The Three-Headed Ghost King

Although startled by the creature’s grotesque transformation, Han Li cast a quick glance behind him—and a cold smile crept onto his face.

The gray ghost shadow behind him had already been devoured by more than half; only a tattered, dying fragment of about a third of its original size remained.

Even if it somehow escaped now, it would be so heavily injured that it could no longer pose any threat in the fight.

The Gold Devourer Beetles truly lived up to their ranking on the Strange Insect List. Not only did they devour spiritual qi, but they consumed yin spirits and fierce ghosts with equal voracity—ferocious beyond measure. Though their feeding speed seemed slightly slower when eating ghosts.

As Han Li pondered, the tiger-monster across from him, after a brief moment of dazed confusion, broke into a look of ecstatic surprise, as if waking from a deep dream.

It looked at Han Li, then at the remnant ghost shadow behind him, then at its own body, and let out a harsh, ear-grinding cackle.

The laughter swelled from low to high, growing louder and louder, unbroken, as if it would never end. The sound itself churned the surrounding ghost mist into turbulent waves.

At first, Han Li paid it no mind, watching the tiger-monster’s movements with cold detachment. But after a short while, his face began to pale, and a grave expression settled on his features.

The tiger-monster’s cackling showed no sign of fading as expected. Instead, its breath grew stronger, its laughter deeper and fuller.

Even with the Great Derivative Art running to guard his heart and mind, Han Li felt as though he were walking alone in a wilderness with countless thunderclaps roaring in his ears—a dizzying, disorienting sensation.

Not good!

As he cautiously studied the creature across from him, something occurred to him, and his expression shifted sharply.

He jerked his head around—and his heart turned cold.

The gray ghost shadow behind him had vanished without a trace.

The tens of thousands of Gold Devourer Beetles now lay scattered weakly on the ground, occasionally twitching their wings, having completely lost their earlier vigor for devouring ghosts.

Cursing inwardly, Han Li hastily summoned several spirit beast pouches and swept the half-dead beetles back into them.

Only then, forcing himself to endure the deafening laughter, did he lift his head to sweep a glance at the other battle.

What he saw brought a flicker of surprise, then relief.

Fairy Zi Ling and the black-robed man were still locked in combat with the ghosts and fiends.

The black-robed man, having lost the power of his magic treasure, was unable to gain the upper hand despite his superior cultivation level, due to the limitations of his technique.

As for Fairy Zi Ling, she had sealed herself within the radiant barrier of a rectangular stone tablet, barely managing to defend herself.

Neither of them seemed affected by the bizarre laughter at all.

This struck Han Li as strange.

But after a moment’s thought, he understood.

The twin-headed, spirit-fused creature had confined the power of its laughter to a small area, which was why it had such astonishing force. Even the Gold Devourer Beetles, which ordinary weapons could barely harm, had been shaken off their ghostly prey by the sound.

Part of the reason was that these insects had not yet completed their evolution; the other part was simply the raw power of the laughter.

If not for the mind-stabilizing properties of the Great Derivative Art, he would have already gone limp and surrendered under that barrage of sound.

The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became. Han Li was now certain that even if this creature hadn’t reached Nascent Soul stage, it was at least stronger than any late Core Formation cultivator.

Could this be what they called a Ghost King? He felt a flicker of doubt.

At that moment, the monster across from him, seeing that Han Li had remained completely unfazed through the entire barrage of laughter, finally stopped. Its four eerie eyes fixed on him simultaneously.

Han Li felt a wave of discomfort under that stare, but he narrowed his own eyes and stared back without flinching.

Just then, the crippled gray ghost shadow shot out from behind the monster and flew straight to the twin-headed creature’s front without hesitation.

Han Li blinked, his gaze shifting warily.

The ghost shadow was already in that state—why would it come back instead of fleeing far away? What did this mean?

As he puzzled over it, something even more unexpected happened.

The two-headed tiger-monster’s eyes flashed with an eerie light. It snatched the gray ghost shadow, and the black tiger head opened its massive jaws to swallow the entire remnant whole.

Han Li watched in stunned silence.

But what happened next answered his confusion immediately.

The monster threw its heads back and roared at the sky. A bulge appeared at its neck, and with a series of ripples, a third head—a gray tiger head—emerged from beside the human-faced one.

This new head was also human-faced and tiger-headed, but the human face was that of a plain, middle-aged woman.

Han Li was taken aback, then quickly composed himself.

The gray tiger head appeared with its eyes tightly shut, its face deathly pale, clearly wounded.

But soon enough, it opened its crimson eyes and fixed Han Li with a gaze of overwhelming venom. The sheer malice made his skin crawl and sent a chill through his heart.

Now the middle head—the man’s face—let out a sharp howl and began walking directly toward Han Li with deliberate, heavy steps.

With each step, black light flashed around its body, and its size swelled by several feet.

After a dozen paces, the creature had grown several times larger, towering like a two- or three-story pavilion. Even Han Li was startled by the sight.

Without further thought, he waved his hands, and over a hundred giant ape puppets materialized around him.

The apes raised their arms in unison, and beams of thin, multicolored light shot out in a dense net across the sky.

Han Li then pointed at the azure giant sword hovering above. The sword joined the barrage, turning into a long, dazzling rainbow that arced toward the tiger-monster, clearly aiming to slice it in half.

The three-headed monster’s middle face showed a flicker of surprise, then a cold sneer.

Both side heads opened their mouths wide. From one came black orbs, one after another; from the other, a diffuse haze of gray ghost-fire.

The ghost-fire and black orbs interwove, forming a barrier that blocked most of the light beams.

Even the occasional beam that slipped through struck the creature’s massive body with nothing more than a faint flash—completely ineffective.

Han Li’s brow furrowed. A cold light flickered in his eyes. He suddenly jabbed his sword-seal forward.

The azure rainbow flared with blinding light, its speed surging by another thirty percent.

In the blink of an eye, shielded by the puppet apes’ barrage, it smashed through the ghost-fire and black orbs, closing in on the monster.

The sword circled the creature’s waist, ready to slice it apart in the next glitter of light.

But Han Li’s jaw dropped.

All three heads of the monster let out a simultaneous roar. Then, with a speed his naked eye could barely register, its two massive tiger paws shot forward and downward—and caught the giant sword barehanded.

Those furry tiger claws seemed utterly unafraid of the blade’s razor-sharp sword-light.

Han Li stared as the sword struggled and trembled in the monster’s grip, unable to break free. He almost wondered if he was seeing things.

Although these Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been refined only recently and couldn’t yet display their full power, catching them with bare hands was simply unbelievable.

Had the creature’s claws been refined into magic treasures themselves?

A bizarre thought crossed Han Li’s mind.

Seeing that it had the flying sword under control, the monster’s three heads all displayed cruel satisfaction.

The middle head grinned viciously, then opened its mouth and spat a thick stream of jet-black yin energy directly onto the struggling sword. The black energy began to slowly erode the cyan light on the blade.

Han Li’s heart sank.

This three-headed monster was so ruthlessly efficient, its cultivation so unfathomable. If he kept tangling with it, he would surely come out the loser.

He had to take a risk and end this quickly.

With that thought, Han Li glanced back at the other battle.

The black-robed man and Fairy Zi Ling were still fully engaged with the ghosts and fiends, with no attention to spare for him.

Seeing this, a strange light flashed in Han Li’s eyes. He slowly turned back.

The monster’s side heads were still exchanging blows with his puppet apes, while the middle head continued to spew black qi, trying to defile his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.

Killing intent surged in Han Li’s heart.

A silent cry of “Seeking death!” and without any further hesitation, he formed a peculiar sword-seal with both hands and stabbed a single finger viciously toward the empty air above the flying sword.