Chapter Forty-Eight: The Phantom Army’s Passage

"You-gor, do you never make a sound when you walk? That is really terrifying."

Yang Sheng was startled by Chen You's sudden knock on the door.

With his powerful vital energy, his sensory perception should naturally be strong as well. Moreover, after obtaining the Borrowed Magic Spirit Seal, his spiritual awareness had been enhanced to sense spiritual energy, which should have further heightened his perception. Yet, he hadn't noticed Chen You's approach at all.

This sloppy Daoist priest was much more than just someone who could stir-fry glutinous rice; his actual strength was formidable.

"Terrifying what? If you haven't done anything to compromise your conscience, you won't be scared of a ghost knocking at the door."

Chen You habitually snapped back at Yang Sheng. The two of them picked up their flashlights and headed straight for the fourth floor.

However, the moment they stepped onto the fourth floor, Yang Sheng and Chen You heard a series of low, muffled sobs accompanied by coughing.

Exchanging a glance, the two cautiously followed the sound. Yang Sheng violently shoved open the door of the storage room, only to find a thin, disheveled middle-aged man sitting inside, hugging his knees and sobbing.

Yang Sheng glanced at Chen You. Chen You carefully sized up the man and gestured to Yang Sheng that the person was human.

"Ah-kin, why is it you? Not sleeping in the middle of the night, what are you crying ghost tears for in here?"

The middle-aged man raised his head, tears streaming down his face. "You-gor, Fai-jai ran out and vanished. I checked the elevator, and it hasn't moved at all. Did you see him coming up from downstairs?"

Yang Sheng shook his head. "I've been in the security room the whole time. No one went to the first floor."

Chen You whispered to Yang Sheng, "He is Ah-kin. Years ago, he worked in a chemical plant and contracted all sorts of illnesses, so he can only live off relief funds. Although his son Fai-jai is ten years old, he has a mental disability and is like a three or four-year-old child."

At that moment, Chen You suddenly recalled all the bizarre occurrences in the King's Towers recently, and he prompted, "Did Fai-jai go into any other rooms? Let's check and see which room's doorway bears any trace of Fai-jai."

The three of them searched the corridor room by room. Suddenly, Ah-kin let out a loud cry: "This is Ah-fai's favorite toy!"

They saw that the door to one of the rooms was left slightly ajar because a dirty Ultraman card was wedged in the gap, preventing it from closing fully.

"Whose room is this?" Yang Sheng asked.

Chen You shook his head. "I don't know. Many rooms in the King's Towers are rented out—someone lives here today, someone else tomorrow. There are also plenty of rooms that have been uninhabited for ages, and you never know when they suddenly get sold off. This room must have been vacant for a long time."

Holding his Imperial Guard saber, Yang Sheng cautiously pushed open the door. The entire room was covered in thick dust, looking as though no one had lived in it for ages.

However, right in the center of the room stood an archaic alchemy furnace, with a pile of grayish-white powder beneath it.

A thick, foul stench of blood wafted over. Yang Sheng walked closer and his expression abruptly changed when he saw a pitch-black, mangled mass of flesh and gore behind the alchemy furnace.

Those pitch-black things piled together were actually human heads! Beneath them lay massive amounts of flesh and blood, some of which had already rotted and turned viscous.

Ah-kin let out a wild scream and, as if completely insane, rushed into the pile of human heads to search through them. Finally, he clutched a child's head and wept bitterly.

That head belonged to none other than Ah-kin's son, Fai-jai.

With a grave expression, Chen You touched the ash beneath the alchemy furnace and smelled it.

"It's bone ash."

Yang Sheng was stunned. "What?"

"Look closely at these flesh and bones. All the corpses have had their chests and abdomens ripped open, their internal organs removed, and their flesh shaved off, yet their bones are nowhere to be found. There is an evil sorcery that uses the internal organs of the living as medicine and human skeletons as firewood to refine pills, which can supposedly cure all diseases."

At this, Chen You abruptly turned his gaze toward the weeping Ah-kin, asking in a deep, chilling tone, "Ah-kin, if I recall correctly, what you originally contracted was lung cancer. Yet you haven't bought any medicine for several years, nor do you have the money to buy any."

Ah-kin was still clutching his son's head, weeping bitterly. As he cried, he muttered incoherently, "Fai-jai, why did you run around blindly? Why did you run in here? Why did you have to see these things? Daddy didn't want to use you to make medicine, but he said only medicine refined from the blood of close kin could cure the illness. Once the illness is cured, Daddy could work, earn money, and buy you an Ultraman. Won't you wake up, please?"

Hearing Ah-kin's rambling madness, both Yang Sheng and Chen You felt a chill run through their hearts.

"Do it!"

Chen You snatched a handful of yellow talismans from his robe, sending them fluttering across the sky to form an array that descended upon Ah-kin.

Ah-kin was still clutching Fai-jai's head, but grotesque, ferocious human faces were now emerging all over his emaciated body. When the talismans landed on those faces, they were actually swallowed up one by one.

"I am already suffering so much! Why must you still force me?!"

Blood-red tears streamed from Ah-kin's eyes as he stared fixedly at Yang Sheng and Chen You.

His answer was a pristine, ribbon-like flash of blade light.

Ah-kin raised an arm, and a ghostly face lunged forward to bite down on the Imperial Guard saber, halting its advance completely.

Blood Feast!

Vital energy erupted, penetrating directly into the internal organs!

The Imperial Guard saber thrust forward violently, piercing straight through the ghostly face.

Chen You pulled a peach wood sword from his universe bag, a string of talismans clinging to the blade as he thrust toward Ah-kin as well.

Ah-kin's other hand grabbed the peach wood sword, and the ghostly faces frantically gnawed at the talismans.

"Go eat shit!" Chen You cursed angrily. The talismans detonated simultaneously, blasting those ghostly faces into bloody pulp.

Yang Sheng flipped his blade, slashing repeatedly at Ah-kin. Each strike shattered one of the ghostly faces on his body.

Yet these faces seemed endless; the moment one was shattered, another took its place.

"These things are formed from resentment. Your blade alone cannot destroy them."

Ah-You flicked his wrist, throwing out five purple talismans, and bit his finger to draw a spell in mid-air directly onto the peach wood sword.

"Sun and moon, five stars, seven stars of the Northern Dipper. Heaven and earth unite, decreeing the Supreme Mystery!"

Intense golden light instantly erupted from the five purple talismans, forcing all the ghostly faces on Ah-kin's body to shrink back into his flesh in an instant.

Golden radiance gathered around Yang Sheng as well, and the soldier spirits of the Five Fierce Generals manifested to possess him. As Yang Sheng brought his blade down, the Imperial Guard saber, materialized from spiritual energy by the Five Fierce Generals' spirits, slashed down alongside him.

Ah-kin's head was severed in a single stroke. But as his head fell, his face morphed into a terrifying ghost visage and lunged at Yang Sheng!

Yang Sheng swept his right hand across the edge of the blade, drawing beads of blood. As he drew a talisman in mid-air, the blood refused to scatter, condensing into a spell emblem in his palm.

With a single palm strike from Yang Sheng pressed against the tumbling head, thunderous lightning burst forth, turning the ghost face into flying ash.

Chen You let out a breath and looked at Yang Sheng in astonishment.

"Drawing talismans with blood? You've already mastered this secret technique after just half a day? I truly underestimated you. Your comprehension is astounding; you are indeed suited for practicing Maoshan secret techniques. But what a pity—this is no longer the era of Daoist arts."

Yang Sheng put away his Imperial Guard saber. For slaying Ah-kin this time, he had obtained a metal-attribute Borrowed Magic Spirit Seal.

"Why wouldn't it be? Without Daoist arts, how could one deal with these ghostly entities?"

Chen You sighed. "Turbulent times breed monstrosities. This is a time of peace and prosperity. Aside from this forgotten King's Towers where yin energy refuses to disperse, where else can you find any climate-shaping ghosts or demons? Besides, no matter how monstrous they are, a few rocket launchers will still blast them into slag. The era of the Daoist priest passed long ago."

With a despondent tone, Chen You stowed Ah-kin's corpse into his universe bag and pulled Yang Sheng along as they prepared to leave.

However, the moment they pushed the door open to depart, the yin energy in the corridor suddenly intensified. A profound, bone-chilling aura surged straight into their brains, its icy menace freezing Yang Sheng in place, unable to even twitch.

"Step aside! Hold your breath!"

Chen You glanced at his watch, his expression turning drastically.

Though Yang Sheng didn't know what was happening, he followed the instruction nonetheless.

Ethereal footsteps echoed from the far end of the corridor, accompanied by the synchronized, heavy tread of massive shadows slowly approaching.

Those entities wore tattered robes and bamboo hats, their faces concealed in deep shadows. Towering over three meters tall, they were nearly scraping the ceiling of the corridor.

The instant they passed Yang Sheng, he felt as though the vital energy throughout his entire body had frozen solid in that split second, plunging him into a boundless netherworld.

Time lost its meaning. It wasn't until those entities completely vanished at the end of the corridor that Yang Sheng felt the vital energy in his body thaw and begin to flow once more.

Taking a heavy gasp of air, Yang Sheng turned his head to look at Chen You, only to find the older man in an even more pathetic state—drenched in cold sweat and trembling uncontrollably.

"You-gor, are you alright? What on earth were those things just now?"

Chen You waved a hand, shaking his head after a long moment. "I don't know either. But it looked just like the legendary underworld army on march, or perhaps some unknowable entities walking out from the netherworld. Help me back first. We'll look into things again tomorrow. Your talisman techniques are still a bit rough; there are some tricks I need to teach you. Otherwise, if you keep practicing blindly like this, I'm afraid you'll suffer a deviation in your cultivation."