The Burial-Shroud Ghost

Liu Mu's green battle space opened, and the foul stench of corpses immediately spread out. Behind them, Liu Ruyan and Yan Qingcheng nearly retched. Even the three skeletons seemed to detest this baleful aura, retreating to a sheltered spot.

It was a long while before the alley returned to calm.

"Withdraw, quickly!" Xiao Chen was the first to charge into another alley. The others followed closely behind. They knew the situation was dire—what they had just slain was merely a "lesser evil spirit." If they encountered a normal, adult "evil ghost," whether they could overcome it was truly unknown.

Especially that ferocious spirit wrapped in a burial shroud from earlier. If it actually appeared before them, the matter would be terrifying indeed.

"Hide!" Xiao Chen dashed into the shadows of the alley. The others concealed themselves as well. Sensing danger in advance came from a certain resonance of spiritual awareness—an instinctive reaction of the mind to seek good fortune and avoid calamity, the pure spiritual intuition of a cultivator who had reached a certain realm.

At that moment, a gust of eerie wind swept through the air, chilling and causing shivers down the spine. A shadow rapidly flew past above the alley.

Though it passed swiftly, the group's cultivations were not weak. They caught a glimpse of the creature in an instant, and their expressions changed repeatedly. It was a humanoid figure with gray wings, but its head was like a skull, only a layer of dry skin clinging to it. Its eye sockets were hollow, looking extremely frightening. It was definitely not a demigod race like a fallen angel, but rather a true dead "bird-man" that could fly freely.

Another gust of eerie wind, a chilling coldness descending. They hid again. This time, three more bird-men with evil ghost faces flew past.

"What a damned place!" Even Xiao Chen, whose heart was as hard as iron, let out such an exclamation.

Suddenly, the three skeletons—Qin Guangwang, Yanluowang, and Lunhuiwang—grew restless. The soul-light in their eyes fixed on the end of the alley.

The three skeletons seemed highly sensitive to the unique baleful aura of the dead city. This time, they sensed it even before Xiao Chen and the others.

A shadow slowly extended from the ground, then a bone-piercing gust of eerie wind blew. Following that, a burial shroud, permeated with a fierce, murderous aura, appeared around the corner, flapping loudly in the wind. Everyone felt their scalps go numb. This terrifying creature had tracked them down after all. They had thought they had shaken it off.

What color the burial shroud had originally been could no longer be determined, for it was covered in black bloodstains. It rustled in the eerie wind, making the dim alley seem so terrifying and sinister. The baleful aura suddenly surged violently, and a tall, somber black figure turned the corner.

He was entirely enveloped in darkness, a patch of black mist swirling around him. His body was completely concealed by the wide burial shroud, making it hard to see his true features. Only a pair of eyes were visible—like ghastly green ghost-fires flickering. No soul fluctuation, only the stench of rotting corpses and a fierce baleful aura.

There was no longer any way to escape. This ferocious spirit had clearly locked onto them. Now, only a definitive end would do.

The tall black figure walked soundlessly, only the burial shroud continuously making dreadful flapping sounds in the eerie wind. His deathly eyes coldly stared at Xiao Chen and the others.

"Attack!" Xiao Chen feared nothing. He charged forward against the bone-piercing wind, his left hand forming a Big Dipper light screen into a seven-star light shield before his chest, while his right hand condensed a crescent-moon light blade, dazzlingly brilliant like a solid divine weapon.

Crescent-moon light blade traced a graceful arc, like a comet streaking across the sky, its radiant divine light illuminating the entire dim alley, slashing straight at the ghost's neck. The black mist was scattered, and the ferocious ghost's tall body appeared. Under the black burial shroud, it was like a somber tombstone.

"Clang!" A piercing metallic sound shook the eardrums painfully. The ghost's right hand shot out like lightning, stirring up an eerie wind as it blocked before its neck, sending the crescent-moon light blade flying away.

That was a ghost claw like black iron, its dry knobby bones covered in a layer of shiny black corpse-skin—a true evil ghost's claw, enough to make one's scalp tingle just looking at it.

Light flashed. The crescent-moon light blade circled back at extreme speed, striking at the ghost's chest and abdomen. At the same time, Liu Mu's hands moved rapidly, and a cage formed from spatial spiritual energy swiftly descended from above toward the ghost.

The ghost did not retreat at all; instead, it strode forward. Its right ghost claw again sent the crescent-moon blade flying, while its left hand reached out, shockingly shattering the green cage above its head. A thick odor of rotting corpse emanated. Its left hand was completely different from the right—swollen as if soaked in water for days, bloated and thick, but its strength was no less than the right's.

Liu Mu exchanged a glance with Xiao Chen. This ghost was frighteningly powerful; they might have difficulty handling it. But now escape was useless; only a fight to the death offered hope of survival.

Xiao Chen pushed his mystical art to its limits. His long black hair whipped wildly in the air. Then, the Big Dipper light screen on his left hand merged with the crescent-moon light blade on his right. The seven stars embedded themselves into the crescent moon, the light blade becoming incomparably brilliant. Xiao Chen grasped it in his right hand.

He charged forward fearlessly, his tall, straight body leaving afterimages like fleeting light and shadow. The first slash aimed at the ghost's waist—clearly intent on cutting it in two. The ghost seemed to sense Xiao Chen's ferocity and the blade's sharpness. This time, it did not block with its ghost claw but dodged aside quickly, then thrust its sinister, gleaming claw toward Xiao Chen's heart.

Xiao Chen's greatest improvement after advancing in cultivation was speed. In the nick of time, he somersaulted into the air, evading the ghost claw, then dove headfirst, the light blade in his hand emitting a blinding divine light as he slashed down at the ghost below.

The ghost let out a low roar and retreated repeatedly, its feet cracking the ground into wide fissures. It was clear how much pressure it was under.

At that moment, Liu Mu also struck, having pushed his spiritual power to the limit. A green light screen split the area into several sections, forming multiple overlapping spaces. He not only temporarily sealed the ghost's retreat but also attempted to tear the ghost apart with this spatial technique.

"Crack, crack..."

The ghost's body emitted such sounds, as if all its bones were dislocating as it resisted Liu Mu's spatial crushing force.

This provided Xiao Chen an opportunity. Though his body was tall and straight, his movements were like wind and lightning, light and quick as a shadow. He twisted in midair and slashed again at the temporarily trapped ghost.

The ghost's body was restrained, but its hands broke through the confinement and crossed to block upward, letting out an angry low roar. Black mist sprayed from its mouth into the air.

Xiao Chen's body radiated light; a light screen like a shield protected him from the corrosive corpse miasma.

"Clang!"

The light blade slammed into the swollen ghost claw. Though a ghostly light flickered to protect the ghost, after Xiao Chen's light blade merged with the Big Dipper Seven Stars, it was far too sharp. It cut deeply in, nearly severing the bloated palm. Yellow corpse fluid splattered everywhere. The light blade was wedged in the bone of the ghost claw.

"Roar..." Though it was a ghost, it seemed to feel the intense pain, letting out a chilling howl. With a bang, it burst through the overlapping space Liu Mu had set and broke free, lunging at Xiao Chen as he fell from the air.

But Xiao Chen's movement was too swift. Like a hurricane, he flipped in the air, then came down feet-first, kicking hard against the outspread ghost claws, and then somersaulted backward. All of it was clean and crisp.

"Roar..." The ferocious spirit howled in rage. After being stomped, the sharp light blade embedded in its palm shattered, shattering the ghost's claw entirely. Yellow corpse fluid splattered everywhere.

The burial shroud flapped loudly. The ghost roared, the ghastly green light in its eyes leaping violently. Its shattered left palm swelled up again, and soon, the broken hand regenerated—a rotten ghost claw reappeared intact.

Xiao Chen sucked in a cold breath. Liu Mu frowned deeply, saying, "Its combat power is terrifying. If its mind weren't so dull, our situation would be far worse."

"Roar..." The ghost charged forward, stirring up waves of black mist. The ground shook under its heavy strides, cracking into huge fissures. One could imagine how immense its strength was.

"Overlapping space!" Liu Mu's handsome but sickly face flushed with a trace of blood. He unleashed his ultimate technique, sealing the ghost with spatial power, the overlapping spaces tearing at the evil spirit.

"Merge!" Xiao Chen strode forward, his eyes sharp as blades. The light blade in his hand seemed to melt, becoming indistinguishable from his right palm. The light blade fully converged into his hand, his right palm blazing with divine radiance, nearly translucent, with the Big Dipper Seven Stars imprinted on the back and a full moon on the palm.

"Bam!"

A palm-blade struck heavily onto the ghost's forearm, creating a terrifying wound from which corpse fluid gushed. Light flickered; the palm-blade left afterimages. Xiao Chen turned into a beam of light, striking repeatedly around the slowed ghost.

Torn by the overlapping space, the ghost wanted to grab and tear Xiao Chen apart, but could not strike effectively, roaring in endless fury. Though streams of ghostly light surfaced from its deathly body to block the palm-blade, it still suffered significant damage.

Xiao Chen's light palm astonished even Liu Mu. If he were fighting a cultivator of the same level instead of this terrifying ghost, Xiao Chen's combat power would be absolutely unmatched!

But the ghost's strength and terror exceeded Liu Mu and Xiao Chen's expectations. The burial shroud suddenly shook violently, billowing out a heavy death aura. The ghostly light caused Liu Mu's spatial power to collapse, and the overlapping green space vanished in an instant. Liu Mu was sent flying by his own disrupted power, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Xiao Chen was also heavily jolted by the force. Worse still, the ghost had locked onto him. It left an afterimage and instantly appeared before him, reaching out with both ghost claws.

Xiao Chen frantically elevated his cultivation, dodging at extreme speed and launching fierce counterattacks. Man and ghost tangled like two beams of light. The burial shroud seemed to be an extremely powerful evil artifact, stirring up gusts of eerie wind that made Xiao Chen dizzy. Strands of ghostly light coiled around him like countless dancing ghost shadows.

The ghost was simply too ferocious. With the evil power of the burial shroud, it laid down a "domain" of its own—a special "ghost domain." Even though Xiao Chen's combat power was unmatched, even though his light palm made the ghost deeply wary, he was still suppressed, forced to dodge constantly.

Finally, he flipped backward through the air, trying to escape that sinister ghost domain. But the ghost soared up as well, grappling with him in midair. As it swung its claws, it traced out strands of ghastly death-light, the ghostly aura enveloping Xiao Chen.

"Break!" Xiao Chen shouted. His right palm met the ghost claws. This time, the ghost could not evade and had to catch his palm-blade.

"Crunch!"

The sound of bones shattering rang out. The ghost claw had been crushed entirely. There was no denying that the palm-blade merging the Big Dipper and crescent moon was unstoppable. Even the ghost suffered a heavy loss. But in that instant, the burial shroud on the ghost flipped, quickly wrapping around Xiao Chen's radiant right palm. Black mist roiled, swallowing the light.

All this happened too quickly, completed in midair. The ghost let out a low roar. The burial shroud covering it flipped fully, intending to engulf Xiao Chen. Black fog flooded the alley. The aura of death billowed, making the scene utterly terrifying.

Xiao Chen struggled with all his might, but the burial shroud was strangely evil, impossible to damage. Even his unstoppable light palm could not tear or shatter it. He was about to be swallowed whole.