Chapter 19 Piercing the Ghost Gate with Blades

The moment the black fish crashed into the water, I surged up a mouthful of true qi, treading on the water with both feet. My toes tapped the surface several times, and I shot out more than five meters. Simultaneously, I flicked out my Soul-Chasing Cords.

"Soul-Shaking Whip! When the whip strikes, the soul flies! The soul departs—" The Soul-Chasing Cords, flying from my hands like two long whips, lashed sideways towards the fish corpse with ear-piercing whistles. After a loud crash, the black fish's soul, along with its peeled-off skin, flew into the air.

"Help me!" My qinggong (acrobatic martial art) wasn't advanced enough to stand on the water's surface indefinitely. Dashing a few meters by treading on the water was my limit for the short term.

After I unleashed the "Soul-Shaking Whip," my strength was completely exhausted. If I didn't borrow some force, I could only watch helplessly as the black fish's soul fell into the water and escaped.

As my body and the fish soul fell towards the water, I suddenly felt something lift my feet. The borrowed force allowed me to stand on the water.

Turning my head slightly, I saw a pair of skinny, bony hands with black fingernails holding my feet, forcibly lifting me onto the water's surface.

"Soul, come—" With another flick of my hands, two Soul-Chasing Cords simultaneously entangled the black fish's soul, tightly locking it within a few feet.

Clutching the chains tightly in both hands, I sank my feet again, borrowing force to rise. With a simultaneous shake of my arms, I flung the fish soul towards the stone dragon head.

As soon as the fish soul left my hands, I immediately retracted the Soul-Chasing Cords and plunged into the water with both sabers drawn.

The moment I fell into the water, I opened my ghost eyes. The water ghost that had just lifted me also widened its eyes at the bottom of the water.

The instant four gazes, one red and one purple, collided in the water, the twin sabers in my hands slashed diagonally towards the opponent's shoulders. After the two paths of the blade crossed over the opponent's chest, the water ghost's corpse broke into several pieces.

But out of the corner of my eye, I saw countless figures walking slowly towards me in the water.

The surging river water, to those figures, was like intangible air, dispersing around them without resistance. In the blink of an eye, pale-faced, expressionless figures began to compress the space around me inch by inch.

These water ghosts were the main force controlled by Li Yulan, one of her trump cards!

As the water ghosts surrounded me, I held my breath and slowly closed my eyes.

Now, anyone who approached me would mistake me for a corpse floating in the water. I had used this trick several times in the past to walk through mountains and fields of ghosts, even walking shoulder-to-shoulder with them without being discovered.

If there was no expert to guide them, the water ghosts surrounding me would also mistake me for one of their own.

After I closed my eyes, the water around me paused slightly—having lost their target, the water ghosts were still near me but could no longer find my location.

In their eyes, there were no living people nearby, so naturally there was no target!

I clearly felt the water around me slowly moving backwards, probably because the water ghosts were gradually leaving after losing their target, which caused the water to move.

But the next moment, the water around us not only suddenly stopped, but also struck fiercely from all directions with a sharp momentum.

In an instant, I abruptly opened my eyes, and the sharp claws of the water ghosts attacked from all around me.

Facing the pale ghost claws, a sneer appeared on my face. At the same time, the two precious sabers flew up from in front of and behind my body. The curved blades transformed into light and shadow, forming armor that instantly sealed off the vital points of my entire body. The reaching ghost hands were also completely severed by the blade light in an instant.

Without waiting for the blade light to stop, I struck the water with both hands and leaped out of the water. The severed ghost hands were still flying around me chaotically as I stepped on the water and dashed towards the stone steps.

After I took one step, countless ghosts emerged from the water one after another, howling and shrieking as they pounced towards me. From my angle, the layers of ghost shadows had blocked my path forward.

"Cleave through the Ghost Gate with blades!" With an angry roar, I moved my feet continuously. The two precious sabers howled and danced wildly around me, and I charged towards the countless ghosts with layers of blade light.

The blades were like cold flames, pushing through in all directions.

Ghost fire was like rain, pouring down from the sky.

I was like pushing forward a river tide formed of phosphorescent fire, shooting straight towards the stone steps.

When my feet stepped onto the stone steps, the wailing of the ghosts behind me suddenly stopped, but nine lights ignited on the water.

Turning my back, I saw that eight shrine-like recesses had appeared in the stone cave at some unknown time. The eight missing ghost cauldrons had silently appeared in the recesses. Green flames blazed from the mouths of the cauldrons, and the entire water area was stained with a sinister color by the firelight.

When I turned to face the dragon head again, the platform on the steps slowly opened from the ground. A giant cauldron, lifted by a mechanism, floated up the stone steps, directly facing the mouth of the dragon.

This was the real main cauldron!

Li Yulan, who had walked out slowly from some unknown place, stood beside the main cauldron, placing one hand on its body. "Thank you for buying me time to open the Dragon Palace. However, I still have to kill you!"

"My grudges with Fish Basket Village cannot be severed, and my goal must be achieved."

"The promises I made to you before, I won't keep a single one."

"You are really self-righteous. You think you have everything under control, but you are just a pawn. Now, it's time to end this game. You can die together with the people of Fish Basket Village."