sudden disappearance at the very end... it was just too strange."