Chapter 631: Lord of the Forgotten River vs Soundless Ghost Monk
Tie Guzheng was blasted backward.
He landed atop the city wall. The web between his thumb and forefinger had already split open, blood staining the handle of his fan red. At the same time, both arms throbbed with tearing pain, and the qi and blood within his body were still boiling violently, refusing to settle.
Yet Tie Guzheng had no mind to calm his qi and blood. He abruptly turned his head to focus on the battle behind the city gates.
He had repelled the White Bone Crocodile Demon, thus resolving one crisis for White Paper Immortal City.
But the earlier crisis had not been resolved—that was the Funeral Music Phantom Performer who had broken into the city, along with six Ghost Generals strengthened by Military Force Reinforcement at the Golden Core–level.
Even if Tie Guzheng wished a thousand times over to rush back to reinforce them, turning around and dashing into the city would still require time.
“No matter who it is, hold on!”
“You must buy the reinforcements critical time!!”
“I’m coming!”
Tie Guzheng’s eyes nearly split apart as he roared inwardly.
Warm Soft Jade and Zhou Wenyuan fought side by side. Through spiritual sense communication, they reached a consensus: “Block them with all our strength and buy time. Reinforcements will surely arrive!”
Warm Soft Jade unfurled a scroll. As it opened, it revealed his own self-portrait.
His portrait avatar stepped out from the scroll, face solemn as it stood at the very front.
Zhou Wenyuan took out a book. On its cover were printed the two large characters “Spring and Autumn.” The book radiated yellow and green light, spreading around them and shaping a battlefield environment favorable to their side.
The six Golden Core–level Ghost Generals rode skeletal death horses. With a pressure so cold and utterly life-extinguishing, they directly surrounded Warm Soft Jade and Zhou Wenyuan.
The Venomous Ghost General did not hesitate. He took out the Hundred Ghost Venom Sac at his waist and hurled it outward.
The venom sac was merely a casting medium.
Ghost Art—Yin Venom Ghost Domain!
Splash.
Thick, dark green venom splattered everywhere, reeking foully before rapidly evaporating, transforming into Yin energy that filled the sky.
The Yin energy was laced with potent toxins, corroding even the air with hissing sounds.
Zhou Wenyuan’s Spring and Autumn radiance was immediately suppressed.
Warm Soft Jade held his brush and executed a Confucian Method, writing a large character “Rite” in midair.
The character radiated golden light, decomposing the poison. Yet it quickly dimmed. First, black smoke curled from the edges of the character. Then the strokes rapidly dissolved until it vanished entirely.
Warm Soft Jade’s body trembled. His spell was broken, the backlash striking his hands. His sea of qi churned violently and needed calming.
But in the next moment, a sharp wailing cry rang out.
The wail was piercing enough to tear at the soul.
Even though Warm Soft Jade and Zhou Wenyuan had already activated protective measures, they still felt pain upon their souls.
Their spiritual senses spread across the battlefield and discovered that the Wailing Ghost General was frantically shaking a bone flute. As he moved violently, wind poured into the various holes of the flute, producing a sound attack that seemed almost natural in its perfection.
“Suppress!” Zhou Wenyuan shouted like thunder. He opened his mouth and spat out a word, his voice forming a large character “Suppress” that hovered in midair.
The character suspended above the battlefield, resisting the sound attack. It trembled violently, lasting only three breaths before showing signs of collapse.
Though Warm Soft Jade and Zhou Wenyuan were both formidable and Golden Core True Disciples of their respective sects, facing these six Ghost Generals was exceedingly strenuous.
The reason was that all six Ghost Generals had been enhanced by Military Force Reinforcement, their combat power approaching the Nascent Soul level.
A vicious glint flashed in the eyes of the Crimson Ghost General. She extended her ten fingers like fluttering butterflies, shooting out strands of red threads that entangled the floating Spring and Autumn book.
Her fingers suddenly clenched inward. The red threads, taut as steel wires, tightened fiercely.
The Spring and Autumn book could not withstand it. It twisted under the strain, its pages warping with sharp crackling sounds as its yellow and green radiance dimmed.
At the same time, Zhou Wenyuan’s “Suppress” character shattered.
Their defenses plummeted, exposing a massive flaw.
“Die!” The Long-Axe Ghost General had long been poised to strike. Seizing the opening created by his comrades, his burly body erupted with astonishing strength as he leapt into the air from his ghostly mount.
He raised his mountain-cleaving long axe high, activating a Ghost Art. His entire body ignited with幽blue ghostfire as he slashed toward Zhou Wenyuan.
After all, Warm Soft Jade possessed a portrait avatar, making it difficult for the Long-Axe Ghost General to distinguish the real from the fake.
Zhou Wenyuan bore the brunt!
He looked up to see the axe descending straight toward his head. The air shrieked as if mountains and rivers could be split apart, annihilating everything.
The Long-Axe Ghost General’s fully charged strike was fast, ruthless, and precise.
Zhou Wenyuan’s pupils shrank. Every hair on his body stood on end as he felt the dense shadow of death.
In that flash of lightning, he could only throw out another book.
Before its power could even be fully unleashed, the axe split it in two midair.
Carrying幽blue ghostfire, its momentum surged as it was about to cleave into Zhou Wenyuan’s forehead.
At the critical moment, Warm Soft Jade bit through the tip of his tongue, spraying out his life-bound essence blood. He frantically channeled his Golden Core mana into the brush treasure in his hand.
He hurled the brush directly.
Confucian Method—Cast Aside the Brush to Join the War!
The brush blazed with red-gold brilliance, forcing all six Ghost Generals to narrow their eyes.
Boom!
The brush and the long axe collided with a deafening explosion.
Red-gold brilliance and幽blue ghostfire clashed and intertwined, spreading outward in all directions.
Zhou Wenyuan, Warm Soft Jade, and several Ghost Generals were blasted backward, each sustaining severe injuries.
The Shadow Ghost General activated a Ghost Art, transforming into a shadow that clung to the ground, pursuing the two men.
Warm Soft Jade’s life-bound treasure had been destroyed, and he had already fallen unconscious on the spot.
Zhou Wenyuan retained a sliver of clarity. Sensing the fatal danger, he shouted sharply, “Spring and Autumn as sacrifice! The Literary Dao dies for righteousness!”
In the next instant, the Spring and Autumn book floating on the battlefield ignited spontaneously, burning with pure, blazing white holy flames.
The holy flames swelled into a pillar of incandescent light that enveloped both Zhou Wenyuan and Warm Soft Jade.
The Shadow Ghost General let out a muffled groan, unable to withstand such radiance, and was forced to retreat.
The light pillar was formidable but extremely brief, dissipating completely soon after.
The six Ghost Generals closed in again, while Zhou Wenyuan and Warm Soft Jade were utterly exhausted, their consciousness fading into blur.
On the distant city wall, Tie Guzheng witnessed this scene, his eyes nearly splitting in fury.
He hurriedly activated the Commander’s Seal in his arms, attempting to mobilize the Immortal City’s grand formation to protect the two.
But at that moment, the long-ignored Funeral Music Phantom Performer took out a white candle.
Return-to-Extinction Winding Path Candle!
It was a square candle resembling a miniature coffin, about nine inches long. The coffin lid fit seamlessly with the body. On all four sides were engraved images of a hundred ghosts carrying a coffin—countless twisted, wailing ghostly figures shouldering the casket and staggering toward the void.
The wick was made from yellow-brown burial cloth intertwined with a woman’s dark hair in a spiral twist.
This was a Nascent Soul–level treasure, usable only once!
“So the lost heavy treasure truly fell into the enemy’s hands!” Tie Guzheng was alarmed upon seeing her actions. He had known she possessed this trump card, but he had not expected her to use it at this moment against White Paper Immortal City.
At once, Tie Guzheng had no choice but to cast aside concern for Zhou and Warm, focusing entirely on mobilizing the city’s defensive power to suppress the Funeral Music Phantom Performer.
Under pressure like a mountain, every one of her movements slowed.
Her expression remained numb and unchanged. She channeled her mana and barely managed to blow.
In the next moment, the Return-to-Extinction Winding Path Candle was lit.
A pale frost-white flame flickered, countless fine幽blue talismans forming within its core.
An incense-like fragrance mixed with the stench of rot spread outward.
Within the white frost, a pitch-black winding path condensed. On either side, countless ghostly figures layered upon one another as if carrying coffins.
“Damn it!” Tie Guzheng’s eyes nearly burst from rage.
Against others, he could have suppressed everything. But the Funeral Music Phantom Performer was different—she also understood the inner workings of White Paper Immortal City’s formation.
His suppression was not ineffective. Originally, seven winding paths would have formed. Now, only one remained.
But even a single path could drastically influence the battle!
Luo Si’s eyes flashed. He immediately mobilized military force, extending the winding path directly into his own formation.
A Dead Bone Colossus strode forward and stepped onto the path.
In the next instant, it emerged inside White Paper Immortal City!
If the city gates had remained closed, such teleportation would have been impossible. But with the gates open and unable to close in time—and with the Return-to-Extinction Winding Path Candle in play—teleportation became possible.
The Dead Bone Colossus, massive in form and a siege weapon by nature, had now bypassed the greatest obstacle—the city walls.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The colossus roared and smashed wildly, reducing numerous city buildings to rubble and causing massive casualties.
Countless citizens fled in panic.
At this moment, Yang Sanyan, Golden Core True Disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Sect, and the Bone Tomb Daoist, Golden Core True Disciple of the Soul-Devouring Sect, finally arrived.
They merely glanced at the Dead Bone Colossus before immediately abandoning any thought of entangling it.
“Save them first!” They communicated through spiritual sense and reached agreement in an instant.
They acted consecutively, rescuing Warm Soft Jade and Zhou Wenyuan at the last possible moment.
The six Ghost Generals had not come away empty-handed—Warm Soft Jade’s portrait avatar had been hacked into fragments.
His true body suffered backlash, blood flowing from nose and mouth as he sank into deeper unconsciousness.
Yang Sanyan opened the slit in his forehead, locking his gaze onto the Funeral Music Phantom Performer.
Superior Talent—Gaze Upon All as Void!
She remained numb and motionless like a corpse.
But at the critical moment, the burning Return-to-Extinction Winding Path Candle in her hand flared brilliantly, its brightness several times stronger than before, its burning speed doubled.
White frost spread again. The black winding path reformed, blocking Yang Sanyan’s gaze.
More precisely, it redirected his gaze elsewhere.
Two of the six Ghost Generals split off to confront Yang Sanyan and the Bone Tomb Daoist.
The remaining four detoured slightly and all charged toward the rear.
Cultivators blocking their path were torn to pieces, becoming offerings for this blood sacrifice.
Their target soon became clear—the Paper Effigy Colossus!
Underworld.
The bloodlight of the Tribulation Offering Ritual Altar intensified by another thirty percent.
The Lord of the Forgotten River could not help but reveal joy as he stared at Soundless Ghost Monk. “Soundless, do you see? The blood sacrifice proceeds smoothly. Victory is assured for me. All your efforts will be in vain!”
Soundless Ghost Monk wore a yellow robe. His face resembled dried orange peel, devoid of vitality. His lips were sealed into a gray line as if unopened for ten thousand years. Only his eyes—clouded, wooden, empty—remained, reflecting nothing, like two dry wells leading into absolute void.
He raised his right hand, a withered index finger with gray, decayed nail pointing remotely at the Lord of the Forgotten River.
No sound.
Yet centered on the monk’s fingertip, space within a hundred zhang suddenly collapsed inward!
At the very first move, Soundless Ghost Monk used his trump card.
He cultivated the Nirvanic Silence Sutra. This move was one of its terrifying killing techniques—Return-to-Void Finger!
The collapsed space turned into pure darkness, everything within erased.
The darkness rapidly expanded, targeting not only the Lord of the Forgotten River but also the ritual altar.
The Lord’s robe fluttered wildly without wind. He raised both arms and roared, “Forgotten River’s Summon—Ten Thousand Souls Surge!”
Boundless mana erupted, pouring into the Forgotten River water he had drawn forth.
The phantoms of billions of departed souls shrieked within the waters before merging into a viscous gray-white torrent, thick as oil, countless suffering soul-shadows churning inside.
The torrent surged upward, defying the heavens!
It collided fiercely with the black sphere of Return-to-Void.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…
There was no earth-shattering explosion—only the corrosive sound of two ultimate forces annihilating one another.
The murky torrent was continuously erased by the Return-to-Void power, but the Forgotten River water flowed endlessly, the power of souls inexhaustible.
Though the black sphere continued to rotate and devour stubbornly, its expansion was firmly halted by the vast Yellow Springs force. The two forces locked in a breath-stilling stalemate midair!
Soundless Ghost Monk’s empty eyes shifted ever so slightly.
That minute motion did not escape the Lord of the Forgotten River, who inwardly exclaimed, “Not good!”
This place was not atop the Forgotten River itself. He could draw its waters only because of the grand formation here.
And maintaining that formation was not his effort alone. Outside the whirling Yin wind were five Nascent Soul subordinates and thirty thousand Imperial Guards.
Soundless Ghost Monk’s strength had made him the Lord’s great enemy. With just one strike, he had grasped the crux.
He withdrew his finger, allowing the Return-to-Void black sphere to be worn down by the Ten Thousand Souls Surge.
He brought his palms together, then slowly parted them by a thin line.
Under the Heart Imprint, he unleashed another move—Nirvanic Zen Sound!
The Zen sound had no voice and no substance. It could not be captured nor blocked. Like ripples spreading across water, it silently passed through the Yin wind and dispersed outward.
For a fleeting moment, the Lord of the Forgotten River hesitated.
He could save his subordinates. But doing so would inevitably put him on the defensive.
If he did not, they would suffer grievous losses—but he would gain an opportunity to strike Soundless Ghost Monk.
Such an opportunity was rare.
When experts clashed, they fought for the slightest edge.
Once seized, that edge could expand into advantage, and advantage into momentum.
It was the same in war. At its fiercest moment, one fought for a fleeting battle opportunity.
The Funeral Music Phantom Performer opening the city gates—that was a fleeting opportunity.
Tie Guzheng repelling the White Bone Crocodile Demon—also fighting for that sliver.
Now, the four Ghost Generals charging at the Paper Effigy Colossus—another fleeting opportunity.
“Not good! The Paper Effigy Colossus has not yet been fully activated. Warm Soft Jade is unconscious—this is its weakest moment.”
“If the enemy exploits this, we will lose a Nascent Soul–level combatant!” Tie Guzheng was frantic but powerless to reach in time.
The Ghost Generals laughed loudly as they closed in.
The Long-Axe Ghost General leapt out once more, his body igniting with幽blue ghostfire as he aimed to cleave the colossus’s lower leg.
Bang!
The Paper Effigy Colossus suddenly kicked out, sending the Long-Axe Ghost General flying.
“Ugh!!” The remaining three Ghost Generals were stunned.
Inside the Paper Effigy Colossus, Ning Zhuo, who had arrived just in time, had flames of battle blazing in his eyes. He snorted coldly.
“Don’t even think about touching my mother’s things!”