Observing the movements in the Four Directions Square, everyone's expression turned grim.
Although they wanted to bypass the Four Directions Square, a sweep of their divine sense revealed that the area to the left of the square was covered in thick ghostly mist.
Just as everyone hesitated, unsure whether to continue searching for High Priest Luo Ming and Old Devil Baihua, or to come up with another plan, a cold voice suddenly came from above.
"Since you've come, don't hide. All of you, come into this sect."
As the voice echoed, the Ghost King Banner flashed with a dark green light. With a flicker of light, a green glow appeared before everyone's eyes.
Zhang Ling and the others didn't dare to be careless. They quickly activated their spiritual light, using defensive techniques or summoning defensive magic weapons to cope.
However, the imagined power of the green glow didn't materialize; it felt like a gentle breeze blowing over them, with only a hint of coldness.
Old Ancestor Tianfeng and the others naturally knew that this green light was not a good thing to deal with.
Sure enough, the next moment, Zhang Ling's vision blurred, and his ears were filled with a cacophony of ghostly laughter and wails. He found himself in a ghostly mist.
Amidst the wailing, twenty or thirty blood-red ghost figures immediately appeared, pouncing towards him.
With a flick of his hand, Zhang Ling released seven flying swords in succession. The cyan-golden sword light slashed and killed these ghost figures.
But at this moment, he was all alone. Senior Brother Tianfeng and the others, as well as the Xuan Turtle who had been by his side, were nowhere to be seen.
However, with a thought, Zhang Ling could still sense that the Xuan Turtle wasn't too far away from him.
He didn't expect that the green glow would teleport them into the ghostly mist and separate them. This was not good.
Before him, black or green mist spread, occasionally with red light flashing, and many emerald green skulls flew out, attacking him. These skulls shrieked and spewed out streams of black Yin energy.
With a swirl of his sword light, Zhang Ling easily killed these skull fiends. With a flash, he flew towards the direction where he sensed the Xuan Turtle.
In the short span of a few breaths, he had discovered that the power of his divine sense was suppressed greatly in this ghostly mist, only able to probe about two or three miles around him.
Originally, the Yin energy here had a strong suppressive effect on divine sense, but now that he was trapped in this ghostly mist, which was clearly created by the Ghost King Banner, a spiritual treasure, its power should not be underestimated.
He also discovered that in this ghostly mist, his own spiritual power was dissipating much faster.
This situation was even worse. If they were trapped here for too long and their spiritual power was exhausted, even their Nascent Soul cultivators would be worn down to death.
He needed to find a way to escape as soon as possible.
If the Xuan Turtle wasn't controlled by his second soul, Zhang Ling wouldn't even be able to sense the Xuan Turtle's exact location. In such a dangerous situation, it was safer to join forces with the Xuan Turtle before acting.
Zhang Ling fully unleashed his divine sense, sensing the aura of others while constantly guarding against sneak attacks. He hadn't forgotten that the horse-faced ghost controlled by the white-robed old man was extremely adept at sneak attacks.
After smashing the skulls and traveling only ten or so zhang, a dark green light suddenly flashed overhead. Amidst a whooshing sound, clusters of emerald green Yin fire fell.
Zhang Ling coldly snorted. The Yellow Luo Umbrella, which he always kept above his head, emitted a bright yellow light, blocking the Yin fire.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, his body flashed with spiritual light, and he instantly left his original position, shifting sideways by more than ten zhang.
A crescent-shaped black light flashed past the spot where he had just been. The black light turned half a circle in the air, transforming into a strange blade that was like a knife and a sword.
Next to the strange blade, a red light flashed, revealing a red paper umbrella, beneath which was hidden a pale-faced youth, the Ghost Face Youth.
This person wasn't wearing a ghost mask at the moment, but looked at Zhang Ling with a smile that wasn't a smile. "You are indeed no ordinary cultivator, but today you will not leave this place."
Zhang Ling stared expressionlessly at the suddenly appearing youth, his face without emotion, but his heart was heavy. This person was not easy to deal with.
"Your identity in the Ghost King Sect is not simple, is it? I saw you in the territory of the Otherworld Demon Clan before. It seems that your Ghost King Sect had this plan back then. Bringing us all to this place, and secretly attacking and killing us, what is your purpose? Is it for the longevity-increasing ghost peaches, or the treasures here?"
Seeing that the enemy didn't immediately attack again, Zhang Ling casually killed some of the surrounding ghost spirits while asking.
"This sect has indeed been planning for a long time. Since you have already entered the game, it won't hurt to tell you. Bringing you in is to extract your Nascent Souls and use the power of the Blood Moon to help my Ghost King Sect perform a blood sacrifice," Yan Shiming said calmly, uttering cruel words.
"Blood sacrifice?"
Zhang Ling frowned slightly. Although he had already guessed a bit, he was still shocked. Using the Nascent Souls of Nascent Soul cultivators as a blood sacrifice, and not just one or two, was he cultivating some kind of evil art?
"Alright, this young master sees that you have some strength and have even obtained some of my Ghost King Sect's inheritance. I can give you a way out. As long as you open up your sea of consciousness and let me plant the Black Ghost Curse, I can spare your life, how about it?"
"Humph."
Zhang Ling stopped talking, his face turning cold.
The Black Ghost Curse was a secret technique in the Underworld King Art. Once planted, one's life and death would be in the hands of others. Once the Black Ghost Curse was activated, the soul would be severely damaged. Even if one didn't die, one would become an idiot.
After two breaths of silence, Zhang Ling suddenly cast a spell, and a piece of yellow light sprinkled out.
But it didn't attack the enemy. The yellow light circled around him for about three or four zhang. Immediately afterward, seven flying swords transformed into a dazzling sword light and slashed over.
Wherever the sword light passed, a vague figure appeared in that originally empty place.
That figure was a child. On closer inspection, it was a black-faced child wearing a black bib, filled with Yin and evil energy. It wasn't a living person, but a ghost child.
This kind of ghost was extremely rare, and could generally only be refined through some evil methods.
The ghost child manifested and was trapped by the Heavy Yuan Profound Light. Seeing the sword light slashing over,
the black-faced ghost child let out a strange cry, and its body suddenly swelled up, transforming into a black-haired evil ghost. Countless black hairs wrapped around like tentacles, blocking the sword light.
But the next moment, a tiger's roar shook out from the sword light, and a golden-white tiger rushed out. The black-faced ghost child seemed to know its power, let out a wail, and turned into a gust of Yin wind, dodging it.
Yan Shiming's face darkened. He wanted to take advantage of the conversation to quietly release the ghost child for a sneak attack, but he was discovered.
At the same time Zhang Ling attacked, a cloud of black-gray ghost fiend energy also emerged from Yan Shiming's body. Strands of ghost energy manifested as ghost faces that were either crying or laughing, happy or sad.
Four ghost faces just happened to circle around him like masks, transforming into four white-faced, green-faced, red-faced, and gray-faced ghost children.
This was the Five Yin Ghost Child he cultivated. Although it wasn't fully completed yet, each one had considerable supernatural powers.
The white-faced ghost child giggled, rubbed its little hands together, and a white skull appeared in its hand. A long bone spear shot out from the skull's mouth.
With a whoosh, the bone spear shook in the air, transforming into dense bone thorns.
The green-faced ghost child let out a cry, playing with an old rattle drum. Several clear sounds of "dong, dong" rang out. The drum sound spread out, causing a feeling of irritability in the ears.
Hearing it, Zhang Ling felt that his own spiritual power was somewhat sluggish. Although the effect wasn't significant for the moment, in a battle with a strong enemy, over time, it would invisibly weaken his strength by one or two points.
This power was similar to the Otherworld Demon Clan's Crimson Roar Drum.
The red-faced ghost child also glared at Zhang Ling with a face full of anger, roared, and its entire body swelled up, transforming into a red-faced, fanged evil ghost, spewing out clusters of Yin fire.
The gray-faced ghost child didn't do anything, only lying on Yan Shiming's shoulder, transmitting gibberish ghost sounds, seemingly saying something.
Zhang Ling glanced at the several ghost children, his face sinking three points, especially the gray-faced ghost child, which gave him a feeling of horror.
Seeing numerous attacks coming all at once, Zhang Ling released the Earth Yuan Gourd, and Heavenly Star Sand flowed out, quickly gathering in front of him, condensing into several layers of thick earth walls.
With a series of rumbles, the earth walls shattered, turning into wild sand and scattering, but they also blocked many of the attacks.
Zhang Ling flicked several yellow lights with his fingers, and the scattered yellow sand transformed into seven or eight Earth Fiend Earth Spirits. They all raised their heads and spewed out streams of petrifying spiritual light.
He also recalled his flying swords, and with a thought, he was about to control the flying swords to attack as well.
Suddenly, Zhang Ling's expression changed slightly, and the sword light instantly circled around him, forming a layer of protection. The Yellow Luo Umbrella above his head rotated even faster, strengthening the defense.
The next moment, he heard the sound of a bell in his ear. With a clang, a horse-faced evil ghost appeared behind him, pouncing and biting.
It just happened to crash into the sword light. Zhang Ling quickly threw out several cyan-black Thunderfire Pearls, and a burst of thunder and fire exploded with rumbles, forcing back the horse-faced evil ghost.
But at the same time, a loud roar came from below him. Two jet-black curved horns pierced out from the ghost mist, stabbing towards him fiercely. With a whistling sound, they pierced his body, and the yellow defensive light罩 formed by the Yellow Luo Umbrella immediately shattered with a cracking sound.
Zhang Ling groaned, and was knocked away.
The two curved horns also retracted instantly, and a huge bull's head appeared below the horns. It was the other bull-headed ghost.
Zhang Ling was knocked back a hundred zhang before stabilizing his body. In front of him was a yellow light shield that was a zhang in size and thick. At this moment, cracks appeared on the light shield, especially two holes.
It was almost completely broken through, but fortunately, it blocked most of the force of the two curved horns at the critical moment.
This light shield was the Profound Spirit Shield supernatural power in his main cultivation technique. Moreover, it was a defense of nine overlapping Profound Spirit Shields.
Zhang Ling unhesitatingly spat out a cloud of yellow-mottled essence and sprayed it on the light shield. The light shield instantly split into nine light shields, circling around him.
At the same time, another large piece of bone thorns and Yin wind attacked. It was the attack created by several ghost children.
Among them, there was also a dazzling black light shooting over, carrying terrifying spiritual power fluctuations. It was Yan Shiming, the strange blade that attacked him first. Seeing it, he wanted to kill him with one blow.
While Zhang Ling strengthened his defense, he pinched out the Thunder Spirit Shuttle in his hand. Wisps of cyan-white thunder light appeared on his body with crackling sounds. With a flash of thunder light, he disappeared from the spot, appearing more than twenty zhang away the next moment, dodging those attacks.
The spiritual power fluctuations emitted by that strange blade were very strong, obviously not an ordinary attacking magic weapon. It turned in the air and shot over again.
Zhang Ling naturally didn't want to resist it head-on. With a flash of thunder light, he dodged it again.
"Humph, you even know Thunder Escape Technique."
But, just as he escaped danger, a cold snort came from above, and a white light appeared, a white snake pouncing and biting. This was not some kind of spirit beast, but an attack formed by white Yin fire. The snake opened its mouth and spat out a piercing white flame ray.
In Zhang Ling's perception, this flame attack carried a bone-chilling Yin cold energy. He didn't delay at all, and used the Thunder Escape Technique again, transforming into thunder light to dodge.
This kind of Yin fire with considerable power was the means of the white-haired old man.
Zhang Ling spread out his scrutinizing power, but couldn't find the old man's trace. Did he hide again to try and sneak attack him?
While his mind was racing, he heard a delicate shout from afar. "Old guy, you dare to be distracted while fighting me."
Immediately afterward, a shocking roar sounded from the direction the sound came from. The powerful wind pressure formed a terrifying airflow that impacted the surroundings, blowing away half of the ghost mist.
The delicate shout seemed to be a female cultivator's voice. Zhang Ling felt it was somewhat familiar, but it wasn't Dongfang Ya's voice.
Before he could think about it, another series of attacks appeared before his eyes.
Amidst the sounds of ghostly cries and laughter, a black-faced evil ghost several zhang tall appeared in front of him. It was the black-faced ghost child, transformed into an evil ghost.
At the same time, two balls of Yin wind rolled in from the left and right, inside which were the bull-headed evil ghost and the horse-faced evil ghost. One spewed out scarlet flames, and the other flung out several jet-black chains, wrapping around him.
An intense spiritual power fluctuation rose in Yan Shiming's hand, and a green light circled around his head, turning into a huge object.
Zhang Ling's face changed. The thing in the green light was the seal that was suspected to be a spiritual treasure. The Ghost Seal had grown to more than twenty zhang high, and the carved evil ghosts on it were clearly visible.
The Ghost Seal turned half a circle with a whir, and suddenly disappeared. The next moment, Zhang Ling felt a chill coming from above his head, impacting down.
He couldn't help but shudder. He noticed a layer of green light sweeping down from above his head. The Ghost Seal had already appeared above his head, pressing down.
When he fought this person before, this treasure didn't seem to have such power.
But danger had already arrived, and there was no time to think. A yellow light flashed in Zhang Ling's hand, and the Four Directions Flag was waved out by him, transforming into a large piece of gray mist, rushing towards the top of his head. At the same time, he spat out a cloud of yellow-mottled essence, transforming into a dazzling Heavy Yuan Profound Light, but it only slightly hindered the trend of the Ghost Seal pressing down.
Taking advantage of the short time, Zhang Ling's body flashed with thunder light, and he used the Thunder Escape Technique again, dodging this powerful attack.
Yan Shiming snorted coldly, and the Ghost Seal that was smashed down flashed with green light, and instantly appeared above Zhang Ling's head again. With a loud bang, it smashed down.
But there was no joy on Yan Shiming's face, because at the moment the Ghost Seal smashed down, a black and white light appeared under Zhang Ling's feet, and his figure disappeared directly into it.
"Space supernatural power, it seems that Elder Guiche said that this person has a Void Insect and is difficult to deal with." Yan Shiming's face was gloomy. His divine sense swept around, but he couldn't sense the opponent's aura at all.
