Snarls and eerie shrieks echoed right beside their ears.
The party advanced silently through the mountain valley, casting occasional glances upward. On the peaks, yin winds howled, and ghostly silhouettes flickered in dense swarms. Because they had to divert their full strength toward suppressing the spiritual fluctuations of their protective magic tools, they could not afford to use escape arts and were forced to travel on foot.
A river of blood emerged from the mountain's belly, its murmuring waters tainted by the blood miasma and stained a vivid crimson. The river was bound to harbor toxins far more lethal than the miasma itself. Walking along the bank over rugged, jagged stones, everyone picked their way forward with painstaking care, terrified of alerting the specters.
"Once we enter the mountain belly, there is a secret passage whose exit lies directly across from the ghost nest," Kong Xin said. After observing the cave entrance for a moment, he warned the others via voice transmission and gave a sharp wave of his hand, leading the way inside. "Stray ghosts wander into that passage from time to time, but most are solitary and weak. When we run into any, we must all strike together and finish them swiftly—give them no chance to summon their companions."
The others hurried after him.
Once inside the mountain, they found the blood miasma only slightly thinner than outside. Fortunately, none of them were ordinary mortals, and their eyesight alone was enough to make out the path ahead dimly.
The deeper they traveled, the narrower the tunnel became. Jagged stone teeth jutted out from both walls, leaving scarcely any room for a firm footing. Without Kong Xin's command, no one dared to recklessly employ movement techniques, making their progress increasingly arduous.
Just as restlessness was beginning to set in, a fork appeared in the path ahead.
"This way!"
Kong Xin was evidently thoroughly familiar with the area, changing direction without the slightest hesitation.
The party filed in after him. Seeing the path ahead, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This branching passage had no underground river running through it, and though it twisted and turned over uneven ground, it was far easier to traverse than the terrain outside.
Kong Xin led the way, the master and disciple walked in the middle, and Qin Sang and Yunyouzi brought up the rear.
Qin Sang and Yunyouzi had volunteered for the rearguard position. For one, their coordination was the most seamless, and for another, it left them room to maneuver should danger arise up ahead.
At first, dreading an ambush from specters, everyone remained on high alert and moved slowly.
As time passed, however, they had covered roughly half the length of the secret passage according to Kong Xin, yet they had encountered only a few low-level ghost soldiers, which they dispatched with casual ease.
Gradually, the group grew bolder and quickened their pace.
Kong Xin transmitted, "Just ahead is the deepest point of the mountain belly. A massive cavern lies there—so vast that I haven't been able to chart its full extent. It's likely teeming with ghosts, but fortunately, we only need to skirt its edge. Before long, we'll reach another secret passage and make our exit through there."
Before Kong Xin's voice had finished echoing in their minds, the path ahead abruptly vanished into thin air. Only when they drew near did they realize that the passage ended at a low cliff.
Below the precipice lay a sea of blood miasma stretching beyond sight; just as Kong Xin had described, it was an immense subterranean cavern.
"Follow me!"
Kong Xin stepped lightly onto the rocky outcroppings of the cliff face, drifting downward with ease, and the others promptly followed suit.
Before long, their feet met solid ground. Once they confirmed that there was nothing amiss in the surroundings, they proceeded forward along the cliff base.
"Careful!"
Kong Xin suddenly halted and let out a low warning. Clenching the crimson pellet in one hand, he pointed forward with the other. A magic tool shaped like a nine-story pagoda streaked ahead as a beam of radiant light.
The blood miasma churned violently as the palm-sized pagoda expanded to the height of a grown man, hovering upright and motionless in midair. Pure, radiant light cascaded from it, pinning down an evil ghost beneath.
The creature bore a pair of horns on its head, its visage hideous and ferocious.
Even suppressed under the pagoda, the evil ghost thrashed violently and roared with a gaping maw. Fortunately, the pagoda dampened its shrieks, or the noise surely would have alerted more specters.
Even with Kong Xin deploying a magic tool, the beast could not be taken down easily. Its strength was only slightly inferior to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator—by far the strongest adversary they had encountered since entering Wuya Valley.
*Whiz!*
A speck of white light flashed.
The white light was a needle-shaped magic tool, as slender as an ox hair.
To everyone's surprise, this unassuming weapon pierced clean through the evil ghost's body. Working in tandem with Kong Xin's nine-story pagoda, it slew the specter on the spot before wheeling back through the air and returning into the palm of the woman in red.
Upon its death, the evil ghost dissolved into a plume of blood qi that merged back into the miasma.
Kong Xin recalled his nine-story pagoda and cupped his hands to the woman in red. "Many thanks to Fellow Daoist for lending a hand in time."
The woman in red replied indifferently, "Without me, Fellow Daoist Kong could have easily dealt with this beast on his own. I simply didn't wish to waste too much time. For a ghost of this caliber to appear proves this passage isn't as safe as you claimed. You had best hurry and lead the way, Daoist, lest any further mishaps occur."
A sneer touched the woman's lips, clearly displeased with Kong Xin's earlier omissions.
Kong Xin maintained his composure and replied calmly, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. On my previous trips here, the strongest evil ghosts I met were merely at this level. There won't be..."
As though determined to contradict Kong Xin's words, Yunyouzi's expression abruptly changed before he could finish speaking. Jerking his head around to stare behind them, the old Taoist barked, "There are more!"
Qin Sang reacted with lightning speed. Trusting that Yunyouzi would never raise an alarm without cause, he did not hesitate to swing his right palm the moment he heard the warning. A golden light shot from his palm and plunged straight into the blood miasma.
*Swish!*
The Spirit-Binding Cord wound tightly around an evil ghost.
This specter was roughly equal in strength to the one from moments ago. Because Qin Sang was concealing his cultivation and held back his full strength, the Spirit-Binding Cord failed to suppress the beast completely.
Fortunately, Yunyouzi had already made his move, his flying sword slashing out to bisect the evil ghost.
Qin Sang did not even spare a glance for the slain specter. Another ray of black light flew from his palm—a perfectly square black stone that slammed toward the other side with thunderous force.
Only when the Black Dragon Stone struck home did the others realize what had happened, as a plume of blood qi drifted up from beneath the stone and merged into the blood miasma.
That evil ghost had been crushed to death before it could even fully manifest.
After entering Wuya Valley, Qin Sang had retrieved Liang Yan's Black Dragon Stone and Spirit-Binding Cord early on to keep them ready.
The monsters and ghosts of Wuya Valley possessed natural resistance to poison, rendering the Heavenly Poison Gauze of little use, while the Yin-Yang Compass lacked offensive power. By contrast, Liang Yan's two magic tools proved exceedingly handy.
Seeing Qin Sang produce two top-grade magic tools in succession, both possessing extraordinary might, the others looked upon him with altered gazes tinged with faint wariness.
Just then, ripples surged deep within the blood miasma, and several ethereal silhouettes came hurtling toward them.
More evil ghosts had been stirred up by the commotion of the clash.
There were no fewer than a dozen of them, varying in strength. Fortunately, even the strongest among them were only on par with the first three, remaining within the party's capacity to handle.
Displaying their respective techniques, the cultivators slew the evil ghosts one after another. Yet none of them relaxed in the slightest. This was no place to linger; any delay risked triggering a chain reaction that would draw ever more specters to the fray.
Kong Xin hastened his pace, and the others followed close behind, fighting as they retreated. At long last, an opening wide enough for a single person appeared in the stone wall ahead.
Chapter 368