Humanoid Ghosts

Qin Sang had been alert from the start. The instant Yu Daiyue shouted his warning, the ebony sword and the Heavenly Poison Gauze flushed out the entity lurking in the shadows. A beam of sword light suddenly swept through, accompanied by an eerie shriek. Where the sword light passed, an utterly ethereal humanoid shadow emerged, pierced straight through by the ebony sword. It shook violently, then shattered into a burst of flame. As expected, there were fire spirit beasts lying in ambush! Only, unlike the firebirds and winged monkeys, they could not be seen with the naked eye. Instead, they were like ghosts, exceptionally well-concealed. Had the toxic miasma not brushed against it, neither Qin Sang nor Yu Daiyue would have noticed anything at all. In the next moment, the mist ahead churned wildly. Countless humanoid ghosts slowly materialized to block their way, glaring at them with hateful eyes. Because their facial features looked more human, they appeared even more terrifying than the winged monkeys. *Swoosh! Swoosh!...* In the blink of an eye, swarms of humanoid ghosts pounced toward them. Yu Daiyue waved his arm and hurled out a black profound umbrella. The umbrella shone brilliantly, instantly snapping open into a giant black shield to block the front. Astonishingly, those humanoid ghosts completely ignored the shield's presence, effortlessly passing right through the umbrella's blockade! "Not good!" Yu Daiyue cried out in shock. "They can ignore defensive magic tools!" "Break through!" Seeing that Yu Daiyue's profound umbrella was useless, Qin Sang abandoned any thought of summoning a defensive magic tool. With his ebony sword clearing the way, his figure darted forward. From his past experience, the best approach in such a situation was to charge ahead blindly; they could under no circumstances allow themselves to be surrounded. Though the humanoid ghosts possessed bizarre abilities, they were even more fragile than the firebirds; offense could take the place of defense. However, after pushing forward for some time, they still fell into an endless siege. Yu Daiyue seemed to have exhausted his repertoire, roaring again and again in frustration without any recourse, and the pair's progress ground slower and slower. Seeing this, Qin Sang had no choice but to take out his jade ruyi talisman treasure, saying in a low, solemn voice, "Senior Brother Yu, protect me..." ... Vision instantly plunged into darkness. Qin Sang felt his body grow light, then abruptly sink until his feet planted on solid ground. When he opened his eyes again, the pervasive mist was gone, replaced before him by a brilliantly bright expanse. *Is this the ancient immortal's abandoned abode?* Having finally passed the trials, Qin Sang breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He stood beneath a massive shadow, instinctively surveying his surroundings with vigilant eyes, before tilting his head up to stare at an exceptionally tall stone stele for a long while. Just like the ancient stele at the entrance, it was jet-black all over, scarred and weathered by the passage of time, yet bore no writing or engravings. It offered no clues whatsoever to deduce the origin of this ancient immortal's abandoned abode. Qin Sang detected the lingering traces of several auras. It seemed quite a few people had entered the ancient immortal's abandoned abode ahead of them. Some appeared to have meditated beneath the stele for a brief time to recover their breath, though not a soul was in sight now. No traces of danger had yet been detected. The abandoned abode appeared remarkably serene, unplagued by powerful demon beasts, and even more fortunately, free from swarms of fire spirit beasts blotting out the sky. Only then did Qin Sang's tension ease slightly as he looked out into the distance. The clear sky was vast and cloudless, with virtually no mist to obscure vision. As far as the eye could see, the boundaries of the ancient cultivator's abandoned abode remained nowhere in sight. This ancient cultivator's abandoned abode was far larger than they had imagined. Endless mountains rolled and undulated. In the distance, the faint silhouettes of halls and dwellings could be seen atop several peaks. Qin Sang even spotted an escape light shooting out from a stone hall before vanishing deep into the mountains. That was someone who had arrived before them. He wondered how many treasures that person had obtained. This space seemed not merely an ancient cultivator's abandoned cave abode, but more like the headquarters of an ancient sect or a shared settlement of many ancient cultivators. The stone stele appeared to be the center of the entire realm, expanding boundlessly in all directions. However, to the far west stood four majestic peaks like heavenly pillars, piercing straight into the clouds. They were the most prominent and unique features of the abandoned abode, serving as unmistakable landmarks. That was very likely the core forbidden area of the ancient immortal's abandoned abode! Of the four strikingly similar peaks, the true ancient cultivator's cave dwelling might only lie on one of them, with the rest serving as decoys. Such deceptive arrangements, akin to decoy tombs, were not uncommon. Of course, it was also possible that all four held something, but the distance was too great to discern what lay upon them from here. Such a place was not somewhere Foundation Establishment realm cultivators like them could barge into recklessly. Qin Sang merely speculated in his mind before withdrawing his gaze, having no intention of braving the danger himself. What Qin Sang cared more about was what he could accomplish. He noticed that the temperature in the abandoned abode was far higher than he had imagined—scorching hot to the point where mortals would find it difficult to survive in such an environment. He twitched his nose and immediately caught an odd, pungent smell. Frowning slightly, he noticed that the plant life in the abandoned abode was also exceedingly strange. Everywhere he looked were ordinary trees and weeds. Trees of varying heights formed patches of primeval dense forest—the tallest rivaling the mountains, the shortest resembling clusters of shrubs—stretching alongside boundless wild grass. Yet all were equally withered. Not a hint of greenery could be seen; the landscape was awash in a sea of withered yellow. A gentle breeze swept past, rustling the dry grass and highlighting the utter desolation. Though contorted in shape and covered in cracked bark, seemingly devoid of any vitality, these plants were still tenaciously alive, carpeting the abandoned abode in withered yellow. *Is this scenery caused by magma flowing beneath the earth?* Qin Sang thought to himself. During the trials, he had witnessed firsthand the immense power of the lava river. Beneath the abandoned abode lay what was likely an endless expanse of magma that surged into that lava river, which had then been divided into two separate spaces across the stele through some sort of restriction. This lava river would flow all the way beyond the ancient immortal's abandoned abode and connect to the outside world, though there was no telling where it surfaced in reality. After all, so-called secret realms and abandoned abodes were actually just spaces in the real world sealed off by mighty cultivators using formations or restrictions to serve as hidden sanctuaries; they were not small worlds created out of thin air. The immense divine power required to open a minor world existed only in legends. Their discovering the entrance to the abandoned abode here merely indicated that its master had placed the entrance in this location. The actual physical site of the abode might be right here, or it might be elsewhere. While Qin Sang pondered to himself, Yu Daiyue was also looking all around with a contemplative look, seemingly deliberating which direction to take. Aside from the west, the other three directions seemed much the same. After thinking for a moment, Yu Daiyue turned to Qin Sang and asked, "Junior Brother Qin, which direction have you decided to head in? How about we continue to team up to hunt for treasures?" Qin Sang stood a little distance away from Yu Daiyue. He gently shook his head and replied, "Senior Brother Yu, I've expended a great deal of spiritual power. Since it is reasonably safe here, I'd like to replenish my sea of qi before setting off. I won't hold you back, Senior Brother." In order to break through the obstruction of the humanoid ghosts, Qin Sang had used the jade ruyi talisman treasure once. Hidden dangers were very likely lurking within the deceptively calm abandoned abode, and he had no desire to blunder about recklessly in his current condition.