The Fiendish Ghost

Dugu Jianmo fell silent for a moment.

Keke, who had been peering around from Xiao Chen's shoulder, suddenly widened its large, lively eyes at the mention of the Ancestral Dragon. It waved its small beast claw emphatically, as if expressing utter defiance.

"Why is the village so deserted?" Xiao Chen noticed that although there were seventy or eighty houses, only a handful of people could be seen inside.

"There are many houses, but the population has dwindled. Now the entire village has fewer than thirty people." The old woman sighed deeply.

Just then, a white-haired old man drifted into the courtyard like a specter. He was an aged Spiritist.

"Fourth Grandfather..." the chubby boy called out blankly.

The old man grunted in acknowledgment, then frowned. "It's bad. That fiendish ghost has emerged again. I've found its trail."

"What fiendish ghost?" Dugu Jianmo asked.

"An ancient malevolent ghost that has lived for endless ages. It is the only terrible specter to have ever escaped from the City of the Dead."

These words sent a chill through Xiao Chen's heart. He thought of the ancient ghost he had seen undergoing multiple transformations in the snowy mountains—it seemed to have followed him here.

A ghost that had existed for countless years, that had escaped from the City of the Dead, originating from an age so remote... The news was truly terrifying, enough to make one's heart pound with fear.

Long ago, the village had not been founded here but in a more scenic valley. It was only after they had dug up several dozen stone coffins while excavating foundations—and a tragedy had occurred—that they moved to this location.

Less than three months later, a fiendish ghost appeared. The village's nightmare had begun. They were like livestock being raised for slaughter, with one or two people vanishing from time to time. The villagers knew the fiendish ghost was taking their lives.

The old woman's ancestors had resisted, had tried every means to destroy the ghost, but all ended in failure. Worse, they had invited even more terrifying retribution. For them, it had been a dark and unforgettable age.

As the old woman slowly narrated, Xiao Chen and Dugu Jianmo's expressions grew grim. This terrible malevolent spirit had appeared again on Dragon Island, posing a grave threat to their lives.

The old woman sighed, as if waking from a nightmare. Her aged face seemed to have gained a few more wrinkles.

During those dark years, the old woman's ancestors had discovered the ruins of several even more ancient villages on Dragon Island. In those desolate, abandoned old villages, they had left behind some records. Only then did they learn that the malevolent spirit was an ancient undead, the sole evil ghost to have escaped the City of the Dead—something beyond their power to contend with.

It was easy to imagine that in different eras, people had been trapped on Dragon Island. And the final destruction of these people had all been linked to the fiendish ghost; thus, they had left behind more or fewer clues.

In ancient legends, some fiendish ghosts that could trouble even the gods would seize the living energy of the world, allowing their ghostly bodies to undergo repeated transformations and eventually return from the dead. Such evil spirits were called Devils.

The records left in those ruined, overgrown ancient villages confirmed this legend. Clearly, the malevolent spirit on the island was such a Devil.

Fortunately, the reign of terror was not long—only a year. After that, the ghost would find an uninhabited place and fall into deep slumber. Thus, it would undergo a transformation once every several hundred years, then break out of its coffin again to absorb yang energy.

The old woman's ancestors had already endured two such ghost calamities. Now the population was pitifully sparse. If they faced another, even the remaining twenty or thirty people would not be enough to satisfy the Devil's needs. Complete annihilation was clearly inevitable.

"So we're doomed?" Dugu Jianmo asked, though there was no fear in his tone. He was a man of cold heart and unyielding resolve—truly cruel and hard.

"According to some records discovered later, we have only one chance." The old woman took a sip of tea to moisten her parched lips. "The three months after he sheds his skin and is reborn are his period of weakness. Only during that time can we fight him. Once it passes, he is invincible—a true Devil."

The Devil had undergone dozens of transformations. In theory, he should have reached perfection long ago and become an existence that made even gods tremble. But Dragon Island was sealed by the Divine Stele. The Devil could not break through that shackle; he was forcibly suppressed at the Demigod realm. Nor did he dare to forcibly break through on his own, for the consequences would be dire. No divine-level power was allowed on Dragon Island.

Among the five great realms—Mortal-Shedding, Spirit-Treasury, Sky-Mastery, Nirvana, and Deathless Longevity—the Sky-Mastery realm could be called Demigod. The gap in strength between the cultivators on the island and the Devil was obvious.

"Three months? I'm afraid we don't have that long..." Xiao Chen recounted what he had seen and heard in the snowy mountains.

Both the old woman and the old man were shocked, their faces showing terror. The old woman said, "He... already emerged from his transformation?! Then it may have been a month or two already. It seems we have... less than a month."

The old man had been gathering snow lotus near the mountains when he discovered the Devil's aura, but he had not noticed the three ice coffins.

Xiao Chen lowered his voice. "Does he have a birthmark on his left wrist?"

"Legend says... yes!"

"Then it's worse. When I came here, it seemed... that creature had already followed me all the way."

Xiao Chen's news hit like a comet crashing into a calm sea. Waves of shock rose in the hearts of those present. Their expressions turned ashen, and they felt cold sweat on their backs as they quickly glanced around.

A dead silence fell.

Only Keke, unconcerned, rolled its lively eyes and looked around.

Xiao Chen spoke in an extremely low voice. "If he is so powerful, can't we enlist other forces to deal with him? A few days ago, the dragons displayed extraordinary divine abilities!"

This was a suggestion and a query. He was still completely puzzled about why the dragons had suddenly recovered their former power during those days, and knew nothing of the mysterious City of the Dead.

"The City of the Dead... the City of the Dead!" The old man sighed softly. "It is all because of the City of the Dead. Think about it—even the Devil escaped from there."

The old man did not elaborate further. In truth, they themselves did not understand; all the information handed down came from their ancestors. Every few hundred years, after the island briefly unsealed, the dragons would temporarily recover their divine abilities on the Ghost Festival, then attack the City of the Dead in an attempt to destroy the Divine Stele. As for the ultimate secret, outsiders could not know it.

As for the sacred relics of ancient legend—the Bronze Eight Trigrams, the Dark-Iron Seal, the Golden Divine Halberd—they had no idea in which region of Dragon Island they lay hidden. Mysterious Dragon Island concealed many secrets, and even diligent exploration could not fully uncover them. It seemed to harbor some colossal enigma.

"The Divine Stele on Dragon Island should be the key clue..." Dugu Jianmo muttered to himself.

"The calamity of the ghost is so sudden. Disaster has come again." The old woman's aged face grew even more decrepit. "Dragon Island has a strange power that suppresses divine-level strength, though it mainly targets the dragons. But other races are also greatly affected. From the time of our ancestors until now, no matter how talented a person, once they reach the third heaven of the Spirit-Treasury realm, they can advance no further." Clearly, the people on Dragon Island did not have enough power to oppose the Devil.

Just then, sounds of tearing air came from the village entrance. Everyone clearly saw several brilliant sword auras shooting into the sky. At the same time, angry shouts and the crash of collapsing buildings rang out, followed by screams and then an ear-splitting dragon roar.

The old woman, the old man, Xiao Chen, Dugu Jianmo, and the chubby boy rushed out of the courtyard and toward the village entrance.

There, among collapsed houses, lay several torn corpses with blood still flowing. A woman stood in a cloud of colored mist, her body trembling slightly. She then spat out a mouthful of blood—clearly injured. The Purple Dragon King was at her side, also bearing wounds, with scales and dragon blood on the ground.

The old woman and the others looked on with sorrowful expressions. They pieced together the remains on the ground, then studied the woman in the colored mist and the Purple Dragon King.

"Is this a Dragon King?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

The woman in the colored mist was deeply mysterious. Xiao Chen had met her several times but never seen her true face; her body was always wreathed in rosy clouds and fog, making her seem ethereal, detached from the world, and mysterious.

"A man with extremely heavy yin aura came here just now..."

As the woman in the colored mist recounted, everyone quickly deduced it was the fiendish ghost, still in its period of weakness. Yet even weakened, it was terrifyingly strong. It had torn the three people at the village entrance apart almost instantly. The woman, who commanded a Time Divine Law-Principle, had been severely wounded. If not for the timely blood of the wounded Purple Dragon King accidentally piercing the ghost, she too would have been torn apart in moments.

"Dragon King's blood can actually restrain him! This is truly joyful news!" The old woman's withered, wrinkled face trembled. One could see she was extremely excited, though it looked somewhat frightening—her wrinkled face nearly spasmed. She cackled, "This is truly heavenly news! Perhaps this is the only way we can defeat him. We only knew that the mixed blood of nine Dragon Kings could break our curse, but we never thought it could also restrain the fiendish ghost! Cackle cackle cackle..."