After Saving the Self-Destructing Ghost King - Chapter 1

“Tell me, when will those two fellows down there figure it out?” A figure sat atop a towering locust tree, looking down nonchalantly from above at the tall and short daoists who had mistakenly wandered into the ghost domain. A pitch-black long saber was stabbed directly into a tree branch, its crimson blade wreathed in baleful qi as the speaker held it in their grip.

“Judging by their physiognomy, those two have probably been inside this ghost village for three whole days. A pot of wine, I bet they won’t figure it out.” A cold yet soft voice drifted out from the blood-jade bead resting against the speaker’s neck. Though the tone lacked confidence, it remained focused on the situation below the tree.

Down below, the tall and short daoists strictly speaking, the shorter of the two was actually a young daotong (daoist acolyte) were wearing solemn expressions as they stared at the bagua compass in their hands. The needle upon it was spinning wildly like a headless fly before suddenly and fiercely halting right at the locust tree before their eyes.

Three days ago, Daoist Guiyun had been wandering around on travels with his acolyte when he suddenly sensed a faint, lingering yin qi nearby. At its peak, it felt as oppressive as towering resentment, yet at its weakest, it vanished entirely. The two used their compass to search for three days, finally locating the source today, and immediately quickened their pace to investigate, only to be informed by the local village chief that strange phenomena had been occurring within the village.

The village was named Liu Family Village. During the upheavals of the former dynasty, the former village chief had led the villagers into the mountains to escape calamity, eventually settling down there as time passed. Their attire and customs still faintly maintained the style of the former dynasty.

Yet such a utopian, secluded haven was overflowing with dense yin qi.

Guiyun did not dare to blindly trust the villagers’ words, nor would he allow the acolyte to touch any food within the houses. Taking advantage of the thick night shadows, he ventured out to investigate, only to discover that the direction pointed out by the bagua compass was none other than the large locust tree he had laid eyes upon the moment he entered the village.

At that moment, a shrill, miserable wail pierced through the low-roofed huts, carrying a cloud-like torrent of resentment and fury straight toward the nine heavens, only to gradually lose its support midway and finally dissipate alongside lingering grievance.

The acolyte had long since retreated in terror behind Guiyun, his small hands tightly clutching the hem of Guiyun’s daoist robe, his eyes opened to their absolute widest.

Guiyun retrieved a jade Buddha from his sleeve and hung it around the acolyte’s neck, while he himself drew a peach-wood sword and stepped to the front.

That piercing, miserable shriek just now sounded as though it was on the verge of breaking through to the level of a fierce ghost. Only those who suffered immense torment before death and slaughtered over a hundred people after turning into ghosts could be classified as fierce ghosts. But if it truly was a fierce ghost, their trip this time around would likely spell disaster.

Guiyun concentrated his mind and steadied his spirit, advancing sword in hand step by step toward the source of the sound. Yet as they drew closer to the source, Guiyun’s steps grew increasingly difficult, reaching a point where every movement required immense exertion.

Guiyun shielded the acolyte and took a step back, flicking out several thunder-fire talismans toward the large locust tree. The tree’s originally thick trunk instantly gained several scorched black marks.

Thoroughly enraged, the locust tree didn’t wait for Guiyun to hurl another talisman before violent winds suddenly whipped up all around. Every single leaf and locust blossom on the tree shook frantically with the wind, launching a collective assault straight at Guiyun!

Guiyun used his left hand to shield the acolyte while wielding his peach-wood sword with his right to parry, yet under the onslaught of the locust tree, he gradually found himself overwhelmed and losing ground. Thus, seeing the next wave of locust blossoms once again targeting him, Guiyun instinctively raised his sword to block, only to discover that the oncoming blossoms abruptly altered their trajectory, shooting straight toward the acolyte behind him.

Oh no!

The acolyte closed his eyes in terror, but the anticipated pain never arrived. Guiyun blinked in surprise and turned his gaze upward toward the tree.

“Using these two rookie ghosts to lure me out, and making me lose a pot of wine for nothing is that all the capability you two have?”

The speaker was dressed in brown short-garb, looking to be in his early twenties. He possessed striking, handsome features, though his brows and eyes were overflowing with unbridled defiance. At that moment, he was seated atop the tree in a wild, unrestrained posture, the hand that had just tossed a stone not yet fully retracted.

Though Guiyun’s mind was filled with doubt, this young man had just saved him, so Guiyun immediately expressed his gratitude: “I am Guiyun, and this is my disciple. Thank you, benefactor, for your rescue. May I ask what your esteemed name is…”

The figure on the tree let out a scoff, stood up, and leaped down from the tree. Staring up and down at the daoist, he finally spoke: “I’ve only been dead for seventeen years, yet it seems people have already forgotten me, and even daoists from the Daoist sects have fallen to such a state.”

This person was able to rescue Guiyun with a single strike, so his strength was evidently formidable, and his words casually referred to Guiyun and the acolyte as “two rookie ghosts.” A terrible premonition arose in Guiyun’s heart, though he hesitated for a long time, not daring to ask out loud.

Noticing Guiyun’s hesitation, the man suddenly posed a seemingly unrelated question: “Daoist, aren’t you hungry?”

Guiyun froze, instinctively shaking his head and opening his mouth to reply, only to be forcefully interrupted: “You aren’t hungry, but is the kid beside you not hungry either?”

A flash of anger stirred within Guiyun. Just what kind of situation were they in right now? Even if this young man possessed some skill, he had no business joking around like this! Guiyun was just about to retort when he caught sight of the other party looking at him with deep significance, a playful smile hanging on his face. Guiyun froze, suddenly understanding something, and his complexion instantly turned ghastly pale. He whipped his head around to look at the acolyte behind him.

“Finally figured it out?”

The moment those words dropped, the last shred of color drained from Guiyun’s face, replaced by the pale, corpse-like hue exclusive to ghosts.

He remembered now. He had indeed led his disciple out to hunt ghosts following the sounds, but during his confrontation with the locust tree, he had been affected by the ghost qi, distorting his perception of time and tricking him into believing it was only the first day of his standoff with the tree, when in truth three whole days had already passed!

Three days without food or water, feeling no hunger, and still capable of fighting supernatural entities only one possibility remained: ghost qi had invaded him, and he was no longer human.

Ghost qi invasion gradually corrodes a person’s five senses, causing them to unconsciously lose their perception of hunger and exhaustion. If left unchecked, even if the physical body remains undestroyed, the influence of ghost qi will transform them into a living corpse that is neither human nor ghost. Guiyun had dedicated his life to exterminating evil ghosts and had long known this fate awaited him one day, but his acolyte was exceptional and absolutely could not perish here!

Now sober, Guiyun looked toward the young man before him, suddenly noticing the red jade bead dangling from his neck when he leaped down from the tree earlier, as well as the sword wrapped in white cloth strips strapped across his back. Trembling, he spoke: “Sword on your back, red bead at your neck could you possibly be… the Ghost King of Huancang Mountain who perished seventeen years ago, Yan Baichuan?!”

“Decent eyes, pity that this sword isn’t that sword.” Yan Baichuan didn’t look at Guiyun, instead focusing his attention on the youth behind him: “Born in the year, month, and hour of the Dragon—no wonder even after you daoists died, he still has a breath left in him.” With that, Yan Baichuan suddenly drew his blade and slashed toward the acolyte.

Yan Baichuan’s speed was far too fast; the acolyte had no time to dodge. In a flash, he only felt blade-light sweep across his eyes, accompanied by a shrill, miserable ghost shriek erupting behind him, which rapidly faded into nothingness.

The acolyte turned around in a daze to look behind him, only managing to catch a glimpse of the final wisp of black smoke before the evil ghost dissipated entirely.

Guiyun offered his thanks to Yan Baichuan: “Many thanks for benefactor’s rescue. Yet these locust blossoms are exceedingly foul; clearly devoid of spirit, yet they act as though sentient. I beg benefactor to exercise utmost caution.”

Yan Baichuan looked toward the “locust blossoms” upon the tree and shouted upward: “Hey, are you done playing yet? I have no patience to keep wasting time here.”

The moment Yan Baichuan’s voice fell, a light chuckle suddenly rang out from the tree. A young man of stunning, exquisite appearance, dressed in grand attire of gold and crimson, materialized from the branches, leisurely playing with a folding fan in his hand with a pleasant expression: “Yan Baichuan, you just lost a pot of wine to me, and you’re already in such a rush? I still wanted to fly a kite.”

“The sooner we finish, the better. There are plenty of places more fun than this. Right, Ghost You?” Yan Baichuan gripped the hilt of his saber tightly, while Jin You gritted his teeth and cursed: “Shut your trap, my name is Jin You!”

Jin You raised a hand, and a gust of water mist materialized out of thin air, tightly enveloping the locust tree. Yan Baichuan carefully stroked the blade in his hand, his expression brimming with curiosity and provocation: “Old Daoist, open your eyes wide and take a good look at what is actually up on that tree, let’s use this opportunity for me to test out the new blade Qin Guang gave me, and see if it truly lives up to its name, A Single Stroke to Sever Fate.”

Guiyun stared wide-eyed at the tree. The water mist suddenly scattered in all directions, returning to Jin You’s hand, and the illusion shrouding the locust tree vanished along with it, allowing Guiyun to finally witness the true appearance of the “locust blossoms” on the tree—

Countless human bodies hung from the branches, scattered high and low like clusters of locust blossoms “bearing fruit” upon the tree. Their withered, dried skin stretched taut like oil-paper over sharply protruding bones, their heads tilted high with hair splayed out like kites made of human skin, their eyes brimming with hatred as they stared chillingly at the people below!

This was no locust tree at all; it was clearly a dumping ground for corpses!

The scene was far too horrifying; a chill shot straight from the soles of Guiyun’s feet to his heart, plunging his entire body into a freezing numbness. Guiyun instinctively took a step back, blinking in disbelief as he watched the “human-skin kites” from moments before abruptly contort their expressions. The grins stretching across their mouths threatened to tear their skin apart as they glared eerily at Guiyun, and the next second, they launched a simultaneous assault!

“Jin You, hurry up and help me drag these two nuisances out of the way! I won’t care if they get caught in the crossfire!” Yan Baichuan clasped his saber hilt as a surge of bloody baleful qi instantly erupted around him. Jin You used the water mist to whisk Guiyun and the acolyte away from the spot, cursing furiously in utter exasperation: “Your grandfather’s, Yan Baichuan, I’m not your errand boy! The moment we get out here, you start bossing me around?”

“My family members all died ages ago, so I don’t have any grandfathers. Just do a good deed and help me out. But right now, it’s time for these things!”

Yan Baichuan’s draw had been so swift that Guiyun only now fully beheld the appearance of the long saber in his hand.

It was an exquisite yet archaic saber, its body pitch-black save for a blade as crimson as fresh blood. Ghost motifs and unfamiliar arrays were engraved upon the hilt. If the one named Jin You hadn’t timely pulled them away from the spot, they too would have been in grave peril.

Yan Baichuan’s hand lightly brushed across the blade, and without a moment’s hesitation, he brought it down in a slash toward the massive locust tree. The accumulated blood instantly unfurled like a crimson moon, piercing clean through the locust tree without stopping, flying straight out of the village without a single echo.

Heaven and earth seemed to fall silent for a fraction of a second before countless ghost faces furious, terrified, uneasy, resentful flickered and shifted back and forth like a revolving lantern. There were well over a hundred evil ghosts trapped within the tree, having claimed even more human lives. A thick, reeking black fog lunged toward Yan Baichuan in a bid for mutual destruction, but Yan Baichuan merely smiled wantonly, clenching his palm fiercely toward the black fog. In an instant, all the black fog scattered into nothingness.

Guiyun gazed up at the sky, reciting in a daze: “One stroke unleashed, a hundred ghosts erased is this the Ghost King, Yan Baichuan?”