Several minutes earlier, deep beneath the Inner City...
The ritual chamber had become strangely quiet.
The countless commoners who had previously stood within the formation were gone.
There were no corpses.
No bones.
Not even traces of flesh remained.
At the centre of the ritual circle stood a strange statue only a few decimeters tall.
Its appearance was difficult to describe.
The upper half vaguely resembled a serene Buddha, while the lower portion possessed grotesque demonic features. Its face carried an unnatural smile, while several tiny horns protruded from the sides of its skull.
Around it...
Pools of blood slowly spread across the stone floor.
Yet the blood did not remain still.
It continuously flowed toward the statue as though being pulled by an invisible force.
The moment the blood touched its surface...
It disappeared.
The statue was devouring it.
The County Lieutenant stood beside the formation with barely concealed excitement.
Several crimson-robed figures surrounding him were equally unable to hide their smiles.
"It worked."
"Another major step has been completed."
The County Lieutenant slowly clenched his fists.
"The blood sacrifice has successfully awakened the ritual core."
"Now..."
"We can begin destroying the Feng Shui node beneath Qinshan County."
A crimson-robed cultivator beside him nodded.
"Once the node is destroyed..."
"The accumulated Yin Qi beneath the county will lose its restraint."
"And the resentful spirits trapped within the earth veins will be released."
The County Lieutenant's smile widened.
"Good."
"Let the chaos begin."
None of them noticed...
The tiny statue's demonic eyes had slowly opened.
A faint crimson light flashed within them.
Then a sound came from beneath the earth. A low distorted roar.
The entire ritual chamber trembled.
The expressions of everyone present changed.
"What was that?"
Before anyone could answer...
Another roar echoed from far beneath them.
This time...
It was accompanied by countless ghostly cries.
The County Lieutenant's smile slowly disappeared.
Something had begun moving beneath Qinshan County.
Something that should have remained buried.
---
At the same moment...
The massive tear that had split through the Inner City suddenly widened.
Cold Yin Qi erupted from beneath the earth.
Ghostly voices filled the streets.
Some sounded like humans.
Others resembled beasts.
Some were nothing more than distorted screams filled with resentment and confusion.
Countless semi-corporeal figures slowly emerged from the darkness.
Their bodies were incomplete.
Some possessed human shapes.
Others resembled twisted animals.
Most were little more than shadows wrapped in dense grey-black mist.
They floated several metres above the ground, their empty eyes staring at the living people below.
Then...
One of the ghosts emerged from the deepest portion of the tear.
It was a gigantic grey rat.
Its body was hunched and shriveled, with limbs so thin that they resembled dried branches.
The phantom rapidly expanded until it reached nearly five metres in height.
Its body remained semi-transparent, constantly shifting between an indistinct shadow and something approaching physical form.
Chains of Yin Qi wrapped around its limbs.
The gigantic rat struggled violently.
Roar!
Its scarlet eyes flashed with madness.
The chains trembled...
But refused to break.
Instead, the phantom continued expanding.
Its enormous mouth suddenly opened.
Rows of dense grey-black teeth filled its jaws.
Thick, murky saliva dripped from between them before transforming into black Yin Qi the instant it touched the ground.
Around its body...
Countless smaller grey rats suddenly emerged from the darkness.
One after another.
Then dozens... no hundreds or maybe even thousands.
They crawled from cracks in the earth, climbed over one another and swarmed toward the gigantic phantom as though responding to its call.
The sound of millions of tiny claws scraping against stone echoed throughout the streets.
Mixed among those sounds were the faint cries of countless resentful souls.
The gigantic rat struggled harder.
Its claws tore against the invisible chains.
Its enormous jaws opened in a furious roar.
But the chains remained firm.
For now...
Even this terrifying ghost remained trapped within the tear.
Unfortunately...
The other spirits had already escaped.
A wave of ghostly figures swept through the surrounding streets.
Ordinary people screamed and fled in every direction.
Some stumbled over one another.
Others abandoned their possessions entirely.
Parents desperately dragged their children through the streets while elderly people cried for help.
The entire Inner City descended into chaos.
A ghostly figure swept across one fleeing man.
The man's body suddenly froze.
His expression became terrified.
Then...
Something invisible was forcibly pulled from within him.
His body rapidly withered.
Within moments...
He collapsed onto the ground as a dried corpse.
The ghost absorbed the invisible essence before its semi-transparent body became slightly more substantial.
Lin Sheng watched from a distant rooftop.
His expression became increasingly solemn.
So that was it.
These ghosts weren't merely killing people.
They were absorbing their life essence.
And with every person they consumed...
Their physical forms became increasingly stable.
Crystal immediately began analysing the phenomenon.
•[Unknown Yin entities detected.]
•[Semi-corporeal state confirmed.]
•[Absorption of biological life essence increases physical stability.]
•[Warning: Continued consumption may allow complete materialisation.]
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed.
If these things became completely physical...
Their threat would undoubtedly increase dramatically.
Suddenly...
A loud metallic clang echoed through the street.
Several Yamen officers charged forward.
Unlike ordinary soldiers...
The weapons in their hands emitted faint silver radiance.
One officer swung his blade directly through an approaching ghost.
Slash!
The ghost let out a distorted scream.
Its body immediately began dissolving.
The grey-black mist surrounding it scattered into the air before disappearing completely.
The surrounding officers immediately became encouraged.
"Silver weapons work!"
"Keep them away from the civilians!"
Another ghost rushed forward.
A Yamen officer stepped forward and swung his weapon.
The silver blade struck the phantom.
The ghost's body instantly became unstable before dissipating into a cloud of Yin Qi.
Lin Sheng quietly observed.
So...
They already knew.
The weakness of these spirits had apparently been recorded long before today's incident.
Although the weapons weren't made from pure silver...
They had been specially refined with enough silver-based spiritual material to harm Yin entities. Something about the sudden release of so many resentful spirits felt wrong.
The Yin Qi beneath Qinshan County was far deeper than anything he had anticipated.
Lou Feng stood among the fleeing crowd with a spear firmly gripped in his hands.
Unlike an ordinary spear, its head had been specially coated with a layer of silver.
Only after seeing the ghastly beings being destroyed by the Yamen officers did he finally understand.
"So that's why the Yamen suddenly recruited so many blacksmiths."
The strange weapons weren't ordinary weapons.
They had been prepared specifically for this moment.
A ghostly figure suddenly rushed toward him.
Lou Feng's eyes sharpened.
He stepped forward and swung his spear.
The silver-coated spearhead passed directly through the phantom.
The ghostly being let out a shrill cry before its body rapidly faded, turning into wisps of Yin Qi that scattered into the air.
Lou Feng's expression changed slightly.
The effect was far stronger than he had expected.
He immediately circulated his Spiritual Energy and infused it into the spear.
The next ghost that approached barely had time to react.
With a single thrust...
Boom!
Its entire body exploded into Yin Qi.
Lou Feng stared at his spear for a moment before tightening his grip.
"It seems Spiritual Energy is especially effective against these things."
He didn't waste any more time.
Countless civilians were still fleeing around him.
If these ghosts continued spreading, the death toll would become unimaginable.
The Northern and Southern gates quickly became the main escape routes.
Thousands of people desperately rushed toward them, trampling over one another in their panic.
Some screamed for their families.
Others simply ran without knowing where they were going.
The entire Qinshan County had become a living hell.
Above the ritual circle in the Inner City...
A terrifying figure slowly emerged.
At first, it resembled the head of a bull.
But as it fully emerged from the tear in the earth, everyone finally realised the truth.
It wasn't a figure.
It was a ghost.
An enormous bull-headed ghost.
Dense Yin Qi continuously poured from its body while an overwhelming resentment aura spread throughout the surroundings.
The moment that aura appeared...
The surviving members of the Incense Fire Cult froze.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
Some collapsed directly onto the ground.
The county lieutenant's face turned pale.
He stared at the enormous ghost before him, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"How could this happen?"
They had spent years preparing this ritual.
Countless lives had been sacrificed.
The strange statue had been painstakingly created.
Everything had been done for the sole purpose of destroying the Feng Shui node beneath Qinshan County.
Yet now...
The fruit of all their efforts had been taken by another existence.
The bull-headed ghost slowly lowered its enormous head.
Its scarlet eyes swept across the cultists below.
The pressure alone made them unable to breathe.
The county lieutenant gritted his teeth.
"A ghost of this level..."
"...is at least comparable to a Daoist at the Object Control Realm."
Their strongest members were only Innate martial artists and Leaving Aperture Daoists.
They had no chance of stopping it.
The ghost stretched out one enormous claw.
The strange statue immediately appeared within its grasp.
The county lieutenant's eyes became bloodshot.
"No!"
He forced himself to move despite the terrifying pressure.
His trembling hand reached into his robes before pulling out a talisman.
With all his remaining strength...
He threw it.
The talisman flew toward the ghost before suddenly exploding.
BOOM!
A terrifying blast engulfed the entire building.
The surrounding walls collapsed instantly.
Stone and debris were blasted into the air as the remaining cultists were thrown in every direction.
For several breaths...
Everything became silent.
Then...
A massive figure slowly emerged from the ruins.
The bull-headed ghost was completely unharmed.
Its enormous body remained surrounded by thick Yin Qi.
However...
The strange statue held within its claws had developed several cracks.
The ghost slowly lowered its head.
Its scarlet eyes stared at the damaged statue.
A terrifying roar erupted from its throat.
ROARRRR!
The entire Inner City trembled.
The county lieutenant's heart sank.
His final attack hadn't injured the ghost.
It had only damaged the treasure they had spent so much effort creating.
The ghost's rage intensified.
It looked down.
Around the collapsed building...
The surviving cultists had already been crushed beneath the rubble.
The others had either fled or been killed during the earlier chaos.
There was no one left.
No one to question.
No one to punish.
No one to vent its fury upon.
The bull-headed ghost's scarlet eyes slowly shifted toward the fleeing crowds beyond the Inner City.
Its resentment surged.
Then...
It disappeared.
The next instant, an enormous wave of Yin Qi swept toward the streets.
Lin Sheng, who had been observing everything from a distance, immediately felt his expression become solemn.
This ghost was about to begin hunting.