107: Chapter 106: The Underworld Tombs 3 [Requesting monthly ticket and subscription] 107: Chapter 106: The Underworld Tombs 3 [Requesting monthly ticket and subscription] The Soul Ghosts kept increasing, beginning to crowd together.
The pressure on the three of them also grew, and the battle entered a fierce stage.
Soul Ghosts started swarming from all directions without hesitation, entering a collective frenzy that the cultivators described as a Spiritual Storm.
For cultivators skilled in combat like them, ordinary evil spirits posed little threat, while the next level Wandering Souls and fierce ghosts were harder to manage.
Therefore, allowing lower-level Soul Ghosts to form a Spiritual Storm was the best test.
Even in such circumstances, Xiang Zhiwen still managed to protect both of them as they left, testing their adaptability under the siege of Soul Ghosts.
Both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh, they are brothers.
If the two did not show enough strength, then none would stay on West Mang Mountain to investigate the truth.
He would rather give up this clue.
He swung the great sword, casting layers of sword shadows in front of him.
His exquisite swordsmanship combined with profound strength still ensured that his front was as impregnable as a brass wall and iron fortress, blocking the Soul Ghosts.
Taking this opportunity, he could also see how the two junior disciples responded under such fierce assaults from the Soul Ghosts.
The responses were still completely different!
As the density of attacking Soul Ghosts increased, Dou Gong’s Flame Sword glowed brighter, as if he were wielding a torch.
Within that torchlight, Dou Gong’s expression turned excited, a natural reaction for a Sword Cultivator when facing a formidable enemy!
Far from retreating, he shouted heartily in battle, using a Fire Element Longsword to forcefully suppress the onslaught of Soul Ghosts.
From this outcome, it was evident that Dou Gong had reached a considerable level in the depth of his Dantian Spiritual Power and his mastery of the Fire Element.
The only issue was that such exhilarating combat couldn’t be sustained for too long.
Even Xiang Zhiwen himself might not have lasted two hours in such a fight, let alone Dou Gong, whose realm was lower than his.
Of course, there was no need to worry too much.
The Soul Ghosts came in swarms, and the burial mounds on this hilltop were one such swarm, while another hill had another.
They were not inseparably close.
Once the Soul Ghosts on this mound were significantly reduced, their strength would wane and they would retreat knowing difficulty.
Soul Ghosts had the simplest forms of consciousness.
They might not know fear, but instinctively they could sense danger.
When the Spiritual Storm passed, they naturally wouldn’t be so frenzied.
Hou Niao employed a completely different method—simple, fast, calm, deadly…
always a precise strike, never wasting an ounce of energy even when surrounded by Soul Ghosts;
He always retreated, from left to right, then from front to back, suddenly making an unreasonable advance, only to return to his original position, having moved not a bit from his spot after all that retreating.
Contact with Soul Ghosts made spectators ceaselessly worry for him, as he was always just a little bit away from getting injured.
But as time passed—half an hour, an hour—the little bit still remained a little bit, and the Soul Ghosts seemed never to breach that final distance.
When danger became the norm, the rhythm, it naturally turned into an art of dancing on the blade’s edge, a dance that, over time, felt like a delightful sword dance, a dance with death.
Such endurance in battle spoke for itself.
Xiang Zhiwen was puzzled, wondering how such swordsmanship was honed?
Even they, who roamed Yinling facing dangers every day, couldn’t achieve this.
How had this young man managed it?
It was either the refinement from countless battles or an exceptional Sword Dao talent.
He was more inclined to believe the latter.
Actually, through one or two hours of battle, the superior and the inferior were already distinct.
There was no need to keep up until dawn as promised, but a promise once made could not be halfway taken back, especially not in front of Dou Gong.
Two hours later, the Soul Ghosts’ attacks began to weaken.
Although many still persistently followed, their density significantly lowered.
Knowing that these humans were not easy to swallow, after the frenzy of spirit, came the inevitable spiritual ebb.
This was also the reason Xiang Zhiwen dared to linger here!
He was well aware of the characteristics of the Soul Ghosts: like humans, any mental excitement had a time limit and could not continue indefinitely; after human excitement came an intense depression, and both body and mind would be exhausted; if the Soul Ghosts remained excited for too long, they could burn themselves to death!
Dou Gong quietly breathed a sigh of relief, although he had been to this place once before, it was only a brief visit, and he hadn’t gone this crazy; he could not back down, especially in front of the newly arrived junior, he just had to grit his teeth and persevere, but he knew if this intensity of attack continued for another hour, he didn’t know about others, but he himself would collapse.
If the weak formed an overwhelming numerical advantage, they still posed a lethal threat.
Once the Soul Ghosts’ attack intensity decreased, he finally had time to look back, and the kills represented by Xiang Zhiwen on the Soul Banner still far led the others, after all, he was a senior who had half-stepped into the Tongxuan realm, his cultivation unmatched among the Yinling Quanzhen disciples.
Next was him, slightly more than Hou Niao, fortunately, he hadn’t disgraced his senior.
The attacks from the Soul Ghosts grew weaker and, after combatting for three hours, finally ceased completely; they began to ignore these humans, keeping their distance and no longer provoking them.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong was a common human trait, these Soul Ghosts had once been human and naturally could not escape this inherent malady.
The overall situation was settled.
The results were arranged according to their realms, without any discrepancies.
No one spoke, they just silently gathered their energies and awaited the dawn.
The stars began to emerge from the cloud layers, and after the urgent rain, a bright sunny day was inevitable.
When the three of them had more or less recovered, Xiang Zhiwen pointed toward the barely visible outline of West Mang Mountain in the darkness,
“West Mang Mountain isn’t too big, if we enter during the day and leave before night falls, we can manage it, as long as we don’t go too deep.
Dealing with Soul Ghosts involves more than just fighting; there are many other auxiliary methods, such as this Soul Banner I have, which can protect us by concealing our human scent.
Whether the honey wax is here, no one knows, I think it’s unlikely; our goal is just to verify, not necessarily to capture it.
If something is discovered, crush the Green Bird Charm, do not take action on your own.”
Seeing both of them remain silent, Xiang Zhiwen smiled, “This place is just the periphery of the Yinling crypts of West Mang Mountain, even the emergence of a Spiritual Storm was already in such a state, if we enter the center, you can probably guess what it might be like.
I will still say the same thing, once a person is dead, they lose everything!”
The horizon vaguely revealed a hint of dawn’s light, it was about to be morning, and he had long made up his mind.
“Dou Gong, I have another very important task for you, as you are familiar with Yinling, you are the best choice.
This investigation will be handled by Hou Niao, within a limit of three months, regardless of the outcome; if there are any changes, I will notify you separately.”