Chapter 243: Just Carry Her Away

Chapter 243: Chapter 243: Just Carry Her Away

Ghost... King?

Jiang Xu’s heart sank.

Zong Ziqi had told him that this Soul-Calling Banner wasn’t Young Master Ghost’s property, but a Magical Treasure belonging to the Ghost King.

The only reason Young Master Ghost had it was so he could run errands and strengthen the Soul-Calling Banner.

Jiang Xu had wondered about this before.

Why would the Ghost King so easily entrust his Magical Treasure to a mere Junior Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm?

Wasn’t he afraid someone would steal it?

Now, he understood. As the master of a sect, the Ghost King’s methods were naturally beyond what Jiang Xu could fathom.

If he dared to give it to Young Master Ghost, he must have had a way to ensure no one could take it.

Seeing it today, Jiang Xu realized this was indeed the case. After Young Master Ghost’s death, the Soul-Calling Banner had automatically flown away, drifting into the distance.

Before it left, it did something—even Jiang Xu didn’t understand what that wisp of Spiritual Light was that had appeared where Young Master Ghost died.

Logically, a soul incinerated by the Innate True Flame should leave no trace in the world.

’It must be that my Innate True Flame Spell isn’t refined enough. It’s only at the Skilled Level, so I can’t completely erase all traces.’

Realizing this, Jiang Xu felt a surge of belated fear.

’Thank goodness I concealed my face just now. Otherwise, some powerful Golden Core Cultivator might have remembered what I look like.’

’But he probably wouldn’t act personally. Young Master Ghost wasn’t worth it, and neither are Zong Ziqi and I.’

Still, this served as a wake-up call for Jiang Xu. He had to be even more cautious in the future.

In fact, he had already miscalculated today.

Jiang Xu had grossly underestimated Young Master Ghost’s skill in the art of survival.

His thoughts raced, but in reality, the Soul-Calling Banner had only just flown away.

Zong Ziqi had already returned to the battlefield. He showed no signs of injury now; he was brimming with energy, looking as if he could easily use the Thunderbolt Breathing Technique one or two more times.

This was to be expected, of course. Zong Ziqi’s earlier "escape" had just been an act he put on with Jiang Xu.

Wuji Fairy’s counterattack had been powerful, but Zong Ziqi was a Foundation Establishment Realm Body Cultivator. With the Golden Light Spell and a Healing Technique, how could he be taken down so easily?

Seeing thunder and lightning flash around Zong Ziqi, it looked like he was about to unleash that deadly move again.

Wuji Fairy was on the verge of a complete breakdown when she saw it.

Zong Ziqi’s last attack had already broken her Defense.

If he hit her a few more times, she might actually die.

With a terrified look, she pulled several unknown items from her Storage Bag and crushed them one by one. Her aura instantly grew much stronger, and the defensive barrier around her became significantly sturdier.

After doing all this, her confidence recovered slightly, but she still yelled frantically at Zong Ziqi:

"I suggest you run now! The Soul-Calling Banner has left, which means people from the Netherworld Mansion will be here soon. If you don’t run, you won’t be able to escape!"

"Or I could just kill you and then leave!" Zong Ziqi said coldly.

"Hmph, if you think you can kill me in a short amount of time, then try it! We’ll see if you kill me first, or if I can hold out until my reinforcements arrive!"

Faced with Wuji Fairy’s solid shell and fierce confidence, Zong Ziqi became hesitant.

If it were just him, he would be one hundred percent willing to test whether her shield was tougher or his blade was sharper.

But Jiang Xu was with him, and Zong Ziqi didn’t want to drag him into more trouble.

Seeing Zong Ziqi caught in a dilemma, Jiang Xu was speechless and sent a voice transmission directly to him:

"Have you gone stupid? Facing this turtle shell, you really want to fight her right now?"

"Are you saying we shouldn’t fight? But didn’t you say that after today, it would be much harder to kill her? That she’d definitely go into hiding and never come out!"

"...Who said we’re not fighting? I said not *right now*! Just pick her up and carry her away. We can find a quiet place to interrogate her slowly. That won’t cause any delays!"

Zong Ziqi was stunned.

He had never even considered such a thing.

’You can do that?’

But he loved it!

Wuji Fairy, all bark and no bite, yelled at Zong Ziqi several more times. Seeing no response, she looked at him in confusion, only to see him charge straight at her with great enthusiasm.

Terrified, Wuji Fairy reinforced the defenses around her, but before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, Zong Ziqi reached her, didn’t attack, but instead grabbed her protective shield and... lifted her up?

"You, you, what are you doing!"

Wuji Fairy shrieked, but it was completely useless. Zong Ziqi simply slung her over his shoulder and ran.

Her Magic was domineering and powerful, capable of blocking most attacks and even reflecting the force back at the attacker.

But this Magic had a fatal flaw.

It could only passively take hits; it couldn’t be used to actively attack enemies.

If Wuji Fairy had teammates, this wouldn’t be a major weakness, as they could make up for her lack of offense.

But when her teammates were dead or not involved in the fight, Wuji Fairy was completely useless.

It wasn’t that she had no other attacks, but she had wrapped herself so tightly in her defenses that her offensive abilities couldn’t even get out.

And so, under the dumbfounded gazes of the two members of the Barbarian Race, a gleeful Zong Ziqi took off in a flash, carrying Wuji Fairy with him.

Jiang Xu ran off with them.

Only after Zong Ziqi had completely disappeared from sight did the two Barbarian Race Cultivators look at each other.

"Sacrificial Priest, everyone’s gone. What do we do now?"

"What else can we do? Run! These demonic bastards are the type to eat you alive and not even spit out the bones. I’m afraid we were used. Now that Young Master Ghost is dead, we’ll probably be blamed by the Netherworld Mansion if we stick around."

The Sacrificial Priest, U Damo, had a grim expression.

He had actually been holding back from the very beginning.

The old man was incredibly shrewd. The moment he saw Zong Ziqi’s reaction to seeing them, he realized they had been tricked into boarding Young Master Ghost’s pirate ship.

U Damo had been displeased, but he hadn’t confronted Young Master Ghost directly, nor had he put his full effort into fighting Zong Ziqi.

Otherwise, with his abilities, he wouldn’t have just sent out a common Wolf Spirit to harass Zong Ziqi.

Zong Ziqi had naturally sensed this, which is why he didn’t give the two Barbarian Race Cultivators a hard time in the end.

But just because Zong Ziqi wouldn’t make trouble for them didn’t mean the Netherworld Mansion wouldn’t. Their best option was to flee.

Finally, before leaving, U Damo let out a low sigh.

"It seems a Thunder Jiao is about to rise from among the ranks of those vipers, the Righteous Cultivators."

"Sacrificial Priest, you hold that Cultivator in such high regard!"

A Jiao was a top-tier being in the totems of the Barbarian Race, so Wu Tuo was naturally surprised.

"Wu Tuo, in the future, do not provoke that man. If you see him, avoid him at all costs!" U Damo didn’t explain further, only speaking with great solemnity.