Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 115: Second Form of Swallowing Soul, Ghost Devourer!

Chapter 115: Second Form of Swallowing Soul, Ghost Devourer!

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The white-robed woman’s smile widened. She no longer concealed her appearance, and her facial features warped into that of a ghost with a demonic goat head. Then, she respectfully stood to one side.

“Little Lamb didn’t trick you. It’s true that the mirage demons here are formed from the souls of the disciples who died here,” Zuo Yanran’s crisp voice resounded out. “Senior Martial Brother Zhao, this is that Xu Disheng person that I was telling you about. Last time, he kept on humiliating me, and in his depraved rambling… he even said he wanted me to become his concubine!”

A man and a woman walked out from the passage behind Xu Disheng, shoulder to shoulder. The woman in the red dress was none other than Zuo Yanran.

The girl had a pout on her face, and her eyes were moist with tears as she gazed at the handsome man by her side.

Zhao Yueban’s gaze became chilly. He reached out to stroke the head of the goat-headed ghost and said, “Don’t think that you can act so brazenly just because you have the Celestial Tide Spirit Master at your back. I’ll teach you a lesson today, that there are people in the Mingxin Mountain Range that you can’t afford to provoke.”

Xu Disheng was completely expressionless. He said flatly, “I didn’t even bother to conceal my whereabouts. If you two really wanted to find me and give me a hard time, what was the point of going through the effort to lure me here?”

Zuo Yanran scoffed coldly and pointed in the direction of the central plaza. “Senior Martial Brother Yu and the others forbid us from taking others’ lives, especially those of the top ranking disciples. No matter who loses or who wins in a battle, they said that we have to let the other live,” she said, twirling her hair around her pale, slender finger. “If we didn’t spend a bit more effort to lure you into the Hidden Dragon Sealing Array that Senior Martial Brother Zhao laid down beforehand, how else would we hide the fact that we took your worthless life here?”

A little hesitant, Zhao Yueban said, “Junior Martial Sister Yanran, didn’t we agree earlier that we would only cripple his legs? If Senior Martial Brother Yu and Senior Martial Brother He hold us accountable, it’d be a bit problematic.”

Zuo Yanran was beautiful, but the words she spat out of her mouth only became more malicious. “Senior Martial Brother Zhao, your Hidden Dragon Sealing Array can conceal all power fluctuations at the Dao Foundation stage and under. If you and I don’t say anything, who would know how he died? The only conclusion they could arrive at is that his cultivation methods weren’t good enough, and he died while trying to kill a peak Dao Foundation stage mirage demon. It would be a perfectly logical conclusion to arrive at, too.”

Then, she reached out a soft, warm hand and grasped Zhao Yueban’s hand, gently intertwining her fingers with his.

Feeling Zuo Yanran’s tender hand in his grasp, Zhao Yueban’s heart throbbed with hot and heavy desire. He turned to look at the dainty girl in the red dress at his side, hating that he couldn’t pick her up by the waist and ravage her right here and now.

Forcing himself to hold back his urges, Zhao Yueban said to Xu Disheng, “A newly risen Sea of Qi stage genius like you, soaring up to these heights, only to fall to the depths right here… If you want to find someone to blame, you can only blame yourself for provoking Junior Martial Sister Yanran.”

The two of them were treating Xu Disheng as if he was a slab of meat on a chopping block, unilaterally deciding his death.

Zhao Yueban had placed 8th in the first round of the Sea of Qi division of the tournament. He had several Magic Treasures in his possession, and he was only inferior to He Junyu in strength by a smidgen, so he naturally had the qualifications to be speaking in this manner.

However, that smidgen was like an insurmountable gap. After all, He Junyu’s special Magic Treasure, the Thunderflame Pagoda, was a Psychic Magic Treasure.

Just this one Psychic Magic Treasure was strong enough to measure up to the entire arsenal of an ordinary Dao Foundation stage Deacon, and even surpass it by a bit.

If He Junyu were to take out the Thunderflame Pagoda, suppressing the 8th or 9th place genius would be as simple as snapping his fingers.

Among the disciples at the Sea of Qi stage in the Mingxin Mountain Range, no one dared to challenge the might of the four half-step Dao Foundation stage geniuses at the very top. On the Lightning Cloud Stone Island, they had the power to make the rules, and no disciple would dare to openly defy them.

The reason for that was that each of them had a Psychic Magic Treasure. Although there was still a bit of a gap between He Junyu and these four half-step Dao Foundation stage geniuses, he similarly had a Psychic Magic Treasure, which placed him at a similar level of prestige as them in the eyes of the Sea of Qi stage disciples in the Mingxin Mountain Range.

Not feeling at all like a slab of meat on a chopping block, Xu Disheng looked around at the Hidden Dragon Sealing Array already set up around him. “You said that this sealing array can conceal the power fluctuations of techniques at the Dao Foundation stage and under?”

While Zhao Yueban was still waiting to speak, Zuo Yanran was looking at Xu Disheng’s pretty yet indifferent face, and suddenly felt a bit nervous in her heart. “Senior Martial Brother Zhao, hurry up and kill him. I don’t need his points. You can have all of them,” she said.

Zhao Yueban’s eyes lit up. Zuo Yanran hadn’t mentioned this matter regarding the points earlier. He cast a pitiful gaze at Xu Disheng and conjured a scarlet longsword in his hand. His figure flashed, and in the next moment, he arrived in front of Xu Disheng. The scarlet longsword Magic Treasure in his hand carved down ruthlessly towards him, leaving behind a phantom afterimage!

Clearly, Zhao Yueban was similar to Jie Zizhuo, who Xu Disheng had fought before, since they both specialized in body refinement and close quarters combat. However, the Remnant Rainbow Sword in his hand was a top-grade Magic Treasure, and was stronger than Jie Zizhuo’s Heavenly Emperor Saber by far more than ten times.

Xu Disheng couldn’t block it in time!

Zhao Yueban was too fast. Although Xu Disheng managed to push the might of the Soul Suppressing Vestment to its fullest in that time, throwing up a concentrated black protective barrier in front of him, it was still cleaved apart by the scarlet sword light.

The scarlet sword light didn’t stop there, however, the remaining force cutting into Xu Disheng’s body. The Soul Suppressing Vestment’s inherent defenses managed to block a good portion of the impact, but Xu Disheng was blasted into the roof of the stone room behind him. Stone and rocky debris were sent flying, and a small stream of blood trickled from his mouth.

Zhao Yueban lifted the scarlet Remnant Rainbow Sword and shook his head. “Junior Martial Sister Yanran, he wasn’t even able to block a casual sword strike from me. How did he even manage to stand up against you before?”

Zuo Yanran’s face turned stiff. She definitely wouldn’t reveal the fact that her White Lotus Array Flag had suffered a loss.

The White Lotus Array Flag was her strongest Magic Treasure. As long as a target was suppressed within, practically no living being would be able to resist the attacks of the Soul-Devouring White Lotus Petals.

Xu Disheng’s immunity to the Soul-Devouring White Lotus Petals made her feel a hint of fear.

Fear gave rise to displeasure, and displeasure gave rise to anger. Hatred gave rise to courage, and one thing led to another as she decided to pull Zhao Yueban into it. She had him lay down his Hidden Dragon Sealing Array to hide their traces. She wanted to thoroughly put Xu Disheng down here and have his soul wander the Lightning Cloud Stone Island for eternity.

Xu Disheng got back to his feet, not even wiping the blood from his mouth. His inky black hair began to flutter and drift ominously as black vortexes formed in the deepest depths of his resplendent eyes.

Zhao Yueban placed 8th in the first round of the Sea of Qi division of the tournament, and had several top-grade Magic Treasures on him. Xu Disheng couldn’t even block a casual strike of his Remnant Rainbow Sword.

At the moment, the Soul Suppressing Vestment had only just reached the rank of a Magic Treasure. Its protective strength was easily outmatched by the strength of the Remnant Rainbow Sword, which was a top-grade Magic Treasure.

If it wasn’t for Soul Song, he would have already lost a long time ago, even in that fight against Zuo Yanran.

But in reality, there were no ‘what ifs’.

The hem of Xu Disheng’s Daoist robe fluttered in the wind that picked up and swelled into a gale.

Standing there on the roof of a stone room, Xu Disheng looked down at the goat-headed ghost and said, “A ghost-controlling technique? I can do that too.”

These words were quite deliberate. Even though there was supposedly that Hidden Dragon Sealing Array in place to block others’ perception of what was happening here, there was bound to be some kind of powerful existence backing Zhao Yueban. It was always possible that they might be able to play back the events in the Mirage Sea Realm, so he still had to put on this farce.

Zhao Yueban sneered derisively and said, “You know the patriarch of my Zhao Clan is the ancestor of ghost cultivation in the Mingxin Mountain Range?”

Xu Disheng simply shook his head and demonstrated the might of the second form of the Swallowing Soul Mantra.

Ferocious black winds whistled as they swept up, and the Evil Spirit skull on his shoulder grew with the wind, burgeoning to a height of over 3 meters in an instant.

Seeing the endless bloodlust and killing intent peeking through the slightly closed eyes of that Evil Spirit skull, a light gleamed in Zhao Yueban’s eyes.

Up to this point, Zhao Yueban hadn’t been serious. After Xu Disheng ate that casual strike of his earlier, he figured Xu Disheng was just a small fry with only two Magic Treasures on him.

But seeing this Evil Spirit skull, an interest was piqued within him.

The Zhao Clan of Mingxin Mountain Range’s Ghost Controlling Peak was widely renowned for the last several thousand years for cultivating and using ghosts. There was an extremely unfamiliar aura to this Evil Spirit skull that Xu Disheng conjured, which inspired an enthusiasm in him, similar to that of a kindred spirit.

The anxious, hurried feeling in Zuo Yanran’s chest became even heavier. As she gazed at that Evil Spirit skull, she felt an ominous, foreboding premonition.

“Swallowing Soul, Ghost Devourer.”

It was the advanced spell of the Swallowing Soul Mantra, Ghost Devourer! After the black Soul Force flute had undergone a transition from illusory to reality, he was able to use this move.

It wasn’t like the first form of the Swallowing Soul Mantra, where the Evil Spirit skull would immediately open its mouth. Instead, it charged at Zhao Yueban, stirring up whistling black winds as it shot forward!

“Good!” Zhao Yueban shouted, a small black net appeared from his hand, which increased in size and wrapped itself around the approaching Evil Spirit skull.

In his enthusiasm, he actually wanted to try capturing this Evil Spirit skull!

However, his complexion changed slightly as the Evil Spirit skull ripped a hole through the black net. It seemed to become illusory for a moment and passed right through the net, arriving above his head in the blink of an eye!

“No way…! This Ghost Refining Net that brother-in-law gave me is a Magic Treasure specifically for restraining ghosts. Why did it not work at all?” Zhao Yueban exclaimed doubtfully. However, he didn’t pay the approaching Evil Spirit skull any particular mind.

After all, Xu Disheng’s performance earlier was simply too weak.

Plus, everyone knew that he had the Yin Yang Diagram and the Glorious Sun Bow. No one had even heard of this Evil Spirit skull, so how could it be strong at all?

A cloud of white smoke appeared in front of Zhao Yueban. With the splendor it emitted, it was clearly a top-grade defensive-type Magic Treasure.

Zuo Yanran’s heart suddenly fluctuated wildly. She retreated in a panic and screamed, “Senior Martial Brother Zhao, watch out!!”

Zhao Yueban chuckled and said, “My Smoky Cloud Screen can even block several hits from our Senior Martial Brothers’ Psychic Magic Treasures before breaking. How could…”

Before he could finish speaking, the Evil Spirit skull became completely illusory and passed right through the Smoky Cloud Screen’s barrier as if it didn’t exist. The sinister maw of the skull opened wide and pierced right through the top of Zhao Yueban’s skull, tearing out an extremely rich and concentrated portion of his soul.

“Senior Martial Brother Zhao?!” Zuo Yanran shrieked, her expression changing wildly.

Zhao Yueban’s head turned around, but his eyes were blank and vacant. “Ahh… I was…?”

The Evil Spirit skull turned itself around and transformed from reality to illusory again, piercing through the Smoky Cloud Screen around his body. The Evil Spirit skull penetrated his skull again, taking the remaining entirety of his soul with it.

The light faded from Zhao Yueban’s eyes, and he slowly sank to the ground.

The Evil Spirit skull flew back to Xu Disheng’s side and turned into countless motes of black light, which merged into his sea of consciousness.

Ghost Devourer, the second form of the Swallowing Soul Mantra, wasn’t simply its advanced form. It also had some similarities to the second scripture of Soul Song, the Passing Soul Mantra.

However, the people who were killed by the Passing Soul Mantra would have their souls completely erased without a trace.

On the other hand, the souls swallowed by the Ghost Devourer could be turned into Soul Force for his own use.

“Senior Martial Brother Zhao? How… could you…?” Zuo Yanran muttered, seeming like she would fall apart at any moment. “How could this be…? How could your Smoky Cloud Screen not be able to block it? What kind of cultivation method was that?!”

It wasn’t just this that led Zuo Yanran’s mental state to deteriorate to this point. Xu Disheng was also strangely immune to her White Lotus Array Flag’s soul devouring spell, and now he even unleashed this bizarre spell that somehow managed to kill Zhao Yueban.

Zhao Yueban was the 8th place genius in the entire Mingxin Mountain Range! On top of all the Magic Treasures on him, he was a direct descendant of the main branch of the Ghost Controlling Peak’s Zhao Clan. He was the blood relative of a Divine Core stage Spirit Master!

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