The protective light shield of the treasure ship shuddered violently from a single blow by the gigantic ghostly claw, its radiance rapidly dimming, almost pierced through by the five talons. However, immediately afterward, the formation array on the ship flickered, massive spirit stones injected a torrent of spiritual energy, and the ship's protective shield quickly restored its brilliance, having withstood the Ghost Lord’s sharp attack.
Elder Song and the other seven Nascent Soul cultivators from the Sacred Emperor Palace roared in terror, their expressions aghast.
“Damn it, why did the Ghost Lord suddenly attack our treasure ship?”
“Does it intend to make an enemy of my Sacred Emperor Palace!?”
“I don’t know what it’s up to! Quick, protect the Third Miss, retreat quickly toward the stern of the ship!”
“We must hold out until the Sacred Emperor returns! Once the Sacred Emperor is back, the Ghost Lord will undoubtedly be defeated!”
Unwilling to engage the Ghost Lord in a direct confrontation, they each manipulated their minor divine ability artifacts, shielding the pale-faced Yin Lingsu, and urgently fled toward the rear of the treasure ship.
The Ghost Lord possessed the terrifying battle record of slaying two early-stage Blood Sea Nascent Soul cultivators and defeating five others with a single blast of Nether Flame, a feat witnessed by numerous Core Formation cultivators and known to everyone present.
The Nascent Soul ancestors of the Sacred Emperor Palace did not believe they were significantly stronger than those seven Blood Sea Nascent Soul cultivators. Setting aside whether they could match the Ghost Lord, if anything happened to Yin Lingsu, they would surely face severe punishment from the Sacred Emperor.
As for the multitude of male and female Core Formation cultivators aboard the ship, their souls had already fled to the outer reaches of terror. Without the protection of Nascent Soul cultivators, they could only look out for themselves, scrambling desperately toward the stern in utter panic. For the sake of survival, they were practically ready to push others out of the way.
“How can this ship shield be so tough?”
The Ghost Lord, failing to shatter the treasure ship’s defense in one strike, felt a surge of impatience and rage.
If it had to use its ghostly claws to forcibly break through this incredibly powerful light shield, it might not succeed in just two or three moves.
Once the Sacred Emperor rushed back to the ship and hampered its movements, and the Nascent Soul cultivators surrounded it to attack, it would likely lose its chance to reclaim the Ice Lotus Seed from Ye Qin.
Not wanting to waste time, the Ghost Lord directly drew forth a sphere of Nether Flame from within its body and hurled it fiercely at the protective shield.
“Break for this Lord!”
This lotus-shaped Nether Flame possessed an unimaginably terrifying destructive power. With a soft poof, the Nether Flame burned through the thick protective light shield.
This Nether Flame shot directly toward Ye Qin inside the treasure ship.
Ye Qin watched the Ghost Lord breach the treasure ship’s shield and its ghostly claw hammer the golden barrier, his heart filled with shock. He, along with Huangfu Bing'er, was mixed among the Core Formation cultivators, fleeing desperately toward the stern, hoping, like Elder Song, that the shield would hold until the Sacred Emperor returned.
This was utter madness!
The Ghost Lord was actually attacking the treasure ship, willing to turn hostile against the Nascent Soul cultivators from the East Sea and Blood Sea, and even willing to offend the Sacred Emperor.
Ye Qin could not be absolutely certain why the Ghost Lord had launched such a frantic assault.
But he vaguely guessed that there was a very high probability it was for the Ice Lotus Seed inside the Silver Armored Guard.
Back in the Ancient Treasury, the powerful aura of the vengeful soul attached to the cultivator killed by Duo Xing and Pang Xiu combined had the exact same signature as this Ghost Lord’s aura. Since that vengeful soul entered the Treasury for the Ice Lotus Seed, the Ghost Lord must also know about its existence and was searching for its whereabouts.
Ye Qin’s return to the foot of Desolate Spirit City with the Sacred Emperor had been a reluctant maneuver.
The Sacred Emperor, completely unaware, had retracted the golden light that blocked divine sense probing outside the ship and ascended into the sky to discuss the division of the Ancient Treasury spoils with Sect Master Yu, the Ghost Lord, and others.
The Ghost Lord then discovered Ye Qin was on the ship, seized the opportunity, forcefully activated the Ghost Mist Soul-Bewitching Array, and launched its attack in the ensuing chaos!
The Nascent Soul elders of the Sacred Emperor Palace dared not engage; at this moment, they focused all their power on protecting Yin Lingsu—who held a highly elevated status within the Palace but was comparatively the weakest—fleeing toward the stern.
Helpless, Ye Qin could only flee along with them.
Ye Qin heard a soft poof sound behind him. He turned back just in time to see the Ghost Lord unleash a lotus-shaped, flickering Nether Flame, piercing the treasure ship’s light shield.
This sphere of Nether Flame entered the ship, paused briefly, and then shot straight toward Ye Qin.
The few Core Formation cultivators directly behind Ye Qin were brushed by the swiftly passing Nether Flame. Merely brushing against a tiny spark of the Nether Flame, they exploded with fierce, towering flames, their entire bodies instantly reduced to skeletal ash.
“Run!”
This horrifying spectacle terrified the cultivators on the ship to the point of near collapse and trembling.
“Nether Flame!?”
Ye Qin was instantly seized by a bone-chilling dread that threatened to scatter his soul.
He possessed nothing that could withstand this indescribably terrifying Nether Flame. His Primordial Spirit artifact was useless, and even his minor divine ability artifact, the Xun Thunder Ancient Mirror, would be ineffective—otherwise, those early and mid-stage Blood Sea Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't fear the Ghost Lord to this extent.
“Silver Armored Guard!?”
In a flash of lightning, Ye Qin instinctively thought of his last resort.
Even the minor divine ability artifact Xun Thunder Ancient Mirror could not destroy it, and even the mysterious Ice Lotus Seed struggled to completely ice it over. Apart from the Silver Armored Guard, which possessed a strong spell-repelling attribute, he could think of no other means to resist this dreadful Nether Flame.
The Silver Armored Guard could, at least, resist the Nether Flame for a short time, buying him a sliver of life!
With several Core Formation cultivators behind him incinerated, hesitation was no longer an option.
Ye Qin gritted his teeth and slapped his waist storage pouch.
Whoosh!
A colossal Silver Armored King, entirely enveloped in extreme icy spiritual energy, materialized with a roar.
Under Ye Qin’s control via his divine sense, the Silver Armored Guard’s eyes flared with crimson light, and it charged toward the incoming Nether Flame.
Boom!
The Nether Flame, capable of burning a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to ashes, struck the Silver Armored Guard. Unlike when it contacted other minor divine ability artifacts, it did not burst into fierce flames or drain the artifact’s spiritual energy.
The Silver Armored Guard possessed a peculiar silver light that actively prevented the Nether Flame from burning.
The Nether Flame failed to incinerate the Silver Armored Guard; instead, the intense icy spiritual energy emanating from the Guard engaged in a fierce struggle with it.
Fine ice stars continuously flashed around the pitch-black Nether Flame, rapidly attempting to envelop it. The Nether Flame was sealed externally by the ice energy, forming a layer of transparent ice crystals around a dark, lotus-shaped core. However, unwilling to be contained, this Nether Flame continued to burn and writhe, quickly melting the outer layer of ice crystals.
“That Ice Lotus Seed… can freeze the Nether Flame?”
This sight left Ye Qin, who was controlling the Silver Armored Guard, momentarily stunned and somewhat disbelieving. Nevertheless, his heart was hanging by a thread. Seeing the North Sea Ice Lotus Seed encapsulate the incoming Nether Flame, he finally breathed a slight sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced.
Immediately after, he commanded the Silver Armored Guard to open its mouth and completely swallow the extremely dangerous Nether Flame. The Ice Lotus Seed was housed within the Guard’s abdomen, radiating intense ice energy—the perfect suppressant for the Nether Flame.
As for the unpredictable consequences of this action, Ye Qin couldn't afford to worry; survival was paramount.
Ye Qin promptly recalled the Silver Armored Guard and, along with Huangfu Shier, continued their escape without hesitation toward the rear of the ship, in the direction where the Nascent Soul elders of the Sacred Emperor Palace had fled.
Chaos reigned on the treasure ship. The Nascent Soul ancestors protecting Yin Lingsu had already fled far behind, and the terrified Core Formation cultivators were scrambling madly for their lives, paying no attention to Ye Qin using the Silver Armored Guard to swallow the Nether Flame.
On the Ghost Lord’s face, blurred by swirling ghostly energy, two terrifying gazes shot out.
“What?”
The Nether Flame had passed through the treasure ship’s golden light shield, incinerated only a few Core Formation cultivators, and then encountered the Silver Armored Guard Ye Qin had thrown out. Leaving aside the fact that the Nether Flame failed to destroy the Guard, the mere act of being frozen by intense ice energy shocked the Ghost Lord. Most preposterous was that the Nether Flame was actually swallowed whole by the Silver Armored Guard.
“Damn it!”
“That Ice Lotus Seed must be inside the Silver Armored Guard, otherwise there is absolutely no way to freeze the Nether Fire! It actually used what this Lord desires to deal with this Lord!”
Seeing this, the Ghost Lord was enraged to the extreme, its ghostly frame almost trembling with fury.
It, a renowned late-stage peak Ghost Cultivator, unleashed a Nether Flame, yet it failed to kill even a single Core Formation cultivator it intended to target. Worse, the Nether Flame itself was frozen and absorbed—this was an absolute and profound humiliation.
In its immense wrath, the Ghost Lord prepared to charge through the breach created by the Nether Fire to pursue and kill Ye Qin to vent its anger and regain its honor.
“Halt!”
But before the Ghost Lord could enter the ship, an extremely furious roar echoed in the mid-air, like a sudden clap of thunder, shaking apart the clouds of ghostly mist within a radius of several miles.
This roar terrified the Core Formation cultivators below into fainting fear and shook the minds of the Nascent Soul cultivators.
“Ghost Lord, how dare you treat this Emperor with such contempt! You seek death!!!” In Desolate Spirit City, the Sacred Emperor’s shout resonated with boundless fury. He fully activated the “Imperial Hegemon Sacred Body” great divine ability spell; his entire body erupted with tens of thousands of feet of golden light, countless beams piercing through the layers of ghostly mist like swords and lightning.
A sharp scream was heard from within the ghostly fog; vengeful spirits and specters were instantly annihilated as the golden light pierced through them.
The battlefield, which had been utterly enveloped by heavy ghostly mist—where the Blood Sea, East Sea, and Ghost Cultivators had been locked in chaotic slaughter—was suddenly completely exposed.
The Sacred Emperor’s burning, furious gaze locked onto the Ghost Lord attacking the treasure ship below.
Under the illumination of this dazzling golden light, even the incredibly hard, pitch-black bones of the two-headed Vulture Skeleton Demon floating mid-air developed golden speckled pits. Its twin heads shrieked simultaneously, soaring toward the Sacred Emperor. Its pair of bony wings swept out, incomparably sharp, attempting to stop the Sacred Emperor from attacking the Ghost Lord.
“Begone!”
The Sacred Emperor did not even look. He suddenly swung his golden right fist, which transformed into a colossal golden fist resembling a fierce sun, carving a path across the sky.
Bang!
Before the two-headed Ghost Vulture’s massive bony wings could reach the Sacred Emperor, they were struck by the golden giant fist. Its pair of enormous bony wings, hundreds of feet across, were nearly smashed apart. With a tragic cry, it was blasted over ten miles away.
The two-headed Vulture Skeleton Demon wailed internally with profound misery. It was a mid-stage Nascent Soul Skeleton Demon; its entire skeletal frame was comparable to a minor divine artifact ghost weapon.
Without hesitation, it turned and fled back into the distant ghostly clouds.
The two-headed Vulture had initially believed it could delay the Sacred Emperor for a time, but now it saw that such a troublesome, powerful foe could only be dealt with by its master. It preferred to defy the Ghost Lord’s command rather than face the terrifyingly powerful Sacred Emperor again.
“My prestige—how dare a mere ghost cultivator challenge it! If you seek death, this Emperor shall grant your wish!”
After blasting the two-headed Ghost Vulture away with one punch, the Sacred Emperor locked his divine sense onto the Ghost Lord, his eyes flashing with killing intent.
With that said, his figure suddenly vanished from its place in the sky. His entire golden body transformed into a streak of golden brilliance, shooting down toward the Ghost Lord by the treasure ship on the ground.