Before Zhao Po could recover from his shock, all four felt a vast, chilling surge of spiritual energy rise from the bottom of the pool.
Entangled in water weeds and dripping wet all over, a malevolent ghost flew out. It glared at Lu Yang, its icy gaze tinged with a hint of wariness.
"Good, good, good! Learning the Universe in the Sleeve at such a young age—as expected of the Great Xia Dynasty, a land blessed with bountiful treasures and exceptional talents! Truly an astounding genius!" With the ghastly pallor of a corpse, the drowned ghost stared fixedly at Lu Yang, deeming him the greatest threat.
There were no ripples of a magical treasure, which meant it had to be a spatial technique. Using one's sleeve to absorb an entire pool of water could only be the Universe in the Sleeve!
To master such an advanced technique at the Golden Core stage—what a peerless genius!
Lu Yang narrowed his eyes slightly and barked, "Oh? From the sound of it, you aren't a native ghost of Great Xia? Where did you come from, and why did you appear in Hanshui City?"
The drowned ghost sneered, paying no heed to Lu Yang's interrogation. "Why should I tell you?"
These little brats before him might have a knack for spells, but an entire major realm separated them. What made them think they could defeat him?
They had no sense of perspective.
With that, the drowned ghost turned and bolted.
What a joke. If he could run, why fight?
"Thinking of running? Taste my fist!"
Meng Jingzhou struck first, unleashing the Arhat Fist. Buddhist chants reverberated as Pure Yang True Fire swirled and surged across the surface of his fist.
"So hot!" The drowned ghost hadn't expected Meng Jingzhou to be this fast. Caught off guard, he took a direct blow. Buddhist techniques and Pure Yang True Fire were both premier counters to evil spirits; stacked together, the drowned ghost couldn't block it at all!
"Exerting Nascent Soul combat power at the Golden Core stage... and this technique... You're not from the Corpse Driving Sect!" Underestimating his opponents had cost the drowned ghost the upper hand.
"It seems I won't be leaving today without getting rid of you little bastards!" The drowned ghost gnashed his teeth. He had wanted to avoid trouble, but now he had no choice.
"Hmph! Drowning a mortal in a washbasin—and an evil ghost like you still wants to escape?"
"Damn it! What does me drowning a mortal have to do with you? You Great Xia cultivators are truly annoying!" the drowned ghost cursed. A body of water was his home turf, but that home turf had already been taken away by Lu Yang. Under these circumstances, he didn't want to fight.
Since he couldn't leave now, the only choice was to brawl!
"Waters Like an Abyss!"
An inky expanse of water spread from beneath the drowned ghost's feet. Viscous as blood, it surged to the feet of the four within the blink of an eye.
A bone-chilling cold traveled from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads, requiring tremendous effort just to move. Worse still, upon contact with the inky water, their breathing grew labored, as if they were suffocating.
At the Golden Core stage, cultivators achieved internal circulation and had no need to breathe, so there shouldn't have been any feeling of suffocation. Yet this inky water was capable of drowning them all.
Lu Yang pressed his index and middle fingers together and roared, "Break!"
The inky water receded, and everyone snapped back to their senses.
Just now hadn't been reality, but an illusion—a trick frequently employed by the drowned ghost. And Lu Yang's cultivation technique happened to be the perfect counter to illusions!
With the illusion shattered, boundless water weeds surged forward to entangle everyone. This had been how the drowned ghost died by drowning, and now it had become one of his abilities.
"Sweep!" Lu Yang stabbed his Green Blade Sword into the ground. Endless sword qi rippled across the earth, severing the roots of the water weeds.
"Together! Slash Formula!"
"Arhat Fist!"
"Domineering Barbarian King Fist!"
All three attacked at once. The drowned ghost swayed slightly, leaving behind an afterimage while his true body instantly appeared behind Man Gu. A strand of water weed materialized in his hand and wound around Man Gu's neck.
This kid looked simple and honest; he ought to be the easiest to deal with.
Without even looking back, Man Gu snapped his head backward with tremendous force. The impact left the drowned ghost dazed and disoriented, forcing him to let go of the water weed.
The three and the ghost clashed once more. Watching the three peerless geniuses besiege a Nascent Soul-level evil ghost, Zhao Po had no idea where he could even chip in to help.
The battle before him was no longer something he could intervene in; this was a fight on the level of the Nascent Soul stage.
*Didn't we agree we were all at the Golden Core stage?* Zhao Po felt as though he had cultivated a fake Golden Core.
"Arhat Fist!" Lu Yang also unleashed the Arhat Fist, imbued with Three-Flavor True Fire.
The drowned ghost was prepared this time and dodged repeatedly. However, Lu Yang paired his punches with Shrinking the Earth, burrowing in and out of the ground to catch him off guard, eventually landing a blow squarely on the ghost's shoulder.
Before he could even register the pain from the True Fire and the fist technique, the drowned ghost noticed something far more horrifying.
"My hair!"
The drowned ghost's hair had hung in sodden, distinct clumps—a unique feature of being waterlogged. Now, under the influence of the Arhat Fist, it was falling out in clumps, completely unstoppable.
"Oh? It actually works on ghosts too?" Lu Yang was slightly surprised as well. He had simply intended to use a Buddhist technique to suppress the evil spirit, never expecting it would make the ghost lose its hair.
"Continuous Eighteen Hammers!" Man Gu pulled out his massive iron hammer. While blasting the "Sayings of the Sage," he frantically hammered away at the drowned ghost.
"Are you fucking kidding me? A Confucian cultivator?!" Feeling the noble upright qi radiating from the massive iron hammer, the drowned ghost's expression shifted drastically.
Prolonged study of Confucian classics could nurture a gentleman's righteous energy. Although Man Gu's learning progress was remarkably sluggish, his attitude was commendable, and long periods of study had indeed granted him noble upright qi.
The attacks of Lu Yang's trio were brimming with yang energy, causing the lingering yin energy above the pool to grow thinner and thinner. If this continued, they might disperse the accumulated yin energy altogether!
The drowned ghost was furious. He had gone through great trouble to find such a wonderful spot, only for it to be ruined by these three. Enraged, he yelled, "You... *cough*... don't... *cough*... push me... *cough*... Stop hitting! I surrender!"
In a one-on-one fight, Lu Yang would have used his Invincible Core to speed things along. But in a three-on-one battle, it was an absolute steamroll, requiring no use of the Invincible Core at all.
The drowned ghost sprawled on the ground, having lost all desire to live.
Arhat Fist, True Fire, noble upright qi... The drowned ghost wondered if he had forgotten to check the almanac before heading out today. There were only so many methods in the world that countered evil spirits, and he had run into every single one of them.
Deprived of his home-field advantage, pitted against specialized exorcism techniques, and facing geniuses who fought across realms—under these circumstances, he would have needed a miracle to win!
"We won just like that?" Zhao Po stepped forward with his living corpse, still in a daze. The battle had started and finished so quickly that he hadn't even caught up with the rhythm.
Zhao Po's talent wasn't weak, but compared to Lu Yang's trio, he was a step behind, and their experiences differed by an immense gulf.
Although Zhao Po frequently roamed the martial world and had seen plenty of worldly affairs, his experiences seemed rather thin compared to Lu Yang and the others, who casually mingled with demonic cults, constantly challenged higher realms, and acted utterly recklessly with their lives.
Lu Yang pulled out a Soul Expelling and Scattering Talisman, frightening the drowned ghost into scrambling backward.
"Wait, wait! Whatever I did, my crimes don't warrant this!"
Unmoved, Lu Yang didn't stop his movements. "You've drowned a person, and you still have the nerve to say your crimes don't warrant this?"
"It's fake! It's all fake! That person isn't dead! If you don't believe me, look at the bottom of the pool—she's alive and well!" the drowned ghost shrieked in terror.
Lu Yang leaned over and looked down. Sure enough, there was a living woman below. It seemed the living corpse had jumped to conclusions earlier and mistakenly assumed she was dead.
Extending his spiritual energy, Lu Yang formed a giant hand, brought the woman up, and set her down beside the drowned ghost.
"Well then, explain. What's going on here?"
Chapter 425