“Roar!! Roar roar roar!”
“Heh heh heh heh! Heh heh!”
Thousands of ferocious hungry ghosts were like tigers off the leash, scrambling up the black iron chains with reckless abandon. Their hideous eyes glowed with a sinister green light as they closed in on Nan Zhi!
“Damn it!”
The heavy iron chains were yanked and pulled, causing the grottoes at the other end to sway and shake. Standing on the chains, Nan Zhi swung her blade, barely managing to cleave a black hungry ghost that lunged at her.
“CRACK—”
The hungry ghost was sliced through the waist, spraying foul-smelling ichor. Its falling corpse didn't even have time to turn to ash before its companions swarmed over it, devouring it whole.
Nan Zhi frowned, flipping herself up onto a higher chain. She relied on her agility to dodge the hungry ghosts along the iron locks.
The thin, black monsters lunged at her repeatedly, only to be cut in half or narrowly avoided by her nimble movements.
Like dumplings falling into a pot, several hungry ghosts plummeted from the high grottoes. They stared up at her, letting out bursts of frustrated, inhuman howls.
“Heh heh heh heh heh...”
“Roar! Roar roar!”
Nan Zhi felt a flicker of alarm. She had let Xu Zi take the lamp gifted by Huiyuan, so now she had no choice but to temporarily evade the horde of hungry ghosts.
She struck out with a palm, lightning surging from her hand, sending another hungry ghost plummeting.
There were too many of them.
The number of hungry ghosts in this Ruyi Pavilion... seemed wrong.
Before Nan Zhi could ponder it further, she saw Huaguzi using her Cloud Gauze Kerchief to fend off the hungry ghosts. The exquisite gauze flew forward, scattering plum blossom-shaped golden light over the ghosts' heads.
Though the Cloud Gauze Kerchief could hold them back for a moment, within three breaths, the swarm of hungry ghosts pounced and tore the artifact to shreds!
“You go too far!”
Huaguzi’s face turned ashen. Seeing no way to escape, she endured the pain and threw the large scorpion from her shoulder. The black-skinned scorpion grew as it caught the wind, landing on the ground and transforming into a giant venomous Golden-Headed Scorpion several yards long!
“A Golden-Headed Scorpion! What a majestic Golden-Headed Scorpion!”
“Those bastards! How is there someone else causing trouble again!”
“Ah!! These hungry ghosts have gone mad! They are biting everyone they see!”
“Run! The hungry ghosts in Ruyi Pavilion are eating people!”
As soon as the scorpion landed, it rampaged with its two massive pincers. Initially, it held the upper hand, looking formidable as it hooked pavilion guards onto its stinger. However, the hungry ghosts in the pavilion seemed infinite. They swarmed over it in a massive wave, and through sheer numbers, the giant scorpion was devoured until only a thin black shell remained!
“No! Old Black!”
Huaguzi shrieked, as if witnessing something completely impossible. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her eyes rolling back as she glared death at Nan Zhi on the iron chains.
“You thief! You destroyed my treasure and killed my spirit gu! Today, you will pay for Big Black’s life!”
She had nourished this Golden-Headed Scorpion with half her life’s essence, eating and sleeping with it every day. It was no exaggeration to say it was like her own child.
The thought that after a lifetime of trickery, she had finally been outplayed—her treasures destroyed and her Golden-Headed Scorpion dead—caused a surge of bloodlust to rise in her heart.
“Give me your life!”
With a violent shudder, her form shifted. The black robes she wore seemed to become weightless as she floated through the air, charging straight at Nan Zhi!
Nan Zhi was prepared. She leaped high off the iron chains, the metal clashing with a series of loud rattles. Gripping the Fish-Dragon Guillotine, she swung it down heavily toward the black robes!
“Whoosh!”
To her surprise, the black robes moved like a phantom, flickering in the air before settling loosely back onto Huaguzi. The face hidden beneath the black veil was finally revealed.
She had phoenix eyes and a peach blossom face—an incredibly gorgeous and seductive beauty. However, everything below her fair neck was a rotting corpse, riddled with holes, craters, and mangled flesh!
And within the pits of that corpse were not flesh and blood, but toads, centipedes, snakes, and spiders—every kind of venomous creature!
It was horrifying!
Nan Zhi couldn't help but gag.
In that moment of distraction, Huaguzi closed the distance, her body slithering like a boneless worm along the iron chain toward Nan Zhi. The venomous creatures in her chest and abdomen lunged straight for Nan Zhi’s face!
Nan Zhi flipped to dodge, but the black robes were a treasure of their own. They flew in front of her, mimicking Huaguzi’s movements and darting back and forth. The sight made her dizzy, as if she were intoxicated and unsteady on her feet!
“Hiss!”
In a moment of carelessness while dodging a hungry ghost, Nan Zhi was bitten on the arm by a long red worm.
“Heh heh heh, your body is good—sturdy enough. Once you’re dead, I’ll use your flesh and blood to raise another Golden-Headed Scorpion!”
Huaguzi laughed triumphantly, though she kept a distance of several yards from Nan Zhi.
“I underestimated your cultivation, but while I may not match you in a physical fight, you are no match for my poisons.”
“Forget a little thief at the Qi Refinement stage like you; even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would suffer greatly after a single bite from my venomous insects—”
Before she could finish, the smile on her face froze. She gasped in disbelief.
“You... why aren't you dead yet?”
A golden lotus slowly rose above Nan Zhi’s head, firmly protecting her within its light. As for the venomous snake that had bitten her arm, it had died instantly from the shock of breaking two of its fangs.
The other venomous creatures were the same. They had latched onto Nan Zhi, biting and tearing with all their might, but after a long struggle, their efforts were in vain. They could only cling to her body helplessly.
At first glance, it looked as if she were wearing a furry blanket.
“For poison to work, the teeth actually have to penetrate my skin.”
Nan ‘Thick Health Bar, Cheat Code, Enhanced Constitution’ Zhi pressed her palms together and sincerely pulled back her sleeve, showing her smooth arm to Huaguzi.
“See? These tiny venomous fangs didn't even scratch the surface of my skin. How am I supposed to be poisoned?”
She was grateful for the golden equipment from the nun and the ridiculously high Constitution stats on her attribute panel!
Huaguzi: “...”
She had some choice words she really wanted to say.
Without waiting for her opponent to react, Nan Zhi lunged forward with a savage grin. She slammed her blade into Huaguzi’s abdomen and sliced through the other end of the iron chain. Grabbing her, she made a motion as if to throw her down.
“Now, tell me. Why do you want to kill me? And how did you know I had the Yin Wine Worm?”
“I suggest you think carefully before you speak. Otherwise, if I happen to slip, you’ll be going down to join your big black bug.”
“I’ll talk.”
Seeing the hideous hungry ghosts below and feeling the blade against her neck, Huaguzi composed herself and told the whole story, not daring to hide a single detail.
She and the One Eyed Immortal were both mercenaries. Now that the One Eyed Immortal was dead, whatever grudge the mastermind had with this black-robed person had nothing to do with her.
Staying alive was what mattered most.
...
The commotion at the bottom of the Ruyi Pavilion naturally did not escape the notice of the spectators at the very top.
A group of ghosts and demons of various shapes and attire were gathered together in the largest grotto at the summit, leisurely enjoying the farce.
“It hasn't been this lively in years.”
The one speaking was a demon with a human body and a dragon’s head, clad in silver armor with pearls hanging from his waist. He glanced sideways at the person sharing his table and exhaled a cloud of white mist from his nostrils.
“Is this how your Ruyi Pavilion treats its guests? Surely you don't think you can appease us by just finding some mortal to cause a scene?”
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