Chapter 90: The Haunting Within the Prison (5)

When Wu Zui was about to speak after hearing that Wuxiang was coming, Xiao Keai asked first with obvious excitement, "Is it that Master Wuxiang with hair? How strong is he now?"

Liao Xing looked awkward as he replied, "He isn't an Awakened One; he's from the ascetic monk lineage. So we don't really know how strong he is. But the giant whale aberration that attacked Harbor City last time was blown apart by him."

"That was a seven-star aberration! Blown apart! Amazing!" Xiao Keai said with unmistakable admiration, thinking that she herself was only a puny four-star novice.

Hearing that, Wu Zui felt a faint sourness in his heart and coughed twice without thinking.

"Ahem... ahem."

Xiao Keai glanced at him and still pouted, saying, "Master, do you have a cold? Or a fever? If you're not feeling well, I can get you some medicine pills!"

At that, Wu Zui was nearly driven mad.

But Xiao Keai gave him no chance to flare up. As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and slipped away; that monk Wuxiang would be arriving any moment.

A seven-star powerhouse! Who knew whether he had any techniques that could be learned without shaving your head and taking vows? Best of all, something that could flatten Master! Dare to tap my head? Hmph!

Imagining Wu Zui's face beaten into the shape of a pig's head, Xiao Keai ran off with a stupid grin step by step. It nearly made the duty spirit investigator at the military district think some fool had wandered in from who knew where.

Wu Zui greeted Liao Xing, then grabbed the dazed Yan Junhao beside him and hurried out.

This foolish apprentice! That qipao-clad ghost spirit might still be nearby. Don't let anyone get ambushed again!

By the time Wu Zui reached the entrance, Wuxiang was already there chanting softly.

Threads of golden light flowed from the five fingertips of Wuxiang's right hand, and amid waves of Sanskrit chanting they formed a golden prison. Inside it was a figure of a pale yellow hue.

"The qipao ghost spirit!" Wu Zui was shocked. The qipao ghost spirit, so skilled at concealment, had been dealt with just like that by Wuxiang?

Wu Zui felt a faint pain in his face.

Don't ask. Ask and it's toothache.

The qipao ghost spirit, born with nothing but seduction arts, had run straight into Wuxiang, a man whose Buddhist heart was as steadfast as iron. That was like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth. No matter how the ghost spirit pleaded, Wuxiang remained unmoved. Things of this sort were better purified than left to linger.

On this point, he and Wu Zui were in perfect agreement.

Wuxiang lifted his eyes slightly toward Wu Zui, then frowned and said, "Little brother, your karmic burden has increased again!"

Wu Zui knew exactly what he meant. It was the black aura of sin above his head. Ever since that three-hundred-jin fat man, Man Tu, had died, for some reason half of the karmic burden caused by his death had fallen on Wu Zui.

That fat man was clearly killed by Chen Jieke. What the hell did that have to do with me?

Of course, Wu Zui had nowhere to take such a grievance. He could only pinch his nose and swallow it.

"Master Wuxiang's clothes are even more ragged than before!" Unable to refute him, Wu Zui looked at Wuxiang's already tattered robes, now stained with green leaves and slashed by branches until he looked like a beggar, and shot back.

"So long as they cover the body, that is enough!" Wuxiang still wore the same smile and answered without anger.

"Master Wuxiang, can you teach me that?"

Xiao Keai pointed at the golden prison Wuxiang had used to trap the qipao ghost spirit.

"Among the methods of inner alchemy, there is a detailed explanation," Wuxiang said to Xiao Keai while the golden light in his hand gradually swelled. As the five golden pillars closed in, the qipao ghost spirit quickly vanished into nothingness. A four-star ghost spirit was easy for him to purify.

"Please lead the way, all of you. We should go deal with that monster in the prison!" Wuxiang said to the three of them after resolving the qipao ghost spirit.

Yan Junhao immediately lifted the clothing at his right waist and pointed to the blue sun mark there, saying to Wuxiang, "This is the spatial singularity near Harbor Prison. Lord Liao Xing asked me to show you this mark."

"Excellent!"

As he spoke, Wuxiang extended the index finger of his right hand and touched Yan Junhao's waist. A moment later, a golden sun mark appeared on his fingertip.

"Will you all come along?" Wuxiang asked the three of them. Though he had an absolute advantage against a five-star ghost creature, it would clearly be easier without Wu Zui and the others. Still, if they followed, he would not refuse.

But before Wu Zui could say he was not going, the quick-tongued Xiao Keai had already agreed outright.

"Sure, sure, let's go quickly!" Xiao Keai immediately made the decision for the other two.

As golden light enveloped them, a familiar sensation of distortion came over them, and the four of them turned into four points of golden light, shooting straight for Harbor Prison.

Harbor Prison

Before Wuxiang had yet fought his way there, a short figure less than three feet tall, dressed in a black hooded cloak, had already arrived.

The prisoners who had once been wandering in circles through the fog were already nowhere to be seen. Presumably they had all become prey for that ghostly creature. The vast Harbor Prison was now utterly silent.

And the enormous ghost creature that had once been in the deep pit was now lying before the hooded figure. It was less than half a meter in size, its body turned into something like black gelatin.

"Do you know the price of your greed?"

A voice neither male nor female, neither yin nor yang, came from beneath the black hood, clearly aimed at the ghost creature.

Gurgle... gurgle...

The ghost creature on the ground cried out at the words, as if trying to defend itself.

"Back inside first. I'll deal with you later." The hooded figure suddenly looked into the distance, as though sensing something. With a wave of the hand, the aura of resentment from living beings surged, and that ghost creature gradually merged into the hooded figure's shadow.

At the same time, Wu Zui and the other three had just arrived at the prison gate.

Seeing the thick fog before him and the powerful aura he could faintly sense within, Wuxiang immediately released his loosely clasped hands. Spreading them wide as if to embrace the world, he caused two giant palms made of golden energy to appear on either side of the prison.

As the two enormous golden hands pressed together, the fog inside Harbor Prison was rapidly vaporized. Even the hooded figure within had no choice but to leap into the air to evade the attack from the giant palms.

Crash.

The enclosed space surrounding Harbor Prison shattered under a single blow.

Wuxiang looked up at the hooded figure, his eyes already turned entirely golden and filled with golden energy. In Wuxiang's eyes, the black-hooded figure seemed to be writhing with countless wronged souls crying out in misery. The burden of its sins could not be cleansed even by all the waters of the Three Rivers.

Faced with such a villain, Wuxiang wasted no words. He smashed his right hand downward, and at the same time a golden giant hand appeared above the hooded figure's head, slamming down from above with brutal force.

Before the giant hand could touch it, the hooded figure's silhouette twisted violently, then vanished.

"It disappeared?" Xiao Keai said.

"No!"

Wu Zui stared at the ground. There, a pillar of sinuous energy suddenly rose up. Its thickness far surpassed that of Chen Jieke and Man Tu. He hurriedly grabbed Xiao Keai and leaped aside.

The moment the two of them left, a black figure shot up from beneath the very spot where Xiao Keai had been standing. Wuxiang turned and struck at it with a palm, and the hooded figure raised a palm to meet him.

With a thunderous boom, the aura of resentment from living beings and the golden energy collided, erupting in a shockwave that sent the three spectators flying. Yan Junhao, the closest and already in poor condition, was knocked unconscious on the spot.

At this moment a thin line of blood leaked from the corner of Wuxiang's mouth, while beneath the hooded figure's feet lay a large pool of black liquid. No one knew whether it was blood.

"A thing that is neither human nor beast, I shall purify you today!" Wuxiang glanced at the black substance on the ground, and the anger in his heart only grew.

As he spoke, he shaped his right hand into a blade and swung his arm in a full circle, unleashing a golden crescent slash. Seeing this, the hooded figure twisted and vanished again, but the crescent slash seemed to know its location. The instant the hooded figure reappeared, the blow continued downward.

Knowing it could not evade, the hooded figure might as well take the hit head-on. A great deal of black liquid seeped from beneath the hood, then surged straight toward the descending crescent slash. The black liquid, thick and sputtering like mouthfuls of phlegm, looked rather disgusting.

As the golden crescent slash pushed through the obstruction of the black liquid, the brilliance upon it dimmed considerably as well. By the time it reached the hooded figure, it had only managed to split the hood apart before losing its force.

Beneath the black hood was a face like that of a little girl, though on her face there was also a black tattoo resembling some kind of plant. The tattoo was still writhing, as if it were alive.

"A... a child?" Xiao Keai said, wide-eyed in astonishment.

She had thought that someone able to fight Wuxiang to such a degree, and with a height of about three feet, would be some bent old crone. She never imagined it would be a child, and a rather pretty little girl at that!

"A spirit body of nourishment? No wonder the painter and that gluttonous creature both fell here. It is indeed tempting!"

Hearing Xiao Keai's voice, the hooded figure turned toward her. A voice half male and half female came from the girl's mouth, instantly scattering the thought that she was very cute from Xiao Keai's mind.

This... this voice came from a human?

After hearing the hooded figure speak, Xiao Keai instantly felt gooseflesh rise all over her body, and even her limbs seemed to lose control. Wu Zui beside her, however, felt nothing at all.

Wuxiang gave a short roar. His voice was like a sudden thunderclap, instantly dispersing the psychic contamination hidden within the hooded figure's speech.

At the same moment, Wuxiang's own figure twisted into a spatial singularity and shot toward the hooded figure. Seeing this, the hooded figure also transformed into a spatial singularity and fled.

"You two check the place carefully. Don't let any fish slip through the net!"

Wuxiang's voice grew fainter and fainter as he went farther away.

They're supposed to be just showing the way, and now we're the ones cleaning up after them!

Wu Zui cursed inwardly.

Xiao Keai, on the other hand, rushed forward with great excitement, preparing to search the prison for any escaped dead fish.