At the Qilin headquarters.
Xiong Da lay sprawled on the ground asleep, looking like a mound of flesh.
Not far from him were the bubbles left behind by Yu Xian. Yu Xian had configured all of them with automated teleportation functions. Their surfaces were numbered from 1 to 100, each corresponding to a specific destination.
Xiong Da was nominally the security guard for the bubbles, but in practice, he was the group's pampered mascot. Whenever members of Qilin passed through the bubbles, they brought him food, causing him to grow even fatter without realizing it.
Just then, another bubble suddenly emerged from one of the teleportation bubbles. A furry arm emerged from inside, clutching a feather, and jabbed it violently right into Xiong Da's rear. Blood spurted out instantly.
"Owwooo!"
Xiong Da let out a miserable yelp and bounced to his feet, clutching his backside.
He whipped around to look, but there was nothing there. Suspicious and bewildered, he scanned the surroundings, his head overflowing with question marks.
***
Meanwhile, in the Abyss, the battle between Yu Xian and the Ghost-Faced Man raged on.
The Ghost-Faced Man attacked frantically. His body possessed no fixed form whatsoever; had Yu Xian not possessed spatial abilities, he never would have been able to parry the onslaught.
His attacks were of a type entirely impossible for a human to defend against. For instance, when he threw a punch and Yu Xian blocked it with one hand, a new arm could branch out from his thumb to continue the assault. Even if Yu Xian blocked with his other hand, another arm could split off and strike again.
Moreover, the process was lightning fast—faster even than a bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, a strike would land.
Though Yu Xian had similar capabilities—such as the myriad transformations granted by the Pangu Transmutation Divine Ability—the problem was that he could not morph nearly as fast. That disparity in speed meant shifting shapes would only expose more vulnerabilities.
He had considered manifesting a few extra arms to duel the Ghost-Faced Man, but doing so was practically pointless. He had never trained to fight that way; even if he sprouted new arms, he would be unaccustomed to using them, which would only degrade his combat effectiveness.
"Big Brother, I got the black bear blood!"
Just then, Little Nora popped her head out from Yu Xian's shoulder once more, shouting excitedly.
Yu Xian dodged a deadly spike from the Ghost-Faced Man and asked, "Did you communicate properly with Xiong Da?"
"He was sleeping. I felt bad waking him up," Little Nora said, scratching the back of her head with a shamefaced expression.
Yu Xian was suddenly overcome by a bad premonition. He hastily pressed, "Did you at least go easy on him?"
"Don't worry, Big Brother! I stabbed his butt. There's plenty of meat back there, so it's definitely fine!" Little Nora nodded vigorously.
The corners of Yu Xian's mouth twitched slightly. He could not shake the feeling that his unruly little kid had definitely caused trouble. But speaking of unruly kids, Xiong Da was an actual bear after all, so he would surely choose to forgive them...
He did not dwell on it; after all, they were still in the middle of a battle.
Although their clash had evolved into the Ghost-Faced Man attacking relentlessly while Yu Xian dodged continuously to conserve energy, evasion took a toll as well.
Given the Ghost-Faced Man's speed, a thousand meters was like a single small step for an ordinary person. If Yu Xian failed to teleport for even a brief moment, the man could close in before him in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, the creature appeared before Yu Xian at blistering speed, its five razor-sharp fingers thrusting straight toward Yu Xian's head.
Perhaps because Yu Xian had done nothing but dodge until now, the Ghost-Faced Man never anticipated a sudden counterattack. In an instant, Yu Xian teleported behind him, gripping an Adamantine Feather, and cleaved his head clean off.
A dense thicket of spikes burst out instantly. In that moment, the Ghost-Faced Man's body resembled a sea urchin, indiscriminately attacking everything in the vicinity.
Fortunately, Yu Xian was prepared. Rather than retreating, he used his wings as a shield to block the incoming spikes, simultaneously dousing the severed head with a massive splash of black bear blood.
He knew that the creature's head was not truly a head.
Strictly speaking, the Ghost-Faced Man possessed no head at all. He was a creature akin to a slime or a mud monster; any part of him could serve as a head.
However, Yu Xian had never been targeting the Ghost-Faced Man's head to begin with—he was aiming for his Star Divine Artifact.
As a deluge of black bear blood splashed over the ghost mask, the black liquid clinging to it let out a shriek of agony and rapidly peeled away from the mask.
Yu Xian teleported directly above the ghost mask, instantly encasing it within a bubble. At the same time, he channeled all the black bear blood into the bubble, submerging the mask completely in the blood in the blink of an eye.
Looking at the pool of black bear blood inside the bubble, Yu Xian's eyelid twitched. Just how deep of a cut had Little Nora slashed across Xiong Da's rear to collect this much blood all at once?
"Give it back to me!"
Sure enough, established rules were absolute, and their effects were terrifyingly potent.
The moment the Ghost-Faced Man lost his connection to the ghost mask, his form shifted wildly. Countless heads bulged from the liquid, roaring in fury at Yu Xian.
Yet Yu Xian merely smiled. Dipping his hands in black bear blood, he chuckled. "You want it? Come and get it!"
With that, he closed the distance in a flash, his fists raining down mercilessly on the Ghost-Faced Man. Deprived of the ghost mask's empowerment, the creature had lost more than half of its strength and was utterly powerless to fight back.
After a few feeble struggles, the fight turned into a one-sided beatdown. Yu Xian continuously applied black bear blood as he struck, making the Ghost-Faced Man's body violently shudder. Suddenly, a fist from Yu Xian sent a soul tumbling out of the black liquid. The soul perished the instant it was exposed to light, disintegrating into ash amid shrill screams.
"That's the Yellow Springs water ghost!" Little Nora cheered, bouncing excitedly on Yu Xian's shoulder as she yelled.
"Take this, and this, and this!"
Seeing that his strikes were effective, Yu Xian attacked with both fists. More and more souls were pummeled out of the black liquid, dispersing into smoke almost instantly.
As more souls were expelled, the hideous, murky black liquid began turning clearer and clearer.
Yu Xian threw another punch, driving out the very last soul—that of an emaciated old crone. She howled toward the sky, holding out for a few moments before perishing entirely.
Yu Xian launched yet another punch, but halted just before the blow landed.
With the final soul expelled, the Ghost-Faced Man before him had transformed into a little girl who appeared no older than six.
She was curled into a ball, her slanted brows knitted tightly, her chubby face wearing an aggrieved, fragile expression that made her look utterly defenseless.
Yu Xian had intended to strike, but seeing this, he instinctively uncurled his fist into a flicking forefinger. The little girl's cheek jiggled soft and bouncy against his touch.
The moment he touched her cheek, a stream of information flowed into his mind.
The little girl was named Huangquan, an innate sacred spirit birthed from the River Wangchuan. She had come into being within the Underworld of a certain realm.
Though born of Wangchuan, she was innocent and kind. Sheltered by her mother, Wangchuan, she had spent countless peaceful years there. Then, one day, she noticed an old woman clutching desperately to a stalk of grass by the riverbank, unwilling to let go. Out of the kindness of her heart, Huangquan went over to help her up.
That single act of kindness brought disaster.
The old crone was in fact a malicious ghost unwilling to accept death. Through feigned helplessness and sweet words, she deceived Huangquan into trusting her, ultimately using Huangquan's body to return to the mortal realm.
Later, the old crone manipulated Huangquan further with honeyed words, asking why, if she had the power to help people, she wouldn't help more.
In the end, a horde of malicious ghosts usurped Huangquan's vessel, gradually overwhelming and suppressing her true self.
Thus, the Yellow Springs water ghost was born, wreaking havoc upon the world. Huangquan had watched helplessly, unable to resist because the malicious spirits within her body were too numerous; she had long since lost control of her own form.
Having witnessed the little girl's ordeal, Yu Xian could not help but feel pity for her. It was a classic tale of the farmer and the snake—kindness met with betrayal.
Fortunately, it was finally over.
He gently embraced the trembling little Huangquan, feeling both helpless and heartbroken. "All right, I know none of this was your fault. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."
"Cross your heart?"
Little Huangquan opened her eyes timidly, gazing at Yu Xian as she whispered in a Sichuan accent.
Well now.
Turns out little Huangquan spoke the Sichuan dialect, to boot.
Chapter 216