Chapter 48: He Can't Possibly Dig Three Feet Deep, Right?
"Damn it! Are you even letting ghosts live!"
The Painted Skin Ghost angrily threw the ghost soldier in her hand to the side, cursing as she did so.
The elegant old ghost viciously swallowed the living soul into his stomach, stood up, and said in a stern voice:
"Despicable sword cultivator—today either you die or this old man perishes!"
Ghost soldier: "..."
The Painted Skin Ghost was stunned for a moment, then said with a face full of depression: "Starving Ghost, you haven't gone mad with anger, have you? Fighting that sword cultivator head-on is like lighting a lamp in the toilet—looking for death!"
When the Starving Ghost heard this, he immediately sat back down and said angrily: "Then what do you say we do?"
"Isn't it obvious? Of course, we run!"
The Painted Skin Ghost didn't feel that running away was anything shameful. She had done this kind of thing before.
"This is our headquarters. If we run and the King finds out, what then?"
When the Starving Ghost heard the word "King," his face showed a trace of reverence.
"He's sealed—how would he know we ran? When the sword cultivator leaves, we'll come back out again. If you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know?" The Painted Skin Ghost said with a calm expression.
"But this old man can't swallow this anger."
The Starving Ghost retained only his final stubbornness.
How could the Painted Skin Ghost not see what this old guy was playing at? Nothing but cunning—he didn't want to take the blame.
"Since we can't run, let's go raid that sword cultivator's home instead. This way, when the King awakens, he won't blame us and will even praise us for being resourceful."
"Brilliant!"
The Starving Ghost gave the Painted Skin Ghost a thumbs up, praising:
"To use the words from the books, this is called avoiding the enemy's sharp edge and besieging Wei to rescue Zhao. It's settled!"
"What are we waiting for? Let's go."
The Painted Skin Ghost inwardly despised the Starving Ghost, but now was not the time for internal conflict.
"Fairy, what about us?"
The ghost soldier hadn't expected these two lords to make running away sound so refreshingly refined.
But those two lords could leave; they had nowhere to run.
"Isn't it obvious? Just find a place to hide. Surely that sword cultivator won't dig three feet deep into the ground, right?"
The Painted Skin Ghost felt quite melancholy. In this vast Mang Mountain, besides that fellow Faceless Ghost, she couldn't find a second ghost with intelligence.
No wonder they had been suppressed by human cultivators in Mang Mountain for so many years. She really suspected they had been stupid to death when they were alive.
"This small one understands. This small one will go inform everyone now."
After saying this, the ghost soldier disappeared from the cave dwelling to spread the Painted Skin Ghost's words.
In no time, the ghost soldiers on Mang Mountain cast aside their armor and weapons. Some drilled into the ground, others flew up into the dark clouds, transforming into clouds themselves.
...
"Forbidden zone for the living. Do not enter."
Chen Xuan looked at those words on the stone tablet, a playful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"This Mang Mountain Ghost King has quite the style, erecting such a tablet here."
"When the tiger is away from the mountain, the monkey proclaims himself king."
Zhao Youqian said with disdain: "True ghost clans disdain this kind of thing."
"Ghost clan? There are such races in this world?"
Chen Xuan asked curiously.
Zhao Youqian explained: "Of course, but most are in the Ghost Realm. Very few true ghost clan cultivators appear in the Human Emperor Realm. Most are just deceased souls and ghosts. True ghost clan cultivators can cultivate physical bodies and have their own Dao lineages."
"Knowledge expanded."
As Chen Xuan spoke, he stepped over the stone tablet and walked into Mang Mountain.
Though it was daytime, it was still sky-invisible here, the light exceptionally dim—truly a place where ghosts and monsters gathered.
Occasionally, gusts of yin wind blew through the mountains, making one's spine feel cold.
"This broken place—how is it that after walking for half a day, we haven't seen a single ghost, not even a shadow."
After walking for an hour, Zhao Youqian said with a depressed face.
He had been waiting to display his might?
But he hadn't seen anything.
"Could it be that the ghosts here also only come out at night?"
Chen Xuan frowned slightly. This was different from the information Elder Zhong had passed on. Hadn't they said you could see ghosts everywhere, that entering meant nine deaths and one life?
But now, the three of them were no different from tourists on an outing.
"In this old dragon's humble opinion, even if we wait until night, we won't wait out a single ghost." Ao Li said calmly.
"What do you mean?"
Chen Xuan asked back.
"I smelled the residual aura of ghosts in the air just now, indicating there were ghosts here previously. But now we can't see a single one. The answer is obvious—they fled."
Ao Li said with a smile, thinking: I've finally proven useful.
"But Mang Mountain is so large; finding their hiding places won't be easy either."
Chen Xuan muttered to himself, pondering where those ghost soldiers might be hiding.
"It's simple. All the exits of Mang Mountain are guarded by the Blazing Iron Cavalry and Ascension Bureau cultivators. Those ghost soldiers can only go up to the sky or down to the ground."
Zhao Youqian took out his folding fan and waved it a couple of times, looking like Zhuge Liang of the present era.
"Brother Zhao , you've got something."
Chen Xuan and Zhao Youqian had cooperated for a long time, so he immediately understood what the other meant.
Clang!
He drew the long sword from his waist and swung it at the sky.
A sword light shot straight into the clouds, and immediately, an explosion sounded in the sky.
Bang!
Dots of white light entered Chen Xuan's body. Sure enough, he hadn't guessed wrong.
"Run quickly!"
A ghost soldier's scream rang out from the sky. The ghost soldiers hiding in the dark clouds immediately scattered and fled.
The dark clouds surrounding Mang Mountain vanished without a trace in an instant.
Sunlight shone upon this barren land, bringing a touch of vitality.
Chen Xuan didn't continue chasing the ghost soldiers. There were too many; let the Blazing Iron Cavalry and Ascension Bureau cultivators deal with them.
The Painted Skin Ghost and Starving Ghost observing secretly from the shadows broke out in cold sweat when they saw this scene.
"Fortunately, we didn't act rashly just now, or we would have been in big trouble."
Before the words even fell, the expressions of the two ghosts changed drastically because they saw Chen Xuan didn't sheathe his sword. Instead, he gestured toward the ground a couple of times, adjusted his angle, and swung lightly!
Rumble!
One sword fell, slicing Mang Mountain in half.
Any ghost soldiers affected by the sword qi were instantly annihilated.
The surviving ghost soldiers didn't dare to continue staying in the ground. Some fled while cursing:
"Damn it, who said this sword cultivator wouldn't dig three feet deep!"
"This is bad! Mang Mountain has been destroyed by this kid!"
When the Starving Ghost saw this scene, he was so anxious he nearly cried out loud.
Fortunately, the Painted Skin Ghost was quick-eyed and fast-handed, covering his mouth. If that sword cultivator discovered them, death would be unavoidable.
"Not necessarily a bad thing. Although his sword cut the mountain in half, it also destroyed the seal beneath Mang Mountain."
When the Starving Ghost heard this, the tears at the corners of his eyes instantly retracted.
"You mean the Ghost King is about to be born?"
A confident smile appeared on the Painted Skin Ghost's face: "That's right—the Ghost King is about to emerge. This kid is dead meat!"
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