"Hehehe..."
Du Xiu let out the sinister laugh befitting a villain, his aura shifting dramatically, exuding a chilling ghostly presence.
"So you're a ghost cultivator! In league with evil cultivators?"
Xiao Fei, accustomed to being around ghosts daily, was familiar with this kind of spectral energy.
"You sent Senior Brother Fei away, then doubled back. This was all premeditated, wasn't it!"
Du Xiu beckoned with one hand, and a Foundation Establishment stage ghost image materialized before him.
"More accurately, I am a ghost tamer. From our first encounter, I sensed a malevolent ghost aura from you. Don't hide it. Hand over the malevolent ghost you possess, and I can spare your life."
In the cultivation world, there were various peculiar methods such as taming beasts, insects, ghosts, corpses, puppets,蛊 (gu), and people. Ghost tamers specialized in capturing and nurturing powerful malevolent ghosts to aid cultivators in combat. Du Xiu targeting him specifically was likely because he had his eye on Second Sister, but unfortunately, Second Sister wasn't interested in him.
"Second Sister, attack!"
Xiao Fei decided to strike first. Second Sister Xiao Lan's figure appeared beside him, and the one person and one ghost lunged towards the opposing pair. However, Xiao Fei didn't opt for a direct confrontation. Second Sister transformed into a vast expanse of black smoke and blood threads, sweeping towards Du Xiu. Du Xiu might have specific means to deal with ghost cultivators, but Second Sister's blood threads were specifically designed to target flesh and blood. It was uncertain who was stronger when fighting Du Xiu directly, but she could at least hold him off for a while. Xiao Fei, on the other hand, would deal with the malevolent ghost Du Xiu controlled.
Ghosts and similar entities feared techniques that were extremely yang and rigid, especially lightning arts, which were considered the bane of ghostly beings. Coincidentally, Xiao Fei knew a bit of lightning arts. At this moment, Xiao Fei silently recited a incantation, and a fist-sized, five-colored lightning ball appeared before him, crackling with sparks.
The malevolent ghost released by Du Xiu had crimson eyes, a green face, and fangs. It let out a howl and lunged towards Xiao Fei, appearing mindless and foolish. Before they even got close, the ghost saw the lightning ball before Xiao Fei and instinctively felt fear, hesitating for a moment.
"Go!"
Xiao Fei wouldn't give his opponent a chance to react. With a loud shout, the lightning ball flew out and struck the malevolent ghost with a "boom." The lightning ball exploded upon hitting the ghost, scattering countless tiny arcs of electricity all over its body.
"Zzzzzz..."
The ghost writhed violently, electrocuted. Xiao Fei seized the opportunity, unleashing a barrage of lightning balls, one after another, onto the ghost. After five lightning balls, the malevolent ghost vanished into thin air, completely gone, leaving not even a trace of ghostly energy. Where the ghost disappeared, only a black bead the size of a soybean remained. Xiao Fei reached out and collected the ghost bead, then glanced towards Second Sister and Du Xiu.
Du Xiu was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and was skilled in various ghost-taming methods. Second Sister was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but her blood threads were extremely effective against physical bodies. At this moment, the two were locked in a fierce, evenly matched battle. Du Xiu possessed a black bottle capable of collecting malevolent ghosts. Every time he unleashed the black bottle and aimed it at Xiao Lan, Xiao Lan would dissipate into smoke. Then, when Xiao Lan's blood threads surged towards Du Xiu, he could only dodge in a disheveled manner, daring not to come into contact with the blood threads.
Just as Xiao Fei arrived, the bottle's opening was again aimed at Xiao Lan. Xiao Fei directly blasted it with a lightning ball. The black bottle was merely an auxiliary spiritual artifact. Upon colliding head-on with the lightning ball, it immediately lost its power, crackled with lightning for a moment, and then fell to the ground, temporarily disabled. Du Xiu, having already lost a Foundation Establishment stage malevolent ghost, was greatly pained. He hadn't expected this unassuming alchemist to be proficient in lightning arts, which perfectly countered all his abilities. It seemed he wouldn't gain anything today, and prolonging the fight might put him at a significant disadvantage. It was best to retreat.
Just as Du Xiu escaped from the blood threads that Xiao Lan had transformed into, a seed of a blood-sucking demonic vine exploded before him. It rapidly sprouted and grew, and the newly formed vines immediately coiled around him. Then, two more blood-sucking demonic vines extended their tendrils to his sides. In just a moment, Du Xiu was tightly bound. These blood-sucking demonic vines were covered in poisonous thorns. Du Xiu was pierced by these thorns, rendering his spiritual power immobile. He could only collapse onto the ground.
Simultaneously, Xiao Lan's blood threads coiled around him again, wrapping Du Xiu into a large human-shaped cocoon. When the blood threads dispersed, only a dried corpse remained on the ground; even its remnant soul had been devoured by Xiao Lan. Xiao Lan resumed her human form, licking her lips with her scarlet tongue, seemingly savoring the taste. Her aura had grown slightly stronger, but it also contained a trace of increased ferocity and restlessness. While devouring souls and essence blood could rapidly increase cultivation, it also caused immense mental strain, requiring a long period of rest to recover. If one continuously consumed essence blood and souls, they might even lose their sanity entirely.
Xiao Fei squatted beside the dried corpse. A layer of skin on the corpse's face was particularly conspicuous. He casually tore it off, revealing it to be a human skin mask. As for the true face beneath the skin, it was already indistinguishable, but judging from the skeletal structure, it was likely a cultivator from the Eagle Mountain Kingdom. How long had this person been lurking under the guise of a disciple of the Scarlet Sun Sect?
Xiao Fei then proceeded to search the corpse thoroughly, taking out a storage bag from his embrace. A scan with his divine sense revealed only normal items: over a thousand spirit stones, two jade slips, and a sect token from the Scarlet Sun Sect. Xiao Fei also picked up the flying sword and the black bottle that had fallen to the ground. The flying sword was a wood-attribute spiritual artifact of average quality. Since cultivating the "Primordial Five Elements Technique," Xiao Fei could cultivate any attribute of spells and freely control spiritual artifacts of various attributes. The black bottle still retained some residual lightning, which Xiao Fei wiped away with his hand. Inputting his divine sense and spiritual power into it, he sensed that this item was likely used specifically for capturing ghosts, capable of drawing souls into the bottle.
"Second Sister, try to see if this bottle is usable?"
Xiao Lan took the black bottle and tried it. She found that in her hands, its power was even greater than when Du Xiu had used it, suggesting it was indeed an item for ghost cultivators.
"Here's a ghost bead; I'll give it to you as well."
Saying this, he handed the soybean-sized black bead to Xiao Lan. Ghost beads could be directly consumed to rapidly enhance strength. Xiao Fei used fireballs to burn the two corpses to ashes and casually scattered them among the roadside weeds, imagining that these weeds would grow exceptionally lush the following year. After the one person and one ghost had properly dealt with the battlefield, they then set off in the direction Fei Xin and the others had pursued.
...
In a canyon, the two sides who had been locked in mortal combat – the tall evil cultivator, the Scarlet Sun Sect cultivators, and Fei Xin and Ao Lingxue – were now, for the first time, setting aside their animosities and fighting side-by-side with unified purpose. A common and effective method for rapidly fostering camaraderie is for everyone to verbally abuse the same person. Currently, the evil cultivator and the righteous cultivators shared an astonishing consensus, continuously cursing Du Xiu.
The tall evil cultivator slashed away several Iron Fire Ants with his sword, muttering curses. "May you die a terrible death, Du Xiu! May your soul be devoured by malevolent ghosts after death, never to be reborn." Ji Wudi, his body radiating golden light, unleashed a massive golden fist imprint, smashing several Iron Fire Ants into the rocks. "Du Xiu, you scoundrel! Colluding with evil cultivators! I curse your corpse to be ground into ashes after death and trampled by thousands!"
Both the righteous and evil factions had been thoroughly screwed over by Du Xiu this time. Previously, Du Xiu had secretly transmitted a message to the tall evil cultivator, urging him to flee to the valley, stating he had arrangements. When the evil cultivator reached the valley, Du Xiu indeed had arrangements, but Du Xiu's plan was to lure everyone to their deaths there. Upon arriving at the valley, he used pre-prepared spiritual herbs to lure out a swarm of Iron Fire Ants, surrounding everyone tightly.
The Iron Fire Ant ranked 126th on the list of rare insects. Their bodies were as hard as iron, with wings on their backs, and their pair of mandibles could gnaw through almost anything. Given enough time and numbers, they could even chew through spiritual treasures. Now, this swarm of Iron Fire Ants was like a frenzy, surging towards everyone like waves of red. These creatures lacked intelligence and were fearless of death. As long as they could bite someone before dying, they felt content. Though ants were small and didn't bite off much flesh, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Even a bull would be reduced to mere bone fragments in one or two breaths if attacked by them.