“This time, everyone must be fully alert. You cannot muddle through with the same slack attitude you show in the clan on ordinary days.”
“Not only will our Wuchang clan be there, but the Ghost King Riyou and other clans will also appear.”
“If any of you make mistakes and are rebuked by the Yama Lord, bringing shame to our Wuchang clan, once the war ends and we return to the clan, you’ll have no good ending!”
On the journey to the Ghost Gate Pass garrison, Elder Kong Yin actually didn’t say much. Only when they had passed halfway through the journey did he suddenly remember that the relationships between the three juniors—Lian Zhao, Xiao Mou, and Xue Yin—didn’t seem very good, and he couldn’t help but spend effort reminding them.
Xue Yin naturally agreed on the surface while sneering inwardly.
She wouldn’t think these words were directed at her.
After all, among their group from the Wuchang clan, who was most likely to make mistakes was painfully obvious.
But the person who should think this way didn’t think so.
Having disguised herself as Lian Zhao all this way, Jian Chou could now be considered skilled at the act. Hearing these words, she only lowered her head and smiled lightly, not concealing an ounce of her seductive charm.
She actually said to Elder Kong Yin: “Please rest assured, Elder. During this journey, Lian Zhao will definitely restrain them well and not let them cause trouble.”
“…”
Elder Kong Yin choked momentarily, instantly speechless.
He looked with complex expression at this female cultivator who had no self-awareness whatsoever, opened his mouth wanting to say something, but ultimately closed it again.
Qu Zhengfeng’s disguised Xiao Mou was a man of few words, with a solitary temperament, especially when Lian Zhao was present—not speaking was normal.
So he maintained silence.
But Jian Chou didn’t. Not only did she not remain silent, she even nonchalantly pressed the now-silent Kong Yin further: “However, Elder Kong just mentioned the Yama Lord. Lian Zhao previously only knew that the Ghost Gate Pass battlefield was supervised by Judge Cui Jue under Lord Qin Guang. Has this changed now?”
“Just changed.”
Kong Yin had only learned this recently. Hearing Lian Zhao’s inquiry, his expression became much more serious.
“The watchtower just sent word that Lord Chu Jiang has arrived. Something unexpected happened on the Snowy Region side, disrupting the original layout. Lord Chu Jiang has just received orders from Lord Qin Guang to temporarily garrison Ghost Gate Pass. It seems he intends to wear down those ignorant cultivators from the Nineteen Continents.”
The third hall of the Eight Directions Yama Palace—Lord Chu Jiang!
When Jian Chou first heard Kong Yin mention “Yama Lord,” she had only asked out of sensitivity and caution. Who would have thought it was actually a Yama Lord coming to oversee the battlefield!
Her heart immediately became vigilant.
She inconspicuously exchanged glances with Qu Zhengfeng walking on the other side, and both obviously felt the current situation had become thorny.
Generally speaking, it would be inappropriate to continue asking about such matters.
First, it concerned those in high positions and wasn’t their place to ask. Second, asking too much would inevitably make people notice the questioner’s excessive curiosity, inevitably raising suspicions about their motives.
But if they didn’t ask, they would be the ones at a disadvantage later.
Fortunately, this wasn’t exactly a “general” situation, and the “Lian Zhao” that Jian Chou was currently impersonating was definitely not a “general” person, so it couldn’t be judged by “general” standards.
Her gaze shifted as she moved closer to Kong Yin.
Though her heart felt quite disgusted by her current posture, her expression had already perfectly assumed that scheming, contemplative appearance, directly pursuing Kong Yin about Lord Chu Jiang’s situation without any concealment.
Xue Yin walked some distance behind them, listening to that calculating and soul-stirring voice, feeling irritated in her heart while secretly sneering.
How could she not see Lian Zhao’s intentions?
She had always been a sycophant who trampled on the low while flattering the high. Hearing that Lord Chu Jiang was coming, she couldn’t wait to ingratiate herself—she was probably already thinking about how to climb into his bed.
Xue Yin thought this way, and others naturally did too.
Elder Kong Yin was the same.
He also disliked Lian Zhao’s behavior, but this matter really needed to be explained to them, so he didn’t mind too much and still detailed the important matters concerning Lord Chu Jiang to them.
First was his cultivation level.
To possess one of the Yama Halls in the Eight Directions City and become one of only eight Yama Lords, enjoying extremely high status in the Extreme Domain, his abilities were naturally considerable. During the Yin-Yang Realm War eleven cycles ago, Lord Chu Jiang had already been a great power at the mid-stage of Void Return, but he had suffered injuries in that war and lost part of his strength. After more than six hundred years of recovery, even if he hadn’t completely healed, it shouldn’t affect him much.
Second was his position.
Among the eight hall Yama Lords, except for Lord Qin Guang who was born from the void of the Extreme Domain, the other seven had all been promoted from ghost cultivators, mostly ranked according to their contributions in the first Yin-Yang Realm War. Originally, Song Emperor should have been second, just below Lord Qin Guang, but he was modest and claimed to be inferior to Lord Chu Jiang, so Lord Chu Jiang became second and Song Emperor third. In other words, in the current Extreme Domain, at least on the surface, Lord Chu Jiang’s position was second only to the supreme Lord Qin Guang.
Finally was his temperament.
According to rumors, there was nothing particularly outstanding about it. At least contrasted with the varying temperaments of the other hall Yama Lords, Lord Chu Jiang’s temperament appeared mediocre. During his six hundred-plus years in office, he had seemed neither meritorious nor faulty, quite keeping a low profile. But some speculated that his temperament was actually quite volatile, only that he seemed to be on good terms with Song Emperor, who usually pacified him, and because his strength had been damaged eleven cycles ago, he had to keep a low profile even if he didn’t want to.
“In any case, after reaching the Ghost Gate Pass watchtower, be careful about everything. Don’t casually disobey the Yama Lord’s wishes. You’re just subordinates doing work—if you don’t make mistakes, no one will target you. Just don’t seek death yourselves.”
Elder Kong Yin leaned on his staff, walking forward while introducing Lord Chu Jiang’s situation, then summarized with this statement.
Obviously, this last sentence was still directed at Lian Zhao.
Having roughly learned the information she needed, Jian Chou had already felt much more at ease upon learning Lord Chu Jiang’s approximate cultivation level. She immediately gave Elder Kong Yin face, smiling as she said: “Thank you for the guidance, Elder. We will definitely be more careful.”
Hearing this, Xue Yin naturally sneered coldly.
Elder Kong Yin, seeing that she seemed to understand propriety, said nothing more.
The group continued forward.
Elder Kong led the way with Jian Chou and the others at the front, followed by a mass of grotesquely-shaped ghost cultivators—a dark, menacing sight at a glance.
Wangsi City wasn’t very far from Ghost Gate Pass to begin with. If they traveled by air, they could arrive quickly. But since it was currently a critical wartime period, fearing that the Nineteen Continents might discover their troop reinforcements, they all traveled close to the ground at high speed. Though the speed couldn’t compare to weapon-riding or air travel, it wouldn’t take more than a few hours to reach their destination.
They quickly passed the halfway point of their journey.
But unexpectedly, the closer they got to Ghost Gate Pass, the darker the sky became.
Initially, they only saw hints of dark shadows, like many grayish-dark air currents wandering in mid-air. Everyone didn’t think much of it, and Elder Kong Yin even pointed to those air currents to explain: “These are earth force and yin essence extracted from underground, all emerging from the watchtower. Most of the ghost soldiers responsible for combat are garrisoned behind Ghost Gate Pass, but the watchtower cannot be located at the garrison—its position must be more secretive. Since we see the sky beginning to darken, we should have entered the watchtower’s coverage area.”
But Jian Chou felt something was wrong.
She was disguised as Lian Zhao but actually surpassed Kong Yin by an entire major realm in cultivation, not to mention Qu Zhengfeng beside her, whose cultivation was even higher.
One of them had been to the Extreme Domain before and had an extremely deep understanding of the earth force and yin essence that Extreme Domain ghost cultivators depended on for cultivation. The other carried the Heaven-Overturning Seal, a supreme treasure capable of overturning wind and clouds, and could easily perceive underground movements.
Both almost simultaneously detected something wrong with the air currents in the sky.
They looked like earth force and yin essence, and at first glance truly felt similar, but what kind of vast earth force and yin essence could darken the entire sky? Even if the Ghost Gate Pass watchtower could truly extract such an astonishing quantity of earth force and yin essence from such barren land, it absolutely shouldn’t reach such a dense, sky-covering degree when still so far from the watchtower!
There was definitely a problem!
Both felt alert in their hearts, but because they were currently disguised as Lian Zhao and Xiao Mou, they couldn’t reveal perception surpassing that of the Wuchang clan elder Kong Yin without knowing what exactly was happening.
So they only secretly tensed their bodies and continued forward.
After traveling just over a li further, the sky that had originally been merely overcast had completely transformed into a pitch-black night curtain!
It was as if someone had poured a basin of thick ink across the sky!
The rushing clouds turned black, the howling wind turned sinister, and even the previously endless barren earth darkened in this instant!
Extending one’s hand, one couldn’t see five fingers!
Kong Yin, who had been vaguely sensing something wrong all along, felt a chill on his neck at this sudden change!
Anyone who couldn’t detect the change now would be a fool!
His face turned pale with shock as he suddenly roared: “Not good! Enemy attack!!! Enemy attack—”
But this reaction was already too late.
He had already led this group deep into the trap. Now that he realized it, it was difficult to even withdraw!
Almost simultaneously with his warning roar, eerie changes erupted around them!
The myriad dark clouds wandering in the sky howled down like demons, thunderously crashing into the formation of hundreds of Wuchang clan ghost soldiers!
Each cloud contained shocking thunder and lightning power!
Caught off guard, screams arose everywhere!
This small patch of ground they occupied in the entire wilderness had clearly become a land of lightning tribulation! A scene of terrifying horror with lightning snakes dancing wildly!
The shocking change occurred in an instant. Even those with cultivation as high as Kong Yin and Xue Yin were momentarily in disarray, unable to attend to other matters. Jian Chou and Qu Zhengfeng, however, had been prepared early on. They flawlessly pretended to be caught in the trap, but also furrowed their brows with considerable alarm upon sensing the power of these dark clouds and lightning!
They were both cultivators from the Nineteen Continents!
No one understood better than them that the positioning of these dark clouds and the method of lightning generation all originated from the Nineteen Continents!
Thus, a speculation that should never have appeared irrepressibly arose from their hearts, causing them to look up toward the front of their advancing direction while avoiding the next round of attacks!
A single azure robe, a indifferent figure.
That cultivator finally revealed among the heavy dark clouds and gloom—who else could it be but Xie Buchen?!
In this instant, the first question that surfaced in Jian Chou’s mind wasn’t “meeting on a narrow path, how should we handle this now,” but rather—
Ghost Gate Pass was heavily guarded—how could Xie Buchen possibly get through?
Moreover, to do so without anyone knowing, penetrating deep and ambushing here!