Xu Zimo thought for a moment. He did indeed need to go to the Ghost God Heaven.
If he didn’t use the teleportation array of the Celestial Sage Academy, it would take much longer to find another way.
He turned to Jiang Mozhi and asked, “How can we contact the Ghost God Collegium?”
“Between our Celestial Sage Academy and the Ghost God Collegium, there is a formation wall,” Jiang Mozhi explained. “Normally, if we write on that wall, the people of the Ghost God Collegium can see it. But that Evil Spirit also knows of it. I’m afraid it keeps watch there constantly. We’ll need to distract it first.”
“I’ll draw its attention,” Xu Zimo said. “Changliu, you take the Chancellor and send the message while you have the chance.”
That Evil Spirit was deeply tied to many things. If what the Old Man of the Abyss said was true,
that the Evil Spirit and Kui were one, and that one could not die without the other, then Kui would do anything to protect the Evil Spirit.Xu Zimo didn’t want to bother with all that. All he needed to do was lure it away. This was something best handled by the Ghost God Collegium itself.
After a brief discussion, Xu Zimo set out alone.
The Celestial Sage Academy was desolate now.
As he walked, he could barely see a single student.
Judging from the academy’s vast grounds, it must once have been glorious. But ever since the real Chancellor had been trapped in the Blue-Parasol Ancient-Abyss and the Evil Spirit had taken his place, decline had set in.
Step by step, Xu Zimo reached the courtyard where he had last seen the old man, the Evil Spirit.
The old man stood before the house, holding a broom, calmly sweeping fallen leaves.
He looked serene, almost immortal, no trace of malice could be sensed.
Xu Zimo’s footsteps echoed. The old man slowly raised his head, a brief flash of surprise crossing his face.
“We meet again,” Xu Zimo said, leaning against a nearby tree with a smile.
The old man said nothing, merely staring quietly.
“Didn’t we agree that you’d help lure the Evil Spirit? Why didn’t you come?” Xu Zimo asked casually.
Still, the old man remained silent.
“I’ve already contacted the Ghost God Collegium,” Xu Zimo said with an easy grin.
At once, he felt the weight of killing intent.
The world seemed unchanged, but the air turned frigid, suffocating.
Even the sunlight seemed to dim.
“If you were lucky enough to escape with your life, you should have left Celestial Sage Mountain quietly,” the old man said softly. “Why come back to stir the waters?”
“I was nearly trapped to death in the Blue-Parasol Ancient-Abyss. How could I not come to return that favor?” Xu Zimo smiled.
He slowly drew the blade from his back. As the Shadow Tyrant emerged, demonic aura surged skyward, tearing at the void.
The air trembled around him.
“Young men never understand, only true pain breeds fear,” the old man said, flicking his wrist. The broom in his hand shot toward Xu Zimo.
Xu Zimo met it head-on. His blade gleamed with cold light as he swung.
Clang!
The broom was split cleanly in two.
He stepped forward, right foot stamping the ground, blade angled toward the old man as he struck.
The gray-robed elder’s aura flared; spirit power gathered in his right hand, condensing into a glowing sphere.
The sphere collided with the Shadow Tyrant, but the blade’s sharpness was beyond his expectations. It shattered the energy ball and sliced clean through his hand.
“A fine sword,” the old man murmured in admiration, leaping backward.
His robe billowed as wild demonic energy erupted skyward.
The severed arm regenerated before Xu Zimo’s eyes.
Only then did Xu Zimo see his true form. The old man was gaunt to the bone, his body wrapped in the oversized robe that had hidden his grotesque frame.
Beneath his neck, thick blood-red veins bulged, throbbing as if they would burst through his skin.
He opened his mouth, inside was red, thick fluid and rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Dropping to all fours, he fixed his gaze on Xu Zimo like a predator eyeing prey, then lunged, faster than lightning.
Xu Zimo sidestepped, letting the creature rush past. As they crossed, his blade swept horizontally.
Slash!
The Shadow Tyrant cleaved the old man clean in half.
Black blood sprayed across the ground.
But even halved, the old man didn’t die. His upper and lower halves split apart, moving separately to encircle Xu Zimo.
Both halves charged.
Demonic energy surged; the upper body opened a gaping maw, while the lower body’s clawed feet glinted like blades.
Both attacked simultaneously.
Xu Zimo thrust the Shadow Tyrant forward, impaling the upper body’s mouth, then spun, kicking the lower half away with a single powerful strike.
The two halves fell apart.
Black blood pooled across the earth as the old man collapsed, writhing.
Xu Zimo lifted his sword and advanced step by step.
Just then, tendrils of black demonic mist rose from the old man’s corpse, gathering above.
The aura grew thicker and heavier, until the entire sky above Celestial Sage Mountain turned black, as if dark clouds weighed upon the city, ready to crush it.
When the demonic energy fully manifested, the old man’s body fell still, lifeless.
A series of guttural, twisted screams echoed through the air.
From the roiling mist, a monstrous figure emerged, Kui, the Ghost God.
Though this was only her evil half, she was identical to the true Kui in form.
What surprised Xu Zimo most was that Kui was a woman.
She wore a gray, tight-fitting chest wrap, her pale shoulders glowing faintly.
Gray ribbons wrapped around her clothes in countless layers.
Behind her grew more than ten gray-white tails, each lined with swirling fur.
Her hair floated upward, each strand shaped like a miniature tail.
On her chest bloomed a black flower of demonic energy, a flower that pulsed with evil, destruction, and bloodlust.
Her eyes were pitch-black, and she stared at Xu Zimo in silence.
With a motion of her right hand, a Lotus of Death bloomed in the air above Xu Zimo.
Within it, countless crystalline shards formed, each as sharp as an arrow.
Kui waved her hand. The crystalline arrows rained down.
Xu Zimo leapt back, retreating fast, but the barrage was endless. Each shard that struck the ground corroded everything it touched.
His gaze hardened. He surged into the air, Shadow Tyrant cutting downward like a torrential river toward Kui.
She raised her other hand and struck.
Boom! A tremendous force wave exploded outward, sending Xu Zimo crashing to the ground.
Her many tails lashed, surging with demonic power as they struck toward him.
The tails were thick and furred, sweeping through the air like whips.
One tail came straight for him. Xu Zimo caught it with one hand.
But it flung him upward, hurling him into the sky.
Then all the other tails followed, more than ten, coiling around him, binding his arms and legs.
They pulled tight, trying to tear him apart, as if to rip his body limb from limb.