Chapter 1939: One Sword Clears a Ghost City
In the royal capital of Qianshui Commandery, the Thirteenth Merit Points Post Station was built within the city. Compared to the past, it was now bustling with activity many times over, with Saints and Saint Kings frequently seen.
Because of the New Year's Eve celebrations, the royal capital was adorned with lanterns and decorations everywhere, exuding a festive and lively atmosphere.
A Le, carrying his iron sword on his back, walked out of the post station and appeared on the streets of the royal capital.
After receiving Zhang Ruochen's message, A Le had immediately set out and rushed over as quickly as possible.
Not far from the Merit Points Post Station, atop a three-story pavilion, one of the three Divine Maiden candidates of the Destiny Temple, Bore, sat alone by the window of an elegant room. Her gaze locked onto A Le, and a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.
"Hmm?"
Sensing something, A Le turned his head to look at the pavilion beside him.
The window was empty, with no one there.
He withdrew his gaze. It must have been just an illusion—he had only just arrived and shouldn't have been targeted.
Without lingering long in the royal capital of Qianshui Commandery, A Le headed straight for the city occupied by the Black Kill Ghost King.
Through the intelligence network of the Death God Temple, he had already fully grasped the Black Kill Ghost King's information and could confirm that the Ghost King was currently entrenched in Black Kill Ghost City, with no need to search elsewhere.
Black Kill Ghost City was not within the borders of Qianshui Commandery, nor was it originally called that. It had been renamed only after the Black Kill Ghost King took it over.
Now, everyone simply referred to the city as Black Kill Ghost City, its former name long forgotten.
Using a Divine Speed Talisman, A Le unleashed a speed of a thousand times the speed of sound, reaching the outskirts of Black Kill Ghost City in less than an hour.
The city was enormous, and for thousands of miles around it, dense ghostly aura permeated the air, making it feel like the underworld—dark, eerie, and terrifying.
From a distance, countless ghostly figures could be seen within, deterring anyone from approaching.
Standing before Black Kill Ghost City, A Le clearly sensed many powerful presences inside. There were numerous Fourth Calamity Ghost Kings and Fifth Calamity Ghost Kings, along with several Sixth Calamity Ghost Kings.
A Fourth Calamity Ghost King was equivalent to a First to Third Step Saint King, a Fifth Calamity Ghost King to a Fourth to Sixth Step Saint King, and a Sixth Calamity Ghost King to a Seventh to Ninth Step Saint King.
The power gap among Sixth Calamity Ghost Kings was the most significant, as the Ninth Step Saint King realm was divided into five minor stages, each with considerable differences.
A chilling wind blew, and a Third Calamity Ghost King appeared, lunging at A Le to drain his essence blood.
Ghost Kings were different from ordinary undead; they could feed on the blood of living beings to strengthen their ghostly bodies. The more powerful the blood, the greater the benefit.
A Le's eyes were icy cold as he swung his iron sword, striking the Third Calamity Ghost King.
The Ghost King's ghostly body instantly exploded into a cloud of ghostly mist, its soul already slain.
The sword path A Le cultivated differed from Zhang Ruochen's; it was purely for slaughter, emphasizing a single lethal strike. Ghost cultivators, too, had to die.
With one sword strike killing the Third Calamity Ghost King, A Le stepped into the city, having locked onto the Black Kill Ghost King's aura.
"Who dares to trespass into Black Kill Ghost City? Seeking death!"
A Fourth Calamity Ghost King appeared, blocking A Le's path.
A Le didn't even glance at him. He casually swung his iron sword, its speed beyond imagination.
"Boom."
Another single strike, and the Fourth Calamity Ghost King, caught completely off guard, was annihilated in both body and soul.
Gazing at the towering city gate ahead, A Le swung his iron sword, unleashing a terrifying sword energy.
"Boom."
The sword energy pierced straight through the entire Black Kill Ghost City, splitting it in two. Countless ghost clan cultivators were obliterated, their souls scattered.
"Whoosh."
"Whoosh."
...
Dozens of powerful ghostly auras shot into the sky, plunging the already dark night into even deeper gloom.
Led by the Black Kill Ghost King, dozens of Ghost Kings with cultivation levels above the Fourth Calamity gathered, their gazes all fixed on A Le.
The Black Kill Ghost King was hideously ugly, clad in pitch-black ghost armor. Besides emitting a dense ghostly aura, he also exuded a dark force that constantly devoured the free Saint Qi in the surroundings.
Without a doubt, he had cultivated the Path of Darkness, one of the Nine Eternal Paths, and had achieved considerable success.
The Darkness Temple existed in the Hell Realm, long controlled by the Ghost Clan, Corpse Clan, and Bone Clan, as these three clans were most suited to cultivating the Path of Darkness.
Han Qiu possessed a Dark Constitution; if she could enter the Darkness Temple to cultivate, she would surely reach a very high level in the Path of Darkness.
But that was extremely difficult, almost impossible, as the Hell Realm would never allow a human into the Darkness Temple.
The Black Kill Ghost King's eyes blazed with murderous intent, fixed on A Le. He said coldly, "Who are you, daring to provoke me?"
A Le raised his iron sword, his gaze utterly frigid. "The one who will kill you."
"Kill me? How utterly ignorant of the heavens and earth. I'm right here; let's see how you plan to do it," the Black Kill Ghost King sneered.
His cultivation realm was comparable to a peak Dao Domain realm expert, and his true strength could rival some Heaven-Connecting realm experts.
Even a top-tier Heaven-Connecting realm expert wouldn't dare claim they could definitely kill him.
Yet A Le's body showed no Sacred Dao Rules, meaning his cultivation was at most at the Rule Lesser World realm.
With such a cultivation level, daring to say he would kill him—what a joke.
A Le's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and a surging, overwhelming killing intent erupted from within him. Around him, visions of mountains of corpses and seas of blood faintly materialized.
"Whoosh."
A Le raised his iron sword and charged forward in an instant.
The speed of this sword strike was beyond imagination, as if it had transcended the barriers of time and space.
The Black Kill Ghost King's pupils contracted, and for a moment, a chill ran through his entire body.
With his cultivation and eyesight, he couldn't even see A Le's sword technique—only a blurry afterimage.
Somehow, he felt an immense sense of threat from A Le.
The Black Kill Ghost King wanted to dodge, but A Le's aura had locked onto him, leaving no room to evade.
With no other choice, the Black Kill Ghost King fully activated his ghostly aura and dark force, instantly forming nearly a hundred protective barriers.
"Boom, boom."
All the barriers were pierced through by the iron sword in an instant, offering no resistance.
The iron sword continued forward, aiming straight for the Black Kill Ghost King's brow.
Seeing the sword tip so close, the Black Kill Ghost King's pupils shrank, and a shadow of death loomed over his heart.
Reacting quickly, he threw a punch at A Le's chest, hoping to force him to withdraw his sword and evade.
But A Le seemed not to see the incoming punch at all. His iron sword pressed forward relentlessly, refusing to retreat.
"Pfft."
The rusted iron sword was incredibly sharp. Even though the Black Kill Ghost King's brow was protected by Dark Inscription Runes, it was still pierced through.
A terrifying killing intent surged through the iron sword into the Black Kill Ghost King's body, shredding his soul.
At the same time, the Ghost King's fist struck A Le's chest, sending him flying backward.
"Boom."
A Le crashed down from the sky, sinking into the ground.
The cloth on his chest was torn, revealing a pitch-black fist imprint, with dark force coalescing and eroding fiercely.
The Black Kill Ghost King's dying counterattack was undoubtedly fearsome.
"How could I die..." the Black Kill Ghost King muttered, his eyes filled with disbelief. Before he could finish, his ghostly body exploded.
The sword of slaughter—once drawn, it must kill, even if the target was a powerful Ghost King.
The surrounding Ghost Kings were all stunned, never expecting the Black Kill Ghost King to be killed so easily.
"Kill him!"
A Ghost King reacted and immediately attacked A Le.
In his view, A Le had been gravely wounded from his clash with the Black Kill Ghost King, making this the perfect time to finish him off.
He wasn't trying to avenge the Ghost King; he was afraid A Le would come after them next.
Once A Le recovered, none of them would survive.
A Le shot into the sky, swinging his iron sword to cleave the charging Ghost King in two.
Without pause, he continued swinging his sword, cutting down the other Ghost Kings.
Since he had come to Black Kill Ghost City, he might as well kill to his heart's content, annihilating every undead and ghostly creature within.
"Run!"
Feeling the overwhelming killing intent radiating from A Le, the Ghost Kings lost all will to fight and scattered in all directions.
But how could their escape speed match the speed of A Le's sword?
Before long, Black Kill Ghost City became an empty city. Every undead and ghostly creature that had occupied it was slain, not one spared.
"Mission complete."
Carving these five words, A Le sent out a Message Light Talisman.
Then, dragging his bloodied, wounded body, he walked out of Black Kill Ghost City with a resolute gaze.
On a still-standing section of the city wall, Bore's figure appeared out of thin air, watching A Le leave.
Looking at the nearly ruined Black Kill Ghost City, a peculiar smile crept across Bore's eyes.
The next moment, she vanished from the wall, as if she had never been there.
Inside the Northern Domain military camp, Zhang Ruochen reached out and caught the Message Light Talisman sent by A Le. After reading its contents, a sense of relief washed over him.
"Big Brother, who sent you a message? Good news?" Xiang Chunan asked curiously.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head slightly. "Nothing much. Just settling a matter on my mind. I've had enough to drink today. Get ready properly—there's a tough battle to fight after dawn."
"Even the Undying Blood Clan's hundreds of thousands of troops were wiped out by us. Attacking Xianji Mountain is just a small matter; there won't be any problems," Xiang Chunan said confidently.
Zhang Ruochen said seriously, "This time is different. The Death Clan is stronger, and we can't rely on external forces. Don't be careless. Besides breaking through the Death Altar, we have other things to do."
"By the way, Big Brother, you still haven't told us why you came to Xianji Mountain," Feng Yan asked.
He had heard Xiang Chunan mention earlier that Zhang Ruochen had come to the Northern Domain specifically for a special purpose.
But what that purpose was remained a secret, known only to Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin.
"Yeah, Big Brother, can you tell us now?" Xiang Chunan said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I wanted to tell you earlier, but you trusted Luo Yi too much. I was afraid you'd let it slip, so I kept it from you."
"The main reason I came to the Northern Domain this time is to retrieve the severed trunk of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree. The trunk of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree is of utmost importance and absolutely cannot fall into the hands of the Death Clan or cultivators from other major worlds."
...
The reason I didn't update last night was mainly because I lost a bet and spent the night on the rooftop, letting the cold wind blow, hesitating whether to jump. But thinking that "Eternal God Emperor" isn't finished yet and many readers are still waiting for updates, I stubbed out my cigarette and returned to my little dark room.
Three chapters today, ten thousand words. Shouldn't you all throw in some recommendation tickets and monthly votes to show support?
If you don't, I'll go sit on the rooftop again for another night... Hmph...