"Brother Ghost, you're back… Quick, put me away. I can't control myself!"
The old ghost brought Jiang Li and the others into a residence. Inside, a woman was lying on the ground, her body trembling.
This woman was also affected by the aura of the Yin-Yang Children, so she should be a ghost without a doubt. However, it was already very rare for her to still maintain her rationality.
Old Ghost stepped forward to reveal a red string on his wrist. With a wave of his hand, the woman transformed into a phantom and was put into the red string.
Why did this red rope look so familiar?
Wasn't this the method of the ghost marriage?
Jiang Li understood in his heart when he saw this. This fellow was a ruthless person.
Ghosts could be nurtured with a simple method that was more cost-effective. Many cultivators would attempt to raise ghosts to control them. Jiang Li himself had millions of ghosts.
However, this guy really got married to a female ghost in Fengdu City.
It was no wonder he could survive in Fengdu City for so long and even know about the underground palace and secretly prepare a secret passage. It turned out that he had slept with a local resident. Impressive!
However, this small matter was not worth wasting their time.
Old Ghost brought them to the inner room. The Yin qi inside was clearly much richer than outside.
In just a few dozen steps, he had used layers of illusion techniques.
Old Ghost raised a flag. They passed through layers of obstructions and saw a hole that was clearly forcefully dug.
Unlike the cold above, what came from below was scorching steam, the kind that could steam steamed buns with a few trays.
Feeling the hot air surging up from below, everyone's expressions were ugly.
It was fine if it was just this kind of steam. As long as they used spiritual qi to protect their bodies, they could isolate this temperature that could not be considered very high.
However, the air inside was too polluted, and normal spiritual qi was sparse to the point of almost undetectable under this pollution.
This meant that after they went down, they could no longer adjust their breathing and recover through the spiritual qi of the environment.
In this damned place, it was impossible to open the storage bag. Even if they still had one or two bottles of Qi Recovery Pills on them, they could not help them recover much spiritual qi.
One had to know that this was not a trip. The danger level below would be even more severe than they imagined.
However, under such circumstances, they still had to be careful when using spiritual qi. Once their spiritual qi was exhausted and there were unfamiliar cultivators around them, the outcome that awaited them would probably be death.
"The place we're going down is a dungeon. You can't fly in it. Be prepared."
"If there are ghosts haunting us, we have to be fiercer and more ruthless than them before they give way."
With that, he jumped down the hole.
The hole was bottomless. The other cultivators hesitated for a moment before jumping down.
Rewards came from danger. He could not back down because of this problem.
Jiang Li was not afraid of this. He controlled his clone to jump into the hole.
The scorching air kept surging, and their bodies kept falling.
The depth of this underground palace was far more exaggerated than imagined.
After more than ten breaths, they saw a flickering light. It was like the stars in the sky. However, this light was below them.
Jiang Li controlled his clone to circulate his spiritual qi, and his descent immediately slowed down. However, just as Old Ghost had said, it was indeed impossible to fly here. He could only slow down and continue to fall.
After leaving the hole, he fell into a scorching steam. He lowered his head and saw that the flickering starlight below was actually a large sharp sword.
On those sharp blades, there were some corpses that had already turned into bones.
If he were to fall into it, even if he did not die, he would inevitably be pierced by dozens of holes.
He hurriedly took out a clay ball and used his spiritual qi to activate it before throwing it down. The clay ball exploded in the air, and in the blink of an eye, it became a puppet more than three meters tall, becoming the foothold of the sword cultivator clone.
These were the remaining puppets that he had not had the time to enlighten when he was in Ink Sect. They were all of high quality at the Golden Core realm.
These puppets that had not been enlightened in time did not participate in the battle at that time, so they survived inside the Thousand Sieve Earth Treasury.
After the puppet landed and caught Jiang Li, it nimbly moved a few steps to the side to avoid being collided by the cultivators behind.
Not all the cultivators behind had such good reaction speed.
Some of them used their methods to stop themselves on the blade.
Some did not dodge in time and were unlucky enough to be knocked down by the people behind. Some did not even have time to slow down and plunged into the mountain of blades. The sound of blades sinking into flesh continuously sounded, making one's scalp go numb.
As soon as he entered, there were already casualties.
Jiang Li looked at the blood that flowed to his feet, lowered his head, and observed carefully. The swords that grew out of the ground were all weapons that had been refined. The quality was not bad, and their hardness and sharpness could reach the level of artifacts.
He controlled the puppet and broke a few sword spikes on the ground. He held the sword spikes in his hand and waved them twice.
Now that his flying sword was not in his hand, he could temporarily use these broken sword blades as replacements.
By tying the broken sword to the soles of his shoes, he could also step on the edge of the blade and move directly.
"Old Ghost, I've never heard you say that there's a saber array under the cave. What do you mean by this!"
After the 50 people landed.
Some people could not help but attack Old Ghost. He did not even say such information, it was obvious that he was doing it on purpose.
"If they can't even deal with this bit of saber array, there's no point in keeping them. It's better to stay here and help us resolve a lot of trouble."
Old Ghost did not care at all. He could not even name these people. What did their lives have to do with him?
"In addition, if I were you, I wouldn't stand around them." Old Ghost meant something as he said this.
Not long after he finished speaking, dense rustling sounds sounded around him.
From the surrounding pathways, a large number of thumb-sized black dots were quickly surging over.
Everyone's expression immediately changed, and they hurriedly ran to Old Ghost's side.
Old Ghost scattered a large amount of yellow powder around everyone.
The black dots did not seem to approach the powder. Under the attraction of the smell of blood, they surged towards the few corpses on the ground.
"Corpse insects!"
Someone could not help but cry out in alarm. The dense number of black beetles climbed onto a corpse. In just two breaths, the flesh and blood on the corpse had already disappeared, leaving only bones covered in clothes.
When some cultivators saw the swarm of insects, they wanted to burn them with fire-attribute spell techniques, but they were hurriedly stopped by others.
"Are you crazy! The smell of blood will only attract the insects within a thousand feet, but if we kill the insects, all the insects within a thousand feet will surge over."
"Let's go. After they finish eating, they'll start chasing us."
Old Ghost was also a ruthless person. Previously, he deliberately did not tell everyone the situation below. He had the intention of deliberately killing a few and using their corpses to attract these troublesome corpse insects.
Everyone circled around the small mountain of black beetles in the middle and walked towards one of the pathways.
The place they landed was a dungeon. Inside were a large number of ghosts who were thought to be guilty when they were alive.
For example, people who took advantage of public funds, bribed, cheated, robbed, stole money, committed murder, hired prostitutes, bullied the weak, kidnapped women and children, falsely accused others, and plotted to seize other people's property and wife… All of these criminals would be sent here to receive punishment.
The ghosts here had to endure the torture every day.
Not to mention ghosts with only souls and no physical protection, even the cultivators with spiritual qi felt uncomfortable in this environment.
Soon, a series of ugly ghosts sounded ahead. Ugly ghosts were wandering everywhere on the roadside.
As they wailed, they crawled on the ground covered in blades. It looked like they were in pain and were about to die in the next second, but these ghosts in the dungeon would not die easily. It was the same even if they were attacked by spell techniques.
When they saw Jiang Li and the others arrive, their eyes that had long lost their rationality looked over uniformly.
There was no need to misunderstand. Having been tortured all year round, they simply wanted to eat these living people alive.
Countless ghosts surrounded them. Jiang Li and the others' originally loose formation was squeezed tighter and tighter.
This was probably an important reason why that Old Ghost had spent so much effort to rope in rogue cultivators to form a team.
If he was the only cultivator present, no matter how fierce he was, he would have long been swallowed up without even bones left.
However, even such a group of cultivators could not intimidate these ghosts.
Slam!
A python whip that emitted crackling lightning shot out and struck two ghosts. One of them fell to the ground and wailed, and the other turned to ash on the spot.
"Everyone, take turns!"
One ghost was sucked to death, causing the other ghosts to visibly tremble. They temporarily stopped approaching, but they did not have the slightest intention of dissipating.
Everyone knew that this could not continue.
They took out their artifacts and took turns to attack the surrounding ghosts.
However, due to the environment, they were unable to recover on their own. Every time they used it, the spiritual qi would decrease. Therefore, no one dared to use powerful spell techniques. They only focused on scaring and attacked at the lowest possible level.
At first, there were fewer ghosts and they were more timid. After being attacked, they retreated a distance.
However, as more and more ghosts surrounded them, their courage increased. The attacks of the cultivators were no longer enough to scare them away.
The speed at which they advanced became slower and slower. They finally could not walk anymore.
Looking at the expressions of the surrounding monsters, they would probably rush up if they relaxed slightly.
"Don't hold back anymore. If this continues, we'll all die here!" A cultivator shouted, urging the others to take action.
However, who would do something that benefited others?
"Then quickly attack! What are you waiting for?"
"I can't use my spell technique to deal with too many ghosts at once. Otherwise, I would have attacked long ago!"
"You can say whatever you want now. If we attack and exhaust our spiritual qi, we'll die."
Under such circumstances, having more spiritual qi meant more confidence. No one was willing to suffer a loss.
As they were arguing, a few black hands suddenly stretched out and dragged a cultivator into the ghost crowd. They began to bite crazily.
"I can help open up a path for everyone, but you must first give me a Profound-rank flying sword and a bottle of Qi Recovery Pills from each person."
The sword cultivator clone suddenly spoke in the crowd, causing everyone who was about to start an internal conflict to fall silent.
"You want a Profound-rank flying sword and a bottle of medicinal pills to make a move. Are you crazy?"
Some people sneered at Jiang Li's words. Although Profound-rank artifacts were nothing in Jiang Li's eyes, Profound-rank artifacts were not common to rogue cultivators.
"Then I'll give you a Profound-rank artifact, go and make a move."
Hearing this, the person fell silent.
"Brother, there's no way to use storage artifacts in this place. No one has any extra artifacts. It's impossible to give you too many medicinal pills. Everyone will give you a Qi Recovery Pill. Other than that, change the conditions."
When Old Ghost saw that someone was willing to attack, he hurriedly advised.
"Then, if there's any loot later, I want to choose first."
Jiang Li did not insist and directly changed the condition.
When the surrounding cultivators saw that it was an empty promise, they did not have to pay too much. The current situation was very critical, so they all took out their worst Qi Recovery Pills and agreed.
Jiang Li did not have much expectations for this mob. If he did not make a move, even he would feel very troubled if the ghost army really came.
After obtaining a bottle of useless medicinal pills, he walked to the front of the group and used his Sword Control Technique to control the three broken swords to float in front of him. Then, three balls of black and white flames floated out from between his brows and landed on the flying swords.
Go!
Three broken swords that carried the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame flew forward. All the ghosts that were touched were wrapped in cold flames. In a moment, they all turned into ashes that scattered on the ground.
Recently, the power of the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame had increased with each passing day. Ordinary ghosts would have no ability to resist when touched by it.
"Go!"
The group did not have time to feel threatened by the might of Jiang Li's cold flames. When they saw that the path ahead had already been opened, they immediately urged their movement techniques to run forward.
At first, the group of ghosts were terrified by Jiang Li's cold flames, but when they saw everyone run, they roared and surged forward again. The few cultivators who were the slowest were unlucky and were surrounded again.
Helpless, they could only use their full strength to cast spell techniques to save themselves, wanting to open a path like Jiang Li.
However, the ghosts had already arrived. It was already too late to attack.
The screams of cultivators continuously sounded from behind.
The characteristics of the ghosts here were that they bullied the weak and feared the strong. They did not dare to attack a group with many people. Instead, they were all attracted by the screams of the cultivators and surged in one direction.
Under the sacrifice of those few people, Jiang Li and the others had a much better journey ahead.
They maintained a high speed and did not give the ghosts any chance to gather. Soon, they saw a bronze door ahead.
"If we leave from there, we can enter the underground palace!"