Chapter 359 - 344: Breaking the Formation (Part 2)
Chapter 359: Chapter 344: Breaking the Formation (Part 2)
Just as he reached out his hand, his expression suddenly changed.
Zhao Lin had been completely convinced by the scene before him, but having been deceived by a Yin Soul before, he retained a sliver of caution deep down. He subconsciously glanced at his Spirit Cultivation Map.
There, in the seventh grid of the Spirit Cultivation Map, appeared three words: Surging Wave Skill!
’Everything before me is created by an Illusion Technique! I can’t touch my two nephews!’
He suddenly understood. He had been monitoring his surroundings with his Divine Sense, and the Illusion Array had extracted past memories from it, manifesting his closest relatives to confuse him.
Realizing this, Zhao Lin threw both fists toward his two approaching nephews.
"Ah!"
The two little ones were stunned with fear. Seeing this, his sister-in-law let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"Stop!"
Zhao Shan was both shocked and furious, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Lin’Er, what are you doing?"
The white-haired Mrs. Zhao appeared in his line of sight, her face filled with disappointment, even despair.
"I..."
Zhao Lin wanted to defend himself, but as the word left his lips, he remembered that everything before him was an illusion.
’But what if it isn’t an illusion?’
’Wouldn’t that mean I killed my two nephews with my own hands?’
’It’s an illusion. I can already sense the Mana fluctuations.’
A conflicted expression appeared on Zhao Lin’s face. Seeing his two nephews getting closer and closer, he gritted his teeth and threw the punch.
BOOM!
The scene shifted. His mother, older brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces... they all vanished.
The cave, the strange rocks, the Star Peony Grass on the ground not far away...
The mist dissipated, and everything returned to normal.
"I broke the Array!"
Zhao Lin let out a long breath, panting and drenched in sweat.
Even though he knew it was an illusion, the thought of his two nephews still made his heart ache.
This Array was truly sinister. Its offensive power wasn’t strong, but it was so deceptive. He had nearly fallen for its trap.
Looking around, the dim cave now felt strangely familiar and comforting.
"Brother Zhao, congratulations on breaking the Array!"
Along with the excited shout, Wei Shi emerged from behind a large boulder and strode over, his face flushed with excitement.
"Brother Wei, are you all right?"
Zhao Lin asked with concern.
"I’m fine!"
Wei Shi thumped his chest and reached out to put an arm around Zhao Lin’s shoulder.
"A petty trick!"
Zhao Lin’s face darkened, and he threw a sudden punch.
BANG!
Wei Shi stumbled back two steps, a pained look on his face, before his body vanished into thin air.
A faint rumble echoed from underground, and the Mana fluctuations finally stopped completely.
Zhao Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could finally be certain that he had truly broken the Array.
Thinking back on it now, he still felt a lingering fear.
First, it used his loved ones to confuse him. Then, just when he thought he’d broken the Array, it launched a sneak attack. If he hadn’t remained vigilant, and without the Spirit Cultivation Map’s hint, he would likely have been trapped inside, unable to escape.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zhao Lin’s gaze suddenly sharpened, a frosty chill glinting in his eyes.
’Since this Array was man-made, I have to find the one responsible.’
He leaped into the air, taking several quick steps, and landed on a large boulder. Scanning his surroundings, he quickly spotted a figure flash past a boulder dozens of yards away.
"Trying to run?"
Zhao Lin leaped into the air. A burst of energy shot from his acupoints, propelling him forward like a torpedo.
His hands formed a seal as he cast an Ice Blade Skill.
An ice blade condensed in the air and shot out, carving an arc as it flew horizontally toward the figure hiding behind the boulder.
"You who hides in the shadows, show yourself!"
The figure could no longer hide. It ducked and darted out. Seeing Zhao Lin flying through the air, it was startled and immediately cast a Magic skill with a wave of its hand.
A plume of black smoke billowed out. The moment it met Zhao Lin’s ice blade, it devoured the blade completely, then turned in mid-air and shot straight for Zhao Lin’s face.
Zhao Lin didn’t dare to face it head-on. He quickly changed direction, twisting his body to evade.
As his feet touched the ground, he heard a "TSSSSSS" sound from the boulder beside him.
Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw that a part of the boulder’s surface was mottled and had been corroded by the black smoke, leaving it pitted and scarred.
Zhao Lin’s eyelid twitched. ’What kind of Magic is this?’ he thought.
He looked at his Spirit Cultivation Map and saw three words appear in the seventh grid: Yin Wind Drill!
’The name of this Magic... why is it so strange! Not only have I never heard of it, but it also has a sinister aura.’
When he got a better look at the cultivator, he was even more shocked.
The person was dressed in rags, with disheveled hair and a deathly pale face devoid of any color. Their eyes were particularly unnerving—the pupils were tiny, and the sclera filled almost the entire eye socket. They looked neither human nor ghost.
A ghost?
A thought struck Zhao Lin, and he immediately activated his Qi Observation Skill.
He saw five pillars of qi around the person, but unlike a normal Magic Cultivator, these five pillars were black!
It was as if lightning flashed through Zhao Lin’s mind. He shouted, "You’re a Ghost Cultivator!"
Ghost cultivation was an even more obscure path than that of Martial Cultivators or Body Cultivators, and it was, without a doubt, a form of demonic cultivation.
Generally, whether a cultivator was good or evil depended on their character, not their Cultivation Technique. But Ghost Cultivators were different. They were the most evil type of cultivator.
The reason for this lay in their method of cultivation, which relied on absorbing the Corpse Qi and souls of mortals and other cultivators.
To walk the path of a Ghost Cultivator, one had to kill to advance their cultivation.
Because of this, all the major sects dealt with Ghost Cultivators with an iron fist, destroying all books and jade slips related to them.
Anyone who dared to practice the Ghost Dao was to be killed without mercy.
But even so, Ghost Cultivators could never be completely eradicated, because they possessed incredibly long lifespans.
A Qi Refining Realm cultivator could live for 150 years at most, while a Ghost Cultivator in the equivalent Soul Refining Realm had a lifespan of 600 years, comparable to a late-stage Purple Mansion Realm Magic Cultivator.
Therefore, there were always cultivators who feared death and had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment who would turn to the Ghost Dao.
To become a Ghost Cultivator, the first step was to sever one’s own life force.
Although the person’s clothes were tattered, he could vaguely make out the Daoist robes of the Chenghua Sect. It was clear they had been in this cave for a very long time.
Zhao Lin understood everything in an instant.
’That’s right. The Yinfeng Realm is dense with yin qi and rarely visited by people. It’s a suitable place for a Ghost Cultivator to train.’
The Ghost Cultivator’s eyes narrowed, and he gave a cold smile. "Since you’ve figured it out, I have even less reason to let you leave here alive!"
"Time to die!"
With that, he flicked his sleeve, and a gray cloth pouch appeared in his palm. The pouch was shrouded in black qi and embroidered with a sinister-looking white skull.
His fingers rapidly formed a spell. He flipped the pouch over, released a "WHOOSH" of black smoke, and shouted.
"Yin Wind Drill!"
This pouch-shaped magic artifact was called the Profound Yin Bag. Because it had absorbed the yin qi from the Yinfeng Realm, it had the effect of greatly enhancing Ghost Dao Skills.
The Ghost Cultivator’s Yin Wind Drill was originally only at the Minor Achievement Level. But after being amplified by the magic artifact, its power had reached the mastery level, making it even thicker and more potent than before.
The black smoke was formless and intangible; it couldn’t be blocked head-on with an iron ruler or a Spirit Blade Skill. Moreover, like the creatures of the Yinfeng Realm, Ghost Cultivators feared Fire and Lightning Element Skills.
Zhao Lin had already planned for this. Without hesitation, he unleashed a Fire Element Skill: Flame Stream Arrow.
Fire Spiritual Qi condensed, and dozens of burning arrows flew forward to meet it.
BOOM!
The black smoke and the Flame Stream Arrows collided in mid-air, erupting into a flame over ten feet high. After a brief stalemate, the Fire Element Skill gained the upper hand and burned the black smoke to nothing.
The dozen or so remaining fire arrows continued toward the Ghost Cultivator.
"A Fire Element Skill!"
The Ghost Cultivator’s expression changed. He quickly unfurled the Profound Yin Bag in his hand and swung it upward.
With a series of muffled "PFFT PFFT PFFT" sounds, all the Flame Stream Arrows were extinguished, blocked by the Profound Yin Bag. The impact also forced the Ghost Cultivator back two steps.
’What kind of magic artifact is that?’
Zhao Lin stared at the other’s Profound Yin Bag, his brow furrowed.
He didn’t know that this Profound Yin Bag was different from ordinary magic artifacts. Not only could it amplify Ghost Dao Skills, but it was also a defensive artifact. It was inscribed with several defensive Array Patterns, which greatly increased its defensive power.
The Ghost Cultivator opposite him was equally shocked.
How could a mere Qi Refining Third Layer Martial Cultivator have such a powerful Magic skill, one that had even reached the mastery level?
’If it weren’t for this magic artifact in my hand, I wouldn’t have been able to block that skill at all.’
’I can’t let him escape. Once word gets out, the Chenghua Sect will surely send people to hunt me down. No matter how large the Yinfeng Realm is, there will be no place for me to hide.’
The Ghost Cultivator didn’t hesitate. He once again poured Spiritual Power into the Profound Yin Bag in his hand and unleashed another Magic skill at Zhao Lin.