It suddenly realized this youth was no longer the weak cultivator it could crush with a single palm strike in the past. Unbeknownst to it, this young man’s strength had caught up, even reaching a level where he could challenge the Lord. The speed of this surge in power over such a short time was almost unbelievable.
“Kill him! All of you, attack and kill him!”
The Corpse King had barely escaped the battlefield, fleeing back to the Skeleton Warship without being annihilated by Ye Qin’s Thunder Sword. Still shaken from its near-death experience, it pointed furiously at Ye Qin and shrieked at the assembled Nascent Soul cultivators. Ye Qin’s Thunder Sword had been aimed at the host of ghost cultivators moments ago; had it and the Skeleton General not fled at the first sign of trouble, they would surely be beyond saving by now. It could not swallow this insult.
“Get lost! You group of failures!”
The Ghost Lord roared, sweeping a palm infused with a fierce ghostly wind that sent the Corpse King flying hundreds of feet away.
The Corpse King slammed hard onto the deck, stunned. It clutched its battered zombie face, hung its head low, and dared not utter another word.
The assembled ghost cultivators, who were preparing to heed the Corpse King’s call, instantly fell silent, intimidated by the sheer oppressive aura of the Ghost Lord’s fury.
The Ghost Lord turned its gaze coolly toward Ye Qin.
Within the Eastern Sea Cultivation World, the Lord had never truly yielded to anyone save the Saint Emperor. Even the old fiend of Sorrow Mountain would likely be no match for it if forced into a desperate fight. Few dared to challenge it. By annihilating seven or eight Nascent Soul ghost cultivators in one go, Ye Qin clearly possessed the requisite strength and standing to contend with it.
The Ghost Lord felt a measure of respect for such a powerful adversary.
“Let this Lord see the extent of your strength!”
The Ghost Lord spoke no further, its twin claws manipulating the two minor divine-grade Ghost Artifacts, Ghost’s Wail and Wolf’s Howl. Wisps of Netherflame drifted off the artifacts. Leaping from the bow, it instantly shot out of the Skeleton Warship, transforming into a colossal black flame mass a thousand feet high, streaking directly toward Ye Qin, who was commanding the Eight Trigrams Sword Formation.
Ghost’s Wail materialized into a pallid, bone-white sword riddled with hundreds, even thousands, of hollow orifices, each containing a vicious, tormented soul. Wolf’s Howl became a massive wolf’s head hundreds of feet wide, emitting mournful, sorrowful cries as it lunged at Ye Qin. In that moment, within a radius of dozens of miles, ten thousand ghosts wailed, ghost qi surged, and the scene became utterly soul-rending.
“Blood-Devouring Entanglement Art!”
Ye Qin remained utterly unmoved by the chorus of ten thousand wailing ghosts. He waved his right hand, and a dense, sanguine seed appeared in his palm, hurled toward the charging Ghost Lord. The seed turned into a streak of blood-light, shooting straight at the Lord.
The Ghost Lord spotted the crimson beam, neither dodging nor evading, allowing the Blood-Devouring Demonic Vine seed to strike its body with a sharp thwack.
The Demonic Vine immediately burst forth, wrapping around the Ghost Lord’s form and burrowing into the black robe, attempting to drain flesh and blood to strangle the Lord to death. However, it found nothing to consume; the intense concentration of corpse qi caused it to immediately wither. When the Netherflame Ghost Fire touched the Blood-Devouring Demonic Vine, the vine was swiftly incinerated into brittle, dead ash before it could unleash its power.
The Blood-Devouring Demonic Vine, which struck terror into demonic cultivators across the Demon Realm, had virtually no effect on the Ghost Lord.
“This Lord has witnessed your Blood-Devouring Demonic Vine before. It is a fine vine. But bringing it against this Lord is likely a grave miscalculation!” The Ghost Lord ripped the vine from its body with its right claw, sneering dismissively.
“Is that so!”
Ye Qin’s cold voice followed. He pointed a finger, and the Chenming Thunder Marsh Sword, trailing savage arcs of thunder and lightning, cleaved down toward the Ghost Lord’s head.
“Ghost’s Wail, go!”
The Ghost Lord was no ordinary ghost cultivator from Desolate Spirit Island. The minor divine-grade Ghost’s Wail sword shot out to intercept the Chenming Thunder Marsh Sword.
Although Ghost’s Wail was only a minor divine-grade artifact, its quality had been immensely elevated through prolonged tempering by the thirteen-tiered Nascent Soul-level Netherflame. It feared nothing, not even the lightning of a Great Heavenly Tribulation, which could not harm it.
Boom!
The two minor divine-grade flying swords clashed head-on in mid-air.
The Chenming Thunder Marsh Sword erupted in massive bursts of lightning, illuminating the entire sky choked with dark clouds. Yet, Ghost’s Wail released a single wisp of Netherflame—a light, almost ethereal ember—which consumed the terrifying lightning, plunging the area back into darkness.
The two flying swords spiraled in fierce combat high above, neither yielding an inch.
Ye Qin’s near-ethereal gaze showed a flicker of surprise.
The Chenming Thunder Marsh Sword was the most potent offensive minor divine-grade flying sword he possessed, and it was lightning-attributed, specifically designed to counter ghost cultivators. Against ordinary Nascent Soul ghosts, it was almost an instant kill, but against the Ghost Lord, it proved unexpectedly ineffective.
“Boy, your thunder sword cannot touch this Lord. Let’s see what other tricks you possess to fight me!” the Ghost Lord shrieked.
Its other minor divine-grade artifact, Wolf’s Howl, opened its massive maw and hurtled rapidly toward Ye Qin.
“Ice Seal Domain!”
As Ye Qin retreated, he called out lightly. Forming hand seals, he pointed remotely, unleashing the Ice Sword’s minor divine ability, the Ice Seal Spell. He possessed eight minor divine flying swords; he had plenty of techniques.
Crack, snap!
The hundreds of feet of space occupied by the Wolf’s Howl artifact were instantly encased in layers of impossibly hard ice crystals.
The artifact was nearly frozen solid.
Wolf’s Howl violently thrashed about, trying to shatter the ice. Though it carried Netherflame, that flame was of the Yin element, not Yang. Ghost fire could not melt the thick ice; it could only rely on continuous impact to break through. It would need to strike at least ten times before it could possibly break free from the seal.
“Damn it, he actually knows ice-element divine spells!” the Ghost Lord cursed inwardly. It was only a few miles from Ye Qin. It flipped its withered palm, summoning a bloom of Netherflame, and slammed it forward. This flame shot directly toward Ye Qin.
“Space Rend!”
Ye Qin reacted with blinding speed, immediately commanding the Three Azure Winged Sword to strike the void where the rapidly approaching Netherflame was, carving through space. Whoosh!
The exquisitely ornate Three Azure Winged Sword unleashed a razor-sharp blade of ultimate velocity. This blade of windstorm was so powerful that it tore a spatial rift approximately one foot long across the sky.
That foot-long spatial fissure landed precisely where the incoming Netherflame was, swallowing it whole before vanishing.
Ye Qin’s calculation was flawless.
That terrifyingly potent Netherflame instantly disappeared without a trace, its whereabouts unknown.
However, unleashing such a continuous barrage of minor divine spells was draining Ye Qin immensely. Had he not already reached the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul stage, he would have exhausted his magic power long before casting this many spells.
“Spatial Rift—how can you even unleash wind-element divine spells?!” Seeing this, the Ghost Lord was momentarily stunned, nearly screaming in frustration.
This boy’s minor divine spells came one after another, making the Lord exceedingly uncomfortable. It had never encountered a Nascent Soul cultivator capable of simultaneously casting spells of ice, wind, and thunder—different elemental categories. This style of fighting left it completely unprepared. What was even more vexing was that every single one of its Netherflames was precious, requiring immense effort to refine. In a short span, the flames could not be replenished; using one meant one less.
Ye Qin ignored the Ghost Lord’s raving and bombarded it with minor divine spells, strike after strike.
A streak of azure light and a shadow of black darted back and forth rapidly in the sky between the Great Winged Warship and the Skeleton Warship.
From the look of things, a clear victor would not emerge anytime soon.
On the Skeleton Warship, the ghost cultivators watched with spinning heads and agitated spirits.
On the Great Winged Warship, Huangfu Bing’er was extremely anxious. Ye Qin, at the eighth layer of Nascent Soul, wielded the Eight Trigrams Sword Formation, yet he was not at a disadvantage against the Ghost Lord. What worried her was the sheer number of Nascent Soul ghost cultivators on the Skeleton Warship; if they resorted to a dishonorable group brawl, the situation would turn grim.
...
Since the Ghost Lord intended to deal with Ye Qin personally, the surrounding Nascent Soul ghost cultivators dared not interfere rashly in the fierce battle, lest they incur the Lord’s needless wrath.
But they couldn't just stand by and watch, could they? If the Ghost Lord had to handle everything itself, what use were they as subordinates? Were they mere decorations?
“Stop dawdling! Quickly bombard that Great Winged Warship! Aren't his comrades on board? Kill them!” the Corpse King shrieked viciously, still harboring that bitter resentment.
“He intends to go to the Southern Demon Continent. Destroy the warship, and see how he gets there! The Ghost Lord will surely approve!” the Skeleton General muttered in agreement.
“Then let’s attack!”
Spurred by the two, many Nascent Soul cultivators clamored, and none objected.
The Skeleton Warship began adjusting its course, bypassing the area where the Ghost Lord and Ye Qin were locked in combat, and approached the Great Winged Warship from the flank. The Skeleton Warship stretched two thousand feet long, dwarfing the three-hundred-foot Great Winged Warship—it was like a mountain towering over a small hill, belonging to entirely different classes of vessels. A direct exchange of fire between the two warships would have a foregone conclusion.
On one side of the Skeleton Warship, a hundred Bone Cannons were arrayed. Ten of these began charging. Deep within the cannon muzzles, a black light gradually appeared, thick with corpse qi.
These were Ghost Spirit Cannons.
Huangfu Bing’er’s face changed drastically. Given the power of the Skeleton Warship’s array of cannons, the Great Winged Warship likely couldn't withstand more than a few volleys before being utterly destroyed.
“Sister Bing’er, what do we do now?” Bai Xiuer stood anxiously beside her.
Huangfu Bing’er shook her head grimly. A naval exchange of fire was something beyond her singular ability to counter. She had already ordered the mechanical puppets within the ship to maneuver the Great Winged Warship, initiating an erratic, weaving path to swiftly and flexibly change its flight trajectory. The Great Winged Warship might evade some bombardment through agility, but if the enemy’s fire became too concentrated, this tactic would likely prove ineffective.
The Great Winged Warship’s ten light Spirit Energy Cannons had also charged up; they were more than sufficient to handle a single Nascent Soul ghost cultivator. But facing the immense bulk of the Skeleton Warship’s reinforced deck, hundreds of rounds might not even scratch the giant vessel. Huangfu Bing’er placed little hope in the power of these light cannons.
“How can the Eastern Sea Cultivation World have so many ghost cultivators? It’s much easier for them to cultivate on the West Nether Continent. Why haven't they gone there?”
A soft, gentle female voice drifted from behind Huangfu.
“Senior Qingqiu! Many cultivators have perished in the Eastern Sea recently, leading to a corresponding increase in ghost cultivators. As for why they remain in the East Sea, that is unclear,” Huangfu Bing’er replied, turning sharply to see the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint, Qingqiu Li, standing at the bow, having arrived at some unseen moment.