Void insects traverse space and possess spatial abilities.
Entering the artificial sub-space created by a Void Insect is akin to leaving the original space.
Although Zhang Ling's Void Insect is still weak, the sub-space it creates is unstable. It can only be considered a temporary tear in the space-time continuum, existing in the cracks between spaces.
If not for the Void Insect constantly stabilizing the spatial fluctuations, other cultivators in such space-time cracks would be torn apart by the spatial turbulence.
Fortunately, the space around the mountaintop area is already unstable, which is more conducive for the Void Insect to operate.
Zhang Ling controlled the Void Insect, guiding it to carry him closer to the white-haired old man.
Within the space created by the Void Insect, his spiritual sense could not extend outward, leaving him ignorant of the outside situation.
He needed the Void Insect to open a tiny crack to allow his spiritual sense to probe outwards, but doing so risked exposing his presence.
Since he intended to remain hidden and launch a sneak attack on this advanced cultivator, he had to be cautious.
Of course, it's not as if he couldn't perceive anything outside. Although his spiritual sense couldn't extend, the Void Insect had no such limitations.
By diverting a wisp of his spiritual essence and using the Void Insect's eyes, Zhang Ling could vaguely perceive some of the external situation.
At that moment, Senior Brother Tianfeng and Fellow Daoist Shi were in an even worse predicament.
They were not only trapped in the ghostly mist but also constantly harassed by the attacks of the Demonic Soul Threads.
Elder Guiche cast a blood-colored seal, causing countless emerald green ghostly shadows to intertwine and transform into two gray-green ghostly claws that slammed down fiercely.
The ghostly claws descended with astonishing force.
They instantly shattered most of the wind spheres and wind blade defenses released by Senior Brother Tianfeng, startling him so much that his face turned pale, and he hurriedly released more spiritual energy to reinforce his defenses.
Fellow Daoist Shi, transformed into a golden light giant, also staggered, his body shrinking by half.
Following closely behind, fifty to sixty Demonic Soul Threads condensed into giant snakes that lunged and bit, breaking through their defenses and entangling Fellow Daoist Shi.
"Ha!"
Fellow Daoist Shi roared, emitting a blinding wave of golden spiritual energy that shattered the Demonic Soul Threads.
Suddenly, a white light flashed over—a white ice blade formed from white flames, directly descending.
With a muffled thud, the ice blade collided with Fellow Daoist Shi's golden light saber.
White cold wind and golden saber light erupted in the air, producing sizzling sounds.
After only a brief clash, a crisp sound rang out as cracks appeared on the golden light saber, and Fellow Daoist Shi spat out blood as he flew backward.
As the ice blade slashed down, Fellow Daoist Shi, while retreating, quickly placed the golden light saber in front of him, blocking the attack.
But the golden light saber shattered in response, completely destroyed.
This was his natal magic treasure. With his mind and spirit wounded, Fellow Daoist Shi's aura weakened by a third, and the golden light around him dimmed.
The repelled white ice blade also shattered into countless ice shards, but those shards flickered and transformed into a barrage of white, ghastly fireballs.
"Retreat quickly!"
Ancestor Tianfeng's expression changed drastically as he hurriedly commanded the white bird above his head to spread its wings and dive forward, creating a white, misty hurricane to disperse the white netherflame and shield Fellow Daoist Shi from this deadly attack.
With a mournful cry, the white bird held on for a moment before its body was directly scattered. The inherited jade talisman in Ancestor Tianfeng's hand shattered with a crack.
The remaining white flames shot over like shooting stars.
Fortunately, with this brief resistance, Fellow Daoist Shi, disregarding the destruction of his natal magic treasure, slammed his hand against his chest, and a bloody aura surfaced on his body, stabilizing his aura.
Immediately afterward, he spat out a golden light, which transformed into three layers of golden light barriers, blocking the remaining white flames.
Ancestor Tianfeng also frantically fanned the jade fan in his hand, blowing away those white flames.
This netherflame was incredibly powerful. If it stuck to the body, it would instantly freeze everything. If he and Fellow Daoist Shi hadn't defended together, one of them alone would have already been defeated.
A chorus of howls entered their ears as a large number of Yin spirits charged over. Ancestor Tianfeng hurriedly responded.
Just then, flames soared into the sky in the distance, accompanied by a scream. It was actually Old Man Fire Spirit who had been killed, hastily escaping as a fiery red nascent soul.
Immediately after, the sound of a bell rang, and Old Man Fire Spirit's nascent soul, before it could even use teleportation, stood blankly in place with a dazed look.
A huge horse face appeared behind him, opening its mouth and swallowing Old Man Fire Spirit's nascent soul.
The Poison Cloud Old Monster, possessing the Heavenly Wing Centipede, seeing the unfavorable situation, controlled the spirit insect to transform into a streak of green light and flee into the distance.
"Haha, you can't escape," Elder Yin Po immediately chased after him.
The horse-faced evil ghost neighed, its body disappearing again into the Yin wind.
It was unknown which prey would be next.
Elder Guiche glanced over there, revealing a sinister smile. "You've been worn down enough. It's time for this old man to send you on your way." The Ghost Controlling Manual in his hand opened once more.
Green fluorescent light flickered as black inscriptions floated out from the bamboo slips. The inscriptions rapidly rotated and formed a black vortex. A strange suction force came from within.
Elder Guiche spat out a mouthful of essence blood into it, and the black vortex reversed, transforming into a black, one-horned ghost head that cackled strangely. It opened its mouth and sucked in most of the Yin spirits that had been floating out of the Soul Refining Banner.
The one-horned ghost head's large mouth constantly opened and closed, as if it had eaten something delicious. Its originally vague form also solidified, becoming a black-faced, six-eyed flying skull ghost.
"Humph."
Elder Guiche coldly snorted, and a blood-colored seal was cast into the ghost head. The one-horned ghost head then stopped devouring and transformed into a gust of Yin wind that floated up.
Black light flickered in its mouth, and the red light on the black horn on its head flickered.
With a thought, just as he was about to control the evil ghost to unleash a powerful attack and destroy the enemy with one blow,
Suddenly, Elder Guiche sensed something. He saw a slender white light suddenly split open before his eyes, rapidly expanding.
"This... how is this possible? A spatial rift!"
Elder Guiche was shocked. He had not expected a spatial rift to suddenly appear. And right before his eyes, so close to him.
Although spatial rifts existed outside the Underworld Palace, and there were also many spatial rifts hundreds of feet above,
spatial rifts rarely appeared within this palace complex.
Even with his late-stage Nascent Soul strength, facing the sudden appearance of a spatial rift, his face immediately paled. He didn't bother casting spells to attack and immediately retreated backward with a flash of black light.
However, what surprised him even more was that more than a dozen thick black vines suddenly shot out from the spatial rift, instantly entangling the Nine Nether Dark Bamboo Ghost Controlling Manual floating in front of him.
"Not good!"
Elder Guiche stopped retreating and hurriedly cast a blood-colored seal, trying to recall the Ghost Controlling Manual.
But the spatial rift suddenly expanded to about ten feet in size, and a blinding black lightning bolt shot out. As the lightning arcs flickered, Elder Guiche groaned and was directly blasted away.
Zhang Ling and Xuan Gui flew out of the rift. Zhang Ling's hand flashed with yellow light, and he immediately grabbed the green bamboo scroll.
The green bamboo scroll trembled constantly in his hand, trying to break free. He spat out a cloud of hazy yellow essence, which transformed into a series of yellow runes, temporarily sealing the spirituality of the item.
With a flip of his hand, he put away the green bamboo scroll.
The one-horned ghost head that had just condensed, losing the cultivator's control, only shrieked at him before dissipating vaguely.
"It's you two! Give me back the Ghost Controlling Manual!"
With a furious roar, Elder Guiche transformed into a cloud of Yin wind and rushed out of the Water Astral Divine Thunder. He happened to see Zhang Ling putting away the bamboo scroll, and his face became extremely ugly.
An astonishing aura erupted. He rubbed his hands together fiercely, and two clusters of pale white flames were released.
Zhang Ling dared not be negligent. The Four Directions Flag in his hand was released, and a gray mist blocked his body.
But as the white flames rushed in, the gray mist was incinerated, without even the slightest binding effect.
Zhang Ling hurriedly threw out more than a dozen Thunderfire Beads. The Thunderfire exploded, barely offsetting the two clusters of white netherflame.
At the same time, Xuan Gui's bronze halberd swept over, transforming into a two-headed strange snake.
"Courting death!"
Elder Guiche's eyes widened, and with a flick of his hand, he condensed a giant ghost claw that slapped away the bronze halberd.
Xuan Gui roared angrily, transforming into his true form, a hundred-foot-tall giant tortoise, his body surrounded by black, icy demonic energy, transforming into a giant spiked ice ball that crashed over.
With a deafening boom, the ghost claw was instantly crushed, and Elder Guiche behind it was also sent flying, slamming heavily into the ground.
The entire ground shook violently, covered with a thick layer of frost, as if an iceberg had been pressed down.
Zhang Ling did not feel relieved in the slightest. Although he had taken advantage of the sneak attack, he did not believe that a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be so easily dealt with.
Taking advantage of the time that Xuan Gui was suppressing this person, his entire body's spiritual power surged wildly. Seven flying swords flew out of his sleeves in succession, recombining into a golden, dazzling cyan-white sword light.
The Earth Origin Gourd was also spinning rapidly, releasing all the Heavenly Astral Sand inside. But he did not begin to set up the Malevolent Earth Formation.
The time was too short. Even if he set it up immediately, it would be difficult to successfully trap an advanced cultivator.
He saw his hands changing hand seals continuously, and the yellow sand was rapidly gathering, transforming into a sand wave, heavily stacked together. As the yellow light flickered, it gathered into a huge rocky mountain.
This was a high-level earth attribute spell, the 重岩山 (Chong Yan Shan - 重 means heavy, 岩 means rock/cliff, 山 means mountain), or 重岩山 (Heavy Rock Mountain). It was a high-level spell he had just mastered. Using Heavenly Astral Sand to cast it, coupled with the 重元玄光 (Chong Yuan Xuan Guang - 重 means heavy, 元 means origin/source, 玄 means profound/mysterious, 光 means light), or Heavy Origin Mysterious Light, its power would definitely not be underestimated.
The Black Bone Giant Claw also transformed into a black light, constantly absorbing his spiritual power above his head, expanding and contracting, constantly growing larger.
Simultaneously casting three powerful attacks caused the spiritual power in his body to rapidly drain. In a few breaths, he had consumed one or two tenths of his spiritual power.
Zhang Ling's heart sank, but he couldn't care about that now. Whether or not he could kill this advanced cultivator, it would be worth it as long as he could severely injure him.
The sound of ice cracking entered his ears. The ice ball formed by Xuan Gui was shattering inch by inch, and a black mist spread out from under the ice ball.
At the same time, a white flame rose from the black mist, spreading to Xuan Gui's body.
Xuan Gui screamed, his body shrinking rapidly, flying out of the broken ice. He dared not let the white flame burn his body.
Strands of black gas intertwined in the black mist, gathering in the air to form a vague human-shaped phantom.
This phantom's face was half black and half white. Half of the white face was an old man's face, and half of the black face was a wrinkled black ghost face. Behind it, a head of white hair danced wildly like flames. The phantom swelled up like it was being inflated, instantly expanding to a hundred feet tall. A pair of pitch-black ghost eyes stared at Zhang Ling.
Zhang Ling's heart trembled, and cold sweat broke out on his back. He also recognized that this was the Heavenly Ghost Body from the Underworld King Art. He had seen it once before when he fought against that ghost-masked youth.
He didn't expect that this advanced cultivator could also use it. This person was an elder of the Ghost King Sect, and he had anticipated this situation.
It was recorded in the Underworld King Art that the Heavenly Ghost Body was difficult to cultivate, but once cultivated, it almost possessed an immortal body. It was impossible to kill this person without finding the Ghost Soul Pearl in the ghost body.
But the battle had already reached this point, and Zhang Ling would naturally not retreat, and simply could not retreat. With a thought, a cyan-white sword light thirty to forty feet long slashed over.
The aura of the Heavenly Ghost formed by the old man in front of him was even stronger than that of the ghost-masked youth.
As the sword light slashed, the Heavenly Ghost opened its mouth and spat out a black-gray Yin wind. It was mixed with a large number of Demonic Soul Threads, impacting the sword light.
The power of the sword light formed by the seven flying swords greatly decreased.
Zhang Ling hurriedly cast a sword incantation. A tiger's roar shook out from the sword light. The sword light transformed into a white tiger. As its body shook, streaks of golden-white sword light pounced out.
The Heavenly Ghost snorted and instantly extended a gray ghost claw, grabbing towards the sword light.
Sensing the Demonic Soul Threads condensed on the ghost claw, Zhang Ling urged the flying swords to re-disintegrate, transforming into seven flying swords that shot out in all directions.
Demonic Soul Threads defiled magic treasures. If they were caught, his flying swords might be destroyed.
The Heavenly Ghost grinned hideously. With another raise of its ghost claw, a large ball of white netherflame rose up. As the flames danced, they transformed into a white giant snake that directly charged towards Zhang Ling.
But suddenly, a great chill rose from below. A yellow water snake rushed up, entangling with the white giant snake, and it was difficult to tell who would win.
"Yellow Spring Underworld Water!"
A look of surprise appeared on the Heavenly Ghost's face as it recognized the yellow water snake's true form.
At this moment, it was not Zhang Ling who was controlling the Yellow Spring Underworld Water, but Xuan Gui.
The Heavenly Ghost raised both hands. One hand grabbed the hundred-foot-tall Soul Refining Banner. The ghost banner danced wildly, and countless ghost shadows flew out, intertwining and transforming into hundreds of black chains.
These were Soul Refining Chains, also a secret technique in the Underworld King Art. Their power was not small. If they struck the body, Yin energy would enter the body.
Zhang Ling dared not be negligent. He pushed forward with one hand, and the Heavy Rock Mountain, already cast, integrated with the Heavenly Astral Sand. This technique gathered into a hundred-foot-tall earthen yellow stone mountain that rumbled over.
The yellow light below the stone mountain shone brightly, and large swaths of Heavy Origin Mysterious Light swept out, blocking those Soul Refining Chains.
But the Soul Refining Chains were entangled with black gas, also resisting the stone mountain, making it difficult to press down on the Heavenly Ghost.
Green light flickered on the Heavenly Ghost's other ghost hand, and a long black scythe appeared. With a gentle swipe, a black light flashed past, transforming into countless slender black lights, instantly splitting the Heavy Rock Mountain into pieces.
Zhang Ling's body trembled, and he groaned, a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
He hurriedly cast a spell, and countless shattered stones re-transformed into specks of starlight sand, flowing into the Earth Origin Gourd.
The Heavenly Ghost slashed again with the scythe in its hand, and countless sword lights slashed over.
Zhang Ling spat out a mouthful of essence blood, injecting it into the Black Bone Giant Claw above his head. This treasure was instantly activated with all its power, transforming into a giant black claw that grabbed over.
The sword light and claw shadows collided, and a series of sharp sounds were heard.
For a time, the outcome remained unclear.
