Chapter Twenty-Five: Corpse Blood Freezes into Ice

  Life and death hanging by a thread, without hesitation, I reached into my bosom and swiftly pulled out the copper bell, striking it loudly.

  The copper bell rang out, striking a bright yellow light, hitting the dust-covered right hand of Feng Chen, making a loud noise, and suddenly a strong gust of wind blew, almost blinding people's eyes.

  The bell rang, the wind and dust flew everywhere, and the knife was knocked to the ground with a loud clang. The ghostly figure suddenly sprang up, its eyes wide open in anger, staring straight at the Ghost Yang Knife. It was determined to protect its disciples with its life, but unexpectedly, there was a sudden change, and it took a step back, its eyes filled with shock and amazement.

  The Nán Mànzi, who was originally knocked to one side by the ingenious Lingmiao, was now spitting out black mist and rising again. A group of blood bats, driven by the Nán Mànzi's magical power, were also rushing forward in a frenzy. The white-clad women in the Guī Líng Cave had all turned into white bones, leaving only the lingering spirits at the cave entrance, where the coffins creaked softly.

  The die has been cast, I know the consequences.

  A loud noise, the wind rises and the trees sway, blood flows backwards on the ground, and the stench is even more unbearable. With a sudden "pa" sound, Qing Shan Dao Zhang appears in front of the cave. Dao Zhang didn't deceive me, at critical moments, he would surely appear. But this move also puts us and Dao Zhang in an even more dangerous situation. That's why Dao Zhang repeatedly warned us beforehand.

  In my heart, I am filled with a sense of desolation. The Ghost Sun Blade has just appeared in the Yin realm, but two bloody cases have occurred one after another. The Moonlight Forest Master's clan has been reduced to white bones, and the tragic image of the Forest Master before his transformation is still etched in my mind. That mournful cry, "Protect the white bones and return them to their nest," still echoes in my ears. Now, once again, blood flows like a river, and the Ghost Spirit Caves have been completely destroyed, leaving only the Ling Miao Yan struggling to hold on, along with a multitude of wandering souls and coffins that are considered the ultimate in the Yin world, with no place to rest.

  "Don't be afraid, I'm here!" A soft and gentle female voice, a red shadow flickered, Li Yan stood beside me. I had an urge to rush up and hug her, at the moment of life and death, there's always someone who won't leave or abandon you, what more could you ask for? Li Yan's figure seemed even more delicate, probably due to her diligent spiritual cultivation recently, making her even more charming and captivating. Her beautiful eyes sparkled as she looked at me, I almost burst into tears, but Li Yan just gently patted my hand and said: "Everyone is by your side, what are you afraid of?" Although it was still chilly and cool, to me it felt like being roasted by a fire, warming up my heart.

  "It's you again, causing trouble in this place", Qing Shan said with a long sigh, his robes fluttering wildly, his eyes wide open, his feet treading on the lotus flower, as he faced Nan Manzi and shouted loudly, "You have created such a bloody debt, stirring up the dark winds and rains of the underworld, all for nothing but to be a vengeful spirit."

  Li Yan also let out a soft cry, but she remained by my side all along. "Southern Barbarian, I will report this matter to our master and you must quickly come to your senses and turn back, only then can you cultivate the Righteous Spirit in the future."

  "Damn it, you're right, according to your fake and pretentious words, I'm a freak, a freak that must be eliminated. I'll never have a chance to rise again, my own kingdom is mine to fight for, don't play tricks on me." The Southern Barbarian's words were coarse, but his movements were swift and agile, with a large spin, he circled behind the Blood Bats.

  Suddenly, a dark energy burst forth, and a strong gust of wind blew. A group of blood bats, driven by the Southern Barbarian's incantation, rolled towards Qing Shan Dao Zhang like fireballs, making loud slapping sounds that shook the air. The bats crashed into Qing Shan Dao Zhang's body, but it was as if they had collided with steel, shattering and flying apart in all directions. In an instant, the blood bats let out a mournful cry, their blood splashing everywhere, and Qing Shan Dao Zhang became a bloody person. The ground flowed with blood, making a gurgling sound. Meanwhile, the group of wild ghosts behind us grew restless and uneasy, clearly frightened by this scene.

  "You despicable thing, you don't care about the lives of your own kind. You trample on the corpses of your fellow disciples to rise to power, who would submit to you?" Qing Shan Daozhang's eyes had already turned blood red, his lotus-step form quickly changing as he moved swiftly, not wanting to harm innocent people, but in a series of fierce collisions, he could only let the bloody corpses fly. If this continues, how can it end?

  At this moment, Feng Chenju suddenly woke up and grabbed the Ghost Sun Knife, desperately dancing forward, frantically and recklessly. The spiritual knife passed by, and the blood bat flew even more wildly, killing its way to Qing Shan Daozhang's side.

  Nanmanzi was now spitting out fresh blood, like a blood pillar urging the blood bats to roll towards Qing Shan Daozhang in groups. Where Nanmanzi spat out blood, the blood bats were like mad demons, only rushing forward in a suicidal manner, their eerie cries accompanied by heart-wrenching screams lingering above the Guilin Cave.

  Suddenly, she woke up with a start and waved her white gauze forward. The gauze was stained with blood, and in no time, the blood flowed from her body, and her hair turned crimson red. The stench grew stronger, and the fragments of the blood bat on the ground transformed into strands of black mist that rose up and spread all around, making it impossible to see anyone's figure. All that could be seen was the black mist accompanied by splashing blood light, and the air was filled with mournful cries and eerie wails.

  Suddenly, a metallic whistling sound came, and white lightning bolts burst out of the black fog. Alas, oh no, my god! The Ghost Sun Blade was already close to Daozhang's side, with its blade energy overflowing, the white lightning bolts were in chaos, each strike seeking life, Qing Shan Daozhang had already shown signs of defeat.

  The southern barbarian saw this, how could he let go of such an opportunity, and he cried out loudly to the heavens, "You bootlicker, today I'll turn your white bones into dust, and tomorrow I'll take care of that old fellow."

  Pounding sounds, a large column of blood shot straight at the Blood Bats, and the last Blood Bat surprisingly gathered into a huge ball, as tall as a mountain, blocking out the sky and sun. The rumbling sound shook the earth, and the round ball had red dots scattered throughout, oozing out streams of blood, seemingly the final tears of the Blood Bats. Nanmanzi's body shape was in disarray, making one last desperate struggle.

  Ling Miao Yan and Qing Shan Dao Zhang stood back to back, forming a lotus shape, exerting their strength to dodge. In front of them was a mountain-high blood clot, and beside them were the ghostly knives dancing wildly in the wind and dust. How could they escape this calamity? Suddenly, I remembered what Qing Shan Dao Zhang had told me when he gave me the copper bell: "When the copper bell appears, both you and I will be naked before the enemy." These words were not false, and I felt extremely self-reproachful in my heart.

  Suddenly a loud noise came from behind, I turned my head fiercely, oh my god, the stone coffins were flying straight up and collided with a huge ball of blood.

  "Split open the stone coffin and release the evil spirit! Hahahaha!" The southern barbarian's blood spurted out non-stop, his voice loud in his mouth.

  Feng Chen's residence was apparently not powerful enough, and he danced the Ghost Yang knife to the death, but under the Ling Miao Ran and Qing Shan Dao Chang's bitter struggle, it was still difficult to get close for a while. Suddenly, he heard Nan Manzi's loud roar, also a strange cry of "ya", suddenly turning the knife peak, his whole body rose into the air, and crashed towards the stone coffin.

  The white ribbon raised by Knife Peak had already turned dark red in the blood water. At the location of the thunderous roar, the stone coffin exploded open.

  A corpse's skull burst out of the stone coffin, clattering loudly, but was struck by the White Bone Knife and exploded into a cloud of ash, scattering in all directions. Accompanied by wailing spirits, they coalesced at the entrance of the cave, another wave of mournful cries echoing through the air.

  "You have crushed your bones and scattered your ashes, damaging your yin virtue. You are a southern barbarian, you have already taken the path of no return, yet you still refuse to surrender!" Qing Shan Dao Zhang gazed up at the swirling dark souls in the air above, his eyes streaming with bloody tears, but he was unable to extricate himself to save them.

  "It was supposed to be my Wuying Gate, but you're the ones who made a fuss and took in this group of lonely souls and wild ghosts. Dammit, I'm just following their wishes!" Nanmanzi's mouth and hands moved non-stop, his palms flying as he spat out thicker blood clots, charging straight at the Blood Ball, which thundered loudly and rapidly rolled towards Ling Miaoran and Dao Chang.

  It's probably because the stone coffin had long been blessed with spiritual power, but in the end, it was still no match for the Ghost Sun Blade and was reduced to nothing but smoke.

  Li Yan suddenly let out a loud cry, desperately twisting her body, and in an instant she was standing on the blood sphere. Her hands rapidly struck downwards, but with each strike, the blood sphere rose another layer, and with each strike, it rose again. It seemed that Li Yan's magical powers were indeed too weak, and relying solely on her bravery had put herself in the most dangerous situation.

  As I saw Li Yan rush forward, I panicked and took a step forward, also rushing past. Old Qian was also tightly holding onto me, desperately dashing forward. But underfoot, it was impossible to walk, only blood and flesh, piles of broken bodies, the stench rising up, making people feel dizzy and faint. My feet were wrapped in a ball of corpse blood, like stepping on cotton, unable to exert any force, waves of cold wind swirled around my legs and rushed straight to my chest, almost toppling me into this sea of blood.

  Struggling to hold back the surge of blood that was about to spew out from his chest, he suddenly found himself unable to move forward or backward. Old Qian was even swaying unsteadily on his feet. What could be done with this mortal coil?

  Li Yan's body was completely covered in blood, and with a loud thud, she fell to the ground. Fortunately, Qing Shan Dao Zhang was still quick-witted and managed to catch her just in time, shielding her between them. Nan Manzi burst out laughing loudly, urging the Blood Ball forward even more fiercely, "This is great, let's all die together, it'll save me the trouble."

  At this moment, Nanmanzi muttered to herself, her body suddenly changed, and she swooped down in front of the cave, spinning around before landing on top of a ball of blood. She clasped her hands together and pressed down with all her might. Suddenly, the sound of rushing water ceased, and the blood flowing on the ground froze, making a hard cracking sound. Good heavens! The river of blood that had flowed just moments before had instantly turned into ice blocks. Qing Shan Daochang and the other two were frozen in place, unable to move.

  The southern barbarian let out a strange laugh, his feet kicking wildly, the blood balls were like iron blocks on ice, making a loud noise, and with a whoosh, he knocked three people down.

  "Oh no!" I and Old Qian simultaneously exclaimed in shock, our chests almost bursting. "This is the end!"

  In an instant, the blood ball overwhelmed the three of them, and they fell to the ground, motionless. I thought that the Taoist priest who feared neither heaven nor earth, Li Yan, and the master of the Ghost Spirit Cave would not end like this? This means we have completely failed.

  The Blood Ball, however, did not stop after pressing down on the three of them. The Southern Barbarian suddenly twisted in mid-air, and his entire body rapidly rose upwards. The Blood Ball, accompanied by a shocking loud noise, shot towards the cave entrance with a whooshing sound.

  A deafening loud noise came, and the Guilin Cave collapsed completely. Those ghosts were all buried inside the Guilin Cave.

  Good heavens! Fortunately, I rushed to the entrance of the cave just now to rescue Li Yan. If I was still at the entrance, I'm afraid it would be me and Old Qian who would really accompany these ghosts and lonely spirits.

  Blood balls crashed into the cave entrance, corpses flew everywhere, fragments fell, and another scream was heard. Fresh blood from the blood ball flowed all over the ice block, and Nanmanzi burst out laughing.

  Blood flowed past the bodies of Qing Shan Dao Chang and the other two, congealing without advancing, and in an instant, it had frozen all three into three blood men.

  My heart was burning with anger, I jumped desperately, my god, I pulled Lao Qian and we both jumped out onto the ice, while our feet were standing on it, the blood ice slowly melted away. In an instant, I understood that this extremely yin blood was suppressing our extremely yang blood from emerging.

  Although we are trapped, we can't help but stare at the southerners in front of us.

  The southern barbarian girl's gloomy eyes gazed at us two.

  Suddenly a wave of corpse stench came, and Old Qian and I only felt dizzy in our brains, unable to control ourselves, and fell straight to the ground. It turned out that Nanmanzi used corpse poison to knock us both unconscious.

  As I fell, I felt my body was very light. I clearly saw another me, completely transparent, slowly rising from my own body, and Old Qian was the same, we exchanged a glance.

  Mom, this might be what they call a soul leaving the body.

  The Guilin cave was completely destroyed. The southern barbarian waved his hand, and in the air, there were more groups of blood bats. This guy is ruthless and unscrupulous, where did he get so many blood bats to help him? Thinking that everyone has their own way, it's possible that the blood bats are under its control too.

  A flock of bats flew in, making strange cries, and quickly gathered into a cluster, forming a platform in the air. The Southern Barbarian put all five of us on the bat-clustered platform, then sprang up himself and flew straight southward.

  And on the other side, is where Wú Yǐng Mén resides. Looking at the straight and sprawling green mountain path, as well as Líng Miào Rán and Liǎng Yàn, I feel that it's even more terrifying than the ice array from just now.