The scent of blood sent the water ghosts into a frenzy. They charged recklessly, throwing themselves at Liu Wuxie with no regard for their lives.
Liu Wuxie found it difficult to kill them, as their figures felt as rigid as iron. Liu Wuxie struck them repeatedly with his Heretic Blade, but he only managed to injure them.
Using their physical advantage, the water ghosts continued their relentless assault. No matter how Liu Wuxie was dodging their attacks, their attacks came from every single direction, so he was still forced to only defend and retreat.
The situation was growing worse by the second. He had to move fast, or the water ghosts would drag both him and Tian Wucang to a watery grave.
Just then, rustling noises came from the riverbed below. It sounded like something massive was dragging itself through thick mud.
"What's that noise?" Tian Wucang asked, alarmed. An overwhelming sense of danger washed over him.
Liu Wuxie swept his gaze across the murky depths. His pupils contracted sharply.
Dozens of water ghosts were working together, braiding ancient, muddy vines into a massive net. It rushed toward them like a tidal wave. The moment it closed in, the trap would ensnare them, leaving them completely helpless.
"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie cursed. He hadn't expected the water ghosts to show such intelligence. They were actually coordinating their attacks and were even wielding tools to exploit their environment.
Those vines were tens of thousands of years old and were as tough as iron. Cultivators couldn't cut through them with ordinary weapons.
Furthermore, Liu Wuxie had to devote a portion of his energy to protect Tian Wucang, and it significantly reduced his combat effectiveness. The closing net left him with no choice.
He had to act now, or it would be too late.
"Origin Blade!" Liu Wuxie roared and slashed out. An overwhelming wave of blade energy erupted, cutting through the water like lightning and soaring into the heavens.
The powerful surge reached several cultivators from the Eastern Domain, making them flinch.
"That's Liu Wuxie's aura!" a human cultivator exclaimed.
They had memorized his aura signature a long time ago, and it was pulsing from the water with unmistakable clarity.
"Quick! Report it! We need reinforcements right away!"
Liu Wuxie had already passed their central blockade. Any further, and he would enter the Ghosthead Mountain, making a pursuit nearly impossible.
A flare shot into the sky, exploding into a burst of light that signaled others nearby.
However, Liu Wuxie didn't have time to care about what was happening above. The Origin Blade had cleared a broad section of the river, splitting the water open and turning the nearby current into mist.
The blast flung water ghosts away like ragdolls, launching several out of the river and slamming them onto the banks.
In that brief moment, a mighty water ghost made its move. A powerful water ghost seized the exact instant Liu Wuxie had unleashed his blade to snatch Tian Wucang. With a sharp twist, it vanished into the depths.
It happened too fast.
"Damn it!" Liu Wuxie gnashed his teeth. He had no time to deal with the remaining water ghosts. Channeling all his strength, he shot forward, chasing the kidnapper with everything he had.
He couldn't afford to let Tian Wucang die here.
If he were to let Tian Wucang die, Liu Wuxie would probably not find the Barefooted Elder again even in ten years, assuming he somehow survived Ghosthead Mountain.
Pushing his movement technique to the limit, Liu Wuxie tore through the water in pursuit. But in doing so, he exposed himself to the surface, drawing the attention of more cultivators.
They began converging on his location.
He had to rescue Tian Wucang before they caught up with him. Once he reached Ghosthead Mountain, he could simply vanish, as its toxic miasma and deadly terrain would keep most cultivators at bay.
"Great Five Elemental Palm!" Liu Wuxie roared, condensing a massive millstone from his dao technique. It slammed down from above, pinning the fleeing water ghost on the spot. The impact shook the river itself.
The nearby cultivators, drawn by the intense spiritual fluctuations, immediately altered their course and began closing in on the site of the clash.
"Spatial Dao Art!" Liu Wuxie unleashed several dao techniques in succession, combining the suppressive force of the Great Five Elemental Palm with the control of the Spatial Dao Art to slow the water ghost's movements.
He quickly caught up to the massive ghost; its green fur bristled menacingly, and it was easily twice the size of a regular water ghost.
The water ghost snarled, its claws clamping tightly around Tian Wucang. With a single squeeze, it could easily crush his shoulders.
"Release him!" Liu Wuxie roared. He didn't know whether the creature could understand his words or not, but he pointed directly at Tian Wucang, making his intent clear.
The water ghost's crimson eyes glowed with eerie malice, and an unsettling energy pulsed from it, making Liu Wuxie's skin crawl. It responded by tightening its claws, sinking its nails into Tian Wucang's flesh. The claws drew blood, eliciting an agonized cry from Tian Wucang.
"You brought this on yourself," Liu Wuxie said, his tone ice-cold.
There was no more time to waste. He had to act now, or the ghosts would swarm them both. Liu Wuxie had already reached the entrance to Ghosthead Mountain; he just had to rescue Tian Wucang.
With two dao techniques holding the water ghost in place, Liu Wuxie struck again.
"Demonic Purgatory Chains!" Liu Wuxie roared. He summoned dark chains from the sky; they wrapped around the water ghost and bound it tightly. The ghost struggled violently, flailing its limbs and crushing Tian Wucang in the process.
Liu Wuxie wielded his strongest technique. A burst of freezing energy erupted, and Liu Wuxie's freezing energy instantly froze the river.
Until now, he hadn't been making use of the Frost Dao Art for fear of alerting the cultivators patrolling the banks. Now that everyone knew his identity, he had no reason to hold back anymore.
Liu Wuxie's Frost Dao Art froze several water ghosts into grotesque sculptures. His freezing aura spread outward, turning nearby plants and trees into brittle shards of ice.
Seizing the opening, Liu Wuxie darted forward, snatched Tian Wucang from the ghost's grasp, and vanished in a flash, racing toward Ghosthead Mountain.
Moments later, a horde of cultivators stormed the riverbank. Each one exuded a powerful aura. Hundreds of them were at the pinnacle of the Earth Profound Realm.
Even a Heaven Profound expert would struggle to stand against such overwhelming numbers.
"Kill him! Don't let him reach Ghosthead Mountain!" they roared, bursting forward at top speed, a storm of killing intent behind them.
Aerial profound beasts carried cultivators who launched attacks from above.
Liu Wuxie was moving so quickly that ghostly afterimages trailed behind him. Even the strongest Earth Profound cultivators failed to match his speed.
"Brother Liu, let me go!" Tian Wucang said weakly. "You won't be able to outrun them if you keep on carrying me."
"Don't worry. We're not dying here." Liu Wuxie's tone was calm but firm. His Ghost Eye scanned the surroundings.
Thick, black miasma veiled Ghosthead Mountain's terrain, casting it in an underworld-like gloom. Silence fell as the insects ceased their chirping. In their place came the faint echo of ghostly laughter drifting from every direction.
"Go right!" Tian Wucang gasped, regaining some strength. "There's a forest covered in toxic miasma five hundred miles away. We can lose them there."
Liu Wuxie adjusted his direction instantly and veered right.
A sudden screech tore through the sky, and a Firebird unleashed a downpour of flames upon them.
"Die!" Liu Wuxie raised a finger, unleashing an intense wave of cold that froze the Firebird mid-flight.
The Firebird's massive figure crashed to the ground, sending a shockwave throughout Ghosthead Mountain. The falling Firebird triggered thick black mist to erupt before Liu Wuxie, and it twisted into bizarre, sinister shapes.
"That's ghost fog! We have to be careful! That fog is deadly!" Tian Wucang warned. "The real threat here isn't the ghost fog or toxic miasma—it's the Yin-Faced Ghosts."
They could survive ghost fog by shutting down their senses. Cultivators would even take antidotes in advance to neutralize toxic miasma. Encountering the Yin-Faced Ghosts, however, meant near-certain death.
Liu Wuxie had heard of the ghost clan before, but he had never seen one of them himself. In the Central Plains, some cultivators practiced ghost-clan martial techniques, but actual members of the ghost clan were exceedingly rare.
Ghosthead Mountain, however, was home to the cruelest of them all—Yin-Faced Ghosts. These beings had no visible features; swirling black mist concealed their faces, an image that chilled even the bravest soul.
Once they locked onto their prey, they would hunt their prey relentlessly until it was dead.
They weren't invincible. Light Dao Art was one of their natural weaknesses. Yin and yang were opposing forces, and Light Dao Art, embodying yang, could suppress their yin-based existence.
Meanwhile, the human cultivators behind them had finally caught up.
"Liu Wuxie, there's no escape! Surrender now!" Furious roars echoed through the trees as several Earth Profound experts tore through space and blinked behind Liu Wuxie as if they had teleported.
"Die!" They struck in unison. A single Earth Profound peak expert was probably manageable, but the combined assault cornered Liu Wuxie, forcing him into a dire situation.
"Fiery, take him and go first!" Liu Wuxie ordered.
Fiery roared, seized Tian Wucang, and dashed toward the miasma-shrouded forest.
Now unburdened, Liu Wuxie's aura skyrocketed. Though he hadn't broken through, his understanding of dao techniques had advanced dramatically.
"Death Dao Art!" Liu Wuxie counterattacked.
He unleashed a wave of deathly energy that exploded around him and spread like a plague. Even peak Earth Profound Realm cultivators recoiled in fear and halted their advance.
"It's the Death Dao Art! This curse is draining my lifeforce!" One of them cried in panic.
Cultivators feared the Death Dao Art for its destructive nature. A master of the Death Dao Art was considered a calamity.
"Kill him at all costs!" one of the elders shouted.
While cultivators at their level could resist the deathly aura, nearby ordinary cultivators had already collapsed under the pressure, less fortunate than their superiors.
An enemy summoned a massive palm print that plummeted without warning, carrying with it a terrifying force. The surrounding space collapsed inward as the palm strike descended on Liu Wuxie.