"What the hell?"
Yi Tianxing turned his head sharply. To his shock, a figure had silently materialized before him, floating in the air, ethereal and dreamlike. It was a woman—but her fingers had morphed into long, sharp claws, more like daggers than nails. If not for the battle armor protecting him, that claw would've already torn into his flesh. The chill emanating from her was bone-deep.
The ferocity of that attack could have pierced a cultivator at the Divine Sea Realm with ease—ripping straight through their back and extracting the heart. That terrifying aura was not only chilling, but also entirely incorporeal. The body hovered in a strange, illusory state, akin to a vengeful spirit, but even more intangible, as though it weighed nothing at all, brimming with eerie energy.
This was a spiritual entity.
"A spirit… a ghost. So the Misty Marsh has bred ghosts."
Yi Tianxing drew a deep breath. His experience allowed him to identify the entity at first glance.
It was unmistakably a ghost.
Ghosts were a unique type of undead.
Similar to resentful spirits, but different.
A resentful spirit forms when a person dies and their soul condenses into a ghostly body, retaining a personal will and the potential for cultivation—effectively making them a race of their own.
Ghosts, on the other hand, were born from obsession—formed from fragmented souls drawn together by intense emotion. This obsession was the core of their existence. Ghosts were notoriously hard to kill. Their bodies, in a constant state of phantasm, made most attacks ineffective. Unless their obsession was eradicated, they could not truly die.
More dangerously, ghosts could drain vitality and flesh upon contact. They moved at incredible speed, silent and deadly—natural assassins in the dark.
"Against others, these ghosts would be terrifying. But for me? They're just dinner delivered to the door."
Yi Tianxing's eyes flashed with sharp light, a gleam of excitement flickering within. While others feared ghosts—he thrived on them.
He started his rise by hunting vengeful spirits.
"Yin-Yang Chain—suppress!"
With a thought, a black-and-white Yin-Yang Chain appeared in the air, snaking like a spirit serpent toward the ghostly woman. As it lashed out, a crisp metallic rattle echoed.
To a cultivator, it was a mere sound.To a ghost—it was terror incarnate.
"Ahh!!"
The ghost screeched sharply. The sound sent ripples through the air and stabbed into Yi Tianxing's mind, trying to shake his very soul.
Roooaaar!!
But within him, a dragon's roar echoed in response—brutally suppressing the soul attack.
Whoosh!
The Yin-Yang Chain struck like lightning. In an instant, it coiled around the ghost. Though her body appeared intangible, she could not escape its binding power. Even in her ghostly form, the chain held her fast.
She tried to flee, but divine light burst from the chain, binding her even tighter. Her body hissed with green smoke—like snow under scorching sun. No matter how she struggled, she was dragged, screaming, into the Yin-Yang Eye.
Crack!
The moment she entered the Yin-Yang Space, she was pulled into the Yin-Yang Divine Diagram—an enormous spiritual grinder. As it rotated, yin and yang energies surged, stripping away her essence. A portion of it fused into the diagram, and the rest transformed into Yin-Yang energy, accumulating within the space.
"Excellent nourishment!"
Yi Tianxing inhaled deeply, satisfaction overflowing from the joy emanating through the Yin-Yang Eye.
With the ghost devoured, the Innate Yin-Yang Divine Diagram grew even stronger—edging closer to birthing a new divine ability.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
But that ghost had merely been the beginning. As she was subdued, more transparent forms emerged from the marsh—one after another.
And they weren't all humanoid.
Some ghosts had the forms of beasts:—Sinister crocodiles,—Fearsome birds,—Vicious monsters.
Their ghostly forms radiated malevolence. The Misty Marsh grew colder by the second—an icy, deathly chill descending across the land.
"Perfect. So many ghosts… this is a feast. With this many, the Innate Yin-Yang Eye might evolve again. A new divine ability could be born!"
Yi Tianxing wasn't alarmed. In fact, he was delighted.
This was a banquet sent from heaven.
"Yin-Yang Chains. Yin-Yang Rings. Suppress them all!"
Clang-clang!
Nine Yin-Yang Chains materialized, then unraveled into countless black-and-white Yin-Yang Rings, soaring out to bind the ghosts.
These rings, infused with spiritual will, darted toward each ghost.
Clink! Clang! Clang!
But the ghosts fought back—shattering the Yin-Yang Rings with sheer force. The rings exploded into fragments. Clearly, a single ring wasn't enough to suppress them.
"A single ring won't hold them… but two? Three? Four?"
Yi Tianxing frowned, then calmly reformed the nine chains—splitting them into more rings.
Again, they shot toward the ghosts—this time in multiples per target.
Clink!
The first ring landed on a ghost's head. Instantly, the ghost's power surged to shatter it.The second followed—pressure diminished.Still not enough.The third.The fourth.The fifth—finally locked it down.
Only when five rings enveloped a ghost was it fully suppressed. Its essence burned, Yin force turning into shackles, suppressing its chilling aura, while Yang force scoured the evil within. The ghost screamed in agony.
Bound, the ghost was dragged into the Yin-Yang Space—and suppressed.
"These ghosts are equivalent to cultivators at the sixth or seventh tier of the Divine Sea Realm. Strong, but no match for my Innate Yin-Yang Eye. You're all just fuel."
Each ghost possessed strange abilities.
One mouse-like ghost used a divine skill that blinded its prey.
A crocodile ghost wielded monstrous strength and blinding speed—perfect for ambush kills in the dark.
They came for Yi Tianxing in droves—driven by a primal instinct to slay all living beings in the Misty Marsh.
But they were helpless.
The Yin-Yang Eye not only saw through their every move—it countered them completely.
One by one, they were dragged into the Eye, feeding its growth.
The sensation of growing stronger… it was exhilarating. Addictive.
"Whatever demons or ghosts you are—die for this palace!"
Just as Yi Tianxing was harvesting ghosts with glee, a voice shouted through the mist.
"Huh? It's her!"
He turned his gaze.
A woman in a flowing white palace gown rode a Moonlight Butterfly through the mist. Ghosts swarmed her from all directions.
The Moonlight Butterfly released a veil of moonlight as a shield, trying to keep the ghosts at bay. But they lunged at it instead, sucking in the moonlight like it was divine ambrosia.
Dozens of ghosts clung to the barrier—feasting.
Yao Yue stood firm on the butterfly's back, sword in hand, fury in her eyes. Her strikes tore through ghostly forms, but the damage was fleeting—slashes across their necks or chests healed instantly.
Nothing seemed to hurt them.And the Moonlight Butterfly's glow was visibly fading.
"What now? I didn't expect these ghosts to be so troublesome. Even with all my cultivation, I can't kill them. Maybe… maybe my Life Orifice Divine Ability could harm them."
She focused her will.
Between her brows, a crescent moon mark flickered—divine pressure building.
"Suppress!!"
But before she could act, a voice called out through the mist.
In that instant, black-and-white Yin-Yang Rings shot through the fog—binding the ghosts on the moonlight shield.
In the blink of an eye—they vanished.
"You're facing ghosts. They absorb moonlight to grow stronger. By casting that moonlight barrier, you basically rang a dinner bell—telling every ghost around to come feast. A protective True Qi shield would've been better."
A voice echoed in her ear.
"Scoundrel… it's you."
Yao Yue instantly recognized the voice.
Yi Tianxing.
She would never forget it.
Without a second thought, she slashed toward the sound with her sword.
But the fog clouded everything. Yi Tianxing had already shifted positions. Her strike hit only empty air.