Chapter Twelve: The Woman in White

  "Could this be the legendary Phantom Territory? ... Does such a thing really exist?" Liang Tou'er was shocked and pale, he had studied various mechanisms and techniques since childhood, and also had some accomplishments in Kan Yu Wang Qi. He sometimes ventured into the depths of tombs and graves, so he had some understanding of these things.

  He had previously seen records of the yin-yang illusion in an ancient book, but as for how to break it, only a brief mention was made without detailed explanation. "Master once said that when encountering unpredictable situations, one can only use method to break method." Liang Touer suddenly calmed down and carefully considered the situation before him.

  "But I only have a superficial understanding of the Book of Changes and don't know how to break through." Liang Tou'er thought for a long time, still without any clue.

  As he was in distress, his eyes inadvertently swept across, "Huh, what's that?" Liang Tou'er muttered to himself.

  Near the bonfire, some shallow scratches could be vaguely seen under the illumination of the firelight. Liang Ze approached a bit closer, blew off the dust on top, and finally saw the marks clearly. On the left was an eight trigrams composed of solid and broken lines, Liang Ze took a look, "Qian above Zhen below". Next to it were four regular small characters "Tian Lei Wu Wang".

  Liang Tou'er was taken aback at first, and then a wave of joy rose in his heart. He thought to himself: "Could this be the method for breaking through the formation left behind by that certain powerful person? Tian Lei Wu Wang, is it saying that I should use the method of Tian Lei to take action?" At this moment, Sui Feng's tracks were completely gone, and he might have also fallen into some kind of illusion. He had no other choice but to give it a try.

  It wasn't actually left by some senior expert, but rather something I felt was off in my heart and calculated with copper coins earlier. It just so happened that the hexagram I got was Qian Zhen. But how would those thieving Liangs know about it?

  Liang Ze's heart had a few strands of hope, and he secretly used the Book of Changes to calculate how to arrange the Thunderbolt Spell. He was taught by a mysterious master, and his learning was quite miscellaneous. Astronomy and geography, methods and divine laws were all-inclusive. It's just that he was still young and hadn't learned it thoroughly, and among the few methods he knew, one was the Palm Thunder. This method was originally used to deal with various mechanisms, using true energy to drive it, and exploding in the palm of his hand. If arranged on the ground, it would be somewhat incongruous and its power would also be greatly discounted. However, at this moment, there was no time for him to consider so many things.

  But at this moment, Su Feng was still in doubt about what was wrong and what had happened. He never thought that the Liang Ze he had been waiting for was less than three feet away from him.

  "What's wrong with you? You've been frowning since you arrived here." Bi He looked at Sui Feng, asking somewhat puzzled.

  "Don't you think something feels off here? Hopefully I'm just being paranoid, but I keep feeling like there's something watching us from the shadows." Su Feng lowered his head, furrowed his brow and occasionally glanced around with the corner of his eye.

  "You... don't scare me." Bi Han's face changed, her already pale complexion becoming even paler. "You said that, and I also feel a bit strange. It seems like my back is getting a chill."

  "So, it's not that my feeling is wrong, but there really is a problem here. I came here last night, and although the place was old and dusty, it was still relatively tidy, but it wasn't as severe as this, and there was no sign of anger at all. The most important thing is these three clean spirit statues, no matter how you look at them, they seem strange." He stroked his chin, his expression solemn.

  "Ah!" Bi Huan's words were cut off mid-sentence as a sudden shrill cry pierced the air.

  The shout was right next to his ear, and he immediately trembled all over. Subconsciously opening his hands, he blocked Bi Huan in front of him, then turned his head and asked softly, "What happened?"

  Bihuan's originally lively and spirited face had lost all its color. "That... the gaze of that statue of Taichung, it looks really terrifying."

  She let out a sigh of relief, and as it turned out, nothing major had happened. Only then did she take a closer look at the Taiqing deity statue that Bi Han had mentioned. The Taiqing deity was actually the Supreme Lord Laojun, who was revered in Daoism as the embodiment of Laozi's teachings on earth. It should have been a serene and majestic image, but now it looked like its eyes were half-closed, with the eyelids drooping down and the corners of its eyes lifted up - far from being divine, it had an eerie and ghostly aura!

  As the wind blew, he looked more and more horrified. He had come here yesterday and paid homage to the Three Pure Ones. At that time, the statue of Taiqing in the center was spotless, peaceful and solemn. Could it be that the statue would change on its own? This is absolutely impossible! Could it be that ghosts and gods are playing tricks? Originally, Feng was not at all convinced by the talk of ghosts and gods, but after Wang Changming's account of his family affairs and the strange things that had happened now, he began to have some doubts.

  A soft "whoosh" sound swept past the window, and her heart tightened. It was clearly the sound of a ribbon tearing through the air, and she feared startling Bi Huanshuo, so she stole a glance with the corner of her eye. A figure stood by the window! Her face relaxed for a moment, thinking it was Liang Shidao arriving. But then her expression changed drastically - that absolutely couldn't be Liang Shidao! Even though the firelight made it hard to see the person's features clearly, she could tell it was a woman!

  "What's wrong?" Bi Huan saw Sui Feng suddenly turn around, and thought that something had happened again. Her already nervous heart became even more fearful.

  "It's nothing, I just wanted to see if you were scared." Feng said with a relaxed tone and a hint of mockery. However, when he stared at Bi He, he didn't forget to glance sideways towards the window with his peripheral vision. The woman was gone!

  "No, I must not have been seeing things. There was definitely something standing there just now. Was it a living person? If so, why wouldn't they ask questions when they saw the light in the temple at midnight? Unless..." Xiangfeng's thoughts trailed off as a chill ran down his spine.

  "Ah!" Bi Han let out a sharp cry. Her head was bowed on Su Feng's shoulder, her eyes wide with terror. "Behind!" Su Feng's heart was also filled with shock and fear, but Bi Han was right in front of him, what could he do? Su Feng subconsciously turned around, saw the thing in front of him clearly, and his scalp felt a chill.

  In front of me was a woman with long hair, and by the figure, it was the one I saw at the window earlier. Her face was deathly pale, without any vitality. Her eyes were wide open, showing only whites, her mouth half-opened. Her two hands were clenched into claws, still twitching. She wore a white dress that fluttered, looking very eerie and evil.

  "Are you human or ghost?" Feng Yong suppressed the panic in his heart and retreated while asking, standing in front of Bi He.

  The woman seemed to have heard nothing, still slightly shaking her head. Suddenly, a figure like the wind drifted over with Su Feng and Bi He. Su Feng looked closely, the woman's toes were off the ground, not at all the gait of a living person.

  "Ah...... don't come any closer!" Bi Han's voice was as thin as a mosquito's, clearly she had been scared to the point of being unable to speak loudly.

  My mind was a complete blank as I went with the flow, without any thoughts whatsoever. Subconsciously, I drew out the Qingjun Sword; after all, having a weapon in hand could add a thread of safety.

  As soon as the Pure Sword was unsheathed, the white-clothed woman actually retreated. It seemed that the Pure Sword could really suppress her. Only then did Sui Feng remember what Chang Ming had said - that the Pure Sword was an embodiment of the great power of heaven and earth. How could ghosts and monsters, which were yin evil things, withstand the most powerful and majestic energy in the world? Once he understood this, Sui Feng's heart felt much more at ease. His innate fear of ghosts and monsters also decreased a lot.

  With the wind blocking in front of Bi Han, left hand pinches the key, right hand dances with sword. Using a Qian character key, it transforms into the vast and majestic intention of the nine heavens, the heavenly power is magnificent, angry and rushing, the sword method is solemn and grand.

  The woman in white seemed to have also sensed the majesty of heaven's will and stopped advancing, slowly retreating backwards.

  "A gentle stream of warm air blew against Suifeng's ear, it was Bihong's soft sigh as she leaned lightly against him. With her eyes closed, she didn't dare to look at what happened ahead. Gradually, her body leaned in closer and closer until they were pressed together. Suifeng only felt a soft and delicate body attached to his back, he was still young and vigorous, how could he not feel anything? His mind wandered slightly, and with someone leaning against him from behind, the sword moves in his hands became unnatural."

  The woman in white found an opening and took a few more steps forward. Frightened, Su Feng hastily gathered his spirits and launched several sword attacks, only then forcing her to retreat again.

  "This can't go on, we can't stay stuck here forever. Since she's so afraid of the Qingjun Sword, it means that with the power of the Qingjun Sword, I can definitely eliminate her. I need to protect Bi Han, this is getting too dangerous, can't delay any longer." Su Feng pondered for a long time, then made up his mind to take a risk and try.

  He pretended to be careless with his sword, revealing a flaw. He hastily used his sword to rescue himself, but revealed an even bigger flaw. The woman in white clothes was deceived and seized the opportunity to pounce on Su Feng. Her long fingers reached out to grab Su Feng's face.

  With a loud shout, the sword intent was fully activated, drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. All of it was poured into the Pure Sword, and with a reverse grip, a horizontal slash was made, completely disregarding the threat to his own face, determined to wipe it out.

  This sword, he mainly used the "Zhen" character incantation, with the "Xun" character incantation as auxiliary, and launched a Wind and Thunder Sword, determined to break the evil with one sword. The sword energy was internalized, the sword hummed continuously, faster than lightning. In the blink of an eye, it seemed that a flash of lightning had really broken through the air, but when the wind-swept sword fell, he felt that something was off, as if the sword had struck empty space and hadn't touched anything. Looking again at what was in front of him, everything was empty and desolate, as if nothing had happened at all.

  A sense of foreboding surged up in his mind, and he was just about to turn around. Suddenly, Bi Huan let out a shrill cry behind him, and he hastily glanced back. In front of Bi Huan stood none other than the white-clothed woman from before. At this moment, one of her fingers was grasping Bi Huan's shoulder, digging in so deeply that her fingernails had almost sunk into his flesh. Bi Huan was wearing a plain white shirt, and where she had grabbed him, the fabric was already slightly torn, revealing a glimpse of his snowy-white skin underneath.

  In the flurry of panic, where could one care about so many things? Without time to think, a sword was swung out with a wave of the hand. This sword was plain and unremarkable, only swift. Compared to the previous Wind Thunder Sword, it seemed even faster, the woman didn't have time to react, her right arm was severed in an instant, a hand with long fingernails fell to the ground. In her hand was still a piece of torn clothing.

  A glimpse of the wind, and a piece of clothing on Bi Han's shoulder was gone, revealing a part of her snowy white shoulders. Just as the wind turned back, a strange scene occurred. The arm that had fallen to the ground suddenly disintegrated on its own, finally turning into a wisp of black air that dispersed.

  This shocked Bi Han severely. Although she had already known that this woman was not a living person beforehand, it was still hard for her to accept when she saw it with her own eyes.

  Su Feng's heart was racing wildly as he stared at the white-clothed woman who was missing an arm. There was no blood or any other reaction at the stump of her severed limb, and the woman also turned her head to meet Su Feng's gaze. Suddenly, a chill ran down Su Feng's back, like falling into an icy pit. "This dead and gloomy gaze is so cold, I just took one look, but my reaction was so big, it's really scary."

  The woman's figure fluttered and swirled, circling around the two people who were following the wind, before returning to her original position, standing beneath the image of the Three Pure Ones.

  It seemed as if they had anticipated what would happen, and both of them involuntarily held their breath, quietly watching the woman in white. Su Feng drew a sword flower to protect himself, carefully guarding against any potential danger.

  The woman looked at her broken right arm, raised her head and let out a loud, eerie laugh. It didn't sound like laughter at all, but rather the howling of an evil spirit. What was strange was that the statue of Taiqing behind her began to tremble slightly, and wisps of black air slowly emerged on its surface.

  The dark energy gathered more and more, finally bursting upwards. The yin energy around them suddenly surged, and the two people felt as if they were facing a boundless cold spring, with an indescribable chill. The woman in white stretched out her left arm, and most of the endless black energy behind her was drawn over to her. It gradually gathered on her body, and finally, her right arm, which had been severed, grew back.

  "She... how did her right arm grow back?" Bi Huan asked in a stifled voice, with unspeakable horror in his words.

  "It seems to be a gathering of dead energy behind her, she's not an ordinary evil spirit. You stay behind me and be extremely careful." Feng frowned, feeling increasingly uneasy in his heart.