Zhang Ling and the others secretly discussed their next move.
Suddenly, Ancestor Tianfeng looked at Elder Wang and asked, "How do you feel about this, Fellow Daoist Wang? Do you mind if Fellow Daoist Duyu accompanies us?"
"Given this fellow daoist's condition, it's indeed unsuitable for him to act alone. Wang has no objections," said Elder Wang of the Ghost King Sect, glancing at the green centipede possessed by Old Freak Duyu with indifference.
Ancestor Tianfeng smiled and nodded at the others. "In that case, let's hurry and join up with the others." He transformed into a streak of light once again and continued forward.
Zhang Ling and the others followed closely behind, but this time they subtly surrounded Elder Wang.
They were still secretly discussing through voice transmission, but hadn't made a decision yet.
Although Old Freak Duyu had transmitted a message saying that the Ghost King Sect was suspicious and that they should immediately deal with the Ghost King Sect elder, they couldn't act rashly and kill a Core Formation cultivator based on mere words.
After all, this person was a Core Formation cultivator. Not to mention the risks involved, the Ghost King Sect was not to be trifled with.
For a time, they could only heighten their vigilance and remain secretly observant.
The green centipede possessed by Old Freak Duyu followed behind the others, his expression unsightly, but he understood their concerns and didn't say anything more.
The atmosphere was silent as they flew along, but after only a few miles, just as they passed over a ruined area, a shocking explosion rang out in the distance ahead. A huge white light exploded in the sky, forming a terrifying shockwave that swept through the area.
The roaring wind dispersed the red ghost mist that permeated the surroundings, and many tiles and rubble flew in all directions.
The group was not far from the explosion, and they were buffeted by the shockwave, staggering.
Zhang Ling's body flashed with yellow light a few times, and he steadied himself. He extended his divine sense towards the source of the explosion and discovered that another series of explosions was coming from that direction. Amidst the explosions, there was a terrified voice: "Fellow Daoist Shi, run! He's a Great Cultivator, we're no match for him!"
The voice was drowned out by the explosions and was difficult to hear clearly, but Zhang Ling and the others heard it very clearly.
Just then, Elder Wang among them gently twitched his arm.
Suddenly, a black crack opened on his right arm, and a ball of grayish-white matter shot out. It transformed into a gray light blade with extreme speed, flashed strangely, and disappeared. The next moment, it appeared behind Ancestor Tianfeng, a mere ten feet away, and slashed down fiercely.
"Fellow Daoist Wang, what are you doing?"
Old Man Huo Ling shouted and at the same time flung out a crimson-red orb. With a flash of fire, it exploded and transformed into a giant fire dragon, pouncing towards Elder Wang.
Elder Wang's expression froze, revealing a hint of surprise. He had not expected that he would be the target of others' attacks at the same time as he launched his sneak attack.
He quickly summoned a black, lacquered scimitar to block the fire dragon's impact. His body transformed into a black gust of yin wind without hesitation and shot towards the sky.
But above his head, a white ice flower appeared at some point. Inside the ice flower, a ball of blue spiritual light flickered. The ice flowers instantly condensed into a giant ice crystal, several dozen feet in size, and pressed down fiercely.
Elder Wang's upward-flying figure crashed into it, and he immediately felt a surge of cold air all over his body. A layer of frost instantly covered his body, forcing him back down.
This ice flower was Ice Fairy's technique, and its power seemed considerable. The water flower spun around, scattering a flurry of snowflakes.
Elder Wang now realized that he had fallen into the encirclement of the others. His face became enraged. "Uh, you actually ambushed me? Could it be that you knew all along...?"
"Die!"
Before he could finish speaking, a mass of blood-red viscous liquid shot out from the green centipede possessed by Old Freak Duyu. It transformed into streams of blood-colored water arrows.
Elder Wang quickly released another mass of black light, from which flew a white bone shield. It instantly transformed into a giant shield, several dozen feet in size.
The blood-colored water arrows struck the shield, emitting sizzling, bubbling sounds. Many potholes were corroded on the shield. But this shield seemed to be extraordinary as well, and it was not broken through.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Elder Wang transformed into a gust of yin wind again and flew downwards, seemingly intending to escape. He knew that the sneak attack had failed, and he was already exposed, so he naturally had no intention of resisting several fellow cultivators of the same rank.
This person was very fast and did not engage in a prolonged battle.
However, a white, hazy hurricane crashed directly into him, blocking his retreat.
Inside the white wind mass, Ancestor Tianfeng snorted expressionlessly. "Fellow Daoist, where do you think you're going?" His voice was calm but extremely cold.
Ancestor Tianfeng raised a green wooden ruler in his hand. With a silvery sound, pieces of green small rulers struck out fiercely.
The sneak attack earlier was not weak. Fortunately, Senior Brother Tianfeng had been on guard and quickly dodged it.
With a series of clanging sounds, Elder Wang was directly knocked backward. The black light of the white bone shield outside his body flickered. Although it blocked most of the attacks, dense cracks appeared on the bone shield, and the spiritual light dimmed.
Immediately afterward, the cold air above intensified, and large swaths of ice flowers scattered down. On the other side, there were also two fire dragons and a burst of red light sprayed out by the green centipede.
Elder Wang was instantly trapped in the encirclement. His face turned black, and he did not hesitate to rub his hands together. A crystal-like skull appeared in his hands. He sprayed a mouthful of blood essence on it, and the skull turned as black as ink in the blink of an eye.
It flew to the top of his head and swelled up wildly, growing into a huge skull, three zhang in size. Elder Wang flashed and directly entered the skull.
The skull cackled a few times, spewing out a mass of black yin wind that wrapped around itself. It spun around and created many illusory skull images. The main body was hidden within, quickly escaping in all directions.
Old Man Huo Ling and Fairy Leng's attacks scattered twenty or thirty skulls, but they could not see Elder Wang's true form.
Ancestor Tianfeng's face also darkened, and for a moment, he could not tell which one was the person's main body.
Suddenly, a scream rang out.
A silver-black light, like a sword light, shot out from behind an upward-flying illusory skull. With a cracking sound, it directly pierced through the skull.
Xuan Gui was raising an arm, his entire arm glowing with a metallic silver-black light. Especially the fingernails on his hand, which were shimmering.
The shattered skull fell from the sky and turned back into a mass of black gas. Elder Wang, who was hiding inside, spat out blood, his aura weakened, and his face turned pale.
This person waved his hands, seemingly wanting to cast some secret technique.
The next moment, he felt his body stiffen uncontrollably in place. It turned out that a cloud of gray mist had appeared around him at some point, covering him.
Elder Wang's face changed drastically.
Immediately afterward, the sound of rushing water entered his ears, and a stream of turbid yellow water rushed over, enveloping him.
Elder Wang's body tumbled a few times in the water and was dissolved with a *pu pu* sound. Even the Core Formation did not have time to escape and was corroded into green smoke.
This Ghost King Sect elder only let out a few screams before his body was gone.
This scene stunned Old Man Huo Ling, Fairy Leng, and the others. They all looked at Zhang Ling.
A gray-black round bowl was spinning in front of Zhang Ling, and the yellow water all poured into it with a *pu pu* sound. It was this treasure containing Yellow Spring Nether Water that delivered the fatal blow to Elder Wang.
Zhang Ling was also pleasantly surprised. He had not expected that the first time he used this treasure in battle, he would instantly kill a Core Formation monster. The corrosive power of Yellow Spring Nether Water was indeed terrifying.
It was a pity that even this person's storage bag was melted away.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what a good method," Old Man Huo Ling licked his lips and glanced at the round bowl in his hand, revealing a hint of fear.
Zhang Ling put away the round bowl and was about to say something.
In the distance, the place where the shockwave had erupted earlier, another roar came. "You dare to kill my sect's elder, you are courting death!"
At the same time, there was a delighted voice, "Fellow Daoist Tianfeng, fellow Daoists, please help! These people from the Ghost King Sect have ill intentions. Several fellow Daoists have already fallen into their hands."
Along with the two voices, another series of earth-shattering explosions came from that direction, making people's ears ring.
Immediately afterward, several streaks of light flew over, the foremost being four streaks of light, and the rear also being four streaks of light.
However, the four streaks of light in the rear had a stronger aura, and one of the gray-white streaks of light had the strongest aura.
Zhang Ling and the others instantly noticed the strongest aura. It was a white-haired old man whose cultivation had reached the late stage of Core Formation. He was a Great Cultivator.
"This person is the Great Cultivator who chased me down before. Everyone, be careful," The face of Old Freak Duyu reappeared on the head of the green centipede, staring fiercely at the white-haired old man.
The four streaks of light that had been fleeing instantly arrived before them.
Among them, there was a burly man in golden light. There were many bloodstains on his body, and he was holding a golden broadsword in his hand. However, he was panting heavily, looking disheveled and severely injured.
This burly man was Fellow Daoist Shi from the True Yang Sect.
The other three were standing in the same place. The one on the left was wearing black armor and holding a long spear, and was as tall as a zhang. However, one arm was missing. He looked like an iron-armored general.
The one on the right was completely green. A giant wooden shield was wrapped around in front of him, but his head was square, looking like a gray-green wooden stake. His hands and feet were also twice as long as those of ordinary cultivators.
These two strange people attracted Zhang Ling's gaze away from the white-haired old man. He glanced at them and realized that these two fellows were not human, but two humanoid puppets.
The aura they emitted was that of two Core Formation-level puppets.
Looking at the one between the two puppets, it was a short, fat old man.
Although Zhang Ling had not interacted with this person, he had been paying attention to this little old man after everyone had gathered at the foot of the mountain earlier.
This person was Puppet Spirit Old Freak, who had been sent by the Heavenly Extremity Sect to reinforce the great battle. This person had also been assigned to the team to retake Yanxia City, so he had also been teleported here.
Elder Qin had said before that Puppet Spirit Old Freak would bring the Heavenly Extremity Sect's Core Formation puppets to help. Looking at it now, this person had brought more than just one Core Formation puppet, but two.
Puppet Spirit Old Freak's image was also very bad, with disheveled hair and a weak aura. He also seemed to be injured.
"Your Excellency, you are the second Great Cultivator of the Ghost King Sect, right? Why are you attacking us?" Ancestor Tianfeng looked at the white-robed old man with a solemn expression.
Before the white-robed old man could speak, a middle-aged man in a green robe snorted coldly. "Killing Junior Brother Wang is already punishable by death. Why ask more? Especially you, I will personally extract your Core Formation to offer sacrifices to Ghost Grandfather and Ghost Grandmother."
This person's gaze was fixed on Zhang Ling, revealing a strong baleful aura.
Ancestor Tianfeng and the others sensed that this green-robed cultivator's killing intent was directed at Zhang Ling.
"Junior Brother, do you know this person?"
"He is Hundred Soul True Man from the Hundred Soul Sect. I have some grudges with this person. But looking at the situation now, a great battle is inevitable. Let's deal with the current danger first," Zhang Ling did not expect to meet Hundred Soul True Man in this place and was slightly surprised.
Of course, he was not afraid of this person now. On the contrary, the Great Cultivator next to him was difficult for them to deal with.
Following Hundred Soul True Man's words, the white-haired old man also turned his gaze to Zhang Ling. At the same time, he said without emotion, "He is the one who killed Ghost Grandfather and Ghost Grandmother."
"That's right, it's this kid."
"Good, since we've met, let's solve it together. Adding the Core Formations of these people is enough," The white-haired old man coldly swept his gaze over Ancestor Tianfeng, Zhang Ling, and the others.
Without seeing the old man make any movements, a large area of Yin Fiend Ghost Qi emerged from his body, and his powerful aura was revealed.
When Puppet Spirit Old Freak saw the white-haired old man on the opposite side take action, he took action first.
This little old man waved his hands, and a golden rune and a green rune were injected into the two puppets beside him.
The two Core Formation-level puppets began to move.
The black-armored puppet shook the long spear in its hand, and the black long spear lit up with a golden-white light, suddenly thrusting forward. It formed fifty or sixty golden-white light thorns, which shot over with *pu pu* sounds.
The other strange green puppet instantly turned its two long arms into two green long whips, which stretched to a length of twenty or thirty zhang, biting over like two green giant snakes.
Looking at the aura emitted by these two puppets, the black-armored puppet's body was filled with violent metal spiritual power. The green puppet's body was entwined with wood spiritual power.
"Fellow Daoist Tianfeng, these people from the Ghost King Sect clearly have a premeditated plan. We can only unite first to temporarily ensure our safety. I have just sent out a message talisman. As long as we can hold them back for a moment, other cultivators will come to reinforce us."
Ghost Chariot Elder on the opposite side snorted coldly, and the green bamboo slip in his hand unfolded at once. Dense blood-colored inscriptions floated on it. These spiritual patterns gathered into a huge blood-colored ghost head, which spewed out a burst of blood light.
However, the blood light did not attack Zhang Ling and the others, but wrapped around them like a breeze. A tall bull-headed ghost and a horse-faced ghost appeared in the blood light.
The bull-headed ghost was holding a steel fork and roaring to the sky.
The horse-faced ghost was entangled with black chains, holding a bronze bell in one hand and a scarlet giant python in the other.
The aura emitted by these two evil ghosts was extremely strong, and they were both comparable to the mid-stage of Core Formation.
