Chapter 144: The Ghost King Approaches

Silence!

The wild ghosts at the scene widened their eyes in shock and disbelief.

Su Yang's body transformed into a streak of thunder, charging back into the ranks of the wild ghosts to slaughter them. Without that second-rank wild ghost, these wild ghosts below the third rank no longer posed a significant threat.

Inside the room.

Song Tiantian watched the battle outside the window, her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Young Master Su, you must hold on!"

In another room.

Gu Chen cowered in the corner, listening to the ghostly wails and wolf-like howls outside, shivering violently all over.

A chilling wind blew incessantly, accompanied by continuous mournful shrieks.

Had an ordinary person been caught in the middle of this, they would have long since been paralyzed by fear and driven insane.

Only the vital blood of a martial artist could inflict massive damage on wild ghosts, and even scatter their souls completely.

"This person is too powerful. I think we should just fall back."

"Fall back? If we fall back, the Ghost King will not spare us. We will die an even more miserable death. That person's method of obliterating the enforcer must be a trump card for self-preservation, which he surely must have exhausted by now. If we all attack together, we can definitely wear him down to death."

"Run? How can we run? We are all controlled by the Ghost King. With our physical bones still in his grasp, the Ghost King will surely track us down. Instead, we might as well risk our lives to slay this martial artist, which can appease the Ghost King's wrath and grant us a chance at survival."

"A few of us will go report to the Ghost King...!"

"Right, everyone, let's attack together...!"

"I'll go report to the Ghost King too...!"

In an instant, under the pretext of reporting to the Ghost King, one-fifth of the wild ghosts in the courtyard fled, while the rest continued to entangle Su Yang.

The Ghost King?

Su Yang's heart tightened. He had no idea whether this Ghost King was far away. If...

"Whoosh...!"

A trace of tension rose in his heart, and he immediately hurled the thunder bead in his hand. The area before him instantly transformed into an ocean of thunder, claiming the lives of dozens more wild ghosts on the spot.

"Whoosh...!"

Another thunder bead was thrown.

An ocean of thunder spread out, and dozens more wild ghosts perished instantly, transforming into massive amounts of soul fragments that submerged into Su Yang's body.

"Run...!"

Seeing the two thunder beads explode, the wild ghosts, already filled with terror, fled wildly in all directions, no longer daring to stay and tremble.

At least, living for a few more hours was better than nothing.

Run.

Run as hard as you can, as far as you can; that way, you can live a little longer.

...

Seeing the wild ghosts in the courtyard scattering, Su Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly rushed forward and grabbed the female wild ghost Xiaoqian, hoisting her up like a little chick.

This wild ghost could not be killed just yet; should the Ghost King pursue them, she would serve as a useful bargaining chip.

"Miss Song, let's leave this place quickly!"

Su Yang kicked open Song Tiantian's door and said.

"Alright!"

Song Tiantian was well aware of what had happened outside. Staying here was out of the question, as she knew all too well how terrifying the Ghost King was. She quickly followed Su Yang and fled down the mountain.

As for Gu Chen.

She simply couldn't care about him anymore. Whether he survived or not was none of her business.

Name: Su Yang (Quasi-Immortal)
Incense Value: 8700
Literary Qi: Junior Scholar
Humanitarian Merit: 53
Soul Fragments: 35
Realm: Second Rank
...

Su Yang opened his attribute panel and took a glance. He had already accumulated thirty-five soul fragments, which was enough for him to condense three incense avatars.

In addition, he had also gained 53 points of humanitarian merit.

This time, there was ultimately some harvest.

Under the cover of night, the two ran wildly without stopping. Whenever his vital blood felt somewhat depleted, Su Yang would pull out some aged medicinal herbs and consume them directly, sharing some with Song Tiantian as well.

It was not until the afternoon of the following day that the two could no longer hold on, and they found an inn in a county town to rest.

Entering the county town meant they were temporarily safe.

Even the Ghost King would not dare to enter the city to commit atrocities; the reputation of the Demon Suppressing Army was no joke.

"Young Master Su, I'll go rest first."

Panting heavily and lacking the energy even to wash up, Song Tiantian forced her body back to her room and collapsed onto the bed, falling fast asleep.

Only then did Su Yang turn his gaze to the ethereal soul body of Xiaoqian in the room.

Second-rank strength.

Truly formidable!

[Inspect Aura]

The next second, Su Yang gazed at the wild ghost before him. To his surprise, amidst the vast blue aura hovering above her head, there was actually a trace of golden aura mixed in.

"Oh...!"

Su Yang's heart skipped a beat.

Auras, from bottom to top, were categorized into White, Blue, Red, and Gold!

Generally, white aura belonged to ordinary commoners and humble households.

Blue aura belonged to low-ranking officials—such as county magistrates and prefects, who possessed blue aura, as did some families with deep foundations.

As for red aura, only pillars of the imperial court and high-ranking officials guarding the frontiers could possess it.

Golden aura generally belonged to members of the imperial family and nobility, or the supreme leaders of civil and military officials who might touch upon a shred of it.

Could it be?

Was this woman a deceased princess of the previous dynasty?

That didn't seem right either!

With the recent change of dynasties, the imperial family of the former dynasty had long since lost its aura. How could a princess of the Great Zhao dynasty die so quickly, and how could she have fallen to such a state?

Curiosity welled up within Su Yang as he looked at Xiaoqian and asked, "Who on earth are you?"

...

After asking for a long time, he could not extract any useful information.

In the end, Su Yang had no choice but to give up. Xiaoqian only claimed that during her lifetime, she was the young lady of a wealthy household. After dying, she transformed into a wild ghost and eventually drifted into the uninhabited Rakshasa Temple.

A while ago, she had caught the eye of the Black Cloud Ghost King, who intended to take her as his concubine.

All the wild ghosts in the Rakshasa Temple were sent by the Ghost King to follow her orders, seeing as she was also a second-rank martial artist.

As for the strength of the Ghost King, he was a lower-tier Minor Ghost King!

Not a Major Ghost King as Su Yang had imagined!

Beyond the first-rank wild ghosts lay the realm of Ghost Kings, which were divided into Minor Ghost Kings and Major Ghost Kings. Minor Ghost Kings were further divided into Lower-grade Minor Ghost Kings, Middle-grade Minor Ghost Kings, and Upper-grade Minor Ghost Kings.

As for martial artists.

Beyond the first rank was the Grandmaster realm, where one could cultivate external force, project vital blood outward, and freely control magical artifacts.

Grandmasters were similarly divided into Minor Grandmasters and Major Grandmasters.

Minor Grandmasters were further divided into Lower-grade, Middle-grade, and Upper-grade!

In a place like the Su Estate, the strongest martial artists were generally first-rank martial artists, and only in places like Jiangzhou would Minor Grandmasters gather.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything.

For instance, among the seven counties of the Su Estate, Hulao County boasted a fourth-rank martial artist.

The Western County of the Su Estate was the most barren, because it backed against the desolate wilderness mountains, whereas the other three sides were prosperous.

For example, there were more than twenty-eight counties to the south of the Su Estate, more than nineteen counties to the north, and more than thirty counties to the east.

Surrounding the Su Estate proper were over twenty ordinary county towns. The city walls of the Su Estate stood twenty meters tall; if placed in Su Yang's previous life, it would resemble an imperial capital, and the combined area of a dozen county towns could not rival the urban area of the Su Estate.

Jiangzhou City was even larger.

The first rank was the pinnacle within the Su Estate!

...

Just as Su Yang was lying on the bed resting, the Black Cloud Ghost King had already appeared outside the city.

Qingliu County!

The eastern part of the city was already overshadowed by a sea of black clouds!

...

(Note: What follows is the climax of this segment.)