Chapter 66: Doubles Match

Chapter 66: Double Battle

The moment the title "Wuliang Ghost Emperor" was uttered, the already damp, gloomy air nearly froze solid.

When they encountered the Barbarian King, Yan Zizhan had been half-unconscious and Chu Suye delirious—the only one who'd actually seen the transaction between the Wuliang Ghost Emperor and the Barbarian King was Chu Jingxi. When he said those four words, Chu Suye's first reaction was disbelief.

"The Ghost Emperor is already dead."

That wasn't up for debate—if the Ghost Emperor could've survived, the ghost clan would've fought tooth and nail to save him.

Chu Jingxi stared at the blood shadow. "No doubt about it."

The drop of essence blood from the Wuliang Ghost Emperor back then had given off a similar aura, except this blood shadow didn't have that world-destroying feel.

Chu Suye suddenly remembered a legend. "Legend says when a single drop of the Wuliang Ghost Emperor's essence blood decomposes, it can transform into a terrifying storm..."

She gulped. "Could that be the blood mist outside?"

Yan Zizhan didn't seem too worried about the blood shadow. Seeing the faces floating in the air start drifting toward the broken intersection, he barked, "Jump!"

Before the words even left his mouth, he had already grabbed Chu Jingxi and leaped first into the deep cliff drop.

The faces missed them and came chasing after the three of them again.

The formation umbrella opened up behind them to block as Yan Zizhan fell fast. "When a top-tier powerhouse dies, this kind of thing sometimes shows up near their remains—like a Dao imprint."

Unlike lingering thoughts, a Dao imprint can't think on its own—it's basically just a mark left behind in time. The real danger was those "faces" though—leftover energy from a powerhouse's seven emotions and six desires after death. If you absorbed too much, it could drive you insane.

Screaming, manic laughter, wailing... The energy bodies pressed against the umbrella blasted demonic noise into their ears, making their heads throb with pain.

The thought that the Wuliang Ghost Emperor's remains might be here made Chu Jingxi's gut churn. They were boxed in front and back—their only way out was the dangerous black water below, also the most likely place for ghost remains to have settled.

"Little Lang, back me up."

Before Yan Zizhan could open his domain again, Chu Jingxi called out to the Realm Spirit Origin, telling it to work with him.

Next instant, Chu Jingxi used his law ability to force everyone through the black water from another dimension.

That one move nearly drained half his strength. The second they actually landed, even Yan Zizhan, the strongest of them, felt dizzy for a second.

Chu Suye immediately started gagging off to the side. "That ability of yours..."

Chu Jingxi's face had gone several shades paler. Just now, forget his stomach—the blood in his whole body was churning violently.

The lantern had shattered long ago. Chu Jingxi gritted his teeth and pulled out another one, the light hitting the ground right beneath their feet.

The hem of his blue-green robe had brushed the black water during the dimensional jump and was slowly dissolving.

Yan Zizhan quickly sliced off the corner for him. After seeing how terrifying the black water was, Chu Jingxi figured he could totally handle the nausea of dimensional travel.

The second he raised the lantern, the whole space went dead silent.

Out of nowhere, with zero warning—not far ahead, a massive skeleton loomed above, every bone as thick as a palace pillar. It was absorbing the black water from above, the mist condensing into thin threads. Even though it had been dead for ages, the skeleton was still pulling the strings like a puppeteer, controlling the corpse puppets below.

"That's the Nine-Ying Golden Immortal!" Chu Suye quickly recognized one of the controlled skeletons.

A nine-headed divine beast—a Demon Immortal of the demon race from centuries ago—who fell in the first great war against the ghost clan.

The grim reality was staring them in the face.

The missing remains had never left the battlefield. The giant skeleton controlling the corpses at the very top radiated dense ghost clan aura, its imperial authority still undiminished—no need to guess who it was: the Wuliang Ghost Emperor.

No one was more shaken than Chu Jingxi. His expression darkened as he thought of the Boundless Wasteland—the Savage Corpse's contamination was no coincidence!

"The Wuliang Ghost Emperor deliberately used blood water to contaminate the Savage Corpse, and he used the same method here."

If cultivators from hundreds of years ago underwent corpse transformation, how powerful would they become? Once war broke out, the ghost clan could exploit this to strike from the rear with complete surprise.

The series of contingencies was chilling. Chu Jingxi had previously thought the System had been badly screwed over by the ghost clan, but now he realized—the System was the one who had overperformed, managing to kill the Wuliang Ghost Emperor and still survive.

Crack.

A black patch suddenly fell from the head of the outermost nine-headed corpse. Splat—another piece.

As the outer layer of black mud cracked apart, it gradually began to move. At the same time, another outlying remains stirred as well.

Yan Zizhan had already begun drawing spirit patterns in the air at the first moment, formation flags landing in eight directions to delay the unsealing of the corpses. Chu Suye, meanwhile, was throwing out large quantities of pills like they cost nothing. These were all products from Chu Jingxi's pill factory—she had privately purchased and stockpiled quite a few.

The remains had been contaminated by the ghost clan, and these pills could more or less weaken their power to some extent.

But this didn't solve the fundamental problem: "We need to get out of here fast!"

Chu Jingxi had no intention of leaving.

The spatial seal hadn't been lifted yet. If they let all these remains fully manifest, they'd likely end up with not even bones left.

"The corpses have been lying down there for so long—they wouldn't move for no reason."

It wasn't like he was some ill-omened person who caused disasters everywhere he went.

"Zhao Gang." Chu Jingxi suddenly uttered a name.

He immediately connected the dots. At the very beginning, the blood mist had been frantically chasing after Zhao Gang.

...Nine times out of ten, when Zhao Gang first entered, he had taken something as a treasure.

That thing had originally been used to suppress the corpses underground.

Chu Jingxi gritted his teeth. "Case closed."

With an opponent like a god and a 'teammate' like a pig, he had it all in this life.

He stepped back two paces and said to the Rustless Copper Bell, "Do as I say."

Chu Jingxi always kept something in reserve with everyone except Yan Zizhan—that reserve was both protection and precaution. Before disembarking from the Warship, he had tapped the Rustless Copper Bell, hinting that one bell should be left on the ship.

Now that bell could play a major role.

**

At the Immortal Alliance stronghold, which had just endured a merciless slaughter by the blood mist.

Chu Tiannan piloted the Warship in circles, constantly hovering above the mineral vein while the blood mist swirled and refused to disperse. The Immortal Alliance had only two choices: fight together, or die together.

Fortunately, once the mist left the battlefield, its movement speed was restricted. Three immortal-level combat forces in the stronghold struck simultaneously, barely suppressing it—but only barely.

Standing amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, a Heaven Immortal glared at the Warship with murderous intent. Before he could interrogate, the bell received Chu Jingxi's command and jumped out first:

'Listen up, you people down there—have Zhao Gang hand over what he took from the old battlefield.'

'Listen up, you people down there—have Zhao Gang...'

He repeated it three times in a row. Zhao Gang, who had just barely escaped back, looked completely shriveled up from the severe damage to his vital energy.

But a slow smile crept across his lips. With things having escalated this far, he'd been worried about how to explain himself to the alliance—but with that threat on record, they had the moral high ground.

“You summoned the blood mist to attack the Immortal Alliance stronghold. When this is settled, the alliance will certainly...”

The warship opened fire, no hesitation!

The immortal busy fighting off the blood mist was forced to divert attention to block the cannon fire, almost undoing all their hard work.

The people below weren't just rattled by the surging qi—they thought the Chu family had lost their minds. Even Chu Tiannan, operating the vessel, was drenched in cold sweat, but he still followed orders to the letter, exactly as Chu Jingxi had relayed.

“Hand it over, or we all die! My life's not worth as much as yours anyway.”

The cultivators struggled against the blood mist, and this was arguably more ruthless than anything a heretic cultivator would do.

The bell kept watching from above, its gaze cold and menacing, urging Chu Tiannan to keep going. Chu Jingxi's plan was to lower their price point first—these immortals weren't about to die for Zhao Gang's stash.

The warship hummed to life, ready to fire again.

Without missing a beat, the cannon swung back toward them. One of the immortals below muttered to Zhao Gang: “Give it to him.”

Zhao Gang's face twisted—he'd nearly died for that thing.

“Before the spatial seal is lifted, they can't leave with the treasure anyway.” People are greedy—even the immortals were dying to know what Zhao Gang had taken that made the Chu family go this far.

‘Every second you stall, another shot fires,’ the Rustless Copper Bell, a master of stirring the pot, chimed in, ‘Zhao Gang's treasure means more to him than your lives...’

The warship fired off two more rounds. The immortals were spread too thin, and a stray wisp of blood mist tore through two cultivators.

The guards were all on high alert. They figured Zhao Gang could just hand it over to buy time—even the immortals had hinted they'd take it back later.

Zhao Gang was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The Rock Antelope, silent on the deck, took it all in. It hit him—even the big shots who used them as cannon fodder could look this desperate and scared.

With three immortals bearing down on him and the others glaring with barely hidden threats, Zhao Gang had no choice but to grit his teeth and pull out a black crystal.

The crystal, the size of a fist, gleamed with countless mirrored faces. The immortals noticed the wind-blown grass below suddenly freeze.

Point the crystal's facets at something, and it seemed to stop it dead.

A treasure beyond compare!

Greed flashed in nearly every eye.

The second the black crystal showed up, the blood mist went berserk. At the same time, the bell's voice rang out from above: ‘Grab it and come with us!’

‘The ghost race corrupted and rebuilt the corpses from the first great war—this thing is a seal!’

The sudden twist left everyone stunned. The warship above was already banking away. The immortal nearest Zhao Gang snapped out of it and, without a word, slapped him with a palm strike.

“You're still holding out at a time like this?!” The immortal ripped the spatial ring off him. He knew Zhao Gang—the guy probably stashed a few black crystals for himself. Then he told the others, “Hold the fort—I'm heading to the old battlefield to check this out.”

Zhao Gang, already busted up, took a hit that nearly shattered his heart guard. He tried to grab the ring back but coughed up blood before he could even twitch.

With one immortal gone, the blood mist pressure spiked, thin wisps slipping through.

Curses rang out behind him as the immortal flew up to level with the warship.

Chu Tiannan had seen how selfish these people were. No way was he letting that immortal on deck. The immortal closed the distance to the bow in one step, brow furrowed: “If this was that important, why didn't you lead with it?”

The copper bell skipped the small talk and got straight to the point: ‘Once we're in the battlefield, the Realm Spirit Origin will work with you from the inside to crack the seal.’

Chu Jingxi had told him: with sly, paranoid types, cut to the chase and save the reasons for last—it moves things along faster.

It worked. The whole talk lasted under five minutes, and three of those were just shelling.

With that, it gazed into the distance. The whole sky burned red—except over the old battlefield, where it was slowly going black.

...

Deep in the sealed old battlefield, black qi poured endlessly through the cracks.

As a darling of spatial laws, the Realm Spirit Origin crossed the black water alone to receive those about to arrive. The twisted faces outside didn't notice its presence.

Underground, the dead with higher cultivation and stronger physiques in life were unsealing faster. The once renowned and generous Nine-Headed Golden Immortal was now nothing but a terrifying killing machine.

Only occasionally, for a brief moment, one could sense its struggle and agony.

It was precisely this lack of fluidity in its attacks that gave those present a chance to survive. Yan Zizhan and Chu Suye stood at the front, continuously laying down barriers to intercept the nine-headed monster.

The Golden Immortal's power after death was far inferior to when it was alive—many techniques were unusable—but the residual law power was still beyond what their generation could match.

Under overwhelming pressure, Chu Suye threw out her trump card. A silver pearl transformed into a flaming dragon, only to be effortlessly devoured by the nine-headed monster.

Yan Zizhan's aura surged wildly as his sharp sword strikes drove the corpse back several steps, but the dead felt no pain and quickly closed in again.

“Are you alright?”

Chu Jingxi, who had been protected behind them all along, was startled, then noticed a similar look of concern on Chu Suye's face.

“Alright about what?”

Chu Suye said: “Blood kin.”

They all knew the other had come to this battlefield seeking direct blood relatives. Perhaps the person he was looking for was among these bones that couldn't find release after death—how painful that must be.

“???”

This is no time for that—you're worried about my mental health now?!

Dealing with one corpse was already difficult enough. Another mutated corpse began advancing toward them, its every move clean and decisive. As it closed in, it directly detonated part of its law power.

Space nearly collapsed.

The corpse was half a step from entering the barrier, about to repeat its earlier trick, when at the same moment, all nine heads of the monster thrust through the shattered barrier, opening gaping maws toward them.

Though many more restless skeletons lurked behind, with life hanging by a thread, Chu Jingxi had no choice but to use his last-resort trump card.

‘Here it comes!’ the Rustless Copper Bell suddenly announced.

A single gray-white strand of hair drifted down slowly—the Realm Spirit Origin had returned! Behind him, the Golden Immortal's skin was covered in burns from the black water, and its right arm was even exposed to the bone.

When the immortal took in the scene before him, his expression went beyond mere displeasure. Without time to be shocked, he hurled the black crystal directly at the nine-headed monster.

The corpse slowed but didn't truly stop.

The immortal quickly opened Zhao Gang's spatial ring. When he saw at least several dozen more black crystals inside, his movements paused briefly, but he soon pretended nothing was amiss and took one out.

It works, but barely—one crystal has the same effect as ten.

Yan Zizhan caught on, "Give them to me, these are Array Stones!"

They only work when arranged into an array.

The black crystals lined up in the air, hovering at different points, and the space itself seemed to ripple. The corpses being unsealed behind them reverted to their original state, but a few were still moving.

Chu Jingxi knew a bit about formations and immediately saw there weren't enough array stones, snapping at the immortal, "Give him everything!"

"This is all I've got," the immortal said coldly. "If you don't believe me, see for yourself."

With that, he tossed Zhao Gang's spatial ring to him.

But the moment he threw it, the immortal shoved Chu Jingxi toward the nine-headed monster with just the right amount of force.

His plan was perfectly calculated.

The only one who could stop him—Yan Zizhan—had to save Chu Jingxi and block the other mutated corpse at the same time. Seizing the moment, the immortal reached through the air, grabbed two more black crystals, and got ready to leave.

"Heh."

The stones left behind were enough to reseal most of the mutated corpses! Chu Jingxi and the others would end up dying alongside the rest.

Not only would he keep a chunk of the black crystals for himself, but afterward he could lead other forces to clean up the mutated corpses—everyone wins.

What Xuan Lu had figured out from intel, many Great Cultivators could work out too, especially the Immortal Alliance, who loved poring over Recording Stone footage: as long as they didn't touch Chu Jingxi, he couldn't use his immobilization technique, and with his crappy constitution, he could freeze at most one target.

Chu Jingxi was over by the nine-headed monster—there was no way the immobilization technique could reach him.

"Blame yourself for sticking your nose in." They'd been grinding the battlefield for so long, and suddenly some so-called Child of Fortune waltzes in trying to steal the spoils—who'd put up with that?

Everything went exactly as the immortal had planned, not a single step off. Just as he was about to bail, he felt a chill wind by his ear.

Danger closed in, and he reflexively swatted back with his hand. The next second, his mouth opened: "Immortal Alliance, Liu Ziji, I have connections above..."

The self-introduction blurted out uncontrollably, and the immortal's eyes went wide in shock—how was this possible?

Chu Jingxi was clearly still at the nine-headed monster, and that monster had frozen just like him—mouth open, no sound coming out, like a silent movie.

Chu Jingxi, meanwhile, hung his head like he'd lost consciousness.

Putting this together with the guy's recent intense training, the immortal seemed to realize something, but it was already too late.

Once he was forcibly frozen, Chu Suye cruelly tossed him to another active corpse.

The aggro shifted, and Yan Zizhan, now free, immediately swung his sword at the nine-headed monster's heads. As for the immortal surnamed Liu, who'd been used as a shield, another mutated corpse ran straight through his abdomen.

His dantian was shattered—he couldn't even self-destruct if he wanted to.

Almost at the same moment, Chu Jingxi opened his eyes again and, under the immortal's shocked and bewildered gaze, said three words:

"Fun, huh?"

The Fellow Daoist technique was too limited—it could only freeze one target at a time.

No conditions? Then create them.

At the Spirit Transformation stage, cultivators could project their primordial spirit out of their body. Chu Jingxi had been grinding this recently, wanting to test whether he could freeze two targets at once if his body and soul were separated and both "bumped" into enemies.

Finally, he got to test it out!

Up ahead, Yan Zizhan finished off the nine-headed monster and turned his attention to the other mutated corpse. In the middle of all that, he flicked his sleeve and tossed the dying immortal back toward Chu Jingxi.

After all his scheming, the immortal vaguely saw Chu Jingxi approach and squeezed out a hoarse laugh, "Come... to watch me die?"

But Chu Jingxi didn't even glance at him. He gently took his hand and forcefully pried off the spatial ring.

The immortal's assets were surely substantial—the start of the month was approaching, phone bill, his phone bill!

Chu Jingxi called Chu Suye over to crack the spatial ring while he meticulously continued to search, taking everything: the crown, the pendant, the ornaments, the artifacts—all of it.

His calm yet desperately broke demeanor was reflected in the immortal's dilated pupils.

The immortal opened his mouth, "You, you..."

Before he could finish, the last valuable item was stripped away, and the immortal died with his eyes wide open.

Author's note:

Mini theater:

Chu Jingxi: I chose the wrong profession. I shouldn't have been an advertising planner—I should have been an engineer or a hacker.

Good thing he was so good at exploiting loopholes.

System: ...