Bringing some shocking pranks to the Cultivation World

The crescent moon held an arrow.

With a slight lift of his finger and a burst of Dragon Tiger Qi in his eyes, accompanied by a tiger's roar, the air around Guo Lingyun's longbow rippled. The feather arrow pierced through the air, as if splitting space itself, carrying a fierce thrust toward the throat of the Ghost Monk.

"Evil Spirits."

The Ghost Monk could not see, hear, smell, touch, or taste, yet he reacted in the instant the feather arrow burst forth.

The fire Qi and ghostly calamities swirling around his body twisted and reformed constantly, enveloping the arrow just before it could pierce the Ghost Monk's throat. Four calamitous ghost heads grew at his heart, neck, right ear, and waist, swallowing the ghostly Qi and corroding the feather arrow.

Whoosh.

Scattered wood chips fell on the Ghost Monk's robes, where the ghost head, marked with the character for "fire" and having sharp teeth but no tongue, devoured the wood chips. At this moment, bearing four ghosts and with lifeless eyes, the Ghost Monk's body was filled with a repellent aura, and equally, a terrifying one.

"Delicious delicacies."

Lifting his head and looking at the youth with a bow drawn and eyes full of rage, the Ghost Monk's face finally revealed a strange smile. At the same time, the Fire-marked Evil Spirit, the half-skulled Demon, the swollen-faced Ghost, and the Demon with inverted facial features all started to laugh. There was madness, greed, and a snake-like chill.

"The more, the better."

No sooner had the words been spoken than the Fire-marked Ghost head swallowed the air, leaned back, and a cluster of green flames was flung at the Hundred Households on the carriage. It was soon apparent to the Hundred Households that although the monk had lost his senses, the four ghost heads had given him new vision.

In the moment Guo Lingyun attached Dragon Qi to the feather arrow and tore through the fire cluster, the swollen-faced Ghost head violently knocked its head, dispersing countless wisps of green smoke over the land, quickly covering the Ghost Monk's body.

This is bad.

Guo Lingyun felt a sinking feeling. He looked up but could not see the monk in the green mist, not even a shadow. Having just used Dragon Tiger Qi to withstand the explosion and the feather arrow to shred the fire cluster, he didn't have enough Dragon Tiger Qi to walk directly into the poisonous mist.

But...

He glanced toward the direction where Zhou Li had been and felt a flicker of concern in his eyes. The Ghost Monk's strength far exceeded his expectations. He might manage a few moves against him, but it would be hard for Zhou Li to cope. Clearly, the Ghost Monk was targeting Zhou Li, and now, Guo Lingyun was caught between a rock and a hard place.

To save or not to save? How to save?

At the moment, the Bidiao (Zhou Li version) circling in the sky watched Guo Lingyun struggling with his decision and the Ghost Monk scouting his own whereabouts, a hint of confusion reflected in the hawk's eyes.

Why am I involved again?

Zhou Li was utterly baffled, unable to figure out which Immortal he had offended to send such a formidable ghostly creature from at least the Fifth Realm after him. He thought it over; he had only raided three brothels, overturned a gambling den, disgusted a County Magistrate, and beaten a Viscount—nything too offensive.

With this in mind, Zhou Li was perplexed. He was fully aware of his actions; his brothel raids, gambling den upheavals, ridiculing Lao Deng, and assaulting nobles—he did everything meticulously to ensure his own safety. These people either didn't know it was his doing, or they were too wary of the person controlling him to make a move.

Golden Snake Lady?

After much thought, Zhou Li could only come up with this suspect. But he hesitated because, according to his observations just now, this Ghost Monk, even with his Divine Skills, was nothing more than a Fifth Realm Soul-Devouring Ghost. Even if Soul-Devouring Ghosts were generally stronger than Spirit Qi Masters, that would only make him Sixth Realm at best.

But the Golden Snake Lady wielded substantial power in her hands; it made no sense for her not to use her trusted confidants to deal with him instead of an unreliable ghostly being.

What's going on...

The Ghost Monk was becoming restless by now, realizing that in just a few short seconds, the kid had vanished right under his nose. Neither the poisonous mist nor the four ghost heads could find a trace of him.

Could he possibly fly?

Instinctively raising his head, he only saw the round moon of night and the slightly dark clouds, except for a red-gray bird circling in the sky, which brought a self-derisive chuckle from the Ghost Monk.

Heh, how could that be?

If that were the case, the Scorpion King would have taken action personally instead of having...

Just as the Ghost Monk was about to command the poison mist to search for Zhou Li, an unexpected change suddenly happened.

Zhou Li, circling in the sky, clearly saw with the "eagle eyes" of the Bidiao, that just as the Ghost Monk was raising his staff to do something, an imperceptible Ghost and Demon silhouette appeared behind him in an inexplicable posture.

Hiss.

The sound of flesh being pierced echoed amid the diffusing toxins; a man with a straight knife in his left hand and a short spike in his right gently stepped back, leaving behind the twitching Ghost Monk falling to the ground with eyes wide open in horror. In almost an instant, the Ghost Monk's body was covered with a hideous deep purple, and green fluid also seeped from his eye sockets that held no eyeballs.

"You... You actually!!"

Before the Ghost Monk could finish speaking, the spiked tail of the huge Ghost and Demon behind the man pierced straight through the Ghost Monk's throat.

In the resentful and poisonous gaze of disbelief on the Ghost Monk's face, the man lightly waved his hand, and the giant tail behind him disappeared. At the same time, with a proficient slash and a stab, the traces left by the giant tail were instantly covered by the blade and spike, leaving only the decapitated head and a corpse with four lingering spirits hanging from it.

"Heh."

After a cold chuckle, the man's face gradually changed from ice-cold to gentle as the poison mist around him began to dissipate, and the snake-like eerie posture also vanished completely, replaced by a calm determination. Soon after the toxin completely cleared, Guo Lingyun, who had been on alert with her bow drawn, noticed the change and was stunned when she saw the figure standing in front of the corpse.

Packing away her longbow and jumping off the still-blazing coach, Guo Lingyun ran up to the man, bending one knee slightly in a respectful salute, and said with utmost reverence, "Hundred Households Guo Lingyun, at your service, Lord Qianhu."

"Do not make a fuss."

After gesturing with his hand, the man addressed as Lord Qianhu looked at the corpse beside him, his face showing disgust and regret:

"I was pursuing this evil ghost and took the high coach to seek help from an old friend in Beiliang. Unexpectedly, this evil ghost was lurking in the forest, and due to my negligence, he succeeded in his attack, killing so many of our Da Ming's citizens. My heart aches, aches so much..."

Upon hearing this, Guo Lingyun was taken aback and quickly showed a sorrowful expression, "It is our good fortune that the Lord worries about the people."

"Alas, these poor citizens of Da Ming."

After a sigh, the man said in sorrowful tones, "Lingyun, are there any survivors left in this coach?"

"Two."

Guo Lingyun clasped her hands and said, "The two who were traveling with me are Spirit Qi Masters; they should have escaped the carriage during the explosion and survived by luck."

"Then let's look for these two young friends."

At this point, Lord Qianhu perfectly played the image of an official who had personally witnessed the killing of citizens and was overwhelmed with grief, yet found joy upon discovering survivors. It can be said that everything he did was flawless, without a single leak.

If one were to overlook Zhou Li, still circling in the sky.