The Shuo Fang Ghost Emperor's body, as tall as a mountain, was sliced open, with golden light bursting from the seams within. He opened his mouth and roared at the sky, black smoke spewing from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. His face contorted in pain as he tried to break free, to struggle, but could only despairingly feel himself being drained.
At this moment, no support arrived.
The ghost cultivators, terrified by his previous indiscriminate and insane actions, feared they would be exploited and drained by him like the others. They abandoned the fight and fled, observing from afar. Even as they saw him about to collapse and shatter, their eyes held only concern for their own uncertain futures, and schadenfreude. No one would risk their lives for him now.
"Aaaah—"
As a sharp sword light exploded before his eyes like the Big Bang, the Shuo Fang Ghost Emperor's body finally ballooned into a large, round sphere. It swelled and shrunk, its power surging through various points before finally converging at his dantian and detonating.
The golden light in the sky exploded, showering down a vast expanse of blood rain. The earth was dyed red, and the thick smell of blood was nauseating.
Everyone stood stunned in the blood rain, silent for a long time.
With his sword light encircling him, Liu Jiang Fusheng withdrew his stance. A barrier shimmered outside his white robes, unstained by filth or defilement. However, as the spiritual energy was completely drawn out, he clutched his chest and let out a light gasp.
Shui Lian's deer-like eyes cast downwards, her pale pink lips pressed together.
A faint, sharp pain once again struck the left ventricle of his heart.
The spiritual energy stagnated there, sealing the wound and preventing others from detecting its presence.
At this moment, the sky tore open with a black rift, and Yan Tianjiao and the others were thrown out of the spatial tear, positioning themselves directly above everyone.
The attending elders saw them and widened their eyes. "What… what happened to you?"
They were sent to investigate the source of the surging ghost energy, yet they returned in such a manner, which truly surprised the elders.
After all, with Yan Tianjiao and the others' cultivation, they did not possess the ability to tear through space and travel back.
When Ru Lan saw the attending elders covered in blood, she was truly terrified.
Only after realizing that it was the bloody aftermath of the Shuo Fang Ghost Emperor's demise did she heave a sigh of relief. Thinking of the dangers she had faced, the near-death experiences, and seeing familiar elders, she pouted and her eyes reddened. She quickly descended to the ground.
"True demon, there's a true demon by the Black River! He's behind all of this!" Ru Lan wiped her tears, gritting her teeth.
"Alright, you're all grown up, stop crying. Hurry and tell us what happened," an attending elder from the Wushuang Realm said with some helplessness.
This child was still like when she was young. Every time she returned from an adventure, she would either cry in her master's arms or seek him out to vent her grievances, like a living treasure.
Seeing Ru Lan tremble with emotion, Yan Tianjiao took over the conversation, recounting everything they had encountered and witnessed.
This time, he did not hesitate, nor did he conceal Gu Junshi's matter. However, he did not reveal that "Gu Junshi" was "Gu Yi" in front of everyone. Firstly, the matter was rather complicated and required time to explain the cause and effect. Secondly, he planned to discuss it privately with Liu Jiang Fusheng before truthfully reporting to their elders.
It wasn't that he was wary of Liu Jiang Fusheng, but the close and complicated relationship between the Wushang Mansion and the Immortal Alliance meant he did not want to create conflict with the Wushuang Mansion due to his own rashness.
He vaguely sensed that Gu Junshi's matter could not be hidden forever, and that she was far more dangerous than they imagined. Someone who could calmly contend with a true demon, and the demons and ghosts who obeyed her every command… if she truly were their enemy, then their current concealment would become their sin.
The attending elders had never heard of "Gu Junshi" before, nor did they know who "Gu Yi" was. However, just the fact that she dared to fight a true demon was enough to know that this woman who appeared by the Black River was no ordinary person!
Far from ordinary!
While Yan Tianjiao and the others were talking with the attending elders, more people gradually arrived.
As Liu Jiang Fusheng, accompanied by people from the Wushuang Mansion, approached, he overheard Yan Tianjiao's words. He learned that they had encountered Gu Junshi by the Black River and that Gu Junshi had fought the true demon above the Black River.
His heart skipped a beat. He couldn't bother to negotiate further matters with the people from the Immortal Alliance, and turning around, he was about to rush towards the Black River.
"Holy Lord—"
Others did not know the reason for his sudden change in expression. Seeing that they couldn't stop him, they also hurried after him. The attending elders, thinking something had happened, exchanged glances and followed suit. A group of them thus set off towards the Black River in a grand procession.
Only a portion of the Immortals and disciples were left to pursue the fleeing ghost cultivators. With the four City Ghost Kings dead and the lack of leadership, the ghost cultivators no longer lingered in the fight and chose to retreat.
No one expected that when they arrived, the Black River, which had flowed ceaselessly for years, had already dried up, leaving only a barren riverbed.
"Impossible! The Black River is the water of the Underworld, how could it dry up?" An Immortal Sovereign ran to the bank of the Black River, incredulous. "Why is it gone?"
The people from the Wushuang Mansion were also astonished and stunned by this sight.
The yellowish-brown channel was not even a drop of water remaining, as if this long black current had never existed.
"Yan Tianjiao, where is the true demon? The true demon you saw?"
Some refused to believe. If they had truly encountered a true demon, how could they have left alive and unharmed?
They found no trace of the demon in the surroundings, and even the ghost energy was so faint as to be almost nonexistent.
Yan Tianjiao, Lu Ziyin, and the others were also bewildered. Everything that had happened not long ago was still vivid in their minds, but why was nothing left after they left and returned?
Had everything they saw before been an illusion?
The few exchanged glances, and from each other's eyes, they confirmed that what they had seen was real.
"There is residual demonic energy, but if it were a true demon, it shouldn't be this faint in such a short time…"
"Look, these are the marks of a battle!"
Everyone floated in the air and looked down from above. They saw that the Shuo Fang Ghost City not far away had been more than half destroyed. The destruction left by each battle was shocking.
"A true demon really appeared? But why did it disappear? And the person who fought it… was it truly a woman?"
They were immensely shocked.
Liu Jiang Fusheng looked around indifferently, closed his eyes, and released his divine sense, trying to capture her aura.
The sky was desolate, and gray dust began to drift. A black-robed figure descended from the sky. The night was deep, the ghosts wailed, and an eerie, cold aura instantly enveloped them from above.
Everyone looked up in alarm.
In the ethereal, deep ghost mist, a man with a cold demeanor in a black robe hovered above the Shuo Fang Ghost City, his robes fluttering. Half his face was covered, and his blood-red, misty eyes held no emotion, exuding a cold, sinister charm, with a strange glint. "Get out of Fengdu immediately, or I will consider your actions a provocation to me."
The attending elder could not discern the opponent's strength, but through his bloody and eerie aura, he knew he was no benevolent being. He appeared to be a more formidable opponent than the four City Ghost Kings.
"Who are you?"