Chapter 128: Four Factions Converge

Seven days later, a resonant voice reached the ears of Wang Changsheng and others: “I am Li Yang. Everyone, come out of your residences and prepare to rendezvous with the three sects to encircle and annihilate the Ghost King.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Changsheng and the other six, including Wang Mingzhan, left their stone house and stepped outside.

As he emerged, Wang Changsheng saw dozens of cultivators gathered outside. Most were at the Qi Refining stage, with only a dozen or so at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Hundreds of cultivators had entered the Ghost Abyss initially, but in less than a month, only dozens had survived, a survival rate of less than one-tenth.

Everyone moved closer to Li Yang. Besides Li Yang, there were over thirty disciples from the Qingyang Sect.

“Congratulations on surviving. We have identified the Ghost King’s activity area. Now, everyone, follow me to the gathering point. Together, we will eliminate the Ghost King, and once it’s vanquished, you can leave the Ghost Abyss.”

After speaking, Li Yang conjured a sparkling green flying boat, which was over ten zhang long.

He was the first to jump onto it, and Wang Changsheng and the others followed.

Once everyone was on board, Li Yang cast a spell on the green flying boat and softly commanded, “Go.”

No sooner had he spoken than with a whoosh, the green flying boat sliced through the air, disappearing into the sky shortly thereafter.

Three days later, the green flying boat landed on a mountain peak adorned with a white banner. Hundreds of cultivators had gathered on the mountain, mostly at the Qi Refining stage, with buildings sprawling from the summit down to the mid-slope. A three-story black stone building stood out prominently.

The green flying boat slowly descended in front of the black stone building, and Wang Changsheng and the others disembarked.

Two men and one woman emerged from the black stone building. One man was dressed as a scholar, wearing a literati's headscarf and a white jade belt. Another man wore a red brocade robe, had a square face, a handlebar mustache, and a red gourd hanging from his waist. The woman wore a long purple dress, possessed a graceful figure, and was dressed like a mature woman.

“Fellow Daoist Li, you’ve finally arrived. Come, escort them to rest.”

The middle-aged scholar waved his hand, and a team of cultivators approached, leading Wang Changsheng and the others away.

Li Yang followed the two men and one woman into the stone building.

“Brother Shixian, Fellow Daoist Chen, Madam Liu, how is it? Have you pinpointed the Ghost King’s location?”

After taking their seats, Li Yang eagerly inquired.

“We have, but it’s only an approximate location. The tricky part is that the Tier 3 formation flags we brought can’t cover an area of over ten thousand li. Once the Ghost King is alerted and escapes to another place, it will take more time to find its hiding spot. Each day we stay longer will cost us a lot of resources. Most importantly, we don’t know how many Ghost Kings there are; we’ve only discovered two so far. The four sects of Chu have also found traces of two Ghost Kings and are already working to eliminate them. We need to speed things up.”

The middle-aged scholar nodded, speaking gravely.

Li Yang frowned and said, “Over ten thousand li? Can the Ghost Seeker Disc not determine the Ghost King’s exact location either?”

“The Ghost Seeker Disc is merely a magical artifact; it cannot achieve that. Moreover, the place where the Ghost King hides is extremely rich in Yin energy, making it easy for ghosts to conceal themselves in such an environment. We have discussed using a set of Tier 4 formation talismans to seal off an area of over ten thousand li. As before, we will divide into multiple teams to investigate thoroughly. If the Ghost King appears, we will all move together to eliminate it. The troublesome part is that the power of the formation talismans is limited. If the Ghost King does not attack the talismans, they can last five days without issue. If the Ghost King attacks the formation, the time will be shortened. This means that once the talismans are deployed, we must eliminate the Ghost King within five days.”

The purple-dressed woman explained calmly.

“Within five days? If those Foundation Establishment cultivators encounter a Ghost King, they probably won’t even have time to send a warning! How will we know the Ghost King’s location?”

The red-robed elder smiled slightly and explained, “Fellow Daoist Li, don’t worry. The Ghost Seeker Discs given to the Foundation Establishment cultivators are specially refined sub-discs. We hold the master disc and can track their locations at any time. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator is killed and no one uses their Ghost Seeker Disc, the master disc will send a warning, and we will then move to eliminate the ghost.”

“Since you can seal this area, why not use a Tier 3 formation to eliminate the ghosts? Wouldn’t that be safer?”

Li Yang frowned, puzzled.

“It’s not that we don’t want to, but we can’t. We don't know how long this place has existed. Because of the restrictions, no Ghost Infant-stage ghosts have appeared here, but those Ghost Kings are extremely troublesome and have developed intelligence. News from the four sects of Chu indicates that they encountered a Ghost King possessing a magic treasure. Caught off guard, one fellow daoist was severely wounded. A Tier 3 formation cannot cover over ten thousand li. If we search one by one, we will certainly alert the Ghost King. Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall! All the more so for a Ghost King that has developed intelligence. It’s safer to send people to search, determine the Ghost King’s location, and then act.”

“Exactly. Although Ghost Kings have developed intelligence, they would never imagine that the Foundation Establishment cultivators they kill are actually bait that we deployed. After taking the bait, do they still think they can escape?”

From their words, it was clear they did not care about the lives of those Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Li Yang felt their reasoning was sound and nodded, saying, “Then we shall proceed as the three fellow daoists suggest. When shall we act?”

“Delay breeds trouble; we act immediately. However, the immortal cultivation families have suffered heavy losses, so we need to reorganize the teams.”

Li Yang considered this and nodded in agreement.

Not long after, over four hundred cultivators gathered at the mountain summit.

Li Yang’s gaze swept over the cultivators, and he said in a deep voice, “We have discovered the approximate location of the Ghost King, but that area is too vast to pinpoint its exact position. We have decided to seal off that area with formation talismans and search slowly. A word of caution: the formation talismans can only last for five days. Once five days pass, the formation will become ineffective. If the Ghost King escapes, we will have to remain here to continue searching for it. The Blazing Sun Pills are Tier 2 pills, and the Medicine King Valley cannot provide too many of them. You should be clear about the consequences of not having Blazing Sun Pills! Therefore, do not be perfunctory; you are gambling with your lives.”

“Senior Li, if we can’t eliminate the Ghost King, can’t we just withdraw from the Ghost Abyss and re-enter to eliminate the Ghost King once the Medicine King Valley has refined enough Blazing Sun Pills? Why are we in such a hurry to eliminate the Ghost King? If worst comes to worst, we could just seal the entrance.”

Someone raised a question.

The red-robed man sneered and said, “Do you think Blazing Sun Pills are like cabbages? This time, our Medicine King Valley has brought out five thousand Blazing Sun Pills, most of which are from our inventory, valued at over a million spirit stones. Every day we delay will consume a vast amount of spirit stones. Why are we eager to eliminate the Ghost King? If we ignore it and a Ghost Infant appears, the entire Song Kingdom will turn into a hell. This is absolutely not alarmist talk. The Ghost Abyss was originally a place used by an ancient demonic cultivation sect for training disciples, and it had restrictions to prevent the emergence of Ghost Infant-stage ghosts. But so many years have passed, and it’s hard to say if the restrictions are still effective. That’s why we united with the Chu immortal cultivation world to jointly eliminate the Ghost King. If a Ghost Infant-stage ghost appears, both the Song Kingdom and Chu immortal cultivation worlds will be doomed.”

“We will provide each team’s Foundation Establishment cultivators with a Ghost Seeker Disc and a warning talisman. The Ghost Seeker Disc is for detecting ghosts. If you discover a Ghost King, immediately use the warning talisman to alert us, and we will rush to rescue you.”

“Rush to rescue us?”

Wang Changsheng felt a cold sneer in his heart; he would never believe such words.

Naturally, others would not believe it either. They had seen through the true nature of the four major sects; they were using their lives to search for the Ghost King. If they were unlucky enough to encounter a Ghost King, death was certain.