One Sword Sweeps the Clouds, Slaying the Painted Skin Ghost

“No, it must have been an illusion.”

Looking down again, the Painted Skin Ghost quickly regained its confidence.

In its eyes, humans were as small and insignificant as ants.

How could a mere ant have the right to contend with it?

“Since you insist on seeking death, I will crush you and then devour the entire Wu’an City!”

The Painted Skin Ghost gave a sinister laugh, its eyes filled with arrogance.

This body gave it endless confidence, making it feel as if it were an invincible existence.

Originally, it had planned to accumulate strength for a while longer before starting the next phase of its plan, but now, it had made its decision.

After killing this overconfident human, it would turn the entire Wu’an City into a ghost city tonight!

“Crush me? Have you forgotten how miserably you were beaten just now?”

Chen Ning responded only with mockery.

“That was then, but now that I have this body, I am invincible!

Weak human, today I will make you pay for your arrogance!”

Never having expected to be so looked down upon, the Painted Skin Ghost was furious.

Thunder flashed continuously in the gloomy sky. Three massive tentacles suddenly emerged from the Painted Skin Ghost’s distorted body, sweeping across the ground.

The terrifying force caused the surrounding buildings and walls to collapse instantly, and even the plants and trees were uprooted.

But Chen Ning had already flashed away, dodging the range of the tentacles.

“Hehe, I didn’t expect you to be able to dodge this strike.

But so what? Your speed is only at this level!”

The Painted Skin Ghost believed it had completely seen through Chen Ning’s strength.

Although his speed was enough to dodge three tentacles, it wasn’t as fast as it had imagined.

“Die!”

This time, over a dozen tentacles branched out directly from that massive body.

The airtight tentacles almost covered the entire Yu Ding Sect, and the surrounding buildings were nearly all leveled by this terrifying force.

The Painted Skin Ghost’s eyes were blood-red as it wantonly destroyed everything around it.

“Hmph, a mere human is nothing but—”

But before its voice could fall, it saw Chen Ning’s figure calmly swirling between the tentacles.

Completely different from the beginning, Chen Ning’s current speed had increased by an unknown number of times. He appeared to move with ease even in the narrow space where over a dozen tentacles were flailing.

“This! How is it possible!”

The Painted Skin Ghost could hardly believe its eyes.

How exactly did a human increase his speed to such a terrifying degree in such a short time?

Naturally, it didn’t know that with every step of the Mountain-Treading Step, one’s strength would explode.

Chen Ning had already completed all seven steps while maneuvering; his current speed and strength were at their peak.

“Really? This is the strength you’re so proud of?”

Chen Ning gave a cold smile. Although his legs were extremely light, his force was like a weight of ten thousand jin, carrying a terrifying, massive power.

With one step down, a tentacle snapped, and even the surrounding ground cracked violently.

Not only that, but Chen Ning’s figure shot out again. Purple Qi swirled around the Noble Scholar’s Sword, its sharpness surging.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes!

In the blink of an eye, the Painted Skin Ghost’s dozen or so tentacles were all severed!

“Ah!”

The Painted Skin Ghost immediately let out a mournful cry of pain.

After absorbing the consciousnesses of numerous skins and Painted Skin Slaves, it possessed this powerful body.

But at the same time, all those consciousnesses would return to its mind.

In other words, the pain of the severed tentacles was no different from the overlapping pain of dozens of people’s physical bodies being torn apart.

No one could endure that kind of purgatory-like pain.

The Painted Skin Ghost’s eyes turned completely blood-red, its rationality entirely swallowed by rage.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

Amidst the roars, the surface of its body suddenly began to explode.

The foul-smelling liquid bursting from the flesh turned into a thick black mist in an instant.

As the Painted Skin Ghost endured the agonizing pain and allowed every inch of its body to rupture, the black mist continued to expand rapidly.

The black mist, which blotted out the sun, not only covered the sky above the Yu Ding Sect but had even spread to half of Wu’an City.

Within the thick yin qi, hundreds of souls were continuously letting out miserable wails.

Some of these souls came from various villages, and some from the Yu Ding Sect in Wu’an City.

They had turned into Specters amidst the resentment and had now become Yin Soldiers at the Painted Skin Ghost’s beck and call.

“Such thick yin qi. What kind of bizarre thing is this?”

“I don’t know. This feeling is like facing the Hundred Ghost Night Parade head-on!”

The nearby Mingji Temple disciples were all terrified, their faces pale.

“Sigh, getting desperate now...”

Chen Ning sighed helplessly.

He had originally thought about landing a few more strikes, but he hadn’t expected the Painted Skin Ghost to be so unable to take a hit. After just a short while, it couldn’t hold on anymore.

In that case, it was time to send it on its way.

[Chen Ning]

[Noble Qi: 132]

[Purple Qi Protection (Great Perfection)]

[Poem and Wine Sword Art (Great Perfection)]

[Merit Protection (Great Perfection)]

[Substitute Puppet Technique (150/200)]

[Mountain-Treading Step (0/200)]

Glancing at the system panel, Chen Ning quickly used over a hundred points of Noble Qi to raise the Substitute Puppet Technique to Consummate Mastery.

A paper figure floated into the air and actually transformed into a puppet identical to Chen Ning.

Furthermore, it also held a pitch-black Noble Scholar’s Sword in its hand.

After reaching Consummate Mastery, the Substitute Puppet could possess half of Chen Ning’s strength, and even the sword intent and Divine Abilities it mastered were the same.

At the same time, the massive black mist had swallowed the entire Yu Ding Sect.

Amidst the miserable wails, countless Specters emerged from within.

The vast army of Yin Soldiers simultaneously locked their gazes onto Chen Ning, their eyes greedy and furious.

“Die!”

This voice belonged to children, the elderly, young men with grand ambitions, and even young maidens waiting to be married...

The Painted Skin Ghost had almost merged into one with these ghostly entities. Influenced by their consciousnesses, even its voice became chaotic and disorganized.

“Roar!”

Carrying a cold, chilling wind, the countless ghosts surged forth like a river from the underworld, vast and powerful.

At this moment, dark clouds obscured the stars and the moon, the air turned into a thick, foul stench, and the entire world seemed to change color.

Wherever the ghosts passed, the vegetation withered instantly, and the corpses on the ground were left as mere skins in the blink of an eye.

A look of madness appeared in the Painted Skin Ghost’s eyes as it gloated.

“A mere human, be crushed like an ant!”

“Who exactly gave you the confidence to think you could kill me with these things?”

However, it only heard Chen Ning’s indifferent, cold laugh.

Facing the surging ghosts, Chen Ning simply stood there with his sword.

Until they were about to reach the ground, he calmly raised the Noble Scholar’s Sword.

With his movement, the clone puppet also raised its sword.

The two blades converged at one point, and at the place where the sword tips overlapped, strands of Sword Qi began to swirl upward.

That Sword Qi was not only sharp and sweeping, but the Purple Qi flowing upon it gradually grew more intense.

The brilliant Purple Qi flashed, illuminating the entire black mist.

At the intersection of the blades, the sound of thunder faintly roared.

“Break!”

The puppet raised its sword along with Chen Ning’s movement. The surging sword intent was like a river hanging upside down, vast and majestic!

The whistling Sword Qi was like a divine dragon moving through the clouds, its awe-inspiring power striking directly into the sun-blotting black mist.

“No!”

“Ah!”

The moment the sword radiance swept past, countless Specters clutched their heads in pain and let out miserable wails.

Soon, their souls were all pierced through.

The sword intent grew even stronger!

The overwhelming Sword Qi flowed upward, completely piercing through the entire black mist.

Also pierced through was the Painted Skin Ghost’s massive body.

With a single strike of the sword, the black mist shattered and dispersed, and the souls of those ghosts gradually faded, vanishing in mid-air.

At the same time, the Painted Skin Ghost discovered that its face skin was also beginning to wither bit by bit.

“What is this? No!”

It let out a terrified roar.

Although the Painted Skin Ghost could change into countless bodies, it could only have one face skin.

As long as the face skin remained unbroken, it would be immortal.

But once the face skin ruptured, it would be the moment of its demise.

“I don’t want to die yet, please no!”

The Painted Skin Ghost let out a mournful wail, pressing down on the face skin on its face over and over, trying to stop the skin from withering.

But these actions were clearly already futile.

Its face skin soon began to melt and wither bit by bit, like a candle in a fire.

Finally, in despair, it turned into ashes.