Lord of the Demon Sect

At this moment, a ghostly spirit about 3 meters tall caught the scent of the living and was immediately attracted by the smell of the cultivators’ flesh. Carrying a solidified cleaver, its speed was unaffected as it screamed and lunged forward. The scouting ghost leading the way was swiftly cleaved in two with a single strike and could no longer move.

Zhang Fei felt a pang of pain; the scouting ghost had the strength of the fifth layer of qi refinement, yet it was killed instantly. Finding another suitable spirit for sacrifice refinement would undoubtedly be laborious.

He immediately turned to his companions and shouted, “Stick to the plan we discussed earlier!”

Everyone nodded. Lin Yushang began planting formation flags around the slope while the other three rushed forward to engage in combat outside, distracting the ghostly spirit.

With Zhang Fei’s mere seventh layer of qi refinement strength, he would normally stand no chance against a ghostly spirit in the early stages of foundation establishment.

Fortunately, this ghostly spirit seemed to have recently fought other demons or spirits and was wounded, significantly weakening it. Moreover, since discovering it, Zhang Fei had prepared thoroughly, collecting a large number of talismans specifically designed to kill ghostly spirits from his sect, enabling him to contend with it.

Thus, as he unleashed talisman after talisman, the severely injured ghostly spirit could not help but scream continuously, forced to dodge the attacks from all sides.

Meanwhile, Lin Yushang seized this opportunity to speed up the setup of the soul-devouring formation. This formation significantly reduced the ghostly spirit’s mobility and absorbed the ghastly aura from its body, weakening it further. As long as the four crucial points of the formation remained intact, the formation would continue to operate, gradually forcing the ghostly spirit into submission.

Realizing the trap being set against it, the ghostly spirit, which had developed spiritual awareness and reached the foundation establishment stage, screamed in anger and charged directly at Lin Yushang, attempting to kill her, the most dangerous enemy who was momentarily not involved in the attack.

Lin Yushang swung her purple Hellfire Sword, channeling her spiritual power to block its strike. Yet, she felt a sharp pain in the base of her thumb.

“Quick! Hold it off! The soul-devouring formation is almost ready!” Lin Yushang shouted.

By this time, Zhang Fei had almost exhausted his supply of talismans. Gritting his teeth, he waved his hand, grasping the Hundred Souls Banner, then channeled his spiritual power. Immediately, a thick black mist poured from the banner, and a horde of lowly ghostly spirits emerged with subdued cries, charging forward.

However, the foundation establishment ghostly spirit naturally intimidated these lesser spirits. Although Zhang Fei was their master and desperately used the Spirit Control Technique to urge them forward, they hesitated, reluctant to advance.

Left with no other choice, Zhang Fei clenched his teeth and forcefully spat out a mouthful of essence blood into the hundred souls banner.

At that moment, the banner erupted in a burst of green light, illuminating the already dispersed spirits and causing their forms to visibly enlarge.

Thus invigorated, the spirits charged fearlessly towards the ghost at the foundation establishment stage.

The ghost, intent on attacking Lin Yushang, heard the roaring wind behind it and was forced to turn around. It swung its energy-formed cleaver repeatedly, slicing at the incoming spirits.

These spirits, merely at the third and fourth layers of the Qi Refinement Stage, were essentially cannon fodder. Despite their numbers, which were in the dozens, they were easily dispatched by the ghost with single slashes of its blade, causing Zhang Fei, pale-faced and bloodstained at the mouth, great distress.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen and Zhang Pang were even more hesitant to step forward. One was at the third layer of the Qi Refinement Stage, and the other had just advanced to the fifth layer by a stroke of luck. Their strength was comparable to that of the spirits easily slain by the ghost. To confront it would be akin to suicide.

Fortunately, their role was not to fight but to activate the soul-devouring formation. Now, all they needed to do was to stay alive and watch from the sidelines.

As the spirits summoned by Zhang Pang were nearly all slain, Lin Yushang finally completed setting up the soul-devouring formation. She immediately cried out, “Everyone, take your positions! Follow the steps I described earlier and activate the formation!”

The group quickly positioned themselves at the four corners of the hillock, each grabbing one of the white flags planted there. They placed a medium grade spirit stone into a notch at the top of each flag. Then, holding the spirit stones, they channeled the spiritual power within into the flagpoles…

Moments later, thin beams of white light connected the four white flags, and the twenty-seven flags planted by Lin Yushang in the center began emitting red, yellow, and blue lights. These beams continuously targeted the central ghost, causing it to wail in agony.

The foundation establishment stage ghost glanced around and quickly realized that these four were the source of its torment. After sizing them up, it slowly approached Jiang Chen, perceiving him as the easiest target…

Zhang Fei and Lin Yushang watched in horror. If the ghost had attacked them, they might have managed with their strength, but the ghost cunningly chose to attack the weakest first. Among them, Jiang Chen, with the lowest strength, became its primary target.

Everyone was anxious now. They all pressed their hands against the formation’s focal points, ready to activate the soul-devouring formation, not daring to make any moves. Most of their talismans had been used up; although a few leftover ones were thrown, they had no effect. They only made the yin spirit tremble slightly.

Lin Yushang let out a sigh and sharply commanded, “Ghostly Slaughter Slash!”

She finally unleashed her trump card, the most powerful move in the ghostly slaughter sword technique, capable of delivering sword energy over distances.

“Boom!”

The full-force attack from the cultivator at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement was enough to instill fear in the heavily injured foundation establishment stage yin spirit.

Seeing the cold sword light flying through the air, the yin spirit instinctively tried to dodge to the left, thinking it would easily avoid the strike. However, it didn’t expect Jiang Chen to suddenly grit his teeth and summon from his Jiangshi Bag a beautiful female zombie dressed in pink. She swiftly thrust her delicate hand forward, blocking the direction the yin spirit intended to escape.

Furious, the yin spirit grabbed with its ghostly claws, seizing the female zombie and flinging her behind the dirt slope.

Nevertheless, this momentary delay allowed Lin Yushang’s Ghostly Slaughter Slash to land heavily on the spirit.

The spirit let out a pained wail and retreated three steps, its eyes flashing with fury as it fixed its gaze on Lin Yushang.

It was weighing whether to kill the woman who had injured it first or to eliminate the seemingly weaker opponent in front of it.

But just at that moment, the medium grade spirit stones in the hands of the four suddenly turned to dust, their spiritual power absorbed by the white flagpoles serving as the focal points of the formation.

Lin Yushang exclaimed with delight, “The soul-devouring formation has successfully activated! Everyone can attack with all your might!”

Eager to join the fight, Zhang Pang immediately summoned his Jiangshi servant. The servant was a robust zombie with a strong build and eyes like brass bells, with fists resembling small wine barrels. It charged forward, unleashing a flurry of punches against the yin spirit.

Meanwhile, Zhang Fei once again unleashed the ghosts from his hundred souls banner, directing them to unleash a barrage of bites at the yin spirit.

Lin Yushang swung her sword left and right, attacking fiercely, causing the yin spirit to howl repeatedly.

“Senior sister Lin, draw its attention from the front! Brother, you and Jiang Chen control the Jiangshi servant to attack from behind. I’ll use ghosts to strike at its soul! It won’t be long before it’s exhausted and at our mercy!” Zhang Fei shouted loudly while commanding the remaining ghosts from his hundred souls banner to launch their assault.