by Shian Jeen
Huwang Xiao waved his hand, “You don’t need to worry about this.”
Feng Yang could only stop and change the topic from Huwang Xiao’s demeanor, “Other than that, on this second floor space lives a kind of ghost creature, called Blood Dagger Ghost. Although these Blood Dagger Ghosts are not strong, half-Saint strength or at most the peak of half-Saint strength, the problem lies in their numbers. They are extremely tenacious and extremely difficult to kill.”
“Blood Dagger Ghost?” Huwang Xiao was baffled, “Didn’t you say there are array formations everywhere? How come these Blood Dagger Ghosts aren’t afraid of them?”
Giant ghost Feng Yang shook his head helplessly, “About this, this slave doesn’t know the exact reason behind it, if this slave dared to make an assumption, then the reason why these Blood Dagger Ghosts aren’t afraid or obstructed by the arrays on this floor would probably be because Lord Ghost King made some markings on the formation eye when he laid the arrays.”
Huwang Xiao nodded in agreement.
He didn't care much for these Blood Dagger Ghosts, those who needed to fly across this mountain range need to watch out for the attacks coming from them, but Huwang Xiao was free from this worry since he was using the Godly Mt. Xumi.
Not wasting more time, Huwang Xiao brought up the Godly Mt. Xumi. The moment the golden mountain appeared, Buddha luminescence and energy brightened up the space around them.
“Let’s go.” Before the rounded shocked eyes of giant ghost Feng Yang, the scene changed as he was brought into the Xumi Temple. Huwang Xiao then initiated the Ten Buddha Formation and the Godly Mt. Xumi shot forward in a golden streak, disappearing from view.
Ch.324
Inside the Xumi Temple, giant ghost Feng Yang stared dumbly at the Ten Buddha Formation at the center, bubbling with vigorous Buddhism energy, unable to come out from his bewilderment for a long time.
“Owner, this… this is?” He stammered.
Huwang Xiao glanced at giant ghost Feng Yang: “This is the Godly Mt. Xumi.”
“What?!! This, the Godly Mt. Xumi!” Giant ghost Feng Yang exclaimed in a loud voice.
Huwang Xiao nodded in affirmation. It was neither strange nor surprising for giant ghost Feng Yang, as a Saint realm ghost cultivator, to know about Godly Mt. Xumi. Moreover, Godly Mt. Xumi was a treasure from the Buddha World, an anathema for Yin creatures such as ghosts. If it weren’t for Huwang Xiao diverting the Buddhism energy away from Feng Yang, he would have been purified into nothingness the moment he appeared in the Xumi Temple.
Ignoring the dumbfounded look on giant ghost Feng Yang’s face, Huwang Xiao concentrated on driving the Godly Mt. Xumi, speeding forward past the mountains below.
Through Godly Mt. Xumi, Huwang Xiao was able to view the outside mountains, there were indeed many creatures that were entirely blood-red moving around, physically similar to apes. These ghost creatures had a mouthful of sharp teeth, long arms with black strands of energy coming out from their eyes. On the top of their heads was a dagger-like spike, glinting with a sharp light.
“This is the Blood Dagger Ghost?” Huwang Xiao asked.
Giant ghost Feng Yang was pulled out of his dazed, answering, “Yes, Owner, these are Blood Dagger Ghosts!”
Because Huwang Xiao had the Godly Mt. Xumi shrunk to the size of a dust particle, the Blood Dagger Ghosts loitering below did not sense its presence. Huwang Xiao punched out a Great Void Divine Fist in the Xumi Temple, the attack transferred out from Godly Mt. Xumi’s space to the outside world, striking a Blood Dagger Ghost that strayed somewhat far away down below.
A loud boom resounded, and before that Blood Dagger Ghost could issue a scream, it exploded into a cloud of blood mist. Huwang Xiao opened his mouth and sucked in its ghost soul, running the Blood Pact Mandate to refine the ghost soul.
After slightly more an hour, Huwang Xiao successfully refined the Blood Dagger Ghost’s soul.
He subsequently reaped more Blood Dagger Ghosts using the same method. Since he was cautious enough to select those Blood Dagger Ghosts that strayed off from the group, the matter did not alert the Blood Dagger Ghosts into frenzy madness.
Huwang Xiao pushed the Godly Mt. Xumi to fly forward. In the past, many strong experts too passed the first and second floors, most of the treasures on the first and second floors had been plundered clean a long time ago, so Huwang Xiao did not stop at all.
Still, the second floor of the Ghost King’s cultivation cave consisted of a large area, Huwang Xiao was able to refine more than a dozen Blood Dagger Ghosts. They took a whole day of flying before they arrived at the entrance to the third floor.
There were some obvious differences between the entrance to the second floor and the entrance to the third floor; the entrance to the second floor was as high as an adult, two meters in width, and had a glow that rippled like waves with strong resistance against foreign objects. The entrance to the third floor was much more spacious, several zhang tall, and the width of several li, overgrown with black vines.
These black vines wound around the entrance layers over layers, sliding over each other, issuing shrill wails. In all, they looked like oversized crawling black maggots, with hair-raising level of disgustingness.
“What is this?” Huwang Xiao frowned looking at the black vines.
“Owner, this is something from Ghost World called Ghost Maggot.” Giant Ghost Feng Yang explained, a strong fear reflected in his eyes, “Not only do these maggots suck human blood, they could even suck a person’s battle qi, including Third Order Saint realm experts’. If one got entangled by Ghost Maggots, in less than a dozen breaths’ time, they would be turned into a dry corpse!”
Huwang Xiao drew in a mouthful of cold breath. A Third Order Saint Realm expert turned into a dry corpse in less than a dozen breath’s time. These Ghost Maggots were a little too terrifying!
On the other hand, if these Ghost Maggots were something from the Ghost World, how did the Ghost King manage to culture them in his backyard garden?
“Furthermore, these Ghost Maggots are very resilient. A new vine could grow within seconds after being chopped off, it is almost impossible to kill, regardless if a high-level Saint realm expert was here, they won’t die unless their main root is destroyed.” Giant ghost Feng Yang added.
Huwang Xiao nodded. Still, there were probably millions of these vines, to search and destroy the main root among this mass was… difficult. It seems like the reason giant ghost Feng Yang failed to proceed to the third floor was mainly due to these Ghost Maggots guarding the entrance.
Huwang Xiao carefully guided the Godly Mt. Xumi to fly toward the entrance, approaching with care. In general, being inside the Godly Mt. Xumi, Second and Third Order Saint realm experts would not be able to detect Huwang Xiao’s presence, but still, it didn’t guarantee that it would show the same result on the Ghost Maggots.
After all, they originated from the Ghost World.
And voila! Just as the Godly Mt. Xumi got close to the entrance, the crawling vines suddenly issued an ear-splitting shriek, vines shot out to wrap around the Godly Mt. Xumi. More and more vines circled tightly around the Godly Mt. Xumi, there were no gaps for air to pass through, it was like a ball of vines, wholly swallowing the Godly Mt. Xumi.
Huwang Xiao was startled by the speed of things, he hastily pushed the Ten Buddha Formation and Buddhism energy gushed down from the void, sacred aureate rays pierced through the vines. Since Godly Mt. Xumi was a treasure from the Buddha World and the Ghost Maggot was a living organism from the Ghost World, the Godly Mt. Xumi should be able to restrain it.
Like Huwang Xiao envisioned, the tight black vine ball was akin to darkness meeting light, disintegrating in an instant after coming in contact with the Buddha luminescence.
Feng Yang watched the black vines that were illuminated by the golden light slowly wither and fall. But in the next moment, the fallen vines were once again replaced by lively new ones.
Watching the result, Huwang Xiao was delight
ed, he did not expect the Buddhism energy to have such a large damaging effect, although the withered and fallen vines were quickly replaced by new ones, this result was more enough for Huwang Xiao. He made a full effort to push the Ten Buddha Formation inside the Xumi Temple, Buddhism energy gushed out, bursting out from the Godly Mt. Xumi in all four directions and it managed to speed away quickly through the third floor’s entrance.
All the Ghost Maggot vines dried up and withered after being illuminated by the Buddhism energy. Seizing this small window of time, the Godly Mt. Xumi entered the third floor with Huwang Xiao and giant ghost Feng Yang inside.
Entering the third floor, angry shrieks rang out behind them. Huwang Xiao breathed out in relief as he scanned the third floor’s environment.
The third floor’s space was another endless stretch of snowy land. Low bushes of white-colored grass and plants, snowflakes falling from the high above. Other than snow, there were only the snow-covered bushes and nothing else.
Huwang Xiao looked inquiringly at Feng Yang.
Giant ghost Feng Yang said, “Owner, this slave has never been this third floor before this, therefore I am not very clear. However, this slave remembered a Ghost Domain senior mentioned that the third floor was ten times more dangerous than the second floor. Beware of snow. ”
“Beware of snow?” Huwang Xiao observed the area carefully and noticed that the falling snow on this third floor was different from normal snow.
The snow here seemed more translucent, white, and lighter. Despite that, other than these three points, Huwang Xiao did not find other clues.
A short while later, Huwang Xiao continued to fly forward using the Godly Mt. Xumi, entering the snow territory. The falling snow stuck on the surface of Godly Mt. Xumi, accumulating more and more. Gradually, a chilling air penetrated into the Xumi Temple from the surface. A shiver ran down Huwang Xiao’s spine, feeling as if the blood running in his body was frozen solid.
Ch.325
Inside the Xumi Temple, Huwang Xiao was dumbstruck.
This falling snow was so tyrannical! Even more so, it was a hundred times worse compared to the extreme cold wind at the bottom of the Broken Tiger Rift.
Huwang Xiao felt his blood slowing down, and giant ghost Feng Yang’s situation even was more drastic—a thin layer of ice formed over him, wrapping the giant ghost inside, the protective fog of ghost aura shrouding him turned bleak.
Huwang Xiao swiftly infused more energy into the Ten Buddha Formation, Buddha luminescence poured out, filling every corner. The nameless fire tree too was puffing billows of fiery ember glow, melting away the coldness spreading in the spacious temple hall.
The frigid coldness might have dissipated, but Huwang Xiao noticed that the layer of ice clothing over the Godly Mt. Xumi’s surface remained, not only did it not melt, it actually increased in thickness as time passed.
As snow continued to accumulate over the Godly Mt. Xumi’s surface, it became heavier and heavier, decreasing in flying height, scaring Huwang Xiao enough to go all out in pushing the Ten Buddha Formation. Only then did he managed to stop the Godly Mt. Xumi from its gradually descent. However, as more snow accumulated, even when using all his effort to push the Xumi Temple formation, he merely slowed the rate and speed of the descent. This greatly troubled Huwang Xiao.
If the Godly Mt. Xumi was so heavy that it landed below, unable to fly, with the snow and ice encroaching every inch of Godly Mt. Xumi and chaining it to the ground, at that time Huwang Xiao would really be trapped in this snow land.
Gritting his teeth, Huwang Xiao made the Godly Mt. Xumi turn back, all the way back until the edge of the third floor entrance, leaving the area of falling snow. Finally, the Godly Mt. Xumi stopped falling in altitude.
Still, it did not console Huwang Xiao in the least, his robe dampened by cold sweat.
Close call! If they didn’t turn back when they did, they absolutely would have fallen to the ground and be buried by the falling snow.
As a treasure from the Buddha World, the Godly Mt. Xumi was formidable against unworldly dark creatures, but helpless against the snow on the third floor. It was fortunate enough there was the nameless fire tree in the Xumi Temple, otherwise, he would have turned into an icicle early on.
Out of the falling snow area, Huwang Xiao exited the Xumi Temple. Observing the layer of snow covering the Godly Mt. Xumi’s surface, he frowned grimly; this snow, most likely even a Third Order Saint realm expert’s flame could not melt it.
Pondering the matter, the true essence in Huwang Xiao’s dantian churned and the true essence fire danced cheerfully on his palms. If his true essence fire also couldn't melt this snow, he could only give up and leave this Ghost King’s cultivation cave.
Under Huwang Xiao’s nervous gaze, he moved his palm closer to the snow covering the Godly Mt. Xumi, and to his delight, the snow slowly melted, turning into drops of ice blue water.
This strange snow actually melted under his true essence fire!
Great! This meant that he could pass through the third floor! On this third floor, other than the scary strange snow, there was probably no other danger.
A short while later, the snow-covered Godly Mt. Xumi was freed and Huwang Xiao collected all the drops of blue water into a jade bottle. The strange snow came from this ice blue water, so it was obviously no ordinary water. It might come in handy in the future.
Thus, delaying no further, Huwang Xiao formed a barrier of true essence fire on the Godly Mt. Xumi’s surface, then initiating the Ten Buddha Formation, the Godly Mt. Xumi once again flew forward at breakneck speed, entering the third floor space.
Snow continued to fall flake by flake.
But this time, when they fell on the Godly Mt. Xumi’s surface, almost instantly they were melted by the true essence fire. Although it still slowed its speed, it didn’t hinder the flight progress.
They flew past the white snow land without stopping.
Perhaps there were many of treasures on the third floor, but in Huwang Xiao’s opinion, the Ghost King Sutra and Ghost King Dan superseded everything he could find here, therefore he had to reach the fifth floor at the fastest speed.
While Huwang Xiao was rushing toward the fourth floor entrance, Zhao Chen, Li Qiuping, Wang Lin, and the others arrived at the entrance leading to the third floor. Although they had the numbers on their side, they faced more ordeals than Huwang Xiao to reach this far.
Zhao Chen’s group battled the Ghost Maggots’ horrifying black vines over six hours before they seized the chance, sprinting past the entrance and arriving on the third floor, but even so, a number of disciples from Sin City, Snow Dragon City, Saber Imperial City, and Green Ghost City were turned into fertilizer for the Ghost Maggots.
Everyone’s appearance was lamentable after reaching the third floor.
“These Ghost Maggots are really scary!” Li Qiuping exclaimed in apprehension as he looked back, shrieks echoing in his ears. The rest with him looked pale, assenting in silence. If it weren’t due to their early preparation, chances were that everyone here would have died there at the third floor entrance.
“That little pup Huwang Xiao, where has he ran to!” Zhao Chen barked moodily.
“The way I see it, he probably died under the vines of that Ghost Maggot.” Standing behind Zhao Chen, Steward Feng spoke.
“Regardless whether that Huwang Xiao is killed by the Ghost Maggot or not, we must rush to the fifth floor as soon as possible.” Wang Lin added, “There are only ten more days before the Ghost City disappears.”
Everyone had a solemn expression on their faces being reminded of this fact.
They had to leave before the Ghost City was closed, failing to leave meant they would be trapped inside until the Ghost City’s next reappearance.
And the next time would be one thousand years later.
“Fine. Now, everyone swallow a Fire Spirit Bead to resist that soul snow, so we can quickly ascend to the fourth floor.” Guo Dehui took out a reddish bead as h
e said that, swallowing it down. Instantly, a clear blue flame shrouded his body.
Zhao Chen and the rest followed his actions, swallowed the same Fire Spirit Bead and stepped onto the snowy ground. With the help of the Fire Spirit Bead, Zhao Chen’s group sped through the vast snow land, narrowing the distance between them and Huwang Xiao at amazing speed.
Whereas Huwang Xiao carefully observed the surroundings on the lookout for any sudden circumstances while control the Godly Mt. Xumi, flying towards the fourth floor’s entrance. Nothing jumped out and it was peaceful the entire way. One day later, Huwang Xiao safely arrived at the entrance leading to the fourth floor. What surprised him was the fact that there was nothing at the fourth floor’s entrance.
Huwang Xiao spread out his spiritual sense, even opening the Eye of Hell to scan the entrance’s surroundings, but he detected nothing.
Ten minutes later, Huwang Xiao was still in a state of disbelief, even as he was passing through the entrance smoothly, until he reached the fourth floor.
A moment later, Huwang Xiao converged his thoughts, surveying the environment on the fourth floor. The scene in front of him reflected prism color fog everywhere, this fog glittered gorgeously, emitting a psychedelic light, floating with the occasional breeze, but other than that, Huwang Xiao saw nothing of significance.
However, giant ghost Feng Yang blurted in astonishment when he saw the prism colored fog: “Seven Color Ghostfog!”
“Seven Color Ghostfog?” Huwang Xiao repeated in bafflement.
“Owner, this Seven Color Ghostfog is the nastiest type of ghost fog one can find in Ghost Domain. It is extremely toxic, a small breath and not even a high-level Saint realm expert could escape from its death clutch, dying from rotting flesh. Similar ghost type creatures like us are no exception.” Giant ghost Feng Yang explained.
Huwang Xiao was truly shocked, it never crossed his mind that this colorful fog would be so poisonous that a high-level Saint realm could die after inhaling tiny wisps.