Chapter 36
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Translator: transcendentwings
Editor: teaff
. . .The palm that he originally wanted to place on Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder passed through Xu Xingzhi’s body without hindrance.
Zhou Beinan stared at his translucent fingertips and laughed: “. . . That’s right, I’m already dead.”
He placed his hand on the edge, tightened his fingers until a fine line of soil tumbled into the bottom of the pit, covering the body of white bones with a layer of ash and dirt.
After a moment, a hand slowly passed through his palm, overlapping and covering it.
Zhou Beinan lowered his head: “. . . What are you doing?”
Xu Xingzhi turned his face to gaze out at the barren wasteland: “Comforting you ah, I’m afraid that you would take it too hard and jump.”
Zhou Beinan shuddered: “Scram, it’s sickening me to death.”
. . . Yet he didn’t withdraw his hand.
“These years you’ve spent with Jiu Zhideng seem to have treated you quite well, why did you come to the wasteland again ne.” After a moment, Zhou Beinan continued, “I had a bad fate from the beginning and ran into that b*stard surnamed Nan as soon as I was cast in here. Why would you willingly rush over to suffer as well.”
Xu Xingzhi inexplicably recalled Huang Shanyue, the female disciple of Fengling who kidnapped him: “. . . Do you regret it?”
“Regret?” Zhou Beinan shrugged, “The only thing I regret is that I didn’t protect Xiao-Xian’er well. When I was lying at the bottom of the pit, I just kept thinking, why am I still alive, it’s better to just obtain peace after death.”
“. . . I didn’t expect it to not be peaceful even after death.”
Muttering, Zhou Beinan raised his head and swore at the heavens.
Xu Xingzhi reminded: “Ai, be careful of being struck by thunder.”
“Can it hear me?” Zhou Beinan lifted his head to accuse, “. . . Can you f*cking hear it? Ah?”
Naturally no one answered him.
Zhou Beinan pointed to the sky and declared: “It can’t hear me. In the savage wasteland, there are no heavenly forces at all.”
Xu Xingzhi sighed: “Why is it the same as in childhood? Not counting bickering with me, now you even have to go against the heavens for argument’s sake, are you some sort of rebelling demon.”
Zhou Beinan: “. . .”
Xu Xingzhi himself was a little stunned.
He originally wanted to find some pleasant words to comfort Zhou Beinan, but when he opened his mouth, the ridicule and mockery just flowed out on its own.
The heartbreaking atmosphere was instantly swept away, and it looked like Zhou Beinan wanted to strangle Xu Xingzhi a little right here right now from his expression.
However Xu Xingzhi felt that Zhou Beinan was more lively and interesting when acting like this and just continued to lament: “The ability to be defiant is not weak, though your combat prowess is certainly average.”
Zhou Beinan snorted: “. . . You won’t be thinking that when I pin you down and beat you up later.”
Xu Xingzhi wanted to say something else, but abruptly felt a chill behind him. He swiveled around just in time to see the encroaching black ash blasting him directly in the face, instantly allowing him to catch sight of the one person and one ghost at the edge of the pit.
. . . It was after himself?
It’s Nan Li?
The change came so suddenly and the look on Zhou Beinan’s face also transformed swiftly. In order to keep Xu Xingzhi from falling into the hands of those who arrived, he cursed loudly, and circulated his energy to shove Xu Xingzhi headfirst into the pit as the long spear by his waist flew outward, whistling through the air. It cut a white streak through space as if it pierced through the clouds and cleaved the moon, pinning Xu Xingzhi’s fluttering robes to the wall of the pit.
. . . He sighed heavily, Zhou Beinan really was his bro, forged from steel.
But when the dust and smoke cleared, Xu Xingzhi’s expression completely distorted.
Zhou Beinan’s flank was impaled by a Yanling long saber and bright red blood glared vividly at the corner of his lips.
“Same as before, a feint would distract you.” Nan Li yanked the blade out, making the blood gush out from the wound with a hualala, “. . . You’re already someone who has died once, how come you haven’t learned your lesson?”
Although his words seemed to be playful, not having seen him for a few days, Nan Li’s eyes were already red from forbearance and the corner of his lips were full of blisters. He must’ve suffered greatly, shuttling between life and death from the uninterrupted torture of the past few days.
He kicked Zhou Beinan aside.
Only ghostly weapons could injure ghost servants. Large bloodstains bloomed on Zhou Beinan’s chest, thoroughly soaking his garments.
Xu Xingzhi exclaimed: “Beinan!”
As soon as his words fell, Xu Xingzhi was seized and he was lifted up by a violent force. The short spear that nailed him to the wall of the pit loosened, falling straight to the bottom, scattering Zhou Beinan’s remains lying down below.
C ofk ybcfr mgjmxfv jcv j ojlca iluta oijrtfv yfakffc atf tbgglolmjiis vjwjufv ybcfr jr lo la gfrbcjafv klat rbwfatlcu.
Ktf raffi rqfjg atja kjr kfvufv lcab atf rmjqeij fwlaafv j olcf, ecvfafmajyif rbecv.
“Weng—”
Rjc Ol vlvc’a kjca ab kjraf jcs alwf ja jii, tf jirb vlvc’a tjnf atja wemt alwf ab rqjgf.
An empty soul-locking jade vessel suddenly appeared in the palm of his hand.
Starting from before, a large patch of pure golden spiritual power encircled the land within a hundred meter radius, isolating all spiritual power fluctuations originating in this area from the outside world.
He obviously knew that it would be difficult to cover Meng Chongguang’s eyes and ears with this method for very long, thus every word he spoke was filled with urgency: “Return the soul of the little cultivator to me!”
The stray hairs on Xu Xingzhi’s forehead were messy, a few locks of it hung down, and there was a densely suppressed wrath in his voice: “He’s dead.”
“Is that so?” Nan Li’s facial features twisted for a moment, “Then pay it back with your life ba.”
Before he finished speaking, Nan Li’s fingertips already slashed open the left side of Xu Xingzhi’s chest and blood gushed out immediately. Xu Xingzhi roared in extreme anger, ignoring the pain, his right arm pushed against Nan Li’s chest and his left hand was roughly pressed against Nan Li’s forehead!
Nan Li wanted to sneer, but he couldn’t laugh anymore in the next second.
A stream of pure spiritual power like a massive hand choked him tightly, penetrating into his cranial cavity, wishing to tear him apart from the middle!
The violent flood of spiritual power assaulted Nan Li, and for a moment he acutely felt genuine fear, as if someone pierced his chest with the palm of their hand and was gripping his heart, toying with it.
He had a splitting headache and had no time to ponder about why Xu Xingzhi, who was still a mere mortal a few days ago, suddenly had such power, and sent him flying with one sweep.
Xu Xingzhi’s back collided with a dead withered tree that was more than three meters away and collapsed onto the ground.
He tried to climb to his feet again, but the frantic spiritual power seemed to have drained all of his energy from the inside out. He only propped half of his body up when he was forced to his knees again. The uncontrollable spiritual power undulated in his chest just like strips of thick vines twisting his organs into a mess, causing his chest to feel suffocated and stimulating the impulse to vomit.
Majestic fury emanated out of Nan Li’s chest.
. . . He couldn’t wrap his head around how he was forced into an apprehensive state by a person who couldn’t recover after a fall, just thinking about it made him feel ashamed.
Nan Li was about to activate his spiritual power and make Xu Xingzhi’s heart just implode like this, but a peculiar and extremely frigid whirlwind swirled abruptly, charging at Nan Li like a hungry wolf from deep within the pit, scattering the spiritual power that he just gathered!
Nan Li whipped around in surprise while Xu Xingzhi did his best to sit up.
He thought that it was better to die sitting rather than lying down, but he never thought that he would witness such a scene when he finally sat up.
—Zhou Beinan stood up.
The steel spear melded seamlessly with the back of his blue-veined hand, then in the blink of an eye, his plain robes were replaced by a navy blue robe, arrogantly fluttering in the wind as glowing patterns surged, swarming over his shoulders and sleeves. He rotated the long tasseled-spear slightly. The sharp tip made contact with the air, creating friction, producing a short and sharp bird call, desolate and crisp as if a beacon fire was burning in the light reflected by a cold blade.
And Zhou Beinan stood there, the original lavender cloud pattern between his brow was replaced by a slender and narrow flickering flame pattern, like an eye full of loathing opening on his forehead.
The tip of his left finger dripped with blood and a rune drawn in blood was imprinted on the side of his neck.
“Don’t think about taking anyone away from me again.” Zhou Beinan’s voice was unspeakably cold like the chill of a shadowy forest, “. . . Don’t even dare.”
“. . . You used a forbidden spell?! Just to save this person’s life?!” Nan Li barked in laughter after a moment of shock, “A cultivator becoming self-depreciating to such an extent! First becoming a ghost servant, and then become fallen as an evil wraith? But don’t forget, I am the Ghost King! I am the one who fights using ghosts as my weapon! No matter what kind of monster you become, you will never be my match!”
After declaring that, he drew a spell on the palm of his hand and aimed directly at Zhou Beinan’s forehead.
However, Zhou Beinan disappeared in a split second and the spell was sent into the void, breaking a tree that couldn’t be embraced solidly even with two people, in half.
Of course, any noise created in this hundred meter plot of land wouldn’t be transmitted to the outside world for the time being.
Nan Li furrowed his brow and swept his gaze around.
Among the various ghost types, the malevolent spirit was indeed the most difficult to deal with and its strength would skyrocket to a level several times higher than that of normal spiritual entities. Even if Zhou Beinan recovered the lost half of his soul core, he still wouldn’t have the strength to confront the Ghost King Nan Li at all. Therefore, it wasn’t hard to imagine the reasons for his willingness to fall.
“Could it be that you want to kill me?” Nan Li was incredulous, “You trash, how would you get close to me? I want to see, where would you dare emerge from?’
Surrounded by the sound of the vacant wilderness, the wind was fierce and Nan Li even suspected that Zhou Beinan had heard what he had stated before and already took this opportunity to flee for fear of losing his life.
He didn’t want to bother with Zhou Beinan. All he wanted was simply the remnant of Ye Buyi’s soul.
Regardless of whether what Xu Xingzhi said was the truth, or whether Ye Buyi had really disappeared from his body, Nan Li didn’t intend to let him live any longer.
. . . If anything, it wasn’t a big deal to kill the other first, seal Xu Xingzhi’s soul in his body and slowly extract Ye Buyi from it.
Planning it like this, Nan Li manifested a pitch black ghost nail in his palm. It floated eerily. One became two, two became four, in the blink of an eye, twelve dark and life reaping stars rushed at Xu Xingzhi.
But none of the ghostly nails hurt Xu Xingzhi. Instead, after numerous “ding ding dang dang” sounds rang out, they crashed onto the ground like fallen meteors.
. . . In front of Xu Xingzhi, a towering and shadowy ghost gradually manifested, blocking the attack with a horizontal sweep of a spear.
Nan Li sneered.
. . . Courting death.
He may miss once, but he would never miss twice.
Starting from earlier, he pushed the rune he hid in the palm of his left hand outwards and amidst the sparks of light, it went straight for the afterimage!
Seeing that the afterimage had nowhere to run, a chain with his own mark encircled the other’s neck, and their entire soul seemed to be penetrated by peach wood nails while suspended in the air, unable to move. The corners of Nan Li’s lips curved up into a shallow smirk.
However, the smile had only just formed when it disappeared just as quickly.
He lowered his head in disbelief when he saw the fist-sized bloody hole in his chest. He even reached out to touch it incredulously.
When his hand came away wet, the view before his eyes was already blurred and dim, he couldn’t tell whether the blood staining his palm was red or black anymore.
Nan Li had never felt that the sound of his heart beating was so distinct before, but now, that heart seemed to have left him, thumping like a rabbit hopping in front of his eyes.
Gudong gudong, pengdong pengdong.
—Zhou Beinan passed through the other’s body, and removed Nan Li’s still beating heart in a flamboyant manner.
Xu Xingzhi gaped at Zhou Beinan in a dumbfounded manner. The flame symbol between Zhou Beinan’s eyebrows became more sharp, reflecting a light blue wicked glimmer in his eyes.
He rotated his wrist and appreciated Nan Li’s heart from all sides, uttering softly: “. . . Did you forget, I was torn in half by you. Half of me has been lying here for thirteen years, the other half was actually trash that even forgot about taking revenge.”
Xu Xingzhi finally understood.
That is to say, the half of the soul that was guarding in front of him just now was deliberately torn away by the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan to be used as bait to attract Nan Li’s attention?
Blood poured out of Nan Li’s mouth, a gurgling sound bubbled in his throat. He fell to the ground weakly, supported himself with both hands and slowly crawled forward.
“. . . That waste of half a soul, if you want it, take it ba.” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan snickered in a low voice, “It already belongs to you. It just depends on whether or not you have any vitality to absorb it now.”
Nan Li spat out a mouthful of blood, his elbows pressed down on the rough ground of the wasteland as he dragged himself forwards.
Zhou Beinan, who had turned into a malevolent spirit, stepped on his back, but Nan Li still tried his best to get what he wanted.
. . . The empty soul-locking jade vessel that he had just dropped by accident.
In a panic, he embraced the jade vessel into his arms, as if he had already forgotten that the soul inside it had already disappeared.
And the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan had obviously lost interest in Nan Li’s heart. He cast it on the ground like it was some worthless object. The glaring red heart tumbled a few times and was stained with grass debris.
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan raised his spear and pierced straight through that ragged heart.
Xu Xingzhi shut his eyes abruptly, but still inevitably heard the squelch of blood and flesh.
“I’ve said that I’d impale your heart with one strike.” Zhou Beinan slowly twisted the tip of the spear, “. . . I also have to crush you into ashes with my own hands. I didn’t forget.”
Yet Nan Li couldn’t hear Zhou Beinan’s words anymore.
He cupped the jade vessel in his arms preciously, murmuring in a low voice: “Little cultivator, did you get hurt from the fall. . .”
No one would answer his question any longer, even if someone could, he could no longer hear it.
But Nan Li himself was unaware.
He gazed at the jade vessel with anticipation, waiting for his little cultivator to say a word to him.
After the little cultivator died, he would wait like this every day before going to bed. While waiting, he would ask the little cultivator in his heart: What would you like? Something to eat, something to wear, no matter what it is, enter my dreams to tell me, and I’ll burn it as an offering for you.
However, the little cultivator wouldn’t forgive him. He was so stingy that he wouldn’t even visit his dreams once.
And so he’d just keep waiting like this, hanging on until he fell asleep.
This time, Nan Li bided his time as he always did, until the light of life completely extinguished in his eyes.
The moment Nan Li died, the light shield that blocked the flow of spiritual energy vanished and the talisman that had been nailed on the other half of Zhou Beinan’s soul and hadn’t finished merging with him also dissipated. The half of the soul dispersed into a cloud of smoke and reentered the body of the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan.
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan wasn’t in a hurry to grind Nan Li’s body into ashes.
He sniffed lightly, as if he had caught a whiff of something interesting and looked back at Xu Xingzhi: “Oh? There’s another, fresher heart here.”
Xu Xingzhi was startled: “. . . Beinan?”
Meng Chongguang, who was hundreds of steps away and had been obediently lying on the straw bed, seemed to detect something and abruptly sat up.
“Zhou Beinan, Zhou Beinan. . . . Is this his name?” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan chewed on that name while licking the blood off his fingertips, “It’s not bad. . . . What’s your name?”
Xu Xingzhi fixed his gaze on him vigilantly.
The person before him had the same voice and appearance as Zhou Beinan, but it was like he had been reborn and was just wearing an empty shell of skin and flesh that belonged to Zhou Beinan.
“Forget it.” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan gave up the questioning of his own initiative, retrieved the steel spear back into his palm, and spun it around fluidly, “What’s the purpose in learning the name of one’s meal?”
Zhou Beinan had lost his mind. Red and blue swirled in his eyes, glittering strangely like that of a carnivorous beast.
He cracked his neck slightly, his lips curving sharply upwards as he approached Xu Xingzhi with the spear at hand.
Xu Xingzhi was both shocked and furious as he roared: “Zhou Beinan!”
The murderous intent in Zhou Beinan’s eyes swayed a few times like ripples on water, and the aura on the thin tip as sharp as a blade suddenly softened.
He regarded Xu Xingzhi with a little more confusion as tenderness leaked from his eyes.
However in a split second, Zhou Beinan’s expression turned grim again: “. . . What are you trying to do?”
—He was speaking to the real Zhou Beinan in his body who still maintained a strand of reason.
Xu Xingzhi immediately seized this glimmer of hope and shouted as he backed away: “Beinan, drive him out of your body! Don’t let him control you! Beinan!”
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan revealed a disdainful grin, his lips pulled to the sides, like it was about to split apart.
He raised the long steel spear and aimed the sharp blade at Xu Xingzhi’s heart.
Xu Xingzhi had nowhere to retreat to, but he still refused to give up: “Think about A’Wang! Think of Xiao-Xian’er. . . also Xiao-Lu! Remember who you are! You’re Zhou Beinan! You—”
Before Xu Xingzhi’s voice fell, Meng Chongguang suddenly appeared and shielded him.
He didn’t bother engaging in banter with Zhou Beinan at all. Gathering a pulse of red light in his palm, he locked onto the ghost core imprinted on Zhou Beinan’s forehead!
The ghost core, also known as the soul core, was the most vulnerable part of a ghost’s entire being. If he was hit by Meng Chongguang here, then Zhou Beinan would be unable to escape death!
Xu Xingzhi’s eyes widened: “. . . Don’t!”
Zhou Beinan roared at the heavens and just when Meng Chongguang was about to make his move, the blade of the long spear was suddenly turned around violently and inserted directly into his right scapula!
The tip of the spear pierced straight into his body and the sound of fracturing bones made people’s scalp tingle!
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan didn’t expect the original Zhou Beinan to retake possession of the body. With the shoulder blade enduring this blow, the spiritual flow circulating through the meridians was swiftly cut off, making it impossible to escape.
He frantically cursed at the other Zhou Beinan in the vessel: “You trash!”
The scarlet glow in Meng Chongguang’s palm had its power sharply reduced by seventy percent, but the direction remained the same and went directly for Zhou Beinan’s ghost core.
Even the malevolent spirit couldn’t withstand such an impact and instantly fainted, but the real Zhou Beinan still maintained a trace of consciousness.
He knelt down and fell forward on the ground, coughing non-stop. The long steel spear was braced on the ground, forming a triangle between his body and the ground.
The author has something to say:
He murmured under his breath: “. . . Xing, Xingzhi. . .”
Xu Xingzhi disregarded the blood flowing from his wound and shuffled forward on his knees, supporting Zhou Beinan’s shoulder: “I’m here ne.”
Zhou Beinan gave him a faint smile: “Do you admit it or not. . . I’m much stronger than you when I get serious. . .”
Xu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and returned the smirk: “Of course, absolutely.”
In the severe pain and dizziness, the warm liquid pooling in Zhou Beinan’s mouth was spat out directly, soaking Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder. His voice gradually trailed off: “Don’t, don’t let Lu Yujiu see me like this. . . He’d cry again, it’s quite troublesome when he cries. . .”
Before he finished speaking, he leaned against Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder and his consciousness completely faded to black.
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Taboo, malevolent spirit, shoulder blade.
The translator has something to say: Although Nan Li wasn’t a good person. . . I still feel very sorry for him. . . May he rest in peace.
The editor has something to say: I wish Nan Li got some kind of closure even though he was a victim of his own actions
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Translator: transcendentwings
Editor: teaff
. . .The palm that he originally wanted to place on Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder passed through Xu Xingzhi’s body without hindrance.
Zhou Beinan stared at his translucent fingertips and laughed: “. . . That’s right, I’m already dead.”
He placed his hand on the edge, tightened his fingers until a fine line of soil tumbled into the bottom of the pit, covering the body of white bones with a layer of ash and dirt.
After a moment, a hand slowly passed through his palm, overlapping and covering it.
Zhou Beinan lowered his head: “. . . What are you doing?”
Xu Xingzhi turned his face to gaze out at the barren wasteland: “Comforting you ah, I’m afraid that you would take it too hard and jump.”
Zhou Beinan shuddered: “Scram, it’s sickening me to death.”
. . . Yet he didn’t withdraw his hand.
“These years you’ve spent with Jiu Zhideng seem to have treated you quite well, why did you come to the wasteland again ne.” After a moment, Zhou Beinan continued, “I had a bad fate from the beginning and ran into that b*stard surnamed Nan as soon as I was cast in here. Why would you willingly rush over to suffer as well.”
Xu Xingzhi inexplicably recalled Huang Shanyue, the female disciple of Fengling who kidnapped him: “. . . Do you regret it?”
“Regret?” Zhou Beinan shrugged, “The only thing I regret is that I didn’t protect Xiao-Xian’er well. When I was lying at the bottom of the pit, I just kept thinking, why am I still alive, it’s better to just obtain peace after death.”
“. . . I didn’t expect it to not be peaceful even after death.”
Muttering, Zhou Beinan raised his head and swore at the heavens.
Xu Xingzhi reminded: “Ai, be careful of being struck by thunder.”
“Can it hear me?” Zhou Beinan lifted his head to accuse, “. . . Can you f*cking hear it? Ah?”
Naturally no one answered him.
Zhou Beinan pointed to the sky and declared: “It can’t hear me. In the savage wasteland, there are no heavenly forces at all.”
Xu Xingzhi sighed: “Why is it the same as in childhood? Not counting bickering with me, now you even have to go against the heavens for argument’s sake, are you some sort of rebelling demon.”
Zhou Beinan: “. . .”
Xu Xingzhi himself was a little stunned.
He originally wanted to find some pleasant words to comfort Zhou Beinan, but when he opened his mouth, the ridicule and mockery just flowed out on its own.
The heartbreaking atmosphere was instantly swept away, and it looked like Zhou Beinan wanted to strangle Xu Xingzhi a little right here right now from his expression.
However Xu Xingzhi felt that Zhou Beinan was more lively and interesting when acting like this and just continued to lament: “The ability to be defiant is not weak, though your combat prowess is certainly average.”
Zhou Beinan snorted: “. . . You won’t be thinking that when I pin you down and beat you up later.”
Xu Xingzhi wanted to say something else, but abruptly felt a chill behind him. He swiveled around just in time to see the encroaching black ash blasting him directly in the face, instantly allowing him to catch sight of the one person and one ghost at the edge of the pit.
. . . It was after himself?
It’s Nan Li?
The change came so suddenly and the look on Zhou Beinan’s face also transformed swiftly. In order to keep Xu Xingzhi from falling into the hands of those who arrived, he cursed loudly, and circulated his energy to shove Xu Xingzhi headfirst into the pit as the long spear by his waist flew outward, whistling through the air. It cut a white streak through space as if it pierced through the clouds and cleaved the moon, pinning Xu Xingzhi’s fluttering robes to the wall of the pit.
. . . He sighed heavily, Zhou Beinan really was his bro, forged from steel.
But when the dust and smoke cleared, Xu Xingzhi’s expression completely distorted.
Zhou Beinan’s flank was impaled by a Yanling long saber and bright red blood glared vividly at the corner of his lips.
“Same as before, a feint would distract you.” Nan Li yanked the blade out, making the blood gush out from the wound with a hualala, “. . . You’re already someone who has died once, how come you haven’t learned your lesson?”
Although his words seemed to be playful, not having seen him for a few days, Nan Li’s eyes were already red from forbearance and the corner of his lips were full of blisters. He must’ve suffered greatly, shuttling between life and death from the uninterrupted torture of the past few days.
He kicked Zhou Beinan aside.
Only ghostly weapons could injure ghost servants. Large bloodstains bloomed on Zhou Beinan’s chest, thoroughly soaking his garments.
Xu Xingzhi exclaimed: “Beinan!”
As soon as his words fell, Xu Xingzhi was seized and he was lifted up by a violent force. The short spear that nailed him to the wall of the pit loosened, falling straight to the bottom, scattering Zhou Beinan’s remains lying down below.
C ofk ybcfr mgjmxfv jcv j ojlca iluta oijrtfv yfakffc atf tbgglolmjiis vjwjufv ybcfr jr lo la gfrbcjafv klat rbwfatlcu.
Ktf raffi rqfjg atja kjr kfvufv lcab atf rmjqeij fwlaafv j olcf, ecvfafmajyif rbecv.
“Weng—”
Rjc Ol vlvc’a kjca ab kjraf jcs alwf ja jii, tf jirb vlvc’a tjnf atja wemt alwf ab rqjgf.
An empty soul-locking jade vessel suddenly appeared in the palm of his hand.
Starting from before, a large patch of pure golden spiritual power encircled the land within a hundred meter radius, isolating all spiritual power fluctuations originating in this area from the outside world.
He obviously knew that it would be difficult to cover Meng Chongguang’s eyes and ears with this method for very long, thus every word he spoke was filled with urgency: “Return the soul of the little cultivator to me!”
The stray hairs on Xu Xingzhi’s forehead were messy, a few locks of it hung down, and there was a densely suppressed wrath in his voice: “He’s dead.”
“Is that so?” Nan Li’s facial features twisted for a moment, “Then pay it back with your life ba.”
Before he finished speaking, Nan Li’s fingertips already slashed open the left side of Xu Xingzhi’s chest and blood gushed out immediately. Xu Xingzhi roared in extreme anger, ignoring the pain, his right arm pushed against Nan Li’s chest and his left hand was roughly pressed against Nan Li’s forehead!
Nan Li wanted to sneer, but he couldn’t laugh anymore in the next second.
A stream of pure spiritual power like a massive hand choked him tightly, penetrating into his cranial cavity, wishing to tear him apart from the middle!
The violent flood of spiritual power assaulted Nan Li, and for a moment he acutely felt genuine fear, as if someone pierced his chest with the palm of their hand and was gripping his heart, toying with it.
He had a splitting headache and had no time to ponder about why Xu Xingzhi, who was still a mere mortal a few days ago, suddenly had such power, and sent him flying with one sweep.
Xu Xingzhi’s back collided with a dead withered tree that was more than three meters away and collapsed onto the ground.
He tried to climb to his feet again, but the frantic spiritual power seemed to have drained all of his energy from the inside out. He only propped half of his body up when he was forced to his knees again. The uncontrollable spiritual power undulated in his chest just like strips of thick vines twisting his organs into a mess, causing his chest to feel suffocated and stimulating the impulse to vomit.
Majestic fury emanated out of Nan Li’s chest.
. . . He couldn’t wrap his head around how he was forced into an apprehensive state by a person who couldn’t recover after a fall, just thinking about it made him feel ashamed.
Nan Li was about to activate his spiritual power and make Xu Xingzhi’s heart just implode like this, but a peculiar and extremely frigid whirlwind swirled abruptly, charging at Nan Li like a hungry wolf from deep within the pit, scattering the spiritual power that he just gathered!
Nan Li whipped around in surprise while Xu Xingzhi did his best to sit up.
He thought that it was better to die sitting rather than lying down, but he never thought that he would witness such a scene when he finally sat up.
—Zhou Beinan stood up.
The steel spear melded seamlessly with the back of his blue-veined hand, then in the blink of an eye, his plain robes were replaced by a navy blue robe, arrogantly fluttering in the wind as glowing patterns surged, swarming over his shoulders and sleeves. He rotated the long tasseled-spear slightly. The sharp tip made contact with the air, creating friction, producing a short and sharp bird call, desolate and crisp as if a beacon fire was burning in the light reflected by a cold blade.
And Zhou Beinan stood there, the original lavender cloud pattern between his brow was replaced by a slender and narrow flickering flame pattern, like an eye full of loathing opening on his forehead.
The tip of his left finger dripped with blood and a rune drawn in blood was imprinted on the side of his neck.
“Don’t think about taking anyone away from me again.” Zhou Beinan’s voice was unspeakably cold like the chill of a shadowy forest, “. . . Don’t even dare.”
“. . . You used a forbidden spell?! Just to save this person’s life?!” Nan Li barked in laughter after a moment of shock, “A cultivator becoming self-depreciating to such an extent! First becoming a ghost servant, and then become fallen as an evil wraith? But don’t forget, I am the Ghost King! I am the one who fights using ghosts as my weapon! No matter what kind of monster you become, you will never be my match!”
After declaring that, he drew a spell on the palm of his hand and aimed directly at Zhou Beinan’s forehead.
However, Zhou Beinan disappeared in a split second and the spell was sent into the void, breaking a tree that couldn’t be embraced solidly even with two people, in half.
Of course, any noise created in this hundred meter plot of land wouldn’t be transmitted to the outside world for the time being.
Nan Li furrowed his brow and swept his gaze around.
Among the various ghost types, the malevolent spirit was indeed the most difficult to deal with and its strength would skyrocket to a level several times higher than that of normal spiritual entities. Even if Zhou Beinan recovered the lost half of his soul core, he still wouldn’t have the strength to confront the Ghost King Nan Li at all. Therefore, it wasn’t hard to imagine the reasons for his willingness to fall.
“Could it be that you want to kill me?” Nan Li was incredulous, “You trash, how would you get close to me? I want to see, where would you dare emerge from?’
Surrounded by the sound of the vacant wilderness, the wind was fierce and Nan Li even suspected that Zhou Beinan had heard what he had stated before and already took this opportunity to flee for fear of losing his life.
He didn’t want to bother with Zhou Beinan. All he wanted was simply the remnant of Ye Buyi’s soul.
Regardless of whether what Xu Xingzhi said was the truth, or whether Ye Buyi had really disappeared from his body, Nan Li didn’t intend to let him live any longer.
. . . If anything, it wasn’t a big deal to kill the other first, seal Xu Xingzhi’s soul in his body and slowly extract Ye Buyi from it.
Planning it like this, Nan Li manifested a pitch black ghost nail in his palm. It floated eerily. One became two, two became four, in the blink of an eye, twelve dark and life reaping stars rushed at Xu Xingzhi.
But none of the ghostly nails hurt Xu Xingzhi. Instead, after numerous “ding ding dang dang” sounds rang out, they crashed onto the ground like fallen meteors.
. . . In front of Xu Xingzhi, a towering and shadowy ghost gradually manifested, blocking the attack with a horizontal sweep of a spear.
Nan Li sneered.
. . . Courting death.
He may miss once, but he would never miss twice.
Starting from earlier, he pushed the rune he hid in the palm of his left hand outwards and amidst the sparks of light, it went straight for the afterimage!
Seeing that the afterimage had nowhere to run, a chain with his own mark encircled the other’s neck, and their entire soul seemed to be penetrated by peach wood nails while suspended in the air, unable to move. The corners of Nan Li’s lips curved up into a shallow smirk.
However, the smile had only just formed when it disappeared just as quickly.
He lowered his head in disbelief when he saw the fist-sized bloody hole in his chest. He even reached out to touch it incredulously.
When his hand came away wet, the view before his eyes was already blurred and dim, he couldn’t tell whether the blood staining his palm was red or black anymore.
Nan Li had never felt that the sound of his heart beating was so distinct before, but now, that heart seemed to have left him, thumping like a rabbit hopping in front of his eyes.
Gudong gudong, pengdong pengdong.
—Zhou Beinan passed through the other’s body, and removed Nan Li’s still beating heart in a flamboyant manner.
Xu Xingzhi gaped at Zhou Beinan in a dumbfounded manner. The flame symbol between Zhou Beinan’s eyebrows became more sharp, reflecting a light blue wicked glimmer in his eyes.
He rotated his wrist and appreciated Nan Li’s heart from all sides, uttering softly: “. . . Did you forget, I was torn in half by you. Half of me has been lying here for thirteen years, the other half was actually trash that even forgot about taking revenge.”
Xu Xingzhi finally understood.
That is to say, the half of the soul that was guarding in front of him just now was deliberately torn away by the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan to be used as bait to attract Nan Li’s attention?
Blood poured out of Nan Li’s mouth, a gurgling sound bubbled in his throat. He fell to the ground weakly, supported himself with both hands and slowly crawled forward.
“. . . That waste of half a soul, if you want it, take it ba.” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan snickered in a low voice, “It already belongs to you. It just depends on whether or not you have any vitality to absorb it now.”
Nan Li spat out a mouthful of blood, his elbows pressed down on the rough ground of the wasteland as he dragged himself forwards.
Zhou Beinan, who had turned into a malevolent spirit, stepped on his back, but Nan Li still tried his best to get what he wanted.
. . . The empty soul-locking jade vessel that he had just dropped by accident.
In a panic, he embraced the jade vessel into his arms, as if he had already forgotten that the soul inside it had already disappeared.
And the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan had obviously lost interest in Nan Li’s heart. He cast it on the ground like it was some worthless object. The glaring red heart tumbled a few times and was stained with grass debris.
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan raised his spear and pierced straight through that ragged heart.
Xu Xingzhi shut his eyes abruptly, but still inevitably heard the squelch of blood and flesh.
“I’ve said that I’d impale your heart with one strike.” Zhou Beinan slowly twisted the tip of the spear, “. . . I also have to crush you into ashes with my own hands. I didn’t forget.”
Yet Nan Li couldn’t hear Zhou Beinan’s words anymore.
He cupped the jade vessel in his arms preciously, murmuring in a low voice: “Little cultivator, did you get hurt from the fall. . .”
No one would answer his question any longer, even if someone could, he could no longer hear it.
But Nan Li himself was unaware.
He gazed at the jade vessel with anticipation, waiting for his little cultivator to say a word to him.
After the little cultivator died, he would wait like this every day before going to bed. While waiting, he would ask the little cultivator in his heart: What would you like? Something to eat, something to wear, no matter what it is, enter my dreams to tell me, and I’ll burn it as an offering for you.
However, the little cultivator wouldn’t forgive him. He was so stingy that he wouldn’t even visit his dreams once.
And so he’d just keep waiting like this, hanging on until he fell asleep.
This time, Nan Li bided his time as he always did, until the light of life completely extinguished in his eyes.
The moment Nan Li died, the light shield that blocked the flow of spiritual energy vanished and the talisman that had been nailed on the other half of Zhou Beinan’s soul and hadn’t finished merging with him also dissipated. The half of the soul dispersed into a cloud of smoke and reentered the body of the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan.
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan wasn’t in a hurry to grind Nan Li’s body into ashes.
He sniffed lightly, as if he had caught a whiff of something interesting and looked back at Xu Xingzhi: “Oh? There’s another, fresher heart here.”
Xu Xingzhi was startled: “. . . Beinan?”
Meng Chongguang, who was hundreds of steps away and had been obediently lying on the straw bed, seemed to detect something and abruptly sat up.
“Zhou Beinan, Zhou Beinan. . . . Is this his name?” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan chewed on that name while licking the blood off his fingertips, “It’s not bad. . . . What’s your name?”
Xu Xingzhi fixed his gaze on him vigilantly.
The person before him had the same voice and appearance as Zhou Beinan, but it was like he had been reborn and was just wearing an empty shell of skin and flesh that belonged to Zhou Beinan.
“Forget it.” The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan gave up the questioning of his own initiative, retrieved the steel spear back into his palm, and spun it around fluidly, “What’s the purpose in learning the name of one’s meal?”
Zhou Beinan had lost his mind. Red and blue swirled in his eyes, glittering strangely like that of a carnivorous beast.
He cracked his neck slightly, his lips curving sharply upwards as he approached Xu Xingzhi with the spear at hand.
Xu Xingzhi was both shocked and furious as he roared: “Zhou Beinan!”
The murderous intent in Zhou Beinan’s eyes swayed a few times like ripples on water, and the aura on the thin tip as sharp as a blade suddenly softened.
He regarded Xu Xingzhi with a little more confusion as tenderness leaked from his eyes.
However in a split second, Zhou Beinan’s expression turned grim again: “. . . What are you trying to do?”
—He was speaking to the real Zhou Beinan in his body who still maintained a strand of reason.
Xu Xingzhi immediately seized this glimmer of hope and shouted as he backed away: “Beinan, drive him out of your body! Don’t let him control you! Beinan!”
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan revealed a disdainful grin, his lips pulled to the sides, like it was about to split apart.
He raised the long steel spear and aimed the sharp blade at Xu Xingzhi’s heart.
Xu Xingzhi had nowhere to retreat to, but he still refused to give up: “Think about A’Wang! Think of Xiao-Xian’er. . . also Xiao-Lu! Remember who you are! You’re Zhou Beinan! You—”
Before Xu Xingzhi’s voice fell, Meng Chongguang suddenly appeared and shielded him.
He didn’t bother engaging in banter with Zhou Beinan at all. Gathering a pulse of red light in his palm, he locked onto the ghost core imprinted on Zhou Beinan’s forehead!
The ghost core, also known as the soul core, was the most vulnerable part of a ghost’s entire being. If he was hit by Meng Chongguang here, then Zhou Beinan would be unable to escape death!
Xu Xingzhi’s eyes widened: “. . . Don’t!”
Zhou Beinan roared at the heavens and just when Meng Chongguang was about to make his move, the blade of the long spear was suddenly turned around violently and inserted directly into his right scapula!
The tip of the spear pierced straight into his body and the sound of fracturing bones made people’s scalp tingle!
The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan didn’t expect the original Zhou Beinan to retake possession of the body. With the shoulder blade enduring this blow, the spiritual flow circulating through the meridians was swiftly cut off, making it impossible to escape.
He frantically cursed at the other Zhou Beinan in the vessel: “You trash!”
The scarlet glow in Meng Chongguang’s palm had its power sharply reduced by seventy percent, but the direction remained the same and went directly for Zhou Beinan’s ghost core.
Even the malevolent spirit couldn’t withstand such an impact and instantly fainted, but the real Zhou Beinan still maintained a trace of consciousness.
He knelt down and fell forward on the ground, coughing non-stop. The long steel spear was braced on the ground, forming a triangle between his body and the ground.
The author has something to say:
He murmured under his breath: “. . . Xing, Xingzhi. . .”
Xu Xingzhi disregarded the blood flowing from his wound and shuffled forward on his knees, supporting Zhou Beinan’s shoulder: “I’m here ne.”
Zhou Beinan gave him a faint smile: “Do you admit it or not. . . I’m much stronger than you when I get serious. . .”
Xu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and returned the smirk: “Of course, absolutely.”
In the severe pain and dizziness, the warm liquid pooling in Zhou Beinan’s mouth was spat out directly, soaking Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder. His voice gradually trailed off: “Don’t, don’t let Lu Yujiu see me like this. . . He’d cry again, it’s quite troublesome when he cries. . .”
Before he finished speaking, he leaned against Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder and his consciousness completely faded to black.
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Taboo, malevolent spirit, shoulder blade.
The translator has something to say: Although Nan Li wasn’t a good person. . . I still feel very sorry for him. . . May he rest in peace.
The editor has something to say: I wish Nan Li got some kind of closure even though he was a victim of his own actions
Translator: transcendentwingsEditor: teaff. . .The palm that he originally wanted to place on Xu Xingzhi's shoulder passed through Xu Xingzhi's body without hindrance.Zhou Beinan stared at his translucent fingertips and laughed: . . . That's right, I'm already dead.He placed his hand on the edge, tightened his fingers until a fine line of soil tumbled into the bottom of the pit, covering the body of white bones with a layer of ash and dirt.After a moment, a hand slowly passed through his palm, overlapping and covering it.Zhou Beinan lowered his head: . . . What are you doing?Xu Xingzhi turned his face to gaze out at the barren wasteland: Comforting youah, I'm afraid that you would take it too hard and jump.Zhou Beinan shuddered: Scram, it's sickening me to death.. . . Yet he didn't withdraw his hand.These years you've spent with Jiu Zhideng seem to have treated you quite well, why did you come to the wasteland againne. After a moment, Zhou Beinan continued, I had a bad fate from the beginning and ran into that b*stard surnamed Nan as soon as I was cast in here. Why would you willingly rush over to suffer as well.Xu Xingzhi inexplicably recalled Huang Shanyue, the female disciple of Fengling who kidnapped him: . . . Do you regret it?Regret? Zhou Beinan shrugged, The only thing I regret is that I didn't protectXiao-Xian'erwell. When I was lying at the bottom of the pit, I just kept thinking, why am I still alive, it's better to just obtain peace after death.. . . I didn't expect it to not be peaceful even after death.Muttering, Zhou Beinan raised his head and swore at the heavens.Xu Xingzhi reminded: Ai, be careful of being struck by thunder.Can it hear me? Zhou Beinan lifted his head to accuse, . . . Can you f*cking hear it?Ah?Naturally no one answered him.Zhou Beinan pointed to the sky and declared: It can't hear me. In the savage wasteland, there are no heavenly forces at all.Xu Xingzhi sighed: Why is it the same as in childhood? Not counting bickering with me, now you even have to go against the heavens for argument's sake, are you some sort of rebelling demon.Zhou Beinan: . . .Xu Xingzhi himself was a little stunned.He originally wanted to find some pleasant words to comfort Zhou Beinan, but when he opened his mouth, the ridicule and mockery just flowed out on its own.The heartbreaking atmosphere was instantly swept away, and it looked like Zhou Beinan wanted to strangle Xu Xingzhi a little right here right now from his expression.However Xu Xingzhi felt that Zhou Beinan was more lively and interesting when acting like this and just continued to lament: The ability to be defiant is not weak, though your combat prowess is certainly average.Zhou Beinan snorted: . . . You won't be thinking that when I pin you down and beat you up later.Xu Xingzhi wanted to say something else, but abruptly felt a chill behind him. He swiveled around just in time to see the encroaching black ash blasting him directly in the face, instantly allowing him to catch sight of the one person and one ghost at the edge of the pit.. . . It was after himself?It's Nan Li?The change came so suddenly and the look on Zhou Beinan's face also transformed swiftly. In order to keep Xu Xingzhi from falling into the hands of those who arrived, he cursed loudly, and circulated his energy to shove Xu Xingzhi headfirst into the pit as the long spear by his waist flew outward, whistling through the air. It cut a white streak through space as if it pierced through the clouds and cleaved the moon, pinning Xu Xingzhi's fluttering robes to the wall of the pit.. . . He sighed heavily, Zhou Beinan really was his bro, forged from steel.But when the dust and smoke cleared, Xu Xingzhi's expression completely distorted.Zhou Beinan's flank was impaled by aYanling long saberand bright red blood glared vividly at the corner of his lips.Same as before, a feint would distract you. Nan Li yanked the blade out, making the blood gush out from the wound with ahualala, . . . You're already someone who has died once, how come you haven't learned your lesson?Although his words seemed to be playful, not having seen him for a few days, Nan Li's eyes were already red from forbearance and the corner of his lips were full of blisters. He must've suffered greatly, shuttling between life and death from the uninterrupted torture of the past few days.He kicked Zhou Beinan aside.Only ghostly weapons could injure ghost servants. Large bloodstains bloomed on Zhou Beinan's chest, thoroughly soaking his garments.Xu Xingzhi exclaimed: Beinan!As soon as his words fell, Xu Xingzhi was seized and he was lifted up by a violent force. The short spear that nailed him to the wall of the pit loosened, falling straight to the bottom, scattering Zhou Beinan's remains lying down below.C ofk ybcfr mgjmxfv jcv j ojlca iluta oijrtfv yfakffc atf tbgglolmjiis vjwjufv ybcfr jr lo la gfrbcjafv klat rbwfatlcu.Ktf raffi rqfjg atja kjr kfvufv lcab atf rmjqeij fwlaafv j olcf, ecvfafmajyif rbecv.WengRjc Ol vlvc'a kjca ab kjraf jcs alwf ja jii, tf jirb vlvc'a tjnf atja wemt alwf ab rqjgf.An empty soul-locking jade vessel suddenly appeared in the palm of his hand.Starting from before, a large patch of pure golden spiritual power encircled the land within a hundred meter radius, isolating all spiritual power fluctuations originating in this area from the outside world.He obviously knew that it would be difficult to cover Meng Chongguang's eyes and ears with this method for very long, thus every word he spoke was filled with urgency: Return the soul of the little cultivator to me!The stray hairs on Xu Xingzhi's forehead were messy, a few locks of it hung down, and there was a densely suppressed wrath in his voice: He's dead.Is that so? Nan Li's facial features twisted for a moment, Then pay it back with your lifeba.Before he finished speaking, Nan Li's fingertips already slashed open the left side of Xu Xingzhi's chest and blood gushed out immediately. Xu Xingzhi roared in extreme anger, ignoring the pain, his right arm pushed against Nan Li's chest and his left hand was roughly pressed against Nan Li's forehead!Nan Li wanted to sneer, but he couldn't laugh anymore in the next second.A stream of pure spiritual power like a massive hand choked him tightly, penetrating into his cranial cavity, wishing to tear him apart from the middle!The violent flood of spiritual power assaulted Nan Li, and for a moment he acutely felt genuine fear, as if someone pierced his chest with the palm of their hand and was gripping his heart, toying with it.He had a splitting headache and had no time to ponder about why Xu Xingzhi, who was still a mere mortal a few days ago, suddenly had such power, and sent him flying with one sweep.Xu Xingzhi's back collided with a dead withered tree that was more than three meters away and collapsed onto the ground.He tried to climb to his feet again, but the frantic spiritual power seemed to have drained all of his energy from the inside out. He only propped half of his body up when he was forced to his knees again. The uncontrollable spiritual power undulated in his chest just like strips of thick vines twisting his organs into a mess, causing his chest to feel suffocated and stimulating the impulse to vomit.Majestic fury emanated out of Nan Li's chest.. . . He couldn't wrap his head around how he was forced into an apprehensive state by a person who couldn't recover after a fall, just thinking about it made him feel ashamed.Nan Li was about to activate his spiritual power and make Xu Xingzhi's heart just implode like this, but a peculiar and extremely frigid whirlwind swirled abruptly, charging at Nan Li like a hungry wolf from deep within the pit, scattering the spiritual power that he just gathered!Nan Li whipped around in surprise while Xu Xingzhi did his best to sit up.He thought that it was better to die sitting rather than lying down, but he never thought that he would witness such a scene when he finally sat up.Zhou Beinan stood up.The steel spear melded seamlessly with the back of his blue-veined hand, then in the blink of an eye, his plain robes were replaced by a navy blue robe, arrogantly fluttering in the wind as glowing patterns surged, swarming over his shoulders and sleeves. He rotated the long tasseled-spear slightly. The sharp tip made contact with the air, creating friction, producing a short and sharp bird call, desolate and crisp as if a beacon fire was burning in the light reflected by a cold blade.And Zhou Beinan stood there, the original lavender cloud pattern between his brow was replaced by a slender and narrow flickering flame pattern, like an eye full of loathing opening on his forehead.The tip of his left finger dripped with blood and a rune drawn in blood was imprinted on the side of his neck.Don't think about taking anyone away from me again. Zhou Beinan's voice was unspeakably cold like the chill of a shadowy forest, . . . Don't even dare.. . . You used a forbidden spell?! Just to save this person's life?! Nan Li barked in laughter after a moment of shock, A cultivator becoming self-depreciating to such an extent! First becoming a ghost servant, and then become fallen as an evil wraith? But don't forget, I am the Ghost King! I am the one who fights using ghosts as my weapon! No matter what kind of monster you become, you will never be my match!After declaring that, he drew a spell on the palm of his hand and aimed directly at Zhou Beinan's forehead.However, Zhou Beinan disappeared in a split second and the spell was sent into the void, breaking a tree that couldn't be embraced solidly even with two people, in half.Of course, any noise created in this hundred meter plot of land wouldn't be transmitted to the outside world for the time being.Nan Li furrowed his brow and swept his gaze around.Among the various ghost types, the malevolent spirit was indeed the most difficult to deal with and its strength would skyrocket to a level several times higher than that of normal spiritual entities. Even if Zhou Beinan recovered the lost half of his soul core, he still wouldn't have the strength to confront the Ghost King Nan Li at all. Therefore, it wasn't hard to imagine the reasons for his willingness to fall.Could it be that you want to kill me? Nan Li was incredulous, You trash, how would you get close to me? I want to see, where would you dare emerge from?'Surrounded by the sound of the vacant wilderness, the wind was fierce and Nan Li even suspected that Zhou Beinan had heard what he had stated before and already took this opportunity to flee for fear of losing his life.He didn't want to bother with Zhou Beinan. All he wanted was simply the remnant of Ye Buyi's soul.Regardless of whether what Xu Xingzhi said was the truth, or whether Ye Buyi had really disappeared from his body, Nan Li didn't intend to let him live any longer.. . . If anything, it wasn't a big deal to kill the other first, seal Xu Xingzhi's soul in his body and slowly extract Ye Buyi from it.Planning it like this, Nan Li manifested a pitch black ghost nail in his palm. It floated eerily. One became two, two became four, in the blink of an eye, twelve dark and life reaping stars rushed at Xu Xingzhi.But none of the ghostly nails hurt Xu Xingzhi. Instead, after numerous ding ding dang dang sounds rang out, they crashed onto the ground like fallen meteors.. . . In front of Xu Xingzhi, a towering and shadowy ghost gradually manifested, blocking the attack with a horizontal sweep of a spear.Nan Li sneered.. . . Courting death.He may miss once, but he would never miss twice.Starting from earlier, he pushed the rune he hid in the palm of his left hand outwards and amidst the sparks of light, it went straight for the afterimage!Seeing that the afterimage had nowhere to run, a chain with his own mark encircled the other's neck, and their entire soul seemed to be penetrated by peach wood nails while suspended in the air, unable to move. The corners of Nan Li's lips curved up into a shallow smirk.However, the smile had only just formed when it disappeared just as quickly.He lowered his head in disbelief when he saw the fist-sized bloody hole in his chest. He even reached out to touch it incredulously.When his hand came away wet, the view before his eyes was already blurred and dim, he couldn't tell whether the blood staining his palm was red or black anymore.Nan Li had never felt that the sound of his heart beating was so distinct before, but now, that heart seemed to have left him, thumping like a rabbit hopping in front of his eyes.Gudong gudong,pengdong pengdong.Zhou Beinan passed through the other's body, and removed Nan Li's still beating heart in a flamboyant manner.Xu Xingzhi gaped at Zhou Beinan in a dumbfounded manner. The flame symbol between Zhou Beinan's eyebrows became more sharp, reflecting a light blue wicked glimmer in his eyes.He rotated his wrist and appreciated Nan Li's heart from all sides, uttering softly: . . . Did you forget, I was torn in half by you. Half of me has been lying here for thirteen years, the other half was actually trash that even forgot about taking revenge.Xu Xingzhi finally understood.That is to say, the half of the soul that was guarding in front of him just now was deliberately torn away by the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan to be used as bait to attract Nan Li's attention?Blood poured out of Nan Li's mouth, a gurgling sound bubbled in his throat. He fell to the ground weakly, supported himself with both hands and slowly crawled forward.. . . That waste of half a soul, if you want it, take itba. The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan snickered in a low voice, It already belongs to you. It just depends on whether or not you have any vitality to absorb it now.Nan Li spat out a mouthful of blood, his elbows pressed down on the rough ground of the wasteland as he dragged himself forwards.Zhou Beinan, who had turned into a malevolent spirit, stepped on his back, but Nan Li still tried his best to get what he wanted.. . . The empty soul-locking jade vessel that he had just dropped by accident.In a panic, he embraced the jade vessel into his arms, as if he had already forgotten that the soul inside it had already disappeared.And the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan had obviously lost interest in Nan Li's heart. He cast it on the ground like it was some worthless object. The glaring red heart tumbled a few times and was stained with grass debris.The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan raised his spear and pierced straight through that ragged heart.Xu Xingzhi shut his eyes abruptly, but still inevitably heard the squelch of blood and flesh.I've said that I'd impale your heart with one strike. Zhou Beinan slowly twisted the tip of the spear, . . . I also have to crush you into ashes with my own hands. I didn't forget.Yet Nan Li couldn't hear Zhou Beinan's words anymore.He cupped the jade vessel in his arms preciously, murmuring in a low voice: Little cultivator, did you get hurt from the fall. . .No one would answer his question any longer, even if someone could, he could no longer hear it.But Nan Li himself was unaware.He gazed at the jade vessel with anticipation, waiting for his little cultivator to say a word to him.After the little cultivator died, he would wait like this every day before going to bed. While waiting, he would ask the little cultivator in his heart: What would you like? Something to eat, something to wear, no matter what it is, enter my dreams to tell me, and I'll burn it as an offering for you.However, the little cultivator wouldn't forgive him. He was so stingy that he wouldn't even visit his dreams once.And so he'd just keep waiting like this, hanging on until he fell asleep.This time, Nan Li bided his time as he always did, until the light of life completely extinguished in his eyes.The moment Nan Li died, the light shield that blocked the flow of spiritual energy vanished and the talisman that had been nailed on the other half of Zhou Beinan's soul and hadn't finished merging with him also dissipated. The half of the soul dispersed into a cloud of smoke and reentered the body of the malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan.The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan wasn't in a hurry to grind Nan Li's body into ashes.He sniffed lightly, as if he had caught a whiff of something interesting and looked back at Xu Xingzhi: Oh? There's another, fresher heart here.Xu Xingzhi was startled: . . . Beinan?Meng Chongguang, who was hundreds of steps away and had been obediently lying on the straw bed, seemed to detect something and abruptly sat up.Zhou Beinan, Zhou Beinan. . . . Is this his name? The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan chewed on that name while licking the blood off his fingertips, It's not bad. . . . What's your name?Xu Xingzhi fixed his gaze on him vigilantly.The person before him had the same voice and appearance as Zhou Beinan, but it was like he had been reborn and was just wearing an empty shell of skin and flesh that belonged to Zhou Beinan.Forget it. The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan gave up the questioning of his own initiative, retrieved the steel spear back into his palm, and spun it around fluidly, What's the purpose in learning the name of one's meal?Zhou Beinan had lost his mind. Red and blue swirled in his eyes, glittering strangely like that of a carnivorous beast.He cracked his neck slightly, his lips curving sharply upwards as he approached Xu Xingzhi with the spear at hand.Xu Xingzhi was both shocked and furious as he roared: Zhou Beinan!The murderous intent in Zhou Beinan's eyes swayed a few times like ripples on water, and the aura on the thin tip as sharp as a blade suddenly softened.He regarded Xu Xingzhi with a little more confusion as tenderness leaked from his eyes.However in a split second, Zhou Beinan's expression turned grim again: . . . What are you trying to do?He was speaking to the real Zhou Beinan in his body who still maintained a strand of reason.Xu Xingzhi immediately seized this glimmer of hope and shouted as he backed away: Beinan, drive him out of your body! Don't let him control you! Beinan!The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan revealed a disdainful grin, his lips pulled to the sides, like it was about to split apart.He raised the long steel spear and aimed the sharp blade at Xu Xingzhi's heart.Xu Xingzhi had nowhere to retreat to, but he still refused to give up: Think aboutA'Wang! Think ofXiao-Xian'er. . . alsoXiao-Lu! Remember who you are! You're Zhou Beinan! YouBefore Xu Xingzhi's voice fell, Meng Chongguang suddenly appeared and shielded him.He didn't bother engaging in banter with Zhou Beinan at all. Gathering a pulse of red light in his palm, he locked onto the ghost core imprinted on Zhou Beinan's forehead!The ghost core, also known as the soul core, was the most vulnerable part of a ghost's entire being. If he was hit by Meng Chongguang here, then Zhou Beinan would be unable to escape death!Xu Xingzhi's eyes widened: . . . Don't!Zhou Beinan roared at the heavens and just when Meng Chongguang was about to make his move, the blade of the long spear was suddenly turned around violently and inserted directly into his right scapula!The tip of the spear pierced straight into his body and the sound of fracturing bones made people's scalp tingle!The malevolent spirit Zhou Beinan didn't expect the original Zhou Beinan to retake possession of the body. With the shoulder blade enduring this blow, the spiritual flow circulating through the meridians was swiftly cut off, making it impossible to escape.He frantically cursed at the other Zhou Beinan in the vessel: You trash!The scarlet glow in Meng Chongguang's palm had its power sharply reduced by seventy percent, but the direction remained the same and went directly for Zhou Beinan's ghost core.Even the malevolent spirit couldn't withstand such an impact and instantly fainted, but the real Zhou Beinan still maintained a trace of consciousness.He knelt down and fell forward on the ground, coughing non-stop. The long steel spear was braced on the ground, forming a triangle between his body and the ground.The author has something to say:He murmured under his breath: . . . Xing, Xingzhi. . .Xu Xingzhi disregarded the blood flowing from his wound and shuffled forward on his knees, supporting Zhou Beinan's shoulder: I'm herene.Zhou Beinan gave him a faint smile: Do you admit it or not. . . I'm much stronger than you when I get serious. . .Xu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and returned the smirk: Of course, absolutely.In the severe pain and dizziness, the warm liquid pooling in Zhou Beinan's mouth was spat out directly, soaking Xu Xingzhi's shoulder. His voice gradually trailed off: Don't, don't let Lu Yujiu see me like this. . . He'd cry again, it's quite troublesome when he cries. . .Before he finished speaking, he leaned against Xu Xingzhi's shoulder and his consciousness completely faded to black.Author's Chapter Summary:Taboo, malevolent spirit, shoulder blade.The translator has something to say: Although Nan Li wasn't a good person. . . I still feel very sorry for him. . . May he rest in peace.The editor has something to say: I wish Nan Li got some kind of closure even though he was a victim of his own actions
