Chapter Twenty-Five: The Malevolent Spirit (Delayed Update)

"Is... anyone touching me?"
Qu Hanchen’s timid voice sounded from the side, causing Duan Lingqi and Xi Chunxue’s quarrel to pause momentarily.
"Touch you? I, old Duan, don’t have such a hobby," Duan Lingqi snorted angrily.
"Even though I was expelled from the Palace of Langhuan and sent to the prison in Shanquing Prefecture, I have never had the slightest interest in matters between men and women," Xi Chunxue replied coldly.
"You only need to look down," Su Yuanbai’s calm voice rang out.
Qu Hanchen slowly lowered his head. What met his eyes was a face so terrifying it chilled the soul; the flesh had fallen away, exposing pale bones, jagged teeth like saw blades, and sunken eye sockets flickering with ghostly phosphorescence.
"Ghost!"
Qu Hanchen cried out in terror, hastily kicking at the evil ghost clawing at his thigh with bony, skeletal hands. Each kick landed squarely, hitting the ghost’s face with force.
"Aren’t you a ghost yourself?"
The evil ghost emerging from the ground bit fiercely into Qu Hanchen’s calf, its face nearly broken apart from the kicks, speaking with resentment.
"Right, I am a ghost now," Qu Hanchen finally realized, and without hesitation, tore the ghost’s bony arms away and grabbed its head with a reverse grip.
Crack.
The ghost’s head snapped off with a sound.
"Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? This evil ghost has lurked on the shadowed side of Mount Nether for decades at least. The passing ghost wardens couldn’t throw him into hell or lead him to reincarnation," Xi Chunxue said, observing Qu Hanchen’s delighted smile.
"Doesn’t that just prove how powerful I am?"
Qu Hanchen spun the ghost’s head in his hand, never one to overthink, and laughed.
But his laughter soon faded, for the ghost’s head was slowly gnawing away at his arm, and the severed body had somehow wrapped around him entirely.
Like the roots of an ancient tree, it bound Qu Hanchen tightly, leaving him unable to move.
"Save... save me!"
Qu Hanchen cried out for help.
Yet Duan Lingqi’s eyes darted to the blood-red hell on the plain, ignoring Qu Hanchen’s plea as if he hadn’t heard it. To Qu Hanchen’s despair, Xi Chunxue merely looked on with a calm expression.

"I’ll give you everything!"
Qu Hanchen could feel his body being devoured bit by bit, and sensed the sinister aura of Mount Nether growing stronger, as if his connection to this place deepened.
Panic seized him; he had no desire to remain here.
"Are you sure you’ll give me everything?"
The usually silent Su Yuanbai suddenly spoke.
"I’m sure!"
Qu Hanchen shouted loudly.
"The pact is made,"
Su Yuanbai lifted his gaze to Qu Hanchen, his once dark eyes now blood-red, the irises blooming like a cluster of otherworldly blossoms.
The evil ghost entwined around Qu Hanchen began to emit black smoke, revealing the parts of Qu Hanchen’s body it had devoured as the smoke dissipated.
Su Yuanbai raised his hand, palm pointed at the ghost, which, sensing danger, tried to burrow away.
Crack.
This time, the sound was not just bones breaking, but the shattering of the entire ghost’s body. In an instant, it became a pile of dust on the mountaintop.
Ghostly smoke swirled.
"The evil ghosts here cannot be killed; every death leads to rebirth," Xi Chunxue said, watching Su Yuanbai.
Su Yuanbai’s profile was now free of the dark, intricate markings and golden, ancient glyphs—almost as if what Xi Chunxue had seen earlier was a mere hallucination.
Just as Xi Chunxue had said, the ghost crushed by Su Yuanbai suddenly grew again from the dust on the ground, ghostly smoke clinging to each one as they emerged, like black armor enveloping them.
In moments, the mountaintop was filled with countless evil ghosts swathed in black smoke, save for Su Yuanbai and his companions.
Even Duan Lingqi felt his heart tremble.
"Your Excellency, maybe we should let the jailer be eaten by them," Duan Lingqi whispered.
But the shadowed side of Mount Nether was too quiet, and Qu Hanchen heard him clearly, despite the hushed tone.
"Why don’t you let them eat you?"
The matter of life and death made Qu Hanchen disregard Duan Lingqi’s identity as a flood dragon, glaring angrily at the dragon’s hateful head.
"Hmph, they don’t eat me,"
Duan Lingqi flicked his dragon tail, snorting coldly.

But when Duan Lingqi’s tail swept back from the mass of evil ghosts, he found the tip missing a chunk.
"You damned evil ghosts!"
He needed no further prompting—seeing his tail damaged, Duan Lingqi snorted out twin jets of water from his nostrils like waterfalls, his eagle talons enshrouded in mist, vertical pupils flashing angrily as he roared.
"Now, they all want to eat. Consuming one gives them a chance to step into reincarnation, no longer doomed to be lonely souls on the shadowed side of Mount Nether,"
Xi Chunxue stepped back, wielding the Spirit-Binding Chain as a weapon, striking the evil ghosts and sending black smoke billowing.
But there were too many evil ghosts, everywhere and able to suddenly rise from the ground to entangle her limbs, leaving Xi Chunxue with many wounds.
If nothing unexpected happened, in mere moments, Xi Chunxue and the others would vanish from this barren mountaintop, and a few more lonely souls would haunt Mount Nether.
Yet, there was an exception.
Su Yuanbai was the greatest anomaly.
Though not a single evil ghost dared approach Su Yuanbai, he swept his blood-red gaze over the swarm with indifferent calm.
"Bloom,"
Su Yuanbai murmured softly.
Xi Chunxue, who had been secretly watching, once again saw the dark, mysterious markings and intricate golden glyphs appear on Su Yuanbai’s face.
She had not been mistaken.
As Su Yuanbai spoke, blood-red otherworldly flowers suddenly bloomed across the ground, each evil ghost standing atop a blossom.
The blood-red flowers spread like webs, weaving a sea of crimson blooms.
"Fall,"
Su Yuanbai said calmly.
The sea of flowers contracted like a giant blood-red hand, enveloping all the evil ghosts within its palm. Petals drifted from the sky, and Xi Chunxue and the others felt their wounds heal and their bodies revive.
There was no trace of the evil ghosts.
Xi Chunxue reached out, watching the crimson petals fall onto her palm, then slip through and drift to the ground, leaving not a single mark.
In this rain of blood-red flowers, Xi Chunxue looked up at Su Yuanbai’s serene, handsome profile. The dark markings and ancient golden glyphs had vanished once more.