The dense fog could not obscure such brilliant red light. At that moment, Zhao Rucheng had just struggled to his feet, with the swarming wandering souls almost overwhelming him.
But Du Yehu arrived!
He didn't even need to make a move; the intense force of his blood and energy scattered the nearby wandering souls.
Du Yehu was extremely straightforward, directly grabbing Zhao Rucheng by the collar and dragging him towards Ling He.
Having taken a fierce claw strike from the vengeful ghost, the elder brothers were all extremely worried, but Zhao Rucheng himself didn't seem injured at all, irritably shouting, "Hey, hey, hey, I can walk by myself!"
Ignoring him, Du Yehu ran halfway before tossing the noisy Zhao Rucheng towards Ling He, while turning around and smashing a fist, enveloped in the thick force of blood and energy, towards the vengeful ghost.
Not to mention Ling He catching Zhao Rucheng in mid-air, let's talk about Du Yehu's fist.
Compared to the Purple Qi from the East Sword Technique, the boxing technique he cultivated was not sophisticated enough and was quite neglected even among the outer disciples of the Daoist Academy. But when wielded by him, it became exceptionally fierce.
This punch did not seek an opening but instead met the vengeful ghost's massive claw head-on, attack against attack. It was truly unparalleled in its ferocity!
The substantial force of blood and energy wrapped around his iron fist, colliding with the dark green claw in a thunderous crash, and for a moment, they were locked in a stalemate.
At this very moment, Jiang Wang leaped over again, his sword light flashing, and he had already slashed through the vengeful ghost's other eye.
"Retreat!"
Jiang Wang, having achieved his goal, moved away quickly, and Du Yehu also leaped back urgently.
The vengeful ghost, now blinded, became even more frenzied, its pair of giant claws wildly grabbing and stirring up strong winds around it.
When its attack slightly weakened, Jiang Wang turned back again. His long sword traced an elegant arc through the air, lightly and quietly landing on the vengeful ghost's right claw like a falling leaf. Almost soundless, yet at the moment of contact with the dark green, sharp claw, it unleashed an unparalleled, piercing howl!
The third move of the Purple Qi from the East Sword Technique, its essence lies in its sharpness!
With just one sword strike, the vengeful ghost's right claw was severed.
Jiang Wang did not linger, and he had already begun to retreat even as he unsheathed his sword.
The vengeful ghost, having lost its sight, could only desperately vent its rage at the empty air in front of it. At this moment, Du Yehu, whose body was ablaze with fierce blood and energy, had already leaped high into the air behind it. He held his right hand with his left, swinging both hands like a hammer, and smashed them fiercely onto the vengeful ghost's grotesque head.
Boom!
The blood and energy beacon inherently suppresses ghosts, not to mention how ferocious Du Yehu's strike was. The fist, enveloped in layers of blood and energy, instantly shattered the vengeful ghost's entire head!
Du Yehu could not dodge in time and was splashed with dark green, filthy blood, which was quickly burned away by the force of his blood and energy.
It was not until the headless corpse of the vengeful ghost collapsed that the red light on Du Yehu's body subsided, and his face turned pale in an instant.
Jiang Wang leaped to Du Yehu's side and supported him with his arm, "Brother Hu, this..."
Blood and energy are the foundation of a person. Jiang Wang, who was now condensing Dao Qi, also had to start from the supply of blood and energy. Du Yehu's strength just now was burning himself out. He was not a warrior specializing in martial arts and could not contain such a vast amount of blood and energy. After this battle, he would need at least five years to recover.
The first five years of cultivation are incredibly long! Not to mention the issue of blood and energy beginning to decline after a certain age. One step behind, and every step will be behind. This might mean that he would forever be disconnected from the extraordinary.
But Du Yehu had still acted without hesitation or delay. At the critical moment of life and death, one cannot think so much. And it is these subconscious choices that truly reveal one's true heart.
"It's a minor thing," Du Yehu secretly adjusted his breath, regained a little strength, and then pushed Jiang Wang away, "I'm not yet at the point where I can't walk. Let's go, the situation in the central palace must be even more dangerous."
Ling He was, of course, full of worry, but at a time like this, it was not appropriate to say much. He transferred Zhao Rucheng to his back, then stepped forward to pick up his sword from the vengeful ghost's corpse, and silently guarded beside Du Yehu.
He had also burned his blood and energy earlier, but only a small amount, which did not affect his foundation. Therefore, he still had the strength to fight desperately.
Jiang Wang, as the only intact and strongest combat force among the four now, naturally had to remain agile and ready to act at any time. So he just walked ahead with his sword and had no intention of lending a hand.
Only Zhao Rucheng was still grumbling and complaining, "The eldest brother is more considerate. Tiger is so clumsy, really, carrying me like a chick, what kind of image is that? If Miss Miaoyu knew about it, wouldn't my heroic image be ruined once and for all?"
Miaoyu was the top performer of the current Sanfen Xianglou and the most popular girl in the entire Fenglin City pleasure quarter. Zhao Rucheng had already spent more than a thousand taels of silver at Sanfen Xianglou just to get close to her, but he still hadn't succeeded.
Du Yehu was silent, not that he didn't want to beat him up or at least scold him, but he simply didn't have the strength.
"Enough, enough," Jiang Wang said impatiently, "Here, there are only mindless wandering souls and confused vengeful ghosts. Who are you trying to impress with your image?"
"Who knows?" Zhao Rucheng became more spirited instead. He lay on Ling He's back, gesturing with his hands, "What if there's a beautiful female ghost hiding somewhere, peeping at me? What a pity it would be if such a good romantic encounter just went down the drain. Can Tiger bear this loss?"
Du Yehu almost sat up in a fit of rage, summoning the last bit of his strength to explode and beat up this mouthy guy.
Before he could explode, Ling He poked him in the back with the hilt of his sword.
"Hisss..." Zhao Rucheng sucked in a cold breath, and his arrogance immediately disappeared.
...
...
Now, behind that thick fog wall, in the center of Xiaolin Town, which is also the central palace of the Nine Palaces Array.
A huge vortex is slowly rotating. It is no longer possible to discern what this place originally was; everything has dissolved in this silent vortex. Apart from this vortex, there is nothing else. The center of the vortex is a pure black, as if it can attract people's gazes and make them unable to escape.
Next to the vortex stand four cultivators with long-lasting breaths and abundant Dao Qi, all dressed in black robes and staring straight ahead.
And not far in front of the vortex, there is a house that has been smashed to pieces, with nothing left except a brick wall.
The woman in red is leaning lazily against this wall.
She is wrapped very tightly, yet she gives an endless temptation. She is holding an oval mirror in her hand, but the mirror does not reflect her own beautiful face. Instead, it reflects the figures fighting with the vengeful ghosts in the Nine Palaces Array.
"The disciples of the Fenglin City Daoist Academy this year are not that impressive. Only those few sword techniques are quite good," the woman in red muttered, flipping her hand to put away the mirror.
"Well, the time has come. If I had known it would be so smooth, I would have taken a longer nap," the woman in red said, yawning and walking gracefully towards the vortex. "So sleepy..."
Only when she reached the mysterious vortex did her expression become slightly more serious. She stood sideways and bowed respectfully, "Welcome, Elder."
The four black-robed cultivators also bowed with her.
Then, from the dense fog, an old man with white hair walked out. This old man had a face as wrinkled as tree bark, and his eyes were very turbid. He was hunched over and even walked with a limp.
But as he walked step by step, his back straightened inch by inch, and his momentum kept surging.
He paid no attention to the woman in red and others, but just stared at the vortex, as if staring at his eternal beloved, with an extremely pious gaze.
When he reached the vortex, his momentum had already become as profound as an abyss and as vast as the ocean, pressing down on people so much that they could hardly breathe.
The woman in red lowered her head even more.
The white-haired old man gathered his nameless and little fingers, forming a triangle with his thumb, index, and middle fingers over his heart, and softly recited, "At the bottom of the Lethe, at the abyss of the Yellow Springs. The revered deity returns to the world, illuminating the human realm."
Then he took out a bone dagger and swiftly and decisively plunged it into his own crown, falling straight into the vortex!