Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 176 - 176 175 Soul Ghosts Storm 9

176: Chapter 175: Soul Ghosts Storm 9 176: Chapter 175: Soul Ghosts Storm 9 It was Zhengxing of the Daoist sect from Miao Gao Town who came.

After initially stabilizing the situation at Yinyue Castle, he still couldn’t truly ignore these trial disciples.

Leaving behind seven disciples and Xiang Zhiwen and others to defend Yinyue Castle, he ventured alone to West Mang Mountain.

His arrival immediately changed the situation.

While in the air, his flying sword circled and slashed about, making round after round around the grand formation.

He treated the common soul ghosts as if they were nothing; those wandering souls and fierce ghosts perished upon contact, dead at the slightest touch.

Only a few distant spirit ghosts still harbored reluctance and seemed eager to try their luck.

The women were overjoyed.

Qu Xiaoman hurriedly said, “Uncle Master Yu, Uncle Master Zheng and master and two others are entangled by a hua-pi ghost and we do not know where they have fought to.

Now that we are already safe here, please go and help master and the others.”

Zhengxing was indifferent.

“They deserve it!

They created this mess themselves, so they should shoulder it.

Three of them together can’t beat it, and they still need help?

I can’t afford to lose that face.

Moreover, it’s not necessarily safe here.

With those spirit ghosts not eradicated, what safety are you talking about?

Even if they are wiped out, who knows if there are others hidden in West Mang Mountain?”

Lan Re also worried for her master, Yan Daoist, so she proposed a compromise,

“How about this, you lead us out of West Mang Mountain, and we’ll return to the fortress ourselves, then you can go to help master and the others?”

Zhengxing snorted, but did not directly respond, instead turning his gaze to Hou Niao, who was sitting on the ground treating his external wounds,

“Have you lain down and given up while still alive?

Why aren’t you speaking, do you have any suggestions?

Do you also think I should go and save those three?”

This was Hou Niao’s first encounter with Uncle Master Yu, and he found him to have quite the personality,

“With the senior here, I dare not take charge; but if you insist on asking me, since the hua-pi ghost hasn’t come over, then there doesn’t seem to be any great risk for the moment, right?”

Zhengxing nodded, “Good, your brain isn’t injured!

So, you tell me, should I take you out of here and seek refuge at the fortress?”

Hou Niao cautiously said, “Wouldn’t that be bad?

It could easily draw the soul ghosts to Yinyue Castle, making things worse; our presence here attracts most of the soul ghosts’ main force, which is better than letting them scatter.”

Zhengxing was somewhat satisfied with this response.

When it came to assessing the battle situation, it was indeed the sword cultivators who were adept at fighting and could see more clearly, and who were more ruthless,

“What’s your name?

Are you a disciple brought by old Zheng?”

Hou Niao shook his head, “Disciple Hou Niao, a patrol from Yinling, I came here this time to serve as a guide.”

Zhengxing’s gaze sharpened, “I know you, the giant rat butcher, eh?

So you’ve killed a few soul ghosts and can’t get up now?”

Hou Niao slowly stood up.

His wounds were the same as always, looking severe each time, but not affecting his bones and tendons.

This was his talent for controlling his injuries, something only a true warrior battle-hardened over many fights could achieve.

“I am willing to follow Uncle Master Yu’s lead…”

Zhengxing spoke no more, pointed forward with his halberd finger, and a streak of sword light moved fast like lightning amid the soul ghost horde, darting to and fro.

In just a dozen breaths, the nearby wandering souls and fierce ghosts had been completely cleared out, and with one more loud shout, the flying sword shot upwards and directly struck a spirit ghost over a hundred feet away.

The spirit ghost, realizing the grim situation, tried to flee too late and was decapitated by the sword light, as effortlessly as chopping vegetables.

Hou Niao, following behind, watched with his mind profoundly stirred.

This was his first time witnessing a real sword cultivator command a flying sword, and the unparalleled sharpness left a deep impression.

“I’ll be back soon; you all just stay put and don’t move!”

With a flash, he disappeared from the spot.

The Quanzhen Sect, being sword cultivators, naturally cultivate the use of a flying sword, a matter of life and death, a companion through thick and thin.

However, before reaching the Tongxuan Realm, without having formed mana, one cannot wield a flying sword, and so there arises a group of low-rank swordsmen who wildly brandish their swords; of course, you can’t say that holding a sword is useless, just like all cultivators from any Daoist tradition, one must possess a handy weapon for self-defense, prepared for emergencies, the difference simply lies in whether they are professionals or not.

Sword cultivators are the professionals among them.

Only those who can wield a flying sword can truly be called sword cultivators, leaving the ordinary to embrace the path of cultivation.

With a flying sword, sword cultivators suddenly transition from a close-combat profession to long-range experts, with a control range far beyond most spells, revealing a different view, another world altogether.

This technique, coveted by Hou Niao, was regrettably beyond his grasp, leaving him to sigh in vain.

“Uncle Yu has reached the God Sensing Stage!” Qu Xiaoman said with full envy in her voice.

Lan Re curled her lips, her master, Daoist Yan, was also nearing God Sensing, but she said nothing; such boasting was pointless.

Hou Niao looked on with yearning, “I am currently in the Moved Stage…”

The two girls laughed; indeed, who wouldn’t be moved after surviving such dire situations?

The human realms of cultivation below Tongxuan are Pulse, Energy Induction, Essence Building, Fasting, and Bridge Connection, collectively referred to as the Five Realms of entering the path.

The divisions are meticulous, but the thresholds are not too difficult to cross; Tongxuan is a major realm, signifying transcendence, meaning the transformation of spiritual power into mana, an increase in longevity, and most importantly, a completely different array of Daoist Skills.

For the Quanzhen Sect, it is the foundation for mastering a flying sword.

Starting with Tongxuan, there are the three stages of reaching heaven: Tongxuan, God Sensing, and Nature; beyond that is another major realm—the Golden Core.

Such hierarchies were beyond Hou Niao’s wildest dreams and not something that Da Feng Plain could accommodate.

Uncle Zheng, Daoist Yan, and Fairy Lu were all in the Tongxuan Realm, at the initial stage of the three stages of reaching heaven.

They had a qualitative difference from the Soul Ghosts with face-stealing abilities, which is why they found it so difficult to fight them, relying only on the endless versatility of human cultivators’ skills to barely hold them off; if they hoped to overcome the suppression of realms, they were still far from capable.

Lan Re glanced towards the direction where Yu Zhengxing had departed, then at Hou Niao, feeling both individuals were somewhat odd, yet she thought perhaps such characters are the true sword cultivators.

Those officials she met in Jin City, including Uncle Zheng, seemed to be lacking something, right?

“Brother Hou, do you think Uncle Yu has gone to find Master and the others?”

Hou Niao shook his head, “I don’t know!

The elders have their own methods and principles; how can we disciples guess what they are thinking?

What is very dangerous to us might seem very simple to them, and vice versa.

We’re not on the same level of thinking.”

With the appearance of Yu Zhengxing, the attack from the Soul Ghosts was noticeably affected, seemingly unable to muster their enthusiasm; as a breed of cultivators, they too had their own instincts about danger and were not foolish enough to seek death.

“Maybe, it will end soon, right?

With Uncle Yu’s arrival, can Jin City’s support be far behind?”

Everyone fell silent, feeling safe, they began to think about other matters, such as the companions who had died in this trial.

So far, they had lost seven people—three from the Huncheng Sect, two from the Anhe Daoist Sect, and two from the Quanzhen Sect.

It seemed even, but Lan Re knew in her heart that in terms of combat capability, they might not necessarily be stronger than the Huncheng Sect.

If Hou Niao had not been with them all this time, they still didn’t know what would have happened.

The Anhe Daoist Sect, as the name implies, is quiet and peaceful, but in the current struggle for power, the situation of such sects is truly worrying.

The heyday of the Cultivation World is an era of great strife.