"To think that when we met again, not only would you be able to see through to my true form, but your strength would also be several times greater than back then."
Forced backward, the dark shadow swayed slightly before revealing its true form.
The face—one once very familiar to Qin Sang—revealed its identity: it was none other than the Flying Yaksha he had lost.
Yet from its mouth came an unfamiliar voice, hoarse and deep. Its words sounded labored, as if it had not spoken for a very long time.
Previously, the Flying Yaksha possessed no independent consciousness. Its expression had been wooden, obeying only its master's commands, its every action accompanied by bloodshed and slaughter.
Now, it had changed.
Though corpse qi still billowed from it, instantly revealing its nature as a refined corpse, its expression was far livelier than before. Its black irises turned slightly, fixing Qin Sang with an eerie stare.
It looked like a living, breathing person.
Qin Sang's pupils constricted. He had known this ghost creature had surely developed sentience, but he had not expected its intelligence to be so high, no different from an ordinary person's.
Was it naturally like this, or had the Flying Yaksha's memories not completely vanished and been assimilated by the creature?
What shocked Qin Sang even more was that before it was taken away, the Flying Yaksha's cultivation had only been equivalent to that of an early Core Formation stage cultivator. Yet the strength it had displayed in their brief clash just now was not inferior to his own!
"Who are you?" Qin Sang demanded coldly.
His hands did not hesitate in the slightest. Reaching out, he recalled the ebony sword and lightly flicked his fingers.
The ebony sword spun rapidly in midair, unleashing countless bursts of sword qi and sword light that merged into a gleaming sword wheel, instantly obliterating the swirling bone dust that filled the air.
Descending from above, the sword wheel spread out in all directions, bearing down to suppress the Flying Yaksha.
Against the ghost creature that had stolen his Flying Yaksha, he showed not the slightest mercy, determined to slay it as quickly as possible before it could prepare itself and spawn unforeseen complications.
A look of confusion appeared on the Flying Yaksha's face. It murmured faintly, "Yes... who am I... I cannot remember! In my former name... there seemed to be the character Bai... Why don't you just call me Bai?"
As it answered Qin Sang, the sword wheel bloomed like an exotic blossom, bursting into full, brilliant radiance.
There was no hint of fear in Bai's eyes. Raising its head slightly toward the sword wheel, it reached forward with a ghostly hand. The motion seemed slow yet was extraordinarily swift, abruptly turning into countless ghostly claw phantoms.
In an instant, the pulverized bone dust between them was swept clean, and the surrounding space was severed in two.
One half was the sword wheel, its momentum surging like a rainbow, all-conquering and indestructible.
The other half was a murky darkness permeated by thick corpse qi, where the outlines of the ghost claws could barely be discerned—or perhaps the entire sky was filled with them—its power not the least bit inferior to the sword wheel.
"My flesh and bone rotted away, ground into dust at some forgotten time... My memories withered and decayed just like my origin soul, leaving only this lonely phantom trapped in this patch of heaven and earth... bewildered, persevering... for an obsession that is nearly impossible to fulfill. Perhaps after another thousand or ten thousand years, even my spirit would have perished entirely. I must thank you for sending me this physical vessel, finally granting me a glimmer of hope."
Bai seemed to be growing accustomed to speaking. Its pace quickened, its pronunciation becoming clearer and more fluent. It seemed very eager to speak, appearing to converse with Qin Sang while simultaneously talking to itself, its words profound and enigmatic, utterly baffling to comprehend.
The ghostly hand stirred the wind and clouds, multiplying into tens of thousands of claws to face the sword wheel's strike head-on with absolute ferocity.
Within the sword wheel, strands of sword qi flickered in and out of existence, some shredded by the ghost claws while other claws were hacked to pieces by the sword qi.
Yet the true sword light produced by sword light differentiation was not only unaffected by the ghost claws, but also grew ever more dazzling. Acting as the framework supporting the sword wheel, it remained exceptionally sharp, mincing through the sea of claw shadows.
Thunderous rumbles echoed endlessly.
In the blink of an eye, thirty percent of the myriad claw phantoms were shattered by the sword wheel. Seeing this, a cold snort escaped Bai's throat.
*Whoosh!*
In a flash, the claw phantoms suddenly retracted inward, merging back into Bai's arm.
At the same time, the corpse qi withdrew entirely, revealing an arm as black as dark iron. As its fingers flexed, its knuckles rang with the clanging sound of striking metal, as though forged purely of iron and stone.
The sword wheel was now bearing down right before it.
Bai's eyes shifted. Curling its fingers into a loose fist, it thrust a palm straight toward the center of the sword wheel. A colossal ghost claw phantom easily ripped through the sword qi, reaching deep inside the wheel.
*Boom!*
The might of this ghostly claw phantom far surpassed the earlier illusions. Not only was it not severed by the sword wheel, but it also stirred violently within, throwing the sword wheel into a momentary stall and causing it to show signs of instability.
Qin Sang's expression darkened. He formed an incantation gesture, and the sword wheel detonated with a roar. Its blindingly radiant sword brilliance coalesced into a thick beam of light that blasted the ghost claw away, piercing toward Bai's true form with astonishing speed.
Seeing this, Bai's gaze hardened, and its figure retreated explosively. Even so, it was not as fast as the pillar of light and was ultimately swallowed by the brilliance.
Carrying the full might of the sword wheel, the light pillar's aftershocks surged far into the distance before dissipating. Several mountains of bone behind Bai were pierced straight through, leaving behind a row of gaping holes.
*Clang!*
As the beam of light dispersed, an unexpected scene unfolded.
Bai stood completely unharmed. Its arm remained raised in front of it, thick corpse qi surging from its palm to form a sturdy barrier that had forcefully halted the ebony sword's true body.
The ebony sword trembled, sword brilliance waxing and waning, unable to pierce through the corpse qi. Seeing this, Qin Sang had no choice but to recall the weapon, his gaze toward Bai growing noticeably graver.
Only now had the two truly exchanged blows. Neither had suffered a disadvantage, but it was clear that defeating the other would be far from easy.
"Your strength is decent, but if you wish to suppress me, it is not enough," Bai remarked indifferently.
"Is that so?" Qin Sang gave a cold snort. The wings on his back flapped, and the Heavenly Corpse Coffin detached from his body, flying into midair.
It rapidly transformed amidst a flurry of crisp clicking sounds. The coffin boards split into individual plates of armor that tightly adhered to the incarnation's body, forming a full suit of mail.
The next moment, the incarnation's eyelids twitched, and its eyes snapped open—crimson as blood, carrying a hint of madness and bloodlust in the depths of its pupils that inspired dread in anyone who beheld them.
Simultaneously, Qin Sang stared straight into the incarnation's eyes, secretly channeling a secret technique to forcefully suppress the demonic thoughts threatening to lash back at him.
The blood-red hue in the incarnation's eyes gradually receded, and it silently took its place behind Qin Sang.
Sensing the incarnation's aura, a strange look flashed across Bai's dark pupils, and its expression turned solemn. "Your methods truly are endless. You even have an external incarnation whose strength is not inferior to your true self."
Hearing this, Qin Sang gave Bai a deep look. The creature had actually seen through the incarnation's identity at a single glance.
"What if you include him?" Qin Sang snorted coldly, commanding the incarnation to attack.
Flanking from the left and right, he and the external incarnation pounced toward Bai in tandem.
Qin Sang once again drove the ebony sword to manifest the sword wheel, its momentum a notch fiercer than before.
Not to be outdone, the external incarnation—clad in the armor—clutched the blood sword in his hand.
This blood sword suited the external incarnation surprisingly well.
When Qin Sang had helped the incarnation refine the blood sword, he had examined it thoroughly and found no hidden marks left behind by anyone else.
Through soul searching, he had also learned the origins of the blood sword: it had been acquired by the youth surnamed Fang by chance rather than bestowed by the Old Ancestor of Black Snake Mountain. Thus, Qin Sang had left it for the incarnation to use as a weapon.
The incarnation's cultivation had reached the peak of the Core Formation stage, but only by wielding a top-grade magic treasure could it truly unleash its full strength.
Chapter 933