Chapter 1442: Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers Blocks the Ghost Tide, All Gods and Buddhas Crowded in a Small Temple

"Hahaha ha!"

On the main street of Changde Zhen, Zhu Yike burst into laughter, completely doubled over with mirth.

Tears were almost streaming from his eyes from laughing so hard. Every time he thought back to the desperate look on Xi's face just before they parted, he couldn't help but struggle to contain himself.

That fellow had clearly been completely broken by Shou Ye!

"Shou Ye, Old Zhu dares to bet..."

"After today, that ancient sword cultivator Xi will probably be haunted by your image every night!"

As Zhu Yike transmitted his thoughts, he followed instructions and transferred the strand of spiritual thought that Shou Ye had entrusted to him into the body of the one-armed Tianji Kuilei.

This was the most "forced" Tianji Kuilei he had ever seen!

At a glance, it was obviously pieced together from many ancient and damaged weapons, with extremely crude craftsmanship and a very low cost.

It wasn't an exaggeration to call it a pile of scrap!

But if Shou Ye said it was a Tianji Kuilei, then it had to be!

At that moment, Zhu Yike's confidence in Shou Ye was almost blind.

Hadn't they seen how Xi, the ancient sword cultivator who had gained the upper hand and controlled Zhu Yike, ended up completely ruining a perfectly good game with just a few words from Shou Ye?

If Zhu Yike were in that position, he figured he would just draw his sword and end it all!

"Buzz!"

When the Ling Que was inserted from below as an energy source, the battered Tianji Kuilei quickly lit up with dense patterns.

Its eyes flashed with weaving spiritual threads as Jin Ren's consciousness took control.

"Not bad..."

After slightly moving his arm and taking a few tentative steps, Jin Ren quickly adapted to the Tianji Kuilei's body.

He gazed past Zhu Yike into the distance, with invisible weaving spiritual threads rising from his body and piercing into the void and Tian Dao.

Using the surrounding plants, birds, and trees as eyes, he captured the scenery within several li.

These messages then appeared in the Tianji Kuilei's mind as a "perception" view, forming a ball of light.

When Jin Ren's spiritual thought touched the light ball, it was like reading a jade slip, allowing him to easily access the surrounding scenes.

This was successfully simulating spiritual thought with the weaving technique, even mimicking the passive skill "perception"!

The range was just a bit small, only a few li, and it grew fuzzier farther out.

But for a damaged Tianji Kuilei, this was already a massive success!

Jin Ren didn't agree with Zhu Yike's words.

He held no contempt for Xi either.

He knew full well that the best way to defeat an ancient sword cultivator was, as with killing Rao Keai, to eliminate the opponent entirely!

Any humiliation that didn't lead to death was merely a stepping stone on the path of success for those with a strong Dao heart, like ancient sword cultivators.

"He will come!"

When the Tianji Kuilei spoke with Shou Ye's voice,

Zhu Yike, Xiang Yi, A Yao, and even the curious passersby on the street all sensed something and turned toward the north.

"Woo woo woo—"

The sky darkened suddenly, plunging into night.

A chilling wind howled like ghosts and spirits, sweeping in from the corner of the long street and the edge of sight.

The sand, dust, and debris on the street were hurled upward.

Though nothing blocked them, in the dim light, these wind-blown objects were obstructed everywhere.

They bumped east, stalled west, staggering from afar as if being shoved along by "people."

The empty street felt incredibly crowded at a glance.

"Ghosts!!!"

Yang Tieniu, the prosperous pig butcher, glanced sideways while holding his Cao family pig-killing knife and nearly dropped it in terror.

He had slaughtered pigs for years, and the fear from his first swing as a young man paled compared to seeing a ghost now.

"Bang!"

Without a second thought, Yang Tieniu abandoned his business, tossed his stall aside, and bolted into his house, up to the second floor, slamming the doors and windows shut.

He lay rigid in bed, covering his head, but felt his soles grow cold and quickly tucked his legs under the covers.

"Can't see me, can't see me..."

"What's that sound?" Zhang Shuniang, the breakfast seller next door, had just set out a bowl of sweet tofu brain when she saw her regular customer, Old Zhang, collapsed on the ground.

She rushed outside and realized the street was pitch black, with sand and stones flying and ghostly wails echoing.

"Bang."

The large bowl of tofu brain shattered on the ground.

Zhang Shuniang couldn't even speak, her body wilting like swaying seaweed as she collapsed.

"Is this... Gui Jian Shu?"

Zhu Yike's eyes darted around, his ears attuned to every direction.

Within his spiritual thought's range, the entire Changde Zhen, with its more than ten streets, was shrouded in dark clouds!

Wandering the streets were entities invisible to the naked eye, barely discernible as evil ghosts through spiritual thought.

The local residents of Changde Zhen were like it was true night—some unconscious in their homes, others fainted on the streets.

"Woo woo woo..."

The eerie sound drew closer!

A Yao slumped to the ground, glancing around in confusion, not daring to bother Xiang Yi, and finally hugged herself, huddling in the corner.

"Such a large-scale Yu Hun Gui Shu?"

Even within the damaged Tianji Kuilei, Jin Ren was astonished.

He had seen Si Ren Mister's Gui Jian Shu, which could sever life and death, divide yin and yang, and summon a hundred ghosts through the gates of hell.

But Xi's Gui Jian Shu seemed even more advanced?

Without even seeing a door, ghosts surrounded them everywhere—the yang world had turned into the underworld.

"Soul mode!"

With the command, the Tianji Kuilei's form shifted.

From a solid, visible shape, it became translucent cyan.

Simultaneously, the image from the white light ball in his mind showed Changde Zhen packed with thousands of evil ghosts!

Among them were half-faced soldiers in black robes wielding scythes, law ghosts riding bone dragons with scepters, beast ghosts with limbs scraping the ground and mouths larger than their faces...

There were winged ghosts soaring with inserted wings, headless ghosts grabbing anything to stuff into their necks, and odd ghosts charging at incredible speeds, colliding and scattering countless evil ghosts...

Everything imaginable was there!

Without exception, these evil ghosts all burned with a translucent, pale white strange flame.

The Tianji Kuilei's special "perception" detected no heat from the flame.

Yet, upon mere distant contact, Jin Ren's spiritual thought felt intensely irritated, overwhelmed by evil desires that he barely suppressed.

"Yu Hun Gui Shu, Bai Nie Ye Huo..."

Xiang Yi could only make out spots of white flames and quickly realized something, urgently saying:

"Xi mainly cultivates Gui Jian Shu, and he also masters a kind of heavenly fire, Bai Nie Ye Huo!"

"This fire scorches the soul, igniting people's seven emotions and six desires, and after burning them out, it generates evil yin qi to disrupt one's Dao heart."

"Unless it's an ultimate technique, ordinary Ling Shi masters probably can't withstand even half an hour before succumbing to inner demons!"

Bai Nie Ye Huo... Zhu Yike had heard of this heavenly fire targeted at evil cultivators before, but it was his first time witnessing it.

Everywhere he looked, the street teemed with indistinct evil ghosts, but those spots of pale white were strikingly vivid!

"What do you mean by 'ordinary Ling Shi masters'?" Zhu Yike quickly turned to Xiang Yi, seeking an answer.

Xiang Yi glanced at him and concluded outright: "You can't handle it."

"Damn!" Zhu Yike shrank behind Shou Ye.

"Retreat!"

The Tianji Kuilei shouted.

In Jin Ren's view, the evil ghosts blocked the paths, completely submerging their escape routes.

Flying above, walking on the ground, tunneling below... sealed off in every direction!

The entire Changde Zhen had become a ghost town!

But in this impenetrable ghost town, one spot remained untouched by evil ghosts and avoided by the flame.

"Cao family blacksmith shop!"

Xiang Yi couldn't see the only clear area that the Tianji Kuilei perceived.

Yet, she knew instinctively that these yin evils, even under Xi's command, wouldn't dare approach Kui Lei Han.

The lightning system countered yin evils perfectly!

Especially Shen Xing Jie?

"Half a li, across the street, the fourth house..."

The Tianji Kuilei pointed right, pinpointing it accurately.

At the same time, Zhu Yike's spiritual thought swept to that spot, like spotting a savior—he saw the "Cao family blacksmith shop" signboard.

"Steal the Sky and Change the Day!"

Without hesitation, Zhu Yike made his choice.

He threw out four stones, corresponding to the four weapons in the blacksmith shop, intending a rude remote swap without the owner's consent.

"Get lost!"

From the blacksmith shop's dead silence, where even flying sand couldn't stir and evil ghosts couldn't intrude, a thunderous voice exploded.

"Pfft!"

In an instant,

Zhu Yike was like striking Shen Yi's fist, spewing blood everywhere as his body flew backward.

His eyeballs bulged, blood gushed from his seven orifices, and his hair curled.

He had no chance to resist; after hitting the ground, his body convulsed, and he soon foamed at the mouth.

"Urgh urgh urgh..."

With those miserable groans, Zhu Yike's eyes rolled back, showing only white, and he lost consciousness.

A Yao stared in shock.

She had no idea what happened.

Nothing had been done, and the enemy hadn't even arrived.

Suddenly, Li brother crashed in front of her and started convulsing, as if damaged.

"Li brother..." She instinctively reached out to help.

"A Yao, stop!"

Xiang Yi snapped, glaring back.

If Shen Xing Jie's power involved a mortal body, the consequences would be unthinkable!

"I..." A Yao trembled and halted, staring at her savior just out of reach, unsure whether to extend or withdraw her hand.

How did he do that?

Jin Ren, inside the Tianji Kuilei, was baffled.

Even he hadn't caught how Zhu Yike was struck remotely in that split second.

Even if Kui Lei Han was powerful and Shen Xing Jie masterful, a strike should leave some trace, right?

Zhu Yike hadn't even arrived and just performed a technique...

Through Steal the Sky and Change the Day, did Kui Lei Han strike the bull from across the mountain and electrocute Old Zhu?

"Xiang Yi, is he really one of us?"

Jin Ren questioned, but there was no time for more assistance.

Because in his sight, the tidal wave of evil ghosts had surged right to their feet.

"Hu..."

Jin Ren sighed, clenched tight, and crushed the pre-inserted chunk of Ling Que, draining its energy.

Only then did he realize how crucial full vitality was.

So this was the feeling without passive skills...

"Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers!"

The damaged Tianji Kuilei struck a bizarre pose, as if holding a flower basket and tossing petals.

In an instant, it fired countless weaving spiritual threads in all directions, forming a dense spider web.

Every point on the web precisely captured the positions of thousands of evil ghosts, ensnaring them successfully.

"Woo—"

The evil ghosts shrieked, trying to break free in every direction.

But the restraints tightened with their struggles.

The forces from all sides countered each other, making the mindless evil ghosts' movements laborious, unable to advance.

In mere moments, the onrushing ghost tide halted!

The entire Changde Zhen fell into a brief stillness!

Amid the "woo woo" ghost cries, the evil ghosts were immobilized, but those outside kept charging, piling higher and higher, as if forging an impenetrable ghost wall between heaven and earth.

"Such Tianji Shu..."

Xiang Yi turned back in surprise and awe.

She couldn't see the evil ghosts, but she could see the weaving spiritual threads and the wriggling nodes on the vast web draped over the town.

Undoubtedly, this represented countless ghosts!

Xi's Yu Hun Gui Shu summoning the ghost tide had been blocked by Shou Ye's Tianji Shu!

The key was that Shou Ye used such a battered Tianji Kuilei—this guy had improved incredibly fast!

"Sizzle"

The Bai Nie Ye Huo began to burn.

Along the great web, it spread like it would incinerate everything, extending toward them.

The world seemed ignited by countless white fuses, the sight spectacular.

Xiang Yi dared not delay.

She knew Tianji Shu could hold the ghost tide temporarily, but not indefinitely.

The heavenly fire's power was formidable!

And in the current situation, Xi was merely the smaller threat—Dao Qiong Cang was the greater one!

Whether they could break the chaos hinged not on the Tianji Kuilei, which needed to clench for every technique, but on Kui Lei Han!

Xiang Yi looked toward the opposite street and shouted:

"Cao Yihan, what do you mean? Don't you recognize me anymore?"

"Rumble..."

With her shout, muffled thunder rolled across the nine heavens.

The evil ghosts in Changde Zhen, piled to the sky and entangled in the weaving web, suddenly trembled in unison.

The world paused for several breaths, leaving only a deep voice echoing from across the street:

"The temple is small; it can't accommodate all the gods and Buddhas of the heavens."

Jin Ren was startled.

Kui Lei Han's attitude was quite ambiguous?

This didn't quite align with what Ba Zun An had mentioned... or had it? Ba Zun An never said Kui Lei Han would definitely help upon arrival.

He only mentioned it as a gift from a peerless genius, something to be claimed in person.

Xiang Yi was furious.

Her rapport with Kui Lei Han seemed solid, and now, without aid, she felt slighted.

"You called it a broken blacksmith shop—I've seen it before. No matter how small, it can't hold four people?"

As she spoke, the evil ghosts stirred with a "woo," but another thunderclap burst in the dark sky.

Instantly, all ghost sounds silenced, and the heavens and earth waited.

Kui Lei Han's voice returned, as if freshly awakened, tone irritable:

"You called it a broken blacksmith shop, a broken blacksmith shop..."

"My shop's already got a hole from a day ago—if more people come, won't the whole roof get flipped by you?"

Xiang Yi was about to respond when doubt flashed in her eyes.

Jin Ren caught the strangeness too, his gaze sweeping over to see a hole in the Cao family blacksmith shop's roof.

This hole was made with precision!

If not intentional...

In the vast world of the five domains, who could breach the dwelling of the Ten Venerables' Kui Lei Han and make such a hole?

What was Kui Lei Han truly implying?

What was his warning?

As he pondered, near the unconscious and still twitching Zhu Yike, a scattered blood cloth "sizzle" emitted a strange sound.

Jin Ren whipped around.

Blood cloth?

Zhu Yike hadn't disposed of it and still carried it?

No—it was that blasted Kui Lei Han, his strike too sudden!

"Sizzle..."

A hand emerged, tearing the blood cloth.

Dao Qiong Cang hauled himself out of the compressed space, a smirk on his face.

"Warm and hesitant, beating around the bush... This reminder makes me look down on you, Old Cao."

"Let's be straightforward!"

Dao Qiong Cang spread his hands, eyeing the Tianji Kuilei with a mocking grin:

"That hole? I made it."

"This hall has been waiting here early, and when no one showed, I went back to find you... Shou Ye, what a surprise?"