"Senior Qin, be careful! There aren't just evil ghosts here, but also a humanoid cloud beast. Its strength rivals that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and it has been hiding in the shadows, waiting for an opening to ambush us. Fellow Daoist Chai was ambushed by it and nearly suffered a grievous injury."
Cultivator Ning warily watched their surroundings, sending a voice transmission to warn Qin Sang.
Hearing this, Qin Sang finally understood. A mere few evil ghosts wouldn't have left Ning and Chai so helpless. As it turned out, their struggle to cope with the humanoid cloud beast had prevented them from escaping in time, which in turn drew in more and more evil ghosts until they were trapped here.
Humanoid cloud beasts were not common. They were cloud beasts formed when a cultivator was contaminated by a cloud beast's spirit soul. Some arose from corpses, while other times the cultivator might not even have died yet, their dying breath seized when the cloud beast soul usurped their vessel. Without exception, these humanoid cloud beasts were exceptionally difficult to deal with. Their strength was on par with what the cultivators possessed in life, sometimes even surpassing it. Some cloud beasts could even wield the magic tools the cultivators had used in life.
With his spiritual sense restricted, Qin Sang could not probe far, and there was no trace of the humanoid cloud beast within the Ten Directions Yanluo Array. The brute had concealed itself quite deeply.
"You two head out first to regulate your breathing and tend to your wounds, then go support Fellow Daoist Yunqiong as soon as possible." Qin Sang gave them a meaningful look, turning around with apparent vulnerability to escort the two away.
He had barely taken two steps when a frigid, sinister wind suddenly surged from behind at astonishing speed, aimed straight for Qin Sang's heart.
Qin Sang sneered inwardly. Quietly spurring his ebony sword, he thrust it sharply behind him. Sword qi erupted into beams several zhang long, crashing entirely onto the shadowy figure.
*Bang!*
Caught off guard, the shadow was struck by the ebony sword before it could dodge. Hurled in a violent tumble by the massive force, it slammed into the stone wall.
*Whoosh!*
The ebony sword followed in hot pursuit. The sword light flickered midair, splitting into two streams of sword qi that formed a sword array. Just as the shadow rolled back to its feet and tried to slip back into the shadows, the sword array trapped it dead center.
"Go, quickly!"
Urged on by Qin Sang, Ning and Chai dared not hesitate. Staying would only burden Qin Sang, so without looking back, they fled outside. Once they had departed, Qin Sang recalled the baleful corpse hiding in the shadows.
Working in concert with the baleful corpse, the Thousand Mechanism Sword Array held the humanoid cloud beast firmly in place. Qin Sang checked the condition of the Ten Directions Yanluo Array, and seeing that the evil ghosts could stir up no real trouble, he finally had the chance to inspect the humanoid cloud beast closely.
It had the shape of a human, but that was all. It resembled a desiccated corpse, with only a layer of skin clinging tightly to a skeletal frame—more accurately, a skeleton wrapped in skin.
Qin Sang's gaze shifted to the cloud beast's arm.
Around its wrist was a grayish-white metal bracelet. It was a magic tool, likely something this person had used in life. The bracelet was already damaged, marred by several conspicuous notches with only tiny bits of metal holding the gaps together, giving the impression that the slightest touch would break it.
Seeing the bracelet, Qin Sang's mind stirred. Blurring into motion, he dashed beside the Ten Directions Yanluo Array, captured an evil ghost, and probed it carefully. Sure enough, he discovered a tight connection between the evil ghost and the bracelet.
"A damaged soul-refining demonic tool?"
Qin Sang murmured to himself, inwardly thinking, *no wonder.*
No wonder the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners had been able to devour the evil ghosts so easily without facing any backlash.
The demonic tool was already damaged, so its control over the evil ghosts was severely weakened. Moreover, a cloud beast was still just a cloud beast; its intelligence was far inferior to that of a living cultivator, so once the evil ghosts were devoured, it had no idea how to manipulate the demonic tool to retaliate.
Seeing this, Qin Sang had a clear picture. The evil ghosts were nothing to worry about, and that bracelet demonic tool was actually a good find for him. As long as the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners devoured all the evil ghosts within the bracelet, their power would surely rise by a tier.
This also pointed out a clear path for Qin Sang.
He wondered if other demonic tools possessed this property. Since the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners could directly devour demonic tools to increase their power, there was no need to insist on killing people to refine their souls; he only needed to devour the soul-refining demonic tools of other demonic cultivators.
Intact demonic tools would inevitably be very expensive and hard to come by, but gathering damaged demonic tools might be much easier. After all, all he wanted were the evil ghosts and demon heads contained inside.
At this thought, a hint of joy showed on Qin Sang's face. He immediately channeled his ebony sword with full strength to attack the humanoid cloud beast. The sword qi surged, darting with exceptional agility as it repeatedly slashed at the creature's wrist, finally severing the arm.
The humanoid cloud beast roared repeatedly.
With a clatter, the bracelet struck the ground and rolled a good distance away. The humanoid cloud beast leapt forward to fight for it, but a heavy punch from the baleful corpse forced it back. Qin Sang conjured a giant hand of spiritual power and snatched the bracelet to himself.
Examining it closely in his hand, Qin Sang found that the bracelet was not completely ruined; some residual power remained within. Gathering his spiritual sense, he crashed roughly into the bracelet, erased the previous master's imprint, and forcibly claimed it for his own use.
"Collect!"
Qin Sang flicked his wrist, sending the bracelet into the air, where it spun rapidly. Grayish-white vapors poured from the bracelet, and the evil ghosts wandering outside let out reluctant roars as they were drawn into it one after another.
Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps came from behind, followed by Cultivator Ning's voice: "Senior Mu, Senior Yunqiong, Senior Qin is just ahead..."
"Heard you!"
Mu Yifeng shouted loudly, "Junior Brother Qin, don't let that humanoid cloud beast get away! I'm here to help!"
Qin Sang frowned slightly. Surging spiritual power into the bracelet like mad, he drove the demonic tool with all his might to gather back all the evil ghosts, then waved his hand to recall the Ten Directions Yanluo Banners into his mustard seed bag.
After a moment's hesitation, Qin Sang did not put away the baleful corpse, but instead ordered it to venture deeper ahead, roaming within his range of perception.
Mu Yifeng arrived in the blink of an eye. Having invoked some unknown incantation, his figure resembled a ball of scarlet flame, holding off the demonic energy's corrosion.
Seeing Qin Sang effortlessly suppressing the humanoid cloud beast with his sword qi, making victory merely a matter of time, Mu Yifeng was relieved. He hurriedly channeled his divine blade to assist Qin Sang. "I was worried you couldn't handle these ghost things, Junior Brother Qin, but it seems I worried for nothing."
"Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother Mu."
As they spoke, Yunqiong Sanren and the others arrived right behind him. Qin Sang swept his gaze over them and noticed there were only six people. A cultivator named Kuang Li was missing. He couldn't help but glance at Mu Yifeng.
Mu Yifeng sighed. "Fellow Daoist Kuang Li also encountered a humanoid cloud beast and unfortunately met with disaster. I was too late to save him..."
Qin Sang nodded. While dealing with a humanoid cloud beast was easy for him, for Qi Refinement stage cultivators, it was an utterly terrifying foe. For Ning and Chai to preserve their lives was already very fortunate.
Fortunately, only one person had been lost. They had already gathered eight people; even if Yin Xingge had unfortunately perished, they wouldn't have to worry about being trapped to death here.
"Why did so many humanoid cloud beasts suddenly pop up?"
Qin Sang frowned. "Is there any word on Fellow Daoist Yin?"
"None!"
Mu Yifeng shook his head, then suddenly sent a voice transmission to Qin Sang: "We now have enough hands to activate the astrolabe. What do you think, Junior Brother Qin? Do we save him, or do we leave?"
Chapter 210