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At this moment, across the land, yang energy ebbed away like a receding tide, while dark, turbid yin energy surged forth.
Before dawn broke, this situation would not improve.
Yao Yao's gaze hardened. She knew that man was about to begin.
The so-called midnight sacrifice wasn't performed precisely on the hour, but within a specific window. During the first three ke of the Zi hour, when yin energy was at its absolute peak, the ritual's effects would be most potent.
The man seemed aware of this too, as he began dousing himself with gasoline. A pungent odor permeated the rooftop as he muttered incessantly in a strange cadence. It sounded like chanting, yet also like prayer.
Yao Yao instantly recognized it: he was forging a pact with that Ghost General.
"My revered master, your devout believer hereby sacrifices his flesh, blood, and soul to you."
Once the chanting ceased, the man pulled a lighter from his clothes. His voice rose in an excited shout, accompanied by a crisp "click." A tiny spark instantly erupted into a sea of flames! Fueled by the gasoline, the speed of the combustion was utterly impossible to contain.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Consumed by the inferno, the man instantly began screaming, sometimes rolling on the ground, sometimes scrambling up only to stumble about frantically.
Even at this stage, Yao Yao didn't move. Such believers were beyond saving. Besides, the Ghost General posed a far greater threat; capturing it could save many more lives.
Yao Yao silently reminded herself of this as the smell of burning flesh grew heavier in the air. The man's struggles gradually weakened until, nearing a certain point... a bone-chilling wave of yin energy descended without warning!
This power far exceeded that of ordinary spirits; even a normal person present would have been able to sense it.
The target had appeared!
Yao Yao's large, pretty eyes lit up. She felt a surge of nervousness; this was her first time encountering a Ghost General.
Among ghosts and spirits, the higher their cultivation, the better the... 'flavor.' Red Ghosts were already rare these days, let alone a Ghost General. A spectral entity of this level could even hold its own in the Underworld. The rarer it was, the more she felt compelled to 'taste' it!
Under Yao Yao's eager gaze, a human figure slowly materialized beside the charred corpse.
It was a man appearing to be in his twenties, with exceptionally handsome features. His skin was deathly pale, yet strangely, his cheeks bore two distinct patches of crimson. Seeing him on the street, one might not even suspect anything was amiss. To have achieved such a semblance of normalcy indicated he had progressed very far down the path of becoming a Ghost General.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Another fresh, vibrant soul. Well then, this venerable one shall graciously accept it!"
The young man rapturously inhaled the lingering human essence. With a flick of his long, slender fingers, a soul-form was peeled away from the charred corpse and drawn into his palm.
Just as he was about to consume it and bolster his own power, Yao Yao attacked fiercely! The Ghost General was already in peak condition; if he consumed the sacrificed soul and potentially grew even stronger, the fight would become much more difficult.
A blinding bolt of lightning shot straight towards the Ghost General. This was Yao Yao's first time wielding power at the eighth-rank; her control wasn't perfect, causing the very space around them to tremble.
"Which cur dares to ambush this venerable one!" The Ghost General instantly sensed the intensity of the lightning. His expression flickered, and not daring the slightest negligence, he immediately mobilized his yin energy.
But ultimately, he had lost the initiative, and lightning naturally countered spectral entities. In their first clash, half his arm was numbed by the shock, and even the offering right at his lips was snatched away by a chain that suddenly appeared.
"A Soul-Hooking Chain?" The moment the young Ghost General saw the chain, his handsome face instantly contorted. He didn't even consider a second move; he turned, intending to flee immediately. After all, the Soul-Hooking Chain had always been the signature artifact of those two.
The young Ghost General had a special status. If he encountered an eighth-rank Xuan Master, the outcome would only be known after a fight. But he absolutely dared not cross paths with those two.
How could Yao Yao possibly let him escape?
"Stay right there!" With a flick of her wrist, the chain whizzed through the air, lashing towards him. The Soul-Hooking Chain naturally suppressed ghosts; if it struck home, even a Ghost General would be in for a world of hurt.
They were too close; escape seemed impossible. Yao Yao was certain she could intercept him.
Just as the chain was about to strike, a burst of cyan light suddenly erupted from the Ghost General's body. Upon contact with the cyan light, the chain abruptly halted. In that brief instant, the young Ghost General successfully escaped the chain's reach. Not even daring to look back, having barely broken free, he fled for his life without a second thought. This sorry state was a stark contrast to his arrogant demeanor just moments before; he seemed like a completely different person.
However, he hadn't fled far before his body suddenly froze mid-step. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw a section of a familiar chain piercing straight through him.
N-No, impossible! Hadn't he dodged it? The young Ghost General knew the Soul-Hooking Chain's effective range too well; it couldn't possibly have reached him from that distance.
And just then, a voice, more familiar than any other, sounded beside his ear.
"Han Yu, why the rush to leave?"
"We old friends haven't seen each other in a while. Stay and have a nice chat with Old Xie!"
The young Ghost General, Han Yu, looked up in disbelief. Meeting his gaze was a handsome face creased with a smile, and atop a tall hat, the four large characters: "Yi Jian Sheng Cai" (Fortune Upon Sight). This face, this attire... even if turned to ash, he would recognize them.
"Xie... Bi... An!" Han Yu's lips trembled as he spat the name out through gritted teeth.
He couldn't help but wonder – if Xie Bi'an was here, then whose chain had he just dodged? Could it be that Fan Wujiu had come as well? But how could that be possible? Deploying both of them just to capture a single Ghost General like himself? He had indeed defected from the Underworld, but surely he hadn't reached the level of importance to warrant this kind of attention!
Xie Bi'an guessed Han Yu's thoughts from his terrified expression and couldn't help but chuckle softly. "You don't need to overthink it. Wujiu isn't here. The one trying to capture you just now was someone else."
"Speak of the devil, and here she comes. Open your eyes and see for yourself."
Xie Bi'an was in an excellent mood because his Soul-Hooking Chain had pierced Han Yu's major vital point, sealing his yin energy completely. There was no need to worry about him escaping. Therefore, he even had the leisure to banter with the young Ghost General.
Han Yu, meanwhile, bitterly resented whoever had caused his capture. Who on earth was this person, and why did they possess Wuchang's Soul-Hooking Chain? His gaze followed Xie Bi'an's line of sight.
But after one look, he fell completely silent.
He saw a young girl, barely more than a child, walking quickly towards him. His eyes filled with disbelief. He couldn't accept that he'd actually been brought down by a mere child. The thought was more unbearable than death itself—it was simply too humiliating for a ghost of his stature!
But compared to Han Yu's tumultuous emotions, Yao Yao's eyes now held only curiosity. She couldn't figure out what that cyan light had been and how it had managed to block her chain.
Seeing the human and the ghost just staring blankly at each other, Xie Bi'an had no choice but to step in and explain.
"No need to stare. He's one of the many defecting Ghost Generals from the Underworld I mentioned to you before!"
"The reason he could momentarily evade the Soul-Hooking Chain is because he also stole an Underworld Official Seal when he fled."
As he spoke, Xie Bi'an raised his hand and beckoned. A large seal flew out from within the young Ghost General's robes.
Yao Yao followed its trajectory with her eyes. The large seal was intricately engraved with complex totemic patterns and emitted a faint, hazy layer of cyan light.