Within the imperial palace, smoke and dust surged skyward and the ground collapsed.
The volcanic eruption-like ashes, resembling the end of the world, spread throughout the entire capital city, yet the citizens within the city remained deeply asleep, utterly oblivious to the pervasive dust.
A massive transparent arm of the resentful ghost, wrapped in an overwhelming wave of grievance, erupted from the dust and tightly seized Li Muyang, who was fleeing for his life.
As Li Muyang turned his head, he stared in disbelief at the enormous ghostly head emerging from the smoke and dust, his face contorted with shock and incredulity.
Little Wild Grass… This resentful ghost from underground, it’s actually Little Wild Grass?!
This is f***ing impossible!
Little Wild Grass clearly died in The Peaceful Realms, how could her ghost be under this earth?
The icy moonlight now cascaded onto Li Muyang’s body.
Accompanied by the collapse of the palace and the demise of the false Buddha, the vast formation centered on Da Guangming Temple, which extended to a hundred-mile radius outside the Great Zhou capital, crumbled in an instant.
The monks, originally wandering vacantly under the moonlight, all froze still in place.
The demise of the false Buddha seemed to have stripped them of their will.
The very next moment, these monks let out piercing, agonizing screams.
Soon after, translucent wings sprouted from under their robes, and their faces and bodies began to shift rapidly.
Under the moonlight, the ocean of monks transformed into an ocean of pitch-black locusts.
One by one, the monks all morphed into gigantic black locusts.
These massive black locusts—each the size of a human—vibrated their wings and soared into the air.
Amid the deafening, clamorous sound of beating wings, the locust swarm ascended into the sky, resembling a howling storm cloud as it flew off into the distance.
The evil gods, previously blocked by the monks at the boundary, now began advancing into the area.
But when the evil gods stepped into the capital, all they saw was Li Muyang, tightly held by the colossal resentful ghost.
The cold, scrutinizing gazes of the evil gods swept across the scene, resting briefly on Jie Zijiu before moving on without care.
The evil gods raised their hands to compete for the corpse of the false Buddha within the palace.
And the thirty-six desiccated yet golden bodies of the Buddhas.
Soon, the evil gods looted what they wanted and departed one by one.
Jie Zijiu, still gripped by the enormous resentful ghost, didn’t even seem worthy of entering the evil gods’ sight.
Perhaps it was due to being caught by the ghost, or perhaps it was simply that Jie Zijiu was too weak… In any case, the evil gods retreated rapidly.
As they left, they bit into fragments of the looted corpses, crunching them noisily in the night, the sound sending chills down the spine.
At the edge of the Great Zhou imperial palace, the underground resentful ghost finally clawed half of its body out.
Its lower half remained stuck belowground, yet it showed no intention of crawling further outward.
The massive ghost gripped the immobilized Li Muyang firmly, its malicious gaze sizing him up and down.
In the moment he was stared at by the ghost, Li Muyang shivered, his whole body turning cold. He reconfirmed one thing—this is not Little Wild Grass!
Zhi Wei, that vain girl, was obsessed with beauty!
She would never tolerate becoming something so brutish and hideous.
If there were even a sliver of chance she might turn into a resentful ghost after death, she would obliterate that possibility with all her might.
The resentful ghost before him was definitely not Zhi Wei.
But why does it look identical to her?!
Li Muyang’s gaze grew cold as he glared fixedly at the ghost, showing no fear.
Meanwhile, amid the endless dust, the massive ghost that had dragged out half its body lingered, staring at the captive Jie Zijiu in its grasp for what seemed ages.
Finally, the ghost erupted with thunderous, ear-splitting laughter.
“Jiang Xiaoyu! Heehee! It’s Jiang Xiaoyu!”
“Jiang Zhiwei’s favorite man! Jiang Xiaoyu! Heeheehee!”
The ghost’s booming voice resonated with echoes, sending shivers through the listener’s scalp.
Its tone seemed both male and female, fused into an eerie androgynous cadence.
After identifying the connection to Jiang Zhiwei, the ghost gleefully flailed in celebration.
“I caught Jiang Xiaoyu! Heeheehee!”
“I’ll deliver this man to her! Jiang Zhiwei will praise me! Jiang Zhiwei will praise me! Heeheehee!”
The ghost burst into joyous laughter. Despite its aged, androgynous voice, it sounded jubilant as a child.
Hearing the ghost’s delighted chuckles, Li Muyang frowned slightly.
Raising an eyebrow, he then asked, “You know Zhi Wei?”
The sound of Li Muyang’s voice startled the wildly jubilant ghost.
It abruptly lowered its head and roared wrathfully at Li Muyang.
“When I’m speaking, you’re not allowed to interrupt me!”
“You dare interrupt me… I’ll kill you and tear you into two pieces!”
“Yes! I’ll tear you in two!”
The ghost shrieked furiously like a deranged lunatic, reaching out another hand to grab at Li Muyang’s legs.
It truly intended to tear Li Muyang apart.
Feeling his legs gripped tightly, Li Muyang twitched his brow and opened his mouth to speak, but the ghost let out another frenzied howl.
“No matter, I’ll take you to find Jiang Zhiwei! Even if it’s two halves of Jiang Xiaoyu, she might be even happier!”
“After all, I just made one Jiang Xiaoyu into two Jiang Xiaoyu pieces! Heeheehee!”
Shrieking in delight, the ghost seemed enchanted with its ingenious idea, erupting into manic laughter.
Seeing himself about to be torn in two, Li Muyang closed his eyes in exasperation, preparing to restart this scenario.
Looks like, after defeating the false Buddha, he’d need to escape the capital quickly to avoid being captured by this resentful ghost.
But just as Li Muyang was about to shut his eyes completely, a streak of black magic light descended from Outer Heaven.
The next moment, immense Demonic Qi struck the ghost’s arm, causing it to howl in agony and let go of its grip on Li Muyang instinctively.
In the instant Li Muyang was released, the Demonic Qi that struck the ghost’s arm swept him up, dragging him and five puppets swiftly away.
Amid the swirling Demonic Qi carrying Li Muyang, a severed head belonging to the Headless Saint Monk murmured softly.
“Thank goodness… I barely made it in time at the last moment. Layman, are you unharmed?”
The floating head, like a shooting star, carried vast Demonic Qi, striking the ghost and sweeping away Li Muyang seamlessly.
Witnessing this, Li Muyang was stunned.
“Miao… Saint Monk?! Why are you here!”
Li Muyang instinctively wanted to call out Miao Fengjun’s true name.
But realizing that with the false Buddha dead, the Heavenly Eye Earth Monarch could now observe this land, he forced himself to swallow the name, switching to “Saint Monk.”
Behind Li Muyang, amid the palace ruins, the ghost roared with rage.
“Damn you Seven Treasures Glaze Buddha! You dare challenge me!”
“You bald-headed monks of Buddhism! I will kill you all! Kill you all!”
The earth trembled and rumbled as the colossal ghost finally broke free from its underground restraints, screaming ferociously as it hunted down Li Muyang.
The severed head, wrapped in a massive cloud of Demonic Qi and carrying Li Muyang away, sighed upon seeing this.
“It seems the troubles underground have finally emerged…”