This was Li Qingqiu's first time using the divine ability Immortal Severing Three Swords. It had originally been Jiang Zhaoxia's fortunate encounter—an ability belonging to the sword Dao. It suited him well, so he had set aside some time to cultivate it.
Although his attainment in Immortal Severing Three Swords was, for now, inferior to Jiang Zhaoxia's, the sheer vastness of his vital energy more than made up for it.
Under the encirclement of dozens of sword clones, the Desolate Nether Ghost King was hacked until flesh and blood flew everywhere, more and more white bone exposed across his body.
With the Desolate Nether Ghost King at the center, the ground in all directions was ravaged not only by sword qi but also splattered with blood.
Such a sight made the distant Beiting Army watching the battle shudder in fear, while at the same time giving rise to an instinctive reverence toward Li Qingqiu.
Compared to the terrifying, ghost-like Desolate Nether Ghost King, Li Qingqiu bore the bearing of an immortal. Moreover, the Beiting Army knew exactly why they had come here. They could clearly judge that the Desolate Nether Ghost King was their target. Seeing their target being so brutally suppressed, they let out a collective breath of relief.
At least they would not have to face such a horrific ghost themselves.
"Damn it…"
The Desolate Nether Ghost King gnashed his teeth. His defensive movements grew slower and slower. Gradually, his body swayed violently, forced to endure the onslaught.
His physical body possessed astonishing regenerative speed. Even under Li Qingqiu's storm-like offensive, he still had not fallen.
Li Qingqiu did not believe the Desolate Nether Ghost King could endure forever, so he maintained the divine ability.
A figure rushed rapidly down from the mountain, feet moving like the wind—it was Fang Tianshu.
Fang Tianshu sprinted along the cliffside. Looking down below, he could just barely make out the battle between Li Qingqiu and the Desolate Nether Ghost King. The sight of the sword clones filled him with shock.
Li Qingqiu's methods once again broadened his horizons.
At the same time, however, the unease in his heart deepened.
Under such relentless assault, that evil ghost was still fighting on.
Could it be that even this mysterious cultivator could not deal with the ghost?
The mere thought of Li Qingqiu being slain by the Desolate Nether Ghost King—and he and his army being left to face the creature alone—sent chills down his spine.
His pace quickened further. He had to descend the mountain as fast as possible.
As an Innate Realm expert, his lightness skill was naturally not weak. He drew closer and closer to the foot of the mountain.
After a brief burst of fury, the Desolate Nether Ghost King regained the expressions of his usual 3 faces. Despite his body swaying under the assault, he stared at Li Qingqiu and sneered mockingly.
"You wouldn't be planning to outlast me in a battle of endurance, would you? Such a spell must consume a great deal of your vital energy. Or are you merely pretending to be calm?"
Li Qingqiu looked at him and replied evenly, "I just want to see what other tricks you have."
Jin Lang tilted its head from Li Qingqiu's shoulder, staring at the Desolate Nether Ghost King, seemingly pondering something.
"What? You think you've got me cornered?" The hideous middle face of the Desolate Nether Ghost King revealed a scornful expression.
Li Qingqiu gripped the Qingxiao Sword in his right hand and raised his left hand toward the nearby Xuanji Mountain.
In an instant, the mountain trembled, startling the Beiting soldiers who were still hurrying down.
The tens of thousands of troops gathered on the wasteland began to stir. More and more people looked in the same direction, following the line of sight of Li Qingqiu's raised left hand.
The cliff face to his left began to crack. Immediately afterward, a massive boulder, at least 10 zhang tall, broke free from the mountain and hurtled toward the Desolate Nether Ghost King, followed by a dense rain of shattered stones.
This scene not only terrified the Beiting Army but also made the Desolate Nether Ghost King shudder.
He could not comprehend how Li Qingqiu had accomplished such a feat.
This was precisely Li Qingqiu's divine ability—Moving Mountains to Suppress the Divine!
With a sweep of his left hand, the mountain-like boulder descended rapidly from above, smashing directly into the Desolate Nether Ghost King. The surrounding sword clones dissipated along with it.
The earth trembled, startling numerous horses.
Pinned beneath the boulder, the Desolate Nether Ghost King realized in horror that he could no longer disperse his flesh.
Ever since Li Qingqiu transformed into a divine dragon, he had been suppressed the entire time, able only to endure passively.
"How is this possible… how could he command so many such spells…"
Crushed beneath the rock and reduced to a pulp of flesh, the Desolate Nether Ghost King's vision was pitch black.
It had been a long time since he had felt such terror of darkness.
No matter how he struggled, he could not push aside the weight suppressing him, nor could he dissolve into blood energy to escape.
"His attire is not that of the Northern Frontier… could it be that one of my split souls drew him here?"
The Desolate Nether Ghost King thought in fear. Just yesterday, he had sensed the connection to one of his split souls being severed. He had not given it much thought. After all, he knew that cultivators existed in Jiuzhou, and that split soul had not been particularly powerful—certainly no match for a cultivator.
He had never expected the other party to arrive so quickly.
That split soul had headed south for an entire month.
Meanwhile—
Fang Tianshu arrived at a cliff. From here, the wasteland lay less than 100 zhang away. Looking down at the enormous boulder standing upright below, his expression was one of astonishment.
Once again, Li Qingqiu's methods had stunned him.
What kind of spell was this now?
Li Qingqiu ignored the gazes cast from afar and walked up to the massive boulder. He began to cast the Soul-Binding Curse.
The Desolate Nether Ghost King was a ghost cultivator. All his spells belonged to the ghostly Dao. As long as Li Qingqiu suppressed his ghost soul, he would be unable to flee.
The so-called blood mist technique was in truth the movement of the Desolate Nether Ghost King's ghost soul. Living beings could not touch his soul body, so naturally they could not stop him.
Now that his ghost soul could not move, his fleshly body could no longer disperse into blood mist and shift positions.
It had to be said, when facing the Desolate Nether Ghost King, Li Qingqiu could only use methods of the ghostly Dao. If disciples of the Qingxiao Sect had encountered him, they would likely have faced near-certain death—including Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning.
As Li Qingqiu began to cast the Soul-Binding Curse, the Desolate Nether Ghost King's screams echoed from beneath the massive boulder.
"Fellow Daoist! I was wrong! Please spare me!"
"Senior! You cannot treat me this way!"
"No—"
Fang Tianshu could hear the Desolate Nether Ghost King's voice. His expression grew complicated. Seeing that Li Qingqiu had truly suppressed the Desolate Nether Ghost King, an indescribable feeling stirred within him.
The Desolate Nether Ghost King's attainments were indeed not low, but he was only at the initial stage of the Awakening Spirit realm. Li Qingqiu's vital energy, however, was 100 times that of a 3rd-layer Awakening Spirit realm cultivator, and he also possessed the [Mortal God and Ghost] Fate. Using the Soul-Binding Curse to suppress the Desolate Nether Ghost King was as easy as turning his hand.
The Beiting Army fell silent, not daring to disturb Li Qingqiu.
Sunlight poured down, stretching the shadow of the enormous boulder long across the ground.
Looking at that massive rock pinned upright into the earth, everyone felt as though they were witnessing a miracle.
Fang Tianshu quickly descended the mountain and began reorganizing the troops.
After hesitating for a moment, he gathered his courage and walked toward Li Qingqiu.
He did not disturb him, instead stopping 10 zhang away and waiting patiently.
Time passed swiftly.
After the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, Li Qingqiu finally subdued the Desolate Nether Ghost King into a ghost slave.
He had no intention of keeping the Desolate Nether Ghost King. He merely wanted to locate Li Sifeng and, incidentally, learn of the ghost king's origins. Afterward, he would have Lin Chuan and Nangong E devour the Desolate Nether Ghost King.
Such a powerful ghost king would surely spare the 2 ghosts several years, perhaps even more than 10 years, of bitter cultivation.
With a wave of his hand, Li Qingqiu extracted the three-headed, six-armed Desolate Nether Ghost King from within the rock—what he extracted was naturally the soul body.
He placed the soul body into the Soul-Refining Banner, then shifted his gaze toward Fang Tianshu.
Fang Tianshu only saw a black banner appear out of thin air in Li Qingqiu's hand, then vanish just as quickly.
His intuition told him that the banner was extremely dangerous, and extremely sinister.
When he saw Li Qingqiu's gaze turn toward him, Fang Tianshu hurried forward and knelt halfway before him, raising both hands and clasping his fists in salute.
"Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving us and ridding the Northern Frontier of this evil ghost. Otherwise, we might have perished here today, and countless commoners would have died beneath his ghostly claws!"
Fang Tianshu spoke in a deep voice, his heart uneasy.
Li Qingqiu looked at him expressionlessly and asked, "How much do you know about this ghost?"
"Nothing at all. This evil ghost appeared several months ago and has slaughtered many tribes. We were dispatched under orders," Fang Tianshu answered truthfully.
Li Qingqiu turned and prepared to head back up the mountain.
Fang Tianshu hurriedly asked, "May I ask Immortal Master's honored name? You are our savior today and have also saved the Northern Frontier. I will certainly report this to His Majesty so that the people of the Northern Frontier may all know of your great virtue!"
Li Qingqiu paused, slightly turning his head and glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
"Li Qingqiu."
He turned back and continued walking toward Xuanji Mountain.
Fang Tianshu's expression changed drastically. He quickly asked, "Are you the Sect Master of Qingxiao Sect, Li Qingqiu?"
Li Qingqiu did not answer again. He leapt into the air, transforming into a streak of sword light that soared upward at tremendous speed, flying back to the mountaintop and vanishing from Fang Tianshu's sight.
Such bearing left Fang Tianshu's heart surging with admiration, his eyes filled with reverence.
"So the Sect Master of Qingxiao Sect is this formidable. No wonder he drove the Xuanji Sect into retreat with only a few dozen disciples…"
Fang Tianshu thought silently. He did not feel fear because of this, for he could not forget the spells Li Qingqiu had displayed earlier.
An impulse rose within him, difficult to restrain.
He wanted to cultivate immortality as well!
Perhaps the Northern Frontier ought to reconsider its stance toward Jiuzhou.
…
Night fell over the wasteland. Li Qingqiu sat in meditation before a campfire, the Soul-Refining Banner in his hand as he probed the Desolate Nether Ghost King's memories.
Jin Lang practiced blade techniques nearby. Lin Chuan and Nangong E floated around, guarding Li Qingqiu. The Prison Qilin lay beside him, sleeping and recuperating.
The Desolate Nether Ghost King's memories were incomparably vast—greater even than those of Patriarch Suxing, nearly rivaling those of an ancient god.
The Desolate Nether Ghost King had indeed once been human.
In the Northern Frontier, there had once been a cultivation sect. The Desolate Nether Ghost King had been one of its members. The sect had not been large, numbering only a little over 10 people.
The Desolate Nether Ghost King's master had stumbled upon a cultivation opportunity by chance and thus led his disciples onto the path of cultivation.
After they truly became cultivators, they began traveling across the Northern Frontier, eliminating evil spirits for various tribes. At the same time, they acted chivalrously, spreading the fame of immortals. Along the way, they encountered many troubles, including martial arts experts. Yet relying on their cultivation and spells, they defeated all who challenged them. Their reputation grew louder and louder, eventually alarming the Son of Heaven of the Northern Frontier.
The Northern Frontier's Son of Heaven sent people to invite them to the royal capital. Seeking to bring renown to their sect, they chose to attend the banquet.
Within the capital, the entire city knew that the Son of Heaven would host a banquet for cultivators. This filled them with excitement. They felt their great cause was about to be fulfilled.
However, at the imperial palace banquet, the Son of Heaven poisoned them and had secretly arranged numerous martial arts experts in ambush.
Their master fought with all his strength to lead them out of the encirclement, but the poison was too sinister. They were unable to expel it. In the end, only the Desolate Nether Ghost King and his junior sister survived. Afterward, the Son of Heaven slandered them as demons in disguise and ordered them hunted down.
At the time, the Desolate Nether Ghost King and his junior sister had only been at the 2nd layer of the Nurturing Essence realm. Merely encountering a group of Innate Realm experts was enough to leave them struggling to withstand.
During the repeated pursuits, the Desolate Nether Ghost King's junior sister was killed. Bearing hatred in his heart, he could only flee northward.
Later, he entered a mountainous region filled with ghostly qi. This place was a forbidden zone of the Northern Frontier. It was precisely because of the forbidden zone's fearsome reputation that the Northern Frontier's experts abandoned their pursuit.