Urgent footsteps were heard.
Wunian and the others instantly tensed.
Then, in the next second.
Mist surged ahead, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, and five figures appeared.
"It's Captain Li and his team."
A companion beside Zhang Chao recognized the approaching figures as Captain Li and his team.
But the number was wrong.
When they had last seen Captain Li and his team, there were six of them. Why was one missing?
However, before they could ponder this.
They all felt a terrifying surge of Yin energy emanating from Captain Li's direction. At that moment, Captain Li's team and Zhang Chao's group drew closer.
Upon seeing them.
Zhang Mei and the others changed their expressions.
Unlike when they had last seen Captain Li's team, they were no longer composed. Their expressions were panicked, and they were running towards them in a desperate manner, appearing disheveled. One of them was covered in blood, being carried by another companion, the blood staining the back of the companion's clothes red.
Captain Li also saw Zhang Mei and her group.
Immediately.
He waved frantically at Zhang Mei and shouted urgently:
"Captain Zhang, run!"
The moment the words were spoken.
Captain Li seemed to sense the surging Yin energy behind him, which was rapidly approaching. He quickly looked back and his expression changed instantly.
It wasn't just Captain Li.
Zhang Mei and the others also noticed the area behind Captain Li, their pupils constricting sharply.
In the direction Captain Li had come from.
Shadowy figures stretched out, forming a dense, dark mass. There were too many figures, at least a hundred. The terrifying Yin energy they had felt was emanating from these figures. They were all suffused with Yin energy, some ferocious, others pale and horrifying.
They were not human at all.
They were ghosts!
Hundreds of malevolent ghosts and vengeful spirits, and even red-clothed vengeful spirits!
They roared and lunged at Captain Li, eager to devour him.
Watching the approaching horde of ferocious ghosts.
Captain Li bit his tongue, and while running, he pulled out a golden-yellow talisman from his pocket, drawn with special cinnabar.
He held the golden-yellow talisman between his thumb and index finger.
He spat a mouthful of vital blood onto the golden-yellow talisman.
With his other hand, he traced unknown patterns in the air towards the golden-yellow talisman, then used his thumb to draw a line across the vital blood on the talisman.
The action was so fast it happened in a second.
The next second.
He threw the golden-yellow talisman like a dart towards the horde of ferocious ghosts:
"Heaven and Earth, Xuanmen, Myriad Qi's Root, I Invoke the Grand Supreme Elder, Swiftly as the Law Commands, Five Thunder Spell, Decree!"
Boom!
As Captain Li chanted the incantation.
The golden-yellow talisman's runes erupted with lightning, like a deafening thunderclap, unleashing dense lightning that covered a five-meter radius, blocking the dirt road behind them.
"Ah!"
The approaching horde of ferocious ghosts cried out miserably as many encountered the lightning. Two vengeful spirits were directly hit by the lightning and instantly turned to ash. For a moment, the Five Thunder Spell halted the advance of the ferocious ghosts.
But it was only a temporary halt.
There were simply too many ghosts.
They quickly bypassed the range of the Five Thunder Spell, and the death of those two vengeful spirits only further incited their ferocity as they roared and attacked.
This sight.
Made Captain Li's scalp tingle.
However, what truly horrified him were not the ghosts that bypassed the Five Thunder Spell.
It was a ghost within the horde of ferocious ghosts.
It was a ghost with a cleaver stuck in its chest, covered in dirt, its skin a ghastly blue, riddled with corpse spots.
It was different from the other ghosts.
It walked directly towards the area of the Five Thunder Spell, then extended its hand, covered in corpse spots, allowing the lightning to strike its body, and swung its hand towards the Five Thunder Spell, a chilling Yin energy surging from its hand.
Boom!
The Yin energy collided with the Five Thunder Spell.
The previously invincible Five Thunder Spell was dispersed with a wave of its hand by that ghost.
This scene.
Was witnessed by Zhang Chao and the others besides Captain Li, and their hearts pounded.
After all, Captain Li was a Tiger Guard level operative.
Tiger Guards were ghost exorcists capable of dealing with red-clothed vengeful spirits alone, and the Five Thunder Spell they cast was undoubtedly powerful, yet it was easily dispersed by that ghost with a wave of its hand.
Seeing this.
Zhang Mei and the others had confirmed the identity of that ghost.
It was the ghost from the Nine Evil Yin Gathering Cave!
Only that ghost possessed such power, capable of effortlessly breaking Captain Li's Five Thunder Spell.
"Quick! Zhang Chao, you rescue the injured. Wunian, you come with me to help Captain Li."
The situation was critical, and Zhang Mei made a decision.
She did not heed Captain Li's advice to abandon them and flee, because she knew very well that if she abandoned Captain Li and his team here, Captain Li and his team would be in grave danger.
If the horde of ferocious ghosts killed them, it would soon be their turn, and she did not believe they could resist the horde that had overwhelmed Captain Li and his team. It was better to assist Captain Li and his team in escaping, and then find other teams to join forces with, or perhaps they could deal with the horde of ferocious ghosts together, which might offer a sliver of hope.
Soon.
The two groups converged.
Zhang Mei and Wunian arrived beside Captain Li, while Zhang Chao helped carry the blood-soaked team member. Together, they ran away from the horde of ferocious ghosts.
"Captain Li, let's cover the rear together and reduce the number of ghosts."
"Good."
Captain Li nodded. As a captain-level operative, he understood Zhang Mei's intentions and quickly reminded them:
"Be careful, there are four or five red-clothed vengeful spirits among the ghosts."
Red-clothed vengeful spirits were ghosts comparable to Tiger Guards.
He then added:
"Be especially careful of the ghost with the cleaver stuck in its chest. It's too powerful, definitely not an ordinary red-clothed vengeful spirit. It was it that appeared just now, and with its strength alone, it killed one of my team members in front of our entire team."
Captain Li's eyes were red with anger and unwillingness. Anyone who had lost a comrade they had fought alongside for years would not feel good.
The next moment.
With the addition of Zhang Mei and Wunian.
The three of them unleashed their respective ghost exorcism techniques together.
"Heaven and Earth, Xuanmen, Myriad Qi's Root, I Invoke the Grand Supreme Elder, Swiftly as the Law Commands, Five Thunder Spell, Decree!"
"Money makes the ghost go round, go!"
Zhang Mei threw a copper coin sword made of coins.
"Amitabha."
Wunian held his Buddhist prayer beads, and as he turned them, the beads emitted dazzling Buddhist light.
Two Tiger Guard level operatives, plus Wunian, who was comparable to a Tiger Guard with the aid of a magical artifact, the three of them unleashed their ghost exorcism techniques together.
Instantly.
Buddhist light, Taoist light, and lightning covered the road behind them.
Faintly audible.
From the dirt road behind them, there were sounds of shrill ghostly wails, indicating that some vengeful spirits had been killed by them.
However, Wunian and the others remained tense.
They didn't dare to stop for even a moment.
Seeing that the horde of ferocious ghosts was temporarily held back by them, they quickly led the group away.
This was not cowardice.
It was because they saw that after they released their ghost exorcism techniques, the Nine Evil Yin Gathering ghost had not stopped its advance, moving directly towards the attack range of the three of them.
Its fearless action.
Either it was mad.
Or the opponent was so powerful that it was not afraid of their ghost exorcism techniques.
There was no need to guess the answer; it was the latter. That was a ghost that had successfully absorbed the Nine Evil Yin.
As expected.
Not long after Zhang Mei and the others left.
On the road behind them, the Nine Evil Yin Gathering ghost passed directly through the ghost exorcism techniques unleashed by the three, grinning towards the direction Zhang Mei and the others had fled, smiling chillingly.
Its appearance.
Showed no anger at Zhang Mei and the others' escape.
On the contrary.
It seemed to be enjoying itself, completely disregarding Zhang Mei and the others, relishing the game of cat and mouse.
"Can you escape?"
The Nine Evil Yin Gathering ghost chuckled chillingly.
"In my ghost domain, where can you escape to? Who should I kill first..."
In its mind, Wunian's appearance surfaced.
"Let's start with that monk."
...