Chapter 26: Sacrifice

The dense fog couldn't obscure the brilliant red light. At that moment, Zhao Rucheng had just scrambled to his feet, almost overwhelmed by the swarm of wandering souls.

But Du Yehu had arrived!

He didn't even need to move. The dense power of his vital energy dispersed the approaching wandering souls.

Du Yehu was utterly decisive. He grabbed Zhao Rucheng's collar and hauled him towards Linghe.

Having taken a vicious swipe from the Grievance Ghost, the older brothers were worried sick. Only Zhao Rucheng didn't seem injured at all, complaining irritably, "Hey, hey, I can walk myself!"

Du Yehu ignored him, and halfway there, tossed the noisy Zhao Rucheng towards Linghe. At the same time, he turned, and his fist, wrapped in dense vital energy, slammed hard into the Grievance Ghost.

Leaving aside Linghe catching Zhao Rucheng in mid-air, let's just talk about Du Yehu's fist.

Compared to the Purple Qi Comes East Sword, his fist techniques weren't as advanced, and were even rather unpopular in the outer sect of the Daoist Academy. But the way he used them was exceptionally violent.

This punch didn't seek an opening; it met the Grievance Ghost's giant claw head-on, strength against strength, attack against attack. It was truly unyielding!

The substantial power of his vital energy enveloped his iron fist, clashing against the dark-green giant claw with a thunderous impact, momentarily holding its own.

Just then, Jiang Wang leaped forward again. The sword flashed, and he had already slashed open the Grievance Ghost's other eye.

"Retreat!"

Jiang Wang retreated as soon as he succeeded, and Du Yehu also jumped back quickly.

The blinded Grievance Ghost grew even more berserk, wildly flailing its giant claws, stirring up fierce gusts of wind around it.

Once its attacks slackened slightly, Jiang Wang turned back again, the long sword drawing a graceful arc in the air, drifting lightly like a falling leaf towards the Grievance Ghost's right claw, almost silently. But the moment it touched the dark-green claws, it erupted with an unparalleled sharp whistle!

The third move of the Purple Qi Comes East Swordplay, the key was in sharpness!

With just one sword strike, the Grievance Ghost's right claw was severed.

Jiang Wang didn't linger at all, even starting to retreat as he struck.

The Grievance Ghost, having lost its sight, could only desperately lash out at the air in front of it. Meanwhile, Du Yehu, burning with intense vital energy, had turned to its back and leaped high, clasping his right fist with his left hand, swinging his arms like a hammer, slamming them down on the Grievance Ghost's hideous head.

Boom!

Vital energy wolf smoke naturally countered ghosts, not to mention how fierce Du Yehu's strike was. The fist wrapped in layers of vital energy blasted the Grievance Ghost's entire head open!

Du Yehu was unable to dodge in time, getting splattered with dark-green foul blood, but it was quickly incinerated by his vital energy.

Only when the Grievance Ghost's headless corpse fell did the red light on Du Yehu's body fade, his face instantly turning pale.

Jiang Wang leaped to Du Yehu's side, reaching out to support him. "Brother Hu, this…"

Vital energy was the foundation of a person. Even Jiang Wang, now condensing his Dao source, had to start with the supply of vital energy. Du Yehu's strength just now came at the cost of burning himself. He wasn't a martial artist specializing in martial arts and couldn't lock down such immense vital energy. This battle would take him at least five years to recover.

Five years at the beginning of cultivation, how long that was! Not to mention the problem of declining vital energy with age. A step slow, step by step slow, it could mean that he would be forever cut off from the extraordinary.

But Du Yehu hadn't hesitated earlier. He hadn't been able to think so much at that critical moment of life and death, and the more instinctive such a choice, the more it verified his true heart.

"It's nothing." Du Yehu secretly adjusted his breathing, recovering a little strength, and pushed Jiang Wang away. "I'm not at the point where I can't walk yet. Let's go, the situation in the central palace is definitely more dangerous."

Linghe was undoubtedly full of worry, but it wasn't appropriate to say much at this time. He transferred Zhao Rucheng to his back, then stepped forward, picked up his sword from the Grievance Ghost's corpse, and silently guarded Du Yehu's side.

He had also burned his vital energy earlier, but only a small amount, which didn't affect his foundation. So he still had the strength to fight.

Jiang Wang, as the only intact and strongest fighter among the four, naturally had to remain flexible, so that he could strike at any time. So he just walked ahead with his sword, without offering a hand.

Only Zhao Rucheng was still muttering complaints: "It's still the boss who is considerate. Tiger is clumsy, really, carrying me like a chick, what's that supposed to look like? If Miss Miaoyu finds out, won't my heroic image be ruined?"

Miaoyu was now the top courtesan of the Three Points of Fragrance Brothel, and the most popular girl in the Maplewood City pleasure district. Zhao Rucheng had already spent thousands of taels of silver at the Three Points of Fragrance Brothel to win her favor, but had yet to succeed.

Du Yehu didn't say a word, not because he didn't want to beat him up, or at least scold him, but because he really didn't have the strength.

"Alright, alright," Jiang Wang said impatiently, "Besides the wandering souls without intelligence, there are only Grievance Ghosts with chaotic minds here. Who are you trying to show your image to?"

"Who can say for sure?" Zhao Rucheng perked up instead, leaning on Linghe's back, gesticulating. "What if there's a beautiful female ghost hiding somewhere, peeping at me? A beautiful encounter ruined just like that. Can Tiger afford this loss?"

Du Yehu almost sat up in shock, rising from his deathbed, bursting out with a trace of remaining strength to beat up this motormouth.

Before he could erupt, Linghe, with a backhand, jabbed upwards with the hilt of his sword.

"Hiss…" Zhao Rucheng gasped, his arrogance immediately vanishing.

……

……

Beyond that heavy fog wall, in the center of Little Forest Town, which was also the central palace of this Nine Palaces Formation.

A huge vortex was slowly spinning. The original appearance of this place could no longer be recognized; everything had dissolved into this silent vortex. Besides this vortex, there was nothing else. The center of the vortex was pure black, as if it could draw people's vision into it, and no one could escape.

Beside the vortex stood four cultivators with long breaths, each with abundant Dao sources. All were clad in black robes, their eyes fixed straight ahead.

Not far in front of the vortex, there was a house that had been smashed to pieces, nothing left but a brick wall.

A woman in red leaned casually against this wall, her expression languid.

She was wrapped up tightly, yet somehow gave off an endless allure. In her hand, she held an oval mirror, but the mirror didn't reflect her beautiful face, but rather the figures fighting the Grievance Ghosts in the Nine Palaces Formation.

"The disciples of the Maplewood City Daoist Academy aren't that great this year. Only those few sword techniques are passable," the woman in red muttered, flipping her hand to put away the mirror.

"Alright, the time has come. If I'd known it would be so smooth, I would have taken a longer nap," the woman in red said, yawning as she walked gracefully towards the vortex. "So sleepy…"

Arriving in front of this mysterious vortex, her expression became slightly more serious. She turned to the side and bowed respectfully. "Respectfully requesting the Elder."

The four black-robed cultivators also bowed with her.

Then, from the dense fog, an old man with white hair walked out. The old man's face was wrinkled like old tree bark, his eyes were very cloudy, he was hunchbacked, and even his steps were faltering.

But as he walked step by step, his back straightened inch by inch, and his aura continued to soar.

He ignored the woman in red and the others, only staring at the vortex, as if staring at his eternal love, his gaze incomparably devout.

By the time he reached the vortex, his aura was already as deep as the sea, making it difficult for people to breathe.

The woman in red lowered her head even further.

The white-haired old man retracted his ring and little fingers, forming a triangle with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger covering his heart, and chanted softly: "Bottom of the River of Forgetfulness, Abyss of the Yellow Springs. Venerable God returns to the world, illuminating the mortal realm."

Then he took out a white bone dagger and inserted it neatly into the crown of his head, his whole body falling straight into the vortex!