A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Chapter 92: Chapter 91: One Surprise After Another

The Cultivation Realm is filled with countless Heterodox Daos, and the Ghost Dao is one of them.

Ghost Dao Techniques are sinister, evil, and exceedingly bizarre. Furthermore, the Yin Spiritual Qi they utilize contains an excess of negative emotions. For these reasons, cultivators of this path are extremely prone to corruption, leading to a drastic change in temperament where they come to loathe life and welcome death.

This often manifests as them slaughtering mortals to refine various types of Ghost Dao Magical Artifacts.

Therefore, Ghost Cultivators are often hunted down by Sects and families, a pursuit that doesn’t end until one side is dead.

’A Mid-stage Qi Refining Ghost Cultivator?’

’This Ghost Cultivator is truly insidious,’ Lü Zhong thought as he stared at the Paperman floating in the air. ’He was probably planning to hide and ambush Huang Shuyuan’s group of five. If we hadn’t stumbled upon him, given the bloodthirsty nature of Ghost Cultivators, all five of them would have likely died. He was also glad he’d bought plenty of Evil Exorcism Talismans to have on hand.’

With a casual flick of his hand, a dozen Evil Exorcism Talismans appeared.

When it came to dealing with Ghost Cultivators, this talisman was naturally the first choice.

The sneering Paperman immediately fell silent when it saw Lü Zhong produce a dozen Evil Exorcism Talismans. It began to channel its power into the Bone Bell in its hand more urgently, while also throwing out another dozen Papermen.

A misty light exploded, and more Papermen appeared.

Having just dealt with a batch of ghostly hands, Lü Zhong grimaced at the sight of yet more trouble.

Fortunately, these new Papermen were not Ghost Cultivators, but merely ghostly creatures refined with an Evil Skill, so dealing with them wouldn’t be difficult.

Taking a deep breath, he used the Talisman Summoning Technique to send the Evil Exorcism Talismans in his hand flying, raining them down on the Ghost Cultivator.

While the opponent was dodging, he began forming hand seals and Chanting, casting the Qingyang Fire Rain Technique.

In the blink of an eye, twenty-four Fireball Bullets coalesced.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

Like Fire Meteors, the Fireball Bullets violently bombarded the group of Papermen.

Under the might of the Qingyang Fire Rain Technique, not a single Paperman survived the engulfing flames.

At the same time, Lü Zhong didn’t forget to summon his Golden Devourer Sword. After forming a few Sword Mantras, he used Sword Control to attack the Ghost Cultivator in the air, preventing it from having another opportunity to use any tricks.

”Fellow Daoist Lü, try to get it to fly a little closer.”

Bai Xiaohan, having finally dealt with the ghostly hands, suddenly sent a voice transmission.

’Is she preparing to use that Fine Silk Magical Artifact?’

Lü Zhong nodded slightly and immediately increased his Spiritual Power output. He launched a series of swift strikes, continuously compressing the Paperman’s room to dodge and forcing the incredibly agile creature to struggle to keep up.

A few breaths later, seeing the time was right, he suddenly formed a hand seal and executed a heavy slash.

The Paperman, unaware that it was being plotted against, was caught off guard and trapped by the fine silk.

Unexpectedly, the fine silk that could easily dismember a person, despite being pulled extremely tight under Bai Xiaohan’s control, couldn’t even cut through the papery skin on the Paperman’s surface.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong pointed forward with a Sword Gesture, and the Golden Devourer Sword shot out.

CLANG! The sound of metal striking metal.

’Damn!’

’This papery skin is ridiculously tough.’

’Perfect. Let’s see how you like this sword’s Armor-Piercing Divine Technique!’ Lü Zhong’s Sword Mantra changed. The surface of the Golden Devourer Sword pulsed with golden light, and after a spin in mid-air, it viciously struck the Paperman’s right chest.

In the vision of his Qi Observation Skill, this was the area on its body with the highest concentration of Yin Qi.

Ghost Cultivators do not fear injury, but they fear having their Ghost Pill destroyed.

The Paperman’s right chest was clearly where it hid its Ghost Pill.

PFFT! The blade sank in an inch.

Lü Zhong’s expression changed. ’I don’t know what kind of Evil Technique this Ghost Cultivator used to refine its body, but while it turned itself into this ghastly Paperman, its physical toughness is terrifyingly high. It’s probably on par with a Lower-grade Defensive Magical Artifact.’

Taking this hit, the Paperman began to spew black gas and struggled frantically.

Bai Xiaohan struggled to maintain her hold; after all, she was only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

”Three breaths! Just hold on for three more breaths!”

Lü Zhong threw out these words as his hands flew through hand seals, controlling the Golden Devourer Sword to hammer away, strike after strike.

At the same time, he didn’t forget to hurl out Evil Exorcism Talismans, the Yang Qi from them burning the creature and making it scream incessantly.

’This should counteract the Yin Spiritual Power on the surface of its papery skin and lower its defenses. Otherwise, who knows how long it would take to break through that tough hide.’

The battle over here was soon noticed by Huang Shuyuan and her group of five in the distance.

A cultivator in the group wearing the robes of a Golden Rainbow Sect disciple saw the trapped, endlessly howling Paperman Ghost Cultivator in the air, and his expression changed slightly as he finally understood just how dangerous his situation had been moments ago.

The others were no exception, their faces showing lingering fear.

Gazing at the familiar figure in the distance, Huang Shuyuan felt a sense of reassurance for some reason.

AAAAAHHHH!!!

Just then, the Ghost Cultivator let out a bloodcurdling scream as its right chest was finally pierced by the Golden Devourer Sword.

The sharp sword ran through the Ghost Pill, and a large amount of black gas billowed out.

The Ghost Pill served a significant purpose; not only was it where a Ghost Cultivator stored Yin Spiritual Power, but it was also the vessel for its soul. Taking such a blow, it was instantly and severely wounded.

Amidst its miserable cries, the Ghost Cultivator’s body continuously shriveled and spewed large amounts of black gas.

In just a moment, it disintegrated until only a pitch-black human figure remained.

A mountain breeze blew, and it turned to dust, scattering between heaven and earth.

Phew!

Lü Zhong wiped the sweat from his brow, finally able to let out a long sigh of relief.

’If Bai Xiaohan hadn’t ambushed and trapped it just now, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to this Ghost Cultivator at all.’

After dealing with the Ghost Cultivator, the two of them didn’t rest, but immediately began to deal with the three Evil Cultivators.

’I have to admit, Bai Xiaohan’s Fine Silk Magical Artifact is really effective. Once it traps even an immensely powerful Refining Corpse, the creature can’t break free for a good while. That’s more than enough time for me to take care of them.’

He just needed to first use the Golden Devourer Sword to bore a bloody hole in a Refining Corpse, then stuff three to five Evil Exorcism Talismans inside. The Yang Qi from the talismans would ignite all the Yin Qi in the Refining Corpse’s body, causing it to turn to ash amidst wails of agony.

’Doing it this way is much more efficient than just trying to kill them directly with Evil Exorcism Talismans.’

With Lü Zhong and Bai Xiaohan joining the fight, the Evil Cultivators’ side was steadily forced to retreat. Even throwing out more Refining Corpses was useless.

From this battle, Lü Zhong obtained two more Storage Bags, one from the Ghost Cultivator and one from a Corpse-controlling Evil Cultivator.

Before he had a chance to inspect them, a voice sounded from behind him.

”I am Yani Ping of the Golden Rainbow Sect. Thank you for your assistance, Fellow Daoist!”

Lü Zhong turned to see a Golden Rainbow Sect disciple with starry eyes, sword-like brows, and an outstanding appearance, who was cupping his fist in a salute to him.

’No wonder the five of them managed to hold off the siege of all those Refining Corpses. So this man was one of them.’

”Oh? It’s Fellow Daoist Lü.” Yani Ping actually recognized Lü Zhong.

”You know me?” Lü Zhong was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected that besides Steward Fang, someone else from the Golden Rainbow Sect would recognize him.

”Of course. I am acquainted with Senior Brother Chen and have long since heard of you, Fellow Daoist.”

”I see...”

’And here I thought I’d attracted the attention of the Golden Rainbow Sect.’

But just then, something unexpected happened.

A loud BOOM echoed.

In the distance, in the direction of Ghost Cloud Valley, a massive Spiritual Firework suddenly shot into the sky.

Yani Ping was startled. Then, looking at the pattern the firework made as it dispersed, his expression changed drastically and he exclaimed, ”Oh no! That’s a Warning Firework! Something terrible has happened at Ghost Cloud Valley!”

’It’s one thing after another! Will this never end?’

Lü Zhong glanced at Yani Ping, wondering if he should use the favor he’d just earned by helping them as leverage to get permission to leave.

Just then, a powerful gust of air swept over them.

”Get on the ship!”

A cold voice called out. It came from a long-bearded male cultivator with an indifferent expression, standing with his hands behind his back on a Flying Ship bearing the insignia of the Golden Rainbow Sect.

Out of habit, Lü Zhong used his Qi Observation Skill to check the man, and it nearly blinded him.

’Foundation Establishment!’