Ghost Immortal

Zhang Geng's head and back slammed against the withered locust tree, causing wisps of black smoke to billow out of the cracks in the tree.

"You...you clearly had a three-inch spiritual root when you entered the city!"

"You don't even know the Concealing Breath Technique? You bumpkin." Li Feng sneered disdainfully.

"You've never even seen the basic techniques of Taoism? And you're trying to be a villain? How pathetic."

Zhang Gengtou's mouth was crooked from being scolded.

He had indeed never seen it.

Ghost cultivators follow evil and crooked paths, relying on methods such as devouring souls and refining spirits, killing and seizing bodies to improve their cultivation.

The elaborate methods of righteous cultivators were no different from celestial scriptures to him.

The art of concealing one's breath, a basic skill that even novice disciples in the Taoist sect must learn, was, in his eyes, a profound and unfathomable secret technique.

A young cultivator with a nine-inch spiritual root, carrying an armored corpse with a ten-inch spiritual root, insisted on disguising himself as having a three-inch spiritual root.

Who are these people? Why are righteous cultivators so insidious?

Don't all righteous geniuses strive to make a name for themselves and bring glory to their ancestors?

Zhang Gengtou was shocked and furious, but as a seasoned veteran who had lived for over sixty years, he made the most sober judgment immediately after his initial shock.

We can't fight, time to get out of here!

The Ghost Realm is his home turf. As long as he can escape into the depths of the Ghost Realm, even a corpse with ten-inch spiritual roots won't be able to find him.

He slapped the trunk of the withered locust tree with both hands, and the huge mouths on the trunk all exploded, spewing out thick black smoke that instantly engulfed him.

Amidst the black smoke, Zhang Gengtou's figure swiftly merged into the locust tree, disappearing from head to toe like water seeping into sand.

"You can't win and you want to leave? Did you even ask for my permission?"

Li Feng had anticipated this move.

Just as Zhang Gengtou's figure was about to disappear, Li Feng flicked a talisman from his sleeve with his left hand.

The talisman exploded in the air, and the dark red light transformed into a flying arrow, pinning Zhang Gengtou in the black smoke.

Zhang Gengtou's body was wedged into the tree trunk, half of his body was inside and the other half was still outside, the posture was somewhat ambiguous.

It's a pity she's too ugly; if she were a blonde, animal-eared girl, she'd be practically tempting people to commit crimes.

The effect of the immobilization charm is only momentary, lasting only a blink of an eye.

That moment was enough for Li Feng.

He had been gathering power in his right palm for a long time, and unleashed it the moment the immobilization talisman took effect.

Lightning burst forth from his palm, growing to the thickness of a child's arm.

A blinding flash of lightning tore through the black smoke and struck the exposed half of Zhang Gengtou's body.

"ah!!!"

Zhang Geng let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Lightning is extremely yang and strong, and it is especially effective against yin and evil.

The ghost cultivator's body was like tinder in front of lightning, instantly ignited.

The yin energy clinging to half of his body was blasted away by the lightning, his green robe turned to ashes, revealing the withered, sallow flesh beneath.

The flesh exploded in the lightning, and the black, foul blood was evaporated by the lightning before it could even spurt out.

The withered locust tree was shaken in the middle by the aftershocks of the lightning, and the yin energy that had accumulated in the trunk for decades was released outwards.

The whole tree looked like a snake with its tendons pulled out, with withered branches falling down from its crown with a crackling sound.

The ghost realm collapsed rapidly.

The blue bricks on the courtyard wall peeled off one by one, revealing the gray, empty space behind them.

The black water on the ground flowed back into the cracks, and the fishy stench that filled the air quickly faded.

The blurry ghostly figure, huddled in the corner trembling, collapsed to the ground like a broken puppet the moment the ghost realm collapsed, turning into black water that seeped into the ground.

Zhang Gengtou was thrown out of the tree trunk and crashed heavily to the ground.

His charred wounds were still smoking, and half of his face was torn apart by lightning, revealing his grayish-white cheekbone underneath.

But he was still alive by sheer luck. Ghost cultivators have much stronger vitality than ordinary cultivators. As long as their spirits linger, they can survive even the most severe physical injuries.

Zhang Gengtou struggled to turn over, glaring at Li Feng with his remaining eye.

"Who...who are you? Why would you set up a trap to deceive this old man like me!"

Now that things have come to this, he is convinced that Li Feng deliberately set a trap to entrap him.

Li Feng walked up to him and looked down at him.

"If you had no intention of harming others, how could you have suffered this calamity? Ghost cultivators should have ghosts. I wonder if Gao Feng can devour them."

Zhang Gengtou quietly groped around on the ground, picked up the copper bell that had fallen earlier, and his eyes were fierce.

He still has one last card up his sleeve.

The name of this requiem bell is fake.

Its real name is the Soul-Capturing Bell, a yin instrument used by the ghost cultivator lineage to extract the souls of living people!

If he can aim the Soul-Capturing Bell at Li Feng and ring it, he might be able to take Li Feng down with him before he dies.

But just as his fingers touched the bell's clasp, a giant, bluish-black hand stomped down on his head.

Gao Feng's foot landed firmly on Zhang Gengtou's hand, sinking the hand and bell into the blue bricks.

The Soul-Capturing Bell was deformed by being stepped on, its clapper broke off, and it emitted a short, hoarse sound. All the insects inside were crushed to death, splattering out milky white liquid.

Zhang Geng's face contorted with pain, and he let out a muffled groan.

Li Feng squatted down, pried open his fingers, and kicked the lantern with the human head to the side, just in case this old geezer played any dirty tricks.

After the head hit the ground, it rolled twice, the wick of the lamp soaked in grease went out instantly, and the tightly closed eyes opened abruptly, staring blankly at the sky.

Li Feng squatted down in front of Zhang Gengtou and coldly asked, "Are all the wandering ghosts in the alley people you killed?"

Zhang Gengtou was panting heavily, a cruel sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"you guess?"

With a stomp of his foot, Zhang Gengtou's hand bones immediately cracked with a "crack" sound.

"Guess if I'll guess or not?" Li Feng chuckled, this old ghost was quite good at livening up the atmosphere.

"Ah!! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Zhang Geng's head was throbbing so badly that his whole body was convulsing. He hurriedly started speaking in fits and starts, blurting out everything in one breath, no longer daring to show off.

"Yes... I killed them! They were all outsiders, didn't know the rules, and were still wandering the streets after dark. Some were refugees from other places without household registration. Their deaths wouldn't attract any attention."

His voice grew softer and softer until he was in so much pain that he could barely speak.

Li Feng's expression changed. Sure enough, this guy was a villain and deserved to die!

"How many people have you killed in total?"

"I...I can't remember..."

Gao Feng pressed his foot down another half inch.

"One hundred and thirty-seven! I've written them all down in the register!"

Zhang Gengtou howled again.

Li Feng then asked, "Is the rule you mentioned in Qingyan City—that you don't go out after dark—true or false? Is there anything you're hiding? Tell me everything!"

Zhang Gengtou nodded hurriedly, "It's true!"

"After dark, there are indeed unclean things appearing, not only the vengeful spirits of the people I killed, but also the old things at the bottom of the mass graves, which crawl out from underground every now and then..."

His face grew increasingly terrified, as if he were thinking of something horrible.

"In recent months, a lot of new yin energy has appeared in the city. We don't know where it came from, and even we ghost cultivators dare not approach it casually."

Li Feng's eyes flickered slightly: "What kind of yin energy?"

Zhang Gengtou hurriedly replied, "The black aura is drifting in from outside the city. I've lived for sixty-seven years and worked as a night watchman in Qingyan City for forty-three years. I've never seen such a thick black aura before."

"In previous years, the ghosts would only linger for a few days during the Ghost Festival (July 15th of the lunar calendar), when the gates of hell open. This year, however, it's been happening every day since the beginning of spring, and it's getting stronger and stronger..."

He licked his chapped lips, a glint of excitement flashing in his single eye.

"The aura of darkness is a great tonic for us ghost cultivators. In the past few months, I've increased my cultivation by 30% by absorbing it. But I'm not the one who absorbed the most. There are several other ghost cultivators in the city, hiding in more secluded places. They absorb even more and their cultivation increases even faster. You should go and deal with them!"

Li Feng interrupted this guy's attempt to shift the blame and sow discord.

"Where did this dark aura come from?"

Without hesitation, Zhang Gengtou said, "To the north, outside the north gate of Qingyan City is a mass grave. Further north of the mass grave are mountains, and the evil aura comes from deep within those mountains."

"But what exactly was emitting the black aura, the old man didn't know, and no one dared to investigate."

Li Feng secretly noted down this information.

The aura of darkness was already recorded in the tattered book.

The book says that black afflictions are the most yin and evil energies in the world, and they only occur in large quantities under two conditions.

One type is a mass grave after a plague, a place of corpses and blood. The other type is the evil energy transformed from the decaying body of a great demon after failing its tribulation.

If dark, ominous energy continues to emanate from the depths of the mountains, it can only mean one thing: either an extremely brutal massacre has occurred in the mountains, or a great demon has died there.