In the Willow Forest, Xu Ying focused his spirit sense through the Spirit Mirror, activating his Celestial Eye. In an instant, the true faces of the Impermanence ghosts were laid bare!
Many of these Impermanences were not true Impermanence ghosts at all!
Under the Celestial Eye's gaze, the distinction between genuine and counterfeit was immediately apparent. The key lay in the divine soul.
Impermanence was a species of ghost god native to the underworld—an unusual form of netherworld creature that nonetheless possessed a physical body. Their formation was complex: they arose from the resentment of souls that perished in the underworld, fused with the cold, dead flesh of yin-soaked places. They also carried a divine quality, and the people of the mortal world venerated them as gods and spirits.
Looking through the Celestial Eye, one could see that a true Impermanence's divine soul was scattered and formless within its body—a blob here, a mass there, never coalescing into a unified shape.
But mixed among them were another kind of Impermanence.
Their physical bodies had been transformed by Impermanence masks—human skeletons that had been stretched and elongated into their current forms. Along the edges of their faces, one could still discern the marks of joints—evidence that countless flesh buds from the Impermanence mask had burrowed into their facial tissue and fused with their muscles!
Most critically, their divine souls were human souls.
They were all people!
Nuo masters wearing Impermanence masks!
Yuan Weiyang had noticed it too. "There are Nuo masters wearing masks among the Impermanences," she said quietly. "Real and false in equal numbers!"
Xu Ying's mind stirred—Yuan Weiyang must also possess some exceptionally unique method of wielding her spirit sense, one capable of distinguishing true from false.
Xiao Bo said gravely, "Young Master, these people have infiltrated the ranks of the underworld's ghost gods. Something is off. Their bearing does not look benevolent. We should leave."
Yuan Weiyang shook her head. "Now that we have seen their qi harvesting, they will not let us leave—even if we wanted to. Forget returning to the mortal world."
As she spoke, numerous Impermanences had already begun drifting toward them. These Impermanences floated without touching the ground, indistinguishable from any other at a glance—but they were Nuo masters wearing Impermanence masks!
Yuan Qi was baffled. "They're harvesting qi—so why can't we leave? Those ghost children were just feeding on me earlier and nearly killed me."
Xu Ying quickened his pace, trying to pass through before the encirclement closed. If they fought the false Impermanences and alarmed the true ones, even the genuine Impermanences might join the battle against them.
"They operate in secrecy," he said, lowering his voice. "Naturally they do not wish to be discovered. Now that we have stumbled upon them, they will silence us to prevent future trouble."
Yuan Qi blurted, "People are the worst!"
Then one of the false Impermanences thrust its Mourning Staff forward. The staff hissed—the coarse hemp strips wound around it howled and shot outward, lashing toward Xu Ying and the others!
The strips were made from some unknown rotting hemp, woven into coarse fabric. They carried a dense, spectral chill—one look and you knew they were no ordinary artifact!
The hemp strips flew like tentacles, and with a sharp *shhh* one burrowed into Yuan Qi's body, locking onto his soul and dragging outward!
Yuan Qi's physique was enormous—his qi and blood were hundreds of times that of an ordinary demon. In combat, his strikes could shatter stone and split mountains. But against these hemp strips, no matter how much force he exerted, he could not slow them by even a fraction!
Just as Yuan Qi's soul was about to be wrenched from his body, Xiao Bo lunged forward, surging with origin qi, and grabbed at the hemp strips. "Insolent!" he roared.
Yuan Qi was touched. *The old blue-robed man seems cold and distant, but his heart burns warm. He does care about me after all.*
But the hemp strips were of a special nature, designed to target souls. Mortal flesh could not grasp them. Xiao Bo, though a Great Nuo Master who had opened five caverns in the Yellow Court Secret Treasury, found it exceedingly difficult to hold them.
The old man roared, pushing his cultivation to its peak, and at last seized the strips. His shock was profound: *What manner of Nuo artifact is this? It is impossible to deal with!*
Then another Impermanence drifted over, tapping its Mourning Staff forward. More hemp strips soared through the air and plunged into Xiao Bo, locking his soul in their coils and dragging him outward!
Xiao Bo laughed through sheer fury. "You youngsters underestimate a Great Nuo Master! You think this is enough to bind my soul and render me helpless? Release!"
Yuan Qi cheered, "Well done, Xiao Bo!"
*Shhh shhh shhh!*
The Impermanences raised their arms in unison, swinging their Mourning Staffs. In an instant, hemp strips filled the air. Yuan Qi looked over and saw that Xiao Bo's face, hands, body, and legs were all laced through with strips—his soul wound so tightly there was not an inch free!
Yuan Qi jumped—then watched as Xiao Bo's soul was dragged from his body.
*The old man looks fierce, but his soul isn't as strong as mine,* Yuan Qi thought.
He had consumed a Myriad Spirit Pill. Though the Impermanence had locked onto his soul, his soul was so powerful that the ghost could not pull it free.
Nuo masters, by contrast, rarely cultivated their divine souls to any great degree. Xiao Bo was a Great Nuo Master of the Yuan family, a master who had opened five caverns and inherited the Yuan family's Nuo techniques—but his soul was not especially strong. Having his soul dragged outward, a cold dread settled in his heart: *This is the end for me...*
At that moment, sword light flashed—brilliant arcs of sword qi, nimble as serpents, slicing through the air. They struck every Impermanence in the grove simultaneously.
It was Yuan Weiyang. Her swordsmanship was every bit as formidable as Xu Ying's. She, too, had comprehended sword intent outside the Water Mouth Temple, though her insights differed from his—her blade technique emphasized variation.
The instant she drew her sword, her qi attacked all enemies at once, creating the sensation that each one faced her full-strength strike alone, and would die if they did not parry.
The Impermanences raised their Mourning Staffs to block. Each one was sent staggering, their qi and blood churning.
Yuan Qi and Xiao Bo broke free. Yuan Qi rejoiced. "I see their weakness! They fight their fight, we fight ours—so long as we kill them first, we are safe!"
These Impermanences excelled at attacking the soul, but their other Nuo arts were unremarkable. Defending against Yuan Weiyang's assault had exposed their短板: the very soul-focused techniques they relied upon left them vulnerable to other forms of attack.
Xiao Bo recognized this too and breathed a momentary sigh of relief. But his face hardened again the next instant.
More Impermanences were drifting toward them from every direction, killing intent radiating from their forms.
These were true Impermanences—not masked imposters. They hovered in the air and activated their Mourning Staffs from a distance. Hemp strips howled toward Xu Ying and the others like living serpents, writhing and coiling.
The true Impermanences were remarkably united—the moment the false ones engaged, the real ones moved to assist!
The false Impermanences grinned and activated their own Mourning Staffs, hemp strips lashing toward the group.
Facing this onslaught, even Yuan Weiyang's expression shifted. True Impermanences possessed formidable physical bodies, protected by the aura of incense offerings, and were genuine underworld deities—locking and extracting souls with effortless ease.
Against one or two, she could hold her own. But against this many, she was helpless.
As for Xiao Bo and Yuan Qi—they were even worse off. They could only serve as targets.
Then Xu Ying闪身moved, placing himself before the group. Countless hemp strips struck, plunging into his body and coiling around his soul!
The assembled Impermanences—true and false alike—raised their arms, attempting to tear his soul from his body!
*Whoosh—*
Xu Ying was yanked forward, his body flying through the air toward the Impermanences. But his soul had not left his body—it carried his "insignificant" flesh with it, hurtling through the sky!
He had consumed over a dozen Myriad Spirit Pills, refining his soul until it was barely a soul at all—only the Indestructible True Spirit remained, far more powerful than his physical form.
Flying alongside Xu Ying was the Great Bell—over ten zhang long even when lying on its side, a small mountain of metal—smashing toward the assembled Impermanences!
There were hundreds of them. Seeing this, even these ghost gods felt a chill of terror. They raised their Mourning Staffs and charged the Great Bell!
*DANG!*
The shockwave rolled through the vast Willow Forest. Hundreds of Impermanences were knocked staggering backward, barely managing to halt the bell's crushing momentum.
Xu Ying landed, thrust out his hand, and wove his origin qi into the shape of a colossal Ba Snake. It lunged forward and clamped its jaws around an Impermanence. Xu Ying reeled the ghost back, and it flew unwillingly into his grasp, its face pressed beneath his palm.
The other Impermanences, whether true or false, activated their Mourning Staffs simultaneously—willow-wood rods, half white and half green, trailing flying hemp strips, howling toward Xu Ying.
*Boom boom boom!* Xu Ying was struck by Mourning Staff after Mourning Staff—six or seven blows—until his soul was hammered from his body.
Then, in the gray gloom of the Willow Forest, a blinding light erupted from the ground—divine radiance pouring forth. In a single heartbeat it illuminated the grove, casting shimmering shadows of willow branches as light and dark played in constant motion.
Every Mourning Staff froze in midair. The hundreds of true Impermanences, seeing his soul and sensing the overwhelming pressure of a Ghost King, halted their attack. They dared not strike again.
But the false Impermanences cared nothing for such things. Their Mourning Staffs continued to batter Xu Ying!
Xu Ying's palm still pressed against the false Impermanence's face. As he was driven back by the staffs, he tore the mask away.
The false Impermanence had been over a zhang tall. With its mask ripped off, its power collapsed instantly. Its body shrank rapidly, all spectral energy dissipating. It transformed from Impermanence back into a man—a gaunt, middle-aged figure with sharp, sunken eyes.
The middle-aged Nuo Master clutched his face in panic and fled toward the other false Impermanences, crying, "Senior Brother, save me!"
Before he reached his fellow disciples, hemp strips flew into his body. He stood frozen for an instant—then his soul was torn from his flesh and shredded to pieces by the strips!
"If your identity is exposed, you are dead!" A deep voice came from among the false Impermanences. "Kill them all! Finish this quickly—do not delay the main task!"
Mourning Staffs continued to crash toward Xu Ying's soul. He suddenly turned, and the mountainous Great Bell swung around with a roar, sweeping across the grove.
The bell crushed everything in its path—trees fell, the ground shook. The false Impermanences bellowed and strained with all their strength to resist, but one by one they were sent flying, vomiting blood.
Xu Ying's soul returned to his body. He sprang into the air, his form flashing past Impermanence after Impermanence, tearing masks from their faces as he went!
Each false Impermanence reverted to human form the instant its mask was removed. They stared in disbelief—then hemp strips shot through their bodies, ripping their souls to shreds.
*CLANG!*
Suddenly, two palms blocked the Great Bell. Its crushing momentum halted, and Xu Ying's body stopped as well. The bell and his flesh moved as one—when he moved, the bell moved; when he stopped, the bell stopped.
Conversely, when the bell moved, he moved; when it stopped, he stopped.
Therefore, against any ordinary foe, spinning his body and swinging the Great Bell in a mad barrage was an exceedingly satisfying spectacle. But when the enemy was powerful enough to stop the bell—even to seize the bell and swing it back—it was an exceedingly miserable experience!
Xiao Bo rushed forward, shouting, "Demon King Xu, watch out—there is a Great Nuo Master among them!"
The Great Nuo Master who had stopped the bell also wore an Impermanence mask. Feeling the connection between bell and man the instant he blocked, he sneered, "You are courting death!"
He was about to strike when he saw Xu Ying form a sword seal. Sword light blazed around him, then he rocketed skyward, the Great Bell hurtling up alongside him.
The Great Nuo Master's face changed. "Retreat!" he bellowed.
In the sky, the dazzling sword light carried that impossibly massive Great Bell downward in a blazing dive, streaking toward them!
Just before impact, the sword light curved with a whistle, skimming the ground. Behind it, the bell slammed down—over a dozen false Impermanences were crushed to splinters!
The Great Nuo Master poured everything into blocking, but the force drove him into the earth like a nail, blood streaming from his mouth. He looked up to see Xu Ying launching skyward again, the bell descending once more. Despair filled his heart.
Xiao Bo reached the spot just as Xu Ying crashed down a final time—another thunderous *CLANG*—and the Great Nuo Master's physical body was obliterated, reduced to pulp and ruin. Xiao Bo stared, shaken.
The remaining false Impermanences fled. In moments the Willow Forest stood empty. A distant voice cried, "The enemy is too powerful! He killed Uncle Master Qiu! Fall back to the sect!"
Xu Ying landed and dispersed his sword qi. He tossed a mask to Xiao Bo. "Put it on."
Xiao Bo hesitated, confused. But he saw Xu Ying hand an Impermanence mask to Yuan Weiyang, who donned it without a word.
*This young man is smarter than I am. If he says to wear it, I will wear it,* Xiao Bo thought.
The moment he donned the Impermanence mask, a strange, eerie power surged through it, restructuring his physical form. He grew taller by the foot—soon exceeding two zhang, transforming into a white-faced Impermanence with a long, scarlet tongue lolling from its mouth.
Yuan Weiyang underwent the same transformation, though she remained somewhat shorter.
Xu Ying leaped onto Yuan Qi's head and tried to fit the Impermanence mask onto the great serpent's face. Yuan Qi protested, "A-Ying—I am enormous, and this mask is tiny. What good will it do?"
The moment the mask touched the serpent's cheek, countless flesh buds erupted and burrowed into his scales.
After a moment, Yuan Qi's body contorted. He sprawled on the ground—and slowly, limbs emerged. He had transformed into a serpent-faced humanoid!
"Eek! I have become an Impermanence too!" Yuan Qi shrieked.
A false Impermanence was gliding across the ground, moving swiftly. Then an Impermanence appeared on its left. The false one exhaled in relief and whispered, "Senior Brother—you escaped as well? That was terrifying... Hmm? What is that bell sound?"
Another Impermanence appeared on its right. Behind this second Impermanence, not far away, followed a small-mountain-sized Great Bell.
He looked behind him—yet another Impermanence stood there, quite tall.
And behind that Impermanence, there was a serpent-faced Impermanence—enormous, over twenty zhang long, yet not standing upright but writhing and slithering along the ground like a snake.
The false Impermanence's face twitched violently as he found himself hemmed in by Impermanences on all sides. He trembled.
A sinister voice whispered in his ear: "If you do not wish to die, lead us out of here."
The false Impermanence nodded rapidly, like a chick pecking at rice.