Yu Xian was capable of remotely controlling the blood servants he enslaved.
Earlier, the more he looked at the Ghost-Faced Man's mask, the more familiar it seemed. On a whim, he had tried to establish contact with Feiliqi, whose horns were an exact match for the ones on the mask.
When he found himself unable to reach Feiliqi, he deduced that the bullman had likely met with foul play, and that the culprit was the Ghost-Faced Man standing right in front of him.
Working off that premise, he formed a few hypotheses regarding the Ghost-Faced Man's abilities. By probing him with words, he confirmed that the man had indeed been influenced by Feiliqi's most prominent trait.
Unfortunately, the Ghost-Faced Man was a Star Rank powerhouse after all.
Even though the mask had been tainted by Feiliqi, he was merely influenced rather than bound in absolute fealty to Yu Xian.
The instant Yu Xian sent the droplet of blood into the Ghost-Faced Man's mouth, he immediately merged with Little Nora and retreated dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, hovering in midair just beyond the edge of the cliff.
His instincts proved dead on. The very next second, the right side of the Ghost-Faced Man's body burst open, and dense clusters of fists erupted from his arm like an explosion, rapidly swelling as they multiplied.
"I almost fell into your trap, Master!"
The Ghost-Faced Man's voice echoed in overlapping cadences—male and female, young and old alike.
With an enraged roar, countless fists whipped through a wide arc before hurtling toward Yu Xian. As they struck, the fists multiplied wildly, blotting out the sky as they bombarded everything straight ahead.
Yu Xian teleported away, only to see the ground before the cliff struck square by the blow.
Rumble!
A deafening explosion rang out from the epicenter as if dozens of nuclear warheads had detonated at once. Air currents ruptured violently, sending frantic tremors through the earth.
The scavengers who had still been tussling over the cyborg's parts had no time to flee. The moment they realized what was happening, they were engulfed by the shockwave. Those with weaker defenses were instantly vaporized into ash, while the hardier fighters were sent sailing through the air, screaming in agony as they flew.
The power of that punch was terrifying. What was worse, the shockwave was mere collateral damage; the fists themselves were the true nightmare.
"Big Bro, this guy is way too tough! How about we haul ass and get out of here?" Seeing the horrific destruction wrought by the Ghost-Faced Man's punch, Little Nora's eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and he nervously offered a retreat.
Yu Xian stared at the Ghost-Faced Man, a sudden smile playing on his lips as he replied earnestly, "Quite the opposite. Right now, running away is the one thing we can't do!"
A thief could bide his time forever, but no guard could stay vigilant day in and day out.
Now that bad blood was drawn, the only sensible move was to beat him to death right on the spot.
He had no desire to be stalked by a Star Rank expert, forced to stay on guard against ambushes for the rest of his days.
Especially against an enemy with such bizarre abilities—if the Ghost-Faced Man ambushed him at a crucial juncture later on, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Big Bro, can we even beat him?" Little Nora asked, brimming with worry.
Yu Xian shot straight up into the sky. Flapping the wings on his back, he fired countless Adamantine Feathers down at the Ghost-Faced Man and laughed. "Whether we can beat him or not, we'll only know once we try!"
On the ground below, the Ghost-Faced Man's body abruptly contracted. It wasn't his swollen arms retracting; rather, his entire torso collapsed inward toward the fists. Yet because of this bizarre maneuver, he effortlessly evaded the volley of Adamantine Feathers.
Countless feathers blasted into the cliff face, blowing the protruding rock ledge to smithereens. Then, like a school of golden fish, all the Adamantine Feathers swerved sharply and flew straight back to the wings on Yu Xian's back.
From the Ghost-Faced Man's opening strike to Yu Xian's counterattack, barely thirty seconds had passed. The shockwave from the initial punch was still tearing through the distant treeline.
Seeing his attack miss, Yu Xian raised his hand without missing a beat. A single golden feather spun in his palm, and crimson energy coated the surface, transforming it into a spiraling lance in the span of a breath.
"Go!"
Targeting the Ghost-Faced Man on the ground, Yu Xian hurled the spiraling lance down with full force.
Boom!
The Ghost-Faced Man's gargantuan body twisted and contracted. One of his fists, fitted with the mask, became his head. The moment he looked up, he found the tip of the spiraling lance already right in front of him.
Taking the heavy blow straight to the face, the colossal energy packed inside the spiraling lance detonated instantly.
At the same time, the Adamantine Feather hidden within slammed directly into the mask. The immense kinetic impact hammered the Ghost-Faced Man's head into the ground, causing the earth to cave inward and sending violent tremors through this small world fragment.
The spiraling lance itself couldn't pierce the Ghost-Faced Man, but the Adamantine Feather inside certainly could.
With a resounding crash, the golden feather flew out of the crater alongside the mask, which now bore a fresh gash across the brow.
Beneath the crater, a terrifying plume of black qi erupted. A mass of pitch-black liquid surged forth, merging seamlessly with the mask once more. In the next instant, dense clusters of black spikes erupted from behind the mask, unleashing an all-encompassing assault aimed at every square inch of Yu Xian's flesh.
With the spikes reflected in his pupils, Yu Xian triggered his teleportation at the final millisecond. He materialized at the Ghost-Faced Man's flank, holding an Adamantine Feather cloaked in both the power of True Intent and True Crimson Power, and lopped off the man's head in a flash.
However, the Ghost-Faced Man was clearly no ordinary living creature, behaving more like an elemental lifeform. The moment his head came off, his lower body morphed into spikes that stabbed toward Yu Xian. As Yu Xian dodged, the spikes extended downward, rejoining the severed head in a heartbeat.
Simultaneously, a new fist rapidly sprouted from his headless neck, lunging once more at the retreating Yu Xian. Yu Xian swung his Adamantine Feather, cleaving the fist apart, but to his surprise, it split into two and closed in from both sides in a pincer attack. Left with no choice, Yu Xian had to teleport further back.
"Big Bro, I know what race he belongs to! He's a Yellow Springs water ghost! You have to use special fluids like virgin boy urine or rooster blood to deal real damage to him!" Little Nora poked his head out from Yu Xian's shoulder again, blurting out the information as fast as he could.
Yu Xian's expression soured. "Does my pee count as virgin boy urine?"
"Big Bro, you already lost your innate yang! Of course it doesn't count!" Little Nora replied matter-of-factly.
Yu Xian glanced at the distant Ghost-Faced Man, who was reforming into human shape, and frowned. "Little Nora, is there anything else besides virgin boy urine and rooster blood? What about fire or sunlight?"
Reason dictated that if a Yellow Springs water ghost was vulnerable to virgin boy urine and rooster blood, it ought to fear attacks of sunlight and flame. After all, virgin boy urine drew upon a boy's innate yang energy, while rooster blood drew upon the supreme yang essence of roosters.
"Big Bro, Yellow Springs water ghosts aren't afraid of the sun or fire," Little Nora flatly dashed his hopes.
Yu Xian couldn't help but gripe, "Then why on earth are they afraid of virgin boy urine and rooster blood?"
"How should I know? That's just the lore!" Little Nora cried innocently.
Backing away, Yu Xian sighed helplessly. "Then according to the lore, what else is a Yellow Springs water ghost weak against? Don't tell me it's just those two?"
Since that was the lore of the world, he had no room to argue; he could only play by the rules.
Every realm had its own laws. For instance, in the true Abyss, his bubble ability couldn't be used at all, which was the entire reason he had bid farewell to everyone he knew before setting out.
Once he stepped into the true Abyss, he wouldn't be able to return to Earth at will.
Those were the rules of the Abyss, or rather, the Abyss's inherent setting.
Fortunately, this place was not yet the true Abyss, but rather a special pocket dimension akin to the world where the Martial Ultimate Zombie King had resided. His bubbles still worked, which meant he retained the ability to slip back to Earth at any moment.
Having an escape route was the sole reason he possessed the confidence to engage the Ghost-Faced Man here. Otherwise, with the Ancient Cosmos Dragon lurking nearby, he would have fled long ago.
He was never the sort of person to leave himself without a way out.
Hearing Yu Xian's question, Little Nora hurried to reply, "Big Bro, Yellow Springs water ghosts are also weak against black dog blood, black donkey blood, and black bear blood!"
"Black bear blood!"
Yu Xian's eyes lit up the moment the words left Little Nora's mouth.
He finally knew how to bring down the Ghost-Faced Man.
Chapter 215