At this moment, not only the Ghost City, but also the countless itinerant cultivators scurrying to make a living outside Dahe Market were thoroughly alarmed.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in terror toward Dahe Ghost City.
In the sky, birds cried mournfully as they took flight in panic.
On the ground, beasts bolted recklessly for survival.
Within Mount Luofeng, vast swaths of rock collapsed in great avalanches.
A colossal figure struggled to stand from the depths of the earth.
Within the ghost domain, countless strands of yin qi, ghost qi, and malevolent qi surged toward him, making his somewhat illusory body grow increasingly solid.
His low, ragged panting rumbled like thunder.
This was not a frail ghost king that had been suppressed for centuries, slowly eroded to a gasping ember of life.
This was a formidable ghost king that had just awakened, in the prime of its new life.
In life, he had been a Yuding sword cultivator whose combat prowess reigned supreme!
Rumble...
A tremendous roar shook the air.
Luo Chen looked back instinctively.
Mount Luofeng, which had kept him company for three years, collapsed with a deafening crash.
A massive body entwined with swirling gold and black was kneeling half-bent deep within the earth veins, trying slowly to stand upright.
Right at that instant, a sword chime echoed from the void.
Clang!
A bizarre sight unfolded.
Above Mount Luofeng, a great Xuanhuang cauldron slowly materialized.
A heavy broadsword was plunged upright into the center of the cauldron like a stick of incense.
And that cauldron hung directly above Pang Renxiong's body.
Was it suppressing him?
"The sword and cauldron chime together... Linghu Yong... you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"
A voice fraught with grief, fury, and desolate rage came in broken rasps from the ghost body.
It was like weeping and wailing, half roar and half shout.
Beneath that harmonious chime of sword and cauldron, the colossal ghost body that was about to rise was slowly pressed down once again.
In the distance!
Luo Chen, who was nearly out of the Dao Discussion Platform, could not help but freeze at the sight.
He had seen this image before.
Back when Pang Renxiong fought the three ghost kings and that mysterious Golden Core Master, that climactic battle had concluded with the simultaneous chime of sword and cauldron.
Who would have thought that this move had actually lingered until now?
From the looks of it, Pang Renxiong was being suppressed once more before he could even emerge into the world.
Just as Luo Chen felt a faint surge of relief, his hair stood on end the very next second.
The ghost king, pressed into a hunched posture, tilted his body and cast his turbid, eerie eyes toward him.
The ghost king suddenly raised a hand and pointed an illusory sword finger right at him!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
With that single point, inside and outside the Dao Discussion Platform, across the ruins of Mount Luofeng, countless residual traces of sword qi seemed to answer a summons, bursting forth in unison with piercing sword cries.
Then, ten thousand swords soared into the air.
Their tips angled downward, transforming into a vast torrent of light that cascaded toward Luo Chen like a roaring waterfall.
It moved with such blinding speed that it caught him completely off guard.
Luo Chen's soul nearly flew from his body, and he felt his life was surely forfeit!
Suddenly, a thought struck him.
A sword-shaped token burst with dazzling radiance, shielding him from the front.
"Master!" Luo Chen yelled at the top of his lungs.
With that desperate cry, the surging torrent of light abruptly hesitated.
Then, shifting slightly aside, it crashed around Luo Chen's flanks.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch...
There was no deafening explosion.
There was only the muffled crunch of blades slicing through bean curd.
Luo Chen swallowed hard, wasting no more time.
Stowing the sword token, he turned into a streak of golden light and plunged into the passageway leading outside.
Beneath Mount Luofeng, the ghost king into which Pang Renxiong had transformed slowly retracted his finger in confusion.
"Master... disciple..."
The muttered murmurs gradually faded into silence amid the chiming of sword and cauldron.
***
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Ragged gasps burst continuously from Luo Chen's chest.
From his place of ascetic cultivation on Mount Luofeng to White Stone Square, a journey of merely several li felt as though he had walked through an entire lifetime.
Under that barrage of ten thousand swords, his life had nearly flashed before his eyes.
Had his will not been forged rock-solid through years of practicing Bright Spirit Fiend Breaking, he might well have given up and waited for death in that terrifying moment.
"To think that in the end, it was the keepsake Pang Renxiong gave me back then that saved my life."
"By the banks of the Lancang River, his words calling me a fine disciple still ring in my ears."
"Even though I never truly joined him, I have still called you Master in the end!"
Luo Chen offered a bitter smile.
The twists of fate and the shifting fortunes of people could be so tangled and unpredictable.
"If my cultivation advances and my mastery reaches miraculous heights, I will certainly help you escape this sea of suffering in the future."
Luo Chen caught his breath and prepared to move forward.
Yet his body suddenly sensed a piercing gaze that made him deeply uncomfortable.
Turning around, he saw a pair of sharp, ghostly green eyes staring fixedly at him.
No.
To be precise, they were staring at the golden sword pill revolving beside him.
"Give... it... back... to me..."
"Give... back... to me..."
"Give it back to me!"
From halting rasps at first to a full-throated roar, the shift took only a split second.
This time, Luo Chen showed no hesitation whatsoever.
Sword radiance blazed!
The Soul Refining Banner unfurled!
A cauldron expanded abruptly, casting forth four-colored tassels that spanned a full li of space.
In his hand, a blazing sun slowly rose into view.
***
An intense battle erupted unnoticed in the Ghost City.
Luo Chen unleashed every technique at his disposal.
In a single breath, he thoroughly suppressed the ghost general that Luo Tianhong had become.
"In life, I would have had to show you some deference."
"In death..."
"Why bring trouble on yourself by looking for a fight with me?"
Luo Chen's gaze turned chillingly cold as he slammed the massive fireball held high in his hands straight downward.
A fierce detonation rang out.
Scorching heat rippled outward in waves.
The surrounding yin qi hissed and melted away like snow beneath a blazing sun.
The ghost general's body was already being tugged by the Soul Refining Banner and suppressed by the Four Symbols Cauldron.
At this moment, it could resist no longer.
Boom!
Luo Chen pulled back swiftly, soon reaching the edge of White Stone Square.
Looking at the center of the blast, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since he resolved to cultivate using the spirit vein of Mount Luofeng, he had anticipated how to fight an entity of ghost general rank.
The Blazing Sun Art was beyond doubt his finest weapon.
Considering the unpredictable movement of ghosts, Luo Chen planned to use the suppressing power of the Four Symbols Cauldron and the shock of the Soul Deterrence Art to keep it pinned.
However, the latter could easily backfire on him, so Luo Chen would only use it if pushed to the brink.
Fortunately, acquiring the Soul Refining Banner, an artifact tailored against ghosts, filled in that gap.
Now that a single strike had proved effective, his preparations had not been in vain.
Glancing at the sword pill circling beside him, Luo Chen sighed softly.
"If I am not mistaken, this sword pill must have been Luo Tianhong's lifelong treasure."
"Nurtured for decades, had he broken through to the Golden Core stage one day, it would have become his natal magic treasure."
"No wonder he pursued me so recklessly upon seeing it."
Luo Chen recalled the sword pill, masked his aura, and prepared to leave.
Yet as he turned, his gaze locked onto something.
In the giant crater at the center of the square, Luo Tianhong's battered ghost body was slowly dissolving.
Yet at the very core of that body, a black chess piece emanated a soft, hazy glow, halting the dissolution of his form.
The cleared yin qi in the surroundings gradually drifted back, replenishing his figure.
Before long, his form solidified a bit once more.
"What is that?"
Luo Chen's brow raised.
At the same time, Luo Tianhong opened his eyes again, fixing an obstinate glare on Luo Chen.
With a flick of thought, Luo Chen turned and left.
Behind him, Luo Tianhong pursued with a low roar.
Reaching the edge of White Stone Square, the ghost hesitated slightly.
Yet when it saw the golden light reappear around the receding figure, it ultimately roared and gave chase.
As Luo Chen flew, he monitored the commotion behind him with his spiritual sense.
Seeing Luo Tianhong following, his heart settled.
"As expected, his obsession is not just defending the Sword Pavilion, but recovering his natal sword pill."
"Using this as bait to draw him away from the familiar grounds of White Stone Square will leave him entirely at my mercy."
"I must have that treasure!"
"Still, I need to find a relatively secure spot and set up an ambush."
With that thought, Luo Chen paused briefly, then vanished into an alleyway.
The ghost general behind him froze, then plunged into the alleys without a second thought.
***
A cup of tea later, Luo Chen's steps halted outside a tall building.
The familiar architectural layout spared him any hesitation; he slipped straight inside.
A moment later, Luo Tianhong's figure arrived in pursuit.
Just like before, it dashed straight inside without hesitation.
Only after both silhouettes vanished did the feeble yin souls nearby slowly gather back.
Had anyone looked up, they might have noticed the crooked signboard hanging outside the grand building:
Spirit Herb Pavilion!
If any places inside the Ghost City could be considered relatively safe, the properties of the five major sects were undoubtedly the best.
Back when the battle erupted in the inner city, cultivators from these few properties were the only ones fortunate enough to escape alive.
In other words, these locations had suffered far less damage than everywhere else.
Among them, the Spirit Herb Pavilion was the one Luo Chen knew best.
The moment the ghost general Luo Tianhong entered the Spirit Herb Pavilion, layers of white mist suddenly billowed forth, enveloping the entire building.
The scene looked remarkably like the array atop Mount Xiaohuan.
As the white mist expanded, a dazed look flickered in Luo Tianhong's eyes.
He could no longer sense the mystical connection!
The anchor of his obsession had vanished.
This shift drove him into a frenzy, and he began rampaging through the Spirit Herb Pavilion.
On the second floor, Luo Chen watched the scene and let out a soft breath.
While Mount Xiaohuan's array was poor for offense and defense, it truly possessed the efficacy of a peak first-tier array when it came to confounding enemies and blocking scrutiny.
It was, after all, an array the Duan family used to guard their forbidden grounds.
It would be absurd if it lacked some wondrous effects.
Seeing Luo Tianhong trapped, Luo Chen moved swiftly.
This array, called White Mist Concealment, was set up in haste and would not hold Luo Tianhong for long.
During this window, he had to make every second count.
The Soul Refining Banner unfurled with a snap.
Following the instructions recorded in the True Soul Refining Art, Luo Chen formed one hand incantation after another.
His movements were stiff at first, but grew progressively practiced.
Soon, the black banner flag began fluttering without any wind.
A dark shroud gradually unfurled.
Standing within it, Luo Chen felt waves of biting yin qi, and cries and shrieks echoed incessantly in his ears.
Furthermore, several dozen ghost soldiers comparable to the late Qi Refinement stage circled and danced around him.
Every one of them radiated a bloodthirsty aura.
Each time they passed by Luo Chen, they seemed eager to pounce on him.
Yet as master of the Soul Refining Banner, how could he allow them to bite the hand that fed them?
Before they could draw close, black chains of yin qi shot forth from all directions, dragging them away.
After several repetitions, the ghost soldiers dared not approach Luo Chen again.
"In this way, the power of the Soul Refining Banner is maximized."
"Next is luring Luo Tianhong inside."
Calculating the time, it seemed about right.
Almost the moment the thought crossed Luo Chen's mind, the dense white mist shrouding the Spirit Herb Pavilion slowly dispersed.
Luo Tianhong paused, the glaze in his eyes gradually replaced by clarity.
The next instant, he lunged straight for the second floor.
"Hoo..."
Low panting sounded the moment his foot hit the floorboards.
Several dozen ghost soldiers pounced wildly toward him.
Luo Tianhong growled low, following instinct as a superior entity to suppress these lower-grade ghosts.
However, these creatures had long since been refined by the Soul Refining Banner.
They answered only to Luo Chen.
Though they hesitated slightly from fear, they paused for only a split second before lunging forward to bite him again.
Luo Tianhong was stunned to find that these low-grade ghosts did not heed his control at all.
"Ooo..."
Looking down, he saw a ghost soldier tearing into his thigh formed of condensed yin qi.
"Ooo..."
With a swat of his hand, he easily scattered the ghost soldier.
Yet in the distance, that ghost soldier coalesced once more.
Inside the Soul Refining Banner, as long as the operator's spiritual power did not run dry, these ghosts were immortal and indestructible!
In an instant, dozens of ghosts charged forward wave after wave without any fear of death, crashing relentlessly into Luo Tianhong.
Low growls and snarls echoed harshly.
Beneath the dark shroud, Luo Chen's eyes flickered.
"Just these few dozen ghost soldiers won't be enough!"
He flicked his right hand.
A chain shot forth, piercing into Luo Tianhong's collarbone.
"Not enough!"
"Still not enough!"
Chains of yin qi shot forth one after another.
Soon, nine massive chains of yin qi bound Luo Tianhong tightly.
At this moment, every step he took was agonizingly slow.
Yet even while besieged and bitten by dozens of foes and bound by nine massive chains, his feet still marched forward with stubborn resolve.
Following that faint, mystical sense, he took step after step until he arrived outside a small room.
Creak, creak...
The long-neglected wooden door opened slowly with a harsh screech.
At that exact instant, a pair of eyes glowing with green light suddenly locked onto him.
"Give..."
"My apologies, but I have already refined this sword pill. I cannot return it to you."
Luo Chen smiled faintly, without the slightest hint of apology on his face.
Not only that, but he pushed his Soul Deterrence Art to its absolute limit.
This time, it was no longer the simple technique he cast through his eyes during Qi Refinement.
Instead, he unleashed it directly via his projected spiritual sense!
The formidable foundation of his soul burst forth without holding back in the slightest.
Had Luo Tianhong been at his peak, Luo Chen might not have dared to do this.
After all, he did not know whether disciples of great sects had secret arts to bolster their souls.
If he suffered a backlash, the gains would not cover the losses.
But the current Luo Tianhong was already a ghost.
He had taken a direct hit from the Blazing Sun Art and struggled to recover.
Finally, within the home field of the Soul Refining Banner, he had been weakened layer by layer.
Right now was the weakest he had ever been in his entire existence!
The instant the fully primed Soul Deterrence Art washed over Luo Tianhong, Luo Chen felt no strain at all.
All he felt was the absolute certainty of holding another's life and death in the palm of his hand.
At the doorway, Luo Tianhong slowly sank to his knees, his body prostrating itself gradually onto the floor.
Seeing this, Luo Chen hesitated no longer.
His hand incantation shifted.
"In!"
With a quiet shout, the nine chains tightened instantly, dragging Luo Tianhong into the unfurled dark shroud.
Luo Chen rose tall.
With a wave of his hand, the Soul Refining Banner flew into his grip.
Looking at the unfurled banner fabric, a face twisted in ferocious obsession could be seen faintly flickering upon it.
Just like that, this ghost general on par with Foundation Establishment was subdued by him.
Not only that, the quality of the Soul Refining Banner leaped from high-grade to peak-grade.
However, wielding it with complete ease would not be so simple.
Even mere ghost soldiers sought to turn on Luo Chen, let alone an entity of ghost general rank.
He would still need to spend a great deal of time cowing and breaking the ghost general's will.
Yet that was not what Luo Chen cared about.
What he cared about was something else.
His spiritual sense penetrated the Soul Refining Banner, repeatedly sweeping through the ghost general's body.
Soon, he found what he was looking for.
"Come out!"
With Luo Chen's low shout, a purely pitch-black chess piece floated slowly outward.
Looking at the object, Luo Chen's breath hitched.
"A magic treasure—the Lanke Chess Piece!"
Clutching the black chess piece in one hand, Luo Chen swallowed hard.
"It truly is this treasure!"
Back when the Golden Core ruins opened in the Guyuan Mountain Range, Pang Renxiong had sneaked in first to take most of the treasures.
Later, numerous Foundation Establishment True Cultivators had joined hands to enter and vie for opportunities.
In the end, it concluded with Mi Shuhua obtaining the Ghost Spirit Valley Supreme Elder's storage ring.
That ring did not contain the vast treasury of Ghost Spirit Valley.
It held only a few magic treasures.
Among them, the two Luo Chen knew of were the Demon Locking Pagoda and the Lanke Chess Piece.
The former was something Pang Renxiong valued immensely, having once intended to bring it back to the Yuding Sword Sect.
The latter was the dao-protecting treasure of the Ghost Spirit Valley Supreme Elder back then, possessing mid-grade rank!
Pang Renxiong, already a Golden Core sword cultivator who focused his entire mind upon a single blade, had looked down on such treasures.
Therefore, he had bestowed it upon Luo Tianhong, who had rendered great service.
Following the battle in Dahe Market's inner city, Luo Tianhong fell, and the defensive magic treasure known as the Lanke Chess Piece vanished without a trace.
Who would have guessed that one of its black pieces had fallen into the hands of the ghost general Luo Tianhong had become?
"To think that even as a single piece, it still holds the grade of a low-grade magic treasure!"
"If it were reunited with the white piece, wouldn't it restore the might of a mid-grade defensive magic treasure?"
"No, I shouldn't be so greedy."
"Having just one piece is already a stroke of immense good fortune!"
Even as just the black piece, it was already a low-grade defensive magic treasure.
To Luo Chen, this was an astonishing harvest, far surpassing three years of arduous cultivation!
For the longest time, Luo Chen's protective means had been skewed in a lopsided state where offense far outstripped defense.
Offensively, he was practically at peak form.
Even during his Qi Refinement days, he could pose a threat to Foundation Establishment True Cultivators.
Yet defense had always been his short board.
He had only a high-grade defensive robe and the tassel defense accompanying the Four Symbols Cauldron.
This was not his fault.
It was the result of the aggressive, combat-heavy culture of the cultivation world.
Because battles were frequent, defensive artifacts were always in high demand.
Among artifacts of the same rank, their prices remained steep.
Furthermore, when cultivators fought, they usually focused on smashing the enemy's defensive artifacts first to secure victory.
As a result, whenever spoils were collected after a battle, defensive artifacts were rarely recovered intact.
Luo Chen had led the Luotian Association through numerous fierce clashes, yet the defensive artifacts they seized could still be counted on one hand.
Those reaching high-grade were rarer still.
Compared to ordinary high-grade defensive artifacts, they were hardly better than the Four Symbols Cauldron he was accustomed to using.
Thus, he had been unable to shore up this weakness for a long time.
Even though he knew Wang Haichao might harbor ill intent when gifting the tier-two defensive spell Glazed Sky Screen, Luo Chen still dedicated effort to practicing it precisely to compensate for this short board.
Yet spells were easy to pick up but hard to master.
How much time it would take to practice it to the point of fluid, instinctive use remained anyone's guess.
By comparison, artifacts offered an immediate solution.
And a defensive magic treasure was a prize that every Foundation Establishment True Cultivator dreamed of.
Back then, wasn't Nangong Jin's willingness to help deal with Duan Qiankun motivated by that very Marsh Country Gui Chart?
Now, Luo Chen possessed a defensive magic treasure of his own.
In a single stroke, his weakest board had become his strongest!
"However, this piece has been tainted by yin ghost qi for years. I must nourish it properly before I can wield it like my own limb."
Luo Chen stowed it away with immense care.
He planned to return and temper it thoroughly.
A magic treasure was not like a dharma artifact that could be put to use the moment it was acquired.
Glancing around, Luo Chen had no intention of lingering.
The current Dahe Ghost City was truly no safe haven.
Although the ghost king Pang Renxiong had been suppressed by the method left behind by Linghu Yong of the Luoyun Sect, that method was ultimately like rootless duckweed.
Pang Renxiong held the advantage of the terrain; sooner or later, he would break free of the seal.
When that time came, forget Mount Luofeng and the Ghost City—perhaps the entire Dahe Market, spanning a radius of a thousand li, would fall under Pang Renxiong's ghostly might.
"If that happens, Dahe Market won't merely be an ownerless land; it will turn into a perilous domain."
"Where should I go from here?"
A faint thread of contemplation lingered in his mind.
Luo Chen reined in his aura and descended from the second floor.
Suddenly, his footsteps stopped.
At the entrance of the Spirit Herb Pavilion, an illusory figure was leaning against the rotted wooden window, gazing at him timidly.
Chapter 195