"The matter here is settled. After I lay down the formation, I can go over and have a look."
As the Feng family's ancestor thought, the next step was to set up the formation and restrictions, all of which was second nature to him. Although he was eager to know the situation over there, it was best not to use the Voice Transmission Talisman if he could avoid it. The Feng family had already suffered very heavy losses this time.
Half an incense stick's time later, the Feng family's ancestor led a group of his clan disciples to the surface. Looking at his clansmen, the ancestor sighed in his heart. Although his side had made good progress, they had also faced the problem of numerous underground passages, making timely rescues impossible. During the clearing process, two more had died and four were seriously injured. Who could be blamed when those ghostly creatures were so formidable?
Every time they expanded into the Yin Tomb Mountain, there was basically a corresponding price to pay. This was also within their expectations. Looking at the smiles on the faces of the family heads and disciples as they stared at the numerous sealed ghostly creatures at their feet, he knew their gains were also considerable. After each such expansion of territory, the Feng family had to recuperate for several years, or even decades. Their family could not withstand such casualties. That was why, although the Feng family had been here for nearly a thousand years, they still had not occupied all the tombs in Yin Mountain, only a part of them.
Immediately, the Feng family's ancestor's body rose into the air, four formation flags flying and circling around him. As soon as he cast the flags down, the formation would activate.
Suddenly, his expression changed, and his body paused. He quickly cast the four formation flags towards the four corners of the ground, but his figure had already vanished from the air.
Just as the Feng family disciples below were at a loss, the ancestor's voice came from far away in the sky.
"You all, go quickly to Zaiyu's side and see how things are progressing! I will be there shortly!"
At this moment, the Feng family's ancestor's face was ashen. Just now, he had suddenly sensed the pressure fluctuations from a battle dissipating a hundred li away. This fluctuation did not come from the location of Feng Zaiyu's tomb, but from the direction he and Fang Guangjun had agreed to go to later—the tomb of the escaped Foundation Establishment ghostly creature.
"Dammit, why did he go over by himself? And now he's being hunted down and fleeing."
In his senses, two shadows were flying rapidly, one in front of the other. In the lead was Fang Guangjun. Behind him was the soul body of a thin, tall, vicious hag—the very Foundation Establishment ghostly creature that had escaped during the day.
This situation was far beyond the Feng family ancestor's expectations and plans. He and Fang Guangjun had not agreed to this. They were supposed to go together and capture this ghostly creature in one fell swoop.
"This ghostly creature is the one he faced alone. Could it be that there's some secret about this creature? Fang Guangjun actually wanted to secretly go and capture it first! Dammit, dammit!"
The Feng family's ancestor was furious. On the other hand, he also began to worry about Feng Zaiyu's situation. With Fang Guangjun having come out, the situation over there was even more unclear. Clearing out the ghostly creatures in the tomb might result in heavy casualties. This was also why he had feigned calmness and ordered the others to go and check on Feng Zaiyu's group now. He could not reveal his own panic and unsettle his disciples.
The three Foundation Establishment ghostly creatures' tombs were adjacent to each other, their centers no more than a hundred li apart. Fang Guangjun must have been trying to seek help when he was outmatched, and the direction he was heading was precisely towards the tomb where the Feng family's ancestor was.
Flying towards each other, both were anxious and moved at extreme speed. In just two or three breaths, they were already within sight of each other.
"Fellow... Fellow Daoist Feng, save... save me!"
At this moment, Fang Guangjun's aura was extremely chaotic, fluctuating between strong and weak. The moment he saw the Feng family's ancestor, his terrified expression was already tinged with joyful surprise. Blood was constantly seeping through Fang Guangjun's clothes, giving him the appearance of being heavily injured.
The thin, tall, vicious hag's soul body behind him was only four or five li away, already within her attack range. Her pair of triangular eyes revealed a vicious, malevolent glint. This human cultivator before her truly didn't know life from death, still thinking of sneaking in to ambush her. If she hadn't been afraid of being ganged up on by the three of them during the day, she would have devoured him long ago.
This person had just sneaked to within forty li of her lair alone. He was discovered only because he had carelessly triggered a restriction. He was clearly trying to wipe her out completely.
The thin, tall, vicious hag's soul body already possessed intelligence. Although it wasn't very bright yet, she was unwilling to swallow the insult of a cultivator weaker than herself attacking her lair.
She had fled quickly during the day, but she had still been hit in the right shoulder by another Foundation Establishment expert from the Feng family. That old man's cultivation was extremely high, and the blow had caused her soul body to partially disperse. After returning, she had casually captured some ghosts and brought them back to her lair, devouring and refining them one by one to slowly heal and recover.
The Feng family's ancestor had originally planned to deal with her quietly, so they had used some concealment measures during the clearing process, and for a while, they had truly not alarmed the vicious hag. It wasn't until someone in her lair suddenly stepped into a restriction, triggering an attack from a host of ghosts, that she was startled awake from her cultivation. The moment she emerged from the tomb, she saw the figure fleeing in panic. When she got a clear look at the person's face, the vicious hag's fury surged to the heavens. She immediately guessed the purpose of his visit.
The vicious hag's soul body did not consider that there might be a problem with the Spirit Power fluctuations of the fleeing person ahead. She just gave chase. Several of her attacks were narrowly dodged by Fang Guangjun, which made the vicious hag even more furious.
Now, just as she was about to catch up, the vicious hag suddenly sensed a powerful aura rapidly approaching. By this point, although her reactions were slow, she had figured out this human's intention. He had an accomplice lying in ambush.
"Humans are indeed incomparably treacherous! So you wanted to ambush and kill me!"
Although she had already sensed that the aura belonged to the strongest ancestor of the Feng family, it was now nighttime. The vicious hag's soul body was in the Yin Tomb Mountain range, where the Yin Qi was densest. Her strength had already been amplified by several degrees.
"You must die!"
The vicious hag's soul body suddenly threw her head back and let out a shrill screech. Her power surged again. In mid-flight, she abruptly raised a withered arm, her five pitch-black fingers changing from a palm to a claw as she thrust forward viciously. Because of the extreme speed, a dark light flashed rapidly between her five long, hook-like fingers, accompanied by a soul-shattering shriek that tore through the air. The arm suddenly elongated at high speed, seeming to cross heaven and earth in an instant. Under its explosive growth, the ghostly hand was already covering Fang Guangjun's back in the blink of an eye.
Fang Guangjun was so scared his soul nearly fled his body. He was poisoned internally and couldn't exert his full strength at all. Otherwise, he would have crushed this damned ghostly creature to death long ago. Although the poison in his body had been alleviated somewhat, his current cultivation was less than forty percent of his usual level. To have escaped this far, he had already been constantly squeezing every last bit of Spirit Power from his Dantian. At this moment, his Dantian felt like it was being churned by thousands of steel knives, and the Dantian lake was even showing signs of collapse. At that point, his cultivation would drop directly back to the Qi Condensation stage. But at this moment, how could Fang Guangjun care about any of that?
At this time, the Feng family's ancestor was also less than five li away from Fang Guangjun in a straight line.
Seeing that Fang Guangjun was already heavily injured and about to be killed by the ghostly creature's strike, although he was furious at the other's reckless disregard for propriety, he truly could not stand by and not save him. After all, Fang Guangjun was a cultivator of the Falling Star Valley, and he had come this time to help his family.
The Feng family's ancestor knew better than anyone why Fang Guangjun had suddenly appeared there to attack this Foundation Establishment ghostly creature. He wished he could grab Fang Guangjun immediately and question him harshly, but now was not the time.
He had also seen Fang Guangjun fight this ghostly creature during the day. Their cultivation levels were about evenly matched.
"Idiot! You actually thought you could kill this ghostly creature alone when it has the advantage of time and place, ruining my grand plan!"
A wave of fury surged in the Feng family ancestor's heart. Of course, he didn't know that if Fang Guangjun had his full magic power, he would have had a good chance of winning even if he fought this creature alone.
The Feng family's ancestor, from several li away, flicked his sleeve. A small crescent spade flew out, instantly transforming into an afterimage and vanishing in mid-air.
The vicious hag's attack was as fast as a phantom. In a flash of lightning, her sharp claws had already reached Fang Guangjun's back. Fang Guangjun could already feel the bone-chilling cold. He jerked up, and an unbearable, sharp pain came from his Dantian. He grunted, but it was already too late to dodge.
In an instant, a struggling expression appeared on his face. His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to shout something but was also very afraid.
In that moment of hesitation, a "clang!" was heard. Fang Guangjun immediately felt the killing intent behind him disappear, and the Feng family ancestor's voice sounded right next to his ear.
"Since you've come, then you might as well stay."
A crescent spade half the height of a man had blocked his back. A pitch-black ghostly claw appeared on it, its five black-skinned, bony fingers firmly nailed to the face of the spade, arriving later but striking first!
As the Feng family's ancestor's voice fell, the crescent spade, now half the height of a man, spun fiercely. With a "kacha" sound, the five fingers of the ghostly claw were instantly twisted and intertwined, then collapsed into clouds of black qi. The long nails that had been attached to them also fell off.
As the crescent spade spun, a painful howl came from a distance.
"Old... scoundrel!"
A dry, harsh voice came from far away. The vicious hag screamed at the sky, her long hair flying. A large amount of black qi spewed from the two black holes of her nostrils. As soon as this black qi emerged, it quickly condensed into a long rope and shot towards the crescent spade.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator's attack, a distance of several li was almost negligible. The long rope arrived in an instant. The moment the rope made contact with the crescent spade, smoke-like fingers extended from its body, making the entire rope look like a centipede pouncing forward. A dozen or so smoke-like fingers had already clasped onto the crescent spade, intending to lock it down and entangle it.
The distant Feng family's ancestor frowned. In this Yin Tomb Mountain, a ghostly creature of the same level was quite difficult to deal with. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to borrow Fang Guangjun's power, taking advantage of the creature being injured during the day, to try to sneak in and kill it in one blow with the strength of two people.
And now, fighting a great battle outside the tomb like this, although the howls of ghosts rose and fell throughout the world here and could cover some of the sounds of fighting, it would eventually awaken other powerful ghostly creatures.
"This time, I won't be able to take down all three tombs at once. How detestable!"
The Feng family's ancestor knew he couldn't get entangled here. He could only take Fang Guangjun and leave first.
But at that moment, he suddenly let out a low roar.
"It even knows how to sneak attack!"
Just as he was quickly thinking about taking Fang Guangjun and leaving, a sudden change occurred. The five fingernails that had originally been twisted off by the crescent spade were falling powerlessly towards the ground. But just as the rope of black qi was about to lock onto the crescent spade, those fingernails, like five venomous snakes, suddenly raised their heads. With incredible speed, they shot towards the back of Fang Guangjun, who was flying desperately forward.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. From the vicious hag's attack, to the Feng family ancestor's block, to the vicious hag spitting out the long rope of black qi, to the sudden attack of the detached fingernails. At most, only a single breath had passed. The exchange between the two sides was as fast as lightning, dazzling to behold.
The Feng family's ancestor's reaction was also extremely fast. With a sharp shake of the crescent spade, it had already swiftly broken free from the grasp of the fingers on the long rope of black qi.