Chapter 145: Bizarre

Of course, in Hu San’s view, this was entirely the female ghost's delusional fantasy. Seizing another's body to possess it was the greatest taboo and secret in the mortal and cultivation worlds. If it were truly that simple, the cultivation world would not be plagued by fierce, bloody competitions every time a spiritual herb capable of extending lifespan appeared. The only ultimate fate for the female ghost would be the gradual wither and exhaustion of her physical vessel until death claimed her, leaving her soul without even the slightest chance of entering the reincarnation cycle.

Naturally, the female ghost was also somewhat fortunate. In her covetous pursuit of the mask within this unknown projected space, she had dragged nearly everyone from the entire courtyard into the pool.

Relying on her unique nether-spirit sensitivity, the female ghost had not used brute force like Hu San; instead, she had utilized the gaps in the swirling nether Qi currents to bring everyone here. Yet for some unknown reason, none of these people seemed capable of removing the ferocious mask resting upon the throne.

The events that followed were simple—nothing more than the scene Hu San had witnessed earlier.

"Truly, every family has its own difficult scriptures to chant!"

Hu San shook his head with a profound sense of emotion, paying no further attention to these people. With a few strides, he walked up to the stone steps, silently scrutinizing the illusory giant upon the throne and the ferocious mask.

Mindful of the bizarre nature of this place and the female ghost's previous performance, Hu San dared not touch it directly with his bare hands. First, he manipulated the Myriad Ghost Banner, combining the three giant ghosts from earlier into a single ghost general.

If the ordinary souls summoned from the Myriad Ghost Banner possessed limited strength, its elite spirits could achieve the battle prowess of the first level of Qi Gathering. The giant ghosts like the ones before were the elite among the elites, possessing strength comparable to an ordinary cultivator at the second level of Qi Gathering; most importantly, they possessed the attribute of being undying and indestructible.

The ghost general that Hu San had now synthesized was even more solid and corporeal than the giant ghosts. A suit of blood-red armor enveloped its form, and it gripped a massive spiked club in its hands, its visage bearing an expression of extreme ferocity. In terms of true cultivation base, it was fully capable of matching an ordinary cultivator at the third level of Qi Gathering. It was the true trump card of the Myriad Ghost Banner. Similarly, as long as the nether Qi within the Myriad Ghost Banner remained unextinguished, this ghost general would never truly die.

The Myriad Ghost Banner, as a low-grade magical artifact, could summon countless ordinary ghosts at once, alongside several hundred elite ghosts. However, it could only produce three giant ghosts, and as for the ghost general, there was only this single one before him. One could say Hu San had now pushed the combat potential of the Myriad Ghost Banner to its absolute limit.

Naturally, the Myriad Ghost Banner was never designed primarily for direct offense; its true forte lay in utilizing countless ghosts to disrupt the battlefield and trap those with lower cultivation levels. The attacks generated by condensing a few hundred elite ghosts were actually quite ordinary, and combat styles involving the condensation of a ghost general rarely occurred because its actual offensive power was not exceptionally high. Once it lost its numerical advantage, the so-called undying and indestructible nature was nothing more than a joke.

However, the tactic of summoning a ghost general with the Myriad Ghost Banner happened to be useful right now. Hu San had tested it before; although the ghost general belonged to the category of nether ghosts, its physical strength could not be underestimated. It barely possessed the strength of eighteen men, and among ordinary human cultivators, even a typical Foundation Establishment expert might not surpass it in raw physical power.

The ghost general let out a shrill whistle as the surrounding black nether Qi continuously flowed, rapidly being absorbed through its nostrils. One could visibly see the already massive frame of the ghost general expand by a fraction. It seemed that in this place, the ghost general's strength was even greater than its normal state.

Hu San waved the Myriad Ghost Banner, and the ghost general immediately hoisted its spiked club, drifting to the space above the throne. Following that, with the crushing momentum of Mount Tai, it swung the club down fiercely. Although it lacked a physical body, it nevertheless produced countless mournful, piercing screeches, agitating the surrounding air into a continuous rhythmic turbulence.

The surrounding nether Qi converged, actually forming numerous small black vortexes in mid-air.

Yet this seemingly peerless and mighty strike, when landing upon the illusory figure on the throne, failed to cause the slightest ripple. It was like casting a tiny spark into a vast ocean; with a soft *pff*, it vanished completely without a trace.

Similarly, the spiked club formed from the ghost general's own nether Qi disintegrated entirely the moment it touched the illusion, producing no effect whatsoever. With just this single exchange, the ghost general shrunk by a notable margin, evidently suffering damage to its foundational vitality.

Fortunately, supported by the Myriad Ghost Banner, its form quickly restored itself to its original state.

Seeing this, Hu San naturally could not allow the ghost general to continue attacking. Its assaults were blatantly useless, and the damage it sustained with each blow was far too severe. Although the Myriad Ghost Banner could restore it, this process consumed nether Qi; once the nether Qi was depleted, this Myriad Ghost Banner would likely become a useless piece of junk.

Although Hu San knew how to absorb nether Qi by collecting mortal souls—much like he had done to the female ghost earlier—that speed was simply far too slow. It was merely a low-grade magical artifact, and Hu San had every reason to believe that the time spent solely on gathering nether Qi would be enough for him to acquire two or three items of similar value.

Hu San recalled the ghost general and directly stowed the Myriad Ghost Banner into his storage stone. At this moment, with the female ghost's control lifted, the others had all collapsed into unconsciousness, leaving no need to expend effort on watching over them.

With a thought, the Divine Manifesting Art was activated. The Ice Shuttle Sword appeared first, surrounded by countless sword lights. By this point, this magical artifact was practically on the verge of complete ruin; not only had the number of sword lights thinned immensely, but they had also grown exceedingly dim. However, a degree of aggressiveness still remained, but the moment it touched the illusion, it vanished completely without a trace, meeting the same useless fate as the ghost general.

Unwilling to accept this, Hu San unleashed the black ruler next, yet no matter how he manipulated this middle-grade magical artifact, it proved incapable of shaking the illusion on the throne by even the slightest fraction.

Left with no other choice, Hu San could only try it personally, remaining poised to retreat instantly at the first sign of trouble.

Hu San first coated his hand heavily with genuine Qi with utmost caution, then clenched his fist and slowly extended it toward the ferocious mask.

The instant he made contact with the illusion, a surge of chilliness immediately crawled up his arm. Before Hu San could react, the layer of genuine Qi he had coated on his arm vanished entirely without a trace.

Just as he was filled with shock and suspicion, he suddenly discovered that this chilliness, after neutralizing the genuine Qi attached to his body, did not linger. After circulating slightly, it quickly dissipated into nothingness.

Hu San, who had just intended to withdraw his arm, hesitated slightly. Instead of retreating, he advanced; without any genuine Qi to reinforce his arm, he thrust his fist directly into the illusion.

This time, no chilliness emerged. Hu San only felt a tremendous force pressing firmly against the front of his fist, obstructing its forward movement. The magnitude of this force was so great that even with his current strength of eighteen men, he felt it was somewhat difficult to advance even an inch.

Having only just thrust the front of his fist into the illusion, Hu San's hand came to a complete halt. Even though every muscle in his entire body tensed up, pushing his strength of eighteen men to extraordinary limits, and the veins on his forehead bulged fiercely, he still could not advance a single fraction of an inch further.

At this moment of stalemate, Hu San hesitated not a whit in executing the Bird Strike technique. However, this time he did not mobilize any internal energy within his body, relying entirely on his physical strength.

Bolstered by the Bird Strike technique, the might of Hu San's strength of eighteen men increased by at least thirty percent. Although utilizing the Bird Strike technique through purely physical means would inflict a certain degree of damage to his body, as long as he kept the duration extremely short, Hu San's current cultivation base and physical strength should still be able to endure it.

In an instant, his entire body leaped up. Using the fist buried deep within the illusion as a fulcrum, the muscles across his entire body rippled incessantly, his tendons and bones cracking loudly. Ultimately, this force transformed into a wave of heat that flooded into his right arm, pouring viciously into the fist embedded within the illusion.

*Pff!*

Resembling the sound of torn fabric, Hu San felt the previously mountainous weight pressing against his fist suddenly lighten. It was as if some sort of restriction had been shattered, or perhaps a certain limit had been surpassed. The resistance within the illusion remained immensely colossal, yet it could no longer halt the continued advance of his fist.

Soon enough, the constantly undulating illusion was directly torn apart under this single strike. In the blink of an eye, his fist made direct contact with the ferocious mask resting within the illusion.

To Hu San's surprise, although his arm had encountered immense resistance when plunging into the giant's illusion, those obstructions vanished entirely the moment his hand touched the ferocious mask.

His fist made a gentle contact with the mask, and all resistance melted away into nothingness. With just a slight twist of his arm, he effortlessly lifted the mask out of the illusion.

All the backup plans he had prepared turned out to be completely useless. The moment the ferocious mask fell into Hu San's grasp, it rapidly shrank, transforming from the size of an ox's head into the size of a human head.

Hu San knew without even testing it personally that this mask would now fit him with absolute perfection. It seemed this item genuinely adjusted itself automatically to match the size of its bearer's physique.

"……You……liu……You……liu……"

The instant he secured the mask, Hu San felt a momentary trance wash over his mind. Immediately following that, vague, indistinct shouts echoed within the depths of his consciousness. Once the mask shrank into its new form, these shouting noises vanished completely, and Hu San snapped back to clarity from his dazed state.

At this very moment, he had no way of knowing whether that voice had just been a hallucination; the sound was far too indistinct, as though it had originated from another world entirely.

No matter what methods he tried afterward, that series of sounds never appeared again. It seemed that once the mask was picked up by him and adjusted to fit his facial dimensions, a certain mechanism within it was temporarily sealed off.

Turning the mask over and examining it closely back and forth, Hu San had to admit that he could discern no secrets whatsoever hidden within it. He could now be certain that this item was definitely not a magical artifact, nor was it some miraculous treasured object akin to the black sword; on the surface, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary mask.

Even the material used to craft it was recognized by Hu San: ox bone! This mask was unquestionably crafted from the bones of an ox. Masks of this sort—let alone in the cultivation world—could be ordered by the dozen simply by visiting any ordinary mortal town and spending a few taels of silver.

If not for the fact that the mask had grown and shrunk right before his eyes, Hu San might have genuinely believed that everything that just transpired was merely a product of his own imagination.

"Bizarre. It seems I can only study this further in the future."

Just as Hu San was preparing to utilize the method he had previously discovered—where the female ghost connected with the corpses of the outside world—to break the restrictions and leave this place, he noticed that the throne before him had begun to slowly collapse now that it had lost the mask.