As a powerful figure flickered amidst the swirling black mist, a tall and sturdy silhouette hovered in the air. He was clad in an ink-green robe, adorned with a fierce beast copper belt, his shoulders inlaid with steel armor and iron gauntlets, and he wore a white wolf felt cap.
"Master Yu Cheng, after all these years, I finally have the chance for a proper duel with you!"
The City Lord of Rongcheng, Yu Chengshi, led a contingent guarding the city gates. The arrival of the Yu Yi Ghost King was not entirely unexpected.
Among the four City Ghost Kings, none held a more antagonistic relationship with the City Lord of Rongcheng than the Yu Yi Ghost King.
Their grievances stemmed from events a century ago, when the Yu Yi Ghost King was merely a ghost cultivator. Though that incident was a trifle to Yu Chengshi, the Yu Yi Ghost King harbored resentment for a full hundred years.
Ghost cultivators were invariably petty and vindictive.
Upon becoming the Yu Yi Ghost King, he felt even more invincible.
"Yu Yi Ghost King, you are just as you were, full of arrogance and conceit. You likely forget how utterly defeated you were back then," Yu Chengshi said coldly.
"Master Yu Cheng, times have changed. If you dare, fight me. If you win, I will retreat with my forces, but if you lose, you must hand over the immortal artifact and submit to Fengdu!"
"Gu Nan Sui, you must be dreaming. Can you truly defeat this City Lord?"
Yu Chengshi summoned his innate spiritual artifact – the Qingyun Sword. Clouds swirled, not in a tranquil manner, but with turbulent, surging "misty clouds." They weighed down, swirling from here to there, piercing the sky in the dark air, spiraling and sharp. To be caught within them meant certain demise by their cold and perilous edge.
He ascended, while the Yu Yi Ghost King drew a long halberd from the black mist. The two immediately engaged.
Yu Chengshi held the Qingyun Sword in one hand, and with a flick of his right hand, grasped a jade flute, transforming it into a segmented whip, which he flung fiercely. The Ghost King, Gu Nan Sui, was not unaware of Yu Chengshi's renowned skill – the dual mastery of sword and flute.
He was well-prepared, unleashing a palm strike. Ghostly energy manifested as rolling black smoke and dense mist, charging towards Yu Chengshi…
At this moment, the orthodox cultivators below also clashed with the ghost cultivators who flickered in and out of existence on the ground. They rolled and surged, pursuing each other like the tumultuous waves of a treacherous sea. Spiritual energy and ghostly energy intertwined. The spiritual power, colors of the five elements based on spiritual roots, shone white and clear, green and vibrant, yellow and brilliant… while the ghostly energy permeated the surroundings, flickering as it was struck.
And on another side of the sky, a solitary figure hovered overhead.
Gu Junshi watched the battle unfolding before the gates of Rongcheng. With the City Lord Yu Chengshi present and the elite disciples dispatched by the immortal sects holding their ground, a single ghost king leading the charge naturally wouldn't be able to conquer Rongcheng immediately. However, the Yu Yi Ghost King was no righteous individual; he had long since dispatched spies to infiltrate the city and search for traces of the immortal artifact…
"Mother, will they lose?"
Gu Sizun whispered, lowering his voice as he asked.
He held Gu Junshi's hand, also focusing on the battlefield ahead with her.
Gu Junshi saw his guilty demeanor.
"What are you doing? They can't hear you."
"Mother, we should hide quickly. If we are discovered now, either side will treat us as an enemy."
Despite his young age, Gu Sizun was quite knowledgeable.
At least he knew that his mother, having taken the "Demon Breaking Arrow," was certainly not welcomed by the orthodox factions.
As for the people of Fengdu Ghost City, his mother would certainly not associate with those eerie, gloomy ghost cultivators.
"Little Sizun."
She called out to him softly.
Gu Sizun looked at his mother in confusion.
"Your courage still needs cultivation."
She smiled at him faintly. Her plain yet peerlessly noble face was now veiled by a mist as thin as gauze, lending her an almost ethereal gentleness.
This was nothing yet. She, Gu Junshi, had never feared opposing the world. Whether righteous or evil, her path was to forge ahead alone, requiring no embellishment from others, nor fearing any ill fortune from them.
Thus far, the only thing that caused her a headache and trouble was… how to enter the Path of Love.
Gu Sizun liked it when his mother smiled at him, as it meant she liked him, even though he disagreed with her words.
His courage was not lacking at all.
It was her extreme boldness, as if she dared to pierce the heavens, that he, still a child, could not bear too much pressure.
"Mother, what are you thinking of doing?" he asked worriedly.
Gu Junshi's eyes flashed with brilliance, and she uttered three words directly: "Steal the immortal artifact."
Gu Sizun's mouth widened in surprise: "What? Didn't we already take an immortal artifact from Cibei City? Why steal another one?"
Gu Junshi affectionately stroked his small head.
"But if we don't steal it, the immortal artifact of Rongcheng will fall into the hands of Fengdu Ghost City."
"How could that…"
"You don't believe me?"
Her expression was inscrutable, yet she possessed a composed and mysterious aura, as if everything was within her grasp. Taking him along, she used a spatial transfer, and they arrived before a ancestral hall.
Before the vermillion gates of the ancestral hall lay a white stone arch bridge, and upon the bridge stood a tall, imposing figure holding a saber.
As Gu Junshi brought Little Sizun, they happened to see from afar a group of somber, cold black shadows converging towards the white stone bridge. Guarding the bridge was a man wearing a corpse-ghost mask.
He was tall and slender, with a broad chest and thick build, narrow waist, clad in a well-fitting dark robe, his black hair tied with a coronet. His eyes, as cold as an abyss, seemed devoid of human emotion.
The black shadows, seen from afar, appeared to float rather than walk, their human outlines vaguely discernible, but like unstable masses of gas. When the wind blew harder, they swayed and distorted.
"Mother, where is this? And what are those?" Gu Sizun tightened his grip on her clothes.
"Those black shadows are called 'Gui Mei' (ghostly specters), and that person… is called 'Mo Tu' (demon butcher)."
"What are Gui Mei? And who is Mo Tu?"
Gu Sizun tugged at her clothes, wanting his mother to explain.
But Gu Junshi did not continue to explain.
This was because the nature of Gui Mei was too bloody and cruel. Gui Mei were essentially the souls of living people, extracted from their bodies through the most wicked of incantations.
This was the method of ghost cultivators. They would repeatedly temper the souls of living people with the most venomous curses, causing them to transform into fierce ghosts amidst pain and resentment, ultimately losing their humanity and reason, becoming puppets weapons filled with immense resentment for the ghost cultivators.
Why not use the souls of the dead? The answer was naturally a cruel one: living people possessed complete three souls and seven spirits. Dead souls could only become ghosts of a certain level, while living souls could be refined into more advanced Gui Mei.
And who was Mo Tu?
A madman who hated evil as if it were his enemy, and who made it his mission to slaughter all demons in the world.
He killed demons indiscriminately, good or bad. If he encountered one, he would attack without question, a true demon-slaughtering fanatic.