These specters, upon nearing Mo Tu, suddenly transformed. They revealed their true forms on the spot and lunged with a fierce cry.
As they charged, their nails, as hard as steel implements, elongated like withered, sharp vines. Their corporeal bodies took on the appearance of rotting corpses, black blood oozing like putrid ichor, filling the air with a suffocating stench.
"Gua—"
"Ga ga—"
Strange calls, the whistling of wind.
All this appeared ferocious and quite intimidating, but in the end, it was all annihilated into ashes by the mere appearance of Mo Tu's great, obsidian blade. With a single upward and downward stroke, its edge, like a full moon, scattered and sliced them all into dust.
The fine wisps of scattering ashes brushed past the corners of his cold, dark-red eyes. The black shadows that overlapped before him seemed like the tearful blood of curses, finally torn apart in despair.
It must be said, Mo Tu was a brutal man.
In his previous lives, when Gu Junshi started causing trouble, she had always been somewhat wary of this man.
This was because to escape his entanglement, one either had to be killed by him or kill him.
His level of madness had once made even a reckless fox demon like Wei Li marvel. More importantly, his cultivation was unfathomably deep, and his combat power allowed him to defeat enemies of higher cultivation.
Indeed, the City Lord of Rong City was a discerning leader who recognized talent. He had actually called upon Mo Tu to guard the immortal artifact for him. It seemed that besides him, very few people could adapt to and be worthy of this position.
Just then, another batch of specters arrived. This time, their level was noticeably higher. They had almost cultivated true human forms, and each one was a stunningly beautiful woman.
If brute force wouldn't work, they were resorting to beauty?
These scantily clad, alluring beauties floated up like celestial beings. They approached Mo Tu, exuding fragrant breezes and casting seductive gazes, even twisting their bodies around him like seductive serpents.
However, Mo Tu was like a cold, unyielding stone tower. He held his equally cold blade, and a surge of killing aura emanated from him. The specters, who were smiling enchantingly a moment before, screamed and retreated in the next instant.
"Utterly foolish!"
A deep yet magnetic voice sneered coldly.
In the next second, he made a move. The blade, named after the fierce beast "Taotie," began to crackle from its polished, dark edge, like a row of sharp teeth. It possessed the sharpest bite and the most unyielding texture.
As he swung the blade, it was like a giant shark in the sea, rapidly swimming its body towards its crimson prey, tearing at it ferociously.
The scene instantly became stagnant, pale, and chaotic. The wailing specters had nowhere to escape, ultimately turning into decaying bones, fading into phantoms without a trace.
Gu Si Jun, hiding to the side, was dumbfounded. "He, he's so powerful."
This was called powerful?
Hadn't he witnessed an even more powerful scene not long ago?
Gu Junshi, sensing something hidden in his words, asked, "So?"
"Then we're not stealing the immortal artifact, right?" he suggested in a low voice.
Gu Junshi chuckled hoarsely, "That won't do."
"Mother, with him guarding it, those ghost cultivators from Fengdu definitely won't be able to steal the immortal artifact. Let it stay in Rong City."
The little one was somewhat worried about his father. Others might not know his father's true identity, but he did. His father represented the righteous Immortal Alliance. If his mother caused trouble, his father would undoubtedly face endless troubles afterward.
Of course, trouble was a minor matter. He was already a son who caused his father trouble. The main thing was that he didn't want his father and mother to end up as sworn enemies.
Gu Junshi, for a moment, didn't realize how much Si Jun's little mind was contemplating. She thought he was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle Mo Tu alone.
"Little Si Jun, although Mo Tu is powerful, he is still just one person. Do you know how many ghost specters there are? Besides specters, there are also demonic specters, fierce ghosts, vengeful spirits, and even the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade under the Soul Summoning Banner. With Mo Tu alone, even if he can guard the immortal artifact, he will eventually be worn down."
Don't mistake the people of Fengdu Ghost City for fools. They were experts deeply versed in how to torment, torture, and consume people.
"But if the commotion here gets too big, won't someone come to support him?"
They couldn't possibly be just plucking wool from Mo Tu, could they? Where were the people from the Cultivation Alliance?
Gu Junshi replied with a calm demeanor, "No one will come."
"Wh-why?" Gu Si Jun's eyes widened, a sense of unease inexplicably rising in his heart.
Why was his mother so sure that no one would come to support this Mo Tu? Was it because she truly believed he could hold his ground alone, or was it... that something had happened?
This was why Gu Junshi was called the most cunning.
She had long understood the situation between the Fengdu Ghost City and the Three Cities, and the Cultivation Alliance. In the seven years she spent in Fengdu, she was the true dragon entering a treasure vault. When it came to schemes and tricks, they probably couldn't even match one-tenth of hers.
"Because from the very beginning, the attack on Rong City was just a stratagem to lure the tiger away from its mountain. Besides Rong City having another immortal artifact, doesn't Flower City also require a garrison?"
"Flower City? That's right, Flower City also has an immortal artifact. Are there other people going to Flower City?"
Not "are there," but "absolutely."
"The City Lord of Flower City is not a fool either. He must have made arrangements. But how many cultivators are there in the Three Cities? Less than seven or eight thousand. Do you know how many ghost cultivators there are in Fengdu? Tens of thousands. So, even if they want to defend it, can they hold it?"
"Then the Three Cities are bound to lose?"
"Not necessarily."
As long as they retrieved the immortal artifact and completely abandoned the suppression of Fengdu's ghostly energy, they could temporarily repel the attackers. However, doing so would mean they would completely abandon the last key to the cage holding the ferocious beast.
So, the only choice the Three Cities had now was to borrow the power of the immortal artifact to catch their breath and then plan for the future.
Or, they could fight to the death, resisting the ghost cultivators until the disparity in strength became too great and they were exhausted, ultimately facing the same fate as Ci Bei City for Rong City and Flower City.
If they were not foolish, they would ultimately choose the former. At least this way, there would be a brief respite.
He exclaimed, "So, there really is only him here?!"
It wasn't that they were unwilling to send reinforcements, but rather that there were simply no personnel to send. Once Flower City detected any unusual activity, Rong City would surely dispatch more manpower to assist and support.
That such a powerful weapon was not unleashed to slaughter ghost cultivators but was instead placed here to guard the immortal artifact showed the importance of its weight and the decision.
The City Lord of Rong City was unwilling to take out the immortal artifact until the very last moment, to break the seal.
Everyone knew that when Fengdu's ghostly energy completely ran amok and spread across the land, it would be a great catastrophe.
Of course, this was also an opportunity that the demon race, constantly stirring in the shadows, had been waiting for.
Gu Si Jun said unconvinced, "But even if it's just him, he might not be unable to hold it. Look, he just dealt with so many specters in one move."
Indeed, with Mo Tu's strength, if the ghost cultivators outside a city were not enough for him to kill, the problem was... there was a saying: a dragon trapped in shallows.
Some things Gu Junshi didn't tell Gu Si Jun because she didn't want him to know about the sordid affairs too early, but she still had to teach him the principles and the acumen to see through situations.
"Don't forget, this is Rong City, a city that has bordered and inherited from Feng Du for so many years, child. Do you know what it means to fish from a burning pot?"