Tang Jie crawled out of a pile of bodies, patting the dust off his body slowly and gently as if he was performing some sacred act.
The terrifying wounds on his body had disappeared as if they had never existed.
“You…” Flying Swallow stared at Tang Jie in disbelief.
Tang Jie chuckled. “There’s no need for you to be so shocked. After all, for someone about to die, the situation can’t get any worse no matter what happens.”
Flying Swallow was frozen in shock while the surviving Ghost Kings roared, “Maraju, what are you doing? Playing dead to avoid the battle!”
Tang Jie surveyed the Ghost Kings and said, “Still five left, three high-tier and two middle-tier… More of you are alive than I anticipated.”
The five ghosts were taken aback. “You…”
Tang Jie smiled. “Correct—it was all as I planned. I sought to divide you and weaken you, letting you fight Flying Swallow in groups to thin the herd before having you fight all together to kill her. In my calculations, you should have all died along with her, but alas, there are too many variables in battle to control everything, so mistakes are very normal.”
Tang Jie awkwardly laughed as if feeling embarrassed over his mistaken calculations. He then continued, “But I thought that Flying Swallow would still be the greatest variable. After all, she’s a Deification cultivator, so it would be normal for her to have some sort of hidden card. I didn’t expect our side to be the winners. Rather than saying that Flying Swallow was weak, I can only express my admiration for the strength of the Ghost Kings.”
They had never imagined that one of their group had been scheming against them.
“Bastard!” a Ghost King bellowed in rage.
“Maraju, you’re ruthless!” another Ghost King said. “But don’t you think you’ve exposed yourself a little too soon? Do you really think a low-tier Ghost King like you can deal with all five of us? We should be thanking you instead, because everything here now belongs to the five of us, hahahaha!”
“That’s why I’m saying that the number of survivors exceeded my expectations,” Tang Jie sighed. “I wanted an easy time of it, but it seems I still need to fight.”
“With just you?” a Ghost King sneered.
“Not just me,” Tang Jie casually replied.
This answer startled the five ghosts, but a moment later, a Ghost King sensed something and howled, “Be careful!”
A translucent hand appeared behind this Ghost King and stabbed into his back. The Ghost King began to shudder as a white light rose from his body.
“AAAAAH!!” the Ghost King yelled, and then he exploded, transforming into a white ball of light that tried to escape. But then Little Three appeared and sucked it up.
The Ghost King died in Little Three’s stomach without the slightest chance to protest.
Little Three nodded in satisfaction after devouring this Ghost King’s soul and spatially blinked onto Tang Jie’s shoulder.
Yes, this was the true source of Tang Jie’s confidence.
Long before entering the mausoleum, Tang Jie had sensed Little Three.
He had finally returned, having completed the mission Tang Jie had tasked him with.
Tang Jie had been able to so quickly recover from Flying Swallow’s savage assault not merely because of his perfect body, but, more importantly, because Little Three had brought back human medicines. With these, Tang Jie was able to quietly play dead while he recovered.
“A Hunter Ghost!” Flying Swallow and the four ghosts yelled, gazing at Tang Jie in fear and envy.
The ones in fear were the four ghosts, afraid of their natural enemy.
The one in envy was Flying Swallow. As a Ghost Dao master, she was keenly aware of the importance of Hunter Ghosts. So long as one had a ghost like this at one’s side, one could obtain any ghost one wanted.
But why did a Yaksha have a Hunter Ghost?
It had to be understood that Yakshas were nobles of the Nether Domain and thick with the aura of the Nether Domain, which meant they were prey for Hunter Ghosts. In general, every ghost in the Nether Domain was on the list of prey for Hunter Ghosts. For a mature Hunter Ghost, there existed only two types of ghosts: those that it would grow stronger by eating and those that it wouldn’t. There was no category of ghosts that couldn’t be eaten.
Thus, Yakshas had no reason to associate with Hunter Ghosts.
Suddenly, Flying Swallow felt like something was wrong.
The Yaksha’s thick aura of death was fading, replaced by an intense vitality.
This was an unprecedented vitality, like a blinding sun lighting up the dark night. Even Flying Swallow, who had spent so long in the world of the shadows, felt the warmth of the sun.
“Human!” she shouted, pointing at Tang Jie. “You’re a human!”
“You’re a human!!!” The four ghosts also sensed Tang Jie’s transformation.
Tang Jie smiled. “Correct. Do you understand now?”
“Deceitful human!” The four Ghost Kings howled as they lunged at Tang Jie.
They held an immense hatred for Tang Jie and naturally wanted to kill him.
Tang Jie simply shook his head. “Little Three, they’re yours.”
Little Three excitedly rushed out.
While he was also only a peak Ghost King, he naturally countered ghosts, so one-versus-three was no problem.
He immediately manifested numerous versions of himself, all of them seeming to be real. This was an ability Little Three had gradually mastered after advancing, the Myriad Phantom Dance. He had actually learned it from the Mother Cloud combat puppet, but his usage was even more powerful thanks to his innate talent in Space.
The ghosts wailed and shrieked, but they were helpless against their natural foe, only able to watch as he blinked here and there. Meanwhile, any one of Little Three’s attacks could deal severe damage to them if they weren’t careful.
The ghosts were no fools and could see that they were no match, so they shouted, “Kill that human!”
Tang Jie smiled at the four ghosts. “I really am only at Spirit Ring Tier, but this doesn’t mean… I’m a pushover.”
He instantly formed numerous hand signs, and as he chanted, a blooming lotus flower appeared.
As the lotus flower bloomed, a sacred and pure energy swept toward the four ghosts.
This was the third form of the Evil Punishing Seal: Soul Purging.
Tang Jie’s strength had soared after entering Celestial Heart, and he was finally able to use the third form. It was more complex and also many times more powerful.
No evil spirit could hide from its holy light.
The four ghosts wailed, unable to advance.
Little Three used this moment to attack from the rear, slaying one ghost and devouring it before attacking another.
Never before had he had such a satisfying time killing ghosts, particularly as these were all ghosts of the Soul Transformation level, rare opponents that he would have needed great effort to defeat. But now, he was happily gorging himself on one after another, their essence souls further strengthening him.
“No rush, no rush. Don’t eat the rest of the essence souls. I want to refine them into Primal Souls,” Tang Jie said with a smile. “I have plenty of Primal Souls here, all for you.”
Little Three looked at Tang Jie in confusion. He could directly consume essence souls, and refining them down to their fundamental substance was a little wasteful.
Tang Jie explained, “This is a sealed area, isolated from the Nether Domain. After those Ghost Kings died, their souls remained in this place. I just need to make some arrangements on this Putrid Soil and make a Corpse Field, which could help you break through your current bottleneck, even let you reach the Nether Emperor level.”
Corpse Fields were forbidden zones to humans, but they were cultivation holy lands for ghosts.
Little Three excitedly shrieked. Tang Jie’s words had only motivated him, and the surviving three Ghost Kings were powerless to strike back under his vicious assault.
Tang Jie smiled and shook his head before abruptly saying, “I didn’t say you could leave, so you just stay right where you are.”
Flying Swallow, who had been inching toward the exit, trembled and squeezed out a smile. “Sir, is this necessary? We’re both humans, so we should be working together against the ghosts.”
Tang Jie shook his head. “Don’t even try it. Your Enchantress Voice is useless against me.”
“Why? Why is it like this!?” Flying Swallow howled in despair. “This is a Dao Art! The Dao is supreme, so how can it be of no use against you? Unless… unless you’re also proficient in the Dao of Truth!”
Tang Jie shook his head.
While he was proficient in the Dao of Truth, the one who had entered the Dao and possessed the Dao Runes was the avatar, not the original, and even the avatar might not be able to completely resist the Enchantress Voice. While understanding the Dao conferred some level of resistance, it wasn’t complete immunity.
There was only one explanation for this body’s complete immunity to Flying Swallow’s Dao Art:
“The Parting Classic goes against the Dao… I understand,” Tang Jie sighed. “So this is what that actually means. It was just that I was never able to use it before.”
“What are you saying? I don’t understand!” Flying Swallow fearfully shook her head.
“You don’t need to understand,” Tang Jie said, suddenly punching at Flying Swallow.
Flying Swallow was caught completely off guard by the punch, and as she fell to her knees, she glared at Tang Jie. “YOU!”
Tang Jie casually said, “After all that talk and all that time, a Deification cultivator should have gathered enough energy to cast a small Divine Connection. Unfortunately, you ran into me, and I won’t give you that chance.”
“BASTARD!!!” Flying Swallow was crazed from anger.
Tang Jie was correct. She had been gathering strength this whole time, and if she had gathered a little more, she could have turned the tables once Tang Jie had finished dealing with the ghosts. Alas, Tang Jie had made a surprise attack, scattering all the energy she had gathered and deepening her wounds.
What shocked her most was that Tang Jie seemed to have a deep understanding of the Deification Tier, taking every detail into consideration.
Of course, she wouldn’t have been so surprised if she had known that Tang Jie’s avatar was at Immortal Platform.