"Boom—!"
With a deafening roar, the western wall that Bai and Xiaoye had just repaired collapsed.
Black mist surged out from deep underground, obscuring the golden sky.
Within the thick black fog, countless pairs of crimson eyes lit up.
Those were evil ghosts.
Innumerable evil ghosts.
They crawled out from the earth, devoid of sanity or the sensation of pain, driven only by a craving for the flesh and blood of the living.
"Roar—!"
The evil ghosts seemed to sense the life within the garrison, and even more, they discovered their own kind bound together in rows inside the camp.
To them, ordinary malevolent ghosts were also a great source of nourishment.
In an instant, the ghost tide lunged toward the captives in the drill grounds like a pack of rabid dogs, interspersed with a large number of black-spot monsters.
"Help! Don't eat me!"
"Yinsi Guard, save us!"
"I don't want my soul to be scattered!"
The malevolent ghosts tied up by the chains let out screams of despair.
Although they were ghosts themselves and were used to being fierce and aggressive, they usually only fought against other common ghosts. Faced with these true monsters crawling out of hell, they were no different from helpless chicks.
A black-spot monster pounced on a hanged ghost.
The rope around the hanged ghost's neck was still swaying as his face turned deathly pale. He tried desperately to shrink back, but he was bound by the chains and couldn't move an inch.
"Pfft!"
The monster's sharp claws pierced his chest, and black spots began to corrode inward through the wound.
The hanged ghost shrieked in agony as his soul-body began to emit black smoke, quickly being assimilated into a mass of distorted black spots.
"No, I don't want to turn into that!"
Another water ghost struggled to break free from the chains, only to have his leg bitten by an evil ghost.
The water ghost kicked and thrashed frantically, but he couldn't shake off the evil ghost's bite. His soul-body was devoured bit by bit.
The drill grounds were thrown into total chaos.
The bound malevolent ghosts struggled violently, making the chains clatter loudly, but the more they struggled, the more they attracted the attention of the hellish creatures.
The evil ghosts and black-spot monsters lunged frantically at these immobilized prey.
In just a few breaths, a dozen more malevolent ghosts were torn apart and devoured, their souls scattered into nothingness.
Bai, who had just been waiting for the Master to return and praise her, went into a frenzy when she saw this scene.
"My... metrics!"
Bai stared at the feasting black-spot monsters, her body trembling with rage.
"Those are the performance metrics this young heroine worked so hard all night to catch! They were a gift for the Master!"
"You bunch of ugly freaks, how dare you steal the fruits of my labor?!"
She let out a roar, and the white longsword in her hand suddenly vibrated.
Bai stepped forward, her sword light spreading out like falling snow.
The biting sword qi carved an arc into the ground, slicing and pushing back more than a dozen evil ghosts in front of her.
"Xiaoye, you protect the ghosts in the drill grounds. I'll clear the ones outside!" Bai said.
"No, it's too dangerous!" Xiaoye immediately objected.
"What is there to fear?" Bai raised an eyebrow.
"Master Jian said that our swords are not tools of slaughter, but ferries of guidance."
"Even if these ghosts are guilty, they should be judged by the Master. It's not for these monsters to eat them!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she charged forward again.
Xiaoye gritted his teeth and could only follow her.
The two fought side by side, their black and white twin swords weaving a brilliant sword net in the air.
Several evil ghosts rushing at the front were instantly pierced by the sword qi, dissipating into black smoke with miserable cries.
However, the black-spot monsters were not as easy to deal with.
Bai's sword struck the shoulder of a black-spot monster, but it felt like hitting a piece of tough leather, the rebound making her wrist go numb.
The monster let out a hiss and lunged forward despite the sword's edge. The black spots on its body writhed as it spat out a stream of foul-smelling black water.
"Watch out!"
Xiaoye, following behind her, narrowed his eyes and swung his black sword violently.
Sword qi as black as ink swept across, cutting directly into the monster's neck.
It seemed that because the sword carried a trace of the force of decree, it was particularly effective against these monsters burdened with sinful karma.
"Crack!"
The monster's head rolled off, its body twitched twice, and then it turned into a puddle of black water that seeped into the ground.
"Thanks, Xiaoye!"
Bai wiped the cold sweat from her face, not daring to be careless anymore.
The two stood back to back, firmly holding their ground at the gap in the garrison.
But the ghost tide was simply too immense.
They were endless, and no matter how many were killed, more kept coming.
Furthermore, as time passed, the corpse qi of a dragon vein began to seep out from the ground.
This corpse qi seemed to trigger the most primitive brutality in the hearts of the ghost creatures.
Even the captive malevolent ghosts who had been relatively well-behaved in the drill grounds began to have their eyes turn blood-red under the influence of the corpse qi.
"Aaaaah—!"
Inside the drill grounds, the thief ghost who had only committed petty crimes suddenly clutched his head and screamed as black qi began to emanate from his soul-body.
His eyes quickly turned crimson, and black saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. He began to frantically bite the chains binding him.
"I'm infected! I'm infected!"
"What is this thing? Don't bite me, waaaaah!"
"Roar—!"
They struggled manically, tearing at their chains and even starting to bite one another.
The garrison was in total turmoil, and Bai and Xiaoye found themselves attacked from both front and back.
The pressure on the two increased exponentially.
After all, they were only at the sixth-stage. Facing this overwhelming torrent of ten thousand ghosts, the spiritual energy in their bodies was being consumed rapidly.
"This won't work, Big Sis Bai!"
Xiaoye forced back three evil ghosts with a sword strike, shouting breathlessly, "There are too many! We can't kill them all!"
"They seem to have been contaminated by something. They've all gone mad and can't even feel pain!"
Bai was also exhausted, her beautiful wolf-skin cloak now soaked in ghost blood.
"Damn it, why are there so many!"
Bai bit her lip, sweat beads forming on her forehead.
She remembered what Jian Huaishuang had said—that the sword is not a tool of slaughter, but can also be a ferry of guidance.
But in a situation like this, how could they not kill?
These ghosts had gone mad. Was she supposed to just watch them devour each other and turn into even more terrifying monsters?
"Kill!" A flash of determination crossed Bai's eyes. "Kill the infected ones first! We can't let them turn into monsters!"
She turned and rushed toward the drill grounds, swinging her sword at the thief ghost.
"But..." Xiaoye wanted to say something, but he was entangled by two black-spot monsters and had to focus on the battle in front of him first.
Bai's white sword moved like the wind, severing the thief ghost's chains as the sword light pierced his soul-body.
The thief ghost let out a scream as his soul-body began to dissipate.
Bai's hand trembled for a moment, but her gaze remained steady.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But you are no longer yourself."
With another turn, she struck at another malevolent ghost that had grown black spots.
The drill grounds were a scene of chaos. The infected malevolent ghosts were frantically attacking those who weren't, while the uninfected ones could only struggle and scream in terror.
Bai moved among them, and every time her white sword swung out, she took away one contaminated soul.
Her movements were fast and her swordsmanship precise, but her face grew paler with every kill.
These souls she was personally extinguishing were mostly not truly wicked, even if they had been born of the provincial capital's distorted laws.
Naturally great good people were rare, but naturally great evil people were equally rare.
Most souls in this world were just gray, having performed some small acts of kindness and committed some small sins.
Greed, anger, ignorance, and hatred—many of these were just the tiny flaws belonging to an ordinary 'human.'
Even if they were guilty, their crimes did not warrant having their souls scattered.
They should have stood before the Master for judgment. If they had merit, it could offset their faults; once the balance was struck, those who needed to atone would atone, and those who could be reincarnated would be reincarnated.
They should not have been killed by her own hand like this.
Rate on N.U.
