Chapter 352
Chapter 352
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 353
Chapter Title: Miraculous Hand Ghost Doctor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Lord of Tianchi Kingdom suddenly passed away, and Crown Prince Xiang Kun of the East Palace immediately led the palace's elite experts to rush to the Lord's palace. His goals were twofold: first, to steady the hearts of the many ghost gods within the kingdom, and second, to seize control of the military power, preventing other ambitious ghost gods vying for the throne from taking advantage.
Crown Prince Xiang Kun had long harbored ambitions. He had gathered a large group of powerful ghost gods in the East Palace as his core supporters, all for the day he could eliminate the old Lord and claim the throne himself.
But this time, the old Lord's sudden death was beyond his expectations.
He had many rivals in Tianchi Ghost Kingdom, all eyeing the throne. With the old Lord gone, those opponents were bound to seize the opportunity to strike!
In Tianchi Ghost Kingdom, there were no moral constraints like those in the mortal world. Strength ruled supreme. The Xiang Bang Ghost Tribe, to which Prince Xiang Kun belonged, was the largest faction with the most ghost gods. Normally, the old Lord's presence kept the other tribes in check. But without him, if Xiang Kun couldn't seize power immediately and secure enough support, the Xiang Bang Ghost Tribe might not hold onto the throne!
Xiang Kun's heart raced with both shock and excitement as he hurried to the palace. The Prime Minister of Tianchi Ghost Kingdom rushed forward to greet him, bowing deeply.
"Your Highness, my condolences."
Prince Xiang Kun had no time for pleasantries.
"My father was always hale and hearty, with ample lifespan left. How could he collapse so suddenly?"
The Prime Minister replied,
"Several days ago, His Majesty led a few great elders from the tribe on a hasty journey. He had said they would return before Fog Moon, but they only came back on the night of Fog Moon itself. After that, he was beyond saving."
"Returned on the night of Fog Moon."
Prince Xiang Kun's heart jolted. Fog Moon was extremely perilous, and the Lord had always been wise and cautious. Why would he risk returning to the capital on that very night?
"Where are the great elders from the tribe?"
he asked urgently.
The Prime Minister hesitated, then said,
"Only His Majesty returned. The other great elders vanished without a trace———."
Prince Xiang Kun's heart sank. His goal in coming here was precisely those great elders. He had rushed to the palace first to secure their support. If they were already dead, the Xiang Bang Ghost Tribe might not secure the throne!
He steadied himself and said,
"Prime Minister, this matter is known only to you and me. It must not leak to anyone else, or chaos will ensue."
The Prime Minister nodded solemnly.
Prince Xiang Kun hurried into the palace and finally beheld the corpse of the Lord of Tianchi.
This most powerful ghost god of Tianchi Ghost Kingdom had one half of his body still somewhat intact, though marred by numerous bite wounds that were gruesome to behold.
The other half was nothing but stark white bones, stripped entirely of flesh and blood!
Prince Xiang Kun's heart pounded in terror. He examined the junction where the two halves met. The cut was astonishingly clean, as if precisely sheared.
Yet strangely, no bones were damaged—only the flesh, organs, and other tissues had been meticulously removed.
At the severed edge of the Lord's flesh, strands of peculiar light shimmered like drifting rosy clouds, shifting irregularly in captivating patterns.
"Your Highness, do not touch it!"
The Prime Minister saw him reaching out and quickly stopped him.
"This light is extremely dangerous!"
He summoned a castrated little yaksha from the palace and gestured for it to touch the glow.
The little yaksha dared not disobey and cautiously extended a finger toward the light.
"Shua!"
The glow suddenly surged. The little yaksha froze, then slowly toppled over.
Prince Xiang Kun stared in horror. The yaksha's left side remained whole with flesh intact, while its right side was reduced to bare white bones!
This peculiar light had sliced straight down the centerline, dividing the yaksha's body and flesh into perfectly equal halves!
Even the most precise executioner ghost monks of Tianchi Ghost Kingdom could not achieve such exactitude.
"What kind of attack caused this?"
Prince Xiang Kun asked in a low voice.
The Prime Minister hesitated, then said,
"Your Highness, I cannot comprehend it. But His Majesty uttered one phrase before his end."
Xiang Kun pressed,
"What phrase?"
"Fog harbors immortals."
Prince Xiang Kun's face changed instantly.
Was the Lord saying that on the night of Fog Moon, immortals had appeared within the fog?
But why would immortals emerge in the fog?
In the ancient legends of Tianchi Ghost Kingdom, their world once had sun, moon, and stars. Back then, they wielded great power and could cultivate to ascend to another realm. Those who ascended were called immortals.
Immortals could descend from that other world, imparting profound and unfathomable knowledge to the people.
But at some point, sun, moon, and stars all vanished. The immortals disappeared as well.
Only once a month came Fog Moon, sweeping across the entire ghost kingdom.
When the fog rolled in, only those colossal weapons, ruined walls, and ancient structures guarded the people of Tianchi Ghost Kingdom.
"Could it be that the immortals never vanished?"
He recalled the lowly ghost tribe pengju imprisoned in the East Palace, and his heart stirred with eagerness.
Pengju was merely a messenger from his household. When communicating with other ghost gods over vast distances, such swift-flying messengers were needed to relay verbal messages. Each dispatch required seven or eight messengers flying to the same destination via different routes. This was because the Yin Mountain region was too perilous—birds were fast but weak, easily captured and devoured by other ghosts or dying from inexplicable causes.
Yet Pengju's luck was extraordinarily good. After over a year in the East Palace, he still collected his wages; even the steward had no chance to skim a month's pay.
Prince Xiang Kun had regarded it as a curiosity.
But last time, when Pengju went out on a mission and failed to return for many days, Xiang Kun assumed his luck had run out and he had perished outside. Unexpectedly, he returned alive to report.
This time, Pengju's return was different—he revealed the Blood Lake True Scripture, shocking the entire East Palace and nearly causing a uproar. Fortunately, Xiang Kun acted swiftly, capturing Pengju and executing all the ghosts in the palace who knew but couldn't keep their mouths shut, leaving only his own loyalists.
"As long as I pry open Pengju's mouth and master the Blood Lake True Scripture, I will be invincible under heaven! Who would dare challenge me for the throne?"
The East Palace was built atop an enormous bronze plate embedded in the ground, towering like a mountain with a square hole in its center, left by some unknown entity.
This bronze coin would glow on Fog Moon nights, illuminating the surroundings. The East Palace lay precisely within its light, keeping the fog at bay.
Now, the East Palace was under strict lockdown, with two ghost gods standing guard, one on each side of the gate.
These two were Big Bellies, standing four zhang tall on either side of the entrance, headless and neckless, with massive chests. They wore tiny vests on their upper bodies, their bellies exposed.
Their eyes were positioned where nipples would be, mouths at the navel—wide and filled with sharp teeth, their bellies wrinkled.
They wielded hammer spears: iron rods four or five zhang long, tipped with heavy hexagonal hammers.
Pythonskin belts encircled their bellies, with baskets hanging from them containing little yakshas sitting primly upright, offering incense to the Big Bellies.
One Big Belly swiveled its belly to gaze at three little ghosts approaching down the street. Among them was a skeleton dolled up extravagantly, swaying like willow branches in the wind, its slender waist twisting to make its skirt flutter.
Another was a bird wearing a broad-brimmed hat shaped like a tiger-head axe, covering its head and exposing only a long beak. Its wings gleamed golden outside, as if gilded.
The third little ghost was also a skeleton, clad in just one garment that exposed its thighs—no shorts underneath.
The three little ghosts approached the East Palace and halted before the gate.
The extravagantly dressed skeleton stepped forward with a娇笑.
"Esteemed lords, Consort Jiao is ill. She requests that our Chen Ghost Doctor come treat her.
Our Chen Ghost Doctor is renowned for miraculous hands that bring the dying back to life, excelling at all manner of intractable ailments. Might we trouble you to let us pass?"
"No chance!"
The Big Belly rumbled gutturally,
"Take one step closer, and you'll die without a grave!"
"My lord, I have incense money here..."
The Big Belly laughed.
"You skeleton cultivators always say money makes ghosts push mills, but today, it won't budge. Put away your stinking cash!"
"Wait!"
The other Big Belly suddenly chuckled slyly.
"They've offended the East Palace. We kill them, claim the money, and don't violate His Highness's orders. Perfect, isn't it?"
"Brilliant plan—"
The two Big Bellies moved to strike when a burst of blood light erupted. A blood lake materialized behind Chen Ghost Doctor's head, and two crimson sword beams shot forth with twin whistles, piercing their mouths and skewering their bodies!
Before the Big Bellies could react, they found themselves dead, their souls plunged into the blood lake hell behind Chen Ghost Doctor.
Indescribable agony surged through their souls, as if their entire bodies bled profusely. They screamed in torment.
Their screams joined the wails of other souls in the blood lake, though no sound escaped its bounds.
Chen Shi dashed forward, mana surging to lift the two Big Belly corpses and hurl them into a small shrine.
The incense-burning little yakshas tried to flee, but Peng Yan'er charged to slay them. Chen Shi blocked her and shook his head.
"No killing little ghosts."
The little yakshas kowtowed to Chen Shi and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Chen Shi shoved open the East Palace gates.
"The Lord's palace isn't far, and the prince returned swiftly. We must rescue Pengju faster than he can act. Killing to save lives—hesitate not at all."
Sang Xixi hopped over the half-zhang-high threshold, Peng Yan'er close behind. Chen Shi entered the East Palace and shut the gates.
This was the East Palace's front hall, a carriage yard with many ghost servants—some cleaning, others lounging on verandas.
Spotting the intruders, they stood and peered over.
Chen Shi tossed the Big Belly corpses into the front hall. The ghost servants gasped at the sight of the ghost god bodies and scattered in panic.
Chen Shi led Sang Xixi and Peng Yan'er through the front hall, speeding toward the interior.
"Ghost gods have been slain!"
the ghost servants cried.
Chen Shi and the two women followed the fleeing ghost maids and servants deeper into the palace. A blue-faced, fanged ghost god charged from the front, swinging a wolf-tooth club to bat away the fastest ghost servant, bellowing,
"What are you ghosts screeching about?"
"Shua!"
A crimson sword beam pierced the ghost god's forehead. It froze, its body withering rapidly.
The sword beam swirled back into the blood lake behind Chen Shi's head, adding another soul to its hell.
Two blade-arm ghosts lunged from left and right, arms like blades. They flipped, spun, their blade lights whistling, shredding architecture, maids, and servants alike in their path!
Chen Shi and Peng Yan'er met them from either side. Chen Shi moved like a specter, dodging the slashing blades before a sword qi impaled one blade-arm ghost. Its corpse tumbled over a dozen zhang, smashing into a wall before stopping.
Peng Yan'er's wings unfurled like a gorgeous weapon of countless golden feather swords. She left the ground, wings humming as she darted up and down like flickering golden light, clashing blade for blade with the other at blinding speed.
Suddenly, their forms crossed. The blade-arm ghost collapsed, withered dry—its dual blades breached, qi and blood utterly drained.
Chen Shi surged ahead. Two thunder ape ghost gods hid in overhead yin clouds, leaping down with massive iron clubs to smash at them.
But the instant they dropped, Sang Xixi hurled head-sized pellets. Each exploded in roaring thunderfire, blasting the thunder apes to fragments.
The trio crossed a long covered bridge. Ahead, six or seven ghost gods rounded a corner, only to be pierced through by Chen Shi's waves of crimson sword lights.
Peng Yan'er winged forward, her wings slashing down from above to skewer one ghost god that escaped Chen Shi's assault.
Sang Xixi spotted ghost gods pouring from a building ahead and offered up a man-high iron caltrop, hurling it forth.
A ghost god in the building caught it barehanded. Lightning flashed, and the caltrop detonated. The ancient structure endured the thunderfire unscathed—truly extraordinary—but the ghost gods inside shattered to dust amid the deluge!
Especially the caltrop's razor shards, spinning as they burst—even those who blocked the lightning couldn't fend them off!
Sang Xixi hadn't expected such ferocity and startled.
Chen Shi cleared the path ahead, charging through. In mere moments, his crimson sword lights had multiplied to over a hundred, darting like red fish in all directions, slaughtering any ghost god that emerged.
He handled those in front; Sang Xixi and Peng Yan'er mopped up stragglers. The three carved a bloody path.
Chen Shi noted the ghost gods' movements: some rushed at them, others fled to two other locations.
"Which way is the rear palace?"
Chen Shi asked.
Sang Xixi pointed east.
"That way!"
Chen Shi veered instead toward the ghost gods heading elsewhere.
The three slew several more, cowing the rest.
These three were clearly lowly skeleton imps and a birdkin, yet their power was absurdly overwhelming!
The ghost gods fought while retreating until they reached a grand hall. The last one fell to Chen Shi's sword, corpse thudding to the ground.
Before the hall, hundreds of crimson sword qi bathed the area in bloody light.
At the hall's entrance stood an armored ghost god, aura overwhelmingly mighty.
Its face darkened. Suddenly, its body shook, revealing a true form hundreds of zhang tall!
Without hesitation, Chen Shi summoned the small shrine and called,
"Shi Ji!"
Lady Shi Ji flew out, invoking her divine ability. Auspicious clouds blanketed the sky, golden light gleaming within. Yellow Scarf Warriors stooped from the clouds, seizing the armored ghost god and hauling it skyward.
Lady Shi Ji withdrew her ability, and the terrifying ghost god vanished.
She moved to return to Chen Shi's shrine but froze at the massive bronze coin behind the hall.
Chen Shi had no time for her and charged into the palace. Inside hung a birdcage containing Pengju.
Chen Shi shattered the cage, freed Pengju, and rushed out.
Lady Shi Ji still stared dazedly at the colossal bronze coin standing between heaven and earth, not following.
Chen Shi glanced back and shouted,
"Shi Ji, let's go!"
Lady Shi Ji snapped to and hurried after him.
"Envoy, I've seen that bronze coin before! It absolutely cannot be here!"