Chapter 87
He had been ready to defend himself, following the safety warnings given before departure.
If they encountered a resentful spirit, they only needed to concentrate their minds and not fall for the spirit’s illusions, and the city’s resentful spirits wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble.
Although they were resentful spirits from thousands of years ago, the ghosts in the city were surprisingly weak and didn’t possess the strength of a millennia-old ghost.
They were more like remnants of lingering thoughts, with no other danger than using illusions to confuse the living.
In theory, as long as cultivators who had reached the Qi Refining Realm traveled in pairs and kept each other alert, there would be no risk when encountering resentful spirits.
But just as Guan Xiaoshun was about to defend himself using the method provided, Li Muyang dragged him into a frantic run down the street.
Guan Xiaoshun hurriedly shouted, “Brother Li! Snap out of it!”
He thought that Li Muyang’s consciousness had been confused by a resentful spirit, which led him to behave so strangely.The young man tried to wake Li Muyang up.
But just as Guan Xiaoshun finished speaking, a cold wind howled from behind them.
A ghastly green ghostly fire landed at their feet, spreading a chilling and penetrating aura.
Even from several zhang away, Guan Xiaoshun could feel the icy coldness of the ghostly fire.
If they were hit by this ghostly fire…
Guan Xiaoshun swallowed hard and looked back.
The giant rat, transparent and burning with ghastly green flames, was sprinting under the moonlight, roaring as it chased after them.
The cold ghostly fire burning around it kept flying toward Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun, rapidly dropping the temperature of the air.
The ghostly fire had a visibly tremendous destructive power. If their flesh and blood were struck, they would be in grave danger.
This time, Guan Xiaoshun didn’t need Li Muyang to drag him. He started running frantically on his own while sweating profusely.
“… can ghosts here actually attack people?”
Weren’t the resentful spirits in the city supposed to be unable to attack, only capable of confusing people with illusions?
Why was this giant rat so fierce!?
Guan Xiaoshun, drenched in sweat, cried out in panic.
While running wildly, Li Muyang glanced back at the half-transparent giant rat ghost.
The rat’s eyes, emitting a faint green light, were fixed on them as if it had locked onto these two living beings.
The air faintly carried the rat’s resentful roar, and the chilling ghostly fire danced wildly behind them, relentlessly pursuing the sprinting Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun. ṝ
The two ran for their lives, not daring to stop for even a moment, quickly escaping from that neighborhood.
But the giant rat ghost behind them was relentless in its pursuit.
As the distance between them narrowed, the giant rat was nearly upon them.
Suddenly, Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun realized that the noise behind them had disappeared.
There was no sign of the giant rat ghost nor the chasing ghostly fire.
They turned around to see the street behind them quiet and desolate under the moonlight, with no trace of the giant rat ghost.
The ghost of the rat king that had chased them seemed like an illusion.
Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun dared not stop, but as they ran, they kept looking back in confusion.
“Uh… Brother Li, where did the rat ghost go?”
Guan Xiaoshun nervously scanned the surrounding darkness, fearing that the terrifying rat might leap out of the shadows at any second.
Li Muyang, however, had become much calmer.
He squinted his eyes and shook his head: “It seems that the giant rat ghost can’t leave this neighborhood. Once we ran out of its range, it automatically disappeared.”
Although he was busy fleeing, he had kept an eye on the Crimson Flame King ghost behind them.
He had seen with his own eyes the giant rat ghost rush out of the street corner, and then, as if an invisible force suddenly appeared behind it, it was pulled into the air and vanished without a trace.
Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun stood on the roadside for a while, and the ghost of the giant rat did not reappear.
Guan Xiaoshun finally breathed a sigh of relief, still shaken by the fear.
“What a terrifying rat… The mythological era of ancient times was indeed horrifying. Even the rats were so huge.”
“I wonder if the cockroaches from the mythological era were also that big…”
Guan Xiaoshun’s train of thought was somewhat peculiar. His first association after narrowly escaping from the ghost’s pursuit was cockroaches.
Li Muyang, looking back at the empty neighborhood, said, “Anyway, we can’t go in there anymore. Let’s go back and explain the situation to Senior Brother Cheng.”
……
Tonight, the outer disciples were sent out in pairs to search for dogs, with each team assigned their own search area.
However, the neighborhood that Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun were assigned to contained a terrifying rat demon ghost… Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun returned the way they came and found Senior Brother Cheng, who was in charge of leading this group of outer disciples.
They explained what had happened to Senior Brother Cheng.
Senior Brother Cheng, whose full name was Cheng Feiyang, was quite outstanding among the inner disciples and was highly regarded by Elder Yan, which is why he was able to temporarily lead over a hundred outer disciples.
Although he was called Senior Brother, he was actually a year younger than Guan Xiaoshun and only as tall as Li Muyang’s shoulder.
When Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun returned early to the starting point, Senior Brother Cheng, dressed in the white robe of the Inner Sect, was sitting on the steps wgile engrossed in playing with a set of nine linked rings.
The nine metal rings, interlocked with each other, looked very complicated.
Seeing Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun return early, Senior Brother Cheng quickly hid the nine linked rings behind him and stood up with a stern face.
“Why have you two come back early? Have you finished searching the area you were assigned?”
The young man in the Inner Sect white robe tried to look imposing.
Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun exchanged glances and bowed respectfully.
“Senior Brother Cheng, here’s what happened…”
Li Muyang recounted their encounter with the giant rat ghost.
Senior Brother Cheng was quite pleased with Li Muyang’s respectful attitude.
But after hearing the story, he exclaimed, “Nonsense! How could the residual spirits within Demon Sword City possibly have the ability to attack the living?”
“Take me to see for myself. I want to witness it.”
Senior Brother Cheng, skeptical, insisted that Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun take him back to the scene.
Li Muyang estimated that little Senior Brother Cheng’s cultivation level… was said to be in the late stages of Foundation Establishment?
Although the rat king ghost was formidable, if it couldn’t catch up with two Qi Refining cultivators, then Senior Brother Cheng should not be in danger of capsizing.
Therefore, Li Muyang obediently led Senior Brother Cheng back to the neighborhood where they had encountered the rat demon ghost.
It was still that place with eerie and ominous shadows.
As Li Muyang and Senior Brother Cheng approached, a resentful and agitated voice suddenly came from the shadows.
The next second, a massive evil ghost, burning with ghastly green flames, leaped out from the darkness.
It was abrupt and unnerving.
With overwhelming resentment and a chilling cold wind, it charged towards Senior Brother Cheng.
“I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you!”
The resentful howling of the giant rat echoed far and wide under the moonlight.
***
Author’s Notes: The cultivation realm has been adjusted, removing the general numerical realms of the ninth rank, eighth rank, etc.
Above the Qi Refining Realm is now the Foundation Establishment Realm, and the realms beyond that will be explained in the story later…
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