The destructive black tide swept over the Ghost March Ship, obliterating everything in its path.
It first blew over the Bluefang Ghosts, who wailed as their bodies dissolved into pus.
Next were the ghost generals, who had already begun to fall back, though not fast enough to escape the black tide, which swiftly swallowed them up. They were much stronger than the ghost soldiers, so they suffered greater pain, collapsing within the black wave and crying out in pain. Whether they were physical ghosts or ethereal ones, all of them began to dissolve in the darkness. Some of them were faster and managed to escape the Ghost March Ship before they died, thus surviving. Others had strong defensive powers that they used to hold on. There were also those with tenacious life forces that managed to hold out within the black tide… thus, in the end, nearly half of the ghost generals survived, but all of them were wounded.
Finally, it was the turn of the Whiteface Ghost King and his three Ghost King subordinates. These four were the strongest, so they received the most care from Tang Jie.
Four beams shot out of the black tide, the strongest of them aimed at Whiteface. As the destructive energy approached, the Whiteface Ghost King began to crazily howl and unleash energy to fend off the black tide, but he had nothing to spare for his subordinates.
In truth, if he had put all his strength into protecting his subordinates, he could have saved many of them while only being injured himself. But the innately selfish and cruel nature of a ghost meant that he would never do something so self-sacrificing.
Subordinates existed to be sacrificed.
The result was that while the Whiteface Ghost King and his three Ghost King subordinates came out relatively unscathed, his thirty-some ghost generals suffered heavy losses.
Whiteface was naturally furious over this, and while the black tide had made no distinction between friend and foe, wiping out more than half of Tang Jie’s own ghost soldiers and generals, it was still a loss too great for Whiteface to accept.
The Blackwater Death Formation Tang Jie had laid down was truly ruthless.
It wasn’t possible for every battle to be with an easy target, and there was no way Tang Jie wouldn’t take precautions in case he faced a powerful foe. The Blackwater Death Formation was one of the methods he had devised. It also served to maximize the value of all the resources he had plundered from his many battles.
The wave of energy unleashed by the formation had yet to dissipate. After sweeping over the ship, it started to return, forcing the surviving ghosts to flee the Ghost March Ship. At the same time, the ship began to withdraw.
Whiteface was shocked when he saw the ship leaving, shouting, “He’s trying to run! Stop him!”
But as he was about to give chase, Tang Jie fired a beam of light into the river.
The Nine Nether River began to seethe as wild ghosts began to rise from its waters and attack Whiteface.
This was another function of the Spirit Communion Grass, influencing mindless ghosts into doing battle. Of course, an effect with such a large range was bound to have a limit to its effect and time and wasn’t too useful. But it was perfect for holding off an enemy at a critical moment.
As Whiteface was dealing with the ghosts, Tang Jie landed back on the ship, sat himself on the throne, and had the ship sail away.
Whiteface had not only failed to get any treasure, he had also lost his forces—a loss through and through. But while Tang Jie’s methods were vicious, he had essentially lost one thousand of his own to defeat eight hundred of the enemy, which was not a strategy any good general would choose.
Whiteface could tell that Tang Jie was no fool, so he didn’t understand why Tang Jie would resort to such methods.
However, he soon found out the answer—one day later, he encountered Tang Jie again.
To be more precise, Tang Jie hadn’t run off at all. The Blackwater Death Formation had an ability similar to the Yama Ghosthead Seal and could lock onto a target for a certain period of time.
This Tang Jie was no longer the Tang Jie who had run away with an army in tatters.
The deck of his Ghost March Ship was once more packed with ghost soldiers.
Of course, this was thanks to the Spirit Communion Grass.
His powerful conversion ability had let Tang Jie swiftly recover his losses. Using his powerful recovery ability to fight prolonged battles was one of the strategies Tang Jie often employed, and here he was using it in another form.
The Whiteface Ghost King was no longer so brazen this time, and Tang Jie charged right in, heedlessly ordering his ghost soldiers to attack. Even though he didn’t have the Blackwater Death Formation, he now had the advantage in numbers.
Another intense battle took place.
This time, the Whiteface Ghost King had a much harder time.
Even so, with his Soul Transformation cultivation and two art relics, he managed to gain victory once more.
He personally killed seven of Tang Jie’s ghost generals, and all three of Tang Jie’s Ghost Kings were injured, so Tang Jie was forced to run again. But he once more lost more than half of his ghost generals, one of his Ghost Kings was slain, and another was heavily injured.
But after only one day, Tang Jie came back, his Ghost March Ship once more laden with ghost soldiers. Ghost generals were somewhat harder to recruit, but there were just as many ghost soldiers as before.
The Whiteface Ghost King turned tense at the sight of all those ghosts.
He finally seemed to realize something, pointing at Tang Jie and shouting, “Spirit Communion Grass! You must have Spirit Communion Grass!”
Tang Jie smiled. “You finally get it? But a little too late.”
The ghost soldiers charged once more.
The Whiteface Ghost King knew that he was in trouble. Having lost so many soldiers, he was no longer so confident, so he said, “Let’s not fight! I am the lord of Bleakchill City. I concede this fight.”
Tang Jie coldly replied, “What does it matter to me if you concede or not? I don’t want your concession, only your life.”
As he spoke, the ghost soldiers and generals charged without regard for their lives.
While these ghost soldiers were weak, they were great in number and had means of combining their powers, so when they charged in unison, the Whiteface Ghost King had no choice but to take them seriously. Even with his profound cultivation that let him cut down many of them with a single slap, more ghost soldiers charged into the fray. The three Ghost Kings were also attacking while using the ghost soldiers, cooperating so well that Whiteface was completely powerless. Tang Jie was also constantly using the Evil Punishing Seal’s second form, the Soul Slayer. Thus, even though there was an entire realm in difference, making the Soul Slayer much less effective on the Whiteface Ghost King, its anti-ghost powers put Whiteface through so much pain that he wanted to throw up blood… if he actually had blood to throw up.
As the ghost soldiers charged at Whiteface in wave after wave, he finally began to falter. If he was a rock, then Tang Jie’s soldiers were the ocean’s waves, slowly beating him down until it cracked and crumbled into the waters.
As his strength began to run out, Whiteface started to panic.
His last Ghost King had just died, and without any other officers to support him, all the pressure was piled on him alone.
Whiteface started to beg, “Let me go and this ship and everything on it will be yours!”
Tang Jie coldly said, “I can get that by killing you.”
Whiteface had no choice but to shout, “I’m willing to hand over my Life Flame and surrender to you!”
Tang Jie was unmoved. “You take me for a fool? You’re an entire realm above me, and unless I become a King, even if I have your Life Flame, I will find it difficult to control you. The slightest misstep could have you taking control of me instead. I can’t control an existence like you at my level of strength, so I have to kill you.”
“YOU!” Whiteface almost exploded in anger.
He truly had had this idea, but he hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be so cautious as to not take the bait.
He bellowed, “You have to pay a price if you want to kill me. I advise you to rethink this, or else, even if I die, I’ll take down all your ghosts with me!”
Tang Jie said in disdain, “You’re welcome to. So long as my three Kings survive, I can just gather more of the rest.”
“The Spirit Communion Grass isn’t perfect! It can’t help you forever!”
“It just needs some resources that can restore the soul, and I can afford that,” Tang Jie casually said, taking out a handful of Starsoul Dust.
While the Spirit Communion Grass couldn’t convert ghosts without limit and needed sustenance, this sustenance happened to be that resource Tang Jie had gathered plenty of by killing the ghosts on the journey to take it. Otherwise, those ghosts wouldn’t have been gathered around the Spirit Communion Grass.
Tang Jie didn’t have to worry about using the Spirit Communion Grass so long as he had Starsoul Dust. If it ran out, he could still use the grass, but the conversion power would be much less effective.
Whiteface despaired when he saw the Starsoul Dust.
He knew that he had no choice of survival, so he roared, “To the death, then!”
His body radiating vast energy, he charged at Tang Jie.
But Tang Jie was ready for this, already having stopped his attacks and retreating far into the distance together with the three Ghost Kings, leaving the ghost soldiers to fight it out.
Seeing this, Whiteface laughed, “You fell for it!”
With a shockwave of power, he knocked back the surrounding ghost soldiers and flew in the opposite direction.
Tang Jie was slightly surprised.
This wasn’t to say that he hadn’t imagined his opponent would try this. It was just that he had found few cunning and sly fellows in his time in the Nether Domain. A moment later, he smiled and said, “You really have some rotten luck.”
He then produced the jade cup that he had fished out of the Nine Nethers River some days ago.