Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 652: Counterattack

The moment the "杀" character appeared, the entire area filled with chilling murderous energy.

A bleak autumn wind blew, somber killing intent rising.

Within these few brush strokes were crime and punishment!

A single stroke of the brush caused that "Kill" character to radiate waves of cold killing intent.

The fiends saw this character begin to spin, splitting off countless more "Kill" characters.

These characters differed in size and style, as if the innumerable scholars of Fengshan over the last thousand years had all come together to each write this one character, each one brimming with the will to fight as they charged out.

These "Kill" characters were like the frenzied attacks of an art relic, engulfing the fiends in their killing intent. And this immense power began to tear away at them, crush them, and squeeze them.

They desperately resisted, but they were puny and weak before this vast power.

A fiend general faltered with a wail, and a golden "Kill" character passed through his body like countless swords, filling him with holes. And then another fiend general fell, a large character slicing the fiend general as if it was countless knives. Each "Kill" character was like a falling hammer, obliterating a fiend general.

Even the fiend kings felt a terrible pain from these "Kill" characters.

"The Three Character True Talisman Classic!" the Ghostface King squeezed out from between clenched teeth.

This was the technique Sun Shuming was the most proud of.

Sun Shuming's Three Character True Talisman Classic consisted of only three spell arts: "Kill", "Obliterate", and "End". They possessed earth-shaking power almost on par with a Divine Connection.

But nobody had expected Sun Shuming to use this ultimate technique from the very start.

Sun Shuming said, "It's meant for dealing with groups, so it naturally needs to be used as early as it can to take down as many people as possible."

He flourished his brush again and shouted, "Obliterate (灭)!"

It seemed that he was intending to use the second of the three characters.

The Ghostface King wasn't just going to stand there and let him, shouting, "Stop him!"

While the Three Character Classic was powerful, it was slow to cast. Two fiend kings attacked, one throwing out a golden shuttle that moved like a bolt of lightning while the other took on his original form, a Heaven Howler Dog, and lunged at Sun Shuming to bite him.

But to their surprise, Sun Shuming lowered his brush, and the golden character that appeared was no "Obliterate", but "御" (Defend).

Alarmed, the Ghostface King realized that he had fallen for Sun Shuming's trap again, and he shouted, "Get back!"

But he was too slow.

The "Defend" character erupted with golden light, blocking the attacks from the two fiend kings like a shield. Meanwhile, Sun Shuming wrote a "Fear" character that illuminated the dog fiend king and rendered it immobile.

Liu Yunshan bellowed, and his giant sword swung down from the heavens at the dog fiend.

The Celestial Sword of the Celestial Sword Sect was just as powerful as Sun Shuming's Three Character True Talisman Classic, and the dog fiend was no match for it, so he desperately attempted to move his head. But while he desperately tried to escape, Sun Shuming held him fast, and the other cultivators also barraged his body with spell arts.

The fiend kings were stunned and enraged, but they were being held down by the ghosts. All they could do was watch as another fiend king was savagely beaten to death.

Whoosh!

As Liu Yunshan chopped off the dog fiend's head, he shouted, "All of you will die here today!"

The Ghostface King knew that the situation was dire. He howled, "You really think these tricks are enough to destroy us? Too naive!"

He took out a rusted saber.

Sun Shuming paled at the sight of this saber, his entire body trembling as he shouted, "The Ironblood Saber! How do you have it!?"

The Ghostface King chuckled. "How else? The Fiend Emperor favored me so much that he lent it to me!"

This Ironblood Saber was a divine treasure personally used by the Ironblood Fiend Emperor.

As an owned divine treasure, it bore a sliver of the Ironblood Fiend Emperor's will, which made it far more powerful than an ownerless divine treasure.

The Ironblood Fiend Emperor had made his name with this saber, and its power was well-known.

The Ghostface King bellowed as he swung the saber.

This attack wasn't aimed at Sun Shuming's group, but at a ghost king behind him. This rusted saber exploded with a vast killing intent, and the spots of rust on the blade began to tremble. Boom! Countless illusions appeared in the air, each illusion that of a peerless expert, exuding a supreme majesty that made others want to put down their arms and bow down.

The majesty of these countless experts made the ghost king freeze to the spot.

The Ironblood Saber swept across the ghost king's neck, severing it. Ghosts were not easy to kill, particularly ghost kings. So long as the soul survived, they could be reborn. But when the Ironblood Saber swept across the ghost king's neck, those countless wills weighed down, and the ghost king's soul flickered like a candle in a storm. A moment later, it sputtered out, utterly unable to resist.

A powerful ghost king had died.

"Raaa!" The Ghostface King raised the Ironblood Saber and let out a frenzied roar.

The Ironblood Saber had been alongside the Ironblood Fiend Emperor for many years and killed countless experts. Each spot of rust on its surface was a souvenir from an expert, carrying that expert's inextinguishable will. Whenever the saber was swung, the wills represented by these spots of rust would be roused from their slumber, causing the target of the saber to feel like they were facing countless experts at once. Those of weaker will might even crumble from the pressure.

For this reason, using the saber was not easy either, requiring the user to have a strong will. The Ironblood Fiend Emperor himself had once said that only one with an iron-blooded will could use the saber. This was why the Ghostface King hadn't wanted to use it at first, as he would have to suffer from the pressure of countless wills.

But he had no choice but to use it now. The wills of the experts within the saber were the bane of ghosts. With one swing of the saber, a ghost king had died, and the ghost guards under his control lost their will to fight, greatly reducing the pressure on the fiends.

The Ghostface King raised high the Ironblood Saber, and the countless wills upon it activated, becoming like a sun shining high in the sky and making the ghosts wail. Many of the ghosts were instantly destroyed by the wills of the Ironblood Saber.

It only took a few moments for the ghost offensive to evaporate.

Sun Shuming's group was dumbfounded.

It had to be understood that they had killed two fiend kings precisely because the ghosts had been restraining the fiends. The dual restraints of the Blackwater Snake and the ghosts allowed the humans to snipe at the fiends, or else the combined power of 18 fiend kings would have been far beyond the ability of five Soul Transformation humans.

"Surprised, right?" The Ghostface King turned around and cackled. "We expected you humans to have some scheme, so I kept this move in reserve precisely for you!"

While keeping the Ironblood Saber until now was partially because it was difficult to use, it was also because he was using it as a safeguard against the humans. But the Ghostface King hadn't expected Sun Shuming to be so treacherous, his sneak attack leading to the death of two fiend kings and preventing his victory from being perfect.

But regardless, the might of the Ironblood Saber had neutralized the ghosts, and without the ghosts holding them down, the fiends were finally free to deal with the humans.

Seven fiend kings and fourteen fiend generals flew toward Sun Shuming's group, the remainder continuing to suppress the ghosts. The tables were instantly turned, with the fiends now beating down the ghosts and humans.

Five versus seven meant that Sun Shuming's group could only defend, with no more opportunity to attack.

Golden characters appeared in quick succession, but they were no longer graceful and elegant. Instead, the strokes were heavy and solemn, exuding an immense pressure.

Liu Yunshan's Celestial Sword also no longer seemed as mighty, its aggressive ferocity restrained, eight out of ten moves being used for defense.

The onslaught of more than twenty fiends left the humans without any time to catch their breath, but the ghosts were even worse off. The wills of the Ironblood Saber suppressed them all, and the ghost kings screeched in unbearable pain. The fiends used this opportunity to sweep through them, and it seemed that the ghosts would soon break.

"Hold! The wills of the Ironblood Saber are too powerful for ordinary people to resist! That old serpent can't last for much longer!" Sun Shuming shouted.

"How long can you hold on?" the Ghostface King chuckled. "You're looking down on me too much."

He suddenly took out a jade bottle, within which floated a drop of blood.

This drop of blood had a little hint of brown, and while it was only a single drop, it exuded a bleak somberness, contained an awesome strength.

"A fiend emperor's essence blood!" Sun Shuming trembled.

In front of him was clearly the essence blood of a fiend emperor, and he knew without asking that it belonged to the Ironblood Fiend Emperor.

With this drop of essence blood, the Ghostface King would be able to endure for much longer. It was no wonder he was so confident.

Everyone started to feel a hint of despair, except Sun Shuming, who looked very calmly at the Ghostface King.

The Ghostface King reached for the essence blood while saying, "Once I consume this essence blood, I will grow so powerful that I will have no need to fear the rest of you. But everyone here must bear witness that I consumed it for your sake, not for my own selfish desires."

Fiend emperor essence blood couldn't be taken casually. The Ironblood Fiend Emperor had decreed that he was only allowed to use it at critical moments. Thus, before using it, the Ghostface King had to notify the other fiends so that they couldn't claim that he had taken it for his own selfish desires.

All the fiends said in unison, "Ghostface King, be at ease! We will report this matter truthfully to His Majesty!"

The Ghostface King laughed and prepared to consume the blood.

At this moment, Sun Shuming abruptly said, "Still not doing anything? Are you just going to watch as the humans are wiped out?"

Startled, the Ghostface King realized that he was in trouble and prepared to swallow the essence blood.

There was a dull boom.

It was a very special boom, one created by something moving at high speed through the air.

A figure instantly made its way through the chaotic battlefield, appearing in front of the Ghostface King.

The Ghostface King looked at Tang Jie in shock as he desperately tried to bring the essence blood to his mouth, but he found that he was utterly paralyzed and bereft of strength.

That sonic boom carried some sort of strange sound that had stripped him of the ability to move.

"Actually, I was hoping that you would take it so that you could wipe out all those accursed ghosts, but since Sir Sun doesn't want it, just forget about it," Tang Jie casually said as he plucked the drop of essence blood from the Ghostface King's hand.