87: Ghost General

Yi Fan gave a cold snort.

It was broad daylight, the sun blazing overhead. Ghosts would not dare appear now, and it would be difficult to find the right place anyway. So he simply picked a large tree, tied the old donkey to it, then leaped onto a branch and, leaning against the trunk, dozed off.

The loathsome ghost, bored out of its wits, climbed another tree, bobbing its head as it looked all around. Now and then it would steal a glance at Yi Fan, especially at the gourd hanging at his waist.

Only at night did Yi Fan wake. Even then, the loathsome ghost did not dare make a move, and in the end could only hang its head in frustration.

Yi Fan glanced at it. He had long since seen through its little schemes and could not be bothered to scold it.

By then the full moon hung high in the sky. Mist surged up across the entire basin, and in the wavering haze, black shadows seemed to dart past. Yet when one looked closely, nothing could be seen at all.

The longer time passed, the stronger the yin energy grew. In the blink of an eye, the whole basin had become a sea of sinister force, as though all of hell had been moved here.

Yi Fan was unafraid. No matter how much yin energy gathered, it was useless against him. With so many talismans empowering him and thunder arts guarding his body, not to mention one vicious specter or even ten or a hundred, none could hope to harm him in the slightest.

Yet since the ghostly things still had not shown themselves, he found it strange. By rights, with such thick yin energy filling the air, the ghosts should already have been swarming everywhere. And yet not one had appeared.

Could there be something unusual about this place?

Thinking of this, Yi Fan made a hand seal and swept two fingers across his eyelids. At once, a faint golden light flashed at the bottom of his eyes.

He had opened his mystic sight.

Though he had only learned it for a short time, with the system’s help he had barely reached the first level. Its power was limited, but as for some illusions and tricks, he could still see through them at a glance.

To his eyes, the basin had become a completely different scene. The once quiet hollow now revealed countless figures, all wearing armor and standing in neat formation like companies of soldiers, silent and disciplined, as if waiting at any moment to surge forward and crush the enemy.

So many yin soldiers? There had to be at least a thousand.

Yi Fan was astonished. Truly, this deserved to be called an ancient battlefield. Who would have thought that after so many years, it had accumulated such an army of yin soldiers? If these things ever escaped this realm, who knew what sort of calamity they would cause.

Before long, a tall horse thundered over, carrying a general with a halberd in his hand. The moment he appeared, the rows of yin soldiers below suddenly opened their mouths and roared. Though soundless, the sight was terrifying in the extreme, stirring a storm of yin energy that surged into the heavens.

The general reined in his horse and raised the halberd, slamming it into the ground with a loud crash that sent sand and grit flying. Then, as though speaking, he opened his mouth and bellowed, unleashing an even fiercer tide of yin force.

So this was the Ghost King?

Yi Fan’s heart stirred. As expected, it could not be underestimated. With such strength, it was at the very least at the second stage of the Dao Foundation realm. Add to that a thousand yin soldiers, and even ordinary cultivators in the Spirit-Communion realm would not dare meet them head-on.

With such power, calling it a Ghost King might be arrogant, but it was indeed formidable. At the very least, within a radius of a hundred li, no one would dare provoke it.

One might call it a regional ghost general. Who knew what manner of figure it had been in life to possess such presence even in death.

Just then, miserable cries rang out. Several dozen common folk were carried over by a band of little ghosts and brought before the ghost general. There, they all raised their arms and knelt.

The ghost general threw back its head and laughed in satisfaction. Though no sound came forth, its delight was unmistakable. Then it lowered its head and inhaled fiercely. The dozens of townspeople immediately began to tremble, their bodies visibly shriveling at an astonishing rate. In the blink of an eye, they were reduced to dry, withered corpses.

It was feeding on the yang energy of the living.

Yi Fan’s eyes flashed. Seeing it lost in its own frenzy, refining that yang energy, he sprang into action. He dashed forward, feet striking repeatedly as he moved, and with a series of flips of his hands, he unleashed several palm-thunder strikes. Bolts of lightning shot straight for the ghost general.

Capture the king and the rest will fall. Kill this ghost king first, and the other yin soldiers would be nothing to fear.

The ghost general only sensed danger closing in, but it was already too late to evade. It roared wildly, gathering countless strands of yin energy. At once, dozens of nearby yin soldiers dissolved into wisps of smoke and converged before it, forming a shield.

Lightning flashed. In an instant, those dozens of yin soldiers were reduced to flying ash, and the ghost general itself was blasted away. Its form nearly shattered, while the horse beneath it simply turned to yin energy and vanished.

Seeing that the ghost general had been heavily wounded, Yi Fan, though unable to destroy it in one stroke, was not disappointed. By now, countless yin soldiers had already swarmed in from all sides. Repeating the same tactic as before was no longer realistic, but he was not afraid. He took the gourd from his waist, pulled several small evil-banishing talismans from his spirit pouch, pressed them onto it, then formed a seal and lightly struck the bottom of the gourd.

At once, a huge pulling force erupted. The yin soldiers charging at the front had no time to dodge before dozens of them were sucked inside. Yi Fan then spun around, drew his sword, and with several blooming flurries of sword light, cut down a few more yin soldiers before lifting the gourd again.

He repeated this over and over, gathering nearly a hundred yin soldiers. Meanwhile, the ghost general had finally steadied its trembling body, seized its halberd, and leaped down in a mighty chop.

"Good. I was afraid you’d run."

Yi Fan was not alarmed. On the contrary, he was delighted. If that ghost general had truly intended to flee, then with so many yin soldiers blocking the way, it might even have escaped.

He put away the gourd. A fierce ghost of this caliber could not be suppressed by a gourd that had only just been refined, so there was no point in trying. He advanced with sword in hand, and for a time sword flashes and halberd clangs rang out as the surrounding yin soldiers did not dare draw near.

At last, when an opening appeared, Yi Fan struck again. Several palm-thunder bolts crashed down. The ghost general knew their power, but the lightning came too fast for it to fully evade. It could only barely defend itself before being blasted away again.

Yet Yi Fan would not let it go. He leaped beside it and slapped several talismans onto its body.

The ghost general froze all over, and Yi Fan seized the moment to press down hard. He took out the gourd, pointed it at the ghost general, and inhaled. The ghost general was instantly sucked inside. Yi Fan then sealed the mouth with talismans from the outside.

At last, the ghost general had been dealt with. Yi Fan let out a long breath. Luckily, the ghost general had not been prepared and had been caught off guard by his assault. Otherwise, with those thousand yin soldiers forming a battle array and striking together, even he would not have dared face them head-on.

The surrounding yin soldiers, seeing their commander gone, only froze for a moment. Their ghostly eyes flickered, and they stood there in confusion. Some of them even attacked other yin soldiers nearby, plunging the whole formation into chaos.

Yi Fan had not expected such a windfall. Naturally, he would not be polite. He tied the gourd back to his waist, took out his spirit pouches, and began gathering them one by one. Fortunately, he had brought plenty of pouches; otherwise, there truly would not have been enough.

Even so, he still could not finish collecting them all. In the end, he had no choice but to be ruthless: aside from leaving some for the loathsome ghost to devour, he destroyed every remaining one on the spot.

It was not that he did not want to refine them here and now. Rather, during the refinement process, who knew whether some other fierce ghost might appear in this place? If he were ambushed then, he would have a grievance he could not even voice.

...

He stayed busy until the sky was faintly bright before everything was finally cleaned up. Turning back, he looked at the ancient battlefield shrouded in yin energy. Though he had just wiped out a wave of ghostly creatures, as long as this place remained, it would only continue to draw others.

But that was no longer something he could concern himself with right now. And such an ancient battlefield could only be cleared with vast numbers of men and resources. By his own strength alone, he simply did not have the heart or the ability to do it.