Chapter 1257

No, why hasn't the decapitation stone come down yet? Is the mechanism stuck? After all, it's an antique from thousands of years ago—if it still works, that's already good enough; what's strange about it occasionally jamming? He quickly reached out to fiddle with it again.

The decapitation stone above remained completely still.

Facing them, He and Dong watched it leisurely, showing none of Fu Liushan's urgency.

They already knew? Xuanlu Ghost King said nothing, turned, and ran straight toward the light source at the exit.

Its reaction was swift and accurate.

These few aren't easy to deal with—if the mechanism fails, its only option is to flee.

But just as it was about to reach it, that faint point of light at the exit suddenly vanished!

As if someone had suddenly cut off the light source, plunging the entire Stepsha Huating into pitch darkness where one couldn't see their hand in front of their face.

"No—" Xuanlu Ghost King leapt upward, but didn't jump to the cave mansion gate—instead, it slammed into the thick stone wall.

The icy cold of the stone wall was felt even by this ghost.

No way ahead—it was trapped!

"Oh no! A trap—" Dong Rui's mocking voice came from behind, "—yours!"

Light returned in the dark chamber: the opponent's monkey produced two glowing spores.

Xuanlu Ghost King's face turned even paler in the light.

Dong Rui's smile was even more sinister and triumphant than before.

"Where is this?" Xuanlu Ghost King looked left and right, gaze wandering, "This isn't Stepsha Huating!"

It also couldn't figure it out: "My disguise had no flaw! How could you possibly see through it!"

It had tormented that one-armed short-lived ghost for eighty years, knowing exactly what state the other was in, how they screamed and wailed in suffering—it had appreciated it hundreds, even thousands of times, studied it thoroughly, and when disguising, it was lifelike.

So deeply immersed in emotion, it even felt it had become the one-armed ghost itself, sorrow filling its whole being.

Moreover, to gain the trust of the three, it had even proactively helped them avoid several traps along the way, such as the decapitation stone.

How could this He-surname person possibly tell!

He Lingchuan only said three words: "Bright Well."

Xuanlu Ghost King tilted its head, and Fu Liushan couldn't help but ask: "What about the Bright Well?"

This evil ghost had spoken every word during its disguise earlier—he had heard them all, had he missed any crucial information?

He Lingchuan looked at the ghost king and said slowly: "After you brought that short-lived ghost into the underground palace, it remained locked in a cage. How did it know how many exits this underground palace actually has? And how did it know that the route to track you would definitely pass through the Bright Well?"

Dong Rui and Fu Liushan exchanged a glance, realization dawning.

That's right—the one-armed ghost had said earlier, "I'll pass through the Bright Well in a moment."

At that time, it was clearly still locked in the cage—it shouldn't have known the ghost king's whereabouts, so how could it know it would pass through the Bright Well on the way?

Unless it had originally planned to lure everyone there.

He Lingchuan left one thing unsaid: when he encountered the underground current, he had released the eyeball spiders.

The tiny spiders followed the water upward, discovered a collapse near the ground. Humans couldn't get out, but the spiders were small enough to squeeze through cracks and climb to the surface.

They could get out—so why couldn't the ghost king in its wraith state escape from there? Why must it go through the Bright Well?

Fu Liushan had also tested with talisman paper—the one-armed ghost had not been implanted with a soul lamp.

In the ghost king's lair, what kind of ghost wouldn't need to be implanted with a soul lamp? Besides the cage ghost it tormented for amusement, only the ghost king itself!

"Besides, being driven mad by eighty years of torture in a lightless dungeon, the one-armed ghost's mentality couldn't possibly be that stable." He Lingchuan slowly drew his blade, "Before you ate it, what state was it actually in?"

Before them, the one-armed ghost wept, pleaded, volunteered—though it sounded tragic, its speech was coherent, its demeanor stable—how to put it—

Or perhaps it was just an entirely normal ghost.

He Lingchuan believed that if he himself were imprisoned and tortured for eighty years, he absolutely would not have such composure.

Xuanlu Ghost King sank its face.

Before the one-armed ghost was swallowed by it, it had already gone mad—seeing it, it would only shake its head, dodge, and scream, unable to understand human speech, completely incapable of communication.

This made tormenting it boring for the ghost king, no longer as enjoyable as before.

But its identity could be used, so after swallowing it whole, the ghost king impersonated the descendant of its enemy to lure these few mortal enemies into the trap.

The result? These fellows took the bait—but not fully, instead turning the tables on it.

Dong Rui chuckled: "Really sorry, none of your arrangements in Stepsha Huating came in handy!"

Xuanlu bared its sharp teeth, grinding them with a grating sound: "Just where exactly is this place!"

Its summoning of minor ghosts and corpse puppets had been severed—this was unimaginable. Unless the opponent possessed divine power to cut off such arts, or it and the enemy were no longer within the underground palace space.

In other words, it was now utterly alone—no subordinates for reinforcement, no corpse puppets usable, forced to fight the three as a mere ghost.

How could it possibly win, especially when among them was—

As if hearing its inner thoughts, He Lingchuan strode forward, the Dragon-Roar Battle Armor automatically attaching itself.

The black-armored killing god that Xuanlu Ghost King hated and despised most had appeared.

"This armor, this sword—neither likes you." He Lingchuan lightly flicked the blade, "Floating Life" hummed softly, a sound of slaughter, "Nothing more than three times—it's time to settle this!"

From the moment he drew his sword, Xuanlu Ghost King felt a tremor deep in its soul, as if this blade was even more terrifying than the Robe of Luo Sheng.

"Wait!" it hastily waved its hands, "Must we really fight to the death!"

Dong Rui laughed: "What 'you die, I live'—only you have a dead end!"

"If you spare my life today, I can sign a contract with you!" Xuanlu Ghost King said quickly, "The master of the Luo Sheng Armor has always been full of martial ambition—never one to avoid war! As long as you sign the contract, henceforth your army will never lack disciplined, death-defying elite troops!"

"How vital a vanguard unit is in an army, and how hard it is to pick one—you should know this well." It continued in one breath, "With my help, such elites are yours for the taking—effortless!"

Upon seeing the Luo Sheng Armor appear, Fu Liushan jumped in shock.

This this, this just put it on?

He had originally worried He Lingchuan might be persuaded—after all, past masters of the Luo Sheng Armor all revered martial supremacy, so this kind of aid shouldn't be refused.

Moreover, he had witnessed Xuanlu Ghost King's control techniques—those elite units it commanded did indeed possess formidable combat strength.

However, He Lingchuan remained unmoved, drawing the Floating Life Blade, filling the room with cold light. "If this method were effective, why would you have lost twice to Luosheng Jia?"

He already has the best—why settle for second best?

Xuanlu Ghost King dodged left and right, evading three blades. Though it was a soul-form, the blade aura of Floating Life still caused it faint pain, and the final strike pierced its right arm directly, making it howl in agony.

Thank you, Dad Dachuan, for the reward~ Bixin

(End of Chapter)