Chapter 1060: Divine Thunder Controls Ghosts

Just as the ghostly beings approached within a hundred zhang of the group, a resounding dragon's roar suddenly rang out, and a layer of azure light curtain abruptly lit up around the five of them, then expanded outward.

On the light curtain, azure light flowed, and faint dragon shadows twisted and writhed, shifting unsteadily across the surface, emitting auspicious and precious radiance that soared into the sky, piercing the high-altitude dark clouds.

Those sinister ghostly beings crashed into the azure light curtain, immediately letting out heart-rending screams of agony.

The azure light on the curtain flickered frequently, and the evil ghosts that struck it instantly melted away like snow under a scorching sun, emitting hissing sounds and billowing black smoke as they dissolved directly.

However, these imprisoned evil ghosts, having not tasted the flavor of living humans for who knows how many years, had long gone mad and lost their senses, surging forward recklessly regardless of life or death. Even as they were continuously dissolved, they still piled on layer after layer.

Han Li swept his gaze around, seeing the dense hordes of yin-sha ghostly beings relentlessly attacking, but his expression remained unchanged.

“What are you doing? If you don’t contribute, don’t expect us to look out for you!” Jin Liu shouted angrily upon seeing this.

Han Li paid no heed to Jin Liu’s words. He stood upright in the center of the group, neither lending a hand to support the formation nor joining the fray, but instead staring solemnly at the gloomy sky above, lost in thought.

High in the sky, the members of Tianshui Sect had already engaged in battle with the ten red-robed ghost generals.

Unlike the countless yin-sha ghostly beings below, these ghost generals were astonishingly powerful, most of them being formidable ghost immortals comparable to peak Golden Immortal cultivators. Their techniques were not only mysterious and treacherous but also varied and endless.

The one who looked like a scholar had the highest cultivation, comparable to a mid-stage Taiyi cultivator. His blood-red official robe was the most peculiar, with two wide sleeves wide open, as if they contained a vast universe within.

With a sweep of his left sleeve, ten thousand zhang of black light surged out, casting a shadow over Su Qianxi’s head.

The latter already held a blue-light-enveloped Eight Treasures Water Fan in her hand. As she fanned it left and right, flowing light surged from the fan’s surface, tearing open a massive rift across the sky.

At the same time, a emerald-green winding river depicted on the Eight Treasures Water Fan suddenly flashed with light and disappeared.

“Rustle, rustle…”

A great sound of water came from the rift in the void. A thousand-li river, as if bursting through a dam, surged forth with rolling floodwaters, rushing backward toward the scholar in the sky.

A mocking smile appeared on the scholar’s face. The black light in his sleeve grew even stronger, churning within to form a massive black vortex that swallowed the incoming river water.

The waters of the winding river seemed to come from the heavens, flowing endlessly as if inexhaustible, while the scholar’s official robe sleeve was like a bottomless abyss, continuously absorbing the river water without limit.

After the river water was swept into his left sleeve, a loud rumbling sound erupted. Then, with a flick of his right sleeve, the rolling river water gushed out from that side, rushing back toward Su Qianxi.

However, the water surging from this sleeve had become turbid, filled with floating corpses and foul blood.

Seeing this, Su Qianxi’s expression changed. She turned the Eight Treasures Water Fan in her hand, and with a flash of light, the rift in the void no longer emitted river water but instead absorbed the water the scholar had sent back, swallowing it again.

After a moment, the river water was exhausted, and the rift closed on its own, disappearing.

On the water fan in Su Qianxi’s hand, the blue light converged, and a river pattern reappeared, but the water was no longer as clear and emerald as before, having become turbid.

At the same time, wisps of black mist lingered on the fan’s surface, and the yin-sha aura was slow to dissipate.

Seeing this, Su Qianxi’s expression shifted slightly. She shook the water fan, and strands of cold air seeped from its surface. The river was also covered by a white light, as if suddenly hit by a snowfall, frozen solid.

“This treasure of yours is not bad. This Lord Yan will take it. In the future, I’ll throw a hundred thousand yin souls into that river and refine it into a Styx—even better. As for you, little girl, heh heh, this Lord Yan still lacks a concubine…” The scholar cackled sinisterly.

Upon hearing this, Su Qianxi narrowed her eyes, a fierce killing intent flashing within them. With a flick of her other hand, a ripple of water flowed from her palm, condensing into a blue sword with a clear, bright light.

“Since you like my precious fan so much, I’ll grant your wish and suppress you beneath the icy mountain within the fan, so you’ll never turn over again.” She let out a sharp cry, her figure shooting upward to engage the scholar in close combat.

Seeing this, the scholar laughed wildly, rolled his sleeves, and met her head-on. The two immediately became locked in battle.

On the other side, Jin Liu, wielding a double-dragon spear, was fighting two red-robed ghost generals.

One of them had a human body with an ox head, holding a blood-red soul-summoning banner. The banner’s surface was not unfurled but wrapped around the wooden pole. When swung, it stirred up a fierce yin wind. If one was unlucky enough to be touched by it, they would feel their soul unstable, with strands of soul force being drawn out of their body.

The other also had a human body but bore an ugly horse face, holding a string of pitch-black chains engraved with unknown yin script. At the interlocking points, clusters of ghostly green flames rose, with yin-sha aura concentrated to the extreme. Even without direct contact, being slightly burned by it would cause flesh and bones to rot, extremely difficult to remove.

Both ghost generals were at the early Taiyi stage. One specialized in long-range harassment and containment, the other excelled in close combat. They were very troublesome to deal with. Even for Jin Liu, handling them was not easy; he could only barely suppress them, with no time to attend to anything else.

Trapped within this three-layered space, it felt like falling into the spirit domain of these yin-sha ghostly beings, naturally being suppressed. Neither Jin Liu nor Su Qianxi found it easy to cope, let alone the others from Tianshui Sect.

Han Li stood within the Azure Dragon Chaos-Yuan Formation, his expression somewhat hesitant.

Although the direction of the battle was still unclear, he knew that once it became protracted, the result would inevitably be a shift in balance, and the situation would only become more unfavorable for them.

Moreover, from the moment he entered this place, he had sensed that within the high-altitude dark clouds, there seemed to be a pair of eyes watching their every move.

The ten red-robed ghost generals before him, though calling themselves the Ten Yama Kings, were not the most powerful beings in this space. The truly terrifying entity, for some unknown reason, remained hidden in the high-altitude dark clouds and had not yet appeared.

Since he did not make a move, Han Li also decided not to act first, merely remaining on guard and waiting to see how things would develop.

But just then, from the Heavenly King Hall near the mountain gate, there came a series of rumbling sounds, causing the entire earth to tremble violently.

Han Li focused his gaze in that direction and saw that the entire roof of the Heavenly King Hall had been torn off, and the two giant Heavenly King statues inside had come to life, pushing aside the surrounding walls and striding toward them.

"Boom," "Boom," "Boom"

The two Heavenly King statues, with their armor in disrepair, strode forward, tossing the two human-head statues they held in their hands like sandbags.

Two sounds of wind breaking through the air were heard!

The two blood-red human-head statues flew like siege boulders, crashing heavily into the Azure Dragon Chaos-Yuan Formation.

A tremendous force, like the weight of Mount Tai, suddenly struck, causing the formation's azure light to tremble violently and nearly collapse.

The several people maintaining the formation immediately felt a heavy pressure, their bodies trembling as they spat out mouthfuls of blood.

With their injuries, the formation they maintained became unstable. The azure dragon phantom swimming above grew increasingly illusory, while the surrounding yin-sha ghost creatures charged forward even more frantically.

In an instant, black smoke billowed over the Azure Dragon Chaos-Yuan Formation. Countless yin-sha ghost creatures dissolved, and the formation's azure light began to fade, seemingly unable to hold on much longer.

Han Li saw that the two Heavenly King statues were already approaching, stepping on the yin-sha ghost creatures, and had raised their demon-subduing pestles high, as if about to throw them as well.

If the Azure Dragon Chaos-Yuan Formation suffered another such heavy blow, not only would the formation fail to hold, but those powering it would likely suffer backlash and perish.

"Well, since you won't make a move, I'll force you to," Han Li sighed inwardly, raising his arm and waving his hand.

A sound of breaking air came, and eighteen streaks of azure light flashed in the void, flying out of the azure light barrier and scattering like rain around it.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Accompanied by sharp sounds, the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords fell to the ground, embedding themselves along the edge of the Azure Dragon Chaos-Yuan Formation, encircling the entire formation and those within.

"This is..." Patriarch Fu's eyes showed a flicker of doubt as he turned to look at Han Li.

As for the others, seeing the flying swords land without further movement, they were even more puzzled.

The yin-sha ghost creatures paid no heed and continued to assault the formation, soon engulfing all the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. The formation's spiritual power seemed nearly depleted; though it could still hinder the ghost creatures' gathering, it could no longer annihilate them as before.

The dense mass of yin-sha ghost creatures climbed higher and higher, eventually submerging the entire azure light barrier.

Seeing this, the two Heavenly King statues stopped their actions and did not continue throwing their demon-subduing pestles.

"They're finished..." Su Qianxi caught sight of this scene, her expression shifting slightly as she sighed.

"Forget about them for now; let's focus on what's in front of us..." Jin Liu shouted with a grave expression.

Before his words faded, a sudden change occurred on the square!

"Rumble"

A thunderous sound rang out, and eighteen golden lightning pillars, thick as corridor columns, rose from the ground, shooting straight into the sky.

Amid a blinding golden light, lightning wrapped in thick electric threads surged like a tide, spreading in all directions. The entire square was instantly dyed a dazzling golden hue, too bright to look at directly.

A loud crackling sound erupted!

Accompanied by continuous wails and howls, large plumes of black smoke rose wherever the golden lightning passed. Countless yin-sha ghost creatures were swept up by the golden light and dissipated.

"This is... the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning!" Su Qianxi's beautiful eyes flashed with surprise as she exclaimed.