Chapter Ten: The Phantom Envoy

  Looking out at the sea, Leng Jia Hao asked: "Don't you feel that the ghost face's eyes seem to be shining with a black light, just like living things? Is this a magical ghost array, or a ghost object with consciousness, or some other kind of ghostly spirit? I'll temporarily call this vast and dark sea the 'Ghost Sea' because it's extremely evil. What I want to know is whether this sea is the same as the mortal world's sea, with some strange and mysterious spirits living inside? In other words, is there something in this Ghost Sea that even ghost objects fear?"

  Everyone heard this and looked at each other, feeling that his words made some sense. Liu Xingyun said in a low voice: "Jia Hao's questions are very good, although they are just guesses, but also very likely. We are new to the Ghost Domain and are completely unfamiliar with it here. It is possible that what we encountered today is the evil spirit of the Ghost Sea. And indeed, there was a flash of light in its eyes, everyone can detect it if they pay attention."

  Jian Wuchen gazed at the ghostly face on the water's surface and said, "Now that we're trapped here, the key is how to leave. For now, let's assume that what's below is an evil spirit. But what weakness does this evil spirit have? It has no form or body, and it uses the water to create its ghostly face. How can we attack it then? Master Shu has rich experience, do you have any good suggestions I can try?"

  After some thought, Liu Xingyun said: "This is indeed not easy to say, but in my personal opinion, this thing is invisible and intangible, and the surrounding barrier is very strong. If we want to overcome it, we must use extraordinary means. What are extraordinary means? That is to launch a surprise attack on the place where the other party least expects it. Perhaps at the beginning, our attack target was wrong, and we should not have attacked the weak position in the middle of the two water pillars, because that place is not weak. I suddenly feel now that no matter which side we attack, as long as we attack the middle position of the two water pillars, it's equivalent to fighting against two beams of light. Now we should choose to directly attack the water pillar, where may be the weakest link in this barrier. Of course, this is just my personal guess, and I dare not say that it must be correct, but I think the possibility is very high."

  The other four people thought for a moment and felt that Liu Xinghun's guess was also reasonable. After glancing at everyone, Jian Wucheng had already begun to feel the increasing suction force below. Jian Wucheng said seriously: "Now everyone be careful of that strong attraction, I plan to follow Shifu's words and launch another fierce attack. We have consumed too much true yuan here, so everyone must lift their spirits and bravely face this difficulty."

  As the words fell, Sword Without Dust's entire body shone with a brilliant light once again. The Heavenly Spirit Sword also burst forth with a strong and colorful glow. Looking at one of the water pillars, a dazzling light appeared in Sword Without Dust's eyes, and his entire body began to spin rapidly without any warning. As he spun, the dazzling five-colored light took on a life of its own, shooting towards the water pillar like a solid object. The air around him was stirred up by the high-speed rotation of the divine sword, creating a layer of colorful light that spread out like a curtain in this mysterious and wondrous space.

  A loud shout, Sword Without Dust's entire body shone with a five-colored glow, his long sword emitting a powerful beam of light as he charged towards the water pillar. On the opposite side, the dark red light dragon surrounding the water pillar spun wildly, its layers of dark red light resembling a crimson nebula, slowly forming into a high-speed rotating sphere of light. The immense centrifugal force sent everything that approached flying to the side, cleverly deflecting most of the attack's power.

  Dazzling light, a five-colored pillar of light, collided with the dark red light sphere in an instant. A massive explosion produced an astonishing force, accompanied by a deafening roar that reverberated throughout the entire special space. Jian Wucheng's body shook violently, his whole body trembling severely, and the divine sword in his hand kept trembling, emitting a low humming noise. Meanwhile, on the water pillar, the dark red light dragon also slowed down gradually, eventually disappearing into a stream of light under Jian Wucheng's attack.

  The five-colored light burst through the light sphere and violently struck a massive water pillar. A dull sound was heard, and the black water pillar shook violently for a few moments before shattering instantly. The thick water pillar disappeared in an instant, its disappearance causing the originally eerie space to crack open, with the powerful airflow tearing it apart in an instant. On the sea surface, the two ghostly eyes emitted intense black light, and two black light pillars suddenly shot up into the sky, one of which struck Jian Wucheng directly. The remaining pillar was aimed at the other people.

  Jian Wucheng's body was in mid-air, when he suddenly let out a loud and furious roar. His entire body was shrouded in a layer of black ghostly energy, with an overwhelming and all-consuming aura that crazily invaded his body. Jian Wucheng did not expect that the ghost face on the sea surface would launch such a powerful attack, causing him to be heavily hit without any defense.

  At the critical moment, Jian Wucheng couldn't care about the loss of his true yuan and hastily raised all his true yuan to emit a purple light shield to protect his body. The black light pillar around him enveloped Jian Wucheng's entire person, with the rapidly rotating eerie aura constantly eroding his protective true energy. This made him have no choice but to continuously raise his strength, using all his might to resist.

  On the side, Liu Xinghun saw Jian Wucheng in a precarious situation and loudly said to the others: "Everyone be careful, I'll go help Wucheng." After finishing speaking, a strong purple light was emitted from Liu Xinghun's treasured sword, striking that black light pillar. The powerful attacking power, carrying Liu Xinghun's lifelong skills, shook that black light pillar violently, but unfortunately did not disperse it. Although so, the Jian Wucheng inside suddenly burst out with full-body strength, the Tianling Sword emitting a holy and unmatched aura, breaking through that black light pillar in one go.

  Leng Jiahao took a glance at him, saw his pale face and lifeless eyes, and knew that this blow had caused him great harm. With a flash of his body, Leng Jiahao pulled Sword Wudun back to his side, and returned to Bi Tian's group. Liu Xinghun looked at the water with a gloomy expression, shouting loudly: "Everyone hurry up, this place is eerie. Take advantage of that strange seal disappearing now, we'll leave immediately." After speaking, he led the four of them back along their original path.

  A chilling, mirthless laugh echoed through the air, followed by a voice that said: "Since you've come all this way, wouldn't it be too rude to leave just like that? After so many years, you're the first batch of people who have encountered one of the three great terrors of the Ghost Sea, Gui Wuyan, and managed to escape with your lives. You truly are worthy of admiration... but unfortunately, although you've escaped that ordeal, you won't be able to leave this place."

  The five of them were shocked, their eyes scanning the surroundings, but unfortunately, they couldn't see anything. Liu Xinghun ordered the four to leave at full speed while loudly saying: "Who are you? Why don't you dare show yourself?"

  "Who am I? Hehe, I am the ghost messenger of this devil sea. If you encounter me, you will not leave alive, because this is my domain." A cold laugh sounded, and a faint black mist appeared silently above the heads of Liu Xinghun and his four companions. A powerful and mysterious evil aura instantly enveloped the five people. The countless wailing voices of the dead filled the entire devil sea, making it seem eerie and terrifying. The five people were frightened to the point where their faces turned pale, with terror-filled eyes.

  Feeling the abnormal airflow around them, Liu Xingyun shouted loudly: "Everyone, use your inner energy to protect yourselves and be careful of this strange evil creature's attack. At the same time, we'll try our best to see if we can leave this place." After finishing speaking, his long sword burst out with a loud noise, hundreds of purple sword lights mixed with strong purple light, forming a purple star cloud above the five people's heads, fully protecting everyone. After launching a powerful attack, Liu Xingyun pulled Sword Wudeng, using all his strength to cast a spell and flew forward. Behind him, Bi Tian, Du Li, and Leng Jiahao each rode their swords in mid-air, protecting the upper part of their bodies while their lower parts danced with the wind, rushing forward at full speed.

  The eerie laughter filled the air, accompanied by the mournful wails of the vengeful spirits and the angry roars of countless evil ghosts, spreading across the entire Ghost Sea, making people feel extremely terrified. Liu Xingyun and the other four were flying at full speed, seemingly having escaped the range of the ghostly envoys' attacks, but those eerie voices still lingered around them. At this moment, nothing unusual could be seen in the sky, and the five of them slightly relaxed, finally escaping their predicament.

  With an air of majesty, they flew at incredible speed, covering dozens of miles in the blink of an eye. As Du Li glanced down at the water's surface, his eyes changed, and a look of extreme shock flashed across his face. On the sea below, that clear ghostly face still appeared calmly right beneath them. Those faintly flickering black pupils seemed to hold a hint of mockery as they gazed up at the five of them with an air of sarcasm. Looking up, Du Li took in their surroundings, feeling only the howling wind and the powerful gusts that indicated they were advancing rapidly, but why did the ghostly face below remain stubbornly unmoving?

  They glanced at the four people beside them, and their tired faces showed a hint of relief, as if they were happy to get rid of the ghost's entanglement. Du Li let out a light sigh, his tone somewhat desolate: "Everyone should take a look below before deciding whether to continue wasting their efforts." The brief two sentences made the four people who had originally shown relieved expressions sink in their hearts and simultaneously lower their heads to gaze downwards.

  Shock, fear, sorrow, and sighs appeared on the faces of the five people. Jian Wuchen bowed his head and said: "What's going on? Have we encountered a ghost wall or fallen into an illusory space?"

  Liu Xing's soul looked at the sea surface with a shocked expression, and said in a slightly surprised tone: "The ghostly wall is just a small trick, it can't work on us. I think this time we've really encountered a ghost domain specter. This ghost thing is very formidable, it can actually control space and trap us in an illusory time-space, making it impossible for us to fly out. Now there must be a mysterious boundary around us, if we can't break through that boundary, it's absolutely impossible to leave."

  "What should we do now to break through this invisible barrier? This time's barrier is different from the last one, at least we knew where the barrier was last time. But this time, it's completely unclear where the barrier is, so how can we break through it?" Bi Tian's words suddenly stumped everyone else. As for such things, no one had any experience, and for a while, no one could come up with a solution.

  However, just as everyone was lost in thought, the voice of the ghost messenger sounded again above the five people. All he said was: "Actually, breaking this seal is very easy. As long as one of you is willing to use death as a guide. With your own blood as a guide, cast the Blood Burning Heaven Technique, and you can easily break through this layer of seals. You are now in my Ghost Void Sky, thinking about breaking through this seal, it's forever impossible."

  The five of them were shocked, and couldn't understand why the ghostly messenger was telling them these things. Jian Wuchen angrily said: "How can we believe in ghost talk? No matter what you say, we won't believe it. We will definitely be able to break through this crappy seal, just wait and see."

  Looking at each other, Liu Xingyun said: "Now, everyone must not mess up the formation. We need to stay calm. At this time, if we want to fly over this mysterious boundary from mid-air, it's probably hopeless. The only way is to find another way out."

  Looking at the sea, Bi Tian suddenly said: "I'm thinking of a question, are we being deceived by that ghost below and boarded the ghost ship?" As soon as he spoke, the other four people looked at him, seemingly not understanding his meaning. Liu Xing Hun asked: "What's your idea, let's discuss it together."

  Looking at the sea surface, Bi Tian said in a low voice: "From the moment we encountered this ghost face, or rather, the ghost with no face, we have indeed fallen into a predicament. The events that just transpired, everyone experienced firsthand, so it's not something that can be faked. However, after encountering that so-called Ghost Envoy, aside from launching a surprise attack on us initially, it didn't make any further substantial attacks. We've been flying for so long, although it feels like we haven't moved, but I think we're actually moving. The appearance of this situation can be attributed to two possibilities. First, is that we have indeed fallen into the Ghost Envoy's boundary as it claimed. Second, is that the Ghost Envoy was deceiving me, and there's no boundary around us at all. The only thing that's making us doubt is the ghost face on the sea surface. I'm wondering if this is an illusion, a deliberate attempt by the Ghost Envoy to confuse our minds with its Obfuscation Technique. In reality, there's nothing below, it's just using magic to create an illusion at our feet, in order to bewilder us."

  The four of them fell into deep thought, carefully analyzing the possibility of Bi Tian's inference. Looking out at the sea, Leng Jia Hao said, "This explanation does have some plausibility, but I have a doubt that I don't understand. If this inference is correct, then why didn't the ghostly messenger speak up to remind us, allowing us to fall into confusion ahead of time? If we hadn't looked down below, wouldn't its plan be completely useless?"

  Liu Xinghun said, "What Jia Hao said also makes sense. This matter is full of contradictions, and it's really hard to judge who is true and who is false for the time being. If we must investigate the truth, then we must personally go down and try that ghost face to see if it's real. Unfortunately, among the five of us here, each has suffered a great loss of yuan, and Wuyin has been seriously injured again. If the ghost face below is true, then we'll have to risk our lives. This matter requires extreme caution."

  Bi Tian Dao said: "I think the ghost messenger didn't remind us, that's its cleverness. We've been fooled by this ghost face before, so when we were escaping, not looking at it at all is illogical. The ghost messenger didn't mention it, which makes us feel that this ghost face below is real. Everyone can think about it, this ghost face is so huge, can its moving speed compare to our flying speed? It's impossible. So either we moved or we didn't move at all. From the whistling sound beside our ears, I believe everyone knows clearly that we have moved a distance. Then this ghost face below must be an illusion."

  Du Li said, "Brother's words are also reasonable. Since brother is so sure, I'll go down and try it out. It would be better than wasting everyone's time like this." Bi Tian looked at him and whispered, "Be careful, pay attention to safety."

  He nodded slightly, and Du Li's figure flipped and turned, his entire body upside down. His long sword emitted a dazzling red glow, shooting downwards. The dozens of feet long red sword energy instantly targeted the ghost face's eyes, striking them in just an instant. The waves splashed, and the powerful attack force shook the water surface into huge rolling waves. The originally gloomy ghost face instantly disappeared without a trace amidst the splashing waves.

  Du Li's body spun around, stopping three zhang away from the water's surface. He looked around and shouted loudly: "Elder brother, you were right! This is just an illusion. We've been deceived by that ghost!" After finishing speaking, his body rose into the air.

  Just as Duli was five zhang away from the water's surface, a huge wave suddenly surged up without warning and swept his body in. Above, Bi Tian let out a loud shout and recklessly shot towards the water's surface. In mid-air, Bi Tian loudly cried out: "Duli be careful, quickly dodge! Don't, don't!" A crimson aura enveloped Bi Tian's body like a ball of light, instantly charging towards the sea surface.

  Halfway through, Liu Xing's soul burst out with a loud shout: "Bi Tian, come back quickly, it's dangerous!" However, at this moment, Bi Tian wouldn't listen even if the situation was even more perilous. Leng Jia Hao's face changed greatly as he said: "Master Uncle, what do we do now? This Ghost Sea seems to be determined to swallow us whole."

  Liu Xing's expression changed unpredictably, his face full of worry as he said: "Now my heart is also in a mess, this place is haunted by ghosts, all sorts of strange things happen. What I'm most worried about now is that if something happens to them, how can we explain it to the Confucian Academy when we get back? Jia Hao and Wu Chen be careful, I'll go down and take a look, we absolutely cannot let anything happen to them, otherwise we'll have no face to return with." After finishing speaking, his body dropped rapidly, sinking downwards at high speed.

  In mid-air, a faint black mist appeared. The cold voice sounded again: "Heh heh, don't believe my words, now it's too late to regret. Now I'll send you to the Ghost Sea to play around." As soon as the words fell, a strong and eerie aura pressed down. That powerful and gloomy force, carrying an invasive ghostly energy like Mount Tai pressing down, instantly sent Jian Wucheng and Leng Jia Hao, who had severely damaged their true yuan, plummeting downwards at incredible speed.

  On the water's surface, Bi Tian's entire body burst forth with a red glow as he exerted his full strength to cast his spell, crazily attacking that ghostly face in the sea. Only to see that within the ghostly face's enormous mouth, a whirlpool spinning at high speed, Du Li's body flickered with a faint red light, constantly rotating along with the swirling water, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden. Bi Tian was consumed by extreme rage, his younger brother being trapped in danger had driven him into madness, the powerful sword edge accompanied by an astonishing power, ceaselessly launching fierce attacks at those eerie eyes.

  Liu Xinghun was just about to go and help Bi Tianyi, but the words of the ghostly messenger made his heart skip a beat, and he couldn't help but look up. His eyes revealed a rare tremble. He glanced at Wu Chen and Jia Hao, then Liu Xinghun forcibly summoned his remaining true yuan. With a palm strike from his left hand, his body borrowed momentum to spin around. In an instant, his figure rapidly spun around, transforming into a dark shadow that shot up towards the sky with a dazzling purple sword pillar.

  A powerful attack slammed into the oppressive force, two incredibly strong powers producing a fierce explosion in high-speed friction collision. A flash of light was seen, and a stockade of mountain-sea whirlwind swept across the field wildly. Liu Xinghun's body trembled, and a thread of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. Such a full-force blow only temporarily stopped the oppressive force. However, this temporary stop gave Jian Wucheng and Leng Jia Hao an opportunity, and the two took advantage of it to fall beside Liu Xinghun, gazing up at the top with serious faces.

  A cold laugh, a faint mist of black fog, instantly spread within a hundred feet. In the fog, countless figures as light as nothingness, accompanied by eerie laughter, quickly surrounded Liu Xinghun, Jian Wucheng, Leng Jiahao and Bi Tianfei. All around, layers of oppressive aura, with a suffocating feeling, were constantly shrinking in.

  At this moment, Bi Tian completely ignored everything around him, staring at the fading light on Du Li's body. His eyes shot out a blood-red glow, and his entire being was enraged to the extreme. The long sword rotated, and a hundred-foot dazzling sword aura instantly transformed into a crimson light pillar, carrying Bi Tian's body as it fiercely charged into the swirling vortex. The light disappeared, and a deafening roar stirred up waves in the sky. As Bi Tian rushed into the vortex, he felt that the seawater around him was frantically destroying his external protective true energy with an overwhelming erosive force. The rotating water flow, carrying an irresistible power, also drew Bi Tian's body into its midst.

  With a firm gaze, Bi Tian watched as Du Li passed by him, his entire body's strength reaching its highest point, preparing to seize the opportunity to make a desperate gamble. As he looked at Du Li getting closer and closer, Bi Tian suddenly slapped out with his left hand, using the powerful rebound force to make his body suddenly leave the whirlpool and charge towards Du Li. With lightning speed, he grabbed hold of Du Li, Bi Tian let out a loud roar, his entire body's true yuan bursting forth with intense light, his right hand pulling with great force, finally pulling Du Li's body out of the water. His left hand slapped out once again, borrowing the force to counter-shock, Bi Tian ultimately flew out of the water's surface with Du Li in tow.

  He glanced at his junior brother, and a hint of comfort appeared in Bi Tian's eyes. His lips parted, and a blood arrow shot out wildly. Du Li's lifeless eyes looked at Bi Tian's pale face, which was almost as white as dead ash, and he couldn't help but reveal a hint of gratitude and encouragement. Bi Tian wiped the blood from his face and smiled faintly at him, his body flashing with a faint red glow that enveloped Du Li's body, laboriously flying upwards.

  On the other side, the ghost messenger launched a powerful and astonishing attack. Among the three people surrounded, Jian Wucheng spat out a mouthful of blood first, his face instantly turning pale. Liu Xinghun saw this and a hint of despair appeared in his eyes, he didn't expect the ghost messenger to be so formidable, it seemed that the three of them would be buried in the ghost realm today.

  Leng Jia Hao looked at Liu Xing Hun and said in a low voice, "Master uncle, don't give up. As long as we still have a breath of air, we can't easily give up. Even if our true yuan has been greatly damaged and we may not be able to deal with this ghost messenger, at least we can abandon this physical body and escape from here in the form of our primordial spirit."

  Liu Xinghun's eyes widened in shock as he gazed at Leng Jiahao, a fierce glint appearing in his eyes. As he looked around at the faint black mist that seemed like a dream, slowly closing in, Liu Xinghun understood that this seemingly harmless mist was actually extremely perilous. With a flick of his long sword, Liu Xinghun said in a low voice, "Well said, we absolutely cannot give up easily and must have a showdown with this ghostly messenger. Now you two listen, unless absolutely necessary, do not abandon your physical bodies and flee through divine escape. This place is the Ghost Domain, and the most terrifying thing about the Ghost Domain is the Soul Annihilation Technique. Once you encounter it, you will definitely be annihilated, body and spirit, without any chance of escape. Looking at this ghostly messenger's cultivation, he must be quite proficient in that Soul Annihilation Technique, so you two must be careful. Now we three will use the Three Origins Return to One technique, with the dustless Heavenly Spirit Sword as our lead, let's see if we can break through. Come on, let's prepare."

  After finishing, together with Jian Wucheng and Leng Jiahao, they formed a triangle and began to prepare. Because the three of them belonged to the same Tianjian Institute, the techniques they practiced were exactly the same, so it was very easy for them to perform San Yuan Gui Yi. Only then did the three of them simultaneously emit pale purple light, their bodies slowly rotating faster and faster. As the rotation accelerated, a mass of purple light completely enveloped the three of them. On top of their heads, the Tianling Divine Sword burst out with a holy five-colored light under the joint efforts of the three, constantly expanding and contracting, emitting immense power.

  As the three joined forces, the ghostly messenger's cold laughter echoed from all directions. A black light flashed, and a black mist took on a human form, appearing to the left of the three, gazing at them ominously. All around, countless faint black shadows crisscrossed, an incredibly powerful and eerie aura had condensed into a black light shield, carrying the power to devour everything, frantically absorbing the true energy surrounding the three.

  A loud roar, the Tianling Divine Sword shone with a five-colored glow, spinning and flying rapidly as it collided with the black light shield around it. At the same time, Liu Xingyun and two others transformed into three purple lights, closely following the Tianling Divine Sword to forcefully break through. The Ghost Envoy let out a cold hum, his hands forming a "supporting heaven" gesture in front of his chest, and suddenly a black light ball appeared in front of him, emitting an eerie and terrifying aura without making a sound. After glancing at the five-colored glow, the Ghost Envoy pushed with both hands, sending the black light ball shooting towards the Tianling Divine Sword. Instantly, the sacred energy and the dark devouring energy clashed, their opposing natures causing them to repel and counter each other, resulting in a powerful explosion accompanied by thunderous roars that shook the sky like a storm of lightning.

  Half-empty, Bi Tian's body slowly rose, but in that powerful explosion, he was instantly blown away. Threads of fresh blood scattered in the sea breeze, under the dark sky, it looked so blurry. The light and shadow flickered, the colorful glow dimmed after twelve consecutive attacks. At the same time, the black light ball also gradually shrunk, eventually disappearing into the black light shield.

  In the light shield, three purple glows dimmed, and in an instant, the true bodies of the three people appeared. Only to see that each of the three had bloodstains at the corners of their mouths, with a hint of despair on their pale faces. Outside, the ghostly messenger smiled complacently, his voice eerie: "Time is not early, let's go on the road." The eerie words were like the devilish music of hell, shaking the souls of the three people.