Even Ghosts Have Feelings

The moment the Dwarf Ghost leaped into the air, a streak of black light shot straight toward the Green-faced Female Ghost below.

Already the weaker of the two, the Green-faced Female Ghost writhed under the blinding light. She was about to flee upon a gust of Yin wind when the deflected Soul Piercing Awl struck again, impaling her from behind.

The fierce, baleful energy within the Soul Piercing Awl erupted like a sharp sword, boring straight into her spectral body.

"Woo!" The Green-faced Female Ghost let out a piercing, agonized shriek.

Right then, a talisman in Xuan Ye's hand crumbled into fine powder.

A ten-foot-long giant sword, condensed from pure spiritual power, manifested out of thin air above the ghost and cleaved straight down toward her head.

It was a first-grade, High Grade talisman-the Evil-slaying Talisman!

In that desperate split second, the Green-faced Female Ghost drained every ounce of her ghost Qi to manifest a shield above her head.

"Boom."

The giant sword slammed into the barrier. The shield she had hastily conjured was simply too weak; it withstood the impact for only a breath before shattering into pieces.

The giant sword struck the Green-faced Female Ghost square on the head. The devastating spiritual power bursting from the blade surged entirely through her form.

The ghost Qi shrouding her was instantly blown apart by the spiritual energy. Her body grew transparent and illusory, fading as though she would dissipate into nothingness at any moment.

Still suspended in mid-air, his hands inches away from the wooden fish, the Dwarf Ghost froze when he saw the female ghost's critical state. His eyes burned with sudden, furious rage.

Five spectral phantoms suddenly erupted from the Dwarf Ghost's body, hurtling toward Song Wen and the other four cultivators.

Meanwhile, the Dwarf Ghost spun around and flew back down to the Green-faced Female Ghost, desperately pouring his own ghost Qi into her fading form.

He was saving her.

The five phantoms rapidly shifted into transparent, razor-sharp blades once they tore free from his body, arriving before the five cultivators in the blink of an eye.

Song Wen could not sense any fluctuations of spiritual power, ghost Qi, or Yin Qi from the translucent blades, yet they triggered an overwhelming sense of mortal peril deep within him.

What kind of attack was this?

Utterly alarmed and unable to decipher the threat, Song Wen resorted to his absolute strongest defenses.

He rapidly circulated the Myriad Poisons Chaos Body while simultaneously pushing the Purple Qilin Armor beneath his robes to its absolute limit.

A purple-gold protective barrier instantly enveloped his body, flanked on the outside by the image of a massive green bell.

However...

The violent impact he expected never came.

Neither the green bell nor the purple-gold barrier offered the slightest resistance. The transparent blade passed directly through them, leaving both defenses completely unscathed.

It was a mental attack!

This creature actually knew a technique of mental attack, an art exceptionally rare even within the cultivation world!

How could a mere ghost have learned such a thing?

Before the thought could fully form, the transparent blade pierced straight through the space between Song Wen's eyebrows.

An agonizing pain instantly flared within his Sea of Consciousness. The blade manifested inside his mind, its sharp, oppressive killing intent threatening to tear his entire Sea of Consciousness inside out.

The Sea of Consciousness was a cultivator's most fragile and vital core. Song Wen naturally dared not allow it to suffer any damage.

Yet, with few options at his disposal, he could only mobilize his mental strength to form a mental barrier, hoping to withstand the blow. Given that his mental strength was already comparable to an eighth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator, blocking this strike shouldn't have been an issue-especially since the Dwarf Ghost had divided its power to attack five people at once.

But right then, a phenomenon Song Wen never anticipated occurred.

A black hole manifested out of nowhere within his Sea of Consciousness. The fiercely sharp, transparent blade was instantly sucked into the vortex, vanishing without a trace.

Song Wen stared blankly at the internal landscape of his mind.

The black hole left as quickly as it had arrived, dissipating the moment it finished devouring the blade.

"Where did that black hole come from? Could my ability to swallow the souls of others be entirely due to this vortex in my Sea of Consciousness?"

A flurry of chaotic thoughts crossed his mind.

To the onlookers, however, Song Wen appeared to have weathered the mental attack completely unscathed.

Lao Chun was the only other person who emerged unharmed.

He did not possess any mental defense Magical Artifacts to withstand the Dwarf Ghost's assault; he relied entirely on luck and sheer ruthlessness.

He happened to be standing right next to the Liu family father and daughter.

Unlike Song Wen, who had spent his life cultivating in isolation without guidance and remained largely ignorant of the diverse methods of the cultivation world, the other four recognized the attack for what it was the moment the transparent blades appeared.

Lao Chun reached out, yanked Liu Qiao, and thrust him forward as a shield. The transparent blade drove straight between Liu Qiao's eyebrows.

Instantly, blood sprayed from Liu Qiao's seven orifices. His breath ceased in an instant as his soul was torn to shreds by the mental blade.

Beside him, Liu Mu collapsed over her father's corpse, weeping hysterically.

They had originally been ordinary rogue cultivators living outside the Tianyuan Market. Though cultivation resources were scarce and their progress was painfully slow, their status as cultivators ensured they never wanted for food or clothing. They lived far better lives than those miserable mortals who ran themselves ragged just to secure three meals a day.

Both father and daughter understood the perils of the cultivation world perfectly well. They never craved profound techniques or absolute power; they had only wanted their small family to survive in peace.

Liu Mu had been entirely content with that quiet existence, finding joy in the occasional glimpse of novel and powerful techniques.

Yet Yan Gu's trio had shattered that life in an instant, forcibly abducting them and dragging them down into this perilous cavern.

Such was the cold cruelty of the cultivation world. Whether one chose to vie for power or stay out of the fray, the moment one stepped onto the path, an ordinary, peaceful life became a luxury. None could predict when an unforeseen disaster would descend from the heavens.

Lao Chun cast a cold glance at the weeping Liu Mu and casually flicked a strand of baleful energy toward her.

Liu Mu slumped to the ground, her entire body convulsing violently as her eyes bulged from her skull. The sheer agony wracking her frame reduced her cries to hoarse, unintelligible wheezes.

Within a few breaths, she passed away, joining her father in death.

Xuan Ye and Zi Yi barely managed to withstand the mental blades, but their Seas of Consciousness had taken a severe beating. Thin lines of blood trickled from their seven orifices, their spirits visibly withered as a throbbing pain assailed their minds.

Yan Gu fared the worst. His Sea of Consciousness had already been grievously wounded by the Dwarf Ghost before this.

This enraged, full-force strike from the creature compounded his existing injuries, completely shattering what remained of his mental defenses. He collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Song Wen had no time to worry about the injuries of the others. The moment he confirmed his mind was sound, he extended his mental strength outward, staying on high alert in case the Dwarf Ghost launched another strike.

To his surprise, the Dwarf Ghost actually chose to retreat, carrying the severely wounded, dying Green-faced Female Ghost away with him-likely seeking a place to heal her.

Song Wen surveyed his surroundings.

Zi Yi and Xuan Ye were desperately channeling their Qi to regulate their breathing and heal their fractured minds.

Lao Chun was glancing back and forth between the motionless Yan Gu and his beautiful Senior Sister, his eyes shifting as he calculated his next move.

"Fellow Daoist Xuan Ye, I am taking my leave," Song Wen spoke abruptly.

The Green-faced Female Ghost was on the verge of death, and the Dwarf Ghost had expended a massive amount of energy. Right now was the absolute best window to seize the Empty Cicada Wood.

He still had a Heavenly Lightning Talisman in reserve, and since he was entirely immune to the Dwarf Ghost's mental attacks, he felt reasonably confident he could snatch the treasure under these conditions.

The bone pile holding the Empty Cicada Wood was not much further ahead. Even without Xuan Ye to guide him, Song Wen could easily find the location on his own.

"I shall accompany you, Fellow Daoist," Xuan Ye suddenly rose to his feet.

"Why?" Song Wen asked.

"This place is no longer safe. The bond between those two ghosts runs deep. We have grievously wounded the female ghost; there is no way the Dwarf Ghost will let this slide. Whether her condition stabilizes or she dissipates entirely, he will eventually track us down for vengeance."

"Frankly, I feel much safer staying by your side."

Xuan Ye stole a glance at Song Wen. Recalling how the man had emerged completely unscathed from a direct mental assault, alongside his unnaturally vast mental range, Xuan Ye lowered his head, masking the deep thoughts swirling in his eyes.

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